Explaining his plans to Astrid was fairly simple. John didn’t need to go over every detail of how they would kill Yehel. It was pretty much about getting there unnoticed.

  “Drawing me into schemes of assassination?” Astrid put her hands on her hips. “Trying to turn me into one of those sneaky darkness cultivators, aren’t you?”

  John grinned. “You got me. One at a time I will turn everyone to darkness! But on a serious note, you’re fine with this, right?”

  “Killing an enemy? Of course.”

  “Good. We’ll be minimizing active energy usage. I hope you’ve been keeping up with your body training.”

  Astrid made a face. “We’re not doing something absurd, are we?”

  “Just climbing the walls.”

  She shrugged. “That’s easy. I just can’t hang from the rafters by my fingertips for hours.”

  “We’ll limit that part to half an hour then.”

  -----

  Before the time they were planning to make their move, they had some preparations to make. Their weapons were more or less always on them- especially since battle could come for them at any time. No doubt their enemies were ready to fight and keeping careful watch for people burrowing. Whether they would actually pick someone out if they’d chosen that tactic this time was another question, but they’d certainly be looking.

  What the pair of stealthy cultivators needed to do was get their energy in sync. For acting on the battlefield, previous experience was sufficient. For stealth, they needed to tune Astrid’s light and fire elements into an even mix balanced with John’s. They didn’t necessarily need to exchange energy, just carefully tune how much was displayed. In the end, they actually had a more even mix than John alone- since he otherwise had to suppress his elements to close to his minimal light quantity.

  Once they were ready, they planned their approach to Gesa. Simply assuming they wouldn’t be spotted was foolish, so they used spyglasses to watch the defenders.

  Simply keeping eyes on every stretch of land all around a city took a lot of manpower, especially with the features of the Muted Crags. The city defenders could spot any significant group, but two people wasn’t much different from one.

  Though they were technically walking through an open field, they weren’t as obvious as that. The light of the moon and stars barely reached the ground in this place, and the surroundings weren’t perfectly cleared. They made use of what cover there was, until they reached the shelter of the walls.

  Properly made walls would allow attackers to attack those standing below… but only if they knew they were there. Nobody was angled to look directly down.

  The pair stood together, listening for the faint sounds of boots up above. The walls weren’t even that high- sensations were just dull. Fortunately, that worked in both directions and since the guards weren’t hiding, picking them out was simple enough via their spiritual energy.

  Once the guards had passed far enough, John lifted Astrid up to briefly stand on his shoulders- then higher, balanced on his hands. It was faster to start her halfway up the wall- and for her to lift John like that would require use of spiritual energy that might be noticed.

  John climbed after her, not quite catching her. His additional focus on his body was convenient at times like this, though he hadn’t gone to any extremes. She helped pull him up the last stretch, to speed their progress. All he had to do was mitigate his weight with occasional hand or footholds.

  Once again John descended stairs- a different set than the previous ones. There were more secure wall designs, but Gesa hadn’t been built to stop determined cultivators. Just weak ones.

  Using what knowledge they had of the streets and what John had experienced of the previous patrols, they kept their energy neutral and slipped past enemies. John made use of his exceptional darkvision- even if it was slightly less potent in the Muted Crags, it was still an advantage. He briefly wondered if light cultivators could accomplish something similar- or what he would ultimately do for a light element body tempering. It seemed only proper to add some of each element.

  Matayal’s totems were better suited to John, and he wouldn’t have had to focus so much on maintaining the energy neutral flow. Another stray thought that wasn’t fair to Astrid. She’d accepted that things weren’t fair, however. John didn’t choose to have such thoughts… and he could reject them. Astrid was here and alive. Matayal was not. The world might have been better if she was, but it could still be good like this.

  John hoped those thoughts wouldn’t last forever. It had been a few years, and currently he was more aware of them- but that also meant he didn’t have to let them influence him. He wasn’t necessarily in control of his own thoughts, but they didn’t control him either.

  Soon enough, they were close to the light barrier again. The second visit was faster, since he was more familiar- even if he had to lead Astrid around.

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  He gestured towards it. Speech could give them away.

  Astrid took a good long look, then nodded. She reached out for him and he took her hand as she reached into the barrier. Her fingers trailed through the barrier, and it parted like a waterfall or a curtain of beads.

  It was elegant and beautiful, but he couldn’t just stay and watch it. She stepped through, holding it open for him as he ducked under her arm. Then she let it down gently. The outer barrier was the biggest issue, but they still had to deal with ambient light element. That could be quite annoying if they were doing active darkness concealment, but they weren’t. Mostly, it minimized the effects of the Muted Crags.

  They had to be especially careful as they moved around, but John’s passive spiritual energy senses had already picked out Yehel. Navigating towards the building was easy enough. The outer door was unlocked, though once inside they got closer to a few patrols than they would have liked. Then they came to a door… and a much more powerful barrier. Furthermore, it was directly guarded.

  John could certainly dismantle the barrier, but he wasn’t certain if he could do so subtly. Certainly not with an active guard at hand. John gestured silently for Astrid to follow, and she did so while keeping her energy neutral. Another setback wasn’t going to stop them now that they’d gotten this far.

  They made their way back outside the building, but still inside the compound, finding their way to the outside edge of the room by Yehel’s low intensity energy signature. Obviously a proper room for an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator had to be one of the best. It had a private balcony that the pair climbed up, providing more cover as they took in the door.

  It was similarly blocked by a barrier, but a weaker one. This would be the biggest test, as the loss of the spiritual energy from the barrier might wake Yehel. It was mostly made of fire and light- the former charged by Yehel, no doubt, and the light element to stop sneaking cultivators like John.

  Astrid stepped up, gently nudging the spiritual energy around. John thought he might need to help her negate it, but she held it in place as she pulled something out of a hidden pouch in her clothes.

  John soon discerned they were lockpicks as she fiddled around with the lock on the door. Normally he would have used a small strand of spiritual energy for similar results… but he wouldn’t have been able to do that with the barrier in place. Rather than disabling it, Astrid was simply keeping it away. Then there was a slight click, and she pulled open the door.

  The barrier was around the door- not over the opening. There were benefits and detriments to both, but this one ultimately came about through particular limitations- they barriers were temporary and not built into the structure itself, as most of those barriers had been taken down when the city was attacked. The Sovereign Primacy didn’t seem interested in rebuilding infrastructure in the Muted Crags.

  John would have congratulated Astrid, but this was the time it was most important to not make further noise. He was even worried about drawing his sword, which he should have thought about.

  He slipped two throwing daggers out of his sleeves as he approached Yehel in bed. He was fortunately alone, though they would have figured out how to deal with such a complication if it came up.

  He held his breath for the last step, then he reached onto the bed and stabbed one blade into the throat of Yehel- and another deep into his belly. Fortunately, the man didn’t sleep in armor- though maybe people would take up that stance in the future.

  Once his weapons were driven into the man, John wasted no time calling upon a burst of spiritual energy. At that point, it was more important to kill him and overcome any reflexive action than to stay stealthy.

  Yehel’s reaction was about what might be expected, but it was clear he had been deeply asleep. He began to gather fire element- but John had forced water element around his blade, and the energy flowing out of the man’s dantian was quashed even as John expanded his spiritual energy to cut into the Ascending Soul Phase cultivator’s essence.

  All that was covered by John’s darkness element as much as possible. In the end, Yehel was dead… and John wondered if he could die in his sleep just as easily. Fortunately, the answer was no. It would be at least a little more difficult to kill him, with Diamond Defense. And if a foe gathered spiritual energy for an attack, he’d have a chance to sense them.

  Once John was certain Yehel was dead, he followed Astrid outside. They gently closed the door and began to retrace their route- at least until they were out of the compound. There wasn’t much option other than that. Then they made their way out of the city, not even hearing a cry of alarm. Someone should notice that Yehel’s energy had faded soon… but perhaps they wouldn’t be looking for it. And John was a bit more sensitive than most since he was in the Ascending Soul Phase himself.

  “... How did nobody notice?” Astrid asked once they were nearing their own camp.

  “People are surprisingly unalert even when they think they are. Like this lady who probably didn’t even know we snuck out of the camp.”

  “I-I noticed you were gone!” the guard said. “I just thought you were…” she looked around.

  “We were on a mission. Speaking of which, that thing I had people waiting for has happened.”

  The enemy would be in chaos when they attacked- whether or not they found Yehel dead beforehand. But it was better to get moving as quickly as possible, and neither John nor Astrid had drained much of their energy. At most, they were a bit fatigued simply from staying awake, but that was inconsequential as their enemies would be just as groggy from being suddenly awoken.

  -----

  Taking over Gesa was a fairly inevitable result after the death of an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator. It was a huge blow to both fighting power and morale, so the city fell in a matter of hours. It was rather simple to make an assault on the city when led by a powerful cultivator that didn’t have someone matching them.

  They directly assaulted the gates. Since the continental armies had to gather the enemy was somewhat ready, but John and Astrid easily vaulted onto the walls- now that they could freely use spiritual energy. They cut down their foes, opening the gates from behind as enemies simply couldn’t reach them fast enough to stop them. And then the continental armies were pouring into the city with no signs of defending Ascending Soul Cultivators.