The crowd around the gate location was silent the entire time Damien and the Heavenly Jewel Palace Master were gone. They used the brief moment of respite to process the events that took place prior.
First, Jiao Mei placed extremely high on the Dimensional Leaderboard. Afterwards, she was almost killed by the Heavenly Jewel Palace Master for killing his son. But before this could happen, a mysterious man appeared, ranking in the top 1000 of the Dimensional Leaderboard and saving Jiao Mei.
How he and the Heavenly Jewel Palace Master disappeared or where they were going was a mystery. But before they could even make their guesses, Damien returned. The total time he was gone wasn't more than 10 minutes.
And when he returned, he did so alone.
His eyes panned the crowd, causing them to freeze up in terror. His gaze briefly stopped on the Eclipse Sect Master before turning to Zara, who was holding Jiao Mei.
Compared to when he left, Jiao Mei's complexion was far better. She only looked like she was peacefully sleeping at the moment.
But as if she sensed Damien's presence approaching, she grumbled quietly and slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was his face. I'm that instant, memories rushed into her mind in waves. The fact that she was alive settled in.
Quiet tears dripped from her eyes. No matter how much she prepared herself to die, she never truly wished to. She was infinitely grateful for the chance to live again.
Damien allowed her to have her moment for as long as possible, but unfortunately, he didn't have much time. While returning, he looked over the Star chart Atticus gave him and approximated Death Emperor Star's relative position. And frankly, "far" wasn't a good enough word to describe it.
To reach it in 6 months, even if he teleported with all his power, he needed every minute he could get. Especially considering that he was only allowed to use long-distance teleportation arrays a single time during his journey.
This was a rule in place to even the playing ground for people at the far reaches of the universe. If they had the ability, they could shorten their travel time by weeks or even months.
Even though Damien had a black card at his disposal, he didn't want to use it to cheat his way through this first test. At most, he'd use a teleportation array in the final stretch of his journey. Before that, he wanted to use the 6 months he was given to temper himself whether that was by traversing the starry sky or entering Mystic Realms he found along the way.
"Jiao Mei, do you want to come with me?" He asked.
"You're leaving?" She responded immediately with wide eyes.
Damien nodded firmly. "I have to go. But there is a place I can take you where you can train in peace for a while. If you don't want that, I can take you with me and drop you off at a more suitable world for your talent. However, don't make this decision for me, but for yourself. Even if you choose to travel with me, you and I won't cross paths very often at all."
What Damien could do was sent Jiao Mei to the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary's atmosphere was perfect for slow and quiet practice, and there were powerful experts within who could guide her. However, she wouldn't be able to get the same life-or-death experience she would in the outside world.
This was one thing Damien wanted to change about the Sanctuary. Its residents could grow slowly, but they needed a harsher environment to foster growth. Only, he didn't know how to add death zones into its fold. After all, no matter how much power he had in the Sanctuary, he couldn't create life. If he wanted to make a beast domain or a natural death zone, he'd need help from the outside world.
Hearing his words, Jiao Mei sunk into thought. She already decided to go with him, but she didn't know which option to choose. What she knew was that the Dawn World couldn't contain her anymore.
But, even if she stayed with Damien, she wouldn't see him often. These were his own words. In that case, what was the point?
While Jiao Mei worshipped Damien, especially so after he saved her life multiple times, she was a girl with her own ambitions. She didn't want to risk her own cultivation for the sole purpose of staying with him.
In the end, she lamentably sighed. "I…will go to a more suitable world."
She made the decision that was better for her future, and frankly, Damien wholly supported it. In his opinion, while this was the more dangerous option, it was also the best one.
Therefore, he nodded with a smile. "Okay. I'll make it happen. But before we leave…what do you want to do with them?"
Damien's gaze panned back to the Eclipse Sect Master. During the previous altercation, he made the choice to abandon Jiao Mei, something that haunted his mind ever since the Heavenly Jewel Palace Master was suppressed.
He was of half a mind to retreat and hide away in the Eclipse Sect, but his information network was too good for him to easily do so. He heard about the Heavenly Jewel Palace's destruction before anyone else.
Jiao Mei looked at his figure. Right now, he didn't look like the illustrious sect master she used to see. Instead, there was only a pitiful old man in his place.
"What…I can choose to do anything?" She asked hesitantly.
"Anything," Damien confirmed. "As long as we're in the Dawn World, I can do anything."
"Destroy it all." She immediately answered. Her eyes were cold and indifferent. The second the Eclipse Sect Master decided to abandon her, she did the same with the sect.
"And the disciples?"
"Everyone I trust is in my personal palace. I don't care about the rest."
"Wait! Jiao Mei, please reconsider! Think about everything the sect has done for you! How could you betray us like this?!" The Eclipse Sect Master screamed in panic.
"Betray?" Jiao Mei responded mockingly. She couldn't contain her laughter when she heard it. "You betrayed me first, yet you actually have the balls to talk about betrayal? Preposterous!"
"You little demon! If it wasn't for your special physique, you would be nothing! You're just an abandoned daughter of the Jiao Family. If it wasn't for me taking you in, you'd be dead on the streets by now!" The Eclipse Sect Master roared with bloodshot eyes.
"That's enough." Damien cut him off before he could continue. "Shut up and experience the consequences of your actions personally. Remember, the only reason this is happening is because you couldn't support your disciple at her lowest. If you're like this with your top genius, what will your reaction be like for other disciples?"
Damien's words immediately flipped a switch in the heads of those present Eclipse Sect disciples. Right, Jiao Mei was the best of them yet she was still abandoned. What would happen to them in a similar, hell, even in a lesser situation?
They'd surely be treated even worse!
Suddenly, the Eclipse Sect disciples backed away from the sect master. They couldn't trust a man like him.
And as Jiao Mei saw this, she suddenly changed her mind. "Can we go to the Eclipse Sect? I want to give the disciples a choice."
Damien quietly nodded and teleported the involved parties to the Eclipse Sect. Standing in the air above it, Jiao Mei felt a sense of power envelop her.
She poured mana into her voice and yelled, "fellow disciples! The Eclipse Sect Master is scum who abandons his sect members in cowardice! Now, the sect is set for destruction! For those who wish to live, leave now! Anyone who remains in the sect after half an hour will die!"
Her words resounded to every corner of the sect. Jiao Mei was incredibly famous and popular. Just by hearing her voice, most people recognized who she was.
"Isn't that the princess?"
"The princess is acting against the sect master?"
"The sect master betrayed the sect?"
Countless questions flew around, but there was nobody capable of answering them. The disciples were left with only a single choice to make.
Stay or leave?
Jiao Mei's status in the sect was so high that not a single person dared to compete with her for the position of sect master. Jiao Mei had absolutely no reason to lie. Aside from that, her moral character had always been just, as seen when she rescued Damien and Zara.
If Jiao Mei said the sect was going to be destroyed because of the sect master's actions…
It was likely true!
Those who realized this left the sect immediately. Hundreds of disciples swarmed the sky as they fled.
This mass exodus caused a shift in public opinion. Humans were herd animals, after all. Seeing so many people decide to leave, hundreds more followed.
What was left after the 30-minute mark were elders absolutely loyal to the sect and a few disciples who were the same.
Damien sighed as he saw this. He respected their loyalty, but unfortunately, they stood on opposite sides. Since he was supporting Jiao Mei at the moment, he'd do so in full.
"Are you sure about your decision?" He asked one more time.
Looking at those who stayed, Jiao Mei nodded. "I have no regrets. If my karma is damaged by this act, I will shoulder that burden and continue forward. Right now, I simply wish to cut ties with this sect entirely."
"And your own people?"
"I'd like to bring them with me. Is that possible?"
Damien nodded. Adding a few hundred people to the Sanctuary's population was nothing at all.
"Well then, since you're sure of your decision, let's end things on a high note."
Damien raised his hand to the sky. World Force swirled around him, empowering his movements. His mouth opened slowly, giving way to a single word:
"Starfall."
