by KSY
Ch.26
The eastern region of Dragon Head Continent was unusually calm.
This was also the region in which the Dark Moon Family Clan established itself in Wailing Ravines. Wailing Ravines has multiple high-grade Treasure Lands of various attributes, which was why the founder of the Dark Moon Family Clan had decided to establish the Dark Moon Family Clan there. Wailing Ravines is coveted by many factions but due to the Dark Moon Family’s monstrous strength and powers, no one dares to challenge them for ownership of it.
Wailing Ravines is filled with lots of beings like Elemental Beasts, Undead creatures and so on but none are free, as they are all enslaved by the Dark Moon Family Clan. These beings act as guards of the Wailing Ravines, making it problematic for anyone to attack the Dark Moon Family Clan.
The reason behind the unusual was calm was “Ryan”.
The Dark Moon Family Clan was unable to decide how to deal with him. They knew that Oscar and company were people with little to no regard for any agreements that existed between the different factions for avoiding large scale conflict. They might very well go on the offensive, without any care about avoiding conflict, if the Dark Moon Family Clan tried to harm Ryan. The whole situation was horribly frustrating.
Oscar was gunning for such an effect from the very start when he brought along a bunch of exiled members of Heaven Sundering Family Clan and Eternity Family Clan to Divine Martial Sect. He was certain that after their appearance the Dark Moon Family Clan wouldn’t dare to make a move on Ryan easily.
The members of the Upper echelons of the Grandura branch of the Dark Moon Family Clan called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation and find a solution that didn’t lead to some dreadful consequences for their Family Clan.
Rai was also invited to the meeting. He had a murderous expression, as he didn’t like it at all that someone had made a move on his fiancée. If Ryan had appeared in front of him, irrespective of the consequences, he wouldn’t have thought twice before killing him. He’d never thought that someone would challenge him so openly. Since his talent and potential were so high, no one had ever wished to make an enemy of him and he was held in high esteem wherever he went.
But his face had been trampled upon by Ryan without any regard for him and he was unable to digest that. The members of the Upper echelons of the Dark Moon Family Clan knew that, so they’d called him to the meeting, so he knew what was at stake for their Family Clan.
The meeting took place in the Meeting Hall at the residence of the Head of the Grandura branch of the Dark Moon Family Clan. All the people concerned sat at a big round table.
“Rai, what did you do to make that bitch Cynthia hate you so much? She looks at you as if she is seeing a piece of shit,” an Ancestor Level Martial Artist named Richard asked. He was also the current Head of the Grandura branch of the Dark Moon Family Clan and had seen Cynthia’s scornful expression every time Rai met her. She showed utter disinterest in meeting Rai.
“I don’t know. I have always been courteous with her. I don’t act arrogantly in front of her, but she always looks at me with hate,” Rai said, and his expression turned ugly. He himself wanted to know the answer to this question.
“That kid Ryan made her blush in their first meeting,” Richard said as he looked at Rai and slightly shook his head in disappointment.
“What??” Rai said as he slammed his palm on the round table in front of him.
Boom!!!
The roundtable shook slightly due to the power behind Rai’s palm strike. Rai had a murderous expression, as if he had suffered a mental breakdown. He was unable to accept reality and wished to ask Cynthia what he lacked that Ryan had.
His Innate talent was considered one of the best amongst his generation. All the girls looked at him with veneration wherever he went and threw themselves at him without concern for their dignity and public image. He’d always rejected them and it had never been the other way around. Cynthia fooling around with Ryan while she was still his fiancée was akin to trampling on his face and dignity. How could he face the world? People would laugh behind his back.
“That cheating slut,” Ryan howled in rage. The members of the Upper echelons of the Family Clan just gently shook their heads, as they could tell that Rai was unable to keep calm and cool. In this condition he could commit deeds which could lead to catastrophic consequences for their Family Clan.
“Rai, calm down!” an Archaic voice resounded in the Meeting Hall. The members of the Upper echelons of the Dark Moon Family Clan immediately stood up to show their respect towards the owner of the voice. They could feel the presence of its owner even though he was not in the Meeting Hall – they felt strong pressure from his presence and voice alone. This voice belonged to one of the Martial Artists from their Main branch. He was named Jovian.
“Ancestor, do I really have to undergo such humiliation?” Rai asked. He’d immediately calmed down and had tears in his eyes.
“No. We will kill Ryan, but not now, as he will be under the protection of his grandfather and the other people from the Eternity Family and the Heaven Sundering Family Clans. Making a move now would be akin to messing with hornet nests,” Jovian said. It was clear from his tone that he already had a solution to the problem.
“God’s Domain will be opening soon. Ryan won’t be able to pass up on the temptation of God’s Domain,” Jovian said with an evil laugh.
“His grandfather and the other people from the Heaven Sundering Family Clan and Eternity Family Clan won’t be able to protect him once he enters God’s Domain. Happenings inside God’s Domain can’t be viewed by people outside. Even if you kill him inside God’s Domain they won’t have a reason to blame us, as God’s Domain is fraught with dangers,” Jovian continued with a smirk.
The expressions of the members of the Upper echelons of the Grandura branch of the Dark Moon Family Clan changed and Rai’s as well. They had stunned expressions which soon turned into evil grins and Rai was unable to contain his delight.
If Ryan died within God’s Domain, then Oscar and the rest wouldn’t have a reason to make a move against them! That way they could achieve their target without fearing any catastrophic consequences.
“Just train diligently. You will still need to deal with a lot of people that will be traveling with him,” Jovian said, as his presence faded from the Meeting Hall. Rai nodded his head as he left for the Training grounds.
The meeting was concluded soon afterwards.
It had been decided to go with Jovian’s plan. The members of the Upper echelons of the Dark Moon Family Clan started to make preparations for training Rai, so he’d be strong enough by the time God’s Domain opened to deal with Ryan and the people travelling with him.
A similar meeting was currently under way in the Heaven Sundering Family Clan. The members of the Upper echelons of the Eternity Family Clan had also arrived some time before to attend this meeting and Emilia was part of it too. The meeting was taking place in the Meeting Hall of the Fifth branch, which was like an Auditorium and had the capacity to hold thousands of people.
Technically, Emilia was sitting in the hot seat. Everyone was looking at her with unblinking eyes. Blasius, Alexis and other members from the Fifth branch were beside her. Everyone wanted information about Oscar and company.
But Emilia’s mouth was sealed: she refused to divulge any details about Oscar and company.
“Emilia, you know we don’t have any bad intention towards them,” an Ancestor Level Martial Artist from the Heaven Sundering Family Clan named Ortwin said. He belonged to the First branch and was also one of the strongest Ancestor Level Martial Artists of the Grandura branch of the Family Clan.
“I need to ask father-in-law, otherwise, I am not speaking even one word,” Emilia said with a determined expression. All the people in the meeting frowned, as they knew what Oscar’s answer would be, if she were to ask him.
“Can we talk in private?” a feminine voice rang out in the Meeting Hall as a beautif
ul woman entered, accompanied by a few men and women. Everyone in the Meeting Hall had changes in expression upon seeing them, as they’d not been expecting them to come to the meeting.
Emilia was no different.
Emilia had no intention of meeting the woman in the current scenario. Her name was Julia, and she was Oscar’s wife and her mother-in-law, so Emilia had no choice but to accept her mother-in-law’s request.
Emilia gently nodded her head as she got up from the seat and invited Julia to one of the private chambers on the side of the Meeting Hall.
Julia nodded her head as she followed Emilia without making a fuss. She had a lot of questions for Emilia. The people who’d accompanied Julia were her and Oscar’s other sons- and daughters-in-law. They took their seats in the Meeting Hall which was painstakingly silent. The members of the Upper echelons of both the Heaven Sundering Family Clan and the Eternity Family Clan put all their hopes on Julia, as she amongst all of them had the highest chance of convincing Emilia.
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It was two months since Ryan had come to his new home in Forest of Darkness.
This new home of his was substantially different from what he’d imagined. It was situated within the depths of Forest of Darkness. It was a huge estate situated on top of a huge mountain, which was always concealed in fog, because of which the estate was not easy to find and it had a powerful barrier surrounding it which made it invisible to others.
The estate housed thousands of powerful Martial Artists, all of them in the Immortal Realm or a Higher Realm of the Martial Path. Most of them had been expelled by the Heaven Sundering Family Clan or the Eternity Family Clan for one reason or other. Ryan and his brothers were the weakest and youngest inhabitants of the place, which made everyone dote on them as all of them were their ancestors.
Ryan had yet to meet his brothers. They’d entered a Closed-door session with one of their grandpas before his arrival. That grandpa was helping them absorb True Darkness, which is a Darkness Attribute Heavenly Treasure that would increase their affinity with Darkness Attribute and might also mutate their Martial Spirits.
Ryan was most shocked when he met ancestors of his, who’d descended on Grandura from a Divine World. There were five of them in total and they were shrouded in Archaic auras. They lacked the demeanor of Supreme Martial Artists which made it easy for others to get along with them. They treated everyone gently irrespective of their status or Cultivation Level. Ryan also felt at ease around them but it was difficult to explain that feeling.
Since his arrival at the estate, Ryan was being trained daily by tens of his grandpas and grandmas. This had made Ryan’s strength and powers increase at a terrifying pace. They all knew that the Dark Moon Family Clan would make a move on Ryan, which could endanger his life, when he entered God’s Domain. They had no intention of letting something like that happen, so they’d decided to help him train so his strength and powers increased at an astronomical rate. Ryan’s combat prowess increased at a terrifying rate after sparring with his grandpas and grandmas. He also understood the pros and cons of various attributes, which would give him an edge during combat with enemies.
In Mortal Lord Realm, a Martial Artist needs to purify his Liquid Spirit Power in order to advance his Soul Core to a higher sub-realm. There’s a total of three phases of purification of Liquid Spirit Power in the Mortal Lord Realm, and after completing each phase, a Martial Artist attains a breakthrough and his Soul Core advances to the next stage of the Mortal Lord Realm. After completing all three phases of purification, the Soul Core then advances to the next sub-realm, the Mortal King Realm.
Liquid Spirit Power only purifies if the Martial Artist’s understanding of the Elemental Laws has reached the threshold requirement for attaining the breakthrough to the next stage of the Mortal Lord Realm. The quality and quantity of Liquid Spirit Power increases substantially after each phase of purification.
Ryan was still in the Early Mortal Lord Realm. He had been cultivating Elemental Laws diligently to increase his understanding in them so that he could advance his Soul Core quickly as he had only limited time.
Currently, he was training with one of his grandpas, the one named Solon. He was a Water Martial Artist and belonged to the Fifth branch of the Heaven Sundering Family Clan just like his mother. He had been expelled by the Heaven Sundering Family Clan for causing a massacre, in which he had killed millions of people at the time.
“Ryan! Concentrate!” Solon rebuked Ryan when he found his concentration lacking. Solon was teaching Ryan about Domains and how to create one. A Domain is formed by the Elemental aura of the Martial Artist, who uses his or her aura to form a huge spherical structure around himself known as a Domain. Its size depends on the Martial Artist’s Cultivation Level.
The combat prowess of the Martial Artist inside his Domain is amplified while his opponents have their combat prowess diminished by a few notches. A decrease in combat prowess by a few notches can be disastrous for any Martial Artist, so learning to form a Domain is indispensable for all Martial Artists. Martial Artists who can master Domain always have an edge over Martial Artists who are unable to do so. It requires a high level of perception to gain insights and to understand the Elemental Laws required to form a Domain, and most Martial Artists are unable to do that.
Ryan’s body was currently shrouded in four types of auras: Poison, Fire, Death and Baleful auras. They were revolving around him at high speed, but he was unable to transform them into a Domain.
It had already been one-and-a-half months since he’d started learning to create a Domain and he’d been scolded numerous times by Solon, but deep down even Solon was shocked by Ryan’s monstrous perception. He could tell that Ryan had already gained the insights and comprehended the basic Elemental Laws required to form a Domain. It generally took someone years before he or she was able to reach that stage and Solon was certain that Ryan would be able to master Domains within half a year.
The reason behind Ryan’s extraordinary perception was his powerful soul, which was as powerful as that of an Early Mortal Emperor Realm Martial Artist. It increased the speed at which he gained insights and understanding of Elemental Laws. He also had a very high affinity with the Attributes of his Martial spirits which further added to the speed at which he gained insights and understanding of Elemental Laws.
“That’s all for today. Rest for some time before doing anything else,” Solon said with a smile. Solon and Ryan talked for some time before he left Ryan’s Cultivation chamber.
Ryan took out his Mental-message transmission orb from his Spatial pouch to talk to his mother, after Solon left his Cultivation chamber. He had been unable to do so because of the intense training he’d been undergoing for the previous two months.
Meetings of the members of the Upper echelons of the Heaven Sundering Family Clan and the Eternity Family Clan was still going on even after two months. Emilia and Julia had yet to emerge from their room. The people outside were unable to fathom what kind of talks were going on inside the room.
At that moment Emilia’s Mental-message transmission orb started vibrating in Blasius pocket. The expressions of everyone in the meeting changed as they looked at Blasius, because it was forbidden to bring Mental-message transmission orbs into such meetings.
“It’s from my grandson. He is a worrywart. That is why we had to bring it,” Blasius said as he tried to explain the reason for violating the law. Blasius had thought that he would be scolded, but everyone gave him a big smile instead and Blasius understood the meaning behind their smiles.
“I won’t ask him about anything. I will just call Emilia,” Blasius said as he sent a Mental-message transmission to Emilia. Both Emilia and Julia immediately came out and Emilia quickly took the Mental-message transmission orb from her father.
“It is not good to pull Ryan into this matter. I will end the matter by asking Father-in-law,” Emilia said with an angry expression and everyone nodd
ed their heads reluctantly. Julia had a similar expression too – it was clear that she too didn’t want Ryan to be pulled into the matter.
Emilia switched on her Mental-message transmission orb on single mode. She had no intention of letting others hear her conversation with Ryan in such a sensitive situation.
“Mother how are you doing?” Ryan asked with concern, as he’d been unable to talk to her for the past two months.
“I’m fine. What about you and your brothers?” Emilia replied, as a smile appeared on her face and the people around her wondered what Ryan had done to make her smile.
“I’m fine. Cris and Blake entered a Closed-door Cultivation session before my arrival here, so I have been unable to meet them yet. They are trying to absorb True Darkness and should be coming out in a month or two. By the way, I’ve started learning to form a Domain,” Ryan informed his mother.
Emilia was stunned for a second, as True Darkness was a Heavenly Treasure that was not easy to find, so she was wondering where Oscar had found it. The other thing that stunned her was that Ryan had started learning to form a Domain, as a Domain is not easy to create, and even she’d had to spend a lot of time and energy before she was able to master it.
“Work hard. It’s not easy to form a Domain. When they come out, let me know, won’t you? Where is father-in-law, by the way?” Emilia said.
“Grandfather entered a Closed-door Cultivation session after he lost to a grandpa from the Main branch. He defeated grandfather with a single poke of his finger, so you might not be able to contact him for some time,” Ryan said with a sigh. A shocked expression appeared on her face, which the people around her noticed too. They wanted to know what exactly Emilia and Ryan were conversing about.
Emilia was unable to understand a single word her son had said, but she knew that he wouldn’t lie to her about such a thing.
She was shocked because even the Grandura branches of her Family Clan and the Eternity Family Clan lacked Martial Artists from the Main branch, as those Martial Artists only descended during a crisis, such as the case of the Dark Moon Family Clan.