Deno was astonished by the magnitude of the sect.
It had mountains surrounding it, countless ancient Chinese-style buildings and a least a thousand disciples treading and training throughout.
It wasn't a sect, It was a city. Not as populated, but just as large.
There were 4 mountains in the sect, each belonging to an elder of the sect.
Adriana explained to Deno how human disciple systems functioned before they had arrived. Once a disciple of age 5 and above arrives they are free to train given a certain amount of spirit stones as currency and sent to train, assigned a building of their own to store their items in.
Although Deno couldn't wait to get started, the part where he had to be 5 or older formed a slight sting in his heart that caused all his excitement to disperse.
Snapping him out of his thoughts was Nicholas; now wearing a mask he instructed Ally to quietly follow him as they head towards his own residence.
Not questioning his queer actions and now deepened voice, Ally did as he asked tip-toeing behind him.
They were glared at by a few curious disciples but none approached the trio as they themselves were extremely busy.
Ally matched Nicholas's pace and leaned in furtively whispering to him.
"What are all these people doing master?"
Seeming to remember something Nicholas stooped into Ally while continuing to walk.
"Some are preparing for the Annual Disciple tournament and others may simply be back or preparing for a mission."
Deno's face scrunched up in confusion as Adriana translated for him.
'A tournament?'
Adriana attempting to give a more in-depth expression suddenly sensed something.
'...'
'Adriana? Hello?'
'I sense a powerful presence approaching.'
"Hey! Nicholas, when'd you arrive back?"
An enormous beefy man in a short robe turned into a makeshift martial artist gi marched forward, he looked ridiculous yet when truly analysed you could see that he was not one to be messed with.
Nicholas's broad shoulders lifted reaching his jawline in a mix of anger and embarrassment.
Turning around, Nicholas took his mask off, there was no point since his identity had been seemingly revealed to the whole world. Luckily, there were only a few around at the time the huge pile of muscle approached them.
"Uhh. Martin do you not see me wearing a damn mask."
"Yeah yeah. I've been looking for you for a while now! What cultivation are you at? I'd like a rematch from last year's tournament!"
Ever since embarrassingly losing to Nicholas, Martin had quadrupled his training to catch up to Nicholas. He was still nowhere near in terms of strength, at least compared to the Nicholas of last year yet he'd still love to test himself against the prodigy of the Pride Sect that was supposedly also training his butt off.
Realising that he simply did not care and probably still hadn't realised his faults Nicholas plainly waved him off while beginning to walk away.
"No thanks, I'm extremely busy at this moment."
Seeing that he was leaving Martin quickly grabbed Nicholas by his shoulder. His thick hand easily wrapped all the way around Nicholas's collarbone.
"Wait! I was told you've been in seclusion for like six months now cultivating. Why is it that the moment you leave you still refuse to spend time with anyone? Just what are you hiding?"
Nicholas stopped, cursing at himself for making it so obvious that even this hunk of meat could figure out that something was going on, preparing a response, to his surprise Martin himself changed the topic.
"Doesn't matter, the reason I needed to meet with you was to tell you that the sect master is missing. No one, not even the other elders know where he disappeared to. I was wondering if you knew where he was considering, you know, being his son and all."
Nicholas was stunned and didn't know how to respond to it all.
'His father had disappeared? For how long?'
Seeing Nicholas's mouth gaping open, Martin understood that he did not know either.
Martin was another one of the sects prodigies, growing up here all this time, he and Nicholas had known each other for centuries. So he made it his duty to be informed of the most important issues of the sect.
Nicholas was an elder considering his aptitude for the Dao and his place within the sect. martin had always looked up to him, but something was off these days regarding him.
Finally noticing the two children following Nicholas, Martin joked.
"Oh my Nicholas, were you really in seclusion or did you have your own children with someone in secret?"
Martin glared at the first child, an infant around 4-8 months old. Thin strands of jet black hair could be seen growing from his head with eyes matching his hair.
Then he looked towards the cute little girl, her adorable features. Unbrushed fair hair and bright ocean blue eyes.
Nicholas watched Martin inspect the two, but he merely waited for Martin to realise.
"Oh, Nicholas. It seems that these two both hav-"
Nicholas stooped in now that Martin had seen through to Ally's dantian and whispered to Martin making sure Ally couldn't hear them still holding Deno.
"I found her in a remote village, completely unclaimed by any other Sect. We could raise her to lead the sect, just trust me on this one."
"So you weren't in seclusion?"
"No, I wasn't. I had some things to take care of."
Nodding his head Martin gulped.
"And the boy?"
Curious about the boy considering the girl had been so special, Martin couldn't hold back his curiosity and softly whispered back.
Nicholas stopped, he took a moment of silence and responded.
"The boy isn't anything special, he has potential, in a different way. Do me a solid and don't inform the other elders about the boy, but do the girl."
"Mhm, I understand."
Seeing Martin nod in understanding placing trust in him, Nicholas took the chance to immediately switch the topic.
"Anyway... How long has my father, the sect leader been gone?"
"About the same time as you had left."
Shocked, sweat trickled down Nicholas's brow and neck looking at any seldom reason his father could've left at such a random time.
The sect leader was a Sage stage cultivator, his strength was unparalleled within the Sect even by the other elders, he was not permitted to simply leave the sect unannounced and unprotected.
Nicholas never cared for his father, but for the sect, his presence was a necessity otherwise all hell would break loose.
His mother had a maternal death and his father never cared enough to parent him.
When Nicholas had reached 5, he had simply been thrown out and left to train the same as any other disciple.
To Nicholas at the time, he had not expected this to end up being beneficial to him and the sect.
The sect leader was not respected by many of the disciples, the disciples of the sect were simply grateful for the sect providing them with a home. Especially the ones that had arrived from the mortal realm.
Instead, Nicholas filled the role of respect, being the sect leader's son, he was naturally also seen as a leader and with his potential and growing up from nothing like the others. He was adored by the weaker disciples.
"Have you told anyone besides the elders and I?"
Fearing the worst, that Martin had spread the news, Nicholas grabbed Martin his frown growing as time went on.
"N-no of course not, I'm not insane? If I do, it would cause major panic, I only know of it because I'm the top disciple of elder Felieal."
Nicholas let go of Martin and placed his fingers on his forehead, contemplating what to do.
If the other Sects discovered that their sect leader, the most powerful in the sect had up and disappeared then they might utilise this opportunity to attack.
"Right! Nicholas!"
"mhm?"
Interrupting his line of thought, Martin added.
"Elder Felieal also wants to speak to you as well. He said he wants to talk, elder to elder."
Nicholas's brows lifted in surprise and nodded his head understanding what Martin was getting at. Elder Felieal was an Elder similar to Nicholas. Though older and with slightly higher cultivation.
Nicholas had always felt uneasy when around him but he was a valued member of the Sect with his own Mountain and disciples. One of the four belonged to Nicholas and the last two mountains to the other Sect Elders.
The Sect leader didn't have his own mountain, instead, he had a small average palace in the middle of the Sect.
Elder Felieal was a short man with a wrinkly face and thick white eyebrows, his hair was similarly white and short contrasting to the oversized robes he would always wear. He was as plain as he was kind, but Nicholas was never used to his kindness finding it odd.
"Say... Could you take care of the boy and girl until I return, once you do, I... I'll give you that rematch you wanted?"
Martin's eyes glittered in a shock at the sudden reward. Grinning with excitement, the giant gladly accepted having to wait for this moment for years.
"I accept. I'll take care of the boy; and the girl, I'll set her up with some extra spirit stones and sign her up as an official disciple."
Pleased by his response, Nicholas thanked Martin promising to properly repay his friend's gratitude as he had just lifted an enormous burden off his back.
"Alright, I'll see you later."
Vanishing into thin air, Nicholas disappeared towards Elder Felieal's mountain.
Martin looked down at the girl that had begun to sniffle suddenly, and the boy tucked in multiple blankets in his arm, he sighed.
He hopes he doesn't regret this.
***
Sutra Empire's capital city, Tarne. Emperor's throne room.
The castle towered above even the tallest buildings in the capital, it was polished to reflect light blinding you if you dared to stare too long. It was beyond gorgeous, its pointy tips and structure looked as if it had been conjured from story books for children.
The trees were trimmed to perfection and the priceless herbs within the garden could be seen behind the colossal gates; each herb was worth more than a multitude of generations for a common family within the city. A myriad of guards was fixed surrounding the castle every one of them having an upright and solid posture.
Within the tall jade, the castle was a tall beautiful woman with black hair, gold eyes and defined features kneeling to the diamond throne.
Her face was flushed and her thick desperation filled the throne room oozing out of her.
"Your majesty! I've had enough of these games! The demons cannot do this to us, do not let them use us as if we are mere pawns!"
She declared her clenching her fists while continuing to kneel. Her thoughts that she had sworn to lock away leaked out of her mouth.
"You dare!"
The guardian to the Emperor's right clenched his spear immediately preparing to strike her down but was met with the Emperor's wave.
"Stand back."
The emperor mumbled softly not even bothering to turn his head.
The guardian returned to his original face, plain and focused. His previous fury and intolerance diminished instantly as he placed his spear upright.
The Emperor continued with a playful and sarcastic tone.
"Then? Emperess Gemley, are you saying we should go to war over our share of the profits?"
Gemley ducked her head down clenching her fist even harder.
The ministers surrounding her chuckled among themselves, holding their mouths and turning their heads; the emperor's humour had worked in favour of brightening up the palpitating mood.
Gemley was no empress but a mystic stage cultivator of the Sutra Empire. She had been a prominent factor in the war against the Vanadium empire.
She had torn the heads off more dragons than insects she had stepped on.
She and Michael had been charged with finishing off the war. They had one last job, to kill the strongest dragon among the dragon deities, Adriana the merciless.
Michael and the other two demon guardians had devised a cowardly plan to take her out. Simple yet effective, Adriana was seemingly defeated.
Having the honour to rip her amethyst wings off her back seemed like a great reward so she had accepted the plan. Though what was better, in the end, was that when Adriana had self-destructed, the least destruction was sent towards her back, instead of targeting the front.
The other demons had perished within the explosion but her, she had to face the humiliation of returning back to her empire: without any troops, battered and beaten, covered from top to bottom with burn marks and on the brink of death.
Yet job complete.
The emperor slouched down on his throne, his messy emerald green hair was covered by his crown that sparkled reflecting the palace lights.
"Even so Gemley... Had you not arrived back after such a humiliating conquest we would not have had our hand forced like this."
Gemley's body stiffened, her majesty's one-sided reasoning left her baffled.
She was the one that had survived, Michael had died, Solomon had died and Fartun had died and yet it was her 'humiliating conquest'.
Gemley craned her neck up to meet the Emperor's eyes, the emperor's chocolate brown eyes were different. Once upon a time, his ears were open to her, yet now they were covered as if there were fingers stuck in them.
She would not tolerate this, she could not tolerate this. She was someone that would always wear her opinion on her sleeve never bothering to equivocate anything.
"It was not my... Our fault. How could we control fate? Solomon and Fartun were simply unfortunate yet it was not our responsibility. WE placed in just as much effort therefore WE must receive our share. It should be as simple as that. In fact, correct me if I'm wrong you majesty but doesn't the Demon Empire have more guardians than us anyway?"
The Emperor's face turned sour. He was not a fool; he knew on the inside that the Demon Empire was simply trying to get something out of the Sutra Empire after their two guardians had perished but he could do nothing about it.
The Demon Sultan had made his point with much emphasis regarding the matters of war if their agreements were not met.
He did not know if they were mad enough to go through two wars one after another and he did not care enough to find out.
They simply wanted more of a share in profits taking their losses into account and the Emperor had no solid reason to refuse.
"I've had enough of you speaking your mind! Take your leave guardian Gemley; you will be given a punishment for speaking out later."
Gemley gnashed her teeth as the sound of her teeth being grinded reverberated through the silent throne room.
The sullen atmosphere became palpable as she rose to her feet in fury. Her long hair trailed down behind her, her Dao robe doing the same.
Her once great emperor that she had oathed to protect was a yellow-beaked chicken. He had allowed the Demons to freely enter the empire secretly without any repercussions; and after the numerous years they had spent in the war, the Sutra Empire was going to receive a measly 15 percent of the profits.
It was absurd and she would not, could not accept it.
Taking a deep breath, she repeated the emperor's words but with her own twist.
"I shall leave. Leave my role as guardian behind. There is no point in serving a coward of a master that has gone deaf."
The Emperor's vein bulged out of his forehead, had he heard correctly? Was he going mad? Had his own, once gallant and staunch guardian betrayed him?
He was left speechless and bewildered; and before he had the chance to command his other guardians to seize her, she vanished.
The fastest guardian had abandoned their post and her Emperor.