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I flew past New York after giving it a small glimpse; the barrier was strong and running, and after I upgraded it using my new Formation Divine Ability, it seems it has been reinforced even further. The city is safe, and so are every city in the world where I placed a barrier.
Indeed, every city. I had already planned this for a while now, but I finally did it after the many attacks from the previous war. And well, comparing Earth to Murim, it isn't that big of a deal. Murim was perhaps several dozen times larger than Earth… No, perhaps more? I think it was as big as Jupiter. I think I stopped counting after a while.
Nonetheless, Earth's whole size is maybe the size of a third of one of the Five Regions of Murim, so going around it is surprisingly easy! I can fly around it in like a few seconds, and after I completely analyzed the globe with my eyes, I rapidly placed barriers on every city or populated area.
After the Tower's appearance, though, things such as small villages and such don't exist anymore; outside of the walled cities, monsters roam freely, so most people wouldn't even dare make small villages. This was also one of the reasons why cities went through such huge expansions; New York here is at least three times as big as it once was, for example, all of that expansion in just 11 years at that, incredible.
Anyway, I also placed some barriers on some islands that some wouldn't consider cities here and there, and after feeling like most of the areas were covered, I moved back home; the Pagoda remained stable and working as usual, despite all the battles and wars that happened. My home was untouched and unscathed.
"Good evening."
I greeted the guards surrounding the Heavenly Golden Pagoda, a dozen Immortals from Murim, whom I took below my wing, most of them unable to return back home after they surrendered to me and left their lives in my hands.
These people are definitely not good people, and they have committed various crimes. I could have killed them all if I wanted… But that wouldn't have left a good taste in my mouth. I am more of a "reform them instead of kill them" type of person.
Because, let's be honest, if I went around Murim killing every single person that committed a crime, I would end up destroying 99% of all immortals and above and even over half the mortals.
It was a harsh world; I also committed many crimes, some in self-defense… And others because I desired the power to continue surviving.
Therefore, I cannot act like a hypocrite and simply kill them when they're defenseless and prostrating themselves to me.
I have to set an example for my children after all… If the only thing they see their mother doing is killing helpless people, they're bound to grow up with twisted mindsets and a different perception of the world than I want them to have.
Despite our immense strength, I want my kids to be down to Earth, to learn about the world, to understand its people, and to know that not everything can be resolved with violence…
Because indeed, that's perhaps the first thing I did differently than all other Venerables, who would slaughter tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, once they gained their positions.
Killing all the families of their enemies, even children, to "take them out by the roots," as the old saying in Murim goes, was something too brutal, a terrible tradition I wanted to stop.
"G-Good evening, Great Venerable."
"We are unworthy of your heavenly presence, ruler of the nine heavens."
"I-I hope you have an excellent day…"
They were all speaking very nervously. Honestly, the pagoda doesn't need any protection at all; standing here "protecting it" is part of their punishment. They're required to float here and do nothing other than watch around for any potential threats. They are not even allowed to speak with one another, to eat, or to sleep.
Yes, they're doing this for a whole year, by the way. Immortals can survive without sleep or eating for years anyway, right? So there's no problem.
Of course… it is very annoying, especially because they are also not allowed to meditate or cultivate.
"Keep working hard; the security of the new Heavenly Court depends on all of you, boys and girls."
I flew inside the Pagoda after patting the shoulder of one of the men floating there, who gave me a bitter look, which he instantly tried to mask off with a forced smile.
Haha, good, that's the look I wanted from you. Keep being tormented by a simple task such as this!
After a year, I will judge how much they have changed, having so much time to think and reconsider their life choices.
Then I will pick those that truly changed, and I might make them into assistants of the Heavenly Court if their Souls are sincere.
If they aren't, they go back to being guards for another ten years.
If it doesn't work after ten years, a hundred years.
Then one thousand years.
As long as I am alive, they will be forced to stand here doing absolutely nothing for eternity, and they can't even sleep or eat.
Most will probably die from starvation by then… So I hope they learn their lesson and reform.
After all, when their heart and soul are sincere, I will always receive those that wish to reform into the Righteous Path with open arms, no matter their background or cultivation level.
This was also one of the things that made me different from other Venerables: my compassion and how much I embraced any person, male or female, young or old, strong or weak, from a rich background or a poor background, talented or talentless.
As long as your heart was in the right place, as long as you wished for the world to be a better place for everyone, you were welcome, no matter what.
Many people with unworthy hearts tried to take advantage of this but were always caught by my Eyes, and punished accordingly.
Nobody abuses my goodwill; I am not stupid.
Now, now, enough of that.
I am finally back home, with my family.
"Family! I am back! Good evening!"
As I walked inside and called for my family, the first thing I saw were four adorable babies running towards me, moving at lightning speed from where they were a second ago.
"Mamaaa!"
"Mommy, you're back!"
"Did you bring any sweets? Chocolate?"
"Mama, can we have fried chicken for dinner?"
Athena, Orion, Kalana, and Rainbow Eyes greeted me adorably, hugging me tightly with their little arms. I embraced all four of them and kissed their foreheads and noses.
"Chocolate? Not for now, Kalana, we already said that you can only have chocolate once a week." I said. "Fried chicken for dinner? I would rather have your mother's cooking, Rainbow Eyes. Don't you like her grilled meat?"
"I like it, but I'm bored of cavemen grilling meat… It's too plain!" The boy complained.
"Perhaps we can help your mother cook something tastier then," I said with a smile. "Come on now, let's go meet her."
"Mom, why can't I have chocolate every day? It's not like it makes me feel bad or something…" Kalana said. "I know how strong our bodies are! We won't get fat or anything like that…"
"I know, but your stomach is still limited in space; you need to prioritize eating food that will be nutritious and help you grow up and also develop your strength," I explained. "Plain chocolate bars have no nutritional value for us; we require food of a much higher quality. Meat from Martial Beasts or powerful Monsters, Spiritual Plants for vegetables, and so on. If you just eat chocolate, you'll fill your belly but ultimately won't gain anything from it, and your strength may, over time, decrease."
"Eeeh? I didn't know that…" Kalana was slightly surprised.
"There are still a lot of things we have yet to learn after all, sis!" Athena said with a smug smile.
"Mom, how were things outside?" Orion asked.
"Ah right, I helped the King rebuild the castle completely and reinforced it so something like that shouldn't happen again," I explained. "I also sealed that girl, Cecil's powers, for now. She had behaved terribly with Jackes, so she was punished. She needs to learn to not be controlled by her own powers."
"Y-You took away her powers? Wow! I didn't know you could do that, Mom," Athena said.
"Did you seal the powers away using one of your techniques, perhaps?" Rainbow Eyes wondered, tilting his head.
Despite being the son of Fiery Hair, he was a rather smart boy who learned many things quickly. Fiery Hair was still struggling to speak better than she did before, but our boy here learned immediately.
He's very eloquent and likes to read too, perhaps the first Primal Human to be such an intellectual. Well, despite his intellectual hobbies, he's still a rather wild boy outside, so most people wouldn't be able to notice at first hand.
"Yes, indeed. How were you able to guess, dear?" I wondered.
"It's easy, Mom; we've seen you use that formation ability before," Rainbow Eyes said. "Well, I'm glad that bratty girl got what she deserved; she was too aggressive with us for no reason…"
"I agree!" Kalana said angrily. "When we tried to talk to her yesterday, she didn't even look at us! So rude…"
"Hmm, perhaps she has her own problems; let's not judge her too quickly, everyone," Athena said. "With Mom's punishment and the training she'll have without her powers, perhaps we'll see her change a little bit."
"I hope so!" Said Rainbow Eyes. "But whatever, not like I care about her anyway…"
"Hahah! I suppose Rainbow Eyes is not wrong," I said. "Have you had lunch yet?"
"Not yet!" Kalana said. "But I'm hungry, though! Are we eating today, Mom?"
"Yep, but we're having a picnic outside!" I said.
"Outside?!"
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