The sound of tal parts falling like rain drops echoed near the first stream.
The group around it smiled as they saw the shield collapse and stay down for several breaths before coming back.
"I think that is the best result from batch 57."
Annabelle read off a scroll and Lind nodded.
He was currently wearing a helt similar to when he Forged Spark Grip back in Cimria.
Unlike with the peak grade 2 items that beca dust, lower quality items beca shrapnel and flew in all directions.
It had taken sothing close to 7 months for Lind to find a mid grade 2 set of tals that produced a similar result to his peak grade 2 items.
The tals were far more common and far cheaper, he had put up World Stones to get them as well.
Anyone looking for him now might know where he was as the Aether Sect had nowhere near the number of refiners that needed such an amount of tal, but so long as they were in the Relic, safety was generally guaranteed.
Lind was looking over their results when he felt a stare at his back.
He barely resisted a quiet sigh.
He glanced over and saw a brooding Kelvin had returned back to the main camp.
Over the last 7 months, the man had word his way to wherever Annabelle was.
Sotis it was impossible to avoid as she was training in the arena or looking in the mission hall for any formation assignnts she could use for training.
Public eting was unavoidable and generally polite but the report relayed by Raistar to Lind included Kelvin suddenly nearly living near the Formation Hall and also offering to work for Lords on the cooperation side of the Aether Sect where he had never offered to before.
Annabelle, for her part, was becoming increasingly annoyed to the point she practically moved into Sage's palace to have so assured private ti away from the man.
Lind knew that would not work.
He did not want to stir the pot of emotions as there were so helping Kelvin that worried him.
Lord Rain, for instance, had sponsored Kelvin in many ways to avoid the boy getting disciplined for being so pushy.
It made it difficult to get him to stop in the cultivation world's rules.
Lind could, of course, use his authority as a peak grade 3 elixir master to put pressure on Kelvin, but he knew that would not work either.
"You need to talk to him, outright."
Annabelle frowned as they had argued over the very subject of Kelvin several tis.
Annabelle was firmly in the camp of severe beating but no one would challenge Kelvin who was nearing the Iron Tier.
Annabelle was only at the mid Sand Tier.
"Just make a poison elixir and it will be solved."
Lind sighed as he did not understand why she jumped to violence so quickly.
Others on the vengeance side of the sect were sowhat irritating but none of them made her this angry.
"There is nothing wrong with him liking you, but without being clear to him, he will keep this up.
Once you state your intentions, even his seniors will harshly penalize him if he persists."
Lind had checked that very thing.
Due to how humanity had treated aether children in most of the 3 continents, there were strict rules in personal relationships within the sect.
Both parties had to be willing with no pills or other outside interference used or there would be very severe consequences to the offending party.
Annabelle could not challenge him to an arena fight as they were too far apart in tiers, but she could make a public statent.
The sticking point was she had basically been very public with her affection for Lind, but he knew he was being discriminated against on that point.
Because he was human, they were overlooking Kelvin's actions because they wanted Annabelle to be with an aether child.
They allowed the farce as it had shown it made Lind and Annabelle fight.
Lind internally rolled his eyes at their plan as the fight was due to the fact Annabelle loathed how they ignored Lind and her feelings towards him.
Neither side of the sect put a stop to it and it clearly irked her.
Kelvin, however, was clearly hitting so bottomline she had.
Lind had seen her irked, frustrated, and generally ill tempered when stuck in her training or cultivation, but the visceral reaction to Kelvin made Lind curious.
"Is there sothing you want to tell ?"
Lind looked like he was reviewing so more scrolls, even summoned a new batch item to look professional but Annabelle's face was twisting as he had asked that question before.
"Enough!"
Annabelle exploded which froze all in the proximity and she blushed deeply before she ran off crying.
Lind looked pained but he knew she was avoiding talking to him.
He saw Kelvin run off after her and Sasha frowned behind them.
He nodded and she went after them.
It would be better if he waited a bit before going after them.
????????
Annabelle followed the stream of fire Qi as far as she could towards the Relic.
Her vision was a bit blurry.
She did not know why she avoided telling Lind about what was wrong but she did not want to be so petty in front of him.
She was enraged at how half the sect denigrated Lind while the other did nothing to stop it.
She had heard his argunt that it kept the peace but it hurt her.
Her people, the people she wanted to et like this in such a large group were nothing like she imagined.
They decried the abuse of their kind by humans and demons but treated them the sa when they had the chance!
She had heard about the slaughter so mbers did in the na of saving their kind.
Slave camps were attacked but so were happy hos that did not abuse their aether children servants.
Innocent children had been killed by the very people spouting about the righteousness of their cause.
Lind had said no race was any better.
There were always groups who did not care about reality, only that they affird their point of view as true.
They only cared about their interests and if reality conflicted, they changed the facts to fit their interests.
She hated it here!
It was what she held back from Lind, that she hated the Aether Sect.
The Heavenly Maiden Sect had drama and politics, but they had honor.
They did not skirt responsibility if they made a mistake.
They did not talk about demons behind their back or skirt uncomfortable topics with sophistry.
She wanted to go ho!
"Annie."
She had almost cald down when the man she loathed the most had co.
He had started calling her that shortened na when he learned Lind gave her the na she had.
Her tears vanished as she tried to use her fonts but the damned suppression stopped her.
"Go away!"
She kept her back to him but then she felt a hand on her shoulder.
She reacted as Qing had taught her.
The arm was in her grasp and Kelvin was flung over her shoulder to land flat on his back.
He was peak Stone Tier, so he was hardly hurt but he looked like he had taken a lethal blow from the toss.
She moved away from him but rembered Lind's words.
She had put it off for too long.
"I do not like you, Kelvin.
Your master and this whole Sect does not appeal to .
I am almost done with my lessons on my formation foundation.
Once that is done, I will request to go back to my sect."
She finally spoke the words from her heart and felt lighter.
Lind had been right.
She apologized in her heart and would make it up to him later.
Kelvin looked so small at her words but then he fird up as he picked himself up.
"You are confused.
The human slaver has twisted your view.
I will save you, Annie."
Annabelle felt shock flood her body.
What did he just say?!
Human slaver?!
"LIND IS NOT A SLAVER, HE IS MY LOVER!!!"
Her voice reverberated and she did not care.
Her heart was demanding her to beat the face in of this fool but she held back.
The Relic area gave her so leveled playing field but Kelvin was a good warrior.
Kelvin's blue skin darkened in rages as his fists cracked.
"He is not your lover!!!
He does not love you! He only used you for his pleasure and I will put an end to it!"
Annabelle wanted to back up but then found the gold stone behind her.
The heat of the fire Qi was held back by the shield but when the Diamond Tier surge ca it would get dangerous.
"You are insane!
I am leaving and never coming back to this place.
Lind and I will be happy together forever!"
She was so fervent that sothing cracked in Kelvin's face before he suddenly summoned a sword. Annabelle was not far behind but she was not fast enough.
Her spear was sent flying as she was unable to assu her stance near the stream.
She was not pressed against the shield.
"You ungrateful whore!
You bend over for that human when your true Dao companion is right in front of you?!"
Kelvin was wild-eyed as his sword surged with Qi.
Only conducting items could work in that environnt, but still limited to within those items.
"What are you doing, Kelvin?!"
A new voice called out and Annabelle felt hope.
Sasha was here!
She was a good friend, she was also the sa tier as Kelvin.
"You are no better.
You think I don't know how often you go to his tent too!
You are all ungrateful.
We saved you!
We are the only people who matter!"
Annabelle suddenly understood that Kelvin was possessed.
It was a heart demon!
How long?
How long had the man been possessed?
His eyes were becoming sinister as a lewd smile passed over his face.
His free hand moved towards Annabelle's robes but Sasha summoned her war hamr.
Before they could blink, Kelvin seed to blur as he pierced Sasha in the stomach with his sword as if it was easy.
"I knew you were a traitor to your kind, Sasha, but I had hoped to add you to my harem in the future."
Annabelle felt sick and scared.
A possessed cultivator would have a massive increase in strength until they were consud entirely.
Only a monster would be left behind.
He looked at her as he tilted his head almost too far.
His neck creaked as dark laughter began to echo around them.
Annabelle tried to summon a communication jade but Kelvin blurred again.
The feel of cold steel was on her neck when suddenly erald flas engulfed her.
"Like hell, I will allow this!"
A staff glowed with erald light as lightning struck Kelvin.
If he was still only in the Stone Tier, it would have made him twitch or possibly be stunned as he was caught off guard, but the possessed aether child only looked enraged at Lind.
"YOU!! IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!
I WILL FREE US ALL FROM YOU!"
Corrupted Qi began to emanate from Kelvin and it alerted all of the teams.
Voices began to rise in panic as anyone that had learned cultivation knew what corrupted Qi ant.
"Don't give in, Kelvin.
It is lying to you.
It promises power and all your dreams but you won't be there anymore.
You are better than–"
Lind ducked as a sword sliced where his neck had just been.
A frown crossed LInd's face and he looked so sad.
"Lind!"
Annabelle called out in fear.
He was only a peak Soul Realm and while he had so success against Sand Tiers, a Stone Tier would kill him easily!
"Go to hell, you whore!"
Kelvin reacted to her voice and Lind looked terrified as his full aura flared and he used all his Qi to move almost as fast.
Annabelle felt hands grab her and shove an elixir in her hand.
She stumbled to Sasha's side and whipped her head around to see a nightmare.
Erald flas blood as Lind grabbed Kelvin and twisted over the fire Qi.
Lind was going to use the stream to kill Kelvin!
"YOU WILL GO WITH
TOO, LIND FREY!"
Corrupted water Qi wrapped around Lind before he could react and was pulled into the stream as well.
The shield had vanished due to Lind's interference and the Diamond Tier surge arrived.
Kelvin was on fire and Lind was struggling inside.
"JON!
PLEASE BREAK THE SHIELD!"
Annabelle scread but the surge ca and Lind was washed away by the fire Qi.
"LLLLLLIIIIINNNNNDDDDD!"
Her scream brought all running as the elixir fell from her weak hands.
A spasm of breath made her quickly administer it but her movents were chanical.
It was like her body was simply obeying input from the outside but her spirit was shattered.
Kelvin was gone but he had destroyed her world.
Her life had no more aning.
Why had she fought with Lind?
Why hadn't she taken his advice months ago?
Why?
Why?
Why was Lind gone?
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