Mortal Realm, Capital Planet of the Hoborg Empire, Main Continent, Cloudmount City, ****** **** Mansion. Listening to his resolution, her emotions were a bit mixed. On one hand, she was glad about it. But on the other hand, she felt that he shouldn't have to bear that kind of burden, as he was only a young child. Whatever she thought, however, was pointless, since he already made his decision. And she would respect it. “Very well then. From tomorrow onward we'll both cultivate hard.” She smiled at him with the same resolve he showed her while she was already imagining how amazing it would be for the two of them to fight side by side. She would not need to face adversity on her own anymore. “Now, since you're quite dirty, you will go wash yourself before dinner. After that you'll go to sleep and tomorrow we will start seriously. Alright?” He nodded, his exhaustion catching up to him and making his eyelids heavier than they should be with his current cultivation. A level 2 cultivator did not need to sleep a lot to fill up his energy, however the experience took a lot on his mind. Having decided, Bai Yue wrapped her energy around and flew toward the main buildings of the mansion. Although she could teleport directly there, she liked the atmosphere of her property, and tended to often take her time to admire the scenery. Despite flying 'slowly', they spend less than five minutes in the air before arriving at the mansion, the two passing by the many robots controlled by the formation's spirit and used to take care of the property. Once they arrived at the building, she put down the boy who ran to the huge onsen [A/N: it's a kind of exterior bathhouse in japan. You should google it if you've never heard of it.] used by the men of the inner circle of the family which was situated side by side by the one used by the women. Because of the problem of Divine sense that was used all the time by rank 2 and higher cultivators, this kind of place usually had a powerful cloaking formation. A lot of houses did too. As for the cultivators too weak and/or too poor to afford one... Hopefully they enjoyed being peeped on by other cultivators... Once she saw the running little boy, she used her holo-bracelet to send a message to Guang Hua and Hei Qiang, who were currently cultivating, to ask them to join her in the interior patio. [A/N: In case I wasn't clear with the shape of the mansion's main buildings. Think of a mix between Roman, Chinese and Japanese architecture, with the building forming a 'square' U with an interior garden. The building faces the big Lake in the property. Oh, and the buildings are a lot vaster than what we're used to on earth. Also there are a few outbuildings around.] Although Bai Yue could have used her extremely powerful Divine sense to breach the formations cloaking their 'suites', she thought it would be impolite, as they might not be necessarily cultivating the 'normal way'. They might be dual cultivating which would be embarrassing for her to peep on. Her imagination taking a weird turn, a slight blush appeared on her ravishing face, before fading once she took a deep breath, which helped to calm herself down. The earlier situation seemed to have messed with her mind a little and she might need to focus on her cultivation to settle it. While she was lost in her thoughts, she arrived in the patio and sat down on the sofa facing the glistening Lake afar. A slightly warm breeze blew her raven black hair around while her dark red pupils gazed at the branches of the trees in the interior garden which were moving in a tempo controlled only by the wind blowing on them. The orange sun was setting down on the horizon, its last rays highlighting her unblemished skin visible thanks to the transformed battle suit into a simple white robe that teased people's imagination with the generous curves which seemed to be hidden beneath it. A fairy in Nature would aptly describe the scene if it were a painting. The only flaw would be her conflicted feelings showed by the constant changing expressions on her face. Frowns, smiles, pondering expressions kept appearing and disappearing quickly. However, it only lasted a few minutes until she seemed to regain her inner peace, as her face turned back into the mask of indifference she wore around strangers. What went through her mind at that time? Only she was aware of it. Half an hour later, the fox couple arrived in the patio with a smile on their faces, which receded and turned into a serious expression when they felt the cold aura surrounding Bai Yue, which reflected her current bad mood. After a whole year of living together, they learned to ignore her constant facade of indifference and although they were not as keen as Guang Yang who had the help of the mental Link he shared with her, they were still able to spot when she felt strong emotions. While sitting themselves, they wondered about what could have happened for her to feel that way. Thankfully, their curiosity was quickly satisfied. “Let me tell you what just happened.” She took a few minutes to relate the previous event, during which the boy arrived in the patio, all traces of the event absent from his body, seemingly washed away after a hot shower. Although he looked a bit tired, his face was a lot brighter, which reassured his parents, who were getting worried from her story. When Bai Yue finished recounting everything, she added. “From what you can tell, that dangerous situation was not without rewards. Sigh... I guess since we can do nothing to avoid it from happening again, we might as well let little fox here cultivate as usual.” They replied while nodding. “We'll follow your suggestion, senior Bai.” Noting their term of address, she thought about something. “Since we've been together for a whole year, acting like a family, we might as well be thorough about it. The two of you should call me big sister Bai. To be honest with you, being called senior Bai by the two of you is too... Cold I guess... I'm not sure if it is the right word, but I don't like that feeling.” As she was in front of the three people she trusted the most, a small smile shattered the mask of indifference she often always wore and a trace of warmth dripped from the usual coldness of her voice. The two adults smiled at her and said, while nodding. “Big sister Bai.” To which she nodded and asked in turn. “Now that it's out of the way, report to me your progress and ask me if you have any question about your cultivation.” Guang Hua went first. “First my mana cultivation. Well, since I started to cultivate, I feel like I'm progressing faster and faster, which is mind-blowing to be honest.” Hei Qiang nodded and said. “Same for me.” Bai Yue explained. “There are three reasons for that. The first is because your understanding of the scriptures I gave you keep increasing. The second, related to the first, your comprehension of your Laws also keeps increasing. The third is because of the Dual cultivation the both of you use thanks to the compatible scriptures and your status as a couple. Fourth is because of all the resources you now possess that you didn't have in your old Clans.” Guang Hua then nodded in agreement and said. “That's true. After all I reached the Peak of the Early Level 8 in only one year and it won't be long before I reach the Mid Level 8. As for my Law comprehension... Well, I reached the peak of the Mid Experienced Level for the Law of Light and broke through in my Law of Darkness to reach the Early Experienced Level. All in all, it was a great increase.” Hearing her satisfying results, Bai Yue nodded and then turned towards the woman's husband to hear what he had to say. Realizing that it was his turn, Hei Qiang started to talk. “As for me, I broke through my cultivation level and reach the Early Level 8. Although I haven't reached the peak of it yet, I'm still at the Late Early Level 8. [A/N: I hope it's not too confusing. Because of the increasing difference between a cultivator who just broke through and one well into the sub level, for now I will differentiate it like that. If you are confused, don't hesitate to comment and I'll explain better down there.] As for my Law comprehension, I'm also at the Peak Mid Experienced in my main Law, the Law of Darkness. And thanks to the the Dual cultivation with my wife, I luckily reached the Early Experienced in the Law of Light.” He then asked, a bit puzzled. “I was wondering. I've observed that our respective level with Hua'er seem to even out. Is it also due to the Dual Cultivation?” To which she replied. “Exactly. The principle of Dual cultivation is first based on balancing two opposite forces by way of linking two people together. However, when the two are not equal, by virtue of the Laws of the Realms seeking balance, it helps increase the weaker person's cultivation of Mana, Laws and even Mind energy. The larger the difference between the two, the weaker the effect for the strongest person and the stronger the effect for the weakest. Until the two balance out. At that point, the two complement fully what the other lacks, which boosts the cultivation of the two equally. Of course, those are only the principles. If you go into details, it's a lot more complicated, and I'm not very well versed in it.” She hesitated with a slight blush, before continuing. “From what I've read, there are a few ways of Dual cultivating, such as the communion of flesh or the communion of spirit. You can also mix the two for a better effect.” She also added feeling a bit awkward. “I think that little Yang and I are using the communion of spirit thanks to the Dual Yin Yang Seals as catalysts, which multiplies even more the benefits of that method.” After she finished her explanation, the two adults kept asking questions about the problems met in their cultivation. Bai Yue then proceeded to answer each questions as concisely and clearly as she could, which made the other two feel enlightened. They even felt their cultivation base and Law comprehension improve a little, which increased the awe and respect they had for the mysterious woman, who decided to take them in, even more. As for Guang Yang, he was simply sitting at Bai Yue's side and listening to their conversation about cultivation, content to bask into the peaceful atmosphere and learn silently what he could from their discussion. An hour later, when they finished talking about cultivation, Bai Yue contacted the other three via her Holo-Bracelet to eat dinner with them. Once it was done, she connected to the mansion's spirit to order some food to be prepared. After a few minutes, Marc, Illia and Laeroth arrived in the patio and joined them in their conversation, this time about the different events that recently happened. Laeroth being in charge of their intelligence network, he was aware of everything of import happening here but also all over the Empire. As for the Qin Empire, the network was still in its infancy, so he was not as well informed, especially about the things that powerful organizations kept to themselves. As for Marc and Illia, they were the face of the Divine Fate Family. What was the Divine Fate family, you ask? Well, Bai Yue , after a year of deep pondering, chose that name for her newly created family. An apt name to bind them. Divine for her current and their future cultivation bases. And the word fate to show how despite having nothing in common, they were destined to meet and walk their cultivation path together. An apt name indeed. Back to the Hoborg couple, Marc being more extrovert, he was in the front while Illia was in the back. In this case, he was the brightly lit fire, hiding the deep and frighteningly mysterious expanse of water, the two now well known by every powerful organizations in the Empire as people to never antagonize. The lesson was hammered home by what happened to several Level 7 cultivators from strong organizations who threatened the Divine Fate family, as they did not want a new player in their circles. Indeed, despite the size of the Hoborg Empire, as it was the case in every nations, the power and riches were in the hand the (relatively) few. Of course, the Empire housing trillions or more citizens, the number of Powerful people were still high. And among those organizations were a few reckless one who tried to assert their dominance, while others, more careful or simply more informed, waited for the result of that altercation. It did not take long for the those former people's organization to be thoroughly extinguished, thanks to the newly-built and growing in power secret force under the family's command, coupled with the help of the two powerful Level 8 cultivators, Marc and Illia. The result was chilling for the others in the circle of power. Following that show of strength, the Divine Fate's business' forces started to spread out in the whole Empire and in every fields, from Pill concoctions to the selling of Formation Plates and including many more. Many talented people were attracted to work for the family thanks to high pay and the promise of knowledge in their craft and cultivation. Of course, all of it was based on meritocracy and loyalty. As for the secret force? Well, since by virtue of their positions they were aware of a lot of secrets about the family, they were forced to swear stringent Realm's Vows, so as to protect the organization from betrayal. As for their background? It was thoroughly checked and most of them were found to have been betrayed by their initial organizations, were hurt by a powerful cultivator, had someone close to them hurt or killed by the latter, etc. All in all, they all wanted revenge, and by helping them become strong enough to take revenge themselves and by treating them fairly only in exchange of their loyalty, coupled with vows, obviously, they were almost guaranteed to work loyally for the family. For now, only Peak Mortal Cultivation Scriptures were awarded to them and depending on their merits they may gain stronger Arts. With Laeroth being a sort of Spy Master, Marc being the head diplomat and Illia being his shadow and the Head of the special forces (semi-hidden as powerful organizations only knew of their existence but not of their numbers or exact power). The business side was slightly behind as they lacked someone they could truly trust at the head of it and also the fact that usually craftsman take longer to improve on their own craft than in cultivation. Thanks to the jade slips full of knowledge given by Bai Yue however, it wouldn't take too long, at most a few years. Now, the Fox couple were focused on their cultivation instead of being interested in the secular world. [A/N: 'Secular things are not religious. Anything not affiliated with a church or faith can be called secular.' (Definition) In this case it's everything not affiliated with cultivation (business, politics, etc).] After all they wanted to improve their cultivation Level quickly for two reasons. One to take revenge upon their old Clans for what they put them through. Second, as they were aware of their son's cultivation talent, they did not want to slow him down by lagging in their cultivation. They sometimes went exploring the CloudLeaf forest to fight against other cultivators, participated in some operations to help one or several people from the inner circle or simply traveled around the Empire, all in hope of increasing their Mana Cultivation and/or Law Comprehension. After all, it is well known that a strong cultivator is not made with only closed-door cultivation. Experiencing life and death, and seeing through the red dust of the mortal world was essential. [A/N: Living as a mortal and transcending it. Whatever that means^^] As for Bai Yue, she used most of her time to teach Guang Yang. Be it reading, writing, or cultivation knowledge. It was still the simpler knowledge, of course, as he was too young to grasp concepts that were too elusive. From time to time, she created some Rank 3 mana pills for the people in the inner circle of the family, the outer circle of the family (Special forces, etc) and some to sell at auctions. It was one the easiest way she found to collect the fund for Mana herbs required for the pills themselves and also every other expenses the family could have. Although it was done offhandedly by the woman, as Mortal Rank Pills were like toys to her, for the rich people in the Empire it was both a boon and a curse. Indeed, money wars were launched in the auction house, where everyone tried to outbid everyone else and the ones who ended up with the pills at the end had to spend so much money and face the threat of assassins ready to steal the pills. However, the up side was that many Peak Rank 2 cultivators from powerful organizations broke through their bottleneck and became Rank 3, while many Level 7 increased their powers. As for Peak Level 7? A few lucky ones also broke through to Level 8, and among them a few hidden Elders from the Imperial Family. All in all, in this short one year, Bai Yue alone increased the overall power of the entire power. And that was without even trying to do it. After all, she did not expect staying in the Mortal Realm for a long time, so she did not want to waste her time in this fruitless task. She was not a Saint and she would much rather groom her own force and bring everyone to the Immortal Realm instead. As for how to accomplish that? She had a few ideas that needed to wait until her little fox pass his Nine-Fold Tribulation Lightning and ascend to the Immortal Realm. While they were all discussing, dinner was brought on the table by a few robots which retreated to the side while they enjoyed themselves on the food and drink. Once they were done the former took all the dishes, cleaned the table and left, leaving them alone. Bai Yue then turned to Guang Yang and said. “Little fox, now that we're done, you should go to sleep to be ready for tomorrow. After all, you will have to cultivate very hard from now on if you want to keep your promise.” To which he nodded and smile. “Yes Teacher! Will we study cultivation techniques?” She replied. “Yes. It will be more complicated than what you've been doing today, but it will be essential for you future as a cultivator.” Hearing her answer, he said with confidence while clenching his small cute fists. “Don't worry Teacher, I'll work hard!” After bidding everyone good night, he took off running towards his room, already full of thoughts and anticipation about what he would learn the following day. Despite feeling very excited, it only took him a few minutes to fall asleep, as he was exhausted by a hectic day he just went through.