After another day's rest the five of them finally returned to Star Sect. It was the first time in quite a while that they could feel truly at peace without worry of something happening.
Exiting the Hall of Travels the first to take off was Rex, "Don't forget to introduce me to someone Vera. Anyways if you guys need anything don't forget to hit me up." Just like that he was gone.
"He never changes. Anyways this is where I'll take my leave too I'm in dire need of more sleep." Vera said.
Now that she had returned to sect she fully felt all the stress that had built up in her body begin to leave along with a wave of mental fatigue showing up. The mission had been a successful punishment for her because the next time she would be experimenting with alchemy she would not be as reckless.
"I'll head back with you my body also needs more rest." Edward said.
"Then we will see you guys later." She said having already coerced Alrin into leaving with her.
"Have fun you two." Vera said with a grin.
After they left Alara called for a mount now that she was back in the sect. This time Alara was not taking Alrin of her own will it was her master who wanted to meet him.
Before the mission Lilith was not too interested in him but she took a liking to him after watching over him. This was because many things could be overcome with cultivation but one thing it could not fix was a persons inherent nature.
After a short flight they arrived at Lilith's cave. For someone of her status it's size was very modest but even then it was still quite large. Of course the size may have been modest but it was built atop one of the five peaks giving it a beautiful view of the sect.
Entering the cave Alara searched around for her when they found Lilith in the courtyard to Alara's surprise since hardly had any memories of seeing her train here. Once they arrived Lilith who had simply been standing their began moving.
If one was not looking close as Lilith moved across the courtyard in would look more like she was doing a dance but each movement contained immeasurable power. She was someone who stood at the peak of this world in her path and cultivation and each of her movements showed that. It was at such a level that even Alara could only just barely tell she was even doing something let alone understand it.
For mortal cultivators each moment she did only had a sense of incongruity but that would be all they would feel. If an immortal like Silvia was here they would be able to each movement contained traces of all path yet that was all she would be able to see because even as immortal she still had a long way to climb.
As she continued her movements around the courtyard she moved in a perfect circle eventually returning to the exact same position she had started in.
"To think you would actually be able to see even a trace of something what is it you saw?" Lilith asked Alrin whose eyes were bleeding from him pushing them to their limit.
"Paths bit of them all." He still managed to answer confidently despite the feeling of overwhelming power Lilith gave off.
"Not a bad answer. Tell me what is the name of your cultivation art."
"Above Heavens Seal." Alrin answered truthfully because he felt like she somehow already knew the answer.
"Ah you are from that small clan does Silvia know?" She asked.
"…No."
"I see well I won't interfere immortal or mortal it does not matter to me. I will only interfere if this one is involved." She said walking over to hug Alara.
"Master!" Alara said feeling embarrassed and stepping back.
"You used to be so adorable especially when you called me mom and now your embarrassed of me. I've been so lonely since you were gone." Lilith said trying to guilt trip her.
It worked Alara gave in and hugged her back.
"I'm glad your back but you are going to have to enter closed door cultivation soon since you got your seventh core prematurely." Lilith lectured her a bit.
"I know I'm prepared for it."
"Alright you can go have fun now I saw what I needed. You have good eyes."
After Alara and Alrin left Lilith began thinking to herself.
It seems the era of peace will soon be ending. The next cycle will begin soon and many immortals will rise and fall. Well I only need to watch over one or I guess it would be two now.
As the two were walking their was silence but this was different from their usual peaceful silence it had an awkward air about it.
"You're not going to ask?" He stopped to ask her.
"About what?"
"My connection to Silvia."
"You don't give me enough credit. I don't think anyone knows you better than I do and I knew you had some connection to her the day you saw her. I already told you my answer then I'm ready to listen whenever you are willing to talk." This was indeed true it was very obvious to most normal people even Vera had noticed something but left it for Alara to handle.
Hearing that he still had difficulty telling her everything but he would at least tell her this, "I'm originally Alrin Walker of the Walker clan but after our clan fell I took my mother's surname to minimize any chance of discovery." He said this much because he had a great amount of trust in her.
Hearing that Alara recalled something from when she was younger. Alara was eight years old at the time they fell but it was quite a big event that even she heard some of the details as to why it happened. From what she knew the walkers were a clan that pursued the Void path and using that path's abilities were able to get the legacy of an ancient cultivator. After rumors of that spread out the clan fell overnight but the legacy they received vanished along with it.
From what she knew that also happened over eight years ago and Alrin would have also been about eight years old at that time. That meant it had taken him at least eight years to get here and Silvia was part of the reason he came here. At the same time she realized how hard it must have been to get here and how lonely he must have been.
She watched the end of the spiritual tribulation he experienced and the words he said at that time hurt even more to hear now. She truly wished she could go back in time and at the very least if she could not save him say those words to him when he was in pain and all alone.
While Alrin had been telling her about his clan he was overlooking the sect reminiscing about the past and waited for a response that had come. Turning around to take a look at her he only saw her crying.
"What's wrong, what happened?" He gently asked not knowing what else to do only awkwardly holding his hands up. He also had no idea why she was crying he did not believe what he told her would elicit such a strong reaction.
Alara looked at him struggling to cheer herself up and only felt more saddened before hugging him. She knew he was a good man who the world had beat down time and time again but had managed to remain a good person at his core.
Knowing what she knows now him offering to dual cultivate wasn't done because he purely believed Alara would keep his secrets it was because he wanted to save Edward and that was the only way without anyone suffering from it. This just made it worse for her when he was so willing to let himself get hurt but always did his best to make sure no one else did.
"Alrin no matter what happens I'll always believe in and support you." Alara said and upon hearing that Alrin finally hugged her back. Having someone who could truly understand you was truly a euphoric feeling.