When we returned, Long Yuyin and the other stationed members were waiting outside the entrance of tiny world. Nie Li had then assigned people to monitor any demon god sect members or others who might try entering the tiny world while we were gone.
A week passed as alliance matters required attention. Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning accompanied me to the Divine Feather Sect. Xiao Xue went with Lu Piao. I relieved my duties as it was once rejected and there is no point in reacquiring it even if offered.
The relationship between the Heavenly Note Sect and Divine Feather Sect resembled sister sects. But rules applied to both. They sealed their sect immediately after conducting new candidacy exams, using improved arrays and the rich quantities of sacred elixirs we sent them, partly due to our three's submitted request to both the sect.
I introduced Xiao Ning and Ye Ziyun various scenic spots through the sect and showcasing various mountains at Divine Feather Sect which some time later Long Yuyin took over. I noticed she eventually made it to a small talk among themselves, so I left her to their business and went to my rented space.
Having nothing to do in the meanwhile, after a quick cultivation session, I used Great Expanse Divine Dao, calculated this world's future by simulating it with new rules, unlike my previous divination work. The results showed Nie Li successfully crossing the secret realm with Mu Ya's help. However, adding the Deity Servant of Sage Emperor's influence changed things. His escape remained possible, but only through some unnecessary deaths. A second divination confirmed this observation. And about a month remained until the event if I don't interfere.
Back at Divine Feather Sect, main hall, Nie Li planned to infiltrate the Fire Spirit Hall of the Demon God Sect alone after a week.
His strength gave him real confidence, but to blend in, he transformed into the vermilion snake. Lu Piao warned him about not getting tempted by demon fairies there. He took it seriously unlike in the plot and going through the snake's recent memories, he saw me capturing it and witnessed my father appearing heavily injured or possibly dead from the recent memories.
He stared at me in disbelief. "Brother Tao, why didn't you mention your father was in such a situation? Is he alright?"
"No worries. I managed to save him since he was barely alive."
He studied me thoughtfully, wondering why I seemed so calm about it. Even if my father had died a million years ago, I could extract his soul from space-time and recreate him at full strength, given this reality's weak rules.
Considering Nie Li's past death and return, he might understand this reality's illusionary space-time structure deeply, but his life level remains too low for him to feel it as anything but real. This same reason forces me to seal myself, otherwise everyone around you becomes inconsequential.
My previous Great Expanse calculation based on events revealed that he would find entry to the divine flame pool within Fire Spirit Hall somehow. Things would continue mostly as in the original story until he reached the deity realm. So I could rest for a while. Actually, maybe it is a nice idea to travel to another realm instead of staying cooped up here.
***
The decision was made. A day later, I decided where to go and who to take. At my call, Ying Yueru appeared before me. My scope had expanded extensively, so she had been outside during this period, but still within my 37-mile diameter range.
"I need you to enter a temporal space in small world for a while," I said.
Ying Yueru's expression shifted to puzzlement, her head tilting slightly as she processed my words. "Why?" she asked, her voice carrying a note of wariness.
"Because I'm going somewhere."
Her eyes narrowed with concern, and I could see her mind racing through possibilities. Her concern is me going out of my way to battle sage emperor. "Is there danger? Can't you stay and cultivate a little more? What if Nie Li gets in danger?"
The questions tumbled out quickly.
I couldn't help but find her sudden worry amusing. "Why are you, of all people, concerned about danger? You need to enter because, where I'm going, time flows rapidly. When we return, people here will remain the same while you'll have aged. I am not going for any battles. Yes, you can cultivate in my arrangement. Time will flow slowly inside my small world. I'm doing this because my time spent there is unknown. I'll adjust the flow rate so you won't be stuck in seclusion and boredom, since that wouldn't help cultivation."
She frowned, clearly still unsatisfied with my explanation. "Where are you going? Won't you be affected? Besides, I only have 24 years of lifespan left." Her voice carried a hint of vulnerability I rarely heard from her.
"Why do you divine so often?" I asked, tilting my brows in confusion at her precise knowledge of her remaining time.
She shrugged, her expression becoming matter-of-fact. "That's my job."
I materialized a collection of lifestones, watching her eyes widen at the quantity. "Here are lifestones. That's 100 years of life essence at your life level." I sent her the pile, noting how her shoulders relaxed with relief. "As for me, no, it won't affect me. The place isn't in the Draconic Ruins."
After some more back and forth where she gradually accepted the necessity, I sent her into the small world. I separated a zone of five hundred hectares and set the time delay to 1000 times slower, adjustable for later.
Outside, I informed Yu Yan, who simply nodded when she heard my plans, preferring to stay as expected and even requested me to return in time. Shen Xiu and Xiao Huo entered the previously created small world time zone without question.
I had informed Xiao Ning and Ye Ziyun a day earlier about my travel plans. When they arrived as contacted, I noticed Long Yuyin trailing behind them with an expectant look. "Why bring her?" I asked, already sensing trouble brewing.
Xiao Ning glanced at Long Yuyin before explaining, her tone suggesting she felt somewhat responsible. "She's been with us these past few days, asking about her master very deeply."
Ye Ziyun stepped forward with a knowing smirk. "Did you fool her like you fooled me?"
I felt tired at the accusations slightly. "What do you mean, fool you? I never fooled you. If this is still about our relationship, I told you it was a misunderstanding."
"Hmph." Ye Ziyun crossed her arms, clearly not buying my explanation. "Anyway, why did you tell her you weren't human and not a man either?"
I turned to Long Yuyin, who was staring at me with a mixture of hurt and accusation in her eyes. The weight of her gaze made me speak more defensively than intended. "I'm not human in a strict sense, only a humanoid race. As for gender, you know why."
Ye Ziyun's expression flared with indignation. "Liar. I've been with you in detail enough to know you're perfectly human. What about being born in Glory City and all that? We know your parents." Her voice rose with each word, frustration evident.
I sighed, realizing this conversation was inevitable. "I was human. Just not now. Cultivation and going to different places changes things. What I said remains true."
Ye Ziyun studied my face carefully before shaking her head. "You were deliberately avoiding her, right? All your reasons sound forced to me."
I felt cornered by their combined scrutiny and sighed in resignation. "Whatever you say. What about what I mentioned yesterday? Are you coming or not?"
Ye Ziyun's expression brightened immediately. "Of course we're coming. She's coming too."
I stared at them in silence, processing this development I hadn't anticipated.
Long Yuyin's earlier defiance crumbled at my silence , and she looked down at her feet. "Forget it. If Master doesn't want me to come, I'll stay." Her voice was barely above a whisper, dejection clear in every word.
Seeing her like this, I found myself softening despite my reservations. "You can come, Yuyin. Know this ~ the place we're going isn't for cultivation. You probably won't be able to venture beyond my domain scope and will be bored. I already told them this."
Xiao Ning mentioned, "Yeah, we know. We're all prepared. I already reported to Lu Piao and everyone that we'll be going to the outside world."
" Just bring me along." She voiced her request.
"Then you enter the small world first. I'll release you when everything's settled. There's a time field I set up with Shen Xiu, Ying Yueru, and Xiao Huo present. You can join them. I'll return you when everything's ready."
"Why does she get to come?" Long Yuyin asked, sounding offended.
"Currently, Ying Yueru depends on me. You can ask her yourself."
Her face brightened and entered the time zone at my gesture.
Other two stayed sensing I have more to say. To the two women still standing, I asked, "I've been too caught up in events here and that's why I decided to venture out for a bit of exploration. It was your insistence that made me allow you for this journey. Why bring her too? Don't you know what she wants?"
Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning sat at the table. Ziyun replied, "We know the story. You mentored her, assumed Nie Li's role, and changed her life. She has been asking us about yourself in every-step of our journey. Don't you already know what would result from mentoring her? It's similar to what you did with us. If you want to be alone, don't develop such relationships often in the first place."
" ... "
Xiao Ning suggested, "Besides, with your abilities, you'd definitely have many partners elsewhere. Why worry about one more sister from our world? We're not worried though."
"That's what concerns me. Why aren't you worried?"
Xiao Ning leaned forward slightly, her expression becoming more serious. "Well, think about it from our perspective. When choosing a life partner, you have everything we could wish for and more." She glanced at Ye Ziyun with a meaningful look before continuing. "Besides, we can always stay with you and prevent some women from taking advantage of you. Isn't that great? I mean, look at Hierarch Skyblaze ~ he has at least 1000 partners. You're definitely reserved compared to that."
Ye Ziyun nodded and picked up the thread. "I think you're still clinging to some old-fashioned ideas from wherever you've been. Listen, we were taught from an early age about what makes a successful cultivator." She counted on her fingers as she spoke. "First, you must have a deep understanding of the fundamental principles of the universe ~ the Dao. Then you need effective techniques to apply that understanding. Third, you surround yourself with supportive companions. This includes fellow cultivators, mentors, disciples, and yes, even your dao partners who help you overcome challenges you couldn't face alone. Finally, you secure the necessary resources to aid your journey. You get the idea, right?"
Xiao Ning added with a slight smile, "So really, having multiple partners isn't just accepted ~ it's practically part of proper cultivation. We would have had the same, if we were as exceptional as you. You're overthinking this."
"Old fashioned huh?" I chuckled at their explanations. " Let's get going then," I said activating the creation energy.
A star-shaped portal opened.
" You also go in to the small world. Use the token to enter the temporal field." I throw them a token I just formed for the array I laid.
" I plan to spend sometime to figure out the new reality, meanwhile you can stay and cultivate." They also entered the ring world. I applied the time ratio to thousand times slower and withdrawn ring artefact to soul realm.
***
This time, my plan was different. I wanted to spend considerable time developing the internal world on this visit to some non-cultivation worlds. I had been too busy cultivating one technique after another, always chasing more strength. When I first got the chance to meet the one who claimed to be God, the sheer sense of power intrigued me so much that I made the choice to rapidly advance in apparent strength.
Now I'm ashamed to admit something. I feel difficulty associating even with the ladies who just entered my inner world, let alone fellow cultivators or normal people. A sense of detachment keeps growing. My interactions with them have become more about reinforcing my inner self than genuine connection despite unintentionally surrounding myself with too much women than I anticipated.
Every cultivator of the Dao begins from being powerless, so becoming detached after gaining strength is inherently a detachment from the Dao itself. That's exactly what I should avoid.
I had released my seal on my true self, one layer after another. I made my presence nearly absolute minimum. The spiritual refinement up to the Dao of Dragon realm hadn't helped much, but each increment in the Martial Ancestor realm made a significant difference due to the peculiarity of the soul itself.
Before reducing my presence, I could feel the entirety of space and time of the small world with just a thought. For such observations to occur naturally, one's life level needs to be extremely high. The gains here were not small.
°•°••••••°•°
Anyway coming to present, I set the shielding to envelop from my entire domain range to a field surrounding near me. Merged the physique - body back to soul as a spiritual entity of Ancestral Soul.
As I prepared to leave the tiny world behind once more, I found myself reflecting on how drastically events had unfolded from the original story. My presence had created ripples that changed destinies ~ sometimes for better, sometimes worse.
Looking back, my past few years were mostly spent watching the world progress, engaging in spiritual cultivation, and living peacefully aside from a few days of actual fighting. There were encounters with Long Yuyin, friends to joke around with in the demon league, helping our protagonist escape death multiple times because of changes my presence had caused, and also because I was simply too lazy to handle his responsibilities myself.
And of course add relation with Xiao Ning and Ye Ziyun too.
Throughout these years after returning from source world, I had kept my shielding mostly contained to myself, so outside forces couldn't sense any changes in the ruins world even if I venture out. Or better to say, sense only a semblance of normalcy.
Recording the spatial and temporal points of current reality, I covered myself in a creation energy shield and stepped through the star shaped portal to the place I had visualized in my mind for a new Journey.