Krysta

Krysta was sitting on one of three wooden chairs outside the cabin in her mother’s training cavern, receiving guidance on how to merge her main passive skill with her cultivation technique along with Henrietta, when her mother suddenly stopped talking, looking to the east, toward the main entrance to the cavern Aalam used to use.

“Henrietta, something has just come up and we’ll have to stop here for a day. Please return to your own dwelling.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Krysta, please guide our guest here to speak with me.”

“Yes, Mother.”

As Henrietta moved to the west, Krysta created a portal toward the stairway leading up to the surface to the east and stepped through it. Then she started moving up the stairs. And there, sitting on the steps near the top as if waiting, somehow having bypassed two whole layers of protective arrays, was Irena Krol.

It had been over a quarter year since Aalam, Isaiah, and Irena had all left, reportedly due to some complication with Isaiah’s child, and Krysta hadn’t heard anything since.

As far as she knew, there’d been no known movements by the Heavenly Spark Soul King, and all the Territory Aalam owned was still under his control, while her loose servant bond with him was still intact, so it seemed he at least was safe. But she’d started to grow worried a long time ago, and the solemn expression on Irena’s face did not make her feel better.

“My mother would like me to guide you to her.” Krysta bowed slightly to the future A rank.

“Thank you, Krysta.” Irena bowed in return.

Then they both moved down the stairs, through the many extra layers of arrays, and Krysta made another portal to where her mother was still sitting, a warm beverage in hand. Krysta and Irena then stepped through and Joma indicated for them both to sit, so Krysta retook her seat while Irena sat where Henrietta had been before.

“I assume your master and his chamberlain are both watching.” Joma took a sip of her beverage, her expression showing displeasure. “And I assume from the fact you came alone and deliberately broke through two of my warding arrays to get my attention that you want to keep whatever you have to say secret.”

Irena nodded once, her expression still solemn. “Yes.”

“Well, speak.” Joma’s voice grew slightly cold. “Why did you all leave? And what brings you back alone now?”

“Our force has inherited an enemy from the Yin Yang Sage.” Irena’s expression became colder as well, though her obvious anger didn’t seem directed at anyone in the room. “And this enemy is not someone you would want to go against, so, for your sake, my master will not be coming here any more.”

Krysta watched as her mother’s expression quickly changed, becoming more worried. “What happened?”

“Our planet’s sovereign and her unborn child were murdered by a bloodline curse at the end of the Universal Auction, though the intended targets seem to have been the sovereign and my master.

“We don’t have all the information, but it appears their mother, Bellessia of the Primordial Humans, deliberately came to Earth before our planet’s integration and had two children with our most talented cultivator so as to block any possible chance of revival for the Yin Yang Sage. She intended to kill the two after the Yin Yang Sage took them in as apprentices, but she waited for the end of the Universal Auction so as to confirm our possession of the last two of Camoran’s puzzle books before going through with her plan.”

Krysta’s mother lost control of her aura, an extreme amount of rage and disgust quickly growing, matching Krysta’s feelings as well, but then she took a few seconds to deliberately calm herself down. “I may be human, but I don’t have many dealings with the Human Ancestors Faction. In fact, we can be considered to be on bad terms. There’s no need to—”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Joma stopped mid-sentence as Irena lifted a hand to indicate there was more.

“The main issue isn’t our sovereign’s death. While terrible, it doesn’t affect our faction’s power that much, and it is something we can recover from. The bigger problem is what Aalam not dying will reveal to his mother.

“Have you heard of Cai Zhi-Sheng?”

Joma frowned. “No.”

“He was the Yin Yang Sage’s husband, an A rank known as the Trickster, and, at least as the Yin Yang Sage tells it, he was killed by an alliance of all the major factions of gods for the crime of existing.

“It seems, when other gods are not involved, some gods are able to use divination magic to predict the future, allowing them to interfere and change things with near perfect results, but the Trickster had a uniqueness known as Shadow King, which gave him resistance against divination at the divine level, and the gods killed him as soon as they learned of it.

“In addition to all the other bloodlines on Earth, including those from children the Yin Yang Sage had earlier in her life, the population of Earth is descended from the Trickster through a great-grandson of his and the Yin Yang Sage’s line who managed to survive the gods’ purge after the Trickster’s death.

“This was a secret, however. No one in the wider universe believed the population of Earth could produce cultivators with shadow line uniquenesses, and so no gods desired to wipe us out.

“That, however, will change as soon as Bellessia does the basic task of looking up the information freely available in the universe about Earth, and learns of Aalam’s death before the tutorial, something that was not supposed to happen. And, if she reveals this fact to other gods, our enemies won’t just be the Human Ancestors Faction, but possibly all gods in the universe, including those you have dealings with.”

Krysta and her mother took simultaneous deep breaths, Krysta at least not even knowing where to begin with the information she’d just learned.

But Irena wasn’t done yet. “During the Universal Auction, our leader bought a System boon which allowed us to teleport Earth elsewhere, and the Yin Yang Sage has a preexisting deal with the System which will make Earth never lose its hidden protected status, so we are safe, at least for now. But, for your own safety and the safety of your force, you should abandon us.”

Krysta’s mother looked thoughtful for a few seconds. “Before I fully make my decision, there are a few things you should know.

“First, about the System—as I have probably had more conversations with gods than your benefactor, even with her much, much longer life—even those at the divine level have no way to ask the System for real time information on other cultivators or monsters, so long as they are from this universe. And, second, the System’s ability to hide a planet is nearly foolproof—just look at how well it’s hidden Camoran’s inheritance site—while that protection extends to anyone who is on the planet as well, so you can feel safe there.

“While there are many loopholes in the System, and most gods know almost all of them, these loopholes were intentionally created when the Divine Child, the Lady of Laws, the three human ancestors, and several now dead elder gods worked together to build it.

“There are certain things about the System which are designed to keep the gods on top. Take how it’s nearly impossible for a non-divine force to find resources to help awaken uniquenesses, despite them being relatively common in the universe, with not one ever being sold in any of the universal auctions, or available for even a ridiculous amount of points in the Trial Towers.

“But when it comes to security and privacy, the System includes very few loopholes at all, as the gods don’t want other gods to have the ability to spy on them.”

Krysta’s mother looked over at her and then back to Irena. “Third, about me and mine, I at least should be able to keep the secrets I’ve already agreed to. Given some particularities of B and A rank your benefactor or Aalam can explain to you, the gods I have deals with won’t want to push me into breaking my word, and they’ll almost certainly stop other gods from doing so as well. That same protection, however, won’t extend to Krysta, Wolfram, Henrietta, or Henrietta’s guard.

“The Human Ancestors Faction shouldn’t be able to question Krysta due to her father and his brothers nor Henrietta due to the elven gods, but you can expect the Divine Child’s faction to learn everything Krysta knows and the elves to learn everything from Henrietta. Then, while the Divine Child’s faction likely won’t share anything, the elves will almost certainly share everything to any god who asks.

“Wolfram and that boy Reginald, however, would likely not be questioned, but instead have their souls taken out and their memories searched through, killing them, so you should take the two of them with you.”

Irena’s face and aura barely changed, seeming to have expected everything Krysta’s mother had said, but she bowed deeply toward Joma anyway. “Thank you.”

Krysta’s mother took a spatial storage ring out of her own ring’s storage space and tossed it to Irena. “In there is the pill for Aalam’s advancement this rank, as well as the pill for changing the path of Isaiah’s Active Daoist racial ability and all the other pills your force has commissioned for the next two years.

“As in the terms of our contract, I will be abandoning you at this time, but I wish you luck and I hope you all survive.”