"Hm? You think I, the sect leader, have an obligation to give you something?" Fey spoke dryly, looking at the whale.
"Are you trying to diminish my merits? Stop with your act; I come from an ascending planet and had to fight my whole life to get here. I’m not like the hothouse flowers you have as disciples. I can discern a reasonable person with a glance, or I wouldn’t have survived this long," the whale said with a slight snort.
She looked at him seriously, then sighed, realizing he wouldn’t be easily intimidated. The whale continued, "I don’t want much; you can say you orchestrated everything to the council and gain credit for it. After all, images aren’t reliable, but if you present them and explain your plan alongside Calirer, it’ll be different."
She nodded; indeed, if she claimed she received this from a disciple, the councilors might hesitate, and traitors might act. But since Calirer was in the images and was a sect disciple, if the leader said she orchestrated everything and used this young woman, she would have grounds to act without permission. Then, just extract the concrete evidence from their memories.
The whale spoke slowly, "I don’t need treasures; I can get those myself..."
"Speaking of which, how the hell did you have five hundred thousand Yinblood jewelry?" She interrupted with a skeptical look.
"You know my bloodline belongs to the Behemoth, right? That primordial beast dominates everything on the land. I simply realized that the jewelry emerge from the ground... it wasn’t hard to gather many, very quickly."
He spoke as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Fey, however, became serious; his bloodline within the sect was clearly an unfair advantage... but life wasn’t fair, and that was his power.
"Back to the previous point. You can keep the credit and all, I want the most valuable thing for my survival; after all, I’m just an ascending person and have many people to take care of. Give me the knowledge," the whale said, looking seriously into her eyes.
She nodded in agreement. Resources could be obtained in many places, but knowledge was restricted and difficult. She looked at this half-human and felt an unbelievable trust in him. Instinctively, she felt he was hiding a lot, and that only made her more curious. But if he truly had so many allies he cared for, he could certainly be trusted.
"Alright, you trusted me and came here; I can only reciprocate. I can’t speak about internal matters as the leader of the Yinblood sect. But... I’ll tell you everything I can, just as Mistie. My name is Mistie, what do you want to know?"
The whale nodded, satisfied, then started with something he always found strange. "Firstly, you and the elders aren’t idiots. After investigating the previous incident, you already know that Ruri absorbed a reverse scale from a Dragon... and I felt that this dragon has origins similar to my bloodline. Why didn’t you do anything and accepted her so easily? I didn’t sense the slightest hostility from the sect. By logic, regardless of the previous rules, that existing in the forest was something unpredictable and the powerful should have wanted to take that power from her; no one is nice in front of a treasure that good. I feel like there’s something important I don’t know."
Mistie Fey looked at the whale, satisfied; he was attentive to details. "Indeed, the rules are strict and no one can break them, but faced with something so good, surely all the high elders would find a way to try to steal from her secretly. If it were in the past, it would be like that, but currently no one had that thought; the reason was that a few months ago, the whole universe changed completely."
She explained calmly. As the leader of one of the largest sects in the universe, she herself was summoned to a meeting with all one thousand major sects. They were summoned by the heroes. At this meeting, terrifying news and a celestial order were announced to everyone. But first, she had to give the context.
Mistie asked softly, "You know about the Empyreans because you have allies at that level. But do you know about a Favored?"
"I don’t know that term. In fact, I know very little about Empyreans. They only told me there are various stronger types, and my allies are of the basic type," the whale replied sincerely.
Fey nodded. "I’ve had to fight many, but since the sect isn’t specialized in that, we don’t have much knowledge. What I can tell you is the basic knowledge."
There are six types of Empyreans. The basic level grants absolute mastery over basic laws, but this only works that way in ascending worlds. In the divine world laws, this ability is greatly reduced and their power is quite limited, but it’s still a big advantage over ordinary cultivators.
With great talent and luck, Empyreans can advance in ranks. The higher level is called True Empyrean; at this level, a power described by her as stolen and unpredictable, called manifestation, is fully formed.
After that, Mistie only knew the names and never fought against anyone above or obtained information about their powers. The levels of Empyreans are, in order: Basic, True, Conqueror, Ancestral, Sovereign, and Supreme.
"Above the Supreme Empyrean, the cultivator becomes a hero. I don’t know what it takes to advance, it’s not that it’s a secret, nobody really knows. Because a Basic Empyrean naturally only advances in rank once or twice in their life. According to logic, no one could reach the level of a hero like this. That’s where a Favored comes in," Fey explained seriously, then recounted something that seemed to awaken difficult memories in her.
"A Favored is born with a celestial mark, something physical and clear to everyone. There are only a dozen of them in the entire universe, and no more arise if all are active. The Favored possess a terrifying talent, become Empyreans on their own, and magically rise in ranks to become heroes; they are like gods among mortals."
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"But not all become heroes. When a Favored dies, another is born somewhere. And whoever kills them, if they’re an Empyrean, receives karmic luck and can advance one or two ranks above normal. Not that this happens frequently; a Favored is literally a god among mortals. There are only records of Favored dying every two generations in history. Don’t think that an ordinary person can kill several and become a hero with it."
"But that doesn’t stop all the powerful from wanting to kill them, whether to rise in rank or try their luck for a new one to be born among theirs. Since only True or Conqueror level Empyreans exist naturally, these winners can rise to the Sovereign level and be the strongest in the universe below the hero. And, obviously, everyone chooses to become companions of a hero of the generation, reigning supreme. The greatest sects in the universe were created by these supreme existences."
"As for heroes, they don’t hinder or try to help the Favored. On the contrary, they even encourage everyone to try to kill them. It’s a test for the future hero to prove themselves worthy; they must first demonstrate their capability to become a hero. But... life isn’t as pretty as in theory. If a Favored is born in a powerful sect or recruited by one, they are protected until they become a hero. There was a recent case; the last hero is someone few know. He was protected and became a hero very early and young."
Alm and Bruno listened somewhat skeptically. Someone born destined to become a hero? The queen dominates celestial laws, and she surely has a hand in this. But why did she create this system with the Favored being targeted?
’This seems to me beyond ordinary training,’ Alm thought to himself, then something came to mind. ’She must control the cycle of reincarnations to some extent and wouldn’t miss a person she judged fit to be a hero. Perhaps she reincarnates the same soul multiple times, training it... truly sinister and rigorous training, but effective.’
’Maybe this has something to do with the heroes of the generation disappearing without anyone knowing and others being created later. Everything might have a connection with the immortal realms,’ Bruno added.
Mistie saw the whale deep in thought and waited a few seconds before continuing. "The introduction is given, now answering your previous question. At the meeting the heroes convened, something terrifying was announced. Remember the recent hero who was protected? He had very low cultivation, and even though he was a hero above all, he was killed. A hero was killed by the only malevolent existence capable: a Heaven-Defier."
The malevolent existence was in front of her, looking at her innocently. She looked at the whale and saw no reaction from him, finding it strange. A Heaven-Defier was something widely known even in ascending worlds; he surely knew about it. She decided to ignore it and continued.
"As for the celestial order, it was equally shocking and unique in history. The current heroes will soon leave; but no new Favored will be born in this generation. The celestial divinity will give all Empyreans born less than two hundred years ago the opportunity to advance in ranks. And in five thousand years, all those who reach the Supreme level will compete to become heroes."
Alm and Bruno immediately understood. Less than two hundred years was very specific, but all the major sects must have countless Empyreans who can compete. As for the Yinblood sect...
Mistie continued, "All sects recently created a new category of disciple: they are Heroic Disciples. They choose a dozen of the most talented and are focusing absolutely all forces and resources on them; this way they will have a greater chance of producing a hero. As for our sect... we barely have Empyreans... we were doomed to quickly fall into decline. Until you and your allies arrived."
Alm and Bruno sighed. The queen’s actions were strange, but they immediately realized: they were responsible for her making this move.
In the main quest, they took the body of a Cerberus; they met her and innocently revealed who they were. Initially, she may not have paid much attention. But they were the last missionaries, and she knew it.
After that, they caused a lot of trouble, like saving another missionary, invading the universe and saving Rehvka, killing another hero, breaking the seal of the Behemoth. She wasn’t stupid and realized that they could be involved in many of these cases, or all of them. She had been a mortal who reached the top; she knew it wasn’t impossible for an ant to turn into a tiger and cause problems. So why not crush the problematic ant early?
’She’s still not sure if we’re in her universe,’ Bruno reflected coldly. ’But with this move, she has created countless powerful Empyreans who will rise constantly. It’s an army spread across the universe, desperately trying to ascend. She must assume that to disguise ourselves, we restarted cultivation in her universe. We would need resources, and with so many powerful beings competing, it will be easier to find us this way. If we’re not here, she’ll have several new and disposable heroes to hunt us down elsewhere.’