PtM 17 - Chapter 44: Equilibrium

1/2. I made a mistake, so posting Chapter 45 right after this.

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After forty-eight years of hard work, the battle for the Chasewind Plane had reached a tipping point. The realm’s Dao Origins had reached a critical point in their healing, and as a result, the plane would be vulnerable for the next three months.

The fiends of the Northern Abyss had one final chance to destroy this world. If they failed, it would be the end of them.

As a result, the fiendish forces were pulling out all the stops. They’d mobilized their armies and taken over most of the Dao fragment platforms. The Chasewind Plane had no choice but to meet aggression with aggression, as every day, the number of Dao fragments increased.

Cha Ming, Petros, and Wei Longshen were enjoying a rare lull on a small floating island not far from fiendish territory. As was his habit ever since consolidating his inner world, Cha Ming had his Clear Rune Field and his Bound Energy Canvas active to survey their surroundings.

Cultivators rarely activated domain-type abilities for extended periods of time, because doing so was too exhausting. Not so for Cha Ming, who’s Bound Energy Canvas had an entire demiplane to rely on.

Cha Ming opened his eyes as he felt a flicker in his Clear Rune Field. “Another eruption will be happening shortly,” he told his companions. “There will be three in our small territory. I’m not sure how many in Huxian’s. Huxian, how are things on your end?” Their entire team was outfitted with communication devices tailored for use in the Northern Abyss.

“Smooth sailing,” Huxian said. “How about you, Sparkles?”

“My name is Baleful Vision,” Baleful Vision said. “Please don’t make up names. It’s disrespectful.”

“But Baleful Vision is so… so…” Huxian said.

“Not him?” said White Mirage. “I keep telling him he should change it.”

“I considered it for the better part of a day, and would have changed it if any good names popped up,” said Baleful Vision. “But for some reason, you all kept bringing up stupid ones like Dancing Lights and Prancing Tiger.”

“To be fair, those suit you better than Baleful Vision,” said Cha Ming.

Baleful Vision sighed. “Why don’t we focus on the attack that’s almost on our doorstep?”

“Actually, the wave just arrived,” said Petros, their advanced scouting party. “I believe I’ve also spotted a few undesirables.”

“From which group?” asked Cha Ming.

“Does it matter?” said Petros.

“I suppose it doesn’t,” said Cha Ming. “I’ve narrowed down the location for the first Dao fragment. Prepare yourselves.” He swept Wei Longshen and Petros into the Clear Sky World, then took a Clear Rune Step to appear on a floating island, where he immediately released them.

The island was mostly flat stone. It was built to be hard and durable, but not much else. Reality rippled as a Dao fragment was ejected from the Chasewind Plane’s Dao origins just five feet off the ground.

Its appearance provoked a reaction in their surroundings. The fifty meters closest to the Dao fragment practically glowed with rich law energies.

Within this Dao Light, it was possible to draw on the Dao fragment to directly increase one’s cultivation or empower one’s techniques. Yet none of them dared do so, as this would deplete the Dao fragment and harm the Chasewind Plane’s recovery.

But the fiends had no such inhibitions; already, Cha Ming could see them crawling up from the abyss, their eyes fully of untamed greed and madness.

“The first wave is a swarm,” Petros said. “Mixed. Insects, bats, and birds. There are a few larger creatures mixed in.”

“Approximate power?” Cha Ming asked.

“Maybe thirty thousand ranked six or higher?” Petros said. “There are maybe a hundred greater fiends ranked 11 or higher at the back. Should we intervene in the upcoming battle?”

Cha Ming shook his head. “Let’s hold back as well. Who knows what surprises might come up?”

Several hundred ships came flying in. These ships belonged to the Bloodstorm Legion and the Hallowed Turtle Ox Legion. Many had been built specially for this conflict. Their arrival prompted the activation of hidden sentries and turret-type formations concealed on smaller platforms adjacent the main ones.

A shower of black blood filled the air. Ordinance-type Daoist spells eliminated a good third of the fiends before they could so much as land on the platform.

Elite cultivators flew down from the skies. These armored squads were mostly demigods, with close combat abilities and defensive treasures mixed. “Defend the Dao fragment!” said their leader, raising a silver blade, then bringing it down upon a rank 12 fiend’s neck. But the fiend grinned as it pulled the blade deeper into its body, then exploded, filling the platform with a spray of treasure shards.

The opening created was all the fiendish forces needed. They formed a lance that forced a wedge open into the defensive formation, pulling them apart.

“They’ll be overwhelmed if this keeps up,” Wei Longshen said. “I’ll send a few spirits their. Why don’t you lend me some paintings?”

“You’re the one who understands battlefields,” Cha Ming said. He drew upon the Flamewing Demiplane and used its surface as canvas, and its essence as ink. A Flamewing regiment numbering two thousand flew out from the Clear Sky World to join Wei Longshen’s equally large group of spirit behemoths. They intercepted an elite fiendish strike team on its way to flank the Dao fragment’s defenders.

Several more rank 11 and rank 12 fiends mobilized in response to their interference. They were bat-winged creatures like those in the swarm.  “I could take those out in about three seconds,” Petros said, nocking an arrow.

“Hold your fire,” Cha Ming said. “Otherwise, those rank 13 fiends will run.”

Cha Ming sent out a single clone, which directly executed a rank 12 fiend, then proceeded to lock up their entire elite squadron. He used Clear Rune Steps to dodge, duck, and weave through their ranks, dispatching mostly rank 11 fiends with quick staff strikes.  Then he started attacking at middle range using bloodstorm style. He painted devastation wherever he moved, adding life to an otherwise desolate battlefield.

“They’re not taking the bait,” Petros said to Cha Ming. “Let me take the shot.”

“Don’t worry, I have many clones,” Cha Ming said. He sent out another incarnation to do battle, this one a clone of wind. A raging tempest appeared around this clone, tearing deep gouges in the fragile spatial fabric, and greatly lightening the load on the fragment’s defenders.

“By the way, our ‘allies’ are almost here,” Petros said.

“Already?” Cha Ming said in a peeved voice. “Can you shoot them and get away with it?”

“I won’t risk it, no,” said Petros.

“Alright, new plan then,” said Cha Ming. “Longshen, you deal with the ones I tied down with your spirits. I’ll do my best to lock down that group of Rank 13 fiends.”

“What about me?” asked Petros.

“You’re obviously our glass cannon,” Cha Ming said. “The moment I tie them up, fire at will. Don’t worry about my safety. You can’t kill me.”

Cha Ming took a step and appeared directly at the center of the group of rank 13 fiends. Before they could react, he painted a circle around their group, trapping him inside an Eight Directions Battlefield.

“Longshen, I’m going to needy your help!” Cha Ming said. Rank 13 fiends had good instincts and life preservation abilities. They gave up on attacking Cha Ming to focus on breaking out of his battlefield painting. It only lasted a few exchanges before unravelling.

But by then, his goal had been achieved. Eighteen spirit titans had appeared around the fiends and laid out a thick layer of spiritual chains. A paralyzing melody from Wei Longshen further locked them down.

Cha Ming used Bloodstorm Rush to launch himself back into the melee, then used Bloodstorm Crush to smash one apart. He split into nine bloodstorm clones just as the remaining fiends sent black bones spikes piercing into his body. All nine bloodstorm clones began smashing fiends apart with chaotic and brutal staff strikes.

Rank 13 fiends were strong, ruthless, and extremely cunning. This was especially so for Doom Bat fiends like these ones, who summoned spears of dark energy, then proceeded to let out an inhuman screech.

Cha Ming’s nine incarnations were stunned by the attack, and three of them were cut in half before he managed to recover. He pulled back part of their essence into the Clear Sky World – the part that wasn’t immediately destroyed.

“Petros, what the hell are you doing?” Cha Ming shouted, replenishing his incarnations. Clear runes shifted around him, constricting the eight fiends trying to break free of the encirclement. He summoned the Clear Sky Staff to face three doom bats that had chosen to stay behind and face him.

Step. He barely avoided a spear to the back of his neck.

Step. A spear that was just about to stab through his gut hit only thin air.

Step. He appeared behind the one who’d just stabbed at him and slammed the Clear Sky Staff with superimposed wind, blood, and lightning energy.

Bloodstorm Crush was unwieldy and slow, and by using it, he exposed himself to an enemy attack. He took a destruction-laden spear to the gut, but grinned an arrow caught that same fiend in the back. It turned red hot as the concentrated energy of a dark sun filled up its body, then exploded as its body reached its limits.

The doom bats let out another screech, but this time, Cha Ming was ready. He painted a soundproof barrier around his incarnations, then chased after the retreating doom bats. Seeing that he was too slow, and there were too many of them, Cha Ming activated Triune Soulburn for a single second. His enhanced strength was just enough to tear through a fiend’s defences and smash another into the ground.

These fiends were nowhere close to dead. Their fiendish blood reformed and made a second attempt at escape. But collapsed as they were, they were defenseless. Cha Ming summoned a cauldron of starlight and sucked them into it.

“Star Void Containment,” Cha Ming said, painting spatial seals to contain the fiendish blood. Heartforge Spirit Flames appeared at the center of the cauldron and began alternating between yin and yang. A scream tore through the air as the fiendish will inside them was obliterated, neutralizing any incompatibility the fiendish blood might have with Ninesky, then taking it into the Clear Sky World for her consumption.

It looks like this battle is under control, Cha Ming thought, seeing that a few other rank 13 fiends had been demolished by Petros. He summoned Luther, Coral, and Disaster. “Join the others and sweep things up. Ninesky and I will take care of this. The three cats grinned naughtily as they threw themselves onto the scattered fiendish army.

“Petros, how many got away?” Cha Ming asked.

“Three,” Petros responded. “No wait, two. Now it’s one.”

“Coordinates,” Cha Ming said. Petros gave them, and Cha Ming used a Clear Rune Step to appear beside a collapsed fiend. Now that he’d broken through to initial law stitching and initial shell marking, even strong humanoid fiends like these were easy pickings.

“I hate to spoil the mood, but our ‘allies’ have arrived,” Wei Longshen said. Cha Ming grimaced as a group of berserkers hopped out of a ship and threw themselves into the bulk of the remaining fiends and started chopping them up with deranged glee. “Bloody cowards. They know we don’t dare attack them, so they use their bodies as shields to protect the fiends.”

“Each group has its advantages,” Cha Ming said. “This is Cao Wenluan’s.”

The Bloodstorm Region and Hallowed Turtle Ox Region had more cultivators than all the other factions put together. This allowed them to cover a large amount of territory. Cao Wenluan’s berserkers, on the other hand, used slaughter to grow. Many of them died in the process, but the ones who remained grew very powerful very quickly. Thanks to their strong bodies, they could move from fight to fight without rest.

“Can you pick off any larger groups?” Cha Ming asked Petros.

“Not without killing some of our ‘allies’,” Petros said.

Cha Ming sighed. “I thought so. Just pick off however many you can and let Longshen and I do the rest.”

He took a Clear Rune Step and appeared next to a group of fiends and berserkers. Clear runes wrapped around both the berserkers and the fiends, preventing them from killing each other.

“Not… again!” one of the berserkers spat. His veins bulged as he tried to free himself from Cha Ming’s Clear Rune Constriction.

“You need to be faster if you’re going to kill steal,” Cha Ming said. Heartforge Spirit Flames consumed the lesser fiends, leaving the group of angry berserkers without prey. They tried to move to another battle, but Cha Ming painted a spatial trap for them. They wouldn’t be going anywhere soon.

Cha Ming continued stepping through the battlefield, claiming as many fiendish lives as he could. Occasionally, Wei Longshen beat him to the punch. His sonic attacks could pass through berserkers without killing them and slay half-dead and wounded enemies with utmost precision. By the time the battlefield was cleaned up, they’d only lost twenty percent of the points for the battle to Cao Wenluan’s goons.

“One of these days, you’re going to slip up and end up dead,” Cha Ming told the leader of the berserkers.

The tall, broadsword -wielding man snorted. “You keep saying that, but I’m still here.”

“Next battlefield,” Cha Ming said. Petros and Wei Longshen entered portals he summoned, leaving their troops to guard the Dao fragment alongside Cao Wenluan’s men. Physically removing them wasn’t worth the effort, so he left them to claim easy points.

Cha Ming took a few Clear Rune Steps to execute long-ranged teleportation. Each step took him five two hundred and fifty kilometers away but required him to spend thirty seconds to readjust. A few hops later, they found themselves at the second rune fragment location, where a bloody battle was taking place.

Fortunately, neither Cao Wenluan nor Oster had sent troops here. The Rank 13 fiends present had almost broken through to the Dao fragment, which made it easy for Cha Ming and Wei Longshen to trap them with a combination of Wei Longshen’s Eighteen Ghost Monarch Chains and Cha Ming’s Eight-Directions Battlefield.

Cha Ming resolved to finish them off as quickly as he could. He directly painted Bloodstorm Apocalypse, using Luther, Coral, and Disaster as the base to fill the entire area with vicious bloodstorm energy. Petros launched a rain of arrows to supplement them, but before they could land, Cha Ming felt a jolt.

“Don’t worry, Clear Sky, I’ve got your back!” said a voice through their communicator.

“Seriously, Oster?!” Cha Ming exclaimed, but it was too late. His Bloodstorm Apocalypse’s power increased by thirty percent, as did Petros’s explosive arrows. Oster’s tactical skills and a major blessing from a high priestess of Harid Dej landed upon their army, surprising both their enemies and allies alike. Oster’s faction gained twenty percent of the points for the exchange, all without sending any troops to interfere.

“Oster, could you please just focus on empowering your own troops?” Cha Ming sent after sweeping up and refining the island’s fiend blood. “Boundaries are very important to maintaining a good relationship. I’d hate to ruin ours.”

“I know that, and I respect you as person,” Oster replied. “But I can’t just ignore trouble when I see it. Besides, don’t you care about your people? I just saved the lives of several men!” His words were both true and hypocritical. He could have easily used his skills on his own troops to save their lives, but he didn’t. The points wouldn’t have been worth it.

Huxian, I’m getting awful peeved, Cha Ming sent to his brother fox. Do you have a lock on their coordinates yet?

Just finished, Huxian answered. He transmitted an image and spatial coordinate into Cha Ming’s mind.

“It looks like you have things under control here,” Cha Ming said to the elite team after finished off the last Rank 13 fiend. “We ’ll leave guarding the fragment to you.” This time, he left Wei Longshen but took Petros with him to the next battlefield.

Xing Tianlong and Oster Fireblight’s faction had a tenuous relationship. On the one hand, they hated each other. On the other hand, they needed each other to resist Cao Wenluan and Cha Ming’s larger actions. As such, they’d opted to fight in separate battlefields and only convene when necessity dictated.

Cha Ming found Xing Tianlong fighting alongside a group of rankers to protect a Dao fragment. Although he was the only high-level fighter there, his combat prowess was unreasonably high.

Against rank 13 fiends, he was more than enough, but adding Cha Ming and Petros to the mix? Petros unloaded on a Rank 13 fiend he was fighting, stealing his kill. “Petros, get the hell out of here!” Xing Tianlong shouted angrily.

While he was busy chasing the archer, Cha Ming appeared among the remaining low to mid-tier forces, tying up the rankers with eight-directions style and sweeping up the remnant fiends with Bloodstorm Style. They managed to claim 20% credit for the battle.

“We’re here to help, Tianlong,” Cha Ming said. “What are you going to do, attack me?”

“Don’t think I wouldn’t dare,” Xing Tianlong said coldly.

“My read is that you’re not sure enough about the calculus, and would rather wait till the very end,” said Cha Ming.

“Beat it,” said Xing Tianlong. “There’s nothing left for you here.” He was right, so Cha Ming took Petros and hopped away.

A few seconds later, they arrived at Cao Wenluan’s battlefield. The man’s eyes narrowed, but he took their appearance in stride. “What, you’re not going to threaten us like Tianlong did?” Cha Ming asked him.

“What’s the point in that?” Cao Wenluan said. “Might as well use all my energy to kill these fiends before you can.” Having said so. He gathered a cloud of destructive lightning into his blade and slashed at one of the fiends. By cutting it, he cut down a third of the fiends on the battlefield.

He then threw himself at a pair of rank 13 fiends, while Cha Ming and Petros attack another three of them. Cha Ming had to admit that, despite his increase in strength, Cao Wenluan was still more powerful in a one-on-one scenario.

The pattern of defending, invading, and assisting continued for several days. Both Huxian and Cha Ming hopped across the islands in their shared region, sweeping up fiends and protecting Dao fragments.

“Fast-paced fighting sure is exciting, but man is it tiring,” Huxian said when Cha Ming and friends appeared on his personal ship. It would be a few hours until the next eruption, so going back to base wasn’t a good use of their time. “You should have seen Jadefall this time. She tore a fiend apart with her bare hands!”

“It was a weak fiend,” Jadefall said. “Scrawny, really.”

“Huge,” said Wu, holding her hands out wide.

“Have the points been tallied up yet?” Cha Ming asked.

“It’s a three-way tie again,” Huxian said. “Oster’s and Undine are the best at predicting appearances, but Cao Wenluan seems to have a way to predict where these fragments are going to end up as well.”

“It’s a good thing we have Cha Ming and Huxian,” Wei Longshen said. “We can’t predict the appearance of fragments, but we have better mobility.”

“Even so, we’re losing,” Petros said. “Have you checked the leaderboards?”

“That’s because the Chasewind Plane’s situation is stable,” Baleful Vision said. “I spoke to some friends about this, and they’re quite envious about this defensive chess game arrangement we have going on.”

Cha Ming agreed with that assessment. “They gained a lot of points early on, but their gains are tapering off. All the other planes have lost a lot of troops in a huge bloodbath. On the other hand, our gains will likely increase as time passes.”

“I’m just irked about how well the bad guys are doing,” Petros said. “People like Tianlong, Wenluan, and Oster. The top ten are all leeches. People like us will never be able to make it to the top.”

“We’re not completely out of options,” Huxian said. “Look at this.”

“Is that White Mirage’s feed?” Baleful Vision asked. “Has Xing Tianlong finally shown his true colors?”

“That’s right,” Huxian said. “What are we at, two weeks now? Darn. I bet on three weeks. Who’s closest in the betting pool?”

“That would be me,” Petros said. They all groaned, but flicked points over to him. “When you’re tracking prey, you need to make sure you understand it.”

White Mirage followed Xing Tianlong for a short while, until suddenly, Xing Tianlong turned around and stared straight at her. He dragged a finger across his throat, and she didn’t dare follow. “It looks like the gig is up,” Huxian said. “Are we going or not?”

“Of course we’re going,” Cha Ming said. “He’s clearly not up to any good.” He dragged everyone into the Clear Sky World, then fused with Huxian. White Mirage had sent them her coordinates, which Cha Ming and Huxian used to carve out a long-distance portal connecting their destinations.

They emerged beside White Mirage a minute later. “He hit me with a soul attack and threatened to kill me if I followed,” she said bitterly.

“We saw,” Baleful Vision said, taking her into his embrace. “Petros, can you track him down?”

“I’m trying,” Petros said.

“What about those tracking devices you secretly planted on him?” Cha Ming asked Huxian.

“Gone,” Huxian said. “I can’t believe he found all of them. I even hid one of them in a folded space behind his ear. His ear!”

“Petros?” Cha Ming asked.

“I’m afraid he’s grown even more unfathomable,” Petros said, shaking his head. “I can’t find anything. It’s like he suddenly ceased existing.”

“It seems we’ll have no choice but to collaborate then,” said a voice. A green flame portal opened up not far away, revealing three unhappy-looking people. Their leader wore a dapper black suit complete with a stylish hat and red tie that matched his blood-red eyes.

“Oster,” Cha Ming said evenly. “Unpleasant to see you, as always.” He turned to a region of empty space. “Are you going to keep hiding, Wenluan, or will you be joining us as well?” The region of space unfolded, the warlord and his four teammates.

“How did you find us?” asked Cao Wenluan.

“Let’s call it luck,” Cha Ming said. “Why don’t you tell me how you knew something was up with Tianlong, then I might consider telling you.”

Cao Wenluan smirked. “I followed him because you both did. Karmic inference.”

Cha Ming looked to Oster, who simply laughed. “Tianlong had too many secrets, and insisted on travelling alone,” Oster said. “Which meant I definitely had to keep an eye on him.”

“Well, good luck finding him,” Petros said.

Undine snorted loudly. “Just because a heretic like you can’t find him, it doesn’t mean I can’t.”

“No need to prissy,” Petros said. “It’s Jezeriah I forsook, not Harid Dej.”

“I think it’s the principal of it, Petros,” Oster whispered. “Personally, I couldn’t care less. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to see if lady luck is on our side.” He took out his Mirror of the Blighted Coin, ran a few calculations, then shook his head. “A pity.”

While Undine prepared a complex ritual, Cao Wenluan’s group also tried to track Xing Tianlong. Dark Tooth tossed out a pile of bones, while Violet Rose used a dousing pendant. Neither of them was successful.

“It occurs to me that we may need to cooperate,” said Cao Wenluan.

“You think?” Huxian said sarcastically. “Hey Oster, how about we join forces and leave this loser behind?”

“I’m afraid the situation’s a little more complicated than that,” Oster said. “High Priestess, you tell them.”

Undine rose from her crouching posture. Her complexion was pale, and it was evident that the ritual she’d cast had exhausted her. “Instead of wasting my time tracking him, I communed with my goddess for direction,” she said. “It seems we’ll need all three of our parties to succeed in tracking him down. We need Eight Direction’s spatial affinity pierce through this plane’s chaotic laws. My otherworldly affinity is also required.” She made a face. “Petros’s tracking abilities would also be helpful.”

“Then why exactly do we need Cao Wenluan?” Cha Ming asked. “No offense, but if I can cut you out of this deal, I’ll do it.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll just kill you for your points, Clear Sky?” Cao Wenluan asked.

“You and I both know that ship already sailed,” Cha Ming said cheerfully. “You might have secretly advanced to middle law stitching but it won’t be enough to stop me and my team from escaping. By the way, I forgot to congratulate you on your breakthrough.”

Cao Wenluan grimaced as Oster and Undine re-evaluated him. They’d apparently missed that important detail. The only reason Cha Ming knew this secret was because of his All-Heaven’s Eye, as well as his limited knowledge of destructive runework.

“We need him because of his Wrathful Blade of the Conqueror,” Undine said. “It has unique karmic severing abilities that will allow us to pierce through the karmic obstruction web Tianlong laid down.”

“Wait, Xing Tianlong knows karmic spells too?” Huxian said, shaking his head. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“So that’s what it was,” Petros muttered. “I didn’t know he knew karmic spells.”

“He knows soul-based karmic spells, so they’re difficult to detect without a sufficiently advanced soul,” Cao Wenluan said. “Since its confirmed that we need to cooperate, why don’t we come to a temporary agreement. It’s too early to talk about benefits, but we should at least make sure we can’t kill each other while tracking him down. Also, just to be sure… is he or is he not possessed? His karma is far more complex than a single person’s has a right to be.”

Cha Ming exchanged a look with Wei Longshen, who nodded. “It was a failed possession.”

“Are you sure it failed?” Oster asked. “Because the change in temperament was extreme.”

“If it hadn’t failed, the Heartforge Realm’s inspection would have spotted him,” Cha Ming said. “They wouldn’t tolerate a fiend-possessed genius.”

“I hate to rush things, but time isn’t exactly on our side,” Undine said. She was in the process of setting up another ritual.

Neither of the three parties liked each other, but necessity called for an agreement. They’d all come prepared, so it didn’t take long to draft a binding non-aggression pact.

Half and hour later, Undine and Huxian joined hands to pierce the void, while Cao Wenluan pierced through Xing Tianlong’s karmic web using his soul bound treasure. Petros was then able to pinpoint Xing Tianlong’s location.

Five minutes later, they emerged from a portal to find Xing Tianlong sitting cross-legged on a boulder. Dozens of Rank 13 fiendish corpses were strewn about, their blood seeping into the stone on the platform he’d occupied.

“Drat,” Xing Tianlong said, cracking an eyelid. “And here I was hoping I’d pull the wool over your eyes.”

“We were doing so well working together,” Oster said. “Why did you have to do this to me?”

“You know how it is,” Xing Tianlong said, his eyes flicking between each of them, then settling on Cao Wenluan. “Hm. I miscalculated because you broke through. Well done on hiding it.”

“Holy mother of… where have you taken us?” Huxian exclaimed.

Only then did Cha Ming look around and take in their surroundings. There was a distinct lack of floating islands in the area, and extreme lack of light. It was only thanks to his strong spiritual senses that he could make out the island fortress stretching several layers downward.

“Is this place like the last fortress we stormed?” Cha Ming asked.

Xing Tianlong let out a dry chuckle. “Of course not, Clear Sky. The southern blight’s fortress could at best be considered an outpost. This, my unlikely companions, is a genuine fiendish fortress.”