The capital of the Lotus Empire was a fairly bustling city compared to most backwater powers.
The forr Kingdom of Altair was a better example of the average activity of a low tier power.
The large collection of Ruins could have made the Lotus Empire more but Darkmoor laid claim to the majority of the resources.
As such, it was not unusual to see larger powers' mbers occasionally stop by.
The big Sapphire Auction House event was a big draw but any rumors of new Ruins' discoveries could draw in a crowd as well.
So when a flying artifact approached the high walls of the capital from the east, the guards were not caught shocked or uncomfortable.
In fact, they saw the massive black triangular shadow that slowly resolved into a luxury boat on top of a pedestal in recognition..
It even had sails that seed to draw in the Qi to make it work more efficiently.
"Senior Mythra, your guests have arrived."
The guard at the gate was about to resu inspecting new arrivals when the people on the ship began to disembark.
In the Lotus Empire, outside of a few buildings and the Academy, Gold Tiers were near legendary, but now an entire town stepped out of the artifact.
Its lower triangular fin retracted as more people disembarked.
They were all Gold Tiers!
The majority were beautiful n and won in dark blue robes.
They all made way for an older man in the darkest of blue robes.
It reminded the guard of the night sky with how it had sparkling reflections in the bright sunlight.
He suddenly realized that the flying artifact would blend in nearly perfectly at night as well.
He was about to be overtaken by the massive influx of Gold Tiers when a strong aura flared over the crowd.
Everyone bowed as any being that dared to flare their aura in the capital without fear was a power to be wary of.
Further, they would have the explicit permission of the Emperor.
"Guildmaster Midnight, your proposal did not include such a large entourage.
Please explain."
A female voice that made all the lower realm cultivators tremble shook the air.
The woman behind that voice was powerful.
The man in the dark blue robe, however, did not seem to tremble like the rest.
He bowed respectfully and then turned around.
The artifact flashed before it disappeared and a large structure replaced it.
The guards finally felt shocked as a building as an artifact was both rare and highly Qi intensive.
It was the dream of any number of cultivators as it would allow them to freely travel but bring their ho with them.
All the resources, special gardens, and so forth could be preserved but the storage treasure needed for that was easily a high end ring at least.
It was incredibly difficult to procure such an item and it revealed the level of power behind the person in front of them.
"If you are done showing off, Master Frey awaits you and the allowed number of people."
Shock flooded the long line as only those in power knew that Lind Frey had set up a place for people to ask for commissions from him.
Now that he had returned, there was high demand for his powerful elixirs that had been depleted over the 7 years he was thought to be dead by most of the world.
Midnight frowned but he could not dean his Guild more than that.
He gave instructions to one of the won and the majority filed into the artifact.
They would be in contact with Cimria from within that artifact and let him know if an issue arises.
Only 3 people followed him as he swiftly made his way through the rather small city.
Of course, any city he could see the borders of from the sky seed small to him.
Cimria was without doubt the largest city in the 3 continents.
Midnight did not sneer nor look down on the people around him.
He suspected he was under harsh eyes at the mont but for once, he did not have an ulterior motive.
The 3 people following him did not glance around and had their heads hidden by hoods.
Their robes also hid their sex.
The group finally entered the Diamond Ward and Midnight almost had to scoff at how high up grade 3 items were held in the Lotus Empire.
It was clear they could only sustain mid to high Iron Tier for the noble classes in that Empire.
The gate in the wall had an emblem on it.
Midnite froze as he saw sothing unexpected.
There was a platinum 4 with an elixir vial as expected, but there was now a gold 3 with all 6 elents rging into a core now stood next to it.
Midnight felt his heart skip a beat to see that.
The boy had advanced the more precious job at last!
He did not see any guards but the gate opened once they had stood there for a short ti.
He was surprised to see won in pale crimson robes, most of them in the Sand Tier, waiting to escort them into a decent mansion.
Midnight kept his face carefully neutral as he had for many negotiations but on the inside he was sweating.
It had to go right!
It had to!
????????
"Strange."
Lind observed his new guests as they made their way up the path to the mansion.
His eyes seed to glow which told the others he was using his talents.
"What is strange?
Midnight seems to have advanced once more into the mid Diamond Tier.
It must have been recent but is it flawed?"
Qing was nearest to him but the other 3 were curious what made Lind comnt but he stayed silent.
Caution was not a bad thing when a Diamond Tier's senses far surpassed their own.
They moved to the eting room on the ground floor and waited for Reya to lead them in.
Lind seed lost in thought to the rest of the room but he was already piecing together what he saw.
Reya knocked on the door before sliding it aside to guide the 4 people in.
Lind stood and bowed to Midnight as his cultivation demanded but also looked firmly at the middle aged looking man.
Midnight actually seed tense to his eyes but he also bowed back to Lind and then to his 4 wives.
Two of the people behind him pulled back their hoods to reveal a set of twins.
They were not identical but Lind had grown up around fraternal twins so easily saw the similarity between the man and woman in front of him.
They were tier 8 Soul Realm from Lind could tell.
They had a trait though that bothered him.
Their ridians seed far wider and sturdier than any human he had ever co across.
His own ridians had been reconstructed and tempered far beyond normal humans due to his experiences but his flesh reflected that as well.
These 2 only had the ridians.
The fact it seed natural told him they were born with it.
Their dark hair frad their pale skin but their faces were strangely blank.
It was not indifference, it was as if they could not show emotion from what Lind could perceive.
Similar to Teylin and Teyla, their elents complinted each other but their cores were odd.
Like the ridians, the cores seed far more resilient than normal.
The quality was at the World Realm from what he could tell.
The girl had water and earth as her elents while the boy had fire and air.
"Please excuse my companions, they are unable to express themselves like other humans."
Midnight saw Lind's eyes were locked on the twins and seed nervous but Lind held up his hands.
"I have never seen them before but based on research, they should have the Placid Physique.
Their emotions are directly tied to their elents.
When not using Arts or techniques, they are essentially calm."
It was a rare physique and only discovered by soone like him, with Soul Eyes.
It is able to have far more power but the effect on emotions was odd until Lind actually got a look at it.
Since he knew foundation was more closely tied to the cores than any technique explained, it likely was the strange effect on the ridians and cores also extended to their soul.
Or perhaps, the change in their souls extended to their cultivation.
Lind did not honestly know but the Placid Physique had the benefit of speed and stability despite the emotional component to it.
Rather than having to comprehend in the abstract about the elents, it beca much more personal.
Conversely, the higher the realm, the harder it beca to progress.
Lind found the contrast interesting but he also suspected they were only personal attendants to Midnight, not the cause of his visit.
Midnight nodded then seed to not know what to do.
Lind left no opening to proceed nor try to take up the slack in the conversation.
Lind noticed his wives just sat calmly but did not make things tense while leaving no avenue for the man in front of them.
The person who finally broke the silence was the last hooded figure.
"Father, it hurts."
Before anyone could even blink about the words, Lind moved.
His aura flared and the strength stunned them all.
He was only in the mid-Iron Tier but his power was a whole tier above.
On top of that, his speed far exceeded what should have been possible for a World Realm.
Midnight was stunned by that fact alone.
"Hold still."
Lind's Sky Touch went to work on the small body in front of him.
It was not his place to reveal what he had already seen but he could not stand back when the person themself asked for help.
The person in the last hood was fairly tall but could not be more than 13 or 14 years old from what he could see.
He said that because they were in the first tier of the Soul Realm.
They also had massive Qi deviation.
The fact they could walk at all was a miracle.
Lind's Eyes looked deeply into the dantian and frowned at what he saw there.
Conflict.
The dantian was in conflict with itself.
The cause was simple to grasp but difficult to resolve.
"What physique does your daughter possess, Midnight?"
The man flinched but the 4 won that were so reserved softened considerably after that.
"I–I don't know.
No one does.
I don't have an ancestry to go through nor elders to consult.
I was an orphan.
Her mother was like , too, an orphan.
She was strong though.
Far stronger than normal humans.
So was my daughter but I hoped she would be spared her mother's fate."
Midnight had already been alive for centuries but the fact he fathered a child so late was quite common.
The gentleness in his voice when he spoke about the mother of that child spoke volus to them all.
Lind glanced at the twins and Midnight nodded.
They were his as well.
They had co to help their little sister.
"I have to know, Midnight.
How did her mother die?"
The man flinched but nodded.
The words seed stuck in his throat but the twins finally spoke.
"Step-mother died when trying to break into the Soul Realm.
Sothing went horribly wrong and she did not even make it to tier 2."
Lind did so calculations but he had heard nothing about such an incident in his history of Midnight.
Clearly this girl had been alive before Lind disappeared, so why was this sob story only coming to light now?
"Why risk it?"
Annabelle was full of empathy for the little girl in front of them.
SHe was always sympathetic to those in pain.
"I doubt they could stop her, Annabelle.
Her body is practically absorbing Qi as we talk."
Lind had watched the strange flow of Qi.
It was quite familiar to him.
He had lived with the sa problem all his life.
"She is an Innate Cultivator."
Silence filled the room as Midnight actually looked stunned.
He did not know how his youngest daughter had cultivated until that mont, clearly.
Lind built a shield of Qi and it helped imnsely but the body was the issue.
Lind could fix the dantian, ridians, and even the absorption rate, but the body was a mystery.
Until his many experiences, his body was just a normal human.
It was why his own dantian had a grace period before deviation occurred.
The low quality body actually protected him from his talent for a ti.
This girl, on the other hand, had a very high quality physique that would normally complent cultivation very well.
Unfortunately, she was a rare case.
She had 6 cores surrounding a bright orange fla in her dantian.
She was a 6 elental in the midst of severe Qi deviation.
Lind was angry that Midnight had held that back as he would have demanded to see the girl as soon as possible.
"I-its better!"
The stoic twins actually flared their elents when they heard those words and Midnight looked in hope at Lind but saw the grim face look back.
"I have bought so ti.
We need to talk."
Lind guided the girl to her father who gently picked her up and followed Lind to another room.
"Please care for the twins, I will be back."
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