"Sure, I don't mind, but I don't know if we'll remain together once we enter the dinsional tunnel".
It didn't escape Aster's eyes, that the way to find the entrance to this place was Vivian, the others probably realized it too, but they also noticed she had no cultivation, so they ignored her.
What they didn't know, was that the Erald Whirlwind was probably "upright", if not why would it have forbidden the entrance to its domains, to Julian's relatives.
So, he was sure that getting to its ubication first was what mattered, there was for sure so kind of trial, the Erald Whirlwind might be imprisoned but it was still able to act, and choose who will wield it.
Vivian smiled, but then she raised an eyebrow at Aster's answer.
"A secret realm won't separate a group as far as I know though".
Aster bitterly smiled, his only experience with a secret realm ended up being another galaxy, so he didn't know what to expect, but apparently Vivian did.
"Is that so, let's go then".
"Mm", the girls nodded and they jumped into the green portal at the sa ti, just to be sure she wouldn't end up separated from Aster, Kana clung to him as if her life depended on it.
Mylene, Camila and the recently arrived Vivian placed their hands on Aster's shoulders and back respectively.
While Julian already knew Vivian for so reason seed to trust Aster quite a bit, the guard Oscar and the old Egil were in awe.
"Nephew, since when that lass has beco fond of that kid?", while the guard remained silent with a contemplative expression, Egil couldn't resist the urge to question Julian.
"It's not that uncle Egil, that little friend happened to have an antidote I have yet to use, and that's why Vivi was able to move unlike what we predicted, so she is thankful for that".
"Oh, so that was the case, one must pay a debt of gratitude indeed".
After saying that, Egil returned to the spaceship.
The guard Oscar saw the old Egil leaving and he frowned.
"Lord, it seems like your martial uncle hasn't gotten over it yet, are you sure it was a good idea to bring him?".
Julian sighed, he looked at his arm which was now healed before answering.
"That's why I brought him too, it's a good way for him to make ands with the past, so that he can break through".
…
Oblivious to the conversation that was taking place near the green portal, inside of the dinsional tunnel Aster was quick to learn the difference between the portal that led to Kana's native galaxy and the one that lead to a real secret realm.
"Damn, I still hate the guts of that king, causing so much trouble for nothing", he mumbled, making Kana giggle.
"Big brother got the inheritance of the trickster king, so all his efforts to preserve his legacy were useless".
Aster smiled, he patted Kana's head, Vivian whose eyes were closed since she ca out of the carriage, asked.
"Is she your little sister Aster, she seems to be quite different from you?".
Kana turned to see Vivian and her little nose wrinkled a couple of tis.
"Pale sister, you sll nice, like apples but sweeter~".
Vivian's eyes slightly opened for the first ti since she saw Aster back then, she inspected Kana just to let out a sigh of relief.
"It's not apple but "Manchineel" and you shouldn't be able to sll it… it's poisonous, perhaps you truly are Aster's little sister, I'm Vivian".
N/A: Manchineel is a really toxic plant, also called "Tree of the death", its fruits sll good and they look like apples but the thing as a whole is poisonous, just FYI.
Aster raised an eyebrow, Vivian's poison would only attack those who noticed it, or those who touched her, but he could see that the thing wasn't going after Kana, in fact this ti he couldn't sll nor feel any poison in her.
So, he was more surprised by the fact that Kana could sll it.
'Even poison can't stand harming her, Robert was indeed an asshole', thought Aster.
"Speaking of it, why did you keep your eyes closed Vivian?", asked Aster.
Vivian slowly opened her eyes, taking Camila by surprise, both her irises and pupils were really dim and pale almost lding with the white tone of her sclera, Mylene on the other hand paid more attention to the fact that although she didn't have any cultivation, her instincts told her she was dangerous.
"It took so ti to get used to see again, so my eyes get tired pretty easily, in any case I can see although they are closed".
As expected, although Vivian wasn't too energetic, she was able to easily get along with Kana, sothing that caught Aster's attention was that she told her, she would have liked to pat her head, but touching her might be troubleso since so of her poison sotis affect her skin.
'We shook hands though', he thought before saying.
"We are reaching the end of the dinsional tunnel, get ready just in case".
Vivian gave Aster a curious gaze, but she remained silent, as she noticed he was dead serious.
Aster's vision was blurred for a split of a second and as he prepared himself to use the paragon body, I case they appeared randomly on the sky.
But unlike what he expected, they safely landed on the ground without any problem.
'Well, I guess this ti is indeed a secret realm and not another galaxy', thought Aster as he looked at his surroundings.
"For a place called Erald Heart, it expected more greens to be present", mumbled Kana.
They appeared literally in the middle of a desert, wherever they looked it was just dune after dune of sand, there were no trees or other things besides sand.
"I guess that if we find the green part of this realm, we'll find what we ca looking for", said Aster.
The girls tried to fly just to be surprised to see they couldn't, even Kana who usually had good flight abilities due to her wind affinity couldn't do anything but float for a couple of centiters.
Aster on the other hand did keep the ability to fly, but he noticed his spirit energy was being reduced at least 10 tis what it should have been.
He then took out one of the personal spaceships he got from Riga, and tried to pilot it, but the thing didn't do anything even after he turned it on.
"We'll I guess we'll have to walk, this should be part of the trials of the Erald Whirlwind".
With a few jumps Aster got high enough to see their surroundings, and even from such a height, he couldn't see anything nearby, but there was a small river ahead of them, and in places where water tends to be scarce, living beings gather near water bodies.
"There is a river a few kiloters ahead, let's head its direction and then we'll follow it, we should find an oasis at so point".
"Mm", the girls nodded and they started walking, after about half an hour it the sun and the hot sand were starting to beco annoying, but Aster had a good way to counter it.
He simply built a small do over them using Rigel's flas, the fresh sensation of the blue flas was a relief for the girls.
"Those flas are really good", Vivian who was given the change to see by Rigel's flas couldn't help but complint them.
Aster was about to answer, when he felt the ground trembling a couple of tis, before a few ters ahead of them, a white snake like creature erged from the sand.
Aster looked at the strange spirit beast in front of them, and he grinned.
It was spirit beast which seed to combine a sand worm and a snake of so kind, it had a white shelled exterior but no eyes, also it big spikes teeth.
"What the hell is that?" asked Camila, in all her years venturing she saw many strange beasts, but this was sothing totally out of her experience.
Still although the thing looked intimidating, it was just a spirit beast of the Star Tribulation realm, Aster could have killed it with a single slash of his sword.
But instead of that, he saw the thing slowly approaching them, and after looking in Aster's direction, it actually left its body fall on the ground, as if it was revering him.
"Up", Aster tried to order the thing to see if it obeyed him, and to his surprise it did, its serpentine body vertically ascended until it was basically standing on its tail.
"Roll", Aster tried to take it to the next level, a spirit beast was supposed to be wild until it reached the Heavenly realm, thought hey were exceptions like those oysters he saw at the silver star lake, it was rarer to see in a carnivorous species.
The thing laid down and then rolled on the sand, which made Kana laugh.
"Big brother, it looks like you are talking to a dog~".
Aster chuckled, and then he jumped on the head of the creature, this was the last test, if the thing didn't attack him, then he just found a good way to transport his group.
"It's all good, co here, this guy will take us to our destination", said Aster as he tapped his hand on the head of the creature.
The girls exchanged gazes but ultimately shrugged, any of them could kill the creature if needed anyway.
The first one to go up was none other than Kana, she sat on Aster's lap and then called the others.
"Sister Mylene, sister Camila co here, there is a nice breeze up here~".
Mylene and Camila rode jumped and landed on the creature, seeing no reaction they sat down and waited for Aster to order it to advance.
Only then Aster rembered Vivian had zero cultivation right now, with a gesture he created a staircase using Rigel's flas, since she has already seen them before.
Vivian used them to rode on top of the spirit beast and now that they were all ready, Aster tapped its head.
"Take us to the river".
The creature nodded and then it moved its body over the sand towards the river Aster saw before, leaving a sliding trace behind of it.
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