After having a nice family moment and while they of course had many things they wanted to talk about, first things first, they wanted to clear the misunderstanding that happened more than one hundred years ago, the one which led Tomas to believe he lost the love of his life, and Tamara to believe Tomas was dead all this time.
Tomas took a seat in front of Aster's group, Tamara sat at his right, while Alexandra took his left followed by Ulises and Jack who limited to shake hands with their friend, they didn't even exchange words, there was no need for that between them.
Back when they first talked through the communication talisman, Tamara's condition was explained to Tomas, so he knew his friends had helped her as much as they could through the years.
They used every pill or elixir they could get to help her prolong her life, even now, it's not like they weren't willing to sell till the last possession they had to help Tamara, but her body was unable to process the effects of the medicine.
One must give it to Tamara, the last years she endured with sheer will, it is amazing that she could avoid Alexandra from noticing the suffering she was going through as her organs failed.
So, seeing his wife's current state, Tomas knew it was thanks to Aster's treatment, and he couldn't find the words to express the gratitude he felt right now, still a man is measured with his actions not with his words, and so before the conversation would start, Tomas kneeled down on the ground in front of Aster and then took out a scroll out of his ring, which he offered to Aster.
"This isn't even close to repay the kindness young master has shown to my family, but please accept this along with my renovated vow, as long as I, Tomas Atria have breath in my body, I will fight for the young master", respectfully said Tomas.
Aster nodded and then he grabbed the scroll from Toma's hand, before he returned to his seat, the mere title of the scroll was enough to make Aster smile, it was a hint regarding one of the materials needed for Rya's body!
With this one, he now had two leads, one that was given to him by Julian and this one which Tomas apparently found at one of the Star Clusters that was near to Rodia, since he was in charge of extending the influence of the Terranova sect, while Aria's father was in charge of consolidating it, in a sense, Tomas was Arthur's mentor and right hand too.
"Stand up, your previous hint helped me quite a bit, this is something I should do to begin with", said Aster, he might not be a good person at all, but Aster is someone that knows how to repay kindness with kindness.
The Diamond Bone Orchid was one of the rarest items on the list, as it will be Rya's new skeleton, one of the bases of the body, not to mention he obtained the yin and yang stars, a chatterbox Runic Oak and a spirit ice in the form of an aggressive Ligress girl too, whatever debt Tomas had with Aster, was more than paid with that.
Tomas nodded and then he got to return to his seat next to Tamara, as if something made click inside of Tomas's mind he frowned before saying.
"What happened to Sean?", it was clear that unlike the warm tone he used to greet Ulises earlier, he was colder when referring to the youngest of the three brothers.
Ulises sighed, it took him some time to accept the truth about what happened back then, which ended up fracturing his friend's family and his own family.
"Tomas, what happened to you after you left?", asked Ulises.
"That day when I left to my mission, I had a discussion with Terrence we parted ways in bad terms, because he kept asking me about Tamara's body constitution, even after I clearly told him that I didn't know anything about it".
"But that guy was always a pain to deal with, so I didn't pay it too much attention… I should have twisted his neck when I had the chance, after I reached my destination, he was waiting for me, and along with some mercenaries he hired he tried to capture me".
"Luckily he didn't know that my battle prowess greatly surpassed my realm, because no one besides those presents in this room know that I have a yang type body constitution, so after listening to the reasons as to why he wanted to capture me, I kicked his ass to the point that he hasn't completely recovered up to this day", proudly said Tomas, to then sigh as he continued with his side of the story.
"Unfortunately, the Supreme Elder arrived not too long after, and though I managed to escape at first, the Law Enforcer Akim cut my way of retreat and I was captured, my cultivation was sealed and then I was taken back to Atria where I was judged exclusively by the elders that were on the side of the Supreme Elder and sentenced to death".
"At least that was the public announcement, but I got the Yang Stealing needles put in my body, and was then exiled to die out of "natural causes" only after most of my vitality was used to somewhat cure Terrence which took around one hundred years, the last time I saw the Supreme Elder he showed me… the ring I gave to Tamara and then destroyed it front of me after telling me that once news of my death spread, she simply threw it and then ended up leaving with a dual cultivator from a high ranked Stellar System".
"The Supreme Elder even showed me the "reward" he got for presenting them to each other, which was an extreme yang treasure, that allowed the Supreme Elder catch up to the ancestor, that was the last I got to know about the Atria, after that I spent some years in misery until the young master saved me", with that Tomas concluded his side of the story, of course he didn't mention it, but he was tortured during those one hundred years, not too much since his vitality was of use for the son of the Supreme Elder though.
Tamara gritted her teeth, only now she discovered what happened to that ring which was the first gift Tomas gave her, and the symbol of their love, she gazed at Tomas and then said.
"After you left… Sean came in representation of my father, so that I met an esteemed guest that was temporarily staying in the Patriarch's mansion of the Steel Tower sect, so I had no option but to attend".
"I guess they waited until they received news from the Atria Supreme Elder, because the reunion was delayed a whole day, which should have been the time you managed to avoid being captured, Sean came with a letter signed by the Atria Supreme Elder saying that you tried to kill his son, and so you were captured to be going to be executed as soon as possible".
"Naturally I immediately asked father to interfere but he said he needed to look into it before making a decision, when I tried to leave, he ordered to put me into house arrest, all of my treasures were confiscated… including the ring you gave me".
"Father died around a week later and Sean took his position as patriarch of the Steel Tower sect, back then I didn't suspect of him, because he released me as soon as he was invested as the patriarch of the sect, but he said that father destroyed my ring, because you were declared guilty and our family would have ended up being involved".
"I then got to meet Xander, the so called "esteemed guest" who was a dual cultivator, according to Sean, father arranged that I joined that guy's sect, but I of course refused, because I knew what they wanted from me".
"No matter how he tried to convince me I refused and so one day he simply attacked me with the Bone Melting Palm by surprise, while saying that such was the punishment for refusing to join the Ying-Yang Paradise sect, and that I could come to look for him when I changed my mind".
"He wasn't too much stronger than me as we were both early-stage Law Integration cultivators but… I was pregnant with Alexandra, after being hit with the Bone Melting Palm, I put all my focus on keeping her safe, the last "gift" my beloved left behind in this world had to survive no matter what", said Tamara with a warm expression as she caressed Alexandra's hair.
Tomas smiled and he also patted his daughter's head, Tamara chose to put their daughter's well-being before herself.
"After I gave birth to a certain stubborn and healthy little girl, I used what was left of my energy cultivation to suppress the corrosive yang in my bones, and you decided to raise Alexandra in secret".
"Our mother's health decayed after father's death, but luckily it was Ulises the one who got to succeed her, because she was wary of Sean, to this day it's hard to believe that father suddenly died, but there is no evidence that points at him, anyway with Ulises's help I raised Alexandra in secret, until recently when the incident with the Diamond Bone Orchid revealed that she is my daughter".
"But Sean doesn't know that Tomas is her father, because no one besides Jack and later Ulises, knew what happened at the Galeonis Stellar System", said Tamara with a sweet smile, which made Tomas's face redden.
"Ahem, I don't understand something though", said Tomas with a slightly ashamed voice, Tamara was his first and only love, and the only woman with whom he ever shared a night, this man that didn't hesitate to cripple the son of the Supreme Elder after listening that he wanted to capture Tamara for himself, and even dared to order him to set her up for him, felt this conversation was the hardest moment in his life.
"What, do you dare to doubt of me?", said Tamara with a smile that wasn't smile, which made Tomas immediately shake his head.
"No, no, no, it isn't that… honey", he said in a rush, which made Tamara nod satisfied with her answer, it wasn't hard to see that Tamara was quite a handful back when they were younger.
"I just don't understand why that bastard didn't take you with him, I'm really thankful for that, but after your father… father-in-law and mother-in-law passed away, the Fritz family lost their only half-step Heavenly Realm cultivators, and even now Ulises and I suppose Sean are only peak Transcending realm cultivators, so there is no way they could resist if people from a high ranked Stellar System wanted to kidnap you back then".
Tamara had no answer to that, she went low profile after being attacked with the Bone Melting Palm, the public announcement was that she retired to leave in peace in seclusion, which broke many hearts, but with time she who was a raising star back then was buried and new talents appeared.
Sean being one of them, as he though being the youngest caught up to his older siblings, and led the Steel Tower sect to reach the point where they were at the peak of the food chain when it came to middle ranked Stellar Systems.
"I can answer that", Lilia's playful voice drew the attention of all the presents to her, she had her head resting on Aster's shoulder as she said.
"The reason is pretty simple actually, and it's because even if the ancestors of the Yin-Yang Paradise sect, who should be early-stage Heavenly Conquerors at this point, were to be able to somehow suppress their cultivations enough to be come to a middle ranked Stellar System, they can't take what's yours~".
Seeing the still confused expression on Tamara's face, Lilia continued with her explanation.
"For strong families or clans, blood concentration is really important, that's why marriages between members of different branches are the rule, among those incredibly talented descendants there are some whose primordial yin or yang can help others with the same lineage, to improve theirs", said Lilia as she gazed at Aster and Alice.
The primordial yin of her, the most talented Drage woman ever, not only gave new life to Aster's dragon lineage which had been used to heal her back then, and Aster still had to properly refine not only hers, but Alice and Aria's ones as well, but for that a compatible dual cultivation technique was needed.
In this world beauty is often accompanied by talent, it is not only a superficial thing that being surrounded by beautiful women is considered a trait of geniuses after all.
Still as miraculous as those exceptional women primordial yins could be, they wouldn't have had the same effect on people with different lineages than theirs, that applies even to people like Lilia, Alice or Aria.
The ice princess certainly doesn't need a dual cultivation technique to exchange yin with Aster, but even then, she would most likely benefit his soul, not his lineage, she isn't a descendant of the same dragon as Aster after all, that being said Lilia has never heard of a yin constitution that nurtured the soul of the partner of its owner, but that is a matter for later.
"For most people the Silk Consort yin constitution is perfect for dual cultivation and also grants its owner the ability to charm men, regardless of who the target is", that explained why even Ulises who is Tamara's brother and Jack who will never lay his hands on the wife of his best friend, couldn't help but avoid to see Tamara's bare skin now that she recovered.
"But among all the known yin type body constitutions known, they are the only ones that can improve the lineage of someone completely unrelated to them, and that's not all, they can keep doing so even after losing their primordial yin, though the effect will be lesser, so you could say that for those who stand at the apex of any of the four Heavenly Quadrants, they are living treasures".
Lilia's words made Tamara, Tomas, Alexandra, Jack and Ulises be horrified, they understood what that implied, someone with such a valuable treasure but without the strength to protect it won't have a good end.
But Lilia's next words made them all let out sighs of relief.
"Don't worry, as I said, no one can take that by force, because that ability of the Silk Consort body constitution owners, only works if the woman is willing to be with her partner, and once they had given their heart to their partner, they will never change it, also it's not like Silk Consort constitution owners are common, you are only the second one I have ever met, and the first one to actually have a partner", concluded Lilia.
The moment Lilia realized Tamara had the Silk Consort body constitution she knew there was no way that she had betrayed Tomas, women with this trait, are incredibly hard to move, and they tend to spend their lives without a partner.
"I don't want to make it sound as if your yang constitution isn't strong, but that alone wouldn't have allowed you two survive that long, with those things in your body, since they drained most of your vitality and yang before sending you to die at the border station, but now it makes sense, since your wife is a Silk Consort body constitution owner", concluded Lilia.
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