Fearmongering
Anoteros watched with satisfaction as the lesser invaders got to work cleaning his heavy club, using their tongues to lick the remnant elixir cleanly off. Their expressions of shame and disgust were a visual feast for him. Their punishment might be many times less than what their leader received, and was certainly preferable to what happened to their two fallen companions, but it nonetheless remained extremely humiliating.
Regardless, they were lucky, as the usual retribution for trespassing with ill intent, as they had, was usually torture and execution without any room for negotiations, especially since they were all no names without any connections that could justify keeping them as hostages for ransom or political gain.
Bottom of the barrel like themselves was only worth something in far greater numbers, and even then, they weren’t worth the hassle… As such, even if shameful beyond belief… Deep down, they were glad that their punishment would only amount to cleaning the one-headed hydra of their much more powerful adversary.
…However, the second they tasted the potent Cleansing Elixir and sensed the positive effect it had on their cultivation, most of them threw their rationale out of the window, beginning to work harder in an attempt to receive more of it.
They had expected a filthy taste from what covered the used weapon, but it couldn’t have been further from the truth… Like seagulls flocking on abandoned food, they acted like hungry, obedient beasts.
Display Of Dominance and Victor’s Right were also in full swing at the moment, only making the invaders more eager to serve.
“Calm down, boys. There’s enough for all of you…”
Before the outer cultivators could even realise what was happening, one of them was already choking on the enemy sword. It was clean, but none of them cared for it. They only cared for the benefits their cultivation could receive by being the Elt scion’s Twinktoys.
As if they were famished, they lunged with their tongues and lips toward the noble’s large pouch, taking turns to swallow the weapon that had broken their leader before their very eyes, but none of them even thought about the inner disciple right now.
The combined effect of three of Edrick’s innate abilities, alongside their own weakness and desire for strength, completely blinded them to the fact that they were acting like submissive Samelinists for an enemy of their own sect and nation. They didn’t even care that two of their fellows had lost their lives.
All that mattered to them was to cause an eruption of white, and after an unknown amount of time from their perspective, they got what they wanted…
“Stand still, and open wide, boys”
Anoteros took a step back and strongly polished his great weapon, causing it to surge with Cleansing Elixir in incredible quantities as he used Endless Spring, completely covering the outer disciples in a layer of the thick substances. Their faces and clothes ended up covered in it, but as much as they would have leapt at the occasion to gather as much as possible, the quantity and quality were too great for them to handle, and they found themselves losing consciousness just like their leader had…
Edrick heaved a sigh.
“That was great”
“Are you sure this won’t lead to even more animosity from Journomanp? I feel like a sect like Shenjian Sect wouldn’t care much about one inner disciple and some outer disciples missing in action, but this…? I don’t think I ever heard of such a thing happening”
“I doubt it ever happened, Chang… But I suppose most of those who do what I just did dispose of them anyway, or… Keep them”
The purple-eyed scion cracked his neck and fixed his clothes before pointing at the two invaders who had fallen in combat.
“Do you have anything to do with those?”
“Mmh… No…?”
“Great. I am starving”
Without ceremony, Anoteros feasted on the fallen trespasser, devouring them whole and not even leaving the hair and bones behind. Only their clothes and items, which Edrick still gathered into a pile alongside the weapons of the other invaders.
He tried everything together, using the clothes of the fallen ones, all under the shocked gaze of Chang Sheng.
“...Listen, I have a bloodline called Cannibal Sasquatch Lord Bloodline…”
“Oh… That’s… Unfortunate…?”
The golden-eyed scion spoke slowly, as it didn’t seem like Edrick had felt anything but joy doing what he had just done, but Chang didn’t feel like discussing this, switching subjects as he pointed at the knocked-out disciples.
“Should we leave them here?”
“They might get themselves killed by someone not as nice as us. We didn’t find whatever they used to traverse the mountains, so they must have hidden them somewhere. Let’s carry them there”
As he said this, Anoteros transformed part of his face into that of a sasquatch, using the more refined sense of smell of the beast to find the spot where the invaders had carelessly hidden what were usually called ‘flying swords’.
Edrick didn’t know why they felt the need to use a sword as a mode of transport, especially when they carried weapons on themselves anyway, but he and Chang unloaded the unconscious enemies near this spot, and once they woke up and realised the full extent of what had happened, they all began panicking like crazy.
Especially the outer disciples, who all now remembered how ‘eager’ they had been. They felt like dying on the spot from sheer shame. The only saving grace in their eyes was that they hadn’t received the same treatment as their leader, but it frankly wasn’t much better.
At least, the inner disciple had done his best to remain defiant, whilst they had submitted without question.
They all agreed to lie about what had happened and simply say that they encountered an enemy too strong for them to handle, that two of them had died, and that they had all been injured…
Indeed, they all willfully injured themselves to various degrees to sell their story and not be ridiculed by their peers and elders. None of them had a clean track record in the Samelinist incident, and so, none of them was willing to say a thing about what had happened.
…Alas, this reaction of theirs was far too predictable, and Chang brought it up to Edrick as they resumed their walk like nothing had happened, but the Elt scion merely shook his head.
“Don’t worry, they can’t keep it a secret, no matter what”
Unbeknownst to the group, the weakest outer disciple amongst them. A young cultivator no one paid any mind to and whose talent was unlikely to even bring him to the inner circle of the sect… Unknown to his peers, his back was now adorned with tendrils of dark purple.
He had been marked, and as per his master’s order, he would leak the story to the whole sect, and even beyond.
This disciple could feel his twink-rod harden at the thought of eventually receiving a reward…
‘All for Master~’