Smirk.
"Indeed the heavens are fair." "Look at them, arriving so overbearing and now suffering a loss like that…" smirked some powerful cultivators as they communicated with old friends of their own sects through voice transmission, after all the Varnari's earlier 'overbearing' actions had attracted a lot of discontent, especially from the weaker sects, so now…
Now that the Eidolon Path Sect was suffering a loss, the majority of these human cultivators were gleeful, especially the weaker sects, but no matter what they inwardly thought, these old foxes all kept a calm face, not showing any trace of their real thoughts.
After all, with Varathen currently fuming high in the sky as he observed the disciples that had just appeared, the weight of his anger silencing the entire crowd, with nobody daring to talk—some in fear of the angry powerhouse and others… in fear of laughing!
At that moment, nobody would be stupid enough to mock the Varnari aloud… right?
"Hmph, look at them now, with their genius dead, not so arrogant anymore, are they?" mocked the genius of a third-rate sect.
Earlier he had been angered by the Varnari's actions, as because of them 'buying' the weak sects' Realm of Broken Skies 'slots', his brother in all but blood had been forced to not participate in this life-changing opportunity.
So now, seeing them suffer a loss, he was extremely gleeful and mocked them in a low voice but—
"..."
A pin-drop silence fell on the large crowd of cultivators as the expressions of all the cultivators near the genius of this third-rate sect changed, morphing into a mix of shock and horror as they rapidly distanced themselves from him.
After all, for powerful cultivators, even muttering in a low voice was easily hearable, and this was doubly true considering that the genius's voice wasn't that low and, with Varathen's powerful cultivation, he definitively heard him!
And with Varathen's current anger, wasn't saying that courting death!?
The 'genius' only had time to notice the other cultivators backing away—and to realize just how fucked he was—when an immense pressure crashed down on him as Varathen's extremely cold gaze landed on him.
The powerful Varnari wasn't doing anything special—neither using his cultivation nor his presence to pressure the 'genius'—but even then just his full-of-anger gaze was enough for the genius to feel as if a mountain was pressing on his shoulders!
"How daring!" Varathen 'laughed,' though everyone could clearly tell that his laugh wasn't real at all and was instead filled with very real anger.
At that moment numerous gazes were on the 'genius', some were filled with pity, others had a clear mocking intent, and some simply watched the situation indifferently, obviously not caring about what would happen but—
No matter their attitude toward the situation, one thing was certain…
The fact that nobody believed this 'genius' would meet a good end, and at the same time nobody seemed inclined to intervene in his favor.
Neither the powerful Sect Masters of the three Overlords Sect—none of them being stupid enough to provoke the already angered powerhouse that was Varathen for the sake of a random cultivator of the Suncrest Region, one whose fate didn't matter to them.
And unfortunately for the 'genius', this attitude of 'non-intervenance' was also shared by the Sect Master of his third-rate sect!
The mature woman could only grit her teeth at the undoubtedly grim fate that awaited this 'genius' before shamefully diverting her gaze and ignoring the situation.
After all, what else could she do?
If she tried to help the genius of her sect, not only was it near certain that she would fail, but she would also attract the fury of the Eidolon Path Sect onto herself and her sect!
In this situation it was a far better choice to 'sacrifice' this genius to pacify Varathen than risk their entire sect getting annihilated—which was a very real concern, after all, for a behemoth like the Eidolon Path Sect it wouldn't take much effort to annihilate a small sect like her own.
Sweat.
Meanwhile the genius was sweating under Varathen's cold and angry gaze, wanting to slap himself for having a big mouth, but… it was too late!
Or at least it seemed to be the case, with Varathen seemingly looking moments away from killing the genius or maybe… not, who knows?
But then—
"Lord Varathen." A cold feminine voice resounded as a beautiful, tall Varnari stepped out of the crowd, her exotic beauty in full display as she took several steps forward before giving a perfect military salute to her Sect Master, who was angrily floating in the sky.
Her action attracted the crowd's attention, and this included Varathen, who gained a slight frown but still said, "Speak." Because no matter how angry and sorrowful he was for Tharvonis's death, and further angered by the 'genius' words, it wasn't to the point of losing his sanity.
Consequently he understood that if this female Varnari was seeking his attention at this critical moment, it was because she had something critical to say—she wouldn't disturb him for nothing, especially not considering the Varnaris' warrior-like, militaristic culture, doubly so considering Tharvonis's recent death.
And she didn't disappoint, as the female Varnari, uncaring of all the gazes on her, dropped her military salute, returning to a standing-at-attention position before speaking and… the words she uttered… they resounded like a bomb!
"I have some understanding of what happened to Lord Tharvonis," she declared in a cold, nearly emotionless tone of voice, but her 'emotionless' words resounded in the minds of everyone present like thunder.
"!!!"
Even Varathen wasn't unaffected, but he forcefully calmed himself down, ignoring the genius who had previously offended him as he said, "Continue."
The female Varnari did a small nod before continuing to speak, "At that time I was flying through the Realm of Broken Skies while harvesting the occasional Spiritual Herbs I found but, then—"
"As I flew I began to sense powerful Qi shockwaves reaching me, and from what I could sense it was as if two powerful cultivators were fighting, so intrigued and thinking that I could observe from afar and, if I saw something that I could benefit from, I could act, else I could retreat unscathed, considering that, I decided to head toward the source of these Qi shockwaves."
The female Varnari was still speaking in her cold, almost emotionless tone of voice, but it nevertheless attracted pretty much all the cultivators' attention, as no matter how bad of a 'storyteller' she was, the context was far too interesting, so everyone was listening.
And this everyone also included Lian'er and Amelia!
Initially they both wanted to leave immediately to go contact Mikael, with Amelia being also of the same opinion, but as the beautiful archer heard the female Varnari begin to speak she rapidly changed her mind.
Even through her anxiety and fear she was still able to think rationally, and consequently understood that having a better grasp of the situation could help her in communicating and even… finding Mikael if that was needed!
It was for this reason that Amelia held back the unstable Lian'er, making it so the two beauties were also listening…
"After some time spent flying I was able to near what I believed to be two powerful cultivators fighting, and fortunately they were moving parallel to me and not in the opposite direction, or else it's doubtful whether I could have seen what I saw or be reporting it right now."
"It was at that moment that I caught sight of what caused these powerful Qi shockwaves and it was—"
Gulp.
'What did she saw?'
That was the thought that passed through every cultivator's mind as they listened to the emotionless Varnari speak, a surge of curiosity burning in their hearts, and fortunately she didn't make them wait for long as she rapidly continued on,
"...Lord Tharvonis and a human male were fighting!"
"!!!"
These words landed with the weight of heavenly thunder across the crowd as wild speculations and exclamations instantly erupted, "Hiss!" "Was this human the reason Tharvonis died?" "A human in the same realm battling against a Varnari with a bloodline as pure as Tharvonis!?"
Whispers spread through the crowd as everyone felt shock at the situation, yet their current shock was… nothing compared to what they would feel as the beautiful woman continued to speak,
"And this isn't all, as not only were Lord Tharvonis and this human fighting, but they were even equal! Neither this human nor Lord Tharvonis was able to gain an advantage, I saw both of them clash numerous times, the longsword in the human's hand colliding with the halberd in Lord Tharvonis's hands but—"
"Neither had any advantage! Their weapons clashed with immense power in the sky, while both used various Cultivation Techniques and their combat experiences as they fought, trying to outsmart the other and inflict injuries, sometimes it was the human male who injured Lord Tharvonis and sometimes it was the opposite."
'What a monster!' was the collective thought of the various cultivators present around the Secret Realm as they heard of this human's prowess.
Prowess which was incredibly impressive!
After all, as a human in the 'same realm' he was able to fight as an equal against a Varnari, a member of a superior race, but even more awe-inspiring, he did so against an extremely talented Varnari and—
Even more impressive, he did it against an extremely talented Varnari whose bloodline was incredibly pure, the kind of talent seen once in a millennium!
'Who is this human genius?'
That was the question echoing in the heart of every cultivator present as, when they heard this human genius' 'feats', a strong curiosity toward his identity was born, and the ones feeling this curiosity also included the angry Varathen!
"A worthy opponent …" Varathen finally said, his deep voice losing a part of its earlier harshness as a different kind of heaviness settled inside it, "at the very least Tharvonis died the way a Varnari should, weapon in hand, clashing head-on with a warrior capable of standing against him, and if that is truly how he fell then there is honor in that, and his death isn't meaningless…"
As the burly Varnari that was Varathen spoke these words, not only did his voice change but his visage did too, what had previously been darkened by a mix of anger and sorrow now transforming into something almost… peaceful, the earlier anger and sorrow present on it having largely disappeared.
After all, while Tharvonis dying was something that deeply pained him for multiple reasons and would normally provoke an urge to avenge him in human culture, Varnari culture wasn't exactly like that…
In Varnari culture, dying wasn't necessarily bad or sad news, as it always depended on how one died!
If somebody died a 'coward' death, like running away from a fight and then getting caught and subsequently killed, this would be the kind of situation where even in death this Varnari would be disdained, despised, and even… other Varnari would feel joy at the outcome!
After all, for a 'coward', better for him/her to be dead than to live as a cowardly Varnari!
If one's death was meaningless, for example getting killed by the aftershocks of stronger cultivators fighting or even dying a natural death, then there would be nothing to celebrate, and it would instead be a truly sorrowful situation, with the other Varnaris being sad and mourning, in a way remarkably similar to human culture.
And finally there was the last kind of death, the 'worthy' death!
This was the kind of death that every Varnari 'aimed' for, the kind where a Varnari died with weapon in hand, surrounded by enemies, fighting up to the very last moment.
In this situation the Varnari's death would be a joyful one, where even in death he or she would be respected and celebrated, and this celebration would be proportional to how 'worthy' the death had been, so for Tharvonis—
For Tharvonis, who supposedly—considering the fact he didn't appear when the Secret Realm closed—died fighting against an enemy who, due to the Realm's limitation, had to be of the same Cultivation Realm as the once-in-a-millennium genius that he was, the conclusion was simple… the one who killed him was probably an heavenly genius!
For Tharvonis to die fighting an opponent this worthy, how could the other Varnari feel sorrow?
They couldn't! Not only did they feel no sorrow for Tharvonis, but they were even happy for him!
And this could be seen clearly as the usually slightly emotionless Varnari gained smiles, and even the previously angry and sorrowful Varathen gained a slight smirk.
Author Note:
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Varnari culture… it's truly unique isn't it?
Being happy to see one friend(or others) die and even being somewhat… jealous, yeah it's truly one in a kind and is alien to human culture, but—
That's the point, after all wouldn't it be far too boring if other 'alien' races thought in the exact same ways as us humans with the only difference being different 'skin'.
And this is why not only does the Varnari have unique characteristics(both physical and power-wise, with their traits and all) but even their culture is unique and different from our own.
This is something that I'll try to do in a similar fashion if other 'alien' race appear(of course I won't develop all races, this much because it would take far far too much time, but you understand the idea…)
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— End of Chapter —