Chapter 494: 494
Eight years later .
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After Daniel's improvised escape from the spiritual world, his universe fell into a state of orderly chaos .
In these eight years, following the orders of the aspect of the Spirit, thousands of spiritual cultivators at the godhood stage had left the spiritual world, and used the connection between the physical dimensions in their possession to reach Daniel's . Their hope was to be the ones to fulfill their deity's request, but unfortunately, in just a few months time, the clans that inhabited the spiritual world had started to notice that something was amiss .
Whenever a cultivator would look for Daniel after entering his dimension, without a single exception, they would never come back . These disappearances came with no small degree of suspicion, as for spiritual cultivators, death would mean being sent back to the spiritual world, while these cultivators had disappeared altogether, almost as if they had been captured, and were being held somewhere .
After the disappearance of over a thousand of these cultivators, the spiritual clans had decided to interrupt their hunt, and instead, they had chosen to establish in Daniel's universe in order to gain enough power for a collective and final attack . This break in the hostilities had allowed for many other groups to rise with the support of powerful multiversal faction, and for numerous conflicts and wars to take place .
At the end of these eight years, Daniel's universe was governed by only five major factions, which ruled their sector of space while trying to trample over one another . . All but one .
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" . . small matters aside, we have two more factions willing to enter our domain . " Said a distinct old man with short and well kept hair . He was dressed in an extremely clean white shirt covered by a dark grey waistcoat, and tucked into dark grey pants of a similar fabric . In his hand, he was holding a stack of papers which contained the agenda of the meeting, which he was discussing with a man in his mid twenties, who was sitting with his legs crossed and facing the other side of the room, and right into a fireplace lit with black flames .
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The room inside which this man was sitting was extremely dark, and aside from the feeble light that shone through the opening of the door and onto the young man's back, only a pair of beastly yellow eyes could be seen pointing at the old man holding the agenda . "Who is it?" he asked without turning back .
The old man tried to ignore the unmoving and menacing yellow eyes that were pointed at him, and said, "One of these groups are the Void Dwellers, who have promised to never aid our competitors as long as you create a stable passage to this universe . I assume that they wish to move here, since you already possess what they have been trying to obtain since the times they moved into the void . . A full comprehension of space . "
After a brief pause, the man continued by saying, "The other faction is the Beastfolk Nation . They seem to have learned that discrimination towards their kin isn't tollerated here, and wish to move in . . but I believe the real reason is that they have wanted to join King Xargy and the rest of the dragonkin ever since you have defeated your . . Well, the Tamer . "
"You don't need to mention these matters to me, just bring them to Nova and Xargy . They can handle them on their own . " Said the man who sat in the dark room with a slight degree of annoyance . From his tone, it was clear that he had had to repeat these words many times in the past, and yet, they had yet to sink in .
"I did, but they insisted that I asked your permission before they could accept . " Responded the old man before taking another small pause . He then scrolled through the pages he was holding, and added, "I will tell them that you are okay with it . Speaking about the situation in the universe . . More blood cultivators have been pouring in by the day . They seem to have learned from the last few lessons you gave them, and have now decided to build their number before attempting another attack . "
Once again the old man waited for the man shroud in darkness to respond, but after a few moments of silence, he decided to continue with his report . "The spiritual factions are acting in a similar way, but they aren't openly building their numbers . Instead, they seem to have settled into our universe, and are mingling with the native factions and warring with those who want nothing to do with them . "
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"The overall situation hasn't changed . The coalition of the Elemental factions has now merged into a single group which follows a new leader . Unfortunately, the name of this entity isn't clear . I have heard people call him the Elemental King, Mana's Ancestor, or the Lord of the Elements, but the elementals seem to refer to him as the Guard of Nature . Their group often clashes with the spiritual factions, which still sees them as living resources waiting to be turned into dead ones . "
"Similarly, the former Universal Government is now being controlled by that mysterious mercenary group that appeared a couple of years ago . Since this change of management they have gained power, which they have demonstrated in the clashes against the blood cultivators . Other than this, there is nothing else . " At the end of the report, the old man removed his reading glasses, and hanged them by the pocket of his waistcoat . He then waited for the man shroud in darkness to respond .
"Thank you, you can go . " Said the man sitting in the dark, causing the old man to bow down respectfully, and walk out of the door, which he closed behind him, restoring the room's completely dark environment .
Once alone, the man shrouded in darkness opened his eyes, releasing a golden glow in the surroundings, which in turn softened the cold yellow eyes of the beast that stood next to him, right as they turned in his direction . "Just because you are the king of hell, it doesn't mean that you have to scare everyone you see away . " Said the man with golden eyes to his beast companion, which blinked twice while whimpering and growling in disagreement .
The eyes of the man narrowed in amusement . "Alright, if you don't feel like cultivating anymore, then we might as well leave . . " Said the man . He then stood up, walked towards the door, and opened it, allowing the light to land on his face . "Come on . " Said Daniel to the adult demonic wolf, which stepped out of the room ahead of him, and once in the open, grew to the impressive size of a mountain which towered in front of the small shack in which the two were hiding to cultivate .
Daniel looked at the impressive size of the demonic wolf with satisfaction . He knew that the demonic wolves could grow as big, or even bigger, but he had yet to get used to seeing his companion in its full size . This size in particular was one he had seen only a few times, but instead of standing there to admire the sight, he teleported right above the arch in between the wolf's eyes, and sat comfortably over the patch of fur, which was now as wide as a road . Once Daniel was comfortable, the wolf jumped towards the sky, and disappeared in the darkness of space .
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After about an hour of travel, the two arrived in an odd looking system composed of five planets of different compositions . These planets were all extremely close to one another, enough for a cultivator at the high immortal stage to cross the distance in only a few minutes .
What was odd about this system was the fact that there wasn't a star at the center of it, but an even number of large orbs of light created with the concept of sunlight of light essence . These orbs were placed outside of the atmosphere of each individual planet to simulate a day and night cycle .
Even from outer space it was clear that each planet was inhabited by a different kind of entity, as shown by the peaceful and vibrant color of the biggest of these five planets, inhabited by elementals and low level beastfolk, by the nightlife that shone through the dark side of the second biggest planet, which was inhabited by humans, by the volcanic and desertic composition of the smallest planet, inhabited by the citizens of hell, who had moved out of what many called home, and others called prison, and finally, the rocky planet covered in high peaks and snowy mountains, home to the draconic race, and other legendary beasts .
These four planets were respectively controlled by Nova, Daniel's teachers, the demonic tribes which had survived the second war of hell, and finally, Xargy, who in the last eight years, thanks to Daniel's help, had been able to defeat the Tamer, and release the draconic races and other legendary beasts from her control . The power demonstrated during that fight was enough for the royal family of draconic race, including his grandfather, the former Dragon King, to acknowledge him as the most powerful entity of their race, and therefore, their new ruler .
In the middle of these four planets was the fifth one . Third in size and average in appearance, but while there didn't seem to be anything special about this planet, each inhabitant of the previous four planets would never dare to underestimate its importance . This planet was Daniel's group base, and was home to Hiel Academy, and Daniel's group, to which the inhabitants of the other four groups had sworn allegiance .
The demonic wolf ignored the presence of the other four planets and directly moved into Daniel's world, entering its atmosphere, and shrinking to a reasonable size right before touching the ground outside of a small town .
This town was built in a breathtaking valley, surrounded by woods, rivers, and ills covered in grass and flowers . However, despite the large space available for expansion, this town only contained a dozen large houses, all inhabited by Daniel's closest friends, and family members .
The two did not make a big deal out of their return, as they had only been missing for a few days, so they walked into the small town and towards the northernmost house without making their presence known .
As they walked through the city, Daniel heard the chatter that came from the first house, inside which he could hear the challenging words thrown towards Heimart by his oldest son, which was now old enough to challenge his ability in the martial arts of their family . In the second house, Daniel heard the clashing of wooden swords . These noises were something natural in this town, and came from Jerigh's house, where he and Cynna would train and duel almost every day with the same result, Cynna's inevitable defeat .
Daniel could remember when one day he had suggested letting Cynna win to Jerigh, but when he saw him the next day with the mark of a slap on his cheek, he realized that he had meddled with something he didn't understand . Unwilling to find himself in that situation again, he quietly walked past their house, as well as Ligart's, Imblen's, Aeron's, his sister Reila's, and a few more, only stopping when they finally reached the northernmost residence . A well kept villa with numerous rooms, but from which came no sound .
As they reached the residence, the wolf immediately ran around the house in hope to find someone to play with, but came back to Daniel a minute later, disappointed about the fact that the house seemed to be empty .
Just as disappointed, Daniel walked towards the house, but right when he was about to open the door and enter, a portal formed in the front yard of the residence . From this portal walked out Edmund, a young man in his mid teens, and finally, a set of twins . A little girl, and a little boy .
Edmund had an uncharacteristic wide smile plastered on his face, which matched the excitement shown by the little girl, whom he was holding in his arm . The teenager was less enthusiastic about their travel, and was the first one to notice Daniel .
"Uncle Dan!" Than shouted before dashing in Daniel's direction with the speed of a cultivator at the peak of martial cultivation, a stage which he had voluntarily maintained in order to avoid being unable to age past his early teens .
As these two words left Than's mouth, the two twins immediately turned towards the man that stood a few meters away, and in unison, while running in his direction, they screamed, "DAD! YOU ARE BACK!"