With the whale’s words, everyone sheathed their weapons and immediately returned to the city as if nothing had happened. Azja and her mother moved silently to the gates of the great city. Immediately, both felt a terrifying concentration of Yang coming from the city and widened their eyes; it was on a level equal to the Yang of the forest, where the Litharion family lived.
Taking their first steps into the city, they walked politely with everyone. Their first sights were of countless people of different races and hybrids of various kinds. Ogres, dwarves, beasts, and even demons; all lived peacefully.
To their surprise, they saw a significant portion of the population practically without cultivation. They lived almost like complete mortals, without feeling any fear, radiating animation and genuine joy. The reason for all this became clear as soon as they entered the place and saw the various gigantic statues made of a strange material. All the passing inhabitants bowed to the whale in extreme adoration; he took good care of everything and everyone.
Here was a place where nobody needed to be powerful to have a chance to stay alive and be happy. They looked at the whale, stunned; who would waste time protecting weak people? At that moment, his image grew inside them.
Walking a little further, they saw pure humans, mostly with a unique appearance from the Moonlight family. The two elves soon understood a little more about this place. Then they arrived at the castle, brought by the whale without any objection.
Alm and Bruno felt lucky; they didn’t expect to find anyone decent among the families. None of the four were good, they all threw their karma into the external branches of the planet. But there should always be people with dignity among them; the luck was finding them so early.
As they entered, the Yin laws as dense as the Yang outside enveloped the two, causing extreme discomfort. The whale led them to the central room, where the formation was located, and then explained about the place.
"The elder can check the formation. It’s connected to the whole city and, on a smaller scale, to what was once the desert. Thanks to the twelve families using this formation to surround us, Ruri managed to dominate everything."
The two were confused, and the elder took a step, sensing it. With her cultivation, she saw every inch of the formation and felt the material of the castle, becoming slightly stunned.
The whale continued to explain calmly. The elder knew the material of the castle, and upon seeing the formation, understood some of the origins of this sacred forest and the Yang. This formation feeds everything, and the material of the castle accumulates and separates the Yin from the Yang, making everything possible. But obviously, there couldn’t be such a terrifying density, much less create a sacred forest where there was once a desert.
The elder elf murmured, looking at the whale. "This formation and place..."
"Yes, Ruri, show it to her." They replied, and Ruri beside them nodded, causing five multicolored runes to appear. They were the Seven-Color Supreme Rune of the Formation God’s Dao.
Azja remained confused, but her mother seemed to have seen something enormous that made her freeze. Ruri smiled and spoke. "I only have one master, but the Formation God taught me a few things. The twelve families themselves provided the resources for me. Within 100 years, I accumulated and prepared this place."
The elder elf nodded, understanding. She was an ancient figure who had lived for a long time in the divine world. Among the most powerful divine elves, there was some secret information about their race. Apparently, the God of Formation was an elf and had never had disciples.
However, in the past, there was a cultivator who called himself his disciple. Since the formations he created were superior to everything and everyone, and the secret information about the elves couldn’t be verified, they accepted that the elven God must have hidden his legacy in one or several places.
There had always been rumors about deities or renowned figures doing something similar. Cultivators strongly believed in destiny; if they couldn’t find someone qualified to receive their legacy, they left it hidden somewhere, hoping that the will of the heavens would guide someone worthy in the future. This ’disciple’ used colored runes similar to Ruri’s, which made the elder believe she had found the secret legacy.
The reason for everything to exist became clear: using formations against the disciple of the Formation God? That was stupid, and she used it to her advantage. The result was this place. Obviously, it was clear that this Yang would last for a few decades and then end; it wasn’t so abnormal for all this to exist. But the sacred forest could be maintained at a lower level, thanks to everything being isolated from the external world.
"Now that everything has been clarified, let’s get to what matters," the whale spoke lightly.
The two nodded, and the elder was the first to speak. "My name is Azali Litharion; I would like to ask a few questions, if you don’t mind."
The whale nodded, and it was quite simple. He clearly stated that he used to be a member of the corrupt cultivators and had a falling out with the abyss demon. But he was a young and weak cultivator; he just fled, and since the demon had a deal with the humans, he got out alive. Then, he was accepted into the realm of the dwarves, until later he went to the Three Extremes Sect. His story matched exactly with the sect’s information, and certainly it didn’t make sense for a young man like him at the time to have destroyed the abyss seal.
From the memories of the abyss demon, this also matched. The demon itself didn’t know what destroyed the first seal, but for the second one, the three demons and the twelve families acted together. Just from the memories of the three demons, it wasn’t possible to know what the goal was. Alm and Bruno left everything vague to give it more authenticity. But the image of a Heaven-Defier who orchestrated everything was left behind. He convinced them by offering many things and an escape route to the underworld afterward.
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It was a truly perfect plan. The four Empyrean families had no idea what was happening. They were supposed to have destroyed the second seal, then the third, and so on.
The twelve families would have easily covered up for the demons, but... a hidden city with a young leader who was used as a scapegoat held them for a century; then destroyed them all in one move. At the same time, the demons destroyed the second seal, but since the twelve families didn’t exist to cover for them, they were caught and chose suicide.
Azja and her mother, Azali, sighed. This round figure did all of this, and had a disciple of the Forge God and another of Formation; all were loyal to him. How could this have emerged on this ascending planet without them knowing?
The whale saw their doubt and explained. He said the abyss demon used a strange power from a black tower at the bottom of the abyss. That led them to a divine world, they had some lucky encounters... it was vague, very vague. But for the two, everything clicked, they knew about the spatial runes the demon used from the seal. But what kind of abnormal luck was that? Was he blessed by the heavens?
Well... there was no doubting or finding a major flaw, everything had an explanation. In the end, this round figure and everyone here saved the skins of the four families. If the plan had gone ahead, they would have alerted the heroes, and all the prestige and resources would have been taken from them.
Azali nodded and bowed to the whale. "I know it wasn’t your intention, but you made a great contribution. We almost committed a heinous crime attacking you."
"Don’t worry too much, we just took care of those who tried to invade our home," the whale waved indifferently. "I heard you mention that my allies are part of your families? Is that correct?"
Both looked at the whale, after everything was clarified, now was the crucial moment. They gave an explanation about the work of keeping something safe on the planet and how the branches were created; they already knew more and listened pretending interest.
"Hmm... about Ruri and Loeus I understand. But, unfortunately, Corin and Vuard, you are mistaken. They are not exactly from your families," said the whale thoughtfully, leaving the two stunned.
The door opened and Corin entered, called by the whale. They asked Azali to check the bloodline of this ’elf.’ It didn’t take long for her to narrow her eyes, noticing the abnormality.
"The bloodline of the high elves, which you said comes from your family, was destroyed along with that of the dwarves by the former owner of this city. But, he kept their bloodlines in a strange object."
The whale spoke and showed the Diagram of Natural Bloodline. Thus, they told a sad story of a newborn who was abandoned to die. This boy was an abomination and had multiple bloodlines in his body; he wasn’t just an elf, he had dwarf, ogre, human. Luckily, there was no bestial, only humanoid, so he was born with minimal compatibility. But he was certainly doomed to die in a few years with the conflicting bloodlines. However, he was found and saved by the whale.
"You see that most of his bloodline is sealed, right? I did that and gave him the high elf bloodline. So only that emerged and he can live. He has elf blood in him, but he’s not a pure from your bloodline," the whale concluded. "As for the dwarf Vuard, I just gave him the bloodline."
Azja nodded understandingly. "That’s why he has such a strange physique and masters so many elements. He’s a hybrid, with many mixtures..."
"Well, the high elf bloodline is very powerful. And with that, it was possible to give you a second life, saving you," said the whale calmly, looking at the pensive elder elf, they were fishing lightly.
Azali thought for a few seconds and looked seriously at Corin. "Young man, with our blood, you managed to live. Are you grateful to our family?"
Corin heard that and immediately his eyes trembled. "I am grateful to my master for saving me, but I owe a lifetime debt to your family equally. Without both, I would never be alive."
His words were emotional and weighty. Ruri felt proud; she taught Corin to act emotionally, it was only a few days, but it was intense training.
"Great," Azali nodded and turned to the whale. "I can only speak for my family, but certainly the Grimstones will do the same, and the other two don’t even talk to each other. I want to accept him as a member of the family and take him in."
The whale narrowed his eyes, but Azali continued quickly. "You and your city should receive a reward for the help before. And as they are your servants and disciples, each family should reward you individually, appropriately to have them."
The whale remained serious and replied. "I don’t care about rewards. If they want to go with you, the choice is theirs. But, I’ve seen the level of arrogance in the families; you want me to hand over some of mine to be treated like trash?"
The two elves nodded and were satisfied. "Don’t worry, sir," said Azja calmly. "I will give my central disciple position to him. It’s an honor to have another young member with such great potential, our family will only grow stronger with this. And he seems to be someone with good intentions."
"He has the blood of elves originally; all elves are descendants of the high elves. Only the most powerful members will be able to perceive that this was implanted; there will be no problems," said Azali seriously. "He will have to prove himself in the family to be an official central disciple. But with his talent, everyone will accept him quickly."
The whale turned to Corin, who in turn remained silent for a few minutes. But soon he clenched his fists and spoke. "Alright, I’ll serve the family with my life if the master accepts. But I’ll always be willing to help you whenever you need it."
The two smiled happily, but then Azali turned around and quickly spoke, excited. "I have to go back and explain everything to the families. I’ll inform them about the dwarf’s situation too, if you allow me. All three of them should come here to try to take their talents to the families, I’ll speak on your behalf for the best reward."
"Great, he and I have things to sort out at the Three Extremes Sect still. Tell them to come in a week. If they can convince the other three and give me assurances that they will be well treated, I won’t stop them," said the whale calmly.
The two nodded, they had learned about the war that lasted a century. They had recently ended the twelve families, they would certainly retaliate against the sect; a new bloodbath would occur.
"I understand, the investigations are underway. But the sect region was the first to be searched. I’ll inform them about that too; no one will bother you," the elder concluded.
The whale and the elves said their goodbyes and left. At that moment, Ruri next to the whale laughed maliciously. They had set up the circus together, and now they would still be acclaimed as heroes and rewarded.
Later, the master would receive another reward to take them away, so it was only gains. She held the whale’s hand and squeezed excitedly, looking at him adoringly. He returned, and everything turned completely upside down. The twelve families and now the four Empyrean families were dancing to their tune.
At the same time, the whale was pensive. Everything was going very well for them. Either something very wrong was waiting for them, or Heaven’s Will was setting up a sinister play; both options seemed problematic. They were commanding in appearances, but who dictated the rhythm was always destiny; everything could easily go wrong or right.
After a few seconds of conflicting reflections, the whale turned to Ruri calmly. "It’s time; let’s rescue all the remaining people from Montide and complete your mission."