Everyone fell silent, with only the painful screams of the elders suspended in the air. The patriarch then rose again into the sky and, before departing, turned to look at Almin, who still stood firm.
Everyone could see a slight approval in the patriarch’s eyes towards this young disciple. Then, the patriarch turned slightly, his eyes quickly passing by Langrum, then falling on the nearby whale. He looked deeply at the whale for a few seconds as if trying to understand something, and everyone saw the patriarch’s eyes change slightly again.
The whale stood there, relaxed as if nothing had happened. Those who watched couldn’t comprehend what was going on in the minds of either of them. Everything happened very quickly, and soon, the patriarch turned, taking the imprisoned elders with him towards the direction of the tower belonging to the Bloodthirsty Light Sect.
As he left, the sound of metal being dragged resonated—it was Almin collapsing. Before he even hit the ground, a green and muscular figure quickly arrived at his side and caught him. It was Langrum who supported him and helped him stand, holding his arm.
Quick, short steps sounded, Ruri running to the front of Almin with wet eyes. "Almin... you fought well... with our master, you will become stronger and kill that old bastard. Please, don’t do anything foolish again..."
She murmured, deeply shaken, and Almin felt a tightness in his heart seeing her look at him that way. He quickly understood that this little girl must have gone through a lot and seemed to feel his pain deeply, as if she had experienced similar things.
Then, an emotionless voice resonated. "Hmm... can I count this as halfway done?" The whale spoke calmly, approaching.
Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.
Almin immediately froze, lowering his head. Langrum and Ruri, in turn, looked in the whale’s direction, casting piercing and furious glares.
Bruno pretended to cough lightly and said, "Ahem... Well, you’ve exceeded expectations. I won’t be too demanding." Then he looked into Almin’s eyes, which were beginning to regain their shine. "You can’t rest yet; you’ll have to lead the way to the old bastard’s house."
Almin nodded excitedly and immediately tried to turn around and walk, but felt his body grow light. Langrum simply lifted him and placed him on her back without any hesitation; her role as a deadweight carrier was still intact.
"Just point the way and stay quiet," she said dryly.
Everyone watching from afar took a deep breath upon seeing the group, unable to believe this outcome. They were surrounded by thirteen elders and came out alive, with only one of them fighting in earnest. What impossible thing was this? While everyone pondered on this, the group quickly ran in a direction within the city.
The entire battle didn’t last even an hour, and they headed to the remote location indicated by Almin. It was at the southernmost end of Celestial Abyss City, and old Dyen’s house was not directly protected. No one was crazy enough to cause trouble for an elder.
When they reached the door of a dark three-story building, Almin pointed to a place. It was a path leading to the back entrance.
Almin then murmured, "There’s access to a room separated from the rest. The old man didn’t allow us to access other parts of the house. That was where I cultivated with my women. Maybe they’re still there."
When Langrum threatened to go in that direction, the whale stopped her. Then, they took a step forward, and immediately, a black barrier appeared in front of them, emanating a dense and deadly Qi.
The whale snorted, and a light shone on its fist. In a second, thousands of Yin runes illuminated on the barrier. The sound of breaking glass echoed, along with infinite cracks in the barrier.
An explosion threatened to unleash, but suddenly, it was muffled. Langrum noticed that all the Yin runes seemed to be sucked in, disappearing into the void. The whale continued to walk calmly and kicked the front door, making it explode.
Everyone entered the house quickly. The interior was well-lit, and the whale led the way, finding a staircase. He then put Ruri on the ground and spoke calmly.
"Go upstairs and collect anything you think is worth it or find beautiful." Then, he handed her a spatial ring, and she smiled, waving and going up the stairs. Her master’s gaze left no room for disobedience, so she happily went to steal everything she wanted.
At that moment, they turned and waved to Langrum and descended the stairs to the basement. As they descended, a dense death Qi, mixed with life energy, attacked them from all directions.
Langrum was unsure why the whale got rid of Ruri. But when they reached the basement, everything became clear.
They were... women... or rather, parts of them... there were so many that it couldn’t be counted, all tied to the walls. Some only had the torso and head, still breathing, others completely lifeless. And, to Langrum’s astonishment, seven of them had physical characteristics very similar to Ruri’s. They were women who came from the Montide Nation.
"That old bastard... he never wanted to harm them before and enjoyed appreciating them a lot," Almin murmured incredulously.
"He did this recently, probably right after leaving prison in search of more power. But, luckily, your woman is not here." The whale commented dryly.
No one wanted to stay there for long; immediately, the whale released four women who were still alive in their last breath. And he ended their suffering in the lightest way he could. They couldn’t be saved.
He found nothing useful in that place, so he destroyed everything without leaving any trace, and they went upstairs. As soon as they ascended a bit, the laws of the earth left the whale, and a slight tremor was felt by them. The entire basement was buried and destroyed.
They reached the first floor, and soon, they heard Ruri’s light steps descending the stairs, joining them. Then, they went to a place at the back; it was a locked room.
Almin wasn’t allowed to live with his women all the time, so he had a room in the same place as the disciples. And the old man allowed him to cultivate with them from time to time in the room in his house.
In seconds, the whale opened the door, which was closed to prevent anyone from escaping. As they entered, the space inside seemed to distort slightly; it was much larger than seen from the outside, created with the help of simple spatial laws. It had a hundred meters, where several people could easily be accommodated together.
Upon entering, they didn’t see anyone, so at a distant point, they spotted a cluster around several stone beds. There were fifteen women sitting near the beds, extremely exhausted and thin.
Almin trembled violently seeing them... he brought with him, counting Lyra, twenty women from his destroyed city. But now, he could only recognize ten of them. The other five were clearly Montide women.
Tuth be told, Almin had never really ’dual cultivated’ with any of them. The only reason he brought them all from his city was that he didn’t want to leave these women to the other evil cultivators. He was basically protecting them. Of course, the same couldn’t be said of Old Dyen, but there was only so much Almin could do for them.
Tears threatened to fall from his trembling eyes. On the stone bed, giving their last breaths, was Lyra; and three of his women on the beds no longer showed any sign of life. Half of his women were gone... all must have had their life force brutally sucked away. Not even the twelve Montide women were spared, and only five were still alive.
"That demon..." Langrum murmured, feeling Almin’s shock on her back.
The whale took a deep breath, calming the trembling Ruri on his shoulder. The women were so beaten down that they didn’t even feel their approach. When they opened their eyes, they saw Almin completely injured and almost collapsed in a mix of longing and sadness.
At that moment, Almin smiled, trying to convey some confidence. Then, Langrum placed him on the ground near the bed and his women.
Ruri looked at the five women from her people, and they looked back at her with surprise and excitement. Then, they approached the sleeping Lyra, and Ruri immediately jumped beside her; she already knew what she had to do.
Everyone watched as Ruri lit up mystically with an intense violet aura. Long minutes passed, then they noticed that Lyra had completely stopped breathing. Almin’s expression twisted, along with everyone who observed.
But immediately, the violet power went out, and Ruri threatened to fall backward, exhausted. The whale supported her and put her back in place. Only then did he turn to Almin, speaking calmly.
"I don’t have the necessary power to save her, and honestly, I don’t care. Her entire soul and traces of life were sealed, and she won’t die now. But her body will still age slowly; maybe she has from a hundred to five hundred years of life in this state with Ruri renewing the seal from time to time."
Everyone felt their hearts tighten, and Almin approached Lyra, feeling her cold body with sorrow. Then, the whale continued.
"You have to find a way to save her, not me. I can train you and show you the way, but it only depends on you." The whale then made a movement, and Lyra began to be slowly taken into the inventory. "She can be stored with high-level space laws. I will teach you the technique after you have recovered."
Then he turned to the women around and sighed. "The old man won’t be back for 500 days; Ruri will completely seal the slave mark on you. And you’ll be free."
They all trembled violently, stunned before Alm continued. "Your lives are yours, and you can choose what to do from now on. I can take you safely to any nearby village you want, and you can live on your own."
Then, the whale turned to the five women who looked like Ruri. "As for you... you’ll have to stay with me for a while. As you can see, my disciple came from the same place. So, don’t worry too much; in time, you will be free." They nodded and bowed to the strangely large whale.
In the next few minutes, the whale infused some Qi into all of them, helping them recover a bit alongside Ruri. Then, Ruri did her job, sealing the slave marks, and they soon left the house.
Alm and Bruno wanted to resolve everything quickly and start cultivating. Soon, they walked rapidly out of the city; the women could think about where they wanted to go while walking and crossing the desert. However, they were soon stopped against their will.
***
A few hours later, the whale was in his room, sitting on the bed with closed eyes and a twisted face. Sounds of cheerful conversations echoed all around.
Langrum returned to her room, and the ten women, now with no slave marks, chatted happily and took care of Almin, who slept peacefully in the middle of them. Well, he usually would be too nervous to sleep in such a situation. After all, he didn’t really do ’that’ with them. Fortunately, he was too tired to think about it now and entered the land of dreams in a flash.
’Congratulations, your charm is so great that we’ve already gained so many followers. None of them wanted to leave our side, even Almin’s women wanted to stay.’ Bruno commented sarcastically.
’Damn it... I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to help anyone,’ Alm muttered as the whale opened his eyes and, in the background, saw Ruri talking to the five women from her land in the corner of the room. It seemed like they all felt that gaze, so they looked back at him deeply.
’Damn! Looks like we have a harem now!’ Bruno exclaimed, teasing.
"NEVER!!! LET’S GET OUT OF HERE AND FIND A PLACE FOR THEM TO STAY!" Alm exploded, getting up and speaking as everyone in the room listened in astonishment.
Of course, neither Bruno nor Alm would ever touch any of those women. If anything, having that many was nothing but a hindrance, so they had to find a solution for this fast.