The Heaven Clan's mention of tunnels was a complex one.
One had to remember that it sometimes took decades to travel from one quadrant to another. However, the kitsune had access to something no other clans in existence did: the supreme law Void.
Although it still sometimes took decades for the Void clan to reach a universe, the journey back would only take one or two years at the most, a fraction of the original time. These numbers were obviously significantly reduced if the quadrant in question was adjacent to their own.
One had to remember that Saru was only 12 years old when she got news of Dyon's first trial results, yet she was already back home. If it really took so long, then how did this happen?
When Saru was born, the shattering of the soul seal had already reverberated through the universes. While the clans of Dyon's universe were too low level to pick up on it, the Shruti clan didn't miss it. Curious about the reason, when Saru was still a toddler, she chose the location of this disturbance as her coming of age ceremony grounds.
When Dyon fought Saru, thinking that she was older than him, she had really been only 10 years old. Aside from how impressive her combat prowess was, the poignant point here is that it had taken her 8 years to reach Dyon's home universe, two more years to establish herself, yet less than a year to make it back to her home universe after being forced to leave.
How? The answer was simple. The Shruti clan had commissioned a Void Clan elder to make this so-called "tunnel" for them.
The blackhole-like characteristics of Void will was perfect for creating long lasting roads between universes despite being poor for travel in battle. And these roads could last hundreds of years if they were constructed properly.
"Do you remember what happened after those Dukes and Duchesses came back?" Patriarch Heaven said a slight smile.
After a moment of thought, Patriarch Void answered. "We decided to take the risk and sent Kawa to search for the Epistemic Tower… But, she disappeared for hundreds of years and it wasn't until the River Clan received signals that she was still alive that they went back and took her… It turned out that she hadn't come back because she found herself a husband and gave birth to a child, no?"
Patriarch Jikan spit on the ground in disdain. "To abandon your family for such frivolous nonsense. How ridiculous. Did she not know how important she was? Even worse, that husband of hers actually came here and passed the River Trial, we had no choice but to let her go at that point or we would be breaking the rules of our ancestors…"
Just like Soul Rending Peak, the kitsune had very strict rules to follow. If they broke these rules, they would lose the protection of their ancestors and thus the amount of faith energy they had would decrease. This was no joking matter for large clans.
"Why are you bringing all of this up?" Patriarch Void pressed.
Patriarch Heaven's eyes brightened. "What if I told you that the very universe the River Clan went to retrieve that traitorous whore from is the exact same universe the Shruti commissioned a tunnel to be bit to?..."
Suddenly, Patriarch Jikan and Void froze. It was suddenly clear as day to them. Who among dao formation experts weren't absolute geniuses?
There were simply too many coincidences…
Kawa was from the Snow Clan. So was Alexandria.
Saru was close friends with Alexandria and also happened to have taken her coming of age trial in the universe Kawa hid in.
The parents and lineage of Alexandria were completely unknown, not to mention the fact they somehow didn't sense the awakening of her Kukan faith seed until long after she was born… Something completely unprecedented…
This all came together to point in a single direction: Alexandria Snow grew up in the Celestial Deer Quadrant!
If Dyon knew that the Kitsune had finally come to this conclusion, he would have tossed everything to the back of his mind and focused entirely on them. No matter what he had to do, he'd put his everything into stopping their next move. Unfortunately, Dyon wasn't a God, nor could he account for every variable.
He only made one mistake: He didn't know that the Kitsune would know which universe Saru had gone to. But, that one mistake could lead to absolute tragedy.
Patriarch Void began laughing like a maniac. "We already have tunnels to that universe because of the Dukes and Duchesses! If we send a team of elite celestials specializing in void will, they could get there in just three months! That universe is so weak that even a single third grade mid celestial is enough to wipe them out whole. I want blood!
"Kill everyone from her father's clan. Leave her parents alive, I want to torture them personally! In fact, bring her grandparents to me now!"
Patriarch Void cackled as though he had lost his mind, but the other two family heads didn't blame him. Aki was his favorite grandson, seeing him humiliated in such a way was too much for him to take lying down.
In truth, they had no idea who Dyon was. However, they weren't worried about it because the Emperor Giant Clan was livid as well. Plus, hadn't he just pissed off the Diasho Clan too? No matter how powerful the clan backing that masked man was, could it really be more powerful than the 3rd and 11th ranked quadrants?
Anger and rage blinded his sense of reason. If he couldn't make Dyon suffer, he'd make his wife suffer!
"No. This won't do. We'll send an elite team of celestials and I'll go personally!"
The evil glint in Patriarch Void's eyes was so fierce that the other two didn't even bother to dissuade him. A storm was about to descend onto Dyon's home…