Duality of Shadows

Despite the lush surroundings, they were only in a frontier city. The five guides led them forward, passing through a transport formation. The group passed through three more formations until they finally arrived at the imperial capital of the Immortal Cranes.

When they reached the capital, everyone was amazed. It was truly worthy of being one of the four great ancestral nations; the previous city was just a place for ordinary people to live.

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With a diameter of dozens of miles, the capital was filled with tall buildings that were grand and luxurious, yet simple and refined. The most surprising thing was that each of these buildings had numerous formation runes that emanated immense pressure. Any random building had terrifying defensive power.

However, despite all the grandeur and antiquity, most of the people living there were in the mortal realms. They lived peacefully within that world, and they all seemed calm and carefree.

Ruri and everyone who had been with the whale for a long time immediately felt familiar. This place was identical to the whale’s city on the Pristine planet. There were no conflicts or disputes; everyone lived freely, and cultivation was something people did only if they wanted to—not for survival, but for self-discovery.

One of the five guides noticed the expressions on some faces and sighed, commenting lightly, "The Immortal Cranes’ policy is to build peace and well-being, not to form soldiers to fight. That’s why they’re in such a difficult situation these days."

Rehvka commented lightly, "Life is a jungle, and predators will eventually come knocking. When you live peacefully for too long, everyone forgets that peace has its cost and must be protected with fists. Each person must have their own strength; no one can hand over their life for others to always take care of."

Everyone silently agreed. They were just outsiders, but they lived in the cultivation world and knew well the consequences of not being strong enough to protect themselves.

Alm and Bruno just nodded; they had seen similar things many times. This ancestral nation was probably always very powerful, and even with the conflicts between the other three, none of them really had a chance to end the others.

Thus, thousands of years passed, and new generations were born safe and in peace. Soon, the new rulers, accustomed to security, began to ease the pressure for people to cultivate. In modern times, the other nations took advantage of this and were consuming this nation from the inside out. In a few millennia, there would only be three ancestral nations.

The group walked through the city, and this confirmation became clear. Unlike the whale’s city, where people lived in peace but followed strict rules regarding their faith, the people in this capital lived freely, expressing all their dark desires.

Various brothels and entertainment establishments, similar to casinos, existed everywhere. They didn’t even need to check; there were certainly slaves and everything else you could imagine.

"What a waste. If they had direction in their lives, our God could..." Rivine started to speak but swallowed her words when she felt the whale’s gaze.

"Where do Sister Zia and everyone stay? In the royal castle?" Ruri asked one of the five, trying to change the subject. The only female figure among them, named Zia, who was a divine beast, replied.

"Hm? No, Nenuo and your sister are just children of a low-ranking member of the race. But since they are the only ones with Immortal Crane blood and enough cultivation, they were forced to recruit and go to the Red Void Forest."

"The king and the others didn’t give them any support?" Corin asked, surprised.

"Unfortunately, they don’t have much to offer. Lately, many internal conflicts and shocking events have been happening. A few months ago, inside the royal castle, there was a theft, and many died, also..."

Zia stopped mid-sentence, placing her hand over her mouth. She had just revealed something internal that she shouldn’t have told these newcomers.

Ruri smiled slightly. "Don’t worry, now that we’re on your side, we won’t back down. Have you known each other for a long time?" she asked with a meaningful look, noticing Zia’s affection for Nenuo.

"The five of us are friends and were born here. We met the twins by chance. That’s why we dedicated ourselves to cultivation and can accompany them now. Before, there were many others we considered friends like us, following them. But now that things have become dangerous, we’re the only ones who agreed to stay…" Zia replied, with painful memories passing through her mind.

Ambry asked lightly, "And where is his sister? Shouldn’t she be responsible too?"

The five sighed until a young man replied, "Sister Merua… she has terrible talent for cultivation. She barely managed to enter the divine realms in time to follow her brother."

"Nenuo isn’t much better either; the five of us are much stronger than he is, and that’s why we want to protect him," sighed Zia. "But he’s quite diligent and makes up for his lack of strength with intelligence. Knowing that he and his sister would be targeted, he forbade her from helping with recruitment, taking on the responsibility himself; but you’re the only ones so far. He even made us stay in the capital to try to recruit people from here."

Everyone in the group nodded; he really wasn’t a fool. But being just a bit smarter wouldn’t save him. Without strength, he would be killed quickly.

"How did he find out about this?" the whale asked, speaking for the first time and looking at Zia seriously.

Zia took a deep breath. She shouldn’t talk about this, but they were the only allies, and she couldn’t hide the truth.

"He said there are people in the capital watching every move of the royal family. They’re probably spies paid by other races, members of that organization that accepts any dirty job for money."

The whale narrowed his eyes, then one of the young men snorted and added, "That’s one of the reasons the royal family doesn’t give us much. After the previous theft, all treasures are being extremely well hidden. The entire strength of the family is focused on finding out where these bastards are. They can’t afford to leave valuable things with the twins."

Alm and Bruno snorted; the situation was much worse than that dwarf had explained. They weren’t just in decline; they were at rock bottom, to the point of having to hide everything of value to avoid being robbed. Not even the royal castle was safe.

The group moved to the base, situated in a more central part of the capital. They passed through all kinds of places and people silently. However, the whale and Kaiyka were extremely focused. For others, it would be impossible to find them, but for the two’s divine souls, it was simple.

It didn’t take long for them to notice at the same time. It was a simple person, who seemed ordinary like everyone else. But the fluctuations of an assassin and spy couldn’t be hidden from them.

’Finally, we meet, worshipers of the God of Wealth,’ Bruno thought excitedly.

They were exactly as the God of Forge had described: a group specialized in making money through all possible shady methods.

In some cities, they had a Gray Sky Commerce, where they competed with the Larimar Market. But in other places, they were simply hired assassins or spies. Wherever there was profit, they were lurking.

Their dogma was to accumulate wealth, but they didn’t know that all the work they did was set up to benefit another god; perhaps round and heavy. And now, this God would finally show his glory and certainly begin to reap those benefits.

’Great, let’s get to work,’ Alm said with a dark laugh.