30 Blossoms

•••

There was a palpable excitement around Mt. Evanescent, all the various factions and itinerant cultivators bustled around the plains.

A never before seen event had occurred, multiple people had lasted the four-year duration. A record that had barely been broken over the past few million years.

There were smiles on all the faces of the faction members, including the four Holy Lands. At all moments of the day, young cultivators would be teleported to the front of Mt. Evanescence thus completing their stay. The young practitioners would immediately be swarmed by elders of their factions and whisked away with them ensuring no harm would come to them, while in the process being barraged with questions.

"My Divine Bestia sect has lucked out this time! More than a couple of children managed to acquire an immortal's legacy." A rough looking lion laughed gleefully.

"Elder Leonal, that is impressive. But my Elemental Infinitum Sect has done the same. This generation sure is loaded with talents," an elder with multi-coloured hair replied.

"That is correct, what a time for them to be alive. With all the competition they will improve at multiple times the rate at which we did," Leonal said wistfully.

The children of these two sects would be confused at this situation, elders of both their sects who supposedly had a long time rivalry against each other were talking cheerfully.

What the children didn't know was there was no real animosity between the two sects, apart from a few altercations over the years, the two factions had just decided on a man versus beast front to motivate their disciples to cultivate harder.

Once the disciples reached a high enough realm the truth would be revealed to them; as this was only beneficial, this new information was never spread downwards.

"With these new legacies our sects will be pushed to another level; hopefully we will be able to ascend out of our small realm and into the larger universe at some stage," an elf from Quintessential Umbra Organisation said with hope.

The elf then turned towards Astrallis' father, "Patriarch Cestra, you must be the happiest out of all of us. Every member of your Grotto has yet to return, so why the glum face?"

"He hasn't seen his wife in over two years; he's missing her," Azuielle, the mother of Azui, replied with a laugh instead.

Soon a raucous of happy laughter floated around the pavilions.

"We are cultivators, it is usual for us to not see our partners of the Way for multiple years on end, but alas it seems Cestra just loves her too much," Leonal, the Divine Bestia sect elder said.

"I wouldn't love any other man." A voice entered the minds of all the elders in the pavilions, making them jump.

Soon a space-gate formed in front of them, and utterly devastating beauty with a nature to seduce entered their vision.

She had long emerald hair, and jade-like skin, her body was large and small in all the right places. The dress she wore didn't leave much to the imagination.

The elders all stared at her in astonishment, one thought in their minds, 'This is Jasmine Ether!?'

Azuielle soon jumped into Jasmine's arms, and said with happiness in her voice, "Sister Jasmine, I see you've reverted to your old self!"

"En. I went back to my home for a couple of years, and I felt myself revert to my old nature," Jasmine answered.

The happiest of everyone was obviously Cestra Ether; his eyes were so full you could see into his mind. He quickly sucked up the saliva dripping down his mouth.

"Wife, you're back!" He shouted in joy, his sentence containing more than one meaning.

•••

At the summit of Mt. Evanescence, Astrallis was receiving a stern talking-to by his grandmother.

"Okay, that's about all. Make sure to remember these tips when exploring the world by yourself, with these you shouldn't find yourself in any trouble that you can't get out," Anemone said, hugging her grandson.

"You'll also have that idiot feline with you; he'll be able to explain many things to you. Alright, there's someone that wants to talk to you." His grandmother finished talking.

Astrallis soon found himself in a pure white world, the only thing within was a tall blossom tree, cascading blossoms of various shades of pink floated around it.

There was a figure dressed in a long pink robe standing in front of the tree, the character turned and stared happily at Astrallis.

The figure ran to him, gorgeous pink hair flailing behind her.

"Brother Astrallis!" The girl called out as she held him.

He gazed wide-eyed at the pure girl of heavenly beauty, her head buried against his chest. He willfully touched her bright pink hair, moving it around his hand.

"Little Azalea… how? Where are we?" Astrallis asked incredulously.

"I asked my master to contact you, but it was intercepted by your grandmother and accepted for you on her behalf," she replied.

"Master?"

"En. My master is an immortal, she's known by the alias Eternal Blossom Immortal. Because of her loving nature, she is known around the universe; there is barely anyone that is antagonistic towards her. She has placed a strand of her spiritual essence within every natural primordial formation, in every single realm of the universe, to find a disciple; of course, with permission by the god who oversees the realm," said Azalea gleefully.

Astrallis stared at her, processing this newfound information, and asked, "What were her requirements for discipleship?"

"There was only one requirement; her disciple must have an innate Eternal Blossom Body. According to my master, this is a body that the universe only sees every few aeons, my master has been searching for a disciple with the same body as her for an indefinite amount of time," Azalea respectfully said when mentioning her master.

"You… have this Eternal Blossom Body?" Asked Astrallis anticipation in his voice.

"Of course, dummy. How else did I become her disciple?" Asked Azalea rhetorically, while playfully rolling her eyes.

Astrallis' smile was from ear-to-ear while he listened to Azalea's lucky chance as well as her experiences over the over the past for years.

"Enough of me! I want to know about you, I know you were exceedingly beautiful a few years ago, but how come you are so insanely handsome? You look like a man now!" Azalea finally couldn't hold it in and shouted.

He had been waiting for this and laughed away before he went ahead and explained his encounters over the years.

"So, that's how you became so exotic looking," said Azalea as she rubbed her hands all over his tattoos.

"I'm a pure blossom, while you're a seductive rose," Azalea giggled in delight, "and to think you are the young master of the Blood Felicity Religion."

"When my master taught me about the universe, she told me they were the strongest all-female faction. But it doesn't look like they are all female now," she said, unable to hide the mirth in her eyes.

All of a sudden Azalea's body jolted.

"If you're the only male in an all female faction," Azalea's eyes become piercing when she stared at Astrallis.

"And with the body and elegant regal bearing your possess." An uncontrollable aura started to spread around her.

"Are you okay? They are not molesting you, right?" She voiced her concerns.

One could almost see the whites of Astrallis' eyes. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, listening to the naive concerns of Azalea.

"Of course not. I'm the only pure-blooded grandson of the Religion-Master, I'm also the young master of the strongest family within the religion. Would anyone even dare do anything to me?" Astrallis said in an attempt to appease her worries.

What he didn't say was that he was more worried about the hungry eyes of his family members, and a particular fiery girl.

"Phew, that's good. I heard from my master that the Religion has a seductive nature, and nearly every member of the religion has a harem of men. The Religion-Master supposedly even motivates this possessive nature. I don't even know how my master is sworn-sisters with her, their personalities are so different," Azalea said in relief, her hands on her chest.

"Opposites attract." Astrallis shrugged his shoulders.

'No one better take him. He's mine.' Azalea thought.

•••

Back at the summit of Mt. Evanescence two women of pinnacle beauty stood next to each other, laughing gaily while watching the interaction of the duo.

"It seems she doesn't understand your nature all that well yet, Bloei," Anemone laughed in delight.

"She's too innocent and pure, she even thought that there were women who wanted to molest your grandson," said Bloei, the Eternal Blossom Immortal, with a smile but with a tinge of exasperation.

Anemone's eyes became a bit stern, "She's not wrong in that aspect, you know the nature of the women in the religion. It's hard for them to not act on something so handsome, the only reason they haven't attempted is that he's too young."

Anemone's reply caused both women to almost fall over in a howling fit.

"Bloei, I'm incredibly happy that you managed to find a disciple. Heaven knows how long and hard you've searched," Anemone said.

"En. I also love her naive and innocent personality, but I'll have to change it a bit. Make it a bit more calculative," nodded Bloei while speaking.

"If only all the people of the universe who befriended you realised that there was such a calculative brain in there, I don't know what they'd think." Anemone shook her head in mock exasperation.

•••

"Azalea, how come it feels as if your body is not here?" Astrallis asked something which he suspected he already knew the answer too.

Azalea's eyes dimmed a bit with his question.

"It's because I'm not here, well at least my body isn't. I've been cultivating in my master's residence within the Central Realm, for the past four years; it's amazing here Astrallis. Apart from the pinnacle cultivation utility here, which I'm sure the Blood Felicity Religion has, too, the competition between the Heaven's Chosen of the apex sects here is forever fierce! One simply grows stronger by being in this environment," Azalea's eyes became more excited as she spoke.

"You must come here sometime Astrallis, to experience the thrill of multiple Heaven's Chosen fighting. It just makes your blood boil." She finished speaking, pure innocence in her tone.

•••