In the vast and chaotic law ocean, a vibrant plane was floating about. While the plane itself was not too big, intricate constructions around the plane made it look like a wonder. Gareen had only seen such constructions in some other important planes that served as waypoints between regions and dominions. Such planes were generally considered strategic points and all big and powerful sects would fight to obtain control of them. Looking at his home-plane, he could not recognise it all. The Aterna in front of him was very different from the one in his memories.
It had been many years since Gareen had left his home-plane. Before leaving, he had established a firm foothold in his home-plane creating a powerful alliance of ancient races. He was the first emperor to unite the entire plane in its history, the first-ever emperor of Aterna. But time had caused his empire to crumble and the Aterna of today only had few faint marks left from his time. Aterna was only a secondary plane, thus, to continue his cultivation, he had decided to leave the plane and search for opportunities. Before he knew it, his empire had split and the two camps had fought, almost causing the destruction of the entire plane. But he did not return. After all, he was already an ancient existence at the time and had given up on correcting the mistakes of his descendants. While the plane had fallen to the tertiary level, Gareen had even been happy that it would not attract powerful cultivators. Any cultivator that could travel the law ocean would not have any interest in a tertiary plane. But before he knew it, his home-plane suffered a calamity, the likes against which even he was helpless. The fact that the plane was standing was a miracle in his eyes.
After reminiscing for some time, he descended to the plane, whereby he was guided by the patrolling cultivators to the appropriate point. After registering his identity, he entered the plane's transport hub.
The plane was under the jurisdiction of Divine Sea Sect, one of the hegemons of the 26 dominions. There were four other top-tier powers that had established their military barracks and teleportation point at the plane - the Bloodfiend Sect, the Blood Race, the Rutherford Clan and the Dark Spirit Alliance. Each of these powers was a super-force in the law ocean and a giant that Gareen could only look up to. From what he had found through his channels, there was even a divinity stationed here, who was responsible for protecting this stronghold. The discovery of might secret realm's entrance had caused a lot of turmoil in the law ocean. Almost all top-level powers were interested in exploring the place. There were very few planes around the region the entrance was found, making every one of them a valuable resource. The fact that the devils had covertly destroyed many of these planes had increased the value of these planes even more. Each of the remaining planes was now a stronghold for multiple super-forces to explore the secret realm.
The Divine Sea Sect was able to keep this plane because they were strong enough. But they had to share it with their allies. Hence, Rutherford Clan and Black Spirit Alliance were allowed to establish their base here. The blood race and the Bloodfiend Sect had paid a high price to obtain a seat at the table. As a result, the plane welcomed prosperity in the past few decades. The fact that it had been upgraded into a primary plane spoke volumes about it. Currently, the plane was making rapid progress in technology and cultivation. After going through the checks, he obtained all the corresponding information regarding the expedition. The five powers had not restricted the area around the secret realm, neither was it possible to do so. In theory, the task of exploration could be carried out by any ascendant who could travel in the law ocean. But practically, only powerful ascendant cultivators, rank 4 or above would do exploration seriously. Also, the law ocean was vast and finding the entrance to the secret realm was like finding a drop of water in an ocean. Even with divinities making deductions, it would take a long time to find the entrance. With the devils constantly obstructing other forces, it was likely that the orthodox sects would not be able to find the entrance in a few centuries. Thus, they had opened up the board and allowed unaffiliated cultivators to take exploration missions. Even if these cultivators were lucky enough to find the entrance, no one would be crazy enough to go further without thorough preparation. Besides, lone cultivators did not have enough strength to exploit a large-scale secret realm.
After registering for the exploration mission, Gareen moved on to the inner regions of the plane. This was not allowed for others but being a native of the plane gave him special privileges. Even if he had returned after many years, the plane-will would still remember him. Thus, he was not stopped by the arrays around the plane. Making his way towards the centre, he finally reached the entrance point of the native's land. He could see many other powerful cultivators who were entering at the gate. Without bothering with the process, he directly crossed the boundary moving to the border city. Approaching the newly built city, he manoeuvred towards the gate and began exploring the area. The city was new but the atmosphere filled with him ancient memories. After all, the entire world carried the same essence that he remembered, the essence of his home. While reminiscing, he was approached by a young man wearing the servant robes of Divine Sea Sect.
"Lord Cultivator, would you want to tour through the plane of Aterna?"
"Hmm, the Divine Sea Sect even offers a tour of the plane? Is this not the natives' area? Are they exploiting the people here?"
Due to his stern voice, the servant showed signs of panic. But rather than becoming nervous, he professionally continued, "How would that be possible? The natives' area is under the complete jurisdiction of Emperor Michael Rageberg! In fact, the tourism program is something that Emperor Michael came up with. While Aterna is a small plane in the law ocean, it has its own charms. First of all, there are myriad races living in this plane, much more than any other place. A lot of these races are not found anywhere else in the 26 dominions! There are many scholar societies that have established their bases here to study the different races and their interactions with laws. Each race has its own culture and customs, which tourists can enjoy. Apart from that, there is also the apostle temple where the apostle of Fate Seer Divinity has incarnated. During the devil war 20 years ago, the goddess had descended through the apostle. The fluctuations of divine law are still around the temple! Many upper ascendants ardently visit that place. There are also other wonders to see. Lord, are you interested?"
"Oh! There is an apostle temple here? Can you bring me there?"
Gareen was an upper ascendant himself. Thus, he knew how big the gap between ascendance and divinity was. The path was so tough to walk that many cultivators gave up in between. Among his contemporaries, there were few who had reached the law master rank. But he was the only one who managed to become an upper ascendant. The difficulty of creating a new law was similar to finding a path in a void without any senses. The things that could give inspiration to cultivators of his rank were very profound and highly dangerous. This was the reason most upper ascendants would leave their home plane and roam around in the law ocean. The fluctuations of divine law were left after a divinity used their power on a large scale. Such fluctuations were like a source of light for upper ascendants. Generally, to find divine law fluctuations, one would need to go to divine battlefields. Since he could find such a place here, he was pleasantly surprised.
As he went with the servant, he kept asking questions regarding the plane.
"The devil war was really fierce. The fact that Fate Seer Divinity gave out an apostle spot to save this plane already shows the strategic value of Aterna! As Lord might know, apostles are almost incarnations of different divinities. They can borrow the power of divine law from their corresponding divinities. Divinities can also use their body to incarnate as an avatar. Thus, there are many upper ascendants who wish to give up cultivation and become apostles for different divinities. But divinities can only have a fixed number of apostles. It is generally very tough to be selected by a divinity. But Fate Seer Divinity took a native Aternean known as Mubal Kafka as her apostle. It was a blessing for the entire plane!"
While the Divine Sea Sect is trying to sugarcoat the incident, everyone knows that the apostle descent happened only after almost half the plane was destroyed. This naturally happened after it was found that the Might secret realm is actually an independent world. No wonder Fate Seer jumped on the opportunity and established an apostle here! From the beginning, Fate Seer was planning for Might secret realm. Krill Nash leading an expedition here was ordered by Sludge Sea Divinity. It is already well known that Sludge Sea has sworn allegiance to Fate Seer's camp. Fate Seer and her husband Sword Saint are both four-star divinities and are rumoured to be close to reaching five-star. It is clear that Fate Seer has gained the most from the situation and has already secured the foothold for exploring Might secret realm!
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Gareen's inner feelings were very complicated. While he was glad to see his home plane progressing, he knew that the plane was now truly embroiled in the game between divinities and mighty figures. In such games, a single mistake could turn the whole plane into ashes in the blink of an eye. One of the purposes of his trip was to chat with his promising junior, the current emperor of Aterna.
While Gareen was gaining enlightenment at the apostle temple, in the Rageberg palace's underground chamber, Michael was cultivating in seclusion.
Soon, he opened his eyes. The world around him flashed with vibrant green and deathly yellow turning into a weird domain. The pollen in the air seemed to germinate instantaneously before turning into dust. The domain lasted only for a few seconds before dissipating as Michael exhaled a turbid breath.
In the past 20 years, Michael had been cultivating diligently. He had already merged his willpower in his dao and psychic powers, raising both these paths to the realm of peak great master. In the last 2 decades, he had been focussing on other paths of cultivation and was making rapid progress. With the help of his clone in Heaven realm's Samsara Sect, he was already close to reaching the second transformation. He had also mastered many celestial mystical abilities from the Samsara Sect.
Initially, after the devil war, Michael wanted to retire and lead a leisurely life. He had hardly given much time to his family and friends. His relationship with his wives was also not particularly deep. The pressure from the devils' apocalypse had turned him into a tireless soldier who was constantly strategising and battling. His tremendous willpower was the only reason he could achieve his goal. But he was given a rude awakening when four other super-sects formed their bases on the plane and went on to carry out the advancement of the plane. His senior Krill had subtly let him know of the situation.
Might secret realm was likely to be an independent world and many devil divinities were involved in the expedition in that realm. Given that the devils with their powerful forces could not conquer the secret realm, it went without saying that the natives of the realm were very powerful. They most certainly had their own divinities to hold the fort. Given that it was an independent world, they would have different governing laws as well as cultivation systems. Just the knowledge of the native cultivation system would be a huge treasure for powerful forces. Almost all large forces of the dominion were gathering to send expeditions to the secret realm. Their primary goal was to explore as well as trade with the natives. The related profits were so huge that even a faction as large as the Divine Sea Sect could not have the cake entire to themselves. The fact that such a realm had a spatial tunnel connected to the law ocean nearby meant that Aterna was a hot piece of land in the eyes of these super-forces. Due to the Divine Sea Sect holding jurisdiction over the plane, the other super forces had not made any moves. But, the situation was extremely precarious. After all, when the agreement with the Divine Sea Sect was signed, Aterna was only a backwater place that no one cared about. Thus, the sect decided to leave half the plane to natives. But now, the entire plane was a resource and even the various elders in the sect were looking at natives' land as sharks eyeing their prey. Currently, Fate Seer Divinity had taken the lead and established a strong foothold on the plane. She naturally did not want the plane to be shared with her rivals. Thus, she had schemed early and established an apostle position among the natives. The current guardian of the plane, Blue Wind Divinity was also her close friend.
The fact that Michael had saved her daughter Alexis' life in Kanjur had earned him a good impression. Due to this, she had not usurped his authority among the natives and had allowed him to hold the power as emperor of the natives. If she had wanted, Mubal could have easily taken over the Rageberg family. After all, he was now extremely powerful, comparable to rank-7 ascendants. In fact, she had given Michael a conditional discipleship offer. If he could reach the law master realm along with other supreme genius seeds, she would arrange for him to become a legacy disciple under a divinity! But, it went without saying that if Michael could not prove himself and maintain his standing, he would lose all control and say in matters of Aterna. This was unacceptable to Michael! There had to be someone to represent the natives. Else, it was very easy for the entire civilisation of Aterna to be suppressed. Unfortunately, Mubal had become an apostle, which had changed his personality to be completely loyal to Fate Seer Divinity. While he had obtained the longevity that he wanted, he had lost his freedom of thought.
The only fortunate thing was him infiltrating the Samsara Sect with his clone, allowing him to cultivate in the holy land for cultivators of laws of life and death. This had allowed him to maintain his standing among the chosen disciples, even faintly surpassing them. The prospects of cultivators were primarily decided on potential, comprehension and resources. In terms of potential, Michael probably outclassed even most divine children. He could cultivate 8 different paths giving him several directions to gain strength from. If he could completely realise his potential, he would easily surpass everyone in his realm and earn the title of "ultimate genius". In terms of resources, Michael was decent among his peers. While a lot of his fellow disciples had more resources than him, he was not lacking resources for his current cultivation. Alas, he had found that he was severely lacking in his comprehension ability. Even with access to Samsara Sect, he could barely gain an advantage among his peers. Thinking about his experiences in the Samsara Sect, he could only feel shame at his lack of talent in the cultivation of laws.
Soon, Michael got out of his cultivation chamber and moved to his office in the palace. Ambrose, Ramsus and Remeus were already present in the office. Ambrose was looking through several crystals of administrative information at the same time. Ramsus and Remeus were looking through the cultivation scrolls from their sect in a corner. Michael took his seat without disturbing any of them and began going through the several thousand issues that required his attention. While he was cultivating or working most of the time, his heart was no longer burdened by the weight of atonement.
Looking through the different information crystals, he came across a surprise. An upper ascendant cultivator Gareen had requested to meet him. He naturally knew the identity of this legendary figure of Aterna, the founding emperor of the original Aterna Empire!
I must get this ancestor to accept the position of the royal guardian! The existence of Mubal has reduced the royal prestige by a lot. Even if Fate Seer Divinity doesn't make a move, Mubal would likely make a move as soon as I leave the plane for the expedition. I must secure Gareen to balance the political situation.
Some days later, Michael met Gareen in his palace.
"Senior Gareen, how do you find the new Aterna?"
"Haha lad, you have done very well! You have achieved something that even I would not have been able to! Your contribution to the plane is perhaps the greatest among all the people in the history of the plane. You are truly remarkable. But, looking at the current situation, you seem to be out of your depth, no?"
"You are right senior. My strength is not high. Potential can not make up for strength. At this point, I am barely holding control of the plane due to my reputation. It is truly not easy. Senior, if I may ask, what are your plans? Do you wish to keep exploring the law ocean for gaining enlightenment or do you wish to try going on an expedition to the Might secret realm?"
"Sigh! I am already old. I don't have the energy left to keep going. I am hit a wall in my cultivation and almost all my potential has been used up. Only miraculous encounters can help me in progressing. But how rare are miracles? Even fluctuations of divine law did not give me much gain. I am now looking for settling down. So kid, the message that you had sent me has indeed left me intrigued. If you can truly give me a decent offer, I don't mind helping a bright descendant."
"Senior, how do you feel about the position of dharma protector of Paradise Sea Sect? As you know, it is the best of all subsidiary sects in terms of living condition. Apart from the yearly resources and status, you can also choose to retire as an instructor in the sect. I have heard that it is filled with celestial beauties all around. If not, you can also make connections in the sect but establish your own force. I can connect you to the Paradise Harmonius Elder couple as well. If not, you can choose to take a position at the Dead Sea Sect. I can also ...."
"You don't have to think too much! Let's go with the Paradise Sea Sect. Now, let's talk about the duration of the assignment. Ten thousand years is obviously fleecing this ancestor for all my worth..."
After several rounds of haggling, the Paradise Sea Sect obtained a new dharma protector whereas the Rageberg royal family obtained a guardian for a thousand years.