Sighing in relief, Gu Yuntian's youthful face relaxed. "I was worried you would say otherwise. I have been waiting for years, after all. If you said no, I would have done it forcibly and made you a slave to the sect…"
Ethan choked on air.
This person seemed as powerful as the heavens themselves but just as straightforward. Thinking of it, even the board outside said he won't talk with men and only women… this man really seemed a bit too straightforward. He didn't seem like an old man.
Gu Yuntian was supposedly billions of years old and had even seen the annihilation of his own sect. That must make people serious and cold, right?
He had been too warm for such a person. If that made sense.
Ethan wondered.
Maybe it was just that the man was relieved. He just wanted this to end quickly. Regardless, speaking with this man was so easy. Maybe it was because of the place they were in that made every one of them calm.
"Senior Brother," Ethan took the shameless approach and asked, "So, what do I have to do to become as strong as you?"
"Immortal Cultivation," Gu Yuntian appeared a bit paler but he was calm. "You have to practice Immortal Cultivation, refine your body, and refine your spirit. The Ring you stole from my hand is a Dimensional Pocket on its own. It doesn't have any materials and such since I had to use them to make this ship survive for this long without anyone manning it, but it has notes in it that would teach you the Dimension Sect's Cultivation methods."
Ethan took a deep breath, and he exchanged a glance with Scarlett, who was silent. After a bit of thought, he asked Yuntian, "So if I cultivate, I can grow stronger?"
"Yes, cultivation is the basis of everything."
Ethan couldn't help but ponder.
He wished he had read stories of Immortal Cultivation that were all around on Earth. Maybe that might have helped here. Atleast, it seemed like those stories.
Did such fantasy stories have a root in such universal-level entities, too? Maybe even that was spread around due to their influence. It could be another way of getting more new blood. Maybe the authors of such novels were all just messengers.
Yet, if that was anywhere true, that also meant Immortality wasn't impossible.
"…Is Immortality real?" Ethan asked.
Raising an eyebrow, Gu Yuntian sighed. A long, lengthy silence stretched between them, and Yuntian became paler until Ethan started seeing through him to what was behind him.
"My Master had an infinite lifespan. No diseases could kill him…" A wretched appearance briefly flashed through the charismatic youth before it returned to calm. "Yet he died. I do not know if Immortality is real, but if you reach his level one day, you might come to learn it."
Ethan bowed slightly. He knew he had asked something painful.
"No matter, I will send you outside the Forbidden Land. The recipe to create a Pill of Comprehension is inside; just find the appropriate materials and refine it yourself. You and your wife shouldn't start cultivating before you each eat one.
"And let me warn you, the Devour Sect might be still alive in this world, so you should keep her hidden. They are not in search of new disciples like us by sending out their Heritage.
"What they want is more people to devour, but I already cut off any links the sect had on her. So she should be safe as long as you don't reveal her abilities too outrightly and become a spotlight."
After that, calmly, the youth gave Ethan many advices.
And then, with his help, both Ethan and Scarlett, along with him, floated outside the ship in the air of the Forbidden Land Sea of Leviathans and looked down at the ship.
Melancholically, Yuntian waved his hand, and the ship vanished. It appeared in Ethan's Dimensional Pocket, making him shocked and awed.
'This person really was invincible... He even had the ability to tap into my Dimensional Pocket. And he even put in something as big as a ship into it, whereas a small boat is my limit...' Ethan couldn't even come close to grasp how far of a difference they had between them.
Then time arrived…
Both Ethan and Scarlett stood in the air, feeling nervous but extremely grateful, and bowed, both of them feeling a weird sense of pity. As the man waved once more, a doorway made of light appeared in the air, and both of them stepped into it. A profound feeling of a great encounter passed through them.
They had an encounter with something that people on Earth could never understand. Ethan, on the other hand, was lost in thought. Unlike the time he was in that garden that calmed him down, he was no longer so calm, and even Scarlett, who had remained silent whole throughout the process, was far from calm.
Just as they appeared in another place, a heavily shadowed area, Scarlett took deep breaths. "Tell me, Ethe, what the hell were you speaking with that person?"
Ethan was a bit startled. "What?"
"You really didn't realize that was not English," Scarlett said with a bit of fear. "That was some alien language, and you were speaking so fluently."
Ethan couldn't help but wryly chuckle. No wonder she was so silent. With a sigh, he said seriously, "Don't show disrespect, he is my Senior and a great man."
So, language was also included in his Heritage. Now, he would have to explain all that had happened to her.
Even after everything that he gave them, Gu Yuntian only had one humble wish from Ethan, which startled him. According to his words, if another cultivator on the level of Yuntian's Master helped, they could revive the whole sect, and even the dead master could be revived.
Yuntian didn't ask Ethan himself to achieve that level; that was too far-fetched. He asked Ethan to create a sect where there was a hope of someone like that being born. It was not as far-fetched.
They looked at the new place.
A dark forest full of black-leaved trees.
Meanwhile, Gu Yuntian floated in the skies of the Forbidden Land, his tears falling as he looked at a creature. A leviathan that had colossal tentacles whipping about.
"The forgotten ones shall return," He wiped his eyes with his robes. "We even got two good seedlings for the start."
Like broken mirrors of glass and light, he vanished.
A deep moan echoed from the ocean bed, filled with heart-wrenching sadness and helplessness. Slowly, the creature sank into the water and vanished.
Like a dead world, everything returned to stillness, and another storm soon followed. Yet, there was no ship to endure it anymore.
A young merman poked his head out of the dark waters and soon vanished back in.