In the end, the Annual Gathering of the Immortals came to a close, relatively peacefully. Jack, Kian, and I grouped up again, joining the other dragons, and my Harvester friends as we prepared to make our exit. As much as I hate to admit it, the night had been a fruitful one. Not only had we been able to somewhat cement the presence and existence of our Calloway clan in front of the Heavenly Realm’s immortal society. I’d also been able to ascertain which folk I’d have to deal with, and which folk could be safely ignored for the most part.

Jack went even beyond that, I think. There were numerous faces and personages that seemed to brighten a bit as she passed. If I’d stopped at the point of deciding which enemies we’d need to immediately kill or not, Jack had apparently actually begun the process of making our clan some allies. I imagine she’d leveraged the Dragon’s status, and used the list of people they were close to, or at least non-hostile to, as a foundation.

“So, did everyone have fun?” said Jack. Speaking to Kalpana and the other Harvester princesses.

“Yes, Dark Mistress...The experience was an enlightening one...and the food was fairly yummy,” said one of Harvester-Princesses.

“Oh, good, good,” said Jack. Smiling pleasantly.

“How about you, love?” said Jack, turning to me.

“It was alright…” I said. My tone was non-committal, because I was a little afraid that admitting that I had a not-terrible time would result in my wife trying to get me to be more social. As things stood, I was already likely to end up having to do enough of “that” as our clan continued to establish its presence in the community.

“Well, I’m pleased that you all had a good time,” said Kian. Her expression was gentle and calm.

Just as we were all on the verge of leaving the building. I bumped into someone. The moment came and passed quickly, but in the moment, I ended up being subject to enough violence and force to flatten hundreds of galaxies. If I hadn't been anchoring myself at all times, in preparation for someone starting something, I probably would have been yeeted all the way to the far end of Shattered-World’s heavenly realm. It was the shoulder bump to end all shoulder bumps, and it was so high school I couldn’t help cursing inside my head.

Outwardly though, I pretended it was nothing. Swallowing the surging blood that threatened to rise up my throat and absentmindedly joining the stranger in awkward insincere apologies.

“Ah, my bad…”

“No excuse, me...I should have been watching where I was going.”

“No it’s okay, that was my fault…”

The group continued to move on smoothly but Jack sensed that there was something off about my condition.

“You okay, beau?” said Jack.

I nodded.

“Yeah…” I was half-acting tough, because who wants to complain to their SO about a little shoulder-bump, but also, my insane, continually climbing, constitution had already overcompensated for, and healed, the injuries. So, in a way, I was not only fine, I was actually much better than I’d been five seconds ago.

I glared over my shoulder at the idiot who was wandering into the palace before joining Jack and the others inside the Empress’ carriage. I had an annoying feeling this might turn into something bigger and more troublesome.

*************************************************************************************************************

Sky-high mountains crumbled as their august and once-mighty bodies were reduced to pebbles and sand. Countless pillars of light brightened the night sky and briefly turned it into day. Yang Shichao and Fang Wei stood side by side, using their auras to help shield the ancestors and elders that had followed them in their third successful run of the Eternal Realm region of the Empty Dream.

Two great voices bellowed out across the land, one full of lamentation, the other full of laughter. Accompanied by two even larger pillars, that made the artificial day longer and brighter. Those two great voices belonged to the Eternal Realm’s Magistrate of Light and Magistrate of Darkness. The two final bosses of this particular area of the Eternal Realm region. Those two large pillars of light were born from the energy released upon the bosses’ deaths. The smaller pillars of light were caused by the deaths of the bosses’ minions, the Lesser-Adjudicators of light and darkness. An army of gold and silver warriors bearing the world-shaking power of demi-gods and lesser-devils.

Fang Wei closed the fan he’d created out of his spiritual energy and the weapon faded into nothing. The spiritual energy that form the weapon returned to his body. Yang Shichao withdrew the countless black and white tendrils in the tree branch that had appeared at his side like an angel’s wing.

“Phew...Fuck, brother Yang...I swear those two bosses are getting stronger,” said Fang Wei. Rolling shoulders as the tension of a few moments ago, finally left them. Quickly casting a spell to clean the sweat that had soaked through his clothing during the fight.

“Huh? Maybe...,” said a slightly zoned-out Yang Shichao.

“Ah...ah-ha, it’s true…” said Fang Wei. Ignoring his friend and superior’s spaced-out state because he knew that Yang Shichao’s thoughts tended to be more or “tree-like” after he’d deeply tapped into the powers of his former core-treasure.

“Huh? What’s true?” said Yang Shichao. Doing his best to shake off the urge to plants, water himself, and bask in the sunlight for a few years.

“I just messaged a couple of the other old monsters we’re pals with...They pretty much confirmed that the level of the enemies within the Eternal Realm’s Challenge Areas, and Dungeons, increases according to the level of the user inside…That old fogey, Lu Bai, even said that if you repeat enough times the Dungeon or Challenge zone is replaced by an entirely different, more evolved, version.

“Hm, that’s both a little handy and a little troublesome,” said Yang Shichao. His eyes sharpened as he finally returned to himself. His fingers combed through his beard as he considered the implications of what he’d just learned.

“I know what you mean...On the one hand, it probably won’t be safe for us to continue carrying these other guys like this, if having us with them will just make it increasingly dangerous because of our cultivations increasing the difficulty level of the Dungeon…” said Fang Wei.

“On the other hand, that means there’s, even more, we ourselves can gain from the Eternal Realms. I mean we’ve been stuck hanging around the Court of Light and Dark all this time, and I know we were planning to check some of the other areas out, but maybe we should do a few more runs to really suck the marrow out of this place,” said Yang Shichao. Eyes bright with anticipation.

Yang Shichao then looked to the elders and ancestors that were gathered behind them. The group of newcomers to the Eternal Realm were healing themselves, and doing their best to consolidate the gains they’d accrued from running through the challenge area that was the Court of Light and Dark.

“Hm, what do you think? What do you say to one more group run for our sect’s people to make sure they’ve got the handle on things, before we head off on our own?” said Yang Shichao.

Fang Wei looked at the crowd and nodded.

“Yes...This is the most help we can give them...and then some of them can help the juniors beneath them and the folk in our subordinate sects,” said Fang Wei.