Chapter 371: Grim Reaper
"W-We are going to kill him tonight?" Stella stuttered as she felt a pain in her chest. They had slaughtered the Voidmind family to fake her death, used the last divine beast egg to create the amulet to hide her bloodline and Qi from the world, and she had hidden away for weeks.
Yet it was all for nothing?
Stella was struggling to breathe. Everyone will die because of me—Vincent is near the Monarch Realm with three affinities and can track me down through the threads of fate? If I stay here, Tree, Diana... Stella looked down to her side at Jasmine, who looked up at her with those big, innocent yellow eyes filled with youth and hope. Stella gulped as she imagined Jasmine, a bloodied paste on the ground below Vincent's feet. They are all going to die trying to fight him for me.
"We aren't ready to fight him," Stella said resolutely as she looked into Ash's eye. "It's my bloodline he wants, not all of you or anyone else here." She clenched her jaw, and her whole body tensed. This was the right decision. "I'll go—"
"What in the nine realms are you talking about? Think Stella, what would that achieve?" Ashlock thundered—his voice filled with a churning wrath of emotions that crashed against the Soul Protection fruit enveloping her consciousness. Stella almost fell to her knees beside Valandor as the mist encircling her consciousness pulsed an enraged red, and spatial Qi crackled through the air all around the demonic spirit tree. Stella had never seen Ash so angry... was her way of seeing this situation so wrong?
"I just don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me." Stella choked on her own words. "You have all done so much for me, and all I've done in return is cause problems. How could I possibly agree that we all fight against a foe so powerful that even if we win..." Her expression hardened as she surveyed everyone's faces. "There will be casualties. Deaths. All because he wants my bloodline—"
Diana came out of nowhere and stole the breath from her lungs with a crushing hug. "You silly girl," she whispered in her ear before putting her down. The Demoness had a sad smile as she looked deeply into her eyes, "We are cultivators who defy the heavens and fight every day for survival. How many times have we almost died together? Do you truly believe any of us fear death at this point? Besides, if we die, we can simply rise again as a tree." Diana smirked, "What we truly fear is what that lump of wood would do if we lost you." Diana pointed a thumb over her shoulder at Ash. His Qi was out of control as it radiated off his trunk, and divine energy arced between his branches overhead. "I don't think any of us are ready to deal with that headache," Diana joked and patted Stella on the shoulder. "So do your best to live and keep him happy, okay?"
Stella absentmindedly nodded. It was as if her brain had stopped working. Nothing made sense. Why was everyone nodding at Diana's words in the background?
"Also, it's not your fault you have a delicious bloodline that some old creep wants a taste of," Diana winked at her, "If not for you, I'm sure he would be after me. He needs to go, and sacrificing you isn't the answer. That's just silly, and you know it. We will tackle this together, as we have always done."