"I'm going to head out first." Dyon said with a bitter smile, pulling his wives into his arms. Although he said this, he still couldn't bring himself to let go, causing their eyes to moisten.
Finally, Dyon pulled back. Cupping their cheeks, it was his turn to nag.
"Clara, stay within Central City, it's better that you don't go with Madeleine anymore. In fact, see if you can steal a position on the council for some added security. You can head to the Sapientia Corner occasionally, but don't allow there to be any pattern to your movements, and also don't allow yourself to get entangled with Aritzia, I still don't trust them. That said, with your intelligence, I bet you could give her quite the headache.
"Ri, you'll probably be the safest, here, alone. You can go and visit Delia too. I've given you three the ability to enter our corner, but be careful! There's an infestation of Serpent Vines and if you allow them to surround you, it would be a problem. Just be sure to teleport to the station closest to the tower entrance.
"Madeleine, you're about to go to war. Don't do anything flashy, it's the time for your husband to show off the power of his subordinates, okay?"
Madeleine giggled with tears in her eyes, but she still nodded along with her sister wives.
"They already know to follow all of your orders. If they dare to disobey, feel free to punish them.
"If you three want to meet, from now on, make sure that it's within our corner. Although Ri's palace is relatively safe, I don't trust the Void family to stay quiet for much longer, nor is the Snow family completely trustworthy."
After a few more words, a couple sly hands and perverted touches, Dyon disappeared from the teleportation station, leaving his wives behind.
**
A week later, Dyon found himself walking along the dirt road of a vast forest that grew up the side of a mountain. Even with his vision and cultivation, he couldn't see the top of it. After walking for almost half the day already, he felt that he was still only half way to his destination.
Of course, if Dyon decided to fly, this would be far easier. However, he wanted to do his utmost in becoming familiar with the surrounding territories.
In truth, Dyon didn't know how long he would be here. It could be a few days, but it could also end up being a few years. Normally he was much more precise with his planning, but this journey was truly just to check his hypothesis about a few things.
That aside, Dyon had still managed to collect some bits of information here and there.
When one exits the tower from any particular exit, there are one of two possibilities. During campaigns, you can either choose to be sent to the battle field, or be sent out to the receiving hub of the universe that guarded the epistemic tower.
Unlike what one might assume, movement through quadrants, as long as their fog barriers weren't up, was exceptionally easy. This was because no true threat one come in small batches of people, and those who could cause true commotion as a single person wouldn't be exiting from the saint floors for obvious reasons.
There was another reason for this as well: not many chose to go to quadrants that weren't their own, so often times it was just assumed that if you were exiting the tower, you were returning to your own quadrant.
The reason for this was one Dyon learned a long time ago: there was heavy suppression on non-native members of a universe, and this suppression was even more fierce for those non-native to the quadrant as a whole. This was the reason why Dyon's Inner World technique was so important, because it was the only true counter to this suppression.
The moment Dyon stepped into the 98th quadrant, he felt this suppression. It was as though the gravity had increased by a 100 times in an instant. It felt ridiculously uncomfortable.
Maybe the most shocking part was that this heavy suppression was coming from such a weak quadrant… By all rights, it shouldn't be like this. Suppression this heavy shouldn't appear unless a quadrant was within the top 20 at the least.
It was obvious that the overall power of a quadrant decided the power of its suppression. The fact that this quadrant was supposedly ranked 98th, yet had such heavy suppression only made Dyon more interested in digging out the secrets of this quadrant.
However, this realization only made Dyon more confused. That was because the energy density of this quadrant was definitely terrible. In fact, it was so bad that it was even worse than the energy density of his universe!
'Such weak energy density… Yet such strong suppression… Just what is going on here?'
Dyon shook his head, continuing to slowly tread along the road, trying to get used to the suppression along the way.
At this point, he no longer wore his mask. Since that mask was already tied to Ri's husband, it wasn't right for him to pull it out anymore unless he changed its appearance. Luckily, that was possible, truly making it the perfect mask, however Dyon couldn't very well join a sect with a mask on, now could he? That would just be inviting trouble.
In the end, Dyon decided to just come out with his true appearance, after all, no one knew what Dyon Sacharro looked like, it hardly mattered.
With that in mind, he continued his slow trek to a sect known as Unseen Peak.
...
Unseen Peak was actually one of 5 peaks that acted as subordinate sects to the leading sect of this 98th ranked quadrant.
As much as Dyon wanted to just go directly to the leading sect, known simply as Soul Rending Peak, there were certain rules he needed to abide by.
In order to earn a right to participate in a selection exam for Soul Rending Peak, one needed one of two things. The first was a recommendation from a sect elder of that peak. Obviously, Dyon didn't have such a thing.
The second possibility was to earn a participation spot from the subordinate peaks. So, that was what Dyon was doing now.
Technically, he had long since missed the registration period for Unseen Peak. It was too bad that things would never be so convenient for him. However, he didn't regret spending the time he did with his wives.
All of that said, that didn't mean he was willing to wait half a year for the next entrance exam. That was because the selection exam for Soul Rending Peak was in just a few weeks. If he waited for Unseen Peak's next exam, on top of waiting those 6 months, he would have to wait yet another 6 months for the next Soul Rending Peak exam.
Clearly, Dyon didn't feel up to wasting so much time. So, he decided to head straight to Unseen Peak. Did he really need to put a place with mere peak saints for elders in his eyes? He'd steal a placement if need be.
Truth be told, Dyon was only having such thoughts because he was disgruntled. Dealing with such heavy suppression, while also having to trek up such a long trail was pissing him off. If it wasn't for the fact he could idly chat with his wives as he did so, he would have flown into a rage long ago.
As one might expect, that rage also made him think silly things. Even Dyon would have to take those elders of Unseen Peak seriously considering the suppression he was under.
Realizing this, he couldn't help but ask Madeleine a question. "How did you adapt to the Golden Flame Quadrant's suppression."
Madeleine, who was currently organizing her supplies for the coming trials responded. "After I was officially accepted by the Flaming Lily Sect as an Inner Disciple, I felt the suppression loosen a bit, but it's still there. I suspect that unless I become a Legatee, it won't ever truly disappear.
"But, luckily, it doesn't seem like gates are a place you have to deal with that suppression in."
Dyon nodded. The gates were a neutral place and although they didn't all have epistemic towers within them, they were still connected and heavily related.
