"DAMN IT! DAMN IT!" roared the voice of a man too powerful for his voice to be blocked by mere walls as they crumbled from the sudden wrathful shout.
The Wind Palace shook and had many of its windows and walls break from the voice of a King in a complete rage.
"Please, dear husband! I didn't mean it like that!"
In front of the king was his wife, and his eldest son who had the grimmest look one had ever seen on him.
Not even a month ago, this very stoic and emotionless son, the returner from banishment had presented his father with the greatest gift a son could ever make. Had also saw joy and happiness.
This very son was too precious for the king to anger or make worry, but the current events unfolded and things happened in a way none of them expected.
"That's why I shouldn't have said anything… your mere thoughtless words caused the gravest of actions, and now I have sinned to my pious son. Wife of mine, get out of my sight." The king said.
The wife tried to speak, as she raised her hand forward to implore for forgiveness, but the sight of the boiling range in the Wind King's face made her unable to utter a word.
She then turned to Zhang Tian and said in a pitiful voice, "I'm sorry, I really didn't expect things to turn this way." She said and left, weeping from what she felt was unfair.
After a few moments, Zhang Tian sighed, "You shouldn't really be this angry against her. It was Lin's own design."
"But the fault remains with me, for speaking to her about the friend you made. If I hadn't mentioned to her that he aided you, and the fact that he came to the lesser Celestial Realm, none of this would have happened." The king said.
"That's just some bad luck", Zhang Tian said, "Afterall, I'm sure that my brother was the one who leaked the fact that Shen Bao came to the Lesser Celestial realm, and the fact that no regular Core Cultivator can even go there, made it easy to figure out that he was somehow teleported there. A small work of divination would certainly give anyone the idea that he came to the Lesser Celestial realm via trial, and the only trail that opens is the Lord of Lords. So figuring out where the Lord of Lords trail emerged from was easy once all the dots were linked, and any divination cultivator can easily figure out that Shen Bao came from Si Xue."
"Yes son, I figured as much, but this is angering me to no ends. The Fire King always despised us and finding an opportunity to harm us in enslaving Shen Bao came too easy to him. He must have known of the fact that you gave me an Eternal Blaze, made him act rashly because if he were to harm the very person that saved my son, trying to break through my current realm with such guilt will be the same as asking for death." The king said.
"I know, The Fire King is the last one who wants to see you succeed in breaking through. But still, I highly doubt that Shen Bao will be caught and enslaved. When worse comes to worst, he'll be able to escape using the Puppet. My only fear is if the Fire King has several Ascendants waiting outside the planet, which will make Shen Bao's situation pretty dire."
"Right, I'll send a few high-level cultivators to wait outside the edge of the barren domain. And have several half ascendants keep guards near the planet for any foul play, if they find the opportunity to extract Shen Bao, they'll do it."
"There is risk in that, we don't know how many of them work for my brother, so unless they are cultivators who are completely loyal to us, then I don't want them there, they'll expose Shen Bao, and that's the same as signing his death warrant."
"Ah! Such headache I'm gonna have from this…" the King Said.
"Yes, I'm still thinking of a plan of action, so let's think together and see how we can solve this." Zhang Tian said. and the two of them sighed in defeat as the current situation was the worse thing possible, and the least they expected to happen.
****
While all of this was happening, the unknowing cause of the imminent doom of an entire planet was currently sparing against his puppets in a white domain where the laws of the time were heavily altered.
***
"Okay, okay, stop, I'll die at this rate," I said as I huffed barely able to catch my breath.
Both Y and X stopped.
"You can stop your Qi expenditure Y, also X, good job on holding your punches," I said as I fell on my back and took several deep breaths.
"Man, it's strange, to feel only exhausted when my mental age is that of an old man where after this practice I should feel on the verge of death."
I laid on my back in a supine position, laughing.
With the new toys I'm able to fight against Y while he is in Soul Formation level, and X at 60% power. This is pretty damn good. Sadly, I can't push out more, not because the arms I just made were weak, but because my own cultivation level was too low to sustain this battle.
This leaves me needing to upgrade my personal strength. Because as a Core cultivator, I'm still far from using all of these new upgrades I have.
I need to go out and collect the Soul Origin fruits.
Sighing I stood up, and teleported outside the location I was in and into the open field where the plants were, only to find someone I least expected.
"Sect Master," I said nodding at the Sect Master.
"What brings you here?" I asked.
She still had the prissy look on her face, "Boredom, I don't think I can improve anymore while in secluded cultivation. This place is good for novice and starting cultivators, but the Qi here doesn't feel natural."
'Oh, she can actually sense that, that's not bad.'
"Yes, the Qi here is artificial, it is bountiful and plenty, but it's missing the natural Heavenly Law."
"No wonder you don't cultivate it," she said.
'Well, I'm not gonna correct her and say that I can't cultivate it even if I wanted to.'
Moments of silence passed between us, this felt like those dry dating apps conversations and I didn't have the back to carry this whole thing.
"So…" I said, which was the driest thing I could think of and use.
"…, I was wondering where Lao Bofan went."
'Bullshit, Elder Yun must have told her where he went, she is probably just trying to have a conversation.'
"He went to meet up with a friend, but things aren't looking too good," I said.
"What do you mean? Did something happen to Bofan?" she asked concern for her sect members clear in her eyes.
"Not him per se, but the whole of Si Xue planet is kinda in a pickle right now," I said.
Wonder and worry were painted on her delicate face, so she asked, "Explain."
'Man, politeness was definitely not in her settings.'
"The Fire King, ruler of the southern domain decided that this planet was going to be his plaything, and is preparing an invasion force that should arrive in a month and few days. So yeah, just basic cultivator stuff."
The Sect master's eyes widened, fear gripped her heart at the gravity of the words I just spoke.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"As serious as a heart attack."
She had a frown of wonder on her face for a moment because she probably didn't understand what I meant, but still, the situation dawned on her.
"This is grave. The Fire King isn't someone that we can escape. I can probably pull a few strings and have one from the Black Tower aid you in escape. Then you can take the whole sect away from this doomed planet, but it's a really tall order." She said as the gears in her head started grinding.
"I'm thankful, but I already accepted joining, so that's not gonna work, also, the Black Tower is only allowing people with a golden insignia to leave. So…yeah,"
The sect master looked up at the fake sky and let out a defeated laugh.
"Such cruel fate awaits us, Shen Bao," She said.
"Hmm, probably, but I highly doubt it, I wouldn't have joined the fight if I didn't know I could win, also," I said as I pulled a golden insignia from the black tower.
"If things get ugly," I said as I threw her the golden insignia, "You can always leave."
She grabbed it, eyes wide in disbelief, "How do you own such a thing?"
"Luck, I guess. Anyway, you can use that to leave if things become ugly, and you can even take your whole sect with you. They will allow it if you tell them it's me who gave you that, and you won't even need to hide anymore." I said.
"This…I can't take this, it is yours, you should be the one using it not me."
"Like I said, I'm not worried for my own safety, unless they send in ascendants, I hardly doubt I'll just die in some random ditch. Heck, this is the best event that happened currently, I'm gonna get as much contribution as I could and make a name for myself." I said shrugging.
"Aren't you trying to bite more than you can chew, I know you have a mysterious cultivation and a powerful puppet, but that doesn't make you invincible."
"It doesn't, but it makes me damn hard to kill, like I said, you can leave right now and take your whole sect with you, start a new sect in a new planet under the protection of the Black Tower," I said.
The sect master tightened her hand on the token and said, "Then I won't be polite, don't regret this once I use it."
I shrugged, "Do as you wish. Like I said, it's useless to me right now. Anyway, I'll need to collect some of those fruits, I need to increase my cultivation level a bit, so excuse me," I said as I walked past her and began harvesting some of the Nascent Origin Soul fruits.
I pulled a few of them that were as big as fully ripe oranges and left the rest on the tree. Then walked away.
"Wait," she said.
"If, by some chance, you manage to survive this ordeal…" words were trapped in her throat before she uttered, "Come find us. Without the Three Legged Raven sect's oppression, and a new world, the Purple Cloud sect can prosper once again."
"Emm. Yeah, why not. Automaton," I said and the puppet that managed the Lord of Lords pagoda appeared.
"Allow the sect master and her sect exit if she wishes," I said.
"Right master."
"We're currently in a city that has a Black Tower, and here," I said as I placed a jade next to my temple and handed it to the sect master.
"Take this to any of the guards, and they'll provide you means of exit," I said.
The sect master grabbed the jade and nodded.
Then she teleported back to her palace where she began rounding up her disciples.
"Master, is this wise?" asked Y, through divine sense.
"I would have fewer things to worry about, so it's fine."
"Do you not fear someone will let the secrets of this place out?"
"That's why I have you," I spoke.
"Indeed master. If anyone comes with bad intentions, I'll make sure to make them pay for them."
"Good, thank you Y," I said.
"Now, how about we attack that Nascent Soul stage…"