The icicle that had pierced through the Pyros Eagle's stomach glistened with the dusk, thawing out slowly. The shards across Heaven's Eye in the sky hummed with illumination, auroras dancing through the darkening eve.
Shuren raised an eyebrow in response, settling down the need to say a response. It was best not to probe with the fall of their city.
The Ash Tiger slowed down to a crawl near the rock. Its legs trembled, struggling to walk any further. Aerestia knelt alongside it, caressing its neck.
"She's…She's dying. Now that we've been led to her cubs, her strength is waning." Her branched horns twinkled amongst the night with Qi, soothing the Ash Tiger.
"Why not see the cubs one last time?" Shuren asked.
"It'll be difficult for me to give them a home. Those cubs will mourn at the corpse of their mother for days. They won't survive like that, and she knows that well. But if I find the cubs, they'll follow me because of the scent of their mother." Aerestia rested her head against the Ash Tiger, the light dimming from its eyes as nature took its course. The exhaustion and injuries from the Pyros Eagle should've long killed it. But the love of a mother allowed her to defy death, allowing her to bloom one last time.
Her hands glistened with the staff, showing her power. Ice formed once more, in the shape of a long stick. One of its end widened, and the shape of a shovel formed.
"Wait, we can still use its corpse. It's a waste to just bury the beast here, and we still need to gather evidence." Shuren said, walking towards her. Though it was severely damaged, there were still plenty of ingredients to gather.
Aerestia said nothing in response. He couldn't see her face, but her fingers clenching the shovel trembled. He could only sigh at the meaning. Even if the Ash Tiger wasn't her own familiar, she treated her different. And he had to admit, that tiger valiantly held up a strong fight to assist him.
A hand outstretched towards Aerestia. "Give it to me. I'll bury her. You focus on your job, go comfort those cubs and tame them." Shuren felt a cool feeling of ice, but yet its texture wasn't slippery. He could grip it with ease, and he began his part to dig up the surrounding dirt.
She ran off towards the rock, finding a camouflaged burrow made of sticks and leaves. The cries and hisses of a creature could be heard.
He still didn't catch her face, but he had an inkling that she bore sorrow of the Ash Tiger's departure. She's soft. But without her, I would've had a pathetic performance in this missive.
He didn't agree with her decision. The body of a beast at this level would be useful, especially when sending it to the Beast Butchers.
Is this what father meant by the variance of culture amongst regions?
For once, Shuren gained a deeper meaning of his father's words. Cloud City, the southern regions and its inhabitants, were unlike the central continent. They all had their way of life. If he ever explored the other continents and regions, would they also operate so differently?
A place free of conspiracies and cutthroat politics, where even one's own blood were put against another?
He smiled, gazing to the sky, filled with excitement for the future. As long as I become an Outer Elder with Seven Clouds, I can gain my status at the Liu Clan once more with an alliance. By then I'll have some breathing space and go on my own travels after contributing to the sect, taking the patriarch's Crown Missives as a reasoning.
Even elders had their own missives to undertake, which often required work outside of the Cloud City.
Though he only used his left hand, it took little effort to carve out a deep hole. Placing the Ash Tiger in the grave was a bit of a struggle, leveraging one end of the shovel to roll the corpse down. Covering up the grave was the easiest part. With the strength of Iron Talisbody, one arm still cleared up the hole within a minute.
Having bided her time until the mother's corpse was out of sight, Aerestia walked back with two young cubs on her shoulders. It didn't take long for them to cuddle her, completely relaxed. Without even needing a Beast Tamer's formation, she easily befriended them, and they followed her with no issues. Shuren noted the faint signs of tears that ran down her cheeks.
The twin cubs played with each other on Aerestia's flying nimbus, enjoying themselves. She used a strange technique that morphed her staff into the size of a wooden ball, placing it in her pouch.
A putrid smell wafted from Shuren's side.
He frowned, walking to observe the corpse of the Pyros Eagle. The ice had completely melted, and its stomach was cut open. Shuren held his chin as he ruminated, before saying out loud, "I'll have to find a way to seal this, otherwise its innards will fall out if I fly back."
Aerestia walked over, observing the wound at a distance. "I can form a thin veil of ice to cover it. What should we do?" She asked.
"After we let the farmers know of the incident, we should drop by the Beast Butchers at Evening Clouds. Won't have to haul this corpse all the way up the mountains that way. We'll split the Cloud Sigils gained from this together." Shuren said, lowered his flying nimbus until the corpse lay at his feet.
Aerestia shook her head. "You don't have to do that, I managed to get these-"
Shuren cut her off, speaking in a lowered tone. "Do not insult my dignity any further, Lady Aerestia. Us cultivators must always remain fair. Do not lower your head all the time and accept what is rightfully due." He faced her. Waiting for the right answer.
Manifesting ice without her staff, she was undeniably beyond Stage 9 of the Qidense realm. If anything, he should be the one following her lead according to the laws of cultivation. It was almost laughable.
She bent her leg, raising an arm to her chest. Shuren felt the urge to say that she shouldn't bow, but he shelved the thought. This was already progress enough.
"Thank you, Shuren. May the spirit's blessings beholden you." She committed the same bow as the merchant Eurastale, with the same saying, common amongst the Silvents. Her two branches shined with vermillion-streaked purple in the night, alongside a faint hue of glow.
Shuren, without hesitation, clasped both his hands, an instinct deep rooted within his bone. The next moment his face turned pale, gritting his teeth hard enough to make sounds as he bore the pain of his injured right arm. But he refused to stop his bow, choosing instead to speed it up in order to relax his arm once more.
"You shouldn't be moving your arm around like that. Let it rest a bit," Aerestia said with her brows raised in worry. She had already begun scrounging through her pouch for a refined pain killer.
Shuren's nostrils exhaled for a while. "I'm fine, it's no matter. Let's deal with that disgusting smell from the eagle first." He said, kneeling down to observe the stomach. Aerestia didn't listen, double checking each corner of her pouch.
Shuren covered his nose. Gastric fluids filled its innards, but luckily there wasn't much solid feed. He couldn't imagine how much worse it'd be if it were filled with the innards of a whole cow. Just a few floating-
Shuren stared with bulging blood-shot eyes, rigid cords forming on his neck. His Qi cycled like a storm as his shoulders trembled in utter rage, his left hand enclosed in a fist so deep it wanted to tear someone apart.
Demonic cultivator! You dare to involve mortals?!
Aerestia stopped looking through her pouch when she noticed the sudden change of Shuren's Qi. He hid his anger with a blink, standing up to face Aerestia, his gaze neutral. An eye twitched.
"I'll just reforge my flying nimbus to seal its stomach. You don't need to waste your Qi. I know you're exhausted as well." Shuren scratched the back of his head.. "In fact, it's better if we split our roles. I'll go inform the farmers, and you go take the cubs away. We'll convene on the Fourth Mountain."
"Shuren." Aerestia faced him with the same neutral gaze. "What did you see?"
He only shook his head in denial. "Nothing."
"Your acting is terrible. Just tell me. Please."
He swallowed his own spit. The breath he held up released in a sigh. "Forgive me. I shouldn't treat you like a child."
He stepped aside, blocking the corpse no more. "The beast's eaten a person. And each limb has been sliced perfectly, no sign of its body being gouged by the eagle. There's no civilisation near Volkahor Mountains as well. Whoever the owner is…"
Shuren glared towards Volkahor Mountains.
"Has fed it mortals."