In the late afternoon, the whale and Ruri flew through the forest, observing the skies completely covered by dark clouds. With every meter toward the depths of the forest, both felt a growing sense of ominous foreboding. It was an irrational premonition, but they both felt it.
They moved quickly, yet cautiously. In the forest, there were demon beasts in the Body Destruction Realm; they could attack at any moment. Although they didn’t pose a direct threat, they needed to remain vigilant. Adding to the uncertainty of what awaited them, they forced themselves to stay calm and alert.
As the night progressed, total darkness enveloped the dense forest, with no trace of moonlight or starlight. As they traversed a towering mountain at midnight, they spotted in the distance a place surrounded by high walls of wood and stone. It was the home of the people of Montide and the Moonlight clan. Inhabited by hundreds of thousands of people, this was the outer branch of the ancient Empyrean family, whose bloodline stretched back millennia.
The size of the settlement rivaled that of the Divinestone clan, although its rudimentary appearance concealed a unique architecture foreign to this planet. Even the wood used was not native to that forest or any known place in this world, indicating direct influence from the main family.
As they contemplated the site, a gust of wind passed by them, and they instinctively closed their eyes at the strong smell of blood they sensed.
"A concentration of Yin death is a few meters from here," said Alm to the whale, turning in the direction.
Both moved swiftly and arrived in two seconds. As they looked at the ground, they were met only with wreckage... remnants of what were once hundreds of cultivators. They were scattered everywhere, with a considerable distance between them... as if they had been swept away by a deadly storm. However, none of them belonged to the people of Montide. Ruri confirmed this by managing to identify a familiar corpse, slightly more intact.
"All of them are from the Divinestone clan. They were the ones who occupied the place and kept them under control. They were all expelled... by a power that didn’t give them any chance," she spoke tensely.
The previous smell of blood didn’t come from them, but from inside the walls. The whale sighed and nodded to Ruri, who was looking at him tensely, asking for permission. Both immediately burst with all their speed, flying quickly and crossing the distance in a minute.
They approached the gates without seeing any guards, but the smell of blood and the heavy atmosphere were suffocating. They quickly crossed the walls, finding no people outside; everyone was silently holed up in their homes.
Alm and Bruno quickly scanned the area with their spiritual perception. They immediately detected something strange: there were only men, children, and elderly women in the houses. The older men were injured and debilitated.
The whale stopped in the air, and Ruri spotted a child through a window in one of the houses. She ran there, noticing that the child was tense but receptive to conversation; their familiar appearance reassured her. However, Ruri quickly noticed numerous adults inside the house, all watching her approach in extreme terror.
Bruno moved silently; his power of faith warmly enveloped them, and in an instant, everyone in the house was healed. Ruri entered and quickly calmed them: "I’m one of you... who did this? What happened?"
She asked with pleading eyes, and they all recounted, still trembling. It had been just a day ago, the night before, when two divine male figures descended from the heavens. They resembled everyone there but were like gods among mortals.
With a single glance, almost all the invaders turned into bloody mist. The few who remained fled desperately, but one of them, a young-looking one, just waved. A divine wave swept them away, causing them all to fly through the skies... they were killed like insects.
Afterward, they declared themselves the owners and gods who created them, stating that everyone there was their servants. Those two men... took away all the young women, even those considered adults only nominally. They left nothing behind, even the married ones with children were forcibly taken. Their husbands who resisted were silenced without a word, resulting in thousands dead and injured.
Ruri trembled, clenching her fists tightly. She struggled to contain her fury and her urge to kill, not wanting to frighten the people even more. Meanwhile, the whale listened attentively to everything, then looked towards a tall building in the distance.
"Let’s go," the whale spoke softly.
Ruri turned to him with moist eyes, and the whale huffed heavily in response. The dark skies brightened, and the entire place was bathed in a bright and warm celestial blue. All the houses and all the people felt their bodies rejuvenate and be healed.
Immediately, all the doors opened, and people looked out through the windows. There, high above, they saw a divine and radiant figure amidst the celestial clouds. Divine power filled the place and touched everyone. Their minds and souls trembled... they felt a spark of hope arising amidst the suffering they had endured for decades. Each day seemed to bring only more slavery and pain, but now, instinctively, they felt that something would completely change their lives.
Next to the whale, a smaller figure like a divine fairy floated by his side. She held his hand and looked down with a gentle smile. Everyone saw that smile in shock; they felt as if the world in their minds was illuminated. She was just like them, which made them feel something indescribable.
"I am Ruri. I am part of the royal clan of Montide, I am the only one left," she began to speak softly, and then a soft and sacred violet power enveloped her, forming small lotuses that danced mystically around her.
Everyone listened silently, but when they saw that mental power, their hearts immediately raced with the revelation. They all knew there was only one survivor... it was a young girl who was taken away. This power... left no doubt... she... she had returned!
"I lived and grew up far from you, but now I have returned. I have already expelled the external evil, now, the only enemies that enslave us are those who created us. Our ancestors," everyone forgot to breathe, they saw how those divine beings who created them saw them. To them, everyone was just trash.
Ruri smiled, and everyone’s hearts calmed down. "Not even our own ancestors value us. But... now we are being taken care of. A new home awaits everyone, all those who were uplifted and enslaved are already waiting. And the sacred abode of the one who will protect us. And he came personally to take them."
She finished her speech softly then squeezed the hand she was holding; Bruno understood the message. All the power of faith and Yang spun around him. Everyone felt the pure and infinite divinity echoing in the skies. They couldn’t waste her heroic rune’s power at that moment, but Bruno’s level of faith and Yang was already capable of causing a high-level shock.
Stunned, everyone fell to their knees. "Princess! Divine Lord!" one of them shouted, astonished and in tears.
Praises spread everywhere, driven by the divine beacon in the skies. Ruri waved gently as everyone watched her, moved. "We will solve this little problem. Gather outside. We will soon depart for the sacred land. Everyone will live free and without fear; he will take care of all of us."
Ecstatic, everyone looked at the two figures floating above. Then they moved smoothly towards the central building.
Everyone immediately emerged from their homes on all sides, spotting the two figures. It didn’t take long for them to run away; they obeyed the orders without hesitation, a divine dispute was about to occur.
As the duo moved away, they saw a large area around the central building deserted and devastated. Bruno gathered all the power of faith; they didn’t waste it on this show, using just enough to heal everyone. Now things would get complicated.
As they approached the building, they saw a huge hole with Qi chains closing it. As they got closer, they saw all the women being kept there like animals. The whale looked towards the building a few meters away, dozens were taken...
The whale waved and immediately freed them. Ruri approached and calmed them down, speaking gently. Bruno just stayed in the air, leaving a mystical aura around him. They all left and ran away, but not before looking fascinated at the whale in the sky.
’The two idiots are having a blast. They didn’t even budge when you put on that show, and now we’ve wrecked it. They seem completely relaxed, not a clue that anything wrong could happen,’ Alm spoke sarcastically.
As everyone left, Ruri turned completely cold, radiating a sinister aura. Alm and Bruno watched as she waved and withdrew her spatial runes. She was making preparations. They activated the array and sent messages to everyone in the distant city. With everyone’s high cultivation, distance was no longer a problem.
In minutes, she turned to the whale, who nodded. Ruri slowly drew her katana, and her cultivation reached its peak, merging with all her will. Then, she slashed violently, creating a spatial rift that cut through the sky and fell towards the building.
BOOM!
The building didn’t explode, but the spatial blade did. Powerful spatial phenomena spread in all directions. In front of the building, a middle-aged man emerged from the void, easily dispelling the attack as he lazily glanced forward.
He bore the distinctive features of the Montide people, his upper body exposed; it seemed they had interrupted something. He stared at Ruri with a broad smile, while his cultivation slowly manifested, causing the entire environment to vibrate with his divinity. He was at the fifth level of the Spirit Fusion Realm, his power capable of utterly crushing anything on this small ascending planet.
"Hehehe... great, you came," he exclaimed excitedly, then turned and shouted loudly. "Your prize has arrived!"
Suddenly, an explosion erupted from inside the building. Walls flew off, revealing a young cultivator within. He leisurely adjusted his clothes as the scent of sweat hung around him. Upon spotting Ruri, a wide smile spread across his face. It was the newly acquainted Fuzyu Moonlight.
"You bastard... I should’ve ripped your balls off..." Ruri spat furiously, the atmosphere of the place becoming dense and frenetic, her eyes pulsating with an almost maddening fury. Behind him, evidently, were a dozen women trapped in a room.
"Well, I was waiting for you. Just starting the warm-up before you arrived," Fuzyu said, lightly chuckling, before turning to the middle-aged man. "Father, she seems confused..."
The middle-aged man nodded and spoke, looking at her. "You are the last representative of the main clan, with our blood still pure. You belong to the external branch of the Moonlight, so all of you are subject to our rules."
Ruri turned to the man and gripped her katana as if she were ready to attack in the next second. He almost burst into laughter but quickly restrained himself and continued speaking.
"The rules left for the external branch are clear. Whenever someone from the family visits this place, all the women of the main clan must be handed over. After all, we have to work to repopulate the area with our pure blood," he said slowly, looking at her. "You are the only survivor, luckily you are a woman, but that’s enough. Now that you’ve returned, you must follow the rules."
Ruri laughed as if she were hearing a tasteless joke. The man feigned indignation and twisted his face before speaking seriously. "The main family is the law here. If you don’t obey, I have permission to force you. I will also eliminate all those of impure blood; the bloodline must be restored properly. Don’t worry, after a few years of breeding...!"
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The earth opened beneath the elder, and a shaft of black earth surged, piercing upward. He was caught completely off guard, leaping to the side in shock. The arrow narrowly missed him, and he felt a mortal danger in it.
He looked at the whale in shock. When he met its eyes, it was as if he fell into an abyss. The air in his lungs froze, and his soul began to tremble uncontrollably. A primal and instinctive fear engulfed him completely.
Unlike Ruri, who made her aura and will clear, the ancient being had long transcended that stage. The whale simply observed, keeping all its intentions within itself. But when it heard those words, its intentions materialized without it needing to think.
The man flickered for a moment, until his rationality returned. He then circulated his cultivation to the maximum, with a sour expression. Then, he looked at the whale dryly and spat.
"Do you really think our divine family would come knocking on your door and begging for her? Hahaha, what a ridiculous and naive mortal. Our entire external branch already belongs to us, including her. Try another stunt, and I’ll kill everyone first, and then I’ll show you how I deal with this woman."
The whale showed no reaction, only slowly opening its mouth. "Was it the Moonlight family who sent you?" Words of a thirsty demon resonated slowly, making the world’s Yin stir.
A shroud of death Yin covered him like a target. The man felt his heart pounding hard, but only smirked sarcastically. The answer was obvious; they came and acted on their own. Father and son treated as special all their lives, they considered themselves above even their own family and decided to come and vent their anger and will.
They were alone and couldn’t ask for help, excellent. A sinister expression finally appeared on the whale with this conclusion. In the same second, Ruri waved.
With both completely focused on the whale, they didn’t notice when Ruri stealthily advanced with her spatial runes. All nearly thirty women inside the building, who were in two rooms, were covered by the runes and disappeared. They appeared in the midst of the people outside, already in the forest far away from there.
The two belatedly realized this movement, surprised. Ruri then floated up. The laws of the world were broken; she was like a goddess descending to earth. The extreme spatial power of her internal rune reverberated and circulated around her. The middle-aged man saw that and his eyes widened; the level of these spatial laws was above anything he had ever seen.
Her eyes gleamed, and five multicolored runes appeared. With a wave, the world around changed. All the space within an area covering the entire region within the walls was sealed. It was a complete spatial formation, prepared in advance. There was no one left inside; Ruri and the whale just kept talking all the time, to gain time for everyone to escape.
The man looked around and laughed, but now a sinister feeling began to disturb his mind. "You sealed this place to trap us? You really trapped yourselves with me here? Do you think you can get out alive? Hehehe."
After he spoke, a golden light dazzled the entire place. The two looked forward in fear, then saw the whale standing with its hands behind its back. Above its head, a golden crown appeared.
The man realized that it wasn’t Qi or laws, but rather thousands of small runes. He quickly thought and concluded: it was a formation, and it seemed to be connected to... the celestial laws!
The golden crown pulsated, and Ruri waved using all her spatial power. The Array of the Eternal Crown radiated all its power, physically distorting the rules of the world.