It was early morning when Rehvka and Calirer returned. They stopped near the mountain but kept a distance from the entrance, waiting patiently. They knew those two had been left alone, and Ruri could be a bit excessive and intense.
After a few minutes, the laws of the land on the mountain stirred. A small figure emerged from the cave. Ruri floated, radiating her own light, her face exuding boundless energy. She turned to the two and waved, smiling faintly.
The two sighed and moved towards the cave. Upon entering, they saw the whale meditating. His aura indicated he had gone through a taxing and difficult battle, yet there was a rare and subtle emotion in him. It was clear he didn’t hate, but rather equally enjoyed being with Ruri.
He opened his eyes, and with a somewhat strange look, Rehvka handed him several crystals. Her Dao was still developing, but its direction was becoming clear. Like Ruri, Rehvka understood that her greatest strength lay in complementing what her master lacked, being as useful as possible. Her Dao had shaped itself, now not only perfectly blending with the Yin of the environment but also concealing people, laws, and everything her Qi could support.
Concealed by her Dao, there was no fluctuation or aura of hers or what she was hiding; it was as if it didn’t exist. Synchronized with Calirer, it was easy to pretend it was just a technique of the demoness, and even simpler to conceal the fluctuations of the recording crystals. No Fey could imagine, not even in their wildest dreams, that someone could record them without them noticing.
"Master had fun while I worked... that’s a bit unfair," Rehvka said lightly.
The whale softly snorted, then retrieved something small and round about two centimeters in size, which floated towards her. With a wave, it advanced and stuck to Rehvka’s forehead. The next instant, her body trembled, and she fell to her knees, breathing heavily.
"It’s a corrupted demonic crystal that was with that elder. It’s a Yin attack method that may be useful for you to learn. I don’t have the technique, only the outcome. Learn to do this by feeling the corruption in your body... it’s a uniquely torturous sensation, but I think you won’t mind,"
The whale said calmly, and Rehvka looked up with trembling body, nodding and smiling with a unique satisfaction and pleasure. Calirer, further back, watched everything with a strange expression. The master was abnormal, while his disciple was terribly strange.
Alm and Bruno focused on viewing everything recorded on the crystal. The images were clear, with the words and expressions of everyone in that meeting. They were flawless, and everything flowed without any suspicion. However, obviously, the true branch of the Shadow God would contact the Feys, and everything would be discovered. They had to act quickly to avoid giving chance to luck.
During this time, Rehvka crawled over to their side while writhing in ecstasy. They finished viewing everything and nodded satisfactorily. The next moment, Ruri entered the cave alongside Ambry and Kisala.
The three saw Rehvka writhing in ecstasy beside the whale. The two Feys were stunned by the strange scene; they were very innocent and had never seen anything like it. Ruri simply told them to ignore it dryly.
The whale asked them to come closer and showed them the crystals. The two saw the meeting, and their bodies and auras froze. Things were much, much worse than they imagined. Both clan leaders, the two vice-leaders, almost all the high elders, and even some elders and prominent members... all betrayed the sect... and were willing to betray the entire race, sacrificing disciples and elders...
Once they finished, they looked at them completely shaken and spoke slowly. "The consequences of this will be enormous."
Both lifted their trembling gaze to him. Alm sighed, continuing without pause; they had to see the reality clearly. "Everyone will be arrested and likely executed. The clans will lose practically 80% of their power from cultivators, and with luck, they’ll only have to pay a very high compensation to the sect. Your clans will cease to be the largest on the planet, an internal crisis will occur, and they will hardly recover one day."
Kisala clenched her fists; she saw her mother among them. Ambry didn’t see her parents, but recognized several acquaintances, including the clan vice-leader whom she considered important and who had mentored her before she joined the sect. They were facing an irreparable disaster that would destroy their clans forever. But... both of them looked at the whale with seriousness.
"Don’t worry. This isn’t just an isolated act of greedy Feys; my entire clan must pay for this," said Ambry, the first to speak her mind without hesitation.
Then she turned to Kisala, who looked down thoughtfully. Everyone waited for her to reflect internally; each had their own time. After two minutes, she took a deep breath and calmed herself. Then she looked the whale in the eyes.
"Destruction leads to rebirth, death is the harbinger of new life," she said softly, and the whale nodded gently. "If the clans are allowed to exist still, then nothing is over. We will rebuild them properly in the future. With this corruption, we were doomed to collapse; your intervention was a blessing. Now we will have the opportunity to go further after rebirth."
She concluded seriously and turned her gaze back to Ambry, who understood the message without needing words. They had already discussed this before, and Ambry spoke confidently, "You saved us, and saved our clan from a much worse end. We and our clans will follow you eternally, not out of gratitude, but because you will always show us the right path."
Alm and Bruno internally chuckled; they showing the right path? The world had turned upside down. Ruri smiled lightly; she wouldn’t dare influence them or say anything in that regard. But they were smart and had come to this conclusion on their own after seeing things clearly.
Just a few months close to the whale were enough for them to understand that he was beyond anything they could imagine. Still, he welcomed them and cared about them regarding their clans’ issues. They had never felt so comfortable anywhere or close to people as they were there.
"Great, I don’t have time and I will hand everything over to the leader. Get ready, things will get very dangerous soon," the whale said softly, then glanced at Ruri. She already knew what to do and led them outside.
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As they left, the whale turned to Calirer. "Meet with Runula. Soon you will be the most benefited; you must prepare to absorb as much as possible. You will only have one chance." Calirer took a deep breath and seemed to understand his plans.
***
On that same morning, the tiny Fey, leader of the sect, was meditating in her chambers when an unexpected message entered her mind.
’Leader, something strange has happened.’
’Hm? What is it? Speak quickly,’ she responded curtly, preparing herself for a lengthy discussion with the councilors.
Throughout this time, it was obvious that the many demons who had invaded and died in the forest had been noticed by the sect. The leader tried to initiate an investigation, but the councilors, most of whom belonged to the two largest Fey clans, refused to accept.
They argued that it could be interpreted as something normal and routine. Clearly, the new disciples were being targeted, but the Shadow God branch was being respectful to the sect and acting within acceptable limits. It wasn’t worth creating a problem with the sect over such a small matter.
She was a rare leader of the sect, one of the few who did not come from the two most powerful clans; something that had only happened three times in the long history of the Yinblood sect. Without solid arguments, she couldn’t act without council authorization and was always in the overwhelming minority in discussions to achieve anything. Everyone there wanted to remove her from leadership and install someone from their clans at the earliest opportunity.
The voice of the elder replied somewhat apprehensively, ’Um... a red disciple exchanged five hundred thousand Yinblood jewelry. I’ve never seen a disciple with so many Yinblood jewelry, let alone a newcomer. But he didn’t ask for something normal in return; he simply wanted to see the leader in person. If the leader doesn’t mind.’
This elder had never seen anything similar happen, and logically, the respected leader throughout the universe wouldn’t waste time with a disciple. But the amount of Yinblood jewelry was so high that there were no records of the limits of what he could demand. As for the leader... based on her history, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
The response was quick and smooth. "Quite bold, he’s to my liking. Bring him to my private chambers; it’ll be amusing."
The elder heard and swallowed nervously. To... the private chambers? She liked him? His mind wandered, but he quickly accepted. That leader was single, and despite all the clans’ attempts, all men had given up trying to win her over hundreds of years ago. Internally, among the elders, she was known by a peculiar nickname: Mistress Cougar.
She never paid attention to men her age, only to the young ones... and all of them, even encouraged by the clan to approach her, fled in desperation shortly after and preferred never to speak much about it. The few hints that leaked out made the more perceptive elders connect the dots. This leader... let’s just say she liked to dominate at all times.
From that day on, strange rumors about the whale would spread throughout the sect. Concerning their compatibility, no one cared. If beasts could shape-shift into something small and adapt to their partner, that Fey could easily change into whatever size she wanted; so their difference wasn’t an issue.
Ignoring the elder’s very strange and doubtful look, the whale was taken to the central region of the sect. He saw almost nothing, traveling only between buildings using teleportation formations. After passing through five of them, the elder stepped back, leaving him in the center.
"You’ll be taken directly to the leader in her chambers. Be careful what you do; she’s famous for being extremely dominant and... likes very strange things," he explained first, then his last warning seemed disjointed and nonsensical to Alm and Bruno. But they felt no life-threatening danger or anything too bad from it, so they ignored it and nodded.
All the runes in the formation lit up, surrounding the whale. It took three seconds for them to find themselves inside a luxurious and gigantic room.
Then a calm voice sounded...
"It’s been a while since they sent another young... half-human so large and new. Well, you’re resilient, correct?" A voice full of innuendo echoed in the whale’s ears, making him widen his eyes.