<< Our group that had started with over 700 Nascent soul stage cultivators and 15 Deity transformation stage cultivators has dwindled over a period of 12 years to just 217 Nascent soul and 13 Deity's in a 200 year long journey... were we fools to try? >>
- excerpt from: The adventures of Jesol
The gathering at the golden flower sect ended, guests were now having some final talks while waiting for their transport at the port.
The atmosphere was rather relaxed with the older guests not showing a bit of tiredness while the younger ones had mostly already fallen laying in their respective mothers, fathers or caretaker's arms with few holdouts struggling to preserve till the end.
A tall bronze skinned man with golden hair, held on to one of his sons while he held a conversation with an old man half his size.
The old man had faded light green hair with light brown skin that seemed to come from being in the sun.
The tall man is named - Rivera Rubio, he is the head of the Rubio family one of the major families of the FFU and the one currently in charge of the FFU.
The five family union worked similar to a oligarchy, the more monetary power one had the more control on held, with wealth one can simply hire the muscle needed
One of high cultivation could hold the fort, but they couldn't subdue a region unless they utterly surpassed another's cultivation plus held the funds to actually conquer the area.
As for wether this would continue only time would tell.
Rivera was dressed in a very moderate style, white button shirt tucked in, dark brown slim pants with a black studded belt to piece it all together, his sleeves are rolled up slightly not passing his elbows and his hair is shorter at the bottom then the top giving him a rather fresh look.
Overall he was handsome with an expression on his face that matched his position, his build well proportioned and he carried himself with poise yet oddly exuding strength.
The short man on the other hand is named Adelheid Holz, he is the current head of the Wood family, he is an old man that looked to be in his late 60s and he is dressed in a much more relaxed style, he wore a loose white shirt with long sleeves over his pants, the pants themselves were black and a bit wide for the old mans physique but it seemed to fit him well.
He seemed to resemblance a martial master of the mortal realms.
"- and of the cultists, have you already identified them all? We cant afford to let a single one escape" Old man Adelheid spoke
"We have already identified them all, we are certain none will escape the trap we set but just to be sure we've held back so far in order to gather every bit of information we can" Rivera responded
Old Adelheid - "Good! can't let a single one escape to take root elsewhere"
In another area the sect master of the Golden flower sect ~Anne, the matriarch of the Nordaine family ~Dara, and the matriarch of the bell family ~Sally conversed on friendly terms, although darker tones seemed to linger in the air.
Madam Nordaine - "Sect master Anne what you ask is impossible our family does not practice arranged marriages, if you wish to court my son you would need to do it when he grows a little more. Five is simply to young, wait till he's ten at the very least"
Mrs.Bell - "!"
Madam Nordaine was trying to talk her way out of this while at the same time mocking the sect master with a smile.
Sect master Anne - "Wait till he's ten? Do you think I don't know the basics of the Five family union? If I am to wait for five years he would most likely be sent to the FFU's flag ship world to cultivate not leaving for 10 years do you think I don't know?"
Mrs.Bell thought 'I didn't know that...'
The sect master kept a friendly face on the surface all the while building her agitation
Madam Nordaine - "Oh my, what would you have me do then sect master? He is far to young to choose a dao companion and he must interact with the people of the five family union, after all he is the future Nordaine family head or do you wish to interfere with the FFU?"
Mrs.Bell 'Oh my gosh, that would mean war!'
Madam Nordaine couldn't afford to offend this sect master, the five family union combined could only rival the power of the golden flower sect let alone the Nordaine family on its own.
She was angry but knew the position she held, she couldn't react brashly, to many lives weigh on her shoulders.
Plus would the FFU fight on her behalf?
A single marriage to further tie the powers together who wouldn't take this opportunity.
Sec master Anne - "We both know you benefit from this arrangement madam, after 20 years my post as sect leader will be over and I will become an elder of the sect thereby allowing me to leave as I see fit and right now I hold near absolute power within the sect, your family would profit massively"
Madam Nordaine - "My values simply don't allow me to do such a think sect master, no matter the gains"
She tried to shift the focus towards the sect masters morals
Sect master Anne - "Who cares about your values, I want him so I will have him"
This was the most direct threat so far.
"!"
Mrs.Bell couldn't do anything here, she herself held little sway in the Bell family and even less in the FFU, at best she could stand in solidarity on Madam Nordaine's side.
Sect master Anne - "I will visit in 2 days, prepare a private room for just me and him you wouldn't want to interrupt between a man and woman's private time right?"
The smile on the sect master became vicious
Madam Nordaine had no choice but to keep silent, her cultivation could not compare to the sect masters, her family could not fight back, and two days would not be enough time escape.
Would this sect master not keep watch over them for these 2 days?
Doubtful.
Mrs.Bell was in shock, she had watched everything unfold from start to finish unable to help.
Most of all she had for the first time ever witnessed the full cruelty of the cultivation world - If i want something I will take it -, she had been raised in relative safety under the five family union.
Compared to the hate she received from her husbands family and jealousy from other woman this was an entirely different level.
The fact that Madam Nordaine could stay so composed even in this situation showed just how different they both were.
Mrs.Bell thought of getting her family to help the Nordaine's, but this could not be considered a life and death situation why would they take such a risk.
It was only the Innocence of one boy, it was not like he would die either and even if he did Madam Nordaine had two more daughters to replace him as family head, a sister, cousins and an uncle that could all take over the family in case of emergency.
It was not enough for them to interfere.
Sect master Anne is considered a beautiful woman with above average height of 2.31 meters, golden hair and blue eyes with the looks of a late 20 year old early 30s none could deny the impact of her beauty on first sight.
Her talent in cultivation was second to none in the golden flower sect two generations befor, reaching Mid body reformation stage at the young age of 430-ish year old a considerably fast pace.
She had now held the position of sect master for over 80 years of her 100 year tenure and her charming personality and lax attitude made her very popular among her sect and even the elders held her in high regards.
Her leadership is considered instrumental during the preparations for the voyage into the void an ability that made them worried about who will replace her at the end of her 100 year term as sect master.
If someone said she is simply a lucky woman who had everything handed to her, they wouldn't survive long.
In a universe where sects were in decline she had lorded over an area without flaw, even bringing the sect back to resurgence.
Mrs.Bell (Sally) was a small petite woman at just 2.01 meters height with charming looks and a kind face, her brown hair and green eyes made people want to look further and although she was not considered supremely talented in cultivation just reaching mid nascent soul at 345 years of age, her husband having supported her on every step.
Mrs.Bell had not been born to a cultivation family but was a vagrant cultivator whom the elders of the Bell family did not like, and if not for the fact she had gotten pregnant it was doubtful that her husband would still hold the family leader position and now with their daughter's newfound potential it is hard to say just were they stand, will the elders choose a new leader regardless or will they support them?
Only the child was talented after all.
Madam Nordaine on the other hand was considered a 'plain' beauty with Black hair, black eyes and pale skin, she was not astonishing at first sight like the sect master and did not have a charming look like Mrs.Bell but she had the looks to win over any man should she want to.
At the young age of just 142, she had reached the peak of deity transformation stage and was on the verge of making a breakthrough into body reformation, she was by all means the most talented person born in the history of the FFU.
Granted she had only originally entered early deity transformation recently, but due to the treasure light fall during the fall of the universe realm she had directly reached the peak greatly shortening the the time needed by to reach such a stage by 150 years minimum.
The thing that really set her apart besides cultivation is her height at 2.58 meters, to be exact the height of the woman in the Nordaine family has always been above average putting them on equal grounds to men and often surpassing them in terms of height.
This was not the height of the average mortal man, but the height of cultivators which is well above that of mortals, so much so that it would be considerably hard to not tell them apart.
If the average height of a mortal man is 1.78 meters then a male cultivators average height would be 2.41 meters while female cultivators would be 2.17 meters on average.
This also meant that children born to cultivators are well above the height of their mortal counterparts in most cases.
Children born to non cultivating families that had started to cultivate were fairly small in comparison, and even if they cultivated further the average height when fully grown was around 2.24 meters which is far above normal man but for most cultivators this was below average.
Certain body cultivation methods could enhance this along with entering body reformation to rebuild the body from the ground up.
Cultivators bodies are all extremely tough, at least in this era, so much so that they could kill a mortal on accident by simply swinging their arm with minimal effort the best example of this was the saying 'I swung my arm to kill a fly, but instead a man took its place', so the act of procreation between a male cultivator and mortal female would have to be done with such extreme care that simply the act of going through so much effort with a mortal is seen as low class.
The same could be said for mortal man laying with female cultivators, the female cultivator would break the man befor he could even enter and if she is a virgin whose hymen didnt break natrually over time the mortal male wouldnt even be able to pierce her, such events have happened befor were childhood sweethearts one of whom was mortal and the other a cultivator tried to copulate only to end in tragedy.
Even so, cases still happened and as such mortals giving birth to future cultivators happened on a regular basis, although less talented then children of Dao companions they all had the ability to seek immorality like any other cultivator.
A young child yet to start his path toward immortality was no different then a mortal and even if he had already started cultivation a difference of - one stage - could break the weaker partners body.
Unless special circumstances are involved it is generally impossible for a Body reformation stage cultivator to lay with anyone below their stage.
Sect master Anne, Madam Nordaine, and Mrs.Bell all wore long dresses that reached to the floor but never actually touched it, it seemed that the cloth hovered just above the ground on its own.
Mrs.Bell wore a yellow long dress with short sleeves, beautiful patterns in a pale tone of yellow could be seen on the dress with many gem stones at just the right places further adding to her look, a golden cloth draped around her waist holding the dress onto her torso revealing her figure slightly.
Madam Nordaine wore a dark purple long dress with soft wavy patterns becoming darker the further down the dress went and miniature blue gemstones shimmering like stars adorned on her dress becoming denser as the dress flowed down, she truly fit the style to perfection.
The Sect master on the other hand had a much more simple long dress, it was a light blue with cloud patterns near the bottom that moved as she moved, her waist was also wrapped with a patterned cloth adorned with simple flowers but her figure was far more defined then Mrs.Bells.
None of the dresses showed any skin besides for the arms and occasionally the feet if one looks down.
All three woman had long hair that flowed past their waist and in Madam Nordaine's case it reached the floor and just like her dress it hovered above the ground.
All three woman followed the trend of their time, formal attire not to showy yet beautiful.
The children were dressed as miniature versions of their parents just in different colors.
The girls had small flowing dresses that also stopped at the floor with a fur coat or other layered top with their long flowing hair already taking shape, while the only boy in this case simply had a long sleeve black shirt that seemed rather tight and black pants on similar to the old man Adelheid.
The girls are all cute in their own right and each had their unique features from the metallic golden hair of ~rose, the gem like eyes of ~Alya and ~Astrea to the chestnut hair and light green eyes of ~Annabella.
The boy on the other hand was muscle ridden and the shirt did not help hide that, he was born of spiritual energy and crafted to perfection with not a single flaw from head to toe, his eyes were pure black that even light seemed to be unable to escape and his hair was black to the point that one could not see the individual hairs themselves this made him seem otherworldly and odd.
None of the children had heard the conversation between their guardians, Mrs.Bell made sure it stayed hidden
The girl named Rose tried her best to get Elios attention like the sect master had told her but the girl named Annabella kept interfering frustrating Rose.
Annabella did not care for Rose and her actions, she was still angry at how the Elio and his sisters treated her like a show monkey and was now actively trying to stare down Elio while pushing Rose aside.
Elio on the other hand did not care about how Rose was trying to get his attention or about Anabella's feelings, he simply felt an odd sense of attraction towards Anabella and he did not know what it was.
Unbeknownst to him, he was experiencing his first love... hunger he couldn't differentiate between them.
Her actions had somehow drawn him in at once but the energy she exuded attracted him.
He had never seen someone like her or anyone else befor for that matter, being hidden by his mother since his inception but above all she is the one who took his attention from the moment he saw her.
He wanted to express how he felt but he simply didn't know the words and he didn't know what actions he should take, he was simply lacking knowledge... Love? He hadn't even heard the word befor!
As for hunger on the other hand, he knew hunger.
He always felt it.
No matter how much he ate it never went away.
Anabella had at this point walked up to him and stood less then an inch away staring directly into his eyes trying to win the staring contest.
She actively used whatever spiritual energy she had managed to passively gather to try and intimidate Elio, a real waste for sure but she could gather more anyway.
Unfortunately she found herself retreating quite quickly and she seemed unable to stare at his eyes that didnt even flinch at her actions.
'What the hell~! this kid has a terrifying aura, I'm a reborn heaven defying cultivator and should be able to easily overcome him yet I find myself falling back! Just how strong is his soul?' Anabella's thoughts became more worried
Anabella was frightened, her own mother was a nascent soul cultivator and her father a deity transformation cultivator yet neither of them gave her such a dreadful feeling.
The bigger the gap in cultivation one had from another the more 'Intimidation' one could use against the weaker person, causing an unnatural state of fear to manifest inside the weaker person.
The sect master was actively using this against Madam Nordaine currently.
This generally happened even if the higher stage cultivator did not mean for it to happen as the amount of spiritual energy the cultivator held inside was simply causing the weaker cultivator to feel as if they were being watched by a hungry predator.
Many people tend to submit when under the stress of fear, and unbeknownst to Elio himself many of the children here held fear of him that they themselves did not understand, they had unintentionally submitted in fear and choose to get away from him to shake the feeling they felt.
Only problem was... he didn't know how to use spiritual energy yet.
This had in term isolated Elio but he did not think much of this, thinking that the other children simply didn't want to play.
Even his sister were rather reluctant to be near him for to long and actively avoided him at home, this was their first interaction in several years.
Sadly this would be a recurring theme for him in life.
Of course there are ways to hide your presence which would alleviate or erase such symptoms but Elio did not hold such techniques and even if he did he had no reason to think that others should fear him.
It was simple really, they would all be to afraid to even tell him that they are afraid since it would be acknowledging defeat and without the knowledge about the problem how can he hope to fix it?
This fear he caused other children did not affect Anabella to the same level, she could stand up to him and even play with him because she was strong of mind and soul which further added to his liking of her.
Anabella was a rather proud person and could not admit to herself that she held fear towards a young boy not even a faction of her real age so she choose ignorance in this occasion, once she cultivates a portion of her power back she would face him again.