Hu was downing healing pills and irritated at their ineffectiveness. Some kind of cheat artifact had been used to circumvent all the protections on his body. All the gold lost on getting tier 3 and tier 4 artifacts with that tier 5 manifestation treasure were all wasted! How useless could those refiners be?! Why were these alchemy pills so shoddy?!
It never occurred to the large man that his unstable cultivation and impure meridians were the leading cause of his issues. Qi barely circulated in his body and soon he would no longer be able to progress. He never worked hard in his life as his father spoiled him.
"CHEN! CHEN WHERE ARE YOU?!" Hu wanted an explanation for why that boy was not disqualified. It was an impromptu plan, but there should have been 'spontaneous' shouts of agreement from the audience and the judges were supposed to bow to his will. What had happened?
Hu was more frustrated at that annoying Gu whore. Hu was supposed to be last in the finals but somehow, she was placed behind him. She was not in his plans at all. He knew her clan had thwarted his attempts to take her as well. As she was the heir, it was impossible to get his way. The Frey wench had appeared just in time, but now it was all gone.
Hu moved down the cool stone corridor to the stairwell leading up. He was trying to get back up to the exit level, but suddenly found shadows standing in his way. He assumed they were his men at first and was furious at their incompetence but then he frowned.
The people ahead of him were dressed in finer silk than he supplied his men. His father's forces were barely any better but they milked this district as much as possible. Many loved his father, but Hu knew the truth. The Overseer put on a good public face but could not stand the onerous duty demanded from the empire. Hu was not even sure who his mother was due to this but few knew of that fact.
His father, however, was much more subtle about things. Hu took advantage of this to begin to accrue power of his own and stop being bothered by his old man by the time he was 16. A few official functions and required updates, but Hu was left to to his own devices in the poorer areas. The empire did not care about its citizens anyway in Hu's mind.
"Who are you people? Do you know who I am?" Hu was sweating, covered in dirt, bleeding from his body in several places, but he seemed to think his august majesty was obvious to all. In the Southern District, there was no one that could challenge his authority. Even after his defeat, Hu only thought of ways to get his revenge on the Frey Clan.
It never occurred to him that for cultivators, karma is not an abstract concept.
"They are well aware who you are, bastard son of the Overseer Marcus. Their orders have been to clean up this mess you have created and bring the pertinent guilty parties to her royal highness, the 3rd Princess of the Lotus Empire, Jia Teng." A voice came from behind Hu who whipped around but felt his legs lose all feelings as pressure slammed into his weakened body. Even at his peak, this pressure would crush him.
Cold, violet eyes bore into his face from a cloaked woman. Despite being down the stairs and shorter than him, Hu felt like an ant. He felt fear freeze the blood in his veins as he had felt this pressure once before in his life.
"W-world Realm!" A World Realm cultivator was in the Southern District, and not a weak one! There were a few Sand Tier World Realms, but his father was in Stone Tier. The various Clans in the Empire usually had at least a World Realm leading them, but they averaged out at the Sand Tier. The variance in strength between low tier to peak tier was enough to make things difficult to gauge a cultivator in World Realm only by that title, but the pressure told the story.
The last time Hu felt pressure like this was when an Imperial Inspector came to talk to his father. Something had happened with a servant and the pressure had flattened nearly everyone in the room, including his father. Only an Iron Tier could have done that! What was someone so powerful doing in the Southern District without his knowledge?!
"To save time, you are under arrest. To start with your blatant intervention in this tournament to various accounts of embezzlement, rape, and dereliciton of duty are what I can prove as of this moment." Her words pierced his heart and Hu tried to move his arms but the pressure did not allow him to do anything. The shadows moved all around and Hu could only whimper as he soiled himself before blackness claimed him.
****
The disgusting smell filled the stairwell as Silvia had the pathetic man hauled away. A slim man dressed in slightly shabbier robes was bound behind her but he had not once spoken a word of protest, even when he was cornered before the finals had gotten very far. It was thanks to this slim man that Silvia was able to stop any further idiocy from Hu.
"Any final words to say before we send you off?" Silvia did not hold back his fate. Likely, Hu would be joining him but that was above her authority to decide. She would heavily recommend it, possibly emphasize she could make it look like he was accidentally castrated before somehow being stabbed over 20 times while still alive. Transports could be very dangerous if not packed properly.
"I have nothing to save my life but now that he is arrested, there is one other matter you should know. I was bound by contract now to reveal this, yet now I can feel the binding is lifted." Chen was neither stoic nor showing fear. He had known what was coming the moment he learned the 3rd Princess was here. Escape was far too late by that point. He saw the violet eyes glance at him and strangely he let that face burn itself into his mind. The end was near and beauty was comforting at this time.
"Speak." This man could be evasive but now Silvia only saw acceptance. It was sad that he would end due to serving such a foolish master. Even so, none of her thoughts showed on her face and she firmly grasped the battle axe on her hip. It had been stored away previously, but now the gleaming axe shone with a few tremors of darkness. It was perfectly crafted for her elements and it excelled at stealth attacks.
"It is regarding the Frey Clan and the Imperial Hostage…" Words flowed and as Chen spoke he saw shock replaced by rage on Silvia's face. Chen felt no pity at the storm he was unleashing. He only wanted to reduce his karmic retribution so that his next life might be better. His story resolved and saw her nod to the shadowed people behind him.
The last thing Chen saw was those violet eyes full of cold rage vanish much as he had done over the years. It was the last thing he saw in his life.
****
"How was this matter hidden from the Emperor?" Jia Teng was transformed from a mischievous girl enjoying the tournament to a cold woman of steel. Her pale green eyes were merciless going over the reports but her heart was raging at this latest piece of news. It had only taken the time of incense to burn to confirm the matter. How could something so clear be hidden for so long?!
"From what I have found, the Overseer had no desire to keep his word to the Emperor and passed it off to the Frey Clan. Gu and Che were in favor at court due to past contributions, but the Frey Clan has become reclusive in the past centuries. They serve faithfully but without much distinction." Silvia was kneeling as she relayed all her network had uncovered. The Frey Clan had one of the few grade 2 alchemists, someone with the near perfect combination of elements as well.
The Alchemic Guild was an international organization so it only concerned itself with its people and if resolved, did not take matters further. It was bad for business and useless to bring more attention over a grade 2 only. Potential was still potential and the Frey Clan also had a claim on her. If not for this incident, the Empire may never have known at all.
"I want all the people involved killed. No trials or second chances. Their families will be stripped of privileges as well. Further, I want a special dispensation issued to the Frey Clan. Anything else?" Jia never looked up as she meted out the changes in fate to hundreds of lives. Silvia froze for a moment before continuing and the pause brought Jia's gaze up to see a rare look of caution on her bodyguard's face. "What is it?"
"It is in regard to the young man we saw in the tournament and 3 others. They are bastards of Alteran nobility. Technically, they should be repatriated due to the situation, but I am unsure." Pressure exploded outwards from Jia as wind blades shattered all the glassware in the room. Neither could be hurt by stray shards, but the guards outside flinched as they felt the rage of the Princess.
"Why was this not included in the report?" The cold words were spoken with lethal intent. Silvia had informed of the assaults and current location of the Imperial Hostage. She had not included the 4 children at all. What had their lives been like in the Frey Clan?
"This is our fault, Highness. The Imperial Family chose to move the hostage to the Southern District according to the treaty, but our failure brought this tragedy to the Frey Clan. The Overseer also covered it up by use of Imperial Edict." Silvia's words made Jia lose all rage. Jia wanted to blame the Overseer and his minions but it was her family's fault as well. This karma was incurred by them as well. Silvia was trying to give her a way out by omission but Jia was not this kind of person.
"I want a message sent to my Imperial Father. Inform him, in detail of what has been confirmed and of the following." Jia stood up from the black lacquered desk that shone under the late afternoon sunlight. This was the 3rd Imperial Princess of the Lotus Empire who had been doing her duty for over 200 years. "I will be meting out punishment at my discretion per the authority invested in me and to compensate for gross negligence on the part of Imperial representatives in the Southern District."
Silvia felt her throat go dry. In the centuries she had followed this woman, it was never a good thing to hear 'meting out punishment at my discretion' in any missive to the Imperial Capital in the far north. Jia could do it, but repercussions would then fall solely on her head. Silvia sighed as she nodded and sent forth one of her minions to relay the message.
A silver medallion with a lotus on one side and the visage of the founding Emperor on the other flashed in Jia's hands. Silvia nearly stumbled. The words spoken in the VIP lounge came back to her and sweat broke out on Silvia's forehead.
"The bet was broken off Highness, you cannot take the boy now." Recruiting a 6 elemental was a waste no matter how talented. The young Mistress of Gu was impressive as a 7th tier Soul Ream, but come the breakthrough into World Realm, even the Gu Clan with a heritage of producing 6 elementals still failed to succeed the issues there.
"I know, Silvia, but we now carry a karmic debt to that boy in more ways than one. His suffering and sacrifice for his family cannot be ignored as it was indirectly caused by us as well." Jia's face was no longer cold. It was gentle looking at the medallion. She looked up and there was firm determination in her eyes. "I will grant him the medallion not as a recruitment, but to give him a better chance. It is the least I can do."
Silvia found it hard to refute this. As cultivators progress, karmic debt and credit became more important at the time of breakthroughs. Many powerful cultivators had faced horrifying tribulations when trying to break through to the Gold or Diamond tiers, never mind the Sky Realm if their karmic retribution was very high. Wicked path cultivators had their own methods but demons were different from humans. Karma seemed to work differently for them.
The miscellaneous thoughts were dismissed as Silvia nodded her agreement before discussing the details of what was to come. The execution of the current Overseer and his son was a foregone conclusion, but the rest needed some debate. The storm of change was about to sweep over the Southern District and only celebratory sounds filled the streets for the end of Tri-Clan tournament outside the small room all of their fates were decided.