Violet happily listened to Dyon's conditions. Seeing that he only asked for freedom and insisted to only act when there was a mission of importance, she readily accepted. In terms of the power of her faction, Violet believed that Dyon's power was only second to her own, so of course she would treat him well.
Now, whether Violet was truly stronger than Dyon or not, was another matter entirely.
After dealing with those matters, Violet handed Dyon a badge that would give him access and authority within their faction's courtyard before leaving with a sweet smile on her face.
At that moment, a deep chuckled resounded in Dyon's ears. 'Seems like that little girl can't wait to pounce on you. She's quite a bold little lady.'
Dyon shook his head, not responding. Violet was a beauty, but her personality was poisonous and sly. He didn't get a good vibe from her at all. As much as Dyon's bloodline wanted him to choose bedmates purely on appearances, his true feelings would never allow such a thing. If he did such a thing with a woman he had no feelings for, he would feel like he was betraying his wives as well as cheapening himself.
Thinking to this point, Dyon's mind couldn't help but drift to Jade.
He thought about her every so often and even though she hadn't taken over his dreams or lived in his nightmares, she still had a good bit of real estate in his mind.
Jade was the only woman he had ever crossed the line with that he wasn't entirely sure of his feelings for. Even though they had never dual cultivated, the things they had done together would more than constitute intimacy.
Dyon told himself that he had only done those things to continue fooling Jade into thinking he hadn't seen through her, but that was just an excuse. When Dyon met Jade, he was hit with the same wave of comfort he felt when he first saw Madeleine and Ri. Of course, it was funny saying that he felt comfort seeing Ri now, considering she had tried to kill him first. But, it was the truth.
Yet, Dyon had forcefully cut those emotions away from himself. After learning about all the horrible things Jade had done just for the sake of gaining his favor? He felt incomparably disgusted.
However, at the same time, it proved just how lost Jade had become. She wanted so badly to never lose Dyon, so badly to make him forget about Madeleine and Ri, that she was willing to force him to undergo the worst kinds of pain just so he would be forced to rely on her.
Dyon often found himself making excuses for her. 'It was the fault of her technique' or 'She didn't kill the children, at least' … But, he knew deep inside that this could never erase the things she had done.
No matter what excuses he made, Miss Everdeen would never come back. She'd forever lay in the crystal coffin. In fact, for all he knew, in the time she's been gone, Jade had committed many more atrocious acts. Although Dyon didn't know what the Daiyu had to give up in order to get Jade to cooperate with them, Dyon knew that with Jade's intelligence, she wouldn't ask for anything short sighted. In all likelihood, she was somewhere out there living a pampered life.
Shaking his head, Dyon sighed. In the end, he hadn't even been able to face her. He had to rely on Ri to fight her for him because he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He had never had trouble doling out punishment to even beautiful women if they deserved it, but for some reason he couldn't do the same with Jade.
'Pft, are you even a man?' The Dragon King's disdain filled voice sounded off in Dyon's ears again.
Dyon only shrugged. Considering the nature of dragons, the Dragon King had probably dual cultivated with more women than he could even remember.
'Old Lizard, how about you go find some transcendent females to spread your seed to instead of worrying about me?'
Dyon winced as a mind shattering roar almost made his mind vibrate into nothingness. However, he still chuckled. He knew good and well this was a sore spot of the old lizard.
When he reminded Dyon about his dual cultivation technique, he had let it slip that he couldn't find any suitable partners on the transcendent plane. Clearly coercing women of that level was much harder than what the Dragon King was used to.
Hearing Dyon's laughter only made the Dragon King angrier, however, that didn't bother Dyon too much.
'Forget this. Don't you think it's odd that someone of Violet's stature came to the Unseen Peak? I came here under the assumption that whatever secret there was would be on Planet Cathedral. But… Maybe it's actually on Planet Unseen?'
The Dragon King snorted, clearly still upset. 'It's been too long and I never personally went to the Soul Market. With my level of cultivation, what would I need a bullshit Soul Market for? I have the experience of too many lives to go to such a place. So, if you want to rely on me to find out where it is, I'll have to disappoint you.'
Dyon frowned, he had guessed as much. After all, the Soul Market was all about learning cultivation techniques without the effort or decades of work. Although there was the human pill option, the Dragon King wouldn't need that either.
'I'll start with Planet Cathedral. If I don't find any leads here, then I'll have to head back to Planet Unseen.'
**
While Dyon was slowly piecing together the happenings in the 98th quadrant, the Flaming Lily Sect's battle was just about to begin.
At this moment, Madeleine stood at the edge of a flying ship, hovering outside of two massive pillars etched with intricate arrays. These pillars were, of course, the very same pillars seen across all 100 quadrants and acted as the connecting gates to the campaign inner worlds.
Currently, Madeleine was waiting patiently for the arrival of a few individuals.
During a gate's maintenance period, those who wanted to travel from the Epistemic Tower to the universes could still do so, it was just that they would be teleported directly to the outside of these two pillars instead of directly outside the tower.
Luckily, the gate housing the Epistemic Tower shared a connection between both the Flaming Lily Sect and the Golden Crow Sect. Therefore, Madeleine didn't need to risk entering the Golden Crow universes to receive these guests.
Currently, Madeleine was very relaxed, a far cry from the anxious and nervous atmosphere of her fellow female sect members. Everything from her long, flowing red mage robes, to her matching violet hair and eyes made her look like an otherworldly being.
Although Madeleine hadn't been in their sect for long, or rather, not long compared to martial world terms, she had ingratiated herself well. Since this was a saint gate and the help they were about to receive came from her husband, Madeleine was unilaterally decided upon as leader. The Sect Matriarch had even promised Madeleine that should this endeavor be a success, she would be granted position as a Core Disciple and have the chance to fight for their one remaining Legatee position.
If this were to happen, Madeleine would be the first ever in the history of the Flaming Lily Sect to become a Core Disciple without having first stepped into the upper Celestial ranks. And maybe the most beautiful thing about it all was that there wasn't the same jealousy and envy there would be in another sect. The Flaming Lily Sect was truly a sisterhood, and they took this culture very seriously.
"Junior Sister, could it be that your husband isn't coming? Are you tricking us to make it a surprise?"
The girls of the sect were disappointed when Madeleine broke this news to them. They had been looking forward to meeting the famous Dyon Sacharro, but all of their dreams had been crushed.
Madeleine smiled lightly. "I'm sorry. Dyon is currently doing something very important, but it might not be too long before you meet him. With his personality, staying lowkey isn't really his style."
Of course, they all understood this. After everyone saw that the fog around the current 51st quadrant wasn't dissipating, they assumed that Dyon had still yet to step out of the tower.
When the members of the Flaming Lily Sect realized this, they all began to tease Madeleine for having a husband so much younger than herself. For reasons they already discussed, if Dyon was still in the tower, he was likely still an essence gatherer and therefore likely very young as well.
