I stared at the sleeping Ari and sighed. A few more rounds would've been nice.
Thanks to the afterglow of sex. The pain from my internal wounds has softened, and I was feeling the best I had since emerging from my coma.
It was a myth that immortals were beyond the needs of the body. You can see that immortals still yearn for creature comforts by visiting any major upper world city and seeing all the stores that cater to them.
I cleaned Ari's and my bodies with Water Qi.
I turned my gaze to Ari and my robes which had been completely shredded in my haste.
I pulled a black cultivator robe out of my storage ring and quickly dressed myself.
I brought out a matching robe for Ari. Dressing her proved to be a pleasant challenge.
Once she was fully dressed, I picked her up and carried her out of the room which startled the old female servant who was waiting on the other side of the door.
"The intensity of our spar was a little more than what your Lady could handle. She'll be fine with some rest." I stated to the servant.
"I'll get some able body servants to carry the Lady." Said the old servant.
"No, I'll carry the Lady. You'll lead the way to her bedroom."
The old woman hesitated before accepting my command.
She led me to Ari's bedroom, which was even more sparse than my own room.
Financial difficulties had beset House Hesk for the last two generations of house heads. It was these troubles that led Ari's father to make an ill-suited match for his daughter which ultimately cost him his status.
I placed Ari down on the bed and then sat down on a nearby chair.
"Elder Hirom?" The elderly female servant questioned.
"You may stay here to maintain decorum but do so quietly. I wish to think." I stated.
The old woman retreated to a corner of the room.
I stared at Ari as I attempted to suppress the mounting disquiet that was growing in my mind.
Sex with Ari wasn't in any of my plans.
My prophetic vision had shaken my core more than I cared to admit.
I had known the power of singular events since my youth.
My uncle's death broke my family and gave birth to an eager young boy who tried to fix what was broken.
My disastrous hunt of a rust-bone boar at age fourteen had taught me the perils of impulsiveness and brought me an understanding of the havoc my death would unleash in my father's household.
A patient and rational man grew from those experiences. A man who soaked in knowledge and used this knowledge to strategize, sacrificing anything that stood in the way of his core objectives.
This man was so set in his ways that when confronted by a doomed future, he had the foolishness to believe that he could face this problem as he had all others.
But how could one bear witness to a future that mocks your very being and not be changed by it?
I certainly couldn't.
A new me was being born. One that chaffed under the restraints of the old.
My plans since awakening from my coma were rationalizations for the desires that were bubbling to the surface.
My plan for the wolf sisters was fixing the regrets of the future me.
My reopening of my parents' wounds was the remnant hopes of a boy long gone.
And now the current me had stepped to the forefront.
The lessons of the past still clung to me. I couldn't allow myself to slip into impulsiveness. Having sex with Ari wouldn't cause repercussions but there were no guarantees if I slipped up again.
I could no longer afford to put all my focus on just the core objectives.
Lust was the desire that led to this loss of control. A longing that I had suppressed for years as I pushed aside potential disturbances that could've jeopardized my attempts to breakthrough.
It was sedated enough for now, but a new desire was coming to the forefront as I stared at the sleeping Ari. A solution to the discontent that had been growing in my mind since I took on the task of being Nira's and Talia's master.
The proud ancestors of House Hesk chose my father as their house's regent over the candidates with bloodline connections because they trusted him to maintain their house's independence. A trust my father has kept.
Independence has a cost. The debts of House Hesk had been paid off by House Zel, but new debts that House Hesk now owes House Zel are clearly written in both houses' ledgers.
The ancestors of House Hesk have long decided to marry Nira and Talia to another house once they've reached a marriageable age as their unique talents represent too much of a cost and risk for a house that has recently regained its financial stability.
As the girl's master and Heir of House Zel, this decision by the ancestors of House Hesk has always irked me.
I, as the girl's master, enjoy teaching my two eager disciplines but dislike having restrictions on what I can teach, while part of me that was the Heir of House Zel disliked the fact that any of my knowledge and wisdom would aid the future assets of a rival house.
Sex with Ari had brought forth a new possibility. A way to appease the master and the heir is to consume this household and drag it into my own.
The way of the lion.
The path where the old and new me intersected in agreement.
A new plan was already forming in my mind, but with it came the furthering of my unease.
Ari and her girls weren't in my prophetic vision.
Was the connection between me in my vision and the three ladies of this household so tenuous that it didn't even warrant a single appearance in my vision, or did something happen?
I stood up, startling the older servant.
"I'm going to check on the two girls before leaving." I informed the servant.
She bowed her head.
"I'll lead you there." She said.
"Unnecessary." I stated before vanishing from the room.
I arrived outside Talia's meditation room. My sudden appearance startled the young female servant, who was keeping watch over the entrance.
"I'm heading in to check on her." I told the young servant and entered before she could respond.
I closed the door behind myself. Talia was still sitting where I left her. Her eyes closed as she focused on absorbing the Water Marrow Pill. The air around her was moistened by the waves of excess Qi that radiated off her.
As I had done earlier in the day, I took a seat behind her. In my current state, I couldn't explore her inner sea to discern what was causing the instability in her Qi, but I might be able to discover a clue by absorbing the Qi radiating off her.
I circulated my Qi while pulling in excess Qi that radiated off Talia.
The traces of Qi I got from Talia were minute, and the sensations I received from this QI were also thin. Like a taste that died the moment it hit your tongue, but occasionally that taste held something familiar. Something I instinctively knew shouldn't be there but was unable to place.
I persisted with my efforts at the edge of comprehension.
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The day was winding down as the sun was hanging low in the sky.
A pair of golden eyes opened in Talia's meditation chamber. They were filled with pure rage. Standing up, the man with the golden eyes slipped into the shadows.
The door to Talia's meditation chambers opened, startling a dozing young woman standing guard. She peered at the opening, but nothing emerged from the darkened room. The young woman suddenly fell to the ground with a thump.
All across the compound, the servants started collapsing to the ground, unconscious.
The compound came to complete stillness.
Nira and Talia were the only members of the household that remained awake as they continued to absorb the pills in blissful unawareness of what was happening.
The quiet of the compound was shattered by the thrashing noise coming from the servants' quarters as their possessions were being strewn about. Then a dark chuckle could be heard, and the stillness returned.
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I walked to the stables to find Arlo brushing the flank of a razor-wind horse.
"My Lord." Arlo greeted me upon noticing my arrival.
"You will go to the treasury and request Grand Elder Yarim to come here." I ordered Arlo.
"Yes, My Lord."
Leaving Arlo, who was clambering onto the carriage's box seat. I returned to Ari's bedroom.
I took a quick look at the peacefully sleeping Ari before gripping the leg of the elderly female servant who had fallen to the floor. In order to maintain Ari's sleep, I dragged the old woman out of her room.
Ari needed to be aware of what I found, but I would hold off on waking her until I was certain of everything.
I located a room that was empty and threw the old lady inside. A thin knife materialized in my hand.
The servant awoke with a scream. She gazed in horror at the sight of me cutting into her right arm. I was currently in the midst of slicing away the muscles so I could reach the nerve pathway.
The servant tried to move but I held her in place with my Qi.
"You probably aren't aware of this, but I've always had a thirst for knowledge. My practice of Dark Water Reflections was motivated by this thirst." I informed her. My calm voice was offset by her screams as my knife found the nerve pathway.
"Having mastered Dark Water Reflection, I asked my mother to teach me other basic Water Qi techniques. Normally, my mother doesn't support my fruitless academic endeavors, but I believe she was happy to pass on some parts of her knowledge to her only offspring.
"As a High Priestess, my mother has a thorough understanding of the human body and the healing arts." I informed the elderly servant as I used Water Qi to repair most of the damage my knife had caused. The skin on the old woman's arm returned to its original state, but the anguish and perplexity were still visible on her face.
"Something else you probably don't know is that your body contains sensory pathways that can cause severe pain If damaged. Even worse, if you treat these pathways incorrectly, the misery will endure." I openly offered my knowledge to end the elder woman's perplexity.
I took out a small porcelain container from my robes. I unsealed it and dumped its contents. The released monster core made a clinking sound as it landed on the stone floor.
"This is something that I do believe you have knowledge of since I found it in your quarters. I also reckon that you know how there are traces of Demon Qi within the Young Lady Talia's internal sea." I stated.
There was resistance in the servant's gaze, but also fright and pain.
"So, my current thirst for knowledge leads me to ask you. Who gave you this core and directed you to use it to poison your Young Lady?" I asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I've never seen that core before." The servant replied in a hoarse voice.
I felt my lips curl back into a smile.
"Then shall we discover together how many injured sensory pathways it will take before you are willing to talk?"