I remained within the city for three days, and yet no news of what happened to the Black Tower ever circulated, which means that they kept a tight-lipped policy that was good for them. However, the notion of the main branch being willing to intervene to solve any issues caused me some worries.
Because, even if the guys here didn't dare and do something to me, the main branch might think that me being there, and knowing their dirty little secret, will mean that I'm a loose end. And what usually happens to loose ends? They usually end up being cut.
I made sure to help all the kids who were harmed by the Bone and Body Grinding Poison and had them back on their feet. All of them thankfully only suffered from inhaling too much of the fumes, and never were in direct contact with the poison, because anyone who did would probably end up dead.
Meng Hao's girl woke up later, and Meng Hao had a pretty hard time convincing her that I was the same old man she met back at that forest, as the first time she saw me, I was old, sickness and illness plagued, and full of pustules and tumors. But now, all she saw was a handsome-looking young uncle.
The other kids, however, thankfully didn't remember much, either about the location that they were taken to or about who grabbed them. They only know that a person kidnapped them and placed them in a room where they had no idea how they got into, where it was, or how to leave.
And since he was a Soul Transformation cultivator, if he needed them not to know who he was, that wasn't a problem for him.
Soon, after making sure that everyone who had any recollection of the events that happened spoke up, I realized that thankfully, the dead Soul Transformation Cultivator wasn't some generic idiotic villain who just speaks out his whole plot. As none of the kids could figure out why they were having their meridians broken and dipped into the poisonous pool.
It was all 'miraculously' translated as a fetish of an eccentric Soul Transformation cultivator with too much time on his hands.
I then sent the kids back to the Black Tower, where they admitted them in, asked them a few questions which they didn't need to lie to answer, and once the Tower understood that the kids knew nothing, and had no idea what was going on, they generously rewarded them for the suffering they had.
Weapons, pills, cultivation materials, and a lot of other stuff. All of it to both appease the kids and the sects they came from.
The idea that the Black Tower taking in the blame for what happened caused a few questions, but at the same time, they came up with a pretty convincing answer.
"We are ashamed that disciples of many sects had come here and ended up being kidnapped under our watch, so we had to compensate them."
As for who had found the kids, that remained a secret. Thank god.
Then I received a box from the tower, which apparently was my own compensation.
Not to mention the huge amount of high-grade Spirit Stone inside the box, I obtained a great many treasures. A few crafting materials that were too rare to use and many many spiritual herbs which will help me make more pills.
But since they thought that it was not enough, they asked me what I personally wanted and if they could afford bringing it.
The first thing I thought of was the Poison pool that they had under their base. But the moment I said that I'll be taking that, I felt like if I was actually doing them a favor. Since no one wants to get close to a Pool of Bone and Body Grinding Poison anyway.
And thus, I managed to get another choice of gifts.
I simply asked for the Heart of an Albedo. The idea was daunting for them to execute, as the effort that it'll take to kill an albedo is not easy. However, I was still given something that was second best to the heart. A map with a location of a recently seen Albedo. A hunting party was organized to hunt it, but they never managed it, so it is still on the loose. This is great because I need that to completely cure the Emrodite Plague of the Ji Tian sect.
With all of this done, I had to leave, waiting here will probably get me some unwanted attention from the main branch, and I'm better off not having to explain anything. So I took flight and headed to the northern side of the country, it was going to take me a few days to get to the Nascent Soul cultivator's area, or wait, he is a Soul Formation cultivator by now.
Days of travel went by fast as I was cultivating mid-flight. And whenever I got bored, I pulled a talisman and began recreating the same speech inscription that was on Y, because X deserves it.
The scenery changed several times over as I moved about, I've witnessed many things as I traveled, from beasts and creatures to humans and mortals living their daily lives and suffering under the cruelty of the world yet still smiles remained on their faces as they didn't seem to mind the harshness of such a cruel world.
Man is an amazing creature. He can survive, and adapt, and manage even against the odds.
As I was moving about I thought about making more puppets. Because when X and Y are occupied with defending me and attacking, I could use another puppet for rather, delicate and specific goals.
So I kept it in mind, since I easily get bored of staying still for days on end to assimilate the pills I ate for cultivation, I might as well use the time to make something and further progress. Especially since I can no longer one hundred percent rely on poison cultivation.
Remembering this whole thing once again gives me a headache.
As I was moving forward several cultivators flew past me with the speed of sound. Inexplicable fear and determination in their eyes.
Then soon, hundreds, thousands, and even more cultivators rushed forward. While I was casually flying, they were moving at speeds so fast one would their lives depended on it.
Seeing the urgency in their haste, I increased my speed and caught up with the nearest cultivator.
"Fellow Cultivator, what seems to be the urgency to cause all of these people to rush in that direction," I said.
Soon, the man looked at me like if I was a madman.
"Have you been living under a rock? You don't know about the invasion?" he said.
"Invasion? I have no idea what's going on… I'm not affiliated to any sects and was cruising the plains."
"Right, that explains it, anyway, the Planetary Covenant decree has deemed Si Xue no longer under its protection. And one of the Four Realm kings is now willing to take this planet as his."
"Which King?" I asked.
"The Fire Fing Ruler of the Southern Domain."
"But, they shouldn't be able to invade, I mean especially since this planet doesn't allow anyone at the Ascendant Realm or above to remain within it, right?"
"Yes, but they can send in half-Ascendants. And you better be ready for there will be many of them to come."
'Shit, an invasion already, what kind of fucking twist is this.' I cursed inwardly.
I didn't have anything to do with all this clusterfuck but if there is one thing I know, whenever shit like this happens, the mortals, the weak, and all the people I just went past will be the first victims.
I have no obligation to save or protect or fight anyone.
Immediately, several divine senses powerful beyond power rushed through the whole area and field that we were in.
"Cultivators of the planet Si Xue, I come and ask for your aid. The planetary covenant has given upon us, and the fire king is no merciful ruler. We know well that he had invaded and conquered many domains, and whenever a domain has been conquered, especially if it is a lower world, all of the people inside it are turned to slaves and soul cultivation furnaces to further fuel the Fire King's own might and power. We ask you, to not give up, and run away because once you turn your back on this world, you will be rendered to nothing but a slave and a soul furnace to be cultivated for the might of another. Fight Cultivators, weak, strong, genius or even less, fight, for if you don't fight, then there will be no hope."
The words were heavy and the sound was very familiar and full of defeatist tone. But for me, I knew all I needed to know to form this, and I'll be damned to let some power-hungry creep come over and try and use me as his own little furnace.
"Who spoke?" I asked.
"That's The Divine Monk. One of the three administrators of the planet."
Then soon came the voice of a female cultivator, "Our efforts will not be in vain, we have powerful cultivators and we can handle the situation if we band together. Not only that, since this war will be under the watch of the Planetary Covenant, the power levels will be limited. There will be no more than twenty Half Ascendants from the side of the Fire King.
"Twenty, that doesn't sound so bad…" I said. Also, this woman's voice is hella familiar. "Also who is this?"
"This is the second half Ascendant of our planet, Hei Gua Fu," the man next to me said.
'Ah, no wonder their voices were familiar, they were the bald dude and the half harlot I met the other day. Damn, they were some big shots apparently.
"How many Half Ascendant Cultivators do we have?" I asked.
"Three…"
Three against twenty…well there is no need to mention how I immediately figured out how fucked we are.
"We believe in our own strength, and many of us had decided to not ascend so that we can keep watch and guard this planet. So be sure to fight your own fights, because we can handle our own." the Hei Gua Fu, said.
'I call bullshit, they were not on the verge of climbing to Ascendants, otherwise, they wouldn't be searching for a Saint Crystal.'
"Any cultivator who believes in their power is more than welcome to go to any Black Tower and receive a Silver Medal. It will be used to calculate your contribution, and the ones with the highest contribution will be awarded. You will also be able to exchange any points you get from this battle to items and materials that you need directly from the black tower!"
'Well, that'll get some people slightly more interested in risking their lives.'
"Remember, you fight for your future, so fight well!" the last words were spoken by a man who I never heard before but clearly his tone had something in it as I saw shivers running down the cultivator next to me, and his eyes turning red as if he was willing to give his life for a cause.
'Hmm, emotional control…pretty dangerous.. Still, with my kit…I think I can get some good progress in this event, no matter how random-ass it was."