The Golden Pavilion was a large table set out for at least 6 guests to enjoy an open courtyard from the shade of awning over their heads propped up by the golden wooden pillars around the edge of the stone circle.
The chairs were made of simple oak but refined and treated with materials to make them on par with peak grade 6 items.
The reason being that if anything remotely got through all the other defenses, the chairs and stone circle would react to create personal barriers close to grade 7 power!
The table was black stone but covered with a colorful cloth that shifted depending on who sat where.
It reacted to a cultivator and let them see the most pleasing colors based on their aura.
Lind had been experinting with several materials and found the effect by accident.
It did not give away anyone's secrets as only the person in question could see the colors.
Lind, himself, now saw the dance of all 18 elents in a calm swirl of a vortex.
It would have been dizzying to others but to him it was like he was actually comprehending more of his own situation just looking at it!
Currently, there were 4 people sitting as tea was served.
Lind sat on the side where he could pick up the pleasing scent of the trees as fall began.
He enjoyed the ti of year where things began to slumber for the cycle of winter then back to spring, but in the Heaven Realm lands it was rare to have such a near the mortal worlds would have.
Generally, seasons remained fairly fixed but he had noticed the plants still went through the cycle regardless.
The green grasses dulled but then other plants began to thrive that enjoyed colder months as the Sanctuary Empire did cool during that ti.
Soltara had secured Uri in so quarters while now wearing a shimring set of robes that scread grade 7 to his senses but he had never figured out how their clothes worked.
They were a part of her and shifted colors at her whim as it would hold gold at tis or go to crimson but it always complented her own shifting skin.
Valkyrie, as always, had a pristine white and gold battle dress that was mid grade 7 refined by his senses.
Her blue eyes and blonde hair looked as vibrant as always but he noticed she was looking at the last person with so wariness.
The woman was ancient.
She had on soft gray robes but Lind could not feel their aura at all.
He could feel hers just fine as before.
Since he erged from the Repository, it was as if no Immortals could hide from his senses.
It did not make sense at first but Ethry had told him that as dragons advance, their instincts and natural gifts far exceeded humans in detecting possible threats.
Valkyrie did not feel like a threat, but the old woman did.
Her white hair almost seed to glow as it cascaded down her back and shoulders to almost blend with her robe.
Her wrinkled visage showed her age but he did not treat her as anything less than a true threat.
The eyes were milky white as if blind but she seed to see just fine.
She had a twisted staff with her resting on her shoulder as well but that was definitely an artifact and not a weapon.
Lind could just tell at a glance but its function was unknown.
All 3 won seed to enjoy the tea but the tension could be cut with a knife.
Soltara was on his side, but the other 2 did not seem to know what to make of that.
The old woman had also declined to give a na and Valkyrie only ssaged him she knew her as 'old crone.'
"My esteed visitors, I thank you for your help earlier.
I did not want anyone to get affected in the crowd by that demonstration."
Lind started with that but saw Soltara smirk as she knew he despised being distant like he currently was speaking.
"No need to be so formal, young man.
I am well aware that little farce you put on was for others watching from the Alliance but not us.
Speak how you normally would."
Lind actually felt his guard rise up.
How in the world did this woman know that much?!
He had changed, that was a fact, but not as much as many people thought.
He shouldered the responsibility of being an Emperor tempered with his true desires to continue his path of cultivation.
He would still lose himself in libraries and experints like it was nothing.
"I appreciate that, senior, but I feel rude to not know your na or title at least."
Lind relaxed in part but still used it to try and gain so information.
A smile actually sprouted on the old woman's face too.
"Oh, nicely done.
Used my own suggestion against !
HA HA HA!"
She laughed but did not answer his question he noticed.
Valkyrie just rolled her eyes a bit.
Soltara giggled but then set her cup down as she looked at the old woman.
"You have only improved in your secrecy Isabella.
A far cry from the small girl lost in the Forest of Gaia."
Silence descended as the old woman actually blushed!
Lind actually was surprised but not caught off guard as Soltara had been alive a long ti.
It was not impossible she had t or heard of several current Immortal powerhouses in her ti sealed away inside the village.
Valkyrie, on the other hand, was staring at Soltara in shock!
She just casually revealed a piece of information even her best agents could not get in over 600 thousand years!
"Cough!
I seem to have underestimated your connections boyo.
I do not recall eting you Fellow Daoist."
Soltara bowed low but then let her figure beco faint to the point her body almost fell apart.
Isabella instantly recognized her.
"The spirit that guided
out of the forest?!"
Lind finally understood.
Isabelle was nearing the end of her life which was more than enough ti for Soltara to have been a Sky or Heaven Realm back then.
Elentals did not exactly stay in the village when younger.
The concept of being inside did not really resonate with them but as they grew more powerful, they realized they were running out of freedom.
So left the village with permission and the Forest of Gaia let them see the wider world in relative safety.
There was no at for beasts to consu and plants did not have a way to refine them either.
It was only humans and other humanoid races that were compatible with them.
Still, even Elentals would help a young human leave if they felt no threat from them.
"We are often mistaken for the spirits of Heaven and Earth but we are separate from them.
I am an Elental as you earlier surmised."
The 2 spoke for a ti and Lind did not interrupt as it was a friendly conversation.
Still, he noted Isabelle refused to answer a few questions regarding how she beca the leader of the Wangluo Syndicate nor what she had been up to in the recent past.
"Well, this has been an unexpectedly pleasant ti for .
I only hoped to snag so interesting information on how the Sanctuary Empire took down 3 Immortals with only Heaven Realms, but this was very nice."
Isabelle had another cup of tea but then beca serious.
"Sigh, I believe I explained–"
Lind really had explained but Isabelle's aura spiked instantly.
"You explained nothing boy!
That skill of theirs aside, how could any number of Heaven Realms subdue and seal 3 Immortals like that?!"
Ah, he did kind of skip that part.
"They didn't seal anything, I did."
He then sipped calmly at his tea.
Both Valkyrie and Isabelle were staring at him but he said nothing more on the matter.
"It is not sothing either of you should be concerned with.
I would advise not pushing this particular issue.
Further, my current freedom is also at his discretion."
Lind deserved an award for not choking on his tea at that mont.
While technically correct, it left out a giant gap of truth.
Both Valkyrie and Isabelle were unclear on her words but saw she was not kidding at all.
"That is flat out impossible.
I have access to so many records it could make all your heads spin.
A Heaven Realm cannot do anything to an Immortal, ever!"
Isabelle actually beca flushed as her tone rose but all 3 suddenly froze as a pressure descended.
It was not like Heaven's Wrath or Jubilation, it was simply the feeling of Heaven hanging over them and all 3 turned to see Lind glowing with power!
At that mont, not one iota of it was his own, but Heaven's!
How was such a thing possible?
"You rely too much on the past without questioning it.
My experience has taught
that you all simply accept what is true so long as it works, but Heaven and Earth are fair.
That ans you all ignored that even though 6 elentals could not advance."
He spoke slowly but the power surging around him was just impossible.
"I am a Divine Progenitor, but I did not start out that way.
Things changed and I struggled the entire way learning what I had beco.
It was no different for my 6 Divine cores and harmony.
I pieced it together just like those ancient pioneers had to grasp and stumble when there was no true path laid out."
His words were quiet but sunk into all 3 of them.
Soltara smiled wide but Valkyrie and Isabella felt shock flood their minds.
It was so simple and had been overlooked for ti immorial.
Heaven and Earth were fair.
It was a fact all cultivators knew but then why did 6 elentals struggle so?
Why could the thods that worked for rest did not work for them?
Lind had proven their assumptions were wrong from the start.
Isabella prided herself on the amount of secrets she had but Lind was the opposite to her.
He was not looking for secrets at all, he was looking beneath what was for what was missing.
He had a puzzle he kept plucking away at and it had led him to a level of power unheard of.
He was not only the pioneer for 6 elentals anymore, but all of them!
If power was the goal of cultivators, Lind had found the ultimate form of it.
The kind all cultivators craved the farther along they got.
Knowledge.
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