410 Settling Down [3]
Damien opened his eyes groggily. Unexpectedly, he had fallen asleep after he and Ruyue and finished pouring out their longing for each other.
But it couldn’t be helped. Even if he had used Devour to replenish himself, endlessly using warp and his incomplete time pseudo-domain while also teleporting millions of people into the Sanctuary, all within a time limit of 30 minutes, just thinking about it made his head hurt. Of course the fatigue he accumulated would be unimaginable.
As he came back to his senses, he noticed a weight on his chest. There, he saw the picture of a peacefully sleeping Ruyue.
“If this isn’t a true representation of the phrase ‘sleeping beauty’, then I don’t know what is.” He muttered to himself as he gently brushed his hand through her hair.
“Mm…” Ruyue mumbled in her sleep. Her arms embraced him even tighter as she dug her face into his neck.
Damien almost failed to suppress his laughter. ‘Ah, what a deep sleeper. What to do, what to do…although I have a great deal of things to do today, I guess letting this Senior Sister of mine get her beauty rest comes first.’
He relaxed his body and stared into the sky. The feeling of his hand moving through her hair, combined with the peace he felt now, it was especially comforting.
‘The battle outside has most likely ended already. I need to take the Clan Leaders out to view the situation. On top of that, I should introduce Ruyue to Lily and Mei, and also get a general understanding of the situation that the four clans are in after settling down.’
The mundane tasks he had to do made him feel like he had become some kind of leader. He didn’t want that position at all.
The responsibility that came with being a leader, although he was confident in handling it, he had no desire to do so. From the start, his goal had been to be free and unfettered. It was the lifestyle he strived to live.
At most, he was willing to be a spiritual pillar for people he was affiliated with, but even that was a role he couldn’t fulfill. After all, spiritual pillars were heroes who would pull off miracles whenever times of trouble descended. And he was never someone who could do that.
Even this time in the 3000 Beast Mountain Range, he had just been a side character in the struggles that had been taking place before he ever arrived.
With the way Qing Tan and Hun Fang had established themselves in the 3000 Beast Record, it was clear that the Nox had been planning to rescue their Demigod from the Primordial Undying Realm for many years. Many corrupted forces were probably created for the Nox to use while they waited.
But even without Damien, Alaric would’ve foiled these plans on his own. His own plans ran far deeper than the Nox’s did, even if his motive wasn’t as grand.
In the grand scheme of things, Damien’s presence only served to save a few more people who would’ve died in the clash. That was it.
But on a more personal level, he had gained so much that he felt his trip to the 3000 Beast Mountain Range was the most fortuitous opportunity he had ever received. He almost felt like thanking the assassins from the Eclipsing Shadow Sect for forcing him into such a situation.
‘Damn, with everything going on, I almost forgot about those bastards. I should take some time to once again familiarize myself with what was happening in the outside world before I came here.’
Damien sunk into his thoughts. The Eclipsing Shadow Sect, the Void Heart Sword Law, Celestial Star Palace, and most of all…
‘The Empyrean Dragon Realm…I totally forgot about that. Haa…how troublesome.’
As he was now, he had no desire to go on another secret realm expedition. The one he had just come out of was more than enough, and he didn’t really lack anything at the moment either.
The treasures of a true Demigod like the Primordial Undying Tree were far more appealing than those of a dead sect.
‘But, I still have to go. Rose and Elena should be heading there. That’s really the only reason to go, albeit an important one. Oh right, I remember Tian Yang saying that the Empyrean Dragon Sect was at the direct center of the Cloud Plane as a whole…that could be useful.’
When it came to his adventures on the Cloud Plane, there was one more thing he needed to do. And that was, of course, to bind this world and make it his own.
Being in the direct center of the world would definitely give him a higher chance of contacting the World Core. He couldn’t simply mine to where the Core itself resided like what happened on earth.
‘Would the World Core accept me? A world with as much history as the Cloud Plane will definitely have a sentient World Core with far more intelligence than Earth’s. Nah, it should be fine. With the current state of the universe, being bound to me is in the World Core’s best interests.’
Damien sighed in exasperation. ‘Still, I hope the Empyrean Dragon Realm isn’t open for as long as the Primordial Undying Realm was. I have no interest in wasting a year of my life in a place where I can’t gain anything.’
In the end, he shook his head. ‘If worst comes to worst, Warp can even transport me across worlds, so leaving a mere secret realm shouldn’t be impossible. As long as Rose and Elena gain what they need first, I can come and go as I please.’
As he thought of them more, his heart couldn’t help but get excited. He had grown so much as a person from the time when they separated to now. He couldn’t wait to proudly embrace the two of them and show them that he was now a man deserving of their love.
And realizing that the moment when he could do that wasn’t out of reach now, a smile bloomed on his face.
“Mm…” a soft mutter reverberated through his neck. He could feel Ruyue’s lips pressing against him and climbing up his neck to meet his own.
“You’re awake?” He asked gently.
“Mm….just woke.” She replied groggily. She finally reached her destination, giving him a short good morning kiss.
“For someone who only learned how to kiss properly last night, you sure are in love with the act of doing it.” Damien teased.
Ruyue gently banged her fist against his chest. “How can I help it when the first thing I see in the morning is the handsome face of my, Xue Ruyue’s, man? You’re practically begging for it.”
Damien chuckled. “Alright, alright. It’s my fault for making my dear Ruyue crave me so much. But right now, it’s time to wake up. After all, I have a present for you.”
“A present?” Ruyue’s ears perked up. But in the next second, she couldn’t help feeling ashamed. “But I didn’t prepare anything in return.”
Damien flicked her forehead lightly. “Stupid, how would it be a present if I asked you for something in return? Now, wake up properly and come with me. I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”
He stood up and held Ruyue in a princess carry. In the next second, the two vanished, leaving only the peaceful scenery of a bed of flowers beneath the shining sun in their wake.