Xander and Valerie turned when a portal opened suddenly around them. A lady stepped out of it. She was slender, graceful and beautiful, dressed in a white robe that swayed in drugged motion. A platinum blonde hair flowed gracefully down her back, also moving in drugged motion as her robe. Her hair framed her face, and her whole existence was covered in the same bluish glow as her eyes.
"Hi" she said, almost unenthusiastically. Her gaze directed exclusively at Xander. "I am your third bride, Seraphina. You can come with me, and escape this place."
Valerie rose to her feet. "Hi! Astral Infinity sect witch. You might want to dilate the time a little. These folks can track any portal. A few moments is what they need. The moment we leave and time unfroze, they will seize onto even the faint traces of the portal and track the portal to find us", Valerie said to Seraphina, then she walked into the portal.
Seraphina made no attempt to reply, but did as Valerie had suggested. She raised her hands with exaggerated slowness, and with the movements of her hands, everything, everyone, and the situation in the room, rewinded slowly until the very moment where the three masters had died from the fire runes explosion.
"Get in Grand Master Luffin Tank" Seraphina gestured towards the portal. Xander had seized being mesmerized by the extraordinary powers of his bride. He took his eyes from the static image of the rewinded time and walked into the portal.
The three of them landed in a wilderness of snow. Massive mounds of snow lay about, rising from the snow-ladened floor into the air, forming large snow mountains. Except for the occasional howling of a few cryophilic animals and the whistling noises of traipsing winds, the entire area was serene and quiet.
Valerie threw her eyes around the whole ice empire, a dark expression settling on her beautiful face, with a tinge of fury. "Where is this" she inquired from Seraphina, anger evident in her voice.
"The snow desert, a place a little west of my sect's empire" Seraphina answered.
"Couldn't your nostalgia wait until you drop us off somewhere reasonable first" Valerie chided.
Seraphina settled to float weightlessly in the air, her legs folded before her, in a sort of meditative pose. "Just like your people can phase with the help of your voids to place you have only been, we of the Astral Infinity sects are sound bound that law. It is the universe's law, it can't be changed, the mind is only capable of that which it knows, and limited by that which is unknown to it."
"And what is all these philosophical jargons supposed to mean" Valerie inquired, steel in her voice, marking her irritation.
"I can only portal to places I have been to, and never to places I haven't been to" Seraphina replied, calm as always.
Valerie squinted her eyes in surprise at her. "So you mean for probably a thousand years that you must have been existing, you have never gone past your Sect's empire and this snow desert", Valerie inquired, with a bit of sarcasm.
Despite Valerie's sarcasm, Seraphina nodded her head calmly. "We of the Astral Infinity sect do not travel with our legs and watch the world with our eyes, we do so with just our mind, meditating for thousands of years, and only projecting ourselves through our minds to distant places. And because of this, we grasp the past, see the present, and glimpse the future." she said.
Valerie grunted elaborately in defeat, furious with Seraphina's continuous philosophical speeches.
Xander spoke this time. "So you mean you are thousands of years old." He inquired, struggling to contain his curiosity.
"Yes, she is." Valerie shot in. "Only the highest ranked Astral Infinity sects disciples can dilate time. They are called Chronomancers, and for someone to be a Chronomancer, then he or she must have practiced and meditated for at least a thousand years."
"Then how old are you?" Xander directed at Seraphina.
"We of the Astral Infinity sects don't keep track of our ages. It is nothing but an insignificant and artificial value placed on our existence, but if you are very curious, Grand Master Luffin Tank. I am well over two millenniums old" she said.
"Wow!" Xander exclaimed, shocked.
"That is why you chose me then and now, Grand Master Luffin Tank. We of the Astral Infinity sects do not reincarnate or get reborn, we live for long and when we die, we die. Of all your brides, I am the only one who hasn't been reborn and who never will. I am still the same Seraphina you fell in love with". She rose from floating, and moved towards Xander, planting herself in his arms, the ethereal glow around her, wrapping him also, she kissed him on the lips. Everything happened so fast that Xander was already kissing her before he knew he was.
Xander couldn't exactly describe the feeling as she kissed him, but it felt transcendental.
"Just get off him, already. He is mine too, and I am watching", Valerie said with a bit of scorn.
Seraphina pulled away, floating from him to resume sitting with her legs folded in the air.
Xander touched his lips, reminiscing about the kiss, and berating himself for letting it happen. "You said you see the past, present and future, do you know what my friend turned betrayer, Adrian Steel, is doing now and where he is?" he asked.
"You mean the reincarnated Lord Nicolas Buro" she said. "He has completely escaped the desperate claws of the Void Phantomers, and is off to start his cultivation journey with Lady Mona as his anchor. Which is also something you should start doing too. You should have begun your cultivation journey already. Time is of essence in your journey."
"Can you just tell me where he is and how to get there? I have a score to settle with him", Xander inquired. He couldn't wait to get his hands on Adrian's neck, and avenge his first death and that of his parents.
"You can't do that, Grand Master Luffin Tank. You can't kill him until he has re-cultivated the techniques of the Astral Infinity sect. Only then can he be killed without him being reincarnated immediately. And if you hope to defeat him then, you have to be at the same level as him at that time, or at a higher level. You have to kill him before he masters the techniques of the five sects and becomes the Eternal Sovereign. Only then, can we stop what happened centuries ago from repeating itself."
"And what is that?" Xander inquired,
"Your death" she replied. "You sacrificed your life to defeat him then, and I won't let you do that again" she said, a force of determination in her voice.
"So when do I begin my cultivation journey?"
"Your energy nodes are blocked, and your genetic nexus is ruptured after your fight with Lord Nicolas Buro. It is the same for both of you. The battle costs you both so much more than your lives. Your energy nodes are the pathway by which the cosmic energy of the universe, which your body absorbs, travels down to your genetic nexus. Your genetic nexus is where the cosmic energy is refined, processed and stored, until it is needed to be discharged, via the same energy nodes. You need to reopen your energy nodes, and repair your ruptured genetic nexus, before you even think of cultivation, and I am afraid, your arch-rival has already achieved that. Lady Mona has helped him get through that."
The mere thought that Adrian Steel already had an advantage over him infuriated Xander beyond words.
"How do I fix mine and how do I fix it soon?"
"We have to visit an energy fountain, which is a place surrounded with immense cosmic energy, and since you are originally from the Celestial Forge sect, we will have to visit the Celestial Forge sect's energy Fountain."
Xander yelled, a bit alarmed. "You mean I'll have to go back to the Celestial Forge sect's empire?"
"Yes" Seraphina answered calmly, "And before we do that, you will have to find your Radiant Dawn Sect's bride, Lady Elara Sunveil. The Radiant Dawn Sect's are the greatest healers in the universe, and only one of them could repair the damage in your body, and only your bride from that sect would be willing to do so for you."
Returning to the Celestial Forge sect's empire wasn't exactly pleasing, but if it would help his cultivation process, then it was a journey he could risk. "So how do we get this Radiant Dawn Sect's bride?"
"Going into her Sect's empire to fetch her off course" Valerie said. "And we would be met with fierce opposition if we attempted to break into the empire."
Xander shifted completely to Seraphina. "Can you portal us to her as you did to me?" He asked.
Seraphina shook her head. "I can't. Just like I have said earlier, I can only portal to places I have seen with my eyes. The only reason I was able to portal to you is because you are my fated groom and I thought of you as my destination. Also, every sect has their empire fortified enough to prevent any form of infiltration."
"If her portals won't work, I know a way, a rather long way, but it is effective. There will be little or no opposition", Valerie interrupted, and grinned wryly. "But you have to brace yourself, it won't be a merry ride."