A handsome human with green eyes and long golden hair tied back emerged from the secret spatial formation of the families. He emanated a sacred and divine aura. His cultivation was only at the elementary level of the Divine Origin Realm, but the four family leaders felt a deadly pressure coming from him.
"I am the hero Orojin. Are you sure no one knows about my arrival? Do you understand the consequences of a failure with the hero, correct?" He spoke coldly, looking at the four kneeling figures.
"Yes!" The human leader of the Moonlight family was the first to respond. "This is an emergency secret location that only the family leaders know about. We checked everything meticulously; no one but us will know about your arrival."
The golden figure nodded gently. "Good. Dwarf, your family has a disciple of the Forge God; I came personally because of your family. I have very serious suspicions about this."
"We will never hide or deny anything from the hero. No matter what you want, my entire family will do its utmost to resolve it." The dwarf spoke as quickly as possible, almost in desperation. The other three around him also affirmed their loyalty, a little relieved.
Orojin snorted and spoke. "Prepare a thorough investigation. The focus is on this mediocre ascending planet. Everything must be done without raising suspicions, and no one should know that I am here. If anything goes wrong, all the families will be held accountable."
"Yes!" They all roared in fear. Something big must have happened, and they fell right into it.
With the hero’s orders, several young members of the family with mortal cultivation and who didn’t stand out much were sent to the planet. They pretended to be ordinary people, researched, and searched for something very specific: weapons with runic seals.
Occasionally, at the auctions organized by the Three Extremes Sect, these weapons would appear. They were very few, and whoever had one wouldn’t want to lose it at all. But quickly, information was provided by the dark elves: if there was really an interest in these weapons, there was a method to obtain them with sufficient resources to buy.
Everything became clear after following the clues. Those who could sell them were the few evil cultivators struggling to survive on the planet; many of them possessed these weapons. After further investigation, another fact became clear: the vast majority of the weapons circulating on the planet originally came from the evil cultivators.
How did they have something like this? The most obvious answer that the dwarf leader of the Grimstone family thought of was Vuard. But the hero didn’t seem satisfied.
Orojin already knew all the recent events on the planet and in the families. He seemed increasingly certain about his suspicions, but remained calm so as not to ruin everything. When the five discussed the new information secretly, the high elf leader of the Litharion family spoke after deep reflection.
"The twelve families found out that Denil used to be an evil cultivator, and all this happened because they were ’investigating’ him. Those idiots were conspiring with the demons and blamed Denil for breaking the seal, but it’s a fact that he used to be an evil cultivator." The high elf spoke slowly, and the minds of the other leaders seemed to fit the pieces together. "Not only that, all the weapons on the planet that didn’t have an evil origin simply appeared in the central sect a century ago. Exactly at the same time, Denil was there. Denil is connected to everything."
The dwarf leader quickly spoke, stunned. "Vuard is a member of his city, and he respects him as a master. Before we investigated Vuard, he was never part of the central sect of the planet or the evil cultivators. He spent much of his time in a small city of human alchemists, then went to live in Denil’s city."
"According to the records of the Three Extremes Sect, Denil was part of the dwarf realm when he was recruited by them. The inheritance of the Forge God was in the dwarf realm... everything indicates that Denil received the inheritance. In reality, Vuard is his disciple and received the knowledge from him. This mortal hid things well." The human leader of the Moonlight family spoke with a dark look.
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The hero who heard everything smiled sinisterly. "Great, great. Do you know what connects all this?" He spoke, and everyone widened their eyes, feeling the hero’s bloodthirsty aura.
"This connects to the Heaven-Defier who set up to destroy the seal of this planet. There were two fugitives, one of them belongs to a very rare race physically similar to humans, the other was a demonic whale. That whale actually was someone who could forge weapons with runic seals. A disciple of the Forge God is as rare as a God, and now one of the fugitives has appeared here and fled... it can’t be a coincidence that these weapons appeared on this planet. The other must be hiding... and it seems I found him, hehehe."
The sinister laughter, completely opposite to his sacred figure, reverberated. All four leaders trembled; but a bestial woman in human form, who had not spoken until now, clenched her fists and spoke softly:
"But there is evidence and several testimonies that in the dwarf realm there was indeed something related to the Forge God. Denil may have simply acquired it in the dwarf realm and passed it on to Vuard. I have seen many of the people he commands and protects. He is not a demonic whale or someone bad. Everyone genuinely adores and respects him. Hero Sir, let me investigate directly, he may be innocent."
The leader of the Yangta spoke what she truly thought and felt. There were some connections with Denil, but they were only assumptions without concrete evidence. This young man could be innocent, but the hero clearly wouldn’t ask anything and would simply create a bloodbath. Would the entire city and the people living there be destroyed because of an assumption? She couldn’t accept that.
"No." The hero spoke dryly. "The two Heaven-Defiers fled and no hero found them. One of them attempted something on this planet, but there was never any trace of the other; now I finally found something. If he really is the person, he will flee at the slightest sign. He managed to come from the underworld to this universe; he can easily go to another untraceable place."
"But... Denil is a human," she tried to argue.
"Denil has been missing for over a century, and not even the twelve families have found him. Now, one of the Heaven-Defiers is a demonic whale... the whale physique fits, and with the nefarious power of a Heaven-Defier, it shouldn’t be difficult to pretend to be human. Everyone saw his abnormal power in the competition; as much as they are assumptions, they are solid enough," the high elf spoke coldly, and everyone looked at the Yangta woman.
She wanted to rebut, but there were no arguments; no one seemed to care about the consequences for the people of the city. She trusted what she felt and couldn’t connect Denil to the tales of a Heaven-Defier. She fell silent and nodded pretending to agree; everyone was already looking at her strangely, and if the hero suspected anything, she and her entire family could be destroyed.
"The goal of this Heaven-Defier must be the same as the other: to destroy the seal. For that, he must get rid of the families. The simplest way is to infiltrate his allies, and gradually they would grow within the families. You fell into their plans ridiculously," Orojin spoke dryly, and all the leaders trembled at this fact.
"Fortunately, the four young people connected to him who are in the family haven’t had time to grow. I want to seal all escape routes for him and his allies; everything must be clean and without leaks. Find a way to gather everyone in the city so we can finish them all together."
The hero concluded, and the leaders broke out in a cold sweat. If the whale really is the enemy, their days were already numbered; in a few centuries, the four they recruited would take up important positions and the families would sink very quickly.
Now, they had been given a chance from the heavens by discovering this so early. They had to do everything perfectly to save themselves, regardless of whether Denil was guilty or not.
That’s what the human, the elf, and the dwarf thought in sync. But the Yangta woman thought differently and reflected on what she could do. Soon, recent memories flooded her thoughts.
Just over a year ago, after the family competition, in the world of the Yangta family, the leader had an encounter with Loeus and tried to make him her disciple. He accepted without hesitation, but she quickly realized she had little to teach him other than strengthening his thin bloodline. The young man was extremely experienced, and seemed to have spent much of his life fighting with his life at risk... in a short time she found out that was exactly it.
Loeus didn’t seem to want to learn anything from her; he readily accepted to be her disciple, but only talked all the time, asking for her opinion and gently forcing a conversation.
Several months passed and he talked about life and random things, it didn’t seem like he was talking to his master and family leader. At first she just responded as short and dry as possible; but he turned out to be honest, and she slowly, without realizing it, opened up.
Suddenly, they were both chatting happily about many things. Her leader aura disappeared, and she seemed to return to the time when she was a carefree young woman, talking freely about anything that came to mind.
She talked about her children and gave him hints about her daughters. The two of them connected using their children as a link. At some unknown moment, the most personal things were laid on the table.
Loeus talked about his current life, about his entire childhood as a slave, about how he was saved by the round human, about his wife who was his master, all in a smooth manner as if it were something distant. The leader quickly felt very bad for the harm the family caused him, so, on impulse, she told him the truth.
Every five thousand years, sometimes a little more or less, the four families used a demonic technique to transfer everyone’s karma to the side branch. Usually, some centuries before the date, several men would go to the planet and repopulate the branches again. Then everything happened, and in a few centuries, everyone on the planet died tragically.
This cycle has happened dozens of times, but the current leader was a young central member when the Yangtas did it last. She told Loeus that many important Yangtas, along with her, didn’t want to continue with it. But there was a majority among the high elders and counselors who didn’t care, so she couldn’t change anything.
Loeus listened quietly. When she finished speaking, she deeply regretted it. She shouldn’t have revealed that; the consequences could be huge. However, his pain and that of everyone on the planet didn’t compare to the problems she would face.
Her regret was knowing that she would be hated by an honest person and would lose a friend. But, to her surprise, Loeus’s words were not of hatred or reproach. He spoke calmly, watching his children training from a distance.
"The past cannot be changed, nor the future. All we can do is live the present and sow positive seeds for everything to change. Don’t care about the old. The most important thing is to take care of those who are coming and give them the option to live righteously."
She listened, but remained skeptical. Among cultivators, only the strongest had a voice or power to change anything. Focus on the younger ones? Maybe one in a hundred thousand would become relevant. She couldn’t rely on them; nothing would change, and she would only lose energy.
"The city my wife takes care of, and that my Lord protects, is exactly that. Everyone lives freely, without rules, but a terrible army is organically rising. Do you think I’m talented? All the cultivators in the city are at the same level or above." Loeus waited a few seconds, feeling her confused thoughts, and gently continued.
"My Lord planted the seeds and many rose to fight by his side; no one wants to repay, but rather do what is right and help those in need. If you give them a chance, many will arise who will only take advantage, like rotten seeds. But there will be some seeds that will become grand and bright trees, and they will spread new seeds. Evil destroys itself, but these bright trees will live forever, slowly multiplying."
The greatest example of all was Loeus himself. He had already lived in misery and hell, yet someone helped him just because, planting a seed. Now, he distributed seeds and encouraged everyone to do the same.
Back to the present, the Yangta leader remembered word for word what Loeus said without understanding why; she didn’t understand at the time and still didn’t understand now. But, seeing pure evil in front of her, wearing a golden and sacred mantle, all her instincts and bloodline desperately pleaded inside her.
In a few brief seconds of reflection, Loeus’s encouraging words, combined with what she felt, began to make sense. If Loeus could see, he would be pleased; the seed that was planted in her had sprouted. A good person just needed direction and encouragement to do good. The greatest incentive was knowing that they weren’t alone.
The presence of the whale and the entire city made this divine beast see a new path. Alm and Bruno had no idea of the impact of their actions on people. They only wanted faithful followers, but it wasn’t just those who lived in their city and worshiped them who were affected.
The way of life they preached showed willing people that something in their lives seemed wrong. The abnormality and security they represented made everyone reflect on things; soon, the generational teachings they never questioned were rethought.
’Even if I die, I’d rather do what’s right...’ She thought, and everything made sense immediately. ’Maybe that’s what he meant by planting seeds... Yes, leaving a positive legacy in the present may seem foolish, and dying for it may seem foolish... but I will save many, and they will be motivated to save others. When I reincarnate, the seeds I planted will be sacred trees that will protect me from storms; at that moment, the present will be changed and everyone’s life will be better, including mine.’