Since Aster said he had two reasons to pay them a visit and the first one was social, it was safe to assume the second wasn’t.
And Tanner’s assumption was confirmed after Aster continued with his explanation.
“The second reason I came here was to invite the Barbarian Heart sect to enter in an alliance with the Terranova sect, nothing too complicate, I want to open a distribution channel for materials from the Veluri star cluster to be exported to the Rodia star cluster…”.
“Bullshit!”, before Aster could continue, Simon smacked his hand on the table and then stood up.
“What can the Rodia star cluster offer our Barbarian Heart sect in exchange for the materials we risk our lives for, everything there must be even worse than the star tribulation realm, do you think we are going to let you take advantage of our sect!”, he shouted as he directed his pressure at Aster.
Aster could feel Lilia’s killing intent about to burst, she has learned to ignore other people gazes, insults and the like, but daring being disrespectful to her son was another complete thing, it’s not like she would normally kill someone over such a small thing, but with her dragon instincts in the mix, who knows what the result might be.
Still Aster placed his hand on her lap to calm her down, as Simon’s pressure was about reach him, Ritz and Adrian both stood up, their pressures clashed against Simon’s making the air tremble and that wasn’t all, their weapons were firmly aimed at Simon’s neck.
Tanner gritted his teeth, he grabbed Simon and smashed his face against the ground, they would have done it, Erick on the other hand sighed as he gave Aster an apologetic gaze.
“I apologize for this… idiot, guards!”.
Some guards entered the room due to Tanner calling them.
“Take the vice leader Simon to a seclusion chamber, unless I say so, he will be confined”.
The guards were speechless, but they noticed the patriarch was rather angry so without saying anything they escorted Simon out of the main hall.
An awkward silence fell in the room, Tanner didn’t know what to say, Aster wasn’t hiding his “cultivation”, so it was easy for everyone to see he is an early-stage Stellar Constellation realm energy path cultivator.
The pressure of a Sea of Knowledge expert was more than enough to kill him, on the other hand he wasn’t giving his all, with that amount of spirit pressure besides a few broken bones nothing else would have happened.
The problem here is to whom he directed it, Tanner was more than sure that if Aster wanted it, his Barbarian Heart sect would cease to exist with just a few words of him.
But to his surprise Aster didn’t seem to be angry, the black-haired veiled woman which was sitting next to him on the other hand was exuding such a heavy aura that Tanner’s back was covered in cold sweat.
After a few seconds which seemed like decades to Tanner, Aster broke the silence.
“There wasn’t any malice behind that attack, I understand that pretty well, because if that wasn’t the case, that guy would have died even before he could do anything”, said Aster as he drank from the cup which was placed in front of him.
Tanner bitterly smiled, he supposed that Lilia was at least a Genesis Manifestation expert, so he didn’t feel offended by Aster’s words, when a Genesis Manifestation fights, be it Sea of Knowledge or star formation, everyone below its realm is the same… powerless, it’s a wall which divides the Transcending realms, and is what is required for a star cluster to be considered to be in the middle layer in strength instead of the lower ranks.
“But the fact that I haven’t done anything against the Barbarian Heart sect and yet their vice leader seems to hold a grudge against me remains”.
Tanner sighed, feeling a headache, he was in seclusion until he broke through not too long ago, so this was the first time in a couple of years that he saw his younger brother, otherwise if he knew he had something against Aster he wouldn’t have invited him to this little meeting.
Ritz rubbed his chin before he interfered in the conversation.
“Kid, Simon is definitely a stubborn guy, but he values the sect over anything else, I’m willing to put my life on the line to say he didn’t have any ill intentions, I’m not excusing him though, regardless of who was affected, attacking an honorable guest is punished with having one’s cultivation crippled… but I would like you to leave us discover what is going on first”.
Aster tapped his finger on the table, he didn’t plan to spend too much time here, at most he was going to stay one night at the Barbarian Heart sect before leaving, and while that attack was done with the intention of just “teaching” him a lesson, he would not show mercy, because one can never know when that person you spared can come and bite you back.
Erick knew what Aster was thinking, forget about crippling Simon, it was probable that he will die in the next few minutes, but would Tanner allow someone he met a few hours ago kill his younger brother.
Then an idea struck Aster like a lightning out of the blue.
“Other than Wieland Kraft, did anyone else from the Kraft family came to the Barbarian Heart sect?”.
“Mm?”, Erick immediately understood why Aster asked that, because he was there that day, when Ward Kraft was humiliated in front of a lot of people, but Ward was still grounded and he was under a soul oath, so he didn’t do anything.
“Now that you mention it, there was a woman who came along the Kraft, I remember seeing her wandering around Simon’s room a couple of times”, said Adrian.
“Young master… Aster, I will go get that woman to explain”, after saying that Tanner’s image flashed and a second later, he was gone, but it didn’t take him even a minute to return, with a grim expression and a letter.
“She hanged herself… and you were right, that woman was Ward’s relative, I guess I have showed too much kindness towards the Kraft family, to think they actually used my brother as a tool for a petty revenge”.
Aster frowned, he saw strange gray mist coming from the letter and be absorbed by him, it was the same as when he killed Isaac, he stole a gaze at his mother but she didn’t seem to be able to see it, the others were the same which just made him wonder what the hell was happening.
Leaving that strange mist aside, Lilia suddenly glared at Tanner.
Ward’s way as a cultivator was practically gone, his will to fight was shattered by her son, the Kraft patriarch became an elder of the Terranova sect so his loyalty was secure, this woman was probably a little fish who escaped the net, she pretty much understood that.
“One must be responsible for his own actions, either you cripple him or I do it”, said Lilia as she yawned behind her veil, whether he was incited or not, the truth is someone tried to attack her beloved son in front of her, so how could she not be angry.
Tanner inwardly sighed, luckily Adrian broke through or his sect would be running short in Sea of Knowledge experts, his younger brother would also manage to keep his life and while his energy cultivation will be gone, he can still live a long life due to his body cultivation, although he is not going to be able to fight anymore as his meridians will dry up.
“I agree with your request, my Barbarian Heart sect will enter into an alliance with the Terranova sect, as for the distribution channel, Ritz will be in charge of it… also thanks for showing mercy to Simon”, said Tanner as he bowed towards Lilia.
He didn’t feel angry nor outraged, in this world if you offend someone you shouldn’t, the least you can expect is to die, in worst cases your family and those who are related to you will also pay the price, it’s just how things work, and Tanner is more than aware of it.
“Brother, now that these boring things are settled, come let me present you to my family!”.
Erick wasn’t particularly fond of Simon, so he didn’t really care about him, also in these four years of knowing Aster, he hasn’t met his fathers and sister, as they were always in the planet of the Asher family or here in the Red Heart planet, the only exception was Ebbe which kept returning to the Azure Sky planet as he wanted to court Aria.
Ritz saw that Tanner wasn’t feeling too well, so after exchanging gazes with Adrian, he offered himself to accompany Aster, Erick and Lilia, while the patriarch and the punishment elder in other words Adrian took care of Simon.
Outside of Tanner’s palace, Ritz guided Aster and the others down the mountain, although there wasn’t a physical wall on the highest three levels of the mountain, they were being protected 24/7 by a barrier.
So those who lived there could see from above at the extension of the lands that surrounded the sect, even Aster admitted it was great sight to behold, at north and east there was a jungle as for south and west the sea could be seen from afar.
“Brother… when are you going to leave, my sister and me were going to depart in two days, since my master’s acquittance will come to pick us”.
Aster contemplated things for a moment before saying.
“Speaking of that, who is this person you have been talking about”.
Erick scratched the back of his head a couple of times as if he doubted whether he should answer.
“She has some story with my master, probably his old girlfriend or something like that, to be honest she was only interested in bringing my sister to the sect, but my sister said that if I didn’t go, she wouldn’t go as well”.
While they were talking, without realizing it, they reached the fourth floor as Ritz took them through the hidden passages what connected some specific spots of the sect, not even a moment later, everyone noticed there was a commotion ongoing.
Waves of spirit energy and loud exploding sounds could be heard coming from a place ahead.
“Sis”.
“Sis”.
Both Aster and Erick spoke at the same time recognizing the two different spirit energies which were clashing from time to time.
A middle-aged couple separated from the crowd as soon as Erick spoke, and approached them.
Erick bitterly smiled as the women inspected him from head to toe, before pulling on his cheek.
“I’m back… Mom”.