Wei Wuyin stood beside the crane with a tinge of shock in his eyes. The crane from before and the one now was vastly different. Not only did its body enlarge by several-fold, but its eyes and beak radiated a mystical golden light. When he fixed his spiritual sense on her, he discovered that even her blood had transformed into a golden color.
Despite that, her expressions and emotions were of joy and happiness. She stretched her long neck out and placed her head near Wei Wuyin's hand. This was an action it had done quite often to display its affection. A warm sensation emerged in his heart as he softly caressed her now-larger head.
A sensation of nostalgia and warmth emerged in his heart, nearly invoking tears. He had been through so much, but this crane had also undergone a similar experience.
Ten years was a vast amount of time, and while they were separated for about eight years within those ten, he felt it.
He deeply desired to know what happened to Wei Si, the latest news on the Scarlet Solaris Sect, or even if Mei Mei was still alive or not. Given that so many years had passed, she was either dead or absolutely safe. His mission of traveling heroically to save his former lover felt hollow and without purpose now.
If it had been before, he would've retained his youthful vigor and impulses, but now, he just felt tired. He wanted to return home, just as much as the crane before him.
He gently smiled, "Let's go home."
Those three words incorporated his strongest emotions and feelings into one.
Kree!
The crane cried joyfully. She had spent bitter years without seeing her family or friends. After all, she was born and raised in the Scarlet Solaris Sect, a domesticated beast given to Wei Wuyin as a reward for his ranking as a core disciple.
They had met shorter than they've been apart, but those years of carefree safety and free food were the best days of her life. Since leaving, she had to learn how to find her own food, carry strangers around, run away from a wall of invisible death, watch her master slowly lose himself because of his actions to save her, discover the cruelty of humanity, and fight.
Well, in truth, the fighting and killing was quite fun.
Wei Wuyin leapt on her broad back and looked at the sky. He knew he was in the Xin Country, in the area known as the Eden Prefecture. The structure of these two countries were slightly different, but not by much.
He just had to travel north and he'll enter the Wu Country sooner or later.
The crane gave a powerful avian cry before flapping its gigantic wings, causing the ground to compress and the wind to rage, and with a whoosh, it took to the skies. Its speed was many times faster than before.
Wei Wuyin, relieved, sat down. This, what felt like a brief but frustrating interlude, was finally over. It passed by like a literal blink of an eye, and he was now returning. When he left, he thought he would fight elves, see demons, engage in clashes of gods, and reclaim his former lover's hand valiantly.
However, heaven gave him a rightful subversion of his beliefs with a square kick in the ass. That being said, it wasn't for nothing. One of his many minds had learnt the secrets of alchemy, the Eden Creation Method, and helped develop a third Heart of Qi.
In fact, given his cultivation base rise, not in cultivation stage, but in quality, he felt satisfied with his gains.
And then, there was this:
Karmic Luck Value: 602.8.
First Calamity: Survived - 7/7.
Second Calamity: Suppressed - 41 Years.
Before his accident, he had a karmic luck value of 164.5, a +0.1 due to some unknown circumstances. When his other 'self' had completed the first Calamity, that had risen by 490.
Somehow, during his ten years, he had expended 49.7 points in value. He also knew that he had several distinct feelings of karmic luck reduction, but his other selves didn't know what that meant, so they never could fully utilize the chance, and sometimes, they would pass it up entirely in ignorance.
Lucky chances are opportunities. They were not certainties and what came from them was determined by yourself. This was his conclusion when he found the Myriad War Dao Palace instead of befriending a stranger and when he refined the Yin-Yang God Sphere, allowing him to rise to the Sixth Stage of Qi Condensation, False Reality Phase, and become a Mortal God-level figure.
It's a matter of effort and willingness. He felt unjustly robbed, but thinking about how he likely would've died from the first Calamity if he hadn't lost himself, he felt quite content. After all, a boost of 440 karmic luck can't be too bad, no?
"Oh, wait! I'm forgetting something!" Wei Wuyin's eyes lit up as he recalled a matter. With haste, he checked his ring on his finger on his right hand. There were two rings, the first was the three-layered ring on his index finger, and a dark green one on his middle-finger.
Inspecting it, his eyes became even brighter. That's right, his resources were all in an isolated section within the now-collapsed Eden Earth Sect, but it would've been incredibly secured and likely set off-base! Unlike others, he shared the same privacy and safety as the Sect Leader himself.
No way a collapse of the Tree of Eden would've destroyed it! In fact, all his herbs, finished pills, elixirs, pastes, and pellets were within this ring's storage space. Without any hesitation, he proceeded to swap all its contents into his three-layered ring's first layer. Then, he threw the ring away.
If he was privy to the knowledge as to where the secret stash was, he would rush right over, but unfortunately…
That being said, he had an absolute massive amount of pure essence stones. Due to them wanting to show their 'sincerity', the sect gave him a portion of the profits of his sales. Therefore, he felt satisfied.
Moreover, these essence stones weren't originally his, but only given to him on the surface. After all, neutral essence stones weren't that useful to Qi Condensation cultivators unless they were in the First Phase, Sixth Phase, or Eighth Phase, attempting to reach the next.
As for him using these stones to buy things, with his position, someone without any combat abilities, what would he need to buy? The sect provided any and everything he needed. As for protection? He would mostly stay within the sect's territory or be protected by Grand Elder-level characters. What better protection was that?
As for the essence stones, they were an empty gesture. The 'Wei Wuyin' at the time didn't care. He was like a blank slate that was going with the flow, but now! Wei Wuyin had a vital need for the thousands of essence stones within his ring.
The raging greed inside him was sated by his newfound wealth. With this, ascending to the Seventh Phase, Sublime Qi, was a certainty now. With his Externalize Heart Qi Method, all except his Alchemic Heart of Qi would reach that level very shortly.
-----
In a city within Wu Country, Jade Lotus Domain, Hollow Way City, a rest area for weary travelers and traders, a young man dressed in dark brown robes sat in a particular restaurant. With a cup of tea in hand, he sat alone and quietly waited.
A few minutes later, a young waiter arrived, his eyes respectful and his movements practiced. He didn't speak, placing a thick menu in front of the young man and walked away with a smile.
This young man was Wei Wuyin, and this menu wasn't a menu, but a dossier of information regarding the events of the Wu Country in the last ten years. Its been six days since the collapse, and he had gone to great lengths to find an info hub to purchase news from.
He had found this restaurant in his search and knew it dealt in information and other shady dealings. Those included purchasing and selling illegal materials or even slaves. However, despite being shady, he was satisfied with their due diligence in their performance of given tasks.
He opened the dossier and read it silently. From time to time, his expression would brighten or grow darker, other times he would smile or frown. After finishing the entire dossier, he only sighed.
While the dossier contained an enormous amount of information, the vital parts weren't much. First and foremost, the Scarlet Solaris Sect was safe. Well, in a relative term. It had engaged in many battles against the Jade Lotus Sect and Earthly Titan Sect as of late. Furthermore, the most vital aspect was the full blown war it had against one of the two great clans, the Ji Clan.
The two great clans were the Ji and Bai Clans. Their individual standing was high and even slightly exceeded the Five Great Sects reputation and strength. These clans were notable because of their Godlords.
However, the conflict with the Ji Clan seemed to originate from the Young Master of the Scarlet Solaris Sect. When he recalled that this very young master was the reason the Violet Moon Sect was wiped off the face of the earth, he understood that a woman had to be involved.
The Violet Moon Sect was annihilated only because of a beautiful woman that he wanted, but didn't respond well to him. Whenever he recalled this, he felt a feeling of pity for all those people. They had died or suffered worse fates because of a woman they likely didn't even know.
A large amount of his flamboyant and aggressive actions had to do with his backing. His father was a Godlord while his mother was the Sect Leader of the Scarlet Solaris Sect. He also had numerous connections with the Wu Imperial Clan, giving him quite the overall status of importance.
It seemed that over the years, he had become more and more aggressive with his actions. In fact, he suspected Jiu Lang had a relationship with him in some way. Otherwise, how could a beauty like that escape his eyes?
The other piece of news startled him greatly: Mei Mei had returned six years ago!
Not only did she return, she had become a Mortal God, reaching the Sixth Stage of Qi Condensation, and became the disciple of the Helios Witch, who recently broke through to become an official Godlord! The Helios Witch also relocated to the Scarlet Solaris Sect! With an additional Godlord backing, its no wonder the young master of the Scarlet Solaris Sect became even more brazen.
This nearly caused his head to spin. He had complicated feelings in his heart, not knowing if he should sigh with relief or bite his lower lip in frustration. Recounting his suffering, he felt that holding those feelings were irrelevant. He only just sighed, deeply sighed.
Supposedly, Mei Mei had become the most talented disciple in the Scarlet Solaris Sect's history, reaching the Mortal God status before the age of sixty, and it even stated that she was in the top three characters of the younger generation in Wu Country. The other two were members of the Sky Sword Sect and Wu Imperial Clan.
Her status had risen so much that they gave her a new title rank within the Scarlet Solaris Sect: Chosen.
Chosen was a very interesting term used in the previous era to denote individuals of outstanding talent that were 'chosen' by their sect to be fully cultivated with everything they had. It had faded with time, but it had once more resurfaced in the world.
There was also news of him. Five years ago, it was said that he had died after venturing outside the sect. The details weren't very specific, but it was a confirmed fact. He didn't know why that was the case.
"Haha, I guess I kind of did, huh?" Shaking his head, he rose from his seat. While ten years had passed, much of the information wasn't important to him. He needed to figure out what happened to Du Ling, Su Mei, other members of his faction since his disappearance, and see Mei Mei personally.
"I'll prepare some gifts!" When he thought about seeing Mei Mei once more, he wanted to impress her. That was the least he could try to achieve given the circumstances. Also, the incident where their trust had shattered still made him feel slightly insecure.
He departed after leaving an essence stone on the table.