[Bonus chapter for 800 golden tickets :)]
Dyon couldn't help but bitterly laugh. So the demon sage got burned again for trying to do what was right?
"Maybe the worst part was that the demon sage had hoped that if he helped the Pakal Clan enough, then he'd eventually be able to bring back his daughter and die in peace, knowing that she would now be a part of a clan that could protect her… But as you can probably tell, things didn't end up working out this way…" Patriarch Pakal once again began having issues controlling his temper. But, he slowly reined it in.
"The demon sage began to impart his old clan much of his knowledge. He spent much of the last of his days transcribing legacy techniques and traveling across the quadrant to gather the necessary resources that he had hidden before he entered the Timeless Library.
"With his help, successive generations of Pakals became stronger and stronger, passing on better and better bloodlines as their parents continuously reached greater heights in their cultivation.
"However, despite the change in the demon sage, there was a deep seeded discontent. The Pakals seemed to think that this was what was owed to them… The Demon Sage was a part of their lineage, so of course he should be helping them, they thought.
"What didn't make the situation any better was that the demon sage was in fact holding out on the Pakals. He would only slowly increase the quality of techniques and Daos he imparted as the clan became stronger, not divulging everything at once.
"To them, this was because the demon sage needed their protection. If he gave everything at once, then they'd have no need for him. So, by their logic, he only released some of the things he had so they'd always have reason to ask for more."
Dyon sneered. What kind of ridiculous logic was that? Even in his weakened state, the Demon Sage was capable of facing up again peak dao formation experts. He was a person who had access to countless methods, and clearly endless wealth considering what he had given the Pakals. Why would he need the protection of a clan so weak he had to raise them up in such a way? It was clear that they were all blinded by greed.
If the demon sage wanted to hide away where no one could find him, he could easily do it.
Patriarch Pakal sighed, "The demon sage was intelligent though… He saw the changing of the tides and thus changed his tactics as well. He opened up a Pakal sect to act as a branch clan wherein they'd educate the youths with his resources. However, the caveat was that they now had to pass tests of the heart to share among his spoils…
"Unfortunately, instead of this method leading to a change in attitude for many, it only fractured our family.
"Members of the Pakal sect very quickly became more powerful than the rest and took over the most important positions in their main branch.
"The Pakal clan was thriving even more than before… But, jealousy is the harbinger of destruction…
"While our Pakal clan was rising, there was another clan that was rising as well under the leadership of a man who called himself Oden Ragnor. However, it was becoming very clear to him that he couldn't match the speed of the rise of our Pakal Clan… so, he took advantage of the discord that had already been festering."
Dyon's eyes flashed with a sudden realization, 'So this is how the animosity between the Pakal and Ragnor started?...'
Patriarch Pakal laughed bitterly, "The Ragnor offered to help the lagging branch of the Pakal deal with the demon sage's faction if they gave away some of the benefits the gained from the demon sage and those ungrateful bastards actually accepted!
"The Demon Sage was too weak to help us. He had stripped down all of the daos and intents he had built to cultivate along a new path despite knowing he didn't have the time left in his life to do so properly… He had simply done so to ease his soul… To assure himself that he had at least done something right in his life, even if he couldn't see it through to the end…
"After the first war ended, the traitors won. But, Oden was much too intelligent to allow the Pakal an equal chance at rivaling them in the future. So, he backstabbed those traitors and took away a vast majority of the body cultivation notes and legacies the demon sage had accumulated… Eventually using it to create the Ragnor Clans famous Lightning Deity Body Technique… A peak divine technique that has helped them lord over our quadrant only to be matched by us Pakal."
Dyon frowned, "If he backstabbed the traitors, then why can you still rival them?"
Patriarch Pakal sighed, "That is of course because this Oden could never have outsmarted the Demon Sage. How long had Sargeras campaigned for? How many schemes had he seen? He could see through the Ragnor clan from a mile away. On top of that, he had still yet to give us Pakal the best of his resources and legacies.
"However, at this point, the demon sage was truly at the end of his life… He could no longer afford to wait generations to release better techniques slowly. But, at the same time, he knew that because the opposed branch had stolen much of the resources and techniques, even when the Ragnor's scheme were taken into account, his Pakal Sect was still at a disadvantage… But, if he left things as is, it was only a matter of time before the Ragnor came back to destroy us.
"So, the demon sage took a gamble. He handed his favored branch the rest of his techniques, knowing fully well we would likely have them taken by the opposing branch. He then took away all of the talented orphans he had been grooming over the years and opened up his own legacy world, leaving us with a final strand of hope.
"He told us very clearly what would likely happen, and that we should be prepared for the inevitable. But, he also said that after he had chosen a successor, he would lead his army of demon generals to take back the Pakal Clan for his Pakal Sect."
Patriarch Pakal's hopeful gaze bore into Dyon. He, a celestial level expert, was putting the final strands of his hope in a boy with cultivation that hadn't even stepped into the essence gathering level yet. If his ancestors knew, they'd probably roll in their graves.
Dyon sighed.
In the end, the demon sage had truly changed. His old self would have just let the Pakal clan die out. After betraying him, not once, but twice, and even knowing they would do so a third time, he still left them his legacies. And in response, they had likely erased his memory from history completely…
And then, those same people had the audacity to turn around and breed hate with the Ragnor clan as though they Ragnor hadn't only committed the same atrocities they had.
It was suffice to say that Dyon was pissed. He had to conquer at least half of this quadrant to reach the top floor of the Epistemic Tower anyway… And taking the territories of the Pakal and Ragnor Clans would do just fine.
