The Elders escorted them safely through the grounds, with only a few more run-ins with the Disciples, mostly the Outer Sect Disciples, who didn't have the skills to accurately determine the power level of a presence they sensed nearby.
It was great entertainment when they came out with weapons in hand and found that there was a pair of Elders as well as a group of traveling ladies in bright Peach-colored robes standing in the road, already aware of their approach.
"Now, we turn down the other branch and see what the road has in stock for us. Maybe we will meet more fun people at the next Sect that we pass by." Luna cheered once they were alone again, and the Elders had returned to their posts.
They hadn't been walking long when Cain noticed the signs of a large battle between two high-level cultivators. The ground was torn up in vast swathes, with the gouges dug down to bedrock and every tree for kilometers destroyed.
It was an excellent time to test out his new skills for repairing nature, so he raised a hand for the group to stop.
"I want to repair the battle scene. I can actually feel the damage with my new nature sense, and if my estimation is right, it will only take a few minutes." Cain informed them.
"Let's see that. Battles always destroy the forest, but I've never seen them repaired before. Usually, they just wait for everything to grow back." Penny agreed.
Lycans loved to run in the woods, so she had certainly been annoyed by the damages left from Cultivator battles in the past while out for a jog.
They moved to the center and checked for bodies before they began, not finding any sign of either combatant, only a handful of small creatures who hadn't left the area fast enough, mistakenly thinking that their trees would protect them from the fallout.
Cain made a note of everything and then began to work.
The first thing on his list was to level the ground and then reform a hill that had been flattened to the best guess of how it looked before. Then he replaced the undergrowth before starting on the trees.
With the trees replaced, the area looked normal again, but it was missing a lot, according to Cain's senses. He added the vines that were growing in the trees, then the birds' nests, and the birds, then the few snakes and all of the squirrels, plus some strange armored creature that seemed to have been eating a venomous snake when it was killed.
"There, that feels better," Cain told his Disciples with a smile.
"You're right. It even sounds normal again. The birds are back, and the tree creatures. That's much closer to undisturbed." Penny agreed.
His efforts hadn't gone unnoticed, though, and when the group returned to the road, there were a number of Immortal Cultivators waiting for them.
"Traveler, might we ask what you were doing in the forest?" A man in gray with a prodigious white mustache asked.
"There was a battle here, so I fixed the forest. Their skills cut deep gouges down to the bedrock, so the plants couldn't regrow at all, so I put everything right again." Cain informed him, straightening the translucent peach outer robe of his Sect Master outfit.
"Is that the goal of your Sect, then?" The man continued.
Cain shook his head. "No, just a little hobby of mine. I teach my disciples to follow their own path to Divinity and help them where I can."
That seemed to jog the memory of one of the Immortals. "You must be the Forbidden Treasures Sect then. I heard a lot about you when I was in the city, but the timing simply didn't work out to meet you. Our campsite neighbors from the Crushing Mountain Sect can't speak highly enough of your skills."
"Hopefully, he hasn't smacked too many more people with that axe I made for him. It's not really the sort of thing that you casually use in a crowded area."
The other man shook his head. "That particular Elder was sent back to the Sect to take over the Disciple training when the new group set out. Most of us won't stay here the entire Season, only a month or so, and then return home to let others take our place."
"What form of power was it that restored an entire forest in an instant?" The white-haired Cultivator who had first greeted them asked, bringing the conversation back to his real interest.
"Nature Magic. I am a Magic type Cultivator, with a variety of skills suitable to training new Disciples individually." Cain explained.
"Nature Magic? Like the Nature God's power?"
"Exactly that. I learned it from the Dragon Elders of the Dragon Peak just recently, and this was the first time I had a chance to use it."
The old man seemed shocked. "The Divine Black Dragon actually agreed to let you learn from the Elders? That is shocking. You must have had something truly interesting to show her."
"The opposite, actually. Some fool had dared to steal an egg from her nest, and I helped the Dragons hunt for it in the areas where they were too small to fit. When it was recovered, they were quite grateful."
When Cain finished speaking, a man in black and bronze robes pushed through to the front.
"Did you perhaps see who had taken it? Were they alive? What of their companions?"
Cain patted the man on the shoulder in consolation. "His allies turned on him, and there was a grand battle underneath the mountains. The lone survivor was the carrier of the egg, who died of his hubris, and the egg was returned to the Black Matriarch."
"Died of his hubris?"
"He was decapitated, and his soul eviscerated when he was found," Cain explained, bringing a look of agony to the Cultivator's face and causing many to make some sort of warding symbol in front of their chest.
"How could that happen? He was almost ready to ascend to the Deity Realm. Even ten on one, those beginner Demigods shouldn't have been able to kill him." The man insisted.
"I probably wouldn't let the Dragons find out that you knew of his actions." Cain pointed out, making a few of the others turn amused glances on the Cultivator, who was apparently in on the attempt to steal the egg of a Divine Realm Dragon.
"They wouldn't dare to take action against us." He replied, unconcerned by Cain's warning.
"I will take your word for it since I am not local to the area. I just thought that it would be kind to warn others that the Dragons are holding humans as a whole responsible for the theft, so it isn't particularly safe near their mountain at the moment.
"What of the others? Were there bodies that might be recovered? We could send some of our dragon riders in to collect them for a proper burial." The Cultivator asked.
That explained a lot. If they were dragon riders and they lost a mount, they would certainly want one with the potential to reach their level, and as a late-stage Demigod, he would have only wanted the best to accompany him in the future.
The silly part was that if he asked after they hatched, he might have even convinced one of the Black Matriarch's hatchlings to accompany him, the way that the Swamp Dragon chose to accompany that guy he found.
"There were no bodies. Whether that was a result of the battle or the Lava Cats, I can't say, but there was nothing more than a few traces of blood when I arrived." Cain informed him.
"If the Dragons have granted you such a powerful gift, perhaps you would enjoy a trip to our Sect? There are many more Dragons there for you to commune with." Another man in the same black and bronze suggested.
"I am afraid that I have a destination to reach beyond the mountains, but if I should be back through here in the future. I would greatly enjoy taking the time to visit." Cain apologized.
"My friend, I am afraid that I must insist. You are the last one to see our Sect Master alive, and someone must report to the Council of Elders and take responsibility." The Cultivator informed him, releasing the aura of a newly ascended Demigod.
The rest of the group were hastily backing away, not wanting to get into the middle of this fight and not close enough with the man's sect to intervene on his behalf.
Cain considered the options for a moment, including the risk of his Disciples being injured or killed during a battle of that magnitude, and reluctantly nodded.
"I will accompany you back to your Sect, but the responsibility can be assigned to those who knew and encouraged his final act of folly."
That didn't impress the two Cultivators at all, and even Cain's disciples looked surprised, but they didn't do anything to cause more issues here.
The man whistled a strange tune, and a large red dragon flew into sight, landing on the road behind the confrontation, and then bowed his head to Cain before turning to the man who called him.
"You needed me for something?" The Dragon asked, barely intelligible in dragon form.
"Carry these prisoners to the Sect. They witnessed the death of the Sect Master." The man instructed.
The dragon hesitated for a second, so Cain intervened. "We would be grateful for the escort. If you have a moment later, the Black Matriarch requests the presence of all Dragons in the region so that she can inform them of recent events."
The Cultivator used a wind skill to move everyone to the Dragon's back, and the Immortal Realm beast gave Cain an amused look before taking off, then mentally linked him.
[You lazy bum. Next time you can fly yourself to the Sect when the humans start making allegations.]
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