While Nebai was on his mission, Alm and Bruno returned to the world with the seal inside the Yinblood sect. Now that things were calmer, they approached the golden rune again. Just like the seal on the Pristine planet, this one also used Gaia’s power from Gloom to maintain stability.
With the blessing, they connected with Gaia. This Gaia was super smart, which seemed to be a pattern among the divine planets in the Queen’s universe.
Even being sealed, Gaia watched everything that happened and was eager to communicate. When they handed over the Dao of the God Gaia, they were immediately accepted.
[Congratulations! +1 Planet taken for yourself!]
[Number of planets under your domain: 04]
[Rewards received for the feat]
[+10 Upgrade Points]
[+5 Celestial Points]
Taking advantage of the moment, they headed to the main planet of the Dwarves and Dragons. With that, the number of planets jumped to six, and they gained another 20 upgrade points and 10 celestial points.
In their universe, only two of those planets existed. Forming a sun and a planet naturally in that universe would take thousands or even millions of years. Stabilizing it and allowing life was so difficult that it was hard to even calculate the time; because not everyone could sustain common life—there were always way more dead planets in the universe than those with life.
But they didn’t have that much time, and since they had already managed to transport two planets, they were now looking for an opportunity to steal as much as they could to populate their own universe.
Back in the sect, Almin handed over a specific pill as requested. He called it the "Void Pill," the same one he used as a base to create the pill capable of secretly sealing the souls of the Primordial Beasts.
The Void Pill was completely neutral, allowing the user to insert any type of law or energy inside it. It worked similarly to a runic storage seal, serving as a reservoir of power to be consumed in emergencies. The difference was that it had the medicinal aura of a pill, allowing it to merge perfectly with the body.
"Great, it should work," Alm said lightly, while several sinister ideas about how to use that pill popped into his mind. "Maybe I’ll find a chance to use it in the future. Create as many as you can; in a month, it should be enough."
The whale turned to Lyra, who was beside Almin. She had become his assistant and was clearly anxious, but doing her best. "Is she ready?" he asked Almin calmly.
"She’s not very good with pills above the level of an ascending planet. She might never be, but she worked really hard to adapt her body to the Fire Phoenix lineage. Now, she can hide that perfectly. And with the beast’s soul helping her, Lyra can create a flame with a capacity higher than mine in certain aspects."
Almin smiled slightly, and both Alm and Bruno understood where he was going with that. Lyra could do something similar to what they used to invade the sect: create simple pills, but thanks to the Phoenix’s flame, she would refine the herbs to an incomparable level. Her pills could easily reach the treasure level with many rings.
"Great, you should be able to win the competition and get close to Almin within the sect," the whale said, looking into Lyra’s eyes. "As I said before, don’t just stick to your talent in alchemy or cultivation. Find your own Dao."
Lyra nodded, clenching her fists with determination. The whale sighed and continued, "Almin and I need many allies. You’re good at dealing with people. Maybe you’ll become an excellent commander in battle; that way, Almin can focus on alchemy and fights. If you can at least defend yourself and command well, you’ll be extremely useful for everyone."
Almin agreed with a nod, sharing the same opinion. When their allies came to help in the sect, Lyra quickly blended in with everyone. In no time, she already knew each person’s past, desires, and ambitions, something Almin was still trying to grasp.
The whale left this last piece of advice for Almin before they parted ways. "Remember how I trained Ruri in the past; I could treat her well, but I never eased up on the training. Don’t be too kind to Lyra, or she’ll end up dying in battle. As soon as she joins the sect, train her hard so she can defend herself even in desperate situations. As I’ve told you before, I can’t protect everyone."
***
Two months later, news came that Lyra had joined the Phoenix Cry sect. Meanwhile, the whale’s group kept exploring the sealed worlds.
The first world they visited after coming back was when Alm and Bruno discovered the sinister move the group had decided to make.
Ruri came up with a plan, and in that sealed black world, they provoked things in a... kinda excessive and flashy way. As a result, all the heroic disciples of the Shadow God sect present there teamed up with other sects to try to take them down at all costs.
What followed was an epic battle of thousands against millions. In the end, all the members of the Yinblood sect advanced in rank, triggering a colossal celestial punishment.
The outcome was a massacre: all the heroic disciples from hundreds of sects were wiped out in one go.
Rivine, super pumped, reported the details of her bathing in blood and guts. They fought and killed while the tribulation hit them. Bruno listened, lost in thought, while Alm, on the other hand, felt filled with pride.
’Well, she just marked those who committed heinous acts and caught them on the first day... then she humiliated them, cutting things that shouldn’t be mentioned, and exposed everything publicly. Not like they didn’t deserve it,’ Bruno tried to comfort himself.
Alm huffed. ’I would’ve first tortured them mentally, then driven them to despair, and only then would I kill them. She was nice, just lured them in and killed them. But still, I liked it. She learned well how to be vengeful.’
After that, the training cycle in the sealed worlds went back to normal. Misite had to send curses to some hundreds of sects that sent threats. If it weren’t for the protection of planet Gloom, they would’ve already attacked the Yinblood sect directly in revenge.
During Ruri’s week off, she seemed super motivated while taking care of Purimu. The whale always had a full week dealing with her. Ruri always wanted to roll dice, with almost impossible odds of her winning. But even when she failed, she was satisfied with the attempt.
A month and a half later, Nebai sent a message: the leader of the Nine Star Tree sect was at the market, waiting for him.
The time had come. The whale moved calmly and was guided to a negotiation room in the market. There, he saw the familiar leader of the Nine Star Tree sect, belonging to the Starry Sky Tree race.
He wasn’t surprised to find out that this figure was the one who owned the magical pill he’d heard about. The Larimar Market had gotten hold of that pill, and the God of Forging wanted it. They probably agreed to trade it for countless unique and scary weapons, since auctioning each of them would be more profitable for the market.
Alm and Bruno watched that figure, a bit surprised. When they met him at the convention, he seemed to have a more androgynous look. Now, he clearly showed a masculine appearance; even a subtle Yang aura flowed from him more strongly.
They knew the reason. Before, he had accepted that the elf he loved would never be with him, so he decided to live alone, embracing his natural neutrality. But now that the hero had left and completely abandoned her, his inner flame reignited, and he fully embraced his masculine side.
"Hey again," he said with a slight smile. "It’s been a while. Looks like you’re not willing to visit us."
"I’m too young and need to cultivate and study properly. It’s hard to find free time," the whale replied calmly as he sat down.
"Well, looks like fate brought us together again. By the way, I apologize for the late introduction. My name’s Noak," he said casually. "You must know why I’m here, God of Forging. Are you willing to negotiate? I’ll do my best to satisfy you. My sect has some unique things."
The whale nodded, satisfied. Straightforward people were easy to deal with. Noak didn’t even try to downplay the value of what they had and made it clear that he really wanted the pill. He definitely had no malice and considered any price asked to be fair.
"I’ve been informed. You should know that this pill is basically a divine lifesaver. My wife has a powerful soul and mind. Selling this to you means I could be condemning her in the future…" The whale spoke, and Noak nodded.
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"But... I reincarnated after a long time. I feel out of place all the time. I lost millions of years of changes in the universe. Almost all the sects I knew have ceased to exist... I’ll be direct: what I need is knowledge. Your sect is the best place for that."
Noak understood. He had reincarnated after a long time, and it was hard to find legitimate historical information about what happened during that period. The Four Nations were the oldest in the universe and had vast knowledge, but only the royal families of those four races were powerful cultivators who experienced the universe’s events.
Moreover, those nations were pretty isolated. In terms of knowledge about the cultivation world, there was a limit since they weren’t sects and didn’t participate in all the cultivators’ disputes.
The oldest sect in the universe was the opposite. They had been present at all major events, both before and after the death of the God of Forging, and documented everything.
"I just want that. It shouldn’t be too hard for you," the whale spoke slowly.
"Yeah, it’s not exactly a secret. Everything we have in our sect, technically, you could find scattered in the libraries of the thousands of older sects in the universe. But we really have everything concentrated in one place. I’m sure you won’t be dissatisfied."
Noak replied eagerly, clenching his fists. The whale nodded, and then a soul contract, made in the Larimar market, appeared.
"It’ll be a fair trade. I want access to all the historical knowledge of your sect. I don’t care about techniques or secrets," the whale confirmed, and Noak quickly signed the soul contract.
The whale handed over the pill and watched Noak’s eyes shine with excitement as he felt its interior. Ruri and Kaiyka had placed mind and soul runes inside it. That could easily restore the elf.
Without delay, they were taken to the Nine Star Tree sect.
Upon arrival, Noak handed over a tablet with his leader mark, granting access to all the historical information library. He left as quickly as possible, leaving the whale in the imposing building, filled with Jade Slips.
Alm and Bruno dove into that vast knowledge, discovering everything that had happened in the universe. They didn’t miss the opportunity and read everything, from the remote past before the war to the present day.
They also found information about ancient races and sects that had disappeared, as well as hints about where some Primordial Beasts were sealed, including those that had fought alongside the Queen in the war.
Then they read about the divine wild planets that this sect had under its domain. There were very ancient races of ancestral sacred trees and many rare materials. The God of Forging had visited this place in the past and traded many things for those resources.
Finally, among all those discoveries, a big clue for completing the side quest popped up.