The two arrived at the barrier leading to the Skyward Forest. With the gathering and the events, there were no elders or cultivators in the forest. Ruri removed her central elder badge and checked the formation record, confirming this. Everyone who entered left their badge marked inside.
She opened the entrance, and the two passed through; it was a privilege she gained as the central elder, being able to enter the forest and cultivate without rules. Everyone in the sect knew where they had gone and wouldn’t be crazy enough to enter the forest and follow them.
She explained excitedly as they ventured into the place. The fact that she had advanced in cultivation so quickly in the past, before the war happened, was due to her access to this place. When Ruri entered the forest, she immediately had an idea and stealthily studied the formation that isolated everything. In less than a year, she used her training formation and massively sucked the Qi from the place.
From time to time, she would return to the city, and everyone would benefit and cultivate with it; this forest was essential for their survival in the past. Of course, the entire sect noticed that two-thirds of the Qi in the forest seemed to have disappeared completely. A thorough investigation was conducted; but Ruri managed to hide without any problems using her mental power and continued to steal. With practice, she only needed a few hours each month to do the work.
"Using the Yin rune from the training formation to attract the Yang and suck everything was a great idea. You did everything without getting caught... but... stealing like that is a bit..." Bruno listened and murmured a little disturbed.
"I investigated a bit about the internal affairs of the sect. You know the evil cultivators? All three evil clans had hidden contact with the sect. They exchanged abyss crystals and negotiated small cities and clans to be massacred." Ruri said, holding the whale’s hand as they walked through the forest.
"In the past, there were several medium and large clans scattered throughout the continent. Nowadays, they’re all gone... all were plotted against using the evil cultivators to destroy them. The entire sect is rotten inside, the enmity and war against the evil cultivators were just on the surface for the naive to believe."
Bruno sighed and nodded, for them, that was already a certainty; they just didn’t care. The world of cultivators was like that, everything was fair game to profit and eliminate competition.
Ruri then looked around and smiled. "If master were here, he would have taken all the Yang rune and the entire place to the city. I’m limited, but I had a creative idea to make them bleed even more. Besides the Qi, I made allies in this place."
She waved and removed a set of runes that intertwined around her. Alm and Bruno immediately recognized it, they were extremely dense Yin runes. That was a formation... and from the power coming from the runes, they understood its effect.
Ruri noticed their quick comprehension and explained gently. "It was all thanks to master who taught me to manipulate the Yin inside the black tower when I was very young. This Yang here is on the same level. With Langrum’s help using the technique master gave him, I created these runes and made this formation."
Alm and Bruno remembered the first monthly test they had in the evil sect, it was in the black tower, and they also met Almin for the first time. Alm took his time teaching Ruri to sense and manipulate that high-level Yin. Now, many years later, although she didn’t use Yin to fight, in her formations, she managed to develop strange methods with it.
"The method is similar to stealing Qi. The dense Yin seeks similar-level Yang to balance itself out; with the formation, it became a treasure detector. I made hundreds of these formations and handed them to the allies, all this time here, they must have quietly collected everything useful in this forest." Ruri continued excitedly.
"Allies? To manipulate the formation’s Yin... you recruited the demons?" Alm asked surprised. These demons were linked to extreme danger, which was the divine demon; it was a risky and dangerous move for her.
Ruri waved as she spoke. "They’re not like the abyss demons. Here, they’re practically slaves... I know what it feels like to be a slave. I gave them the opportunity to free themselves."
Alm looked at her doubtfully, she saw that and with a laugh added. "I told them that if they worked and collected all the good things in the forest, master would set them free and accept them in the city. I made it clear that it could take hundreds of years, but the lord would come back and kick the demon like an insect."
Alm and Bruno sighed in unison; this girl recruited workers for him. When they left, they made it clear that they might not come back; but she really didn’t believe it for a second.
Ruri, manipulating the runes around her, turned to a corner of the forest and stopped. The whale turned to the same side, already sensing the approach for quite some time. Among the trees, a dozen demons emerged.
"Human..."
A demon began to speak but choked upon seeing the whale. On the forehead of all the demons, a red mark pulsed malignantly, it was a very restrictive slavery seal. The demon with divine cultivation was completely dead, they felt what happened just now; but the mark on them forced them to stay in place and follow their orders even with him dead.
"As I said, he’s back. Master has already dealt with the one who enslaved you; I hope you’ve done the job correctly." Ruri said lightly.
Ruri chose these twelve demons and sealed only a part of their slavery seal, specifically the part that gave them free will, allowing them to do the work. The slave seal was still active at 80%, and even the demons themselves wouldn’t notice the difference if they didn’t pay attention.
"YES! WE DID EVERYTHING!" All twelve demons fell to their knees after looking at the whale. "Lord, we worked perfectly and checked every inch of this land. Everything of value has been collected. I know many of my race are under your protection, if you accept us, we will work..."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.
"Stop it. You were already slaves. Now you want to change owners? Do you want freedom or just a softer whip to command you?" The whale cut in dryly. "I don’t accept slaves. If you wish to go to my city, know that everyone there lives in peace, without disputes or conflicts. I don’t choose how you will live or what you will do. Your life is yours, I just protect you so you have freedom of choice and safety. Everyone lives free."
The twelve were stunned, as they hadn’t had free will since birth, just like their parents, grandparents, and several generations. They didn’t know what to do to free themselves, as it was already ingrained in their minds and actions unconsciously. So, they offered what they knew they had... now, could they be free and choose how to live?
Ruri smiled and waved for them to stand up. "Lead us to the others, we will set them all free. Also, bring everything you’ve collected, master’s time is precious and you’ve helped a lot. We came here to bring back master’s brother, he’s the son of that bastard."
They all quickly got up, excited. But one of them turned to Ruri, remembering something with a start. "His son... is the human talking about that earth egg with the hybrid?"
"My name is Ruri, but yes, it must be him. He’s master’s brother." She replied and immediately the atmosphere grew tense among the demons.
"Uh... human... something happened shortly after the old master’s death." A demoness murmured in panic. "A holy light, like a sun, appeared... and took that earth egg away. There was a rune, but also a consciousness in it... He took the egg and seemed excited... or something similar, it was strange."