Chapter 527 Truth & Connections (Part 2)
Besides her beauty appearance, a trait the woman shared with her daughter, even if she has a yin type body constitution, in the state in which her body is, she won’t bring any benefits to a Heavenly Realm cultivator.
So, what Aster didn’t understand is why hasn’t the one who used the Bone Melting Palm on her, finished her off, the guy even took the risk of Alexandra’s mother somehow recovering and taking revenge over the “death” of her husband, probably with the hope that she will end up coming to him, to stop the continuous torture, which evidently didn’t happen.
But then Lilia’s voice helped Aster solve that question, she who was hugging Aster from behind, and rested her chest on her son’s head, carelessly said.
“Silk Consort yin constitution, now that is something you don’t see every day”.
The moment Lilia finished speaking the atmosphere tensed up, the word “danger” was written all over Alexandra’s mother’s face, but after a few seconds of contemplation, in which she realized they had no way to resist the group in front of her, even if her brother came here to help, she sighed.
“I’m going to die soon anyway, do whatever you want, just leave my daughter go, she isn’t like me, so she is of no use for you”, she said at Aster, her purple dull eyes sparkled with life probably for the last time as she gazed at him.
Aster chuckled, those purple eyes were certainly appealing, but only his girls were able to “charm” him.
“Sometimes I wonder if I really look like some kind of villain, in women’s eyes”, mumbled Aster.
“Humph, says the one that returned with two new girls after a mission that didn’t even last a couple of weeks”, Alice’s playful voice made Aster bitterly smile.
“Not to mention those two Luan girls would have followed us back if they could”, surprisingly Mylene also joined the fun.
“Mm, I’m fine with more sisters to play with~”, cutely added Kana.
Aster chuckled, while the others giggled at him, he certainly isn’t prude… at all, but it is curious how different girls react different toward him, some find his aura appealing, while for others it’s like the one of a perverted dual cultivator and there are some that seem to not be affected positively nor negatively by it, like those girls from the black sword faction that idolized him based on his strength, feats, handsome looks and the fact that he is the sole male core disciple.
Aster saw that Alexandra’s mother was at disbelief that her “charm” didn’t work, luckily, he didn’t have to convince her of anything, because his communication talisman finally lit up, meaning the call he has been waiting to receive could be connected at last, communication talismans most of the time could only cover a star cluster.
His was of a high quality and could originally cover a whole Stellar System, but now the connection could reach other Stellar Systems, courtesy of Eris’s rune mastering, still since the other party didn’t have one like his, reaching it took some time, all the girls had this type of special communication talisman by Aster’s petition by the way.
Normally to communicate through Stellar Systems, cultivators have to pay to use a special spirit treasure that is assigned to each ruler family or force on the many border stations, and the message will be delivered the same day.
Of course, for those who come from high grade Stellar Systems, treasures that can cover insane distances do exist, but even for them the number of uses is limited, like the one Lilia used to tell her father to forget about using Aster as a tool for the family, the moment he was born thirteen years ago.
“Young master, is that you?”, Toma’s voice could be heard coming from the talisman, naturally the former Atria elder was initially surprised, but then he remembered who he was talking with.
Unlike others, Tomas did know Aster and more importantly Lilia were members of the Drage family, though he didn’t know the story and all the details, considering Aster could easily resist the effect of the needles that tortured him for a hundred years, he was sure his status among the Drage couldn’t be low at all, not to mention he who used to be close to reach the peak of the Transcending realms, couldn’t see through Lilia’s cultivation at all.
As expected, the moment Alexandra’s mother heard Toma’s voice, it was as if she had seen a ghost, and Tomas was about to get the surprise of his life as well, because he didn’t know he had a daughter, in fact he probably heard a different version of the story compared to Alexandra’s mother, because he only shared his wish for revenge against the Atria back then.
“Yes, it’s me, I have a situation which requires your confirmation, it might be a weird but follow my lead okay?”, said Aster.
“Please ask young master”, answered Tomas.
“Did you marry when you were younger?”, asked Aster.
“…”, Tomas remained silent for a moment before saying.
𝑂𝐯𝑙xt.𝐂𝗈𝓶
“I… was love with a girl when I was younger, but after I thought I had finally found the love of my life, I was set up and she left without saying anything, I didn’t want to drag her to my mess, because I honestly thought I was going to be executed, so I didn’t chase her, but the son of the Supreme Elder later told me that she followed a guy from a high grade Stellar System”, Tomas’s voice became pained by the end of his sentence.
“Of course not, you stupid bastard, you were my first and only partner!”, gathering forces out of knows where, Alexandra’s mother raised her voice as she shouted at the communication talisman.
“T-That voice, Tamara!!!”, one could hear the surprise in Toma’s voice, the poor guy probably tripped the moment he heard his only love’s voice, which up to this day he could perfectly recognize.
Alexandra’s mother had a sudden attack of cough, while Tomas asked Aster what was going on, his voice was still filled with disbelief, but this isn’t something that should be discussed over a call.
What Aster could confirm was that Alexandra’s mother didn’t betray Tomas, otherwise she wouldn’t be dying, it’s obvious there is more to their backstory than what meets the eye, and there should be a dual cultivator from a high ranked Stellar System involved as well as the son of the Supreme Elder from the Atria family and the patriarch of the Steel Tower sect.
Imagine the surprise Tomas felt when he got to know that not only his first and sole love, remained single contrary to what he was told, but that she had his daughter, he, Tomas Atria had a daughter.
“Young master…”, after a short conversation with Tamara, Tomas wanted to ask something of Aster, his young master had many miraculous abilities, which he experienced firsthand when the Yang Stealing Needles that were slowly eating his life away, where removed by Aster, not to mention he detected them so easily, which shouldn’t have been possible unless his soul energy was close that of a… Soul King.
Naturally Aster knew what he wanted to ask, he has received a daily report from Aria’s father, through the special treasure which allows communication through Stellar Systems, that is in Julian’s possession, Galatia family is also allied to the Terranova sect Aster created and Julian owed Aster a big one, so he is fully cooperating with them.
“Don’t worry, she won’t die under my watch, also don’t leave the Barbarian Heart sect, a spaceship should be arriving in a couple of hours at the border station, you’ll be here in three days using Galatia’s private dimensional tunnel”, casually said Aster.
Since the moment he realized Alexandra was Tomas’s daughter, he asked Lilia to deliver a message to Julian on his stead, so the Galatia clan head sent his personal bodyguard to go bring Tomas to Galatian, using one of his fastest spaceships.
Naturally they took advantage of the travel to bring resources and other goods to sell and exchange with the Barbarian Heart, Sand Mountain and the Terranova sect, they had stablished a commercial line after all, so Tomas was a fortunate addition.
“Many thanks to the young master!”, enthusiastically said Tomas, with Aster’s permission the call ended because Tomas had to prepare to leave in a couple of hours.
And now there was a slightly strange vibe on the air, Alexandra’s mother was dying out of embarrassment right now, she not only misjudged her husband’s benefactor but tried to use charm on him, it didn’t work but she felt truly ashamed right now.
Alexandra was still in shock, the father she has only heard about in stories from her mother, since she was a little girl, was alive and will be coming, not only that but Aster affirmed her mother will be fine, she turned to see Aster with a troubled expression on her pretty face, she didn’t know what to think anymore.
Naturally it’s not like Aster was being altruist for no reason, in this world there is no such a thing as a disinterested action, even those who claim to be saints or monks that pursue justice, do good deeds to accumulate good karma.
Just like evil cultivators are punished by their depraved actions past a certain point, “righteous” cultivators, are rewarded for their good deeds by the Heavenly Law, that doesn’t mean they do out of the kind of their hearts, but because it is beneficial for the way they cultivate.
The people who are truly kind hearted and selfless like Kana are too scarce, and most get taken advantage of and die quite soon, that’s why Aster has started to train her so that she can be kind but not naïve, even the prettiest flowers can have thorns after all, but that is a subject for another day.
Certainly, Aster isn’t the kind of person that will just help everyone he sees in trouble, why should he, but at the same time he doesn’t mind lending a hand if the situation aligns with his interests, just like he explained to Kana, he is selfish and that is fine.
Back then he helped Tomas because he had the potential to be a really strong subordinate, and he was going to help his wife, because of that same potential which turned out to be better than what he originally thought according to Lilia.
Right now, Aster’s attention was drawn towards Tamara, the sock woman actually stood up from her wheelchair, her body trembled through all the process, and Alexandra tried to approach her to help, but her mother raised her hand to refuse it.
With a lot of effort, the woman stood up straight before she bowed down towards Aster.
“I wronged the benefactor and I humbly apologize for that, besides this life of mine I don’t have anything to repay you for having saved that honest idiot, please accept it along with this bow from me”, she said.
Aster shook his head, right now Tamara was experiencing the joy of realizing that one of the two people she loved with all her heart, who she thought was dead a long ago, returned to her life, it’s normal that she is glad and all, but to be honest, Aster counted with her becoming his subordinate, though for him curing her might be easy, that doesn’t mean he should do it for free.
“Leave that for when I had successfully cured you, also I want to hear the full story from you and Tomas”, said Aster, which took Tamara by surprise but she nodded a second later.
It’s not like Aster wants to pry into Tomas’s personal matters, nor he enjoys gossip, but something that Lilia secretly told him earlier, was bothering him, and he needed to confirm a few things to reach a proper conclusion.
Luckily, they had a couple of days to start treating Tamara, because right now even having a long conversation was tiring for her, Alexandra helped her mother return to her wheelchair, and then they turned to see Aster waiting for what he had to say.
“I’m too tired after all the thing regarding the Silicon Forest, we’ll start the treatment tomorrow, I don’t need anything for the main process but some complemental elixirs and pills might be needed, just ask the Fritz’s clan head to get the things on this list, ah right, tell him to see if he knows anything about these materials too, they are unrelated to you, but important for me, even a hint is fine”, said Aster as he handed Alexandra two lists.
“Mm… thanks”, Alexandra nodded as she accepted the lists, before thanking Aster in a soft almost unlistenable voice.
Aster felt someone tugging his right sleeve and he turned to see the origin of it, just to see Kana’s adorable big eyes looking at him as she said.
“Big brother can we stay here, the spaceship is not fun, I want to play with Espi too, please~”.
Aster patted the little girl as he turned to see Alexandra.
“You heard it, I don’t mind looking for a place, but it would be easier for us to stay here, do you have a space for us?”, he asked.
Alexandra nodded, even if only she and her mother lived, the mansion did have a few guest rooms, because her uncle and also her godfather, in other words the old man, Aster met at the border station, the one who gave him a cup of that special liqueur, came to visit them from time to time.
“Please follow me”, said Alexandra as she guided Aster and the others towards the guest rooms, while Tamara stayed behind, she still couldn’t believe that this was happening.
The man she loved and considered her husband, despite the fact that they not only didn’t marry, but only shared one night together, was alive, the hole in her heart will be fixed soon, and more importantly her daughter won’t need to suffer like her.
‘It seems like the heavens truly have eyes’, the thought, in the future she will remember this exact moment which changed the fate of her family and realize that the heavens had nothing to do with it, but that is a story for another day.