Mortal Realm, Capital Planet of the Hoborg Empire.

After leaving the palace, Marc asked Bai Yue what she wished to do. “Your Ladyship, may I know what you wish to do? That way, I would know where to bring you.” To which she replied in her cold but enchanting voice. “You can call me Lady Bai. As for what I want...” She looked at the fox couple and asked. “What do you two think about going to a restaurant?” The two looked at each other, seemingly consulting each other and then turned back to Bai Yue in sync. “Sure.” “Definitely! I feel like trying the local specialties.”

Hearing their positive answers, the masked woman looked back at Marc and said. “Guide us to a good restaurant.” Marc then nodded. “We can go to the Lunar Paragon. It's among the best restaurants in the whole Empire, and definitely the best in Cloudmount city. If you don't mind, I'll ask for a carriage to go there instead of us flying directly, so that I can show your group around the place a little.”

“Good idea. Since we're planning to settle here for a while, we might as well get to know a bit more about it.” Bai Yue nodded. Seeing her acquiesce to his proposition, he brought out a talisman and used his Divine sense to activate it and ask for a carriage to bring them to the Lunar Paragon. The carriage arrived a few minutes later. It was a beautiful mid sized carriage enough to hold a dozen people inside without being crowded. Although it had a look of sophistication and was obviously made from rank 3 materials, it was not ostentatious. By using one's Divine sense, one could notice the formation inscription on the whole carriage. There were defensive ones, mana gathering ones, Divine sense shielding, attacking ones and even some to control the temperature inside. All in all it was a very expensive mana item that probably costs millions of Low grade mana stones. The whole carriage was pulled by 2 Early Level 7 Emerald horses which were one of the fastest kind of mana beasts with similar levels while also having great stamina, which made them the perfect mana beasts for traveling.

Seeing the carriage arriving, Guang Hua asked Marc puzzled. “For a weak Empire like yours to have such rare mana beasts. How is it possible?” Hearing the pure curiosity coming from the Early Level 8 woman, Marc and Illia knew that she did not mean to embarrass them. So, they did not take to heart. The two also noticed that the couple seemed extremely young for their cultivation. Probably less than 500 years old, since one's body did not emit the same aura depending on one's bone age. There was a kind of vitality that was stronger the younger and more powerful you are. As an example, for a level 2 cultivator, being 150 years old made you an old man or woman. However, if you were 150 years old and had a Rank 3 cultivation then you would be considered as a young child. It was all about perspective. And to be able to reach that level of cultivation at their age, not only did you need high level talent, but also a mountain of resources that weak empires like the Hoborg Empire would be incapable of providing.

All of those thoughts made the old couple not dare to underestimate the two, even if their Law Level was very high compared to similar level cultivators. Illia was the one who answered the question. “To be honest, it was mostly luck. When we were younger, my husband and I used to travel a lot in search of fortunate encounters to help us improve our cultivation level. One day we discovered a sub-realm which almost killed us. We barely survived through every danger.” While she was recounting the story, her eyes were staring at the void, her mind seemingly reliving that event. “After going through all those traps and mana beasts' fights, we finally arrived at the core of the sub-realm. We were injured, exhausted by many days of dancing on the edge of life and death. That's when we found the treasury. It was filled with many things, like mana stones, mana weapons and armors, mana techniques and even cultivation scriptures. That's also where we found the two baby emerald horses that we proceeded to raise afterwards.”

Although she knew that it was a risk to share that story, as the idiom explicitly said that treasuring a jade ring becomes a crime [A/N: Having something precious can invite greed], she still decided to take a leap of faith. Why? Simply because the masked woman could be the key for the two of them to reach a higher level in their cultivation. Since they did not have that much lifespan left (relatively to their cultivation level), they might as well take the risk. And she did not seem like an unreasonable person as long as they did not cross the line.

Then, she took a few seconds to gather her thoughts and resumed talking in front of the curious eyes of Hei Qiang and Guang Hua. “The cultivation scriptures were very high level, they might even be Immortal Layer Scriptures. That's actually how we reached our current Law Level. However, that's also why we were stuck at our current cultivation level for thousands of years.” Hearing that confusing statement, the two adult foxes had a look of puzzlement on their face. Noticing their incomprehension, Bai Yue asked in a rhetorical voice. “I'm guessing that they were incomplete cultivation scriptures, am I right?” The young parents had a look of realization on their face, as it did not make sense for an Immortal Cultivation scripture to improve someone's Law Level and not their cultivation level, even if their talent was trash.

While they were talking, the group of them entered the carriage and sat themselves with the old couple on one side, the fox couple on the other, with Bai Yue holding Guang Yang in her arms. After which, Marc informed the carriage driver of their destination and they started to follow the Blossom street through the Noble Quarter in the direction of the Crescent Plaza.

Illia and Marc stiffened in shock for a few seconds as they did not understand how she could know a secret that no one knew beside the two of them. After getting herself together, Illia nodded stiffly. “Your Ladyship is right. They were incomplete.” Although, she wanted to ask her for help, she did not say anything. After all, they were just acquainted less than an hour ago, and she did not want to annoy someone who could destroy them with a thought. It was much better to stay with her for a while and help her with what she needed. That way, they may not even need to say anything and she may end up helping them.

“I have to say, the two of you are quite gutsy.” Bai Yue added while shaking her head at their foolishness. ”Cultivating an incomplete scripture, especially an Immortal Layer one, could have crippled or even killed the two of you. Mana deviation is almost a certainty if you use those thoughtlessly. You're both very lucky to have only been stuck at your current level.” Hearing her pointing out their mistake made the two embarrassed. However, Marc justified their decision. “Senior is right. However our circumstances forced us to make that choice. It may sound like a classic, even boring story, but Illia and I met when we were young and fell in love with each other. You have to understand that although the Emperor of the time (The current Grand Elder) was my father, he sired me with a simple maid he found attractive and with which he slept a few times until he grew bored of her. After a few months, he learned that she was pregnant with his child, which was me, and he decided to send her away from the palace, in the suburb of Cloudmount City with enough money for a rank 2 being like her to live a comfortable life and a cultivation scripture for me, good enough to reach the peak of Level 6 if I was talented enough.”

While narrating his story, the group could feel a bit of sadness amidst his calm facade. “At first I blamed him for abandoning my mother and I, especially since she loved him even until her death. However, after thousands of years, I just let it go. After all, he never forced himself on her, and he even gave her money to live our life well. To be honest, after seeing how they lived in the palace, I'm glad that we didn't stay there. Because my mother was too kind, she would have probably been schemed against by the Empress or some concubines and died in vain. I would probably not have survived either. I'm just sad that she couldn't find someone else to spend the rest of her life with.”

Guang hua nodded her head and shared her opinion which related to her life. “Unlike what others may think about being someone from a powerful family, it's not an easy life. It's even very brutal. And if you don't fight and improve yourself, you won't even know how you died. It might even be from someone close to you. Well, if you're unlucky and you disturb someone high up in the family, even if you're talented and powerful, you might also get killed by that cultivator, even if by doing so the family might lose someone that could make them more powerful. Of course, it all depends on the family, as some may function differently. Anyway, although I can guess where your story is going, I'm still interested in hearing the rest.”

Illia and Marc nodded and the former took over the narration when the latter looked at her. “I'll take over then, since the problem came from my side. As you probably guessed I am the daughter of the Kapis family's patriarch. In my family, as with a lot of powerful family in our empire, but not all, the male descendants have the power, while the female descendants are usually married off to other powerful families to deepen connections between them. Of course, the higher your talent, the more choices you have. And being one of the most talented woman in the Empire, I should have been able to choose my husband as I wished, as long as he was either as talented as I was, or his status was similar to mine, or even both. And it was the case. Until the man that you killed earlier saw me.”

The Fox parents chose to remain silent, as they were very interested by the story that, albeit being different from theirs, was still as complicated, . Only the adorable laughing voice of the baby could be heard in the moving carriage. Seeing the endearing scene eased the negative emotions of the old couple greatly and after a smile appeared on Illia's face, she resumed her story.

“It happened when I was less than a hundred years old. The imperial family had organized a ball for the upper society, one of many, and my father decided to bring me there to meet the young nobles to see if there was anyone in whom I would be interested. Long story short, that 'pig' saw me and “fell deeply in love for me” as he kept saying vehemently during the event. The thing was, he was widely known as a playboy by men and a manslut rapist by the women. The rapist part was because, when he was interested in a woman, and that same woman didn't want to succumb to his advances, he pressured the family of the latter with his status, and most caved in. If the women had a high status then they became his concubines, and if they didn't, they would just be chased out after a while. An animal in human's skin!” She spat in disgust.

“However, he found out that I was not the same as all the previous women he toyed with. I didn't cave in since I didn't care about him and my status was too high for him to threaten my family. After all, my ancestor was a Peak Level 7 and at that time the Imperial family didn't have any Level 8 cultivators, so they wouldn't push us too far, simply to satisfy that animal's lust. The cost would be too high. However, they still tried to enticed my family to give me up as the crown prince's main wife. The benefits were very high, so a few greedy people in my family were getting more and more interested in marrying me to the Imperial family. Even my father, who wanted to respect my wishes, had some trouble resisting some of the Elders' pressure.” She said with anger showing in her voice.

“Since those old ghosts [A/N: They're not literal ghost. It's just an insult to mock old people] annoyed me too much, I decided to leave the Capital Planet to roam the Empire, searching for fortuitous encounters, that would allow my strength to surge, so that I could finally control my fate. I broke through to rank 2 a few years before, by the way. After ten years or so of roaming around, and getting stronger and stronger, I found an old tomb of a rank 3 Being where I fell into great danger. Of course, I was not alone in that tomb, as a few other cultivators were there as well. Among them was a very handsome man named Marc.” She smiled and looked towards Marc, who noticed the love not so well-hidden in her gaze, to which he replied by smiling at her. “Unfortunately for the others, some died from the traps and others from the evil corpses in the tomb. As for the two of us, we fought side by side until we almost died. But we survived instead, and even got the treasures inside.”

“What made me start to trust Marc, was the fact that at that time I used all my mana pills to heal myself during the fights and I didn't have anything to heal my injuries. Instead of stealing all the loot and kill me or even do disgusting things to me, he gave me a few of his pills. As I was used to all the constant scheming in my family, the fact that he did not even ask me for anything in return confused me at first. After understanding that there were no hidden scheme involved, I began to see him in a favorable light, even if I thought he was a bit foolish.” She then laughed, which then made Marc said to justify himself. “As a man, I couldn't just mistreat a beautiful woman with which I fought side by side previously. That would make me lower than an animal.”

She laughed lightly and continued. “After all, in my whole life, it was the first time that someone, beside my mother and my father, and even more, a man, didn't help me for reasons such as lust or material gains. Don't get me wrong, I noticed that he was attracted to me right away, but he was very respectful, in his manner and in his gaze.” That made him cough in embarrassment.

“Anyway, after that dangerous adventure, we traveled everywhere for dozens of years, and thanks to a few fortuitous encounters, we both reached the peak of rank 2 (Peak Level 6). Additionally, we fell in love together and became husband and wife, although not “officially”. Indeed, at that time, my father had to cave in to the elders or he would lose his seat as the patriarch to one of his brothers. So, he contacted me a few times and tried to force me to come back to marry that pig. Clamoring that it was for the good f the family. My answer was the same as all those years ago: No! Thanks to our cultivation level and the fact that we hid our identities, they couldn't find us and bring us back.“ She had an expression of pride on her face when she added that information.

“But we needed to reach the rank 3 if we wanted to be left completely alone. After all, as you all know, there is a enormous chasm in power and lifespan between the different ranks, more so than between the levels in the same ranks. That's when we heard about a sub-realm that was spotted in a star system close to where we were at the time. So we went there and you know the rest of what happened inside. After that adventure, we both broke through to the next rank and even reach the peak of level 7 in a few years. So we decided to go back to the capital planet to confront my family. If you had seen their face when they saw that I was married and that my husband and I were at the same level of cultivation than the Grand Elder of our family... It was priceless!”

That comment made everyone laugh and even Bai Yue had a small smile behind her mask. Guang Hua added. ”I wish I could have been there to see it, hahaha.”

Illia added. “They were so angry that their faces were as red as blood. But since we were the strongest, they couldn't do anything to us and had to accept our marriage officially. We also went to the Imperial palace to see the emperor, who was at that time the crown prince by saying that I wanted to see him. That's when Marc declared that we were married and insulted him so much that the pig jumped to fight him in anger. He was of course beaten up so much that he had to rest for a few weeks afterwards. That alerted a few high level elders, since they thought a high level enemy attacked the palace. After explaining the situation, and since they couldn't really do anything to us, as we were more powerful than them, they let us go. That's when the current Grand Elder arrived to see his son, the Crown Prince, and recognized Marc, since he looked both like his father and his mother. I know it sounds far fetched, since he never even saw him, even when he was a baby, but remember that the higher your cultivation level, the more perfect your body becomes, including your memory and mental deduction. That and he could feel his bloodline in Marc and coupled with his age, he deduced his identity almost right away.”

She concluded by saying. “Marc was then appointed as a high level Elder and we guarded the Soul Tablet room for thousands of years. Unfortunately, because the mana in our body was not balanced, we couldn't conceive a baby. That's our only regret.” Sadness could indeed be felt from her tone. “That's our story.” She said that while looking at Bai Yue in a respectful manner. The latter could tell that the whole story was true from the woman's soul fluctuation, which confirmed the decision she took when she saw them in the Throne room earlier. The masked woman then looked at the two and asked in a solemn tone. “I will give the two of you an opportunity, but that's your choice if you want to take it or leave it. You can follow us and become our family's servants with everything that it entails. That means that you will not be treated as a high Elder of the Imperial Family anymore. At least, not by any of us here.”

She insisted. “Are you willing?”