A Farmer's Journey To Immortality - Chapter 724: Imminent Rise of the Third Faction?
Chapter 724: Imminent Rise of the Third Faction?
The room was quiet as Aksai stared at the formation map floating in front of him.
His mind was still turning over the pieces he had gathered so far.
Nuri spoke after a brief pause.
[Master, may I ask something?]
“Go ahead,” Aksai replied without looking away.
[If the Mroot Yaksha Lord truly survived the 3rd Order One Thousand Deaths Poison,] Nuri said, [would he even be capable of targeting all the other Lords?]
Aksai stopped moving. He raised his hand and slowly rubbed his chin.
“You’re right,” he said after thinking for a moment. “If he is still alive, he wouldn’t be in good shape.”
He let out a slow breath.
“The One Thousand Deaths Poison doesn’t just kill,” Aksai continued. “Even if it failed, the aftereffects would still be there. His body, his Spirit core, even his mind would be damaged.”
He shook his head slightly.
“On his own, he wouldn’t be able to plan and carry out attacks on so many Lords,” Aksai said. “Not in that condition.”
Nuri listened in silence.
“That means he likely found help,” Aksai went on. “Someone capable. Someone who has access to a variety of forbidden Spirit Spells.”
His fingers tapped the table once.
“But the Blackblood Sect is out,” he said. “Even if it were to target the righteous faction Lords, Haitin would never help the Yaksha Lord. The Yaksha Lord was the reason the Blackblood Lord died in the first place.”
Aksai’s eyes shifted to the side.
“And the Frostbound Sect is even worse off,” he added. “They are dealing with an internal fight that is close to a civil war. In the Frostbound Lord’s absence, they barely have control over their own sect, let alone the power to support someone else.”
He paused again.
“The rest of the demonic sects?” Aksai scoffed softly. “They don’t have the strength or the brains to pull off something like this.”
Nuri spoke again.
[Master, then who do you think is behind all this?]
[If the Yaksha Lord is alive and involved, who is helping him?]
Aksai’s expression slowly turned cold. His eyes narrowed as a dangerous thought formed in his mind.
“Looks like this isn’t just about the righteous faction or the demonic faction anymore,” he said quietly.
He straightened his back.
“A third faction is forming,” Aksai said. “One that works in the shadows, hides its tracks, and moves everyone else like pieces on a board.”
He sighed as he felt a headache coming.
“And that,” he added softly, “is the most troubling part of all.”
The faint hum of formations filled the chamber as Nuri processed the new conclusions. Lines of light moved across the air, showing the Devil’s Den formation and its many layers.
[Master,] Nuri asked, [do you want to strengthen the modified Devil’s Den formation?]
Aksai shook his head slowly. For a moment, he thought that Nuri getting smarter had added to his headache slightly. The Neural Link Fabric was simply hungry for tasks.
“No,” he said. “That’s not the real problem.”
He looked at the formation map for a moment before continuing.
“The island already has enough security,” Aksai said. “Adding more layers or more power won’t change much. The real issue is the loopholes inside the system.”
Nuri paused.
[Then how do you plan to remove those loopholes?] she asked.
Even as she spoke, countless rune symbols appeared. She began encrypting the rune designs on the identity tokens, adjusting the patterns bit by bit.
Aksai noticed right away.
“Stop,” he said.
The rune symbols froze in mid-air.
“We don’t need to change the tokens,” Aksai said calmly. “Not like this.”
Nuri waited.
Aksai leaned back slightly and folded his arms.
“Nuri, we don’t need to change the island’s setup at all,” he said. “Instead, we need to move the headquarters of the Emerald Cove Guild. So that there wouldn’t be any need for us to distribute the privileged access tokens.”
Nuri’s lights flickered in surprise.
[Move the guild base?] she asked. [Where do you want to relocate it?]
Aksai looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment. Then a small smile formed on his face.
“Didn’t the Rokur Kingdom offer me all of Wuyum County at the grand celebration?” he said. “It’s time to make use of that land.”
He let out a quiet laugh.
“You remember that place, right?” Aksai added. “The rental farmhouse where I worked as a Spirit farmer.”
“Hehehe.”
His eyes gleamed with a mix of nostalgia and planning.
“Let’s build the guild base there,” he said. “That region also has access to the sea, so transport won’t be a problem.”
Nuri processed the idea in silence, running countless checks at once.
[Understood, Master,] she said at last.
Aksai’s smile slowly faded and was replaced by a focused look.
“If someone wants to exploit the system,” he said, “then we’ll change the board they’re playing on. I know what they will do. I don’t care if they spread rumors that I was scared into shifting my guild’s base. It is better to have bad publicity for a few years than to risk my life over shallow pride. What’s a few decades to a druid? Kekeke. I won’t act like the other Lords by suppressing news of this attack. In fact, I will do the opposite.”
The days that followed passed in a calm and steady way.
Emerald Cove returned to its usual rhythm. The waves hit the shore with a soft sound, the trees swayed gently, and the demon beasts kept their distance as if they could sense Aksai’s mood. For the first time since leaving his close-door cultivation, he allowed himself to slow down.
Aksai spent most of his time inside the palace or near the vineyards. Violet and Zara stayed close to him, along with a few other trusted maids. They served him tea, prepared his meals, and kept him company during the long afternoons.
Sometimes they talked about small things—stories from the island, changes in cultivation trends, or funny incidents among the younger servants.
Other times, there was no need for words.
Aksai would sit by the balcony, watching the sea stretch endlessly into the distance, while the maids quietly stayed by his side. One would massage his shoulders with gentle hands. Another would refill his cup before it was empty.
At night, the palace lights glowed softly.
Laughter would sometimes echo from Aksai’s chambers, low and relaxed. The tension that had settled in his body after the assassination attempt slowly faded.
His breathing became steady again, his thoughts clearer. He did not forget the danger, but he did not let it control him either. To be honest, he wasn’t scared of assassination attempts like the other Lords in the first place. After all, if push came to shove, he always had Enchanted Everwood Farm to retreat safely into.
While Aksai rested, Nuri worked without pause.
Using the Sentient Fiends under her control, she began moving the Emerald Cove Guild piece by piece. These fiends took the form of important guild members, merchants, and workers.
They carried resources, documents, tools, and secret scrolls and books off the island in small amounts. Nothing happened all at once. There was no chaos and no sudden movement to alert outsiders.
Some facilities were emptied quietly at night. Others were left running, but with fewer supplies inside. Important items were transferred through hidden routes that only Nuri could track. Even the Devil’s Den Formation logs showed nothing unusual.
To anyone watching from the outside, Emerald Cove looked the same as always.
Inside, however, the change had already begun.
Two weeks after Aksai’s close-door cultivation ended, the news spread across Emerald Cove like a sudden storm.
At first, it started as whispers.
Merchants noticed that the guild counters were closed. Mission boards were taken down overnight. The usual guards at the guild hall were gone, and the inner offices stood empty. By noon, it became clear that this was not a temporary shutdown.
The Emerald Cove Guild base was gone.
Soon, an official notice appeared in the central plaza. It stated that the guild headquarters had been moved to the mainland, to Rokur Kingdom’s Wuyum County. The new base had been built on the land where Aksai’s old rental farmhouse once stood.
The islanders were stunned.
“How can this be?” some people said in disbelief. “The guild was born here. This island grew because of it.”
For many years, the Emerald Cove Guild had brought steady business to the island. Spirit farmers, alchemists, ship owners, and traders had all benefited from its presence. With the guild gone, people feared that the island would slowly lose its importance.
Others were simply confused.
“Why move to the mainland?” they asked. “Most of the guild’s work is still in the sea.”
To them, the decision made no sense. The Emerald Cove Guild was not a threat to Haan Di’s Guild, which already controlled much of the mainland work. Moving the base inland felt strange and unnecessary.
Still, not everyone saw it as a bad thing.
===
AN: 3rd Order Thousand Deaths Poison was first mentioned in Chapter 453.
Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com
