Ch-9:Reunion
It had been a month as time slowly passed since Lia's departure and news of it reached her clan causing a stir.
The surprising thing was that there was no news of her being pregnant at all and they couldn't do much about it due to the Core District Elders's presence.
The one who felt happy hearing the news was none other than Lia's mother as she finally gave birth to their third child and first son.
It was great for her to get pregnant thrice with their current strength as the chances of conception decreased with an increase in the cultivation realm.
This is the reason the old monsters who have lived hundreds of years can't make clans with just their own descendants.
The Heavens balance life in such a way that one's lifespan increases with cultivation but the chances of having children decrease.
For weak cultivators, it doesn't matter but after a certain cultivation, one cannot have children without being in the same realm that too with difficulty.
Even stronger cultivators have difficulty having children despite being in the exact same stage in the same cultivation realm.
The stages of cultivation are divided into Initial, Middle, Late, and Peak stages for all the cultivation realms.
For example, Lia is in the peak stage of her realm while Raon finally enters the initial stage of the same realm.
During the Entrance Test, Raon was an entire realm below while most were at least in the late or peak stage of that realm or in the next realm.
Coming back to Lia, she managed to break through once again after 2 months into the hidden land with the opportunities and resources from there.
Unfortunately, someone from their Academy who didn't enter felt enraged seeing her advance so fast as he wouldn't be able to get a better aphrodisiac than last time.
Rodric also ordered them to get her after she exited the hidden land as the exits were entirely random and no one would stay there the entire time.
Of course, since both Empires' talents had gone in, both Empires had sent their Core Elders to guard and be on the lookout for each other.
But the area of hidden land was way too big to be covered by just a few people, making many blindspots inevitable where people were killed and looted.
Yet, that happens later as the first to exit were protected due to the information about the hidden land being regarded highly.
The hidden land had dense pure energy ready to be used for cultivation which cut cultivation time by a huge margin for anyone.
Everyone who entered could only leave through exit formations by luck or get trapped in illusions or slaughter or anti-cultivation formations.
The other way was breaking through the next realm as the land would throw you out as Lia was sent out after 2 months of entering.
She used this chance to solidify her foundation using the pills she had been saving for the breakthrough as she was only forced out 1 day after her breakthrough.
As soon as she appeared outside, she used her techniques to hide herself as much as possible.
Before she could find anyone from the Academy, she was ambushed by men in black who directly attacked her.
The first second she was surprised but ready to fight to the death the next second. It took her only 1 clash to figure out the fact that they didn't attack her vital points.
All the attacks were aimed to incapacitate her, not kill or harm her in any way as they were directed at her feet and arms only.
Being a cultivator means having better thinking abilities as the body is tempered by the cultivation energy.
The energy improves not only the physical capabilities but also the mental ones like memory, quick thinking, intelligence, etc.
Being quick-witted, she realized it was for the information or resources but since no one was targeting her face, breasts, or genitals made it quite obvious they changed the reason after seeing her, or it was that from the very beginning.
She fought them for 5 minutes before she successfully escaped their encirclement and ran away killing 1 and injuring 2 on her escapade.
For her, the situation was not a first as she had been out for several missions so killing someone or someone wanting her body were common occurrences for her.
The unlikely fact was that she kept getting ambushed no matter how hard she tried to hide her traces.
It didn't take long for her to conclude that they were able to track her somehow, yet she didn't have the time to check all her belongings as they seemed hell-bent on capturing her alive.
It didn't matter how many she killed as they kept appearing along every path she took and they kept attacking her without a word.
The one responsible for this scene was rushing here as fast as possible but how could she get caught so easily?
It took Rodric 7 hours to get there while she escaped and he felt enraged but knowing her destination made catching her easy for him.
He took his 5 trusted men to reach the nearest village which could be her only destination and her current location given by the tracker.
Even after he searched every nook and cranny for more than 4 hours, he couldn't find her nor could any of his subordinates.
In anger of his failure the second time, he razed the village to the ground killing every single person living there.
Unfortunately, Lia had long left this village and was eager to return to her daughter and not the Academy as no one knew about that place.
She had changed her clothes and checked everything for trackers 100 km away from that village.
Yet, her tracked belongings were her sect ID card for entering the hidden land which she discarded after noticing it.
But it ended up in the village which led to the village's demise as someone had found that thinking it to be precious and would fetch a pretty penny took it with them.
As Lia advanced to her destination with her superficial wounds, she decided to play it safe and hide as well as she could.
It took her around 6 months to even reach the periphery of the territory where she was headed.
Unfortunately, she had met way too many people willing to kill or rape her much to her displeasure delaying her journey massively.
The issue arose in the fact that she was this close to returning yet she could not as she was too tired to continue her journey in her current state.
In her last battle, she almost died as the assailant attacked her face thinking she'd shrink back but she advanced further and impaled his heart with a dagger.
She was skilled in weapons but she didn't have one main weapon as she used everything to win as that dagger was from one of the deceased assailants.
After that battle, she was too tired mentally to continue so she decided to rest but before that, she did something unbelievable for a girl as beautiful as her. She took her deceased attacker's spear and made several scars on her face as well as exposed limbs.
It was to prevent someone from wanting her body as that had started to bother her a bit too much and with her current condition, she looked like a beggar preventing further attacks.
Unfortunately, it worked but those who knew her face from their mission could recognize her due to her unique hair and eyes.
She was too tired to continue and wanted to rest but even before she could enter the city, she was ambushed by the similarly dressed men from outside the hidden land.
She escaped yet again but this time, her mental condition was too weak to keep fighting for long so she led them away from her secret place.
Another month went by in her cat-and-mouse game until she was cornered by too many people.
She fought and killed every single one of them but her trail of blood was also easy to recognize and track her.
She barely circled around her place and this time, without caring about the consequences, she went directly to her secret place.
While all this was happening, Raon was unaware of the upcoming doom as he was busy carrying out his plans while also taking care of Altair.
It had been almost an entire year since she was born yet her body only became 3-4 months old due to the time dilation.
He had to substitute 1 rank-2 energy stone every week to substitute for her mother's milk to keep her alive and well.
He was waiting for Lia to return and since the formation didn't activate, he knew she was well and alive wherever she was.
The problem was that everyone who entered with her had already returned or believed to be dead as no one would keep waiting forever.
Due to the importance of that place, a few guards were placed by both the Empires to prevent any accident as well as hide it from others.
While Raon was looking at Altair, the formation fluctuated making his countenance turn frigid as his entire body pulsated sensing doom.
Just a second later, Lia barged in garbed in torn blood-drenched clothes as she took a beeline to Altair and directly held her.
Raon, on the other hand, was radiating such an immense killing intent that even the assassins that followed her flinched.
It took him less than 10 minutes to kill every single one of them as he misled the ones chasing Lia to keep their secret hidden by setting a fire and leading the blood trail in another direction.
As soon as he returned, he saw Lia feeding Altair while she was smiling. Lia separated Altair a little and kissed her forehead as she put her to sleep by singing a sweet lullaby for her daughter.
The formation seemed to tremble as if awaiting her host's death and the time seemed to slow down even further, insensible to the two present.