(Raina POV: The previous day)
I walked out of the house and headed for that old b***ard's residence. This was going to be an annoying talk, to say the least, and entering the courtyard of his house only confirmed it. Standing opposite the door was the old man, no longer with a cane and hunched back but a poster as straight as steel and a sword in his hand.
This small showdown took a few seconds before he finally recognized it was me and that there was no danger at all. Placing his sword to the side, he let me in and said, "Just so that I can confirm, That is you, right, master?"
"Yes, it is me, so you can drop your spells now," I said, not just to the old fart in front of me but also to his wife and first-generation descendants that are around me.
"Yu Mei! Go fetch the kids and bring them back." He shouted to a woman standing at the side, causing her to run out of the house before turning to me and asking, " Now if you do not mind me asking, master. What happened to you?"
"It seemed the goddess that watched over that girl, as well as the girl herself, was not very happy about what I did, so they decided to play a little prank on me," I said while dropping the illusion so everyone else in the courtyard could see what I was talking about.
"I would not call that a prank on the goddess's part." This old b***ard commented.
"Oh really? Is that not obvious?" I said with my voice going sickly sweet as in front of me, the old b***ard started to sweat profusely while his completion had lost all color. Surprisingly, he managed to retain his composure enough to ask me a question.
"Given current events, I am guessing that you are going back to the sect early, and you want me to become the elder of the village in your place?" This was all said with him not even daring to look at my face.
"Yes, that is exactly what I am here for," I replied, losing the overly sweet tone from earlier.
"When would you like me to start the takeover, then?" he asked, happy to accept the terms of ignoring what happened earlier.
"Now." was my only response.
"Well, that's good. It will take at least a couple of... Did you just say now?" He started responding to my expected answer only to trail off and then ask me a question with a tone of exasperation.
"Yes, I did," I said, giving another short response.
"Alright then. Are you already packed and ready to leave?" He asked with the same tone of exasperation as earlier.
"I have everything ready," I responded to him, standing up from where I was sitting and heading for the door.
"Then I wish you a safe trip, master." He said as I reached the door, only for it to swing open, revealing his grandchildren on the other side walking in. I could tell from their expression that the old man was going to have to answer a lot of questions.
Finally, out of that house with what I needed to accomplish finished, I started using a movement technique I devised when I was younger To start floating in the air. I soon reached a comfortable height and then started to stride forward. This technique allowed me to cover large swaths of land in mere seconds or minutes, depending on your perception. With this, I was already most of the way back to the sect.
Pulling out a talisman, I activated it while sending a thought transmission through it, "I am returning early and will be at the sect by the morning."
I soon heard a response, "Understood, ma'am."
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(Sect Master Xiao Luoyang POV)
The transmission I just received was the most terrifying thing that I have experienced to date during my term as a sect master. The founder of the sect was not supposed to return from her retirement for at least a few more weeks. Now, I had to send thought transmissions out to all the elders that the meeting that was planned for a few weeks from now has been moved up to tomorrow morning. I also had to get an update on how her daughter was faring.
Calling in a few servants, I tasked them with getting me information on what that girl had been doing for the past couple of weeks. During that time, I started to receive some of the elders' responses. A few of them tried to say that they were in the middle of something and could not attend, but they were quick to change their tune when I mentioned that it was one of the ancestors who called this meeting. There were still some others who had ligament reasons that they could not come, so they were let off the hook and told that they would be updated on what happened later.
With all of this settled, I was then given a report by one of the servants I sent out to gather information on Valaria. According to it, she was staying with the Xia family, and there was even a small incident that had occurred, which could have resulted in some drastic consequences. That was all overshadowed by a powerful heavenly tribulation striking down on her room this afternoon, which she apparently survived.
I was not looking forward to tomorrow morning.
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Somewhere in a diving realm made of golden clouds, there was a couch and a table in front of a TV with three people sitting on them. The two people on the couch were arguing with each other while the man sitting in the chair just as t by the side and watched.
Stephanie: "Are you still upset about what happened?"
Elinaria: "Would you?"
Stephanie: "It's not that bad."
Elinaria: "If we go by the way you described it, then I am technically married to your champion by proxy!"
Stephanie: "Okay, when you put it like that it does sound worse. But you're not married to her, so it's fine."
Elinaria: "But isn't it according to kitsune culture that any two people who have a parental bond with another kitsune are considered to be married?"
When the younger-looking woman on the couch said this, the older-looking one then turned to the man on the chair and said, "Why did you teach her that?!"
The man: "Because it's my job, and don't bring me into this little fight of yours. You could have easily stopped this from happening if you just paid attention to your champion bonds like I taught you."
Stephanie: "And what about phantom bonds?! Did you consider that?! You know how much pain I was in from that, yet you still dare to tell me that!"
The man: "I did, but you also said that you had gotten over that by now. Unless, of course, you were lying to us all."
Stephanie: "I was not!"
Elinaria: "That's not what you told me."
Stephanie: "Alright, fine, can we just stop talking about this."
The man: "Yes, we can. I just hope that nothing like this ever happens again."
Little did they know that something like this was happening on a far greater scale in a different part of their multi-verse at this moment. But that is a story for another time.
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***A\N***
This was supposed to be uploaded earlier, and for that, there will be an extra chapter today.
Besides that, I have another story idea in my head at the moment based on the Apocalypse lord trope from a while back, and I wanted to know if you would like me to spend some time working on that. It will dig into my schedule to do so, but I will still try to maintain an upload speed of one chapter every two days.
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