Alexandra and Mira's opinion about Aster which had just improved a bit a moment ago, faltered the very second the gate of the spaceship closed behind of them.
Mostly because Alice who jumped onto Aster pushing him down, when Kana did it, it was adorable, as she genuinely looked like a little sister that missed her older brother, despite they not being real brother and sister.
Aster's real sister on the other hand, went straight for Aster's lips, Aster didn't really mind as he answered the kiss trying not to make it too lewd, he couldn't blame Alice, because she could somehow "feel" when Lilia did naughty things with him in the mind space.
Which was pretty often, add to that the fact that Aria has been getting all the attention to that, and you get a dangerously jealous dragon princess.
Aster patted Alice's back which made Alice unwillingly let go of him, luckily Valentina, Nerissa and William didn't accompany them, because they had to go see the clan head of the Fritz, as they came here representing the Battle Peak and the Rune Mastering Peak.
Naturally William did try to sneak and follow Aster, but Valentina scolded him on the spot and then dragged him to do his job.
It's not like Aster cared about others seeing them, it's publicly known by the girls of the Black Sword factions, that Alice is one of Aster's lovers, and Alice never calls Aster brother, not to mention her hair and eye color don't match with Aster, so they don't suspect of her being his sister.
That being said, they do believe they belong to the same family since Alice resembles Lilia, who is known to be Aster's mother, they just think they come from different branches, and marriages between different branches are one of the most common things.
Now that Alice has calmed her "hunger" for the time being, she graciously returned to Lilia's side, while Aster gently dragged Sarina into his embrace and kissed her.
Surprisingly Vivian who silently approached Aster, actually hugged him, while she gazed at Lilia who secretly nodded at her.
Aster was a bit surprised, but how could he not notice his mother's playful gaze on his back, which made him bitterly smile.
'Mom, what are you teaching this girl, do you want Julian to declare war at me, or something?', he said through the mind connection, just to hear Lilia giggling at him.
'Mm, I wonder what are you talking about, she asked me how do friends welcome each other after being separated, believe it or not, she has never hugged anyone before, that was sad so I told her how normal, close and "special" friends treat each other, and left her to decide in which category she should put you, it seems you are quite special for her, darling~'.
Aster was speechless, leaving aside the fact that Lilia was corrupting Vivian, her usually emotionless pretty face, now had a bright smiling expression, because she missed her first friend.
Ultimately it was just a hug, after the initial surprise since it was Vivian the one who started it, Aster simply responded to it and then Vivian let go of him, she curiously looked at Aster, and saw that he wasn't weirded out by it, which made her inwardly nod, her first time hugging a friend was a success.
Mylene cleared her throat as she waved her hand at Aster to greet him, which made Eris mock her, but Mylene seemed to sent private message to Eris, which made the latter's face redden, and then those two started silently arguing through sound transmissions.
Lilia simply hugged Aster tenderly, any outsider would have thought she was just a mother, that was welcoming her young son back from venturing in the outside world, because they didn't notice the predacious light flashing in her pretty eyes, doing it in the mind space is not bad, but it can't compare to the real thing for her.
But right now, she maintained a motherly aspect on the surface, they will be sleeping together later anyway, so what were a few hours of waiting in front of the joy she will experience later.
With the speed of Lilia's spaceship a few minutes were enough for them to reach their destination, so the moment the greetings were over they were already floating outside of a small mansion that was in middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest basically.
Alexandra hesitated for a moment but she ultimately turned to see Aster before saying.
"My mother's health is fragile… if she offends you, please don't take it against her, I'm willing to take any punishment in her stead", for a change, the usually aloof Alexandra had a pleading expression on her pretty face.
Leaving aside the fact that she saw two peak Transcending realm cultivators backing Aster before, all the alarms in her mind rang the moment she saw Lilia, though she didn't even show a spec of ill intentions, her body constitution warned her, for the first time in her life.
She was in front of the most dangerous person she has even met, and that is a lot to say considering she has met peak Transcending cultivators quite often.
Aster shrugged in response, before saying.
"I don't think she will have the time to go mad due to her hatred towards dual cultivators, when she hears Tomas's voice, but rest assured, I'm not petty enough to kill the wife of my strongest subordinate over a mere misunderstanding, also you should already know that I'm not a dual cultivator yet, my yang is innately strong, you were bathed by it earlier when we were fighting Mira".
"And even if he was, he would never harm us, so get that into that thick shield-like skull of yours!", added Alice, when it came to being sharp-tongued there was no one better than the dragon princess in Aster's family.
Though this time he didn't make an oath or anything, Alexandra let out a sigh of relief when she heard Aster's answer, unconsciously she has started to believe that her father was alive, despite the fact that according to her mother, the chances where he was dead a long time ago, as for Alice's words, any humiliation was fine as long as her mother was safe.
…
The spaceship landed a few hundreds of meters away from the mansion, in an empty space near the forest, the gates opened and all the group came out of it.
Alexandra guided them towards the mansion, there was a barrier surrounding it, and according to Alexandra this area was specially protected by the head of the Fritz family, in other words her maternal uncle, the one who has been protecting them from Sean Fritz, to the best of his capacities.
Using her token of identity, Alexandra opened a breach on the barrier, and they all entered into it, to be honest she was sure that this barrier meant nothing in front of the black-haired woman, that was happily closely sticking to Aster.
'There is no turning back now…', she thought, in any case she ran out of options now, her mother wasn't going to last more, the Diamond Bone Orchid was her last chance and Sean Fritz stole one, while the other was Aster's property, so she could only believe in Aster now.
The gates of the mansion opened and with Alexandra guiding them, they all walked through the corridors all the way to the main hall, on the way Aster only saw many faceless dolls that were taking care of cleaning.
Those were spirit treasures created for domestic care, but they aren't really popular among the majority of people, why would you buy them, when you can have pretty servants fulfilling that role after all.
That being said they are popular among alchemists and blacksmiths, because they can be used for heavy physical labor, such as transporting dangerous materials, or cleaning a used work station.
They soon reached the main hall and were welcomed with the sight of a sole figure sitting on a wheelchair, the woman had gray lifeless hair, and dim purple eyes, even from afar her body was noticeably slim, which wasn't normal, it was obvious she was in an emaciated state.
The woman who probably was a beaty in all the meaning of the word, back when she was healthy, frowned the moment she saw Aster, but unlike what Alexandra expected, her mother didn't directly start a fight, probably because she Agnes who she had a decent impression off, after that time when she beat the hell out of Renard for being a creep.
Still, her previously blurred eyes, gazed at Aster and her frown deepened, but she wasn't the only one, Aster also raised an eyebrow at her, the sensation the woman gave of was slightly familiar for him, because it was similar to Aria's in a sense.
'I guess that explains why she hates dual cultivator, she has a yin type constitution', thought Aster, but hers was different than Aria's, he could tell with a single look, also she was naturally sensible towards yang, like Aria, which probably made her not directly attack Aster, because his yang didn't have the disgusting feeling of the one of a dual cultivator, that has stolen yin to cultivate.
"Mom, the Silicon Forest is gone, but I found someone that can heal you… also he says he knows father and that he is alive", as Alexandra spoke, her voice tone became lower until she was practically mumbling.
The expression on the woman's face froze for a moment, before she sighed, obviously she thought her was daughter was being deceived, as much as calm as she could, she turned to see Aster before saying.
"Sir, I don't know what your purpose is, but we can't afford to pay for an elixir high ranked enough to heal me, I'm sorry for wasting your time, my brother will compensate you for that, would you be as kind as to leave things as they are and forgive this daughter of mine…", the sentence of the woman was interrupted by a sudden attack of cough, it was bad enough for the woman to spat blood, but judging by her not panicking this was a regular thing.
"You were hit with the "Bone Melting Palm" of a high ranked dual cultivator, you can trick your daughter, but not only your bones, but even your organs have been severely damaged, living a few months more will be an incredibly good disaster, as you will be in pain every second", said Aster.
Yang radiance is a technique that any man can learn, is widely spread as well, but not everyone practices is, since it requires one to use yang, if not properly controlled, it can shorten one's life and what for some is even worse, afflictions such as loss of sexual desire and even disfunction.
Dual cultivators use it without worrying about that, because they are constantly producing more, either by exchanging energies with their partners, or simply stealing it from others, there are other techniques based on yang that are the mark of a dual cultivator, and among them one of the most infamous is the "Bone Melting Palm".
Which basically does as its name states, yin froze, yang burns, those are common effects of those two types of energies, the Bone Melting Palm, injects yang into the body of an enemy, to slowly kill it from the inside, infiltrating the bones and corroding them causing severe pain to the target.
Aster had already faced an enemy who used a variant called "Yang Melting Palm", it was that bandit Dry Bones who made a deal with an evil dual cultivation sect, the difference is that the Yang Melting Palm is a lower version of the Bone Melting Palm, as the latter creates a connection between the one who uses it and the target, instead of it being a single time attack.
And the reason as to why the Bone Melting Palm isn't considered "evil", is because the one who uses it, has the capacity to retrieve his yang from the body of the target, so it's considered a suppression type of technique to capture targets that need to be alive.
While not everyone misuses the technique, for others is just an excuse to torture someone, most times a woman until they "willingly" accept to the demands of the other party, as this technique only works on those whose body orientation is yin.
As expected, Alexandra's face paled, her mother didn't mention that her organs were failing as well, and in the last check up, her uncle said she still had a few years of life, also the Diamond Bone Orchid only focuses on bones, it basically becomes a new skeleton for the one that consumes it, but organs aren't included, though they might heal a bit due to the nurturing effect, it won't cure them.
Her mother has been probably drinking some medicine to lessen the symptoms of her organs failing, but that also accelerated her demise since her body can't properly process them anymore, as she mentioned she can't afford the pills or elixirs that can cure her, the dual cultivator that attacked her, made it like that.
Which made Aster wonder what could this emaciated woman, had to make someone go to this extent, sure even if this horrible state she was quite pretty, but the guy who attacked her should be now on the Heavenly Realms, since the yang corroding her from the inside is really strong.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel