Reborn as a Demonic Tree

Stella had her arms crossed and was drumming her fingers with impatience. She stood on the slanted roof of a house near the portal in the tournament realm, and her eyes flickered between the hundreds of cloaked individuals streaming through the portal and down the main cobbled stone road.

The mustache man said that out of all the people he sold pills to, the one that stood out the most was a rich-looking outsider who had made their appearance around midnight. Which just so happens to line up with the time when Old Bill was likely murdered and turned into a tree. While not enough to mark her as the suspect, she is worth investigating. Mustache man described her as having ghostly white hair, skin, and icy blue eyes. She also had many silver spatial rings, which are rare for those outside noble families to own. With features like that, she should stand out from the crowd.

Stella frowned. She had quite a lot to go off, yet it was serving rather useless when everyone streaming through the portal wore the same style of black cloak, marking them as members of the All-Seeing Eye, and many had their hoods up, obscuring their features. Their proximity to each other also made sensing for cultivators in the Soul Fire Realm and above impossible for her.

"Tree, are you able to pick her out?" Stella said under her breath. An assassin used any means available to them to gather intel. While she would love to handle this herself, asking Tree for help wasn't cheating."While outnumbered by a hundred to one, there are still more than a hundred Soul Fire Realm's present, and I don't know her affinity." Ash's voice reverberated through her mind, "So no, I can't easily pick her out. You need to find a way to narrow down the search even more, regardless of their appearance, as appearances can be obscured or changed. Just like what you are doing now. Thousands of people are walking below you with no idea the Princess of the sect is watching over them."

Stella silently nodded in agreement. By blanketing her spiritual senses over the people, she reached a similar conclusion to Ash. There were too many Soul Fire Realm cultivators to investigate them all individually.

I can't detect any Star Core cultivators besides those in the Ashfallen Sect here, so the culprit, assuming they are still around, is definitely in the Soul Fire Realm. However, to harm Ash's roots in such a realm, they must be in the upper stages or possess a rare and powerful affinity. That definitely narrows down the possibilities even more. The source of thɪs content is novel~fire~net

"This is really bad," Ash said, "To think someone would get a hold of my sap during an event like this. I can track people infected with my sap now, but that also came with an upgrade to its potency. If the culprit infects the water supply, everyone in the Qi Realm will turn into trees before I have time to react and save them."

Stella winced. That would be an absolute disaster, as the disappearance of everyone participating in the tournament wouldn't go unnoticed by these people's families. Ashfallen's reputation would crumble, along with faith in the All-Seeing Eye.

"Don't worry, Tree. I'll find them before that happens."