"HAHA, Young Lord all my life I have took and flowed along the dao, cultivation was the extent of my defiance. I had never thought or imagined anything more, so I look forward to what you have planned"
"You seem to be in a better mood Elder, now will share your name with me?"
"Hmm, I have given hints to how I used to spend my time, yet your memory is unchanged."
Expressing disappointment in the fact the future heir and master of his tribe is still unable to recall, or perhaps was never able to recall his name, proof of how his tribe was never even an afterthought. Forgotten and kept away from the politics of the kingdom, not pushed to the far north but forced to stay.
"This old mans name is Mars"
"Elder Mars, for now you can continue to heal this boy. I will lay down the base of what is needed"
As Edward flies into the air readying a small amount of spirit stones, all thats needed for the array in mind, the boy in Elder Mars arms opens his eyes and exhales his breath
"Chief Mars, was that really the Young Lord of The North?"
"Child, I have told you not to call me chief. But yes, that is our future monarch"
"He is very strong" The young white furred warrior exhales another deep gust of breath "He is the Young Lord, and I attempted to kill him, will I be executed?"
"HAHA, no Hawk. This broken arm is punishment enough for your trespasses, the Young Lord seems reasonable, and besides I wont allow you to die just yet"
Eleven of the warriors that surrounded Edward and Hawk fly down and to Elder Mars all asking the same question, if the man who broke Hawks arm is really their Young Lord
While the eleven are still taken aback and questioning Elder Mars, the eldest guard in black fur holds still in his flight and watches Edward crush spirit stones bare handed
[While I can think of multiple ways to end the tribulation and keep this barbarian safe, nobody here possesses the might for most methods. All I can do is rely on multiple Heaven Evading formations]
Manipulating the spirit stone dust with his Chi to draw the bareness and outline of the array, Edward repeats this process at the edge of lightnings radius, as close he can get to the chief, in the south, north, west and east
The floating inscriptions command the attention of the fourteen spectators, who are even more clueless towards formations then the rest of the kingdom
"Elder Mars, these symbols and patterns of the Young Lord, what are they?"
"These are the reason, Levant The Great, bent his knee and entered the Albert families service. Formation arrays"
Elder Mars revelation causes the eyes of the warriors to widen and their jaws to drop. From youth every newborn Palaeo tribesmen regardless of gender were told of how Levant Palaeo, believed to be the greatest warrior in the tribes history, suffered defeat and was ultimately vassalized due to the Albert arrays.
"The legendary arrays that built a kingdom, I thought the art was lost to time Elder Mars"
"These arrays were discussed heavily among the chiefs and elders throughout the years. The conclusion we continue to come to is that they aren't lost, but kept in deep reserve by the dukes, a final card in their hands that nobody has forced them to use in many years. We as vassals have not seen a duke use arrays in thousands of years, well its not like we would have had the chance to. So, you can imagine that the world has no idea the Alberts are array experts either, only select few people are known to have the skill after all"
"Elder Mars, the preparations are complete, now I require your assistance"
Helping Hawk to his feet, his arm healed as much as possible and having no long term damage, Elder Mars takes a leap in the air, pure strength had put him side by side with Edward before using his ability to fly to stay in the sky
"Young Lord, what is my role in these arrays"
[Elder Mars slim build is very misleading, this leap alone indicates physical prowess beyond his realm, a genius]
"All four of these arrays are connected and centered around this one in front of us. We both will drown it in our Chi, and it will do the rest"
"What exactly does it do?"
"The array will make Chief Luke invisible to the dao, once activated the connection of heaven and earth will start to be cut off, it will take all of our energy to fully close the gate and only the lightning that has past the gate immediately before its closing will touchdown before ending"
"Young Lord, these arrays are divine. To forcefully separate the link between heaven and earth, to manipulate the dao, this was not created by man"
"Elder Mars, this is certainly human invention. The accumulation of effort and wisdom from those who see the world as their own"
[Those who see the world as their own...]
Feeling Edwards confidence and aura of certainty, Elder Mars mind feels light and enlightened "Then shall we begin"
"Follow my lead then" Edward sensing the small shift in Elder Mars begins to flood the Heaven Evading array, the Chi he infuses inside of the array lights the symbols of it, and his Chi visible, begins to race around the invisible link between the arrays. After a moment Elder Mars begins to infuse his own Chi, all four arrays now light up from their combined Chi, as the combination races around the link
"Elder Mars, pay attention to the sky, you might learn something"
As the array progresses and the heavens become more and more obscured, the lightning eases but beyond that, golden letters become faintly visible in the sky. The letters luminescent but unclear, jumbled together and do not spell anything coherent. Even at a glance Elder Mars can feel the energy and mystique radiating from them, and as he stares, he becomes hypnotized, as if they are staring back at him the characters capture his mind.
Zoned out Elder Mars is only repeating Edwards earlier words in his head
[Those who see the world as their own. Those who see the world as their own. Those who see the world as their own. Those who see the world as their own]
Enchanted by the symbols in the sky, Elder Mars stops flooding his Chi into the arrays, leaving Edward as the sole generator powering the formations
The array which is sending Chi throughout its construct in quick motion has lost half of its energy source, and like a hungry animal the motion of the array begins to forcefully rip the Chi from Edwards body
[UGH, it feels like a leech sucking the Chi from my body, I can't sustain this, and I can't wake Elder Mars from his enlightenment. Maybe I use my art to grab Chief Luke and leave? No because then Elder Mars will suffer the aftershock of the final lightning bolt]
Struggling to come to a solution for the predicament, Edwards Chi is reaching the point off tapping out, and the velocity of its exit from his body is straining his hardened spirit veins
Holding in a howl as his Chi is emptied, three tribesmen appear behind him. One squeezing between Edward and Elder Mars pours his Chi into the array as Edward stops, another who catches Edward offering a post to lean his exhausted body on, and a third that jumps in to help with the array after Edward moves
Surprised from the quick judgment from his vassals and even more surprised by the person holding him upright, "Thank you"
"No problem Young Lord. We saw Elder Mars current state and figured this divine array needed the energy of two men, we weren't completely certain but then Hawk pointed out your state, so we took action" The warrior in black furs claims coldly
Edward content at the moment regains clarity, happy that his efforts weren't wasted and that their attempts to by bass the will of the dao didn't result in a harsher tribulation
Taking out his final remaining spirit stone, Edward adsorbs it with the Demonic Intermixing technique, regaining some stamina and the ability to hold himself up
Flying out from Hawks arms he looks upon him "So your name is Hawk?"
"Yup"
[HAHA, such insolence he isnt even scared of me or worried about earlier]
"How old are you Hawk?"
"I'll be 16 in a dozen moons"
[Yeah, that is enough conversation with this barbarian]
Floating down to the ground, Edward takes a training position and begins to refill his cores
After multiple hours of meditation Edwards cores are becoming full of folded and dense Chi and he is awoken to booming of the heavenly lightning
Opening his eyes from meditation Edward immediately notices Elder Mars beside him also awakening from meditation. Glancing at each other then at Chief Luke surrounded by his guards and laid out unconscious from the tribulation
Both of them rise to their feet and while Edward flies, Elder Mars leaps towards the crowd
"Elder Mars, we have checked his vitals and the chiefs body is unbroken, and his cores stable" The blacked furred warrior states
"Good work Barren"
"Elder Mars, although Chief Luke did not breakthrough his realm, he advanced a tier and gained a good advantage" Edward exclaims trying to ease the worry he reads across the groups face
"Certainly, someone who undergoes tempering from tribulation always hardens"
"Elder Mars, let's move the chief back to his own bed for rest, and have that promised conversation" Edward getting back to business, feeling accomplished
"Young Lord, you have no patience but are correct"
"Boys, men, I will carry my son and fly alongside the Young Lord. Give us some space between and follow behind us"
"Yes sir!" all warriors of the Palaeo tribe bow, besides Barren
Just before the departure of the party, Barren steps forth "Young Lord, forgive the lateness but thank you. You came in like an angel and performed the divine, you're a lord my tribe can take pride in" After Barrens words he takes a bow to Edward, not just saying his respects but demonstrating it, following his lead the other tribesmen minus Elder Mars also take a bow of thanks and willful servitude