The whole whale group heard that extremely surprised and confused, until Kisala spoke dazedly:
"This shouldn’t be possible. The Yinblood sect is the one who oversees the entire region around it in the galaxy. My disciple tablet still has a connection; we’re within the sect’s zone."
Alm and Bruno nodded, but no one in the group knew that almost nine months had passed for them while frozen inside that demon world. For them, only a few hours had passed, and they should have been inside the sealed world... but that had happened long ago.
"Things have changed..." The whale quickly explained, and everyone widened their eyes upon realizing they had suddenly lost many months without noticing. "I’ve already told you about the heroic disciples of the sects. That demon we faced, Dem Zarn, is one of those important disciples of the Shadow God. After he left the sealed world defeated, many unknown things happened."
"Dem Zarn... is the name those demons said would command us." Rivine confirmed to everyone. All of this seemed to be a consequence of defeating that demon.
"That bastard invaded our sealed world, tried to kill us and steal everything, and still retaliates after losing." Ambry said dryly, clenching his fists.
The two Fey understood the situation more clearly. The Yinblood sect was dominant, but only when the true Shadow God allowed it. There was no competition between the two sects; they were as distant as heaven and earth. If Dem Zarn, who was someone important to the sect, had enough influence, he could do as he pleased, and Yinblood could only swallow it.
The whale turned to Rivine, and she remained with her head bowed, waiting. "And after these demons arrived?"
"No cultivator, on either planet, would ever betray you. We would rather die fighting than submit and abandon you." She replied without hesitation.
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"How were they not destroyed? They are divine cultivators." Ruri asked quickly.
"I’m the only one who managed to reach the divine realms so I could sense it. Everyone was inside my realm. The leader was an even younger demoness than me, at the peak of the Spirit Fusion Realm... she was very powerful and caused the destruction of the entire neighboring planet... nothing was spared."
Rivine spoke, and everyone felt a pain and bitterness that seemed to suffocate her. She took a deep breath, then continued: "Both planets united in war. The faithful of the Lord were blessed, and even though they were in mortal realms, there were many of us and we made up for it in numbers."
Everyone understood. The whale handed over many complete and incomplete Daos, along with cultivation methods, to all its faithful. Even the people in the group, before reaching the divine realms, could already fight against common cultivators of this realm. The invaders were now fighting against an army from two planets, all faithful to the whale with a bit of that power. They were terrifying mortals and difficult to deal with.
The leader of the demons must have been some young woman chosen to train, replacing those who died. It was lucky she was still in the first divine realm.
"We fought for several months... and I was the only one who could block the powerful demoness. But I was useless; she had a strange power and was only temporarily repelled after causing many deaths. Because of me, all the orcs and almost everyone on my planet are gone." Rivine spoke with a trembling and pained voice. "I managed, after much effort and observation of that demoness’s power. I developed something similar to her, using the Lord’s blessing."
Everyone listened in astonishment. They saw Rivine’s manifestation, and now they knew she had learned this on her own just by observing another Empyrean use it. Little did they know she had been an Empyrean for just over a year and developed the manifestation in a few months.
"Even after a long time and so many losses, I killed her and avenged everyone with my new song. The entire demonic army was expelled or exterminated." Rivine finished dryly. "This happened a few days ago. And surely the enemies will return... that’s why, when I felt you arrive, I came alone to block them."
Alm and Bruno scoffed. They were jumping from one problem straight into another. Initially, they had wanted to cultivate calmly in the divine world, but things had spiraled out of control, and they couldn’t have peace for long anymore.
’Most likely, all of this is something specific to Dem Zarn, with permission from the Shadow God sect. He used members of his race, and with so many ascending planets, it was a good opportunity to train his young ones on simple tasks,’ Bruno analyzed.
Alm added seriously, ’The purpose of all this is still unknown. But he’s a demon who refines lives in exchange for power, much like we used to. If people from the planets refuse, he’ll simply refine them gleefully. But they hit a steel wall this time.’
The two focused, reflecting. If it’s been just a few days, they must have requested reinforcements that would arrive soon. But they didn’t feel any danger; it must be within what they could handle.
Now that they were here, there were a few options, like fleeing with everyone or trying to bring Gaia to their universe. But they lacked knowledge about the overall situation, which was very dangerous.
"We have to capture them to gain knowledge, maybe we’ll discover something important," the whale spoke to everyone in his group, then turned to the Harpy. "Everyone will protect the people, don’t worry. Also, don’t blame yourself for anything; if anyone failed here, it was me for not protecting them properly."
She trembled and spoke dazedly. "No! I received the blessing to protect them, but I was slow to develop..."
The whale cut her off quickly. "You are talented, and I recognize your power. It wasn’t your fault; life is tough, and those who died fought to the end. Everyone has their own destiny, and you can’t always be in control. I will take care of the surviving people, and that responsibility is mine alone. Now, you must focus on yourself. What do you want for the future?"
She lifted her head for the first time and looked at the whale tensely. "Think carefully, I will leave after resolving everything," the whale spoke calmly. "Go out and gather all the survivors here where I am. Tell them I am present, and just pray that everything will be fine."
"Yes!" She responded quickly and bowed, leaving.
Once she was gone, Alm and Bruno took a deep breath and looked at their group. Calirer and Runula were still in comas and wouldn’t wake anytime soon. So, they began to summarize, many things needed to be explained.
Starting from the beginning, they explained that from time to time, they could only break through realms if they fulfilled an objective from the Heaven’s Will. In this objective, they could go to another universe, and in doing so, they ended up taking peculiar bodies.
Everyone already knew how Corin and Rehvka first met the whale; now they understood the situation. Ruri had already gone with them on this mission, and there they met Corin in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Then, they talked about going to the underworld and taking eight months to return. During that time, the world they were in was freezing in time, along with everyone else.
"I’ve been to the underworld other times, and I have acquaintances there... this time big things happened," Bruno finished. All this preamble was necessary for what was to come next.
A black egg appeared, and everyone felt that abnormally powerful bloodline in it. The whale looked into Ruri’s eyes and slowly explained about Lirelia and Yanson, about everything that happened, that it was connected to events on the Pristine planet, and about this child of theirs...
Even before they finished speaking, Ruri and Rehvka were already teary-eyed. "Anyway, I promised to take care of him. And now they are safe."
Ruri moved quickly, and before she even touched the egg, Coltia already came out and covered it with her silk. "We will take care of him," they both said in unison.
The whale nodded, unsure whether to be happy or worried. Ruri seemed to bring out more and more of her maternal and protective aura each day. Coltia, meanwhile, was an elder who had many children and cared for Ruri like a daughter. They would take care of the child very well.
Then Bruno turned to everyone. It wasn’t over. "Well, on another mission I took on the body of a cerberus..."
Everyone listened to the epic tale of the divine cerberus, which led to a demoness and a winged beast having a child. In doing so, they defeated two divine Kings and later a hero... they concealed the queen to not look even more exaggerated.
In the end, they managed to thwart the hero’s plans and used the entire formation to create a divine soul in the demoness’s child. And before they returned, they left an inheritance and knowledge for that figure that would be born.
"Wait, sir, you did the same with me. So is it about master’s fourth disciple?" Corin spoke, and immediately Ruri and Rehvka jumped.
"He wasn’t even born when we left him... well, in a way, he can be considered," the whale spoke thoughtfully, not having seen it from that side yet. "Anyway, I still don’t know why, but he was the one who commanded everything."
The whale nodded, and the winged figure was taken out of the inventory. He was unconscious and floated, gently landing. At that moment, there was a sigh of relief from Ruri; it was a boy.
"He should wake up soon. From today, we have two new members," the whale concluded to everyone. "We’ll return to the Yinblood sect after sorting things out here. We need to seize the opportunity to capture the demons and gather knowledge. I don’t know what we might find, so prepare yourselves and get used to the new realm quickly."
As soon as they finished, the purple cat came out of the inventory. Liumi jumped onto Rehvka’s shoulder, and she looked at the whale. "The third disciple will take care of the fourth disciple, Liumi will help me."
The whale nodded, and everyone left. Finally, they would have some free time to think. They needed to prepare carefully for the future. Things were escalating in danger very quickly, and they needed to get stronger as soon as possible.