Time dragged slowly, and a full day had passed since they entered the Skyward Forest. Coltia shared with Ruri all the knowledge she had about that place and was now sleeping deeply inside the egg, in the beastly world.
Ruri felt completely secure after studying the structure of the area. She was capable of taking the entire area with her because the seal had already been broken, and the Yang rune was separated from the complete structure. It wouldn’t be difficult to merge it with the training formation that had been built based on the Yin rune of the same seal. The two laws would merge organically and quickly.
She stopped near a circular earth structure where her master was and waited. A few seconds later, all the earth runes began to disappear slowly. Ruri calmly looked at the round figure emerging in the center. He turned to her and waved her over.
Ruri ran over there and saw the vibrant spear floating in the air. Just looking at it gave a sensation of being in front of a dominant divine beast. A peculiar and terrifying presence filled her senses with awe. But... shortly after, she felt something very nostalgic.
"This beastly bloodline... it has a connection with the human bloodline," murmured Ruri, a little stunned. "This is very dense and strange, it seems like the bloodline of a Grassrunner, and at the same time, it’s completely different."
The whale nodded slightly; a few minutes earlier, he was completely shocked too.
"First, the immortal core. I merged what you gave me with the other two. I failed in the last moments... but managed to save the overall structure; a very powerful core with 44% intact emerged. Then, I fused the bloodline of the High Grassrunners with Liumi’s soul into the core. When I placed it on the spear, the behemoth bloodline seemed to connect perfectly and add up to everything."
The whale explained calmly and then paused, turning to the spear. "The bloodline has become something unique; it seems to be much more powerful than any pure High Grassrunner."
"Did Liume’s soul manage to fuse perfectly?" Ruri asked quickly, anxiously.
The whale responded with a slight sigh. "It only connected, didn’t fuse. Look inside the core."
Ruri quickly used her soul to investigate. Inside the spear, a small core connected to the entire structure, like a heart with infinite veins connected to the whole weapon. Inside the core, she saw the small figure floating with closed eyes. There were countless bright runes covering it, as if slowly merging with her soul.
"I think it’s alright. I feel like she’s compatible, but her soul is still too weak to handle this power. She’ll fuse slowly and wake up eventually," explained the whale, though they couldn’t be sure of it.
Ruri calmed down, and then the two exchanged silent looks. There were less than four days left for the families to gather in the city, after which Ruri would leave and they would be separated for a while; both knew that. Alm and Bruno understood that Ruri wanted to meet Quitera before leaving. Although she knew they weren’t really her son, it was important for Ruri to introduce herself and get along with her mother-in-law.
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"Now that everything’s settled, we’ll wake her up soon. With the Soul Link, I can use my soul as a connection to restore her and Yamar. But after fighting Coltia, my souls are below 20%," the whale explained slowly.
Ruri smiled brightly, understanding the point. They recovered much more quickly together. If they slept connected, he would be fully restored in no time.
She suddenly thought of something that came to her. This technique of her master linked their souls. Since he had a divine soul, he was always the center. The power of the soul was one of the three powers of life, along with life energy and mind power.
Ruri’s mind power was multiple times greater than theirs. Could the Soul Link connect their minds? If that were possible, then life energy would also be easy to connect. Her mind raced, and her heart skipped a beat. With three complete life connections, if they physically united with that other method...
Alm and Bruno didn’t know what she was thinking, but they saw her face turn slightly red and became doubtful. What the hell was she imagining? Did she misunderstand what they hinted at?
Little did they know that from that day on, Ruri would delve deep into studying the Soul Link in search of improving it. Once Coltia was awake, Ruri would make sure she helped with her vast knowledge.
Ruri knew her master was driven by reason. Even if he wanted to do something, she always had to give him a reason and a push to get him to move. If the Soul Link really evolved as she imagined, it would be a supreme technique that could be used for cultivation in all areas.
Her two masters wanted to deeply advance in the relationship only after the wedding. They thought a lot of her, as she was very young in their eyes. She loved that side of them, but... they could still do other intense things together.
"Hey, we don’t have all day, stop thinking about distant things. When you were a child, you used to live intensely in the moment," Bruno said softly. She smiled and approached them a bit shyly. The two just ignored the strange feeling coming from Ruri.
That forest didn’t receive sunlight; only the magical trees glowed and illuminated everything; it was like being in a big Earth metropolis at night, covered by spots of light that brightened and created a different atmosphere.
The whale held her hand and sat on a bed of earth. Ruri threw herself onto their necks, hugging them and looking deeply into their seductive eyes. She gave a gentle kiss, then closed her eyes and cuddled up to them. Despite becoming an adult, she still slept, using them as pillows as always.
Ten hours passed with the two of them sleeping together. After that, it didn’t take long; Ruri took an hour to store the Yang rune. She planned to fuse it with the training formation later. Then, they met with the demons who awaited them eagerly.
Ruri recruited only twelve of them, while the others lived in a village, obeying the rules established by the divine demon. When they arrived, Bruno used the power of faith and easily dispersed all the slavery seals from the thousands of demons.
They put on a celestial show in the sky; the two had become experts in creating divine phenomena using their laws. Anyone weaker than them would feel their entire mind, soul, and body immersed in a supreme presence. The stronger ones would realize it was just a visual and empty thing, but they could use the heroic power if needed. Their methods were definitely effective, and the couple enjoyed doing it together.
As a result, all the demons knelt and looked up to the skies in worship. New thousands of faithful quickly joined them. With that, their responsibility also increased.
They led all the demons out of the forest. Nimfle awaited them anxiously, and by her side were almost two hundred Grassrunners; they multiplied with the prosperity and protection of the elf.
"Let’s go. Our home is now safe and perfect for everyone to live in peace," Ruri said to everyone with a smile, immediately they trembled with excitement.
They walked out with the large entourage, crossing the sect slowly. All the elders observed the demons in silence, while the cultivators were extremely shocked; prejudice and fear against the demons were still deeply rooted in them. Only the older or more powerful cultivators knew of the demons’ existence in the city and in the Skyward Forest itself.
The whale didn’t care; it was time for everyone on the planet to start losing that fear and understand that the demons were among them. A race should not be stigmatized as evil; demons were what they were, there were good and bad among them. And humans could be just as evil; it was foolish to make a snap judgment.
They didn’t talk to the sect clans; the whale would make another visit later. Ruri didn’t have much to say; in fact, she didn’t want to talk. She knew perfectly well that the Obsidian clan was the precursor to the domination of Montide’s people by the Divinestone clan. But there was no doubt that, with their karma, something similar would happen sooner or later; not to mention that the Obsidian clan only did it once and then left them alone.
Of course, she still wished to destroy them all; but her mother-in-law was born, lived, and probably wished to save the clan from destruction. Ruri decided to let Quitera deal with it; it made no sense to dirty her hands with something so insignificant. Age had brought her maturity to overlook and forget some things.
With three days left until the scheduled date with the families, all the new residents were already settled in the city and the sacred forest. The Grassrunners didn’t live in the city but in the forest, free to run and jump joyfully through that divine place. It was the most natural and perfect home for them.
On that same day, within the castle, the sharp cry of a baby echoed through the place. In the central room, the whale watched Ruri affectionately, holding the baby in her arms and caring for him tenderly. Yamar had been perfectly reincarnated into his brother’s body; they made sure he wouldn’t have memories of his past life. Now, he could live free from his previous troubles and start anew.
A few hours later, Alm and Bruno had already burned 90% of their divine souls again. On the other hand, Quitera was completely recovered. Her mind and soul, which she had deeply damaged herself to avoid suffering, were now as perfect as ever.
Alm and Bruno waited a few minutes, and it didn’t take long for her to gently open her eyes. She sat up in bed, and her first sight was the figure of the whale and Ruri side by side. Her whole body froze; within seconds, her eyes became teary and moist.
Nothing needed to be said; she felt that round figure was her son. And beside him, in the arms of that beautiful woman, she felt the same seeing her second child.
"Welcome back, mother. You don’t need to worry about anything anymore, I saved you and my brother," Bruno said softly, then introduced the person beside him. "This is Ruri."
Ruri smiled warmly, and the two exchanged glances. They all took their time chatting calmly. It was as Alm and Bruno had imagined: Quitera took her son, and all her motherly love emerged like never before. It didn’t matter how he came; he was innocent and would be loved. As for the soul within, they didn’t need to say unnecessary things.
They briefly recounted the story they knew about her deceased husband, Denil’s father. They talked about Derek, the fate of the Divinestone clan, the current situation of the sect. Finally, they told a bit about their city and fantasized about how they defeated the twelve families and the scheme of the three divine demons that led to their downfall.
Quitera felt there was much more hidden, but she didn’t ask. She just wanted to know about everything of her son and Ruri; Bruno told everything he remembered from Denil’s memories. And to his surprise, in less than a day, Quitera kicked him out of the room and stayed alone with Ruri.
The two had to talk alone, between women, which was a relief for Bruno who couldn’t take it anymore. Alm just ignored everything and remained silent; Bruno was the one with all the work.
So, they went to the forge. When they saw them again, half a day later, Ruri was already beside Quitera walking around the city, chatting and showing everything excitedly.
The two seemed like longtime friends. The baby was with his mother, and it wasn’t difficult to find another woman in the city who had recently given birth to breastfeed him. Thus, the three days passed slowly like a refreshing and calm breeze.
Ruri spent most of the time with her mother-in-law, only taking breaks to visit the whale in the forge, where they stopped to give him attention. Soon, the scheduled day arrived.