Over the course of that journey, everyone went on with their lives.
Naru Huan sparred against Lindon more than once, making Lindon glad that he wasn’t an enemy. He was quite practiced in fighting against Blackflame, possessing several sacred weapons designed explicitly for that purpose, and he himself was a powerful and crafty opponent.
Not that he was able to win. Lindon himself had more madra than he did, even if he didn’t use any Sage authority. Not to mention his other special advantages. If Dross had been able to give him a combat report, Lindon thought he could beat Naru Huan every time even if he limited himself to only his pure core.
Not that he told the Emperor that.
Naru Huan spent the rest of his time either dealing with the administration of his territory, visiting his family, or with Eithan. Officially, he was looking for advice on advancing to Archlord, but Lindon thought he might just be enjoying the chance to spend time with someone who saw him as a friend and not an emperor.
As for the rest of the Naru clan, Captain Naru Gwei saw entirely to the leadership of the Skysworn and was never on the same cloudship as Eithan at the same time. Naru Saeya, by contrast, had become much friendlier than Lindon realized she could be.
She trained the other Underlords from her Empire, sparred with Yerin, sought advancement tips from Eithan, and even challenged Lindon to a duel. Once. He thought she was enjoying this trip as a sort of pleasure cruise, and was glad someone was enjoying themselves so much.
If anyone else was having as good a time, it was Little Blue. She had grown addicted to training Kelsa, and was now seeking out fights with the other Jades and Golds on the ship. She mostly used the Empty Palm, which she could Forge to make big enough to interact with a human body, but she could also partially manifest the Hollow Domain and even accelerate herself with the Soul Cloak.
Her battles with Jai Chen’s spirit, Fingerling, were especially entertaining to watch, as she would quickly become tired of using techniques and just wrestle instead.
After introducing his tiny form to everyone, Orthos was true to his word and spent most of the trip inside the Dawn Sky Palace stolen from Sophara. Lindon kept expecting him to get bored, but he insisted that bored was better than elevated.
The other person who longed for boredom was Ziel. He kept trying to rest, but wherever he went, the Sect of Twin Stars found him.
They always found him.
Someone had given Ziel the title “Master of the Training Hall,” and any students who needed specialized training hunted him down. Ziel tried his best to scare them off, but he was prevented from outright refusing by the oath he’d made to Eithan in return for the Pure Storm Baptism.
The sect quickly figured out that he didn’t mean all the harsh things he said, and that became part of his charm. They sought his advice on everything from scripting to advancement to technique training to roommate squabbles.
Every time he was asked to rule on which Jade most deserved to eat lunch first, or whether a Lowgold’s new Goldsign was really making his snoring worse, Lindon was certain he’d summon his hammer and knock someone into the horizon.
He never did, though, leading Lindon to wonder if he didn’t mind as much as he pretended.
Mercy, meanwhile, was perhaps the busiest aboard the fleet. With Fury absent, Charity and Malice were the two remaining pillars of the Akura family. And Mercy had sworn to take on their burden, so she had been taken away by the Heart Sage to help lead their clan.
For about a week.
Charity brought her back, haggard and worn, with a pile of work that could be completed on the ship. Lindon was starting to appreciate how much effort and expense went into such spatial travel, even for only one passenger, and was surprised that Charity had allowed it at all.
When he saw Mercy’s state of living death upon her return, he also wondered why Mercy had returned. Surely she could have visited them once they arrived in Serpent’s Grave.
But just chatting with him about the day’s training, or playing with Little Blue, or dragging Yerin along to visit the other ships, gradually brought her back to life. She was like a plant absorbing life madra, going from wilted to healthy in an instant.
A few weeks later, Charity returned to pick Mercy up one more time, and she took a deep breath before diving back in.
This repeated several times, with the Akura clan sapping her will and time with her friends restoring it. Lindon imagined how Pride must feel, seeing the situation from the opposite side, and the thought amused him.
The trip to Serpent’s Grave was a great improvement to Lindon’s mood generally. Since leaving Sacred Valley, time to relax was scarce. Not that he knew what to do with himself when he wasn’t working, as every single person he knew pointed out at every opportunity.
But even life with his family had grown easier, which Lindon suspected had to do with his parents witnessing not only his sacred arts but the general deference everyone else showed him. Having an Emperor ask for pointers during training didn’t hurt his reputation.
He and his mother practiced Soulsmithing, which started as him showing her what he’d learned and ended up with her grilling him constantly for information.
With his father, he didn’t have much in common, but the restoration of Jaran’s eyes had helped his attitude. Lindon pushing both his parents to advance to Jade had helped as well, even repairing the shape of Jaran’s long-twisted leg.
He no longer needed a cane, a fact that seemed to amaze him every day. But he still limped occasionally, when he wasn’t paying attention. Everything physical had been cured, but after so many years, he had to learn how to walk properly again.
Kelsa, meanwhile, had advanced to Lowgold.
Lindon spent a few weeks nurturing up a White Fox Remnant he’d taken from Sacred Valley. He had to cleanse it with his own pure madra, then supplement the Remnant with White Fox madra he’d refined until it met his quality standards.
Once he considered the Remnant advanced enough for his sister, she had no trouble bonding it whatsoever. Jai Long had been very concerned about that, which Lindon supposed made sense, considering the man’s own abnormal advancement to Lowgold.
Lindon had the materials for another Heaven’s Drop, and some of the refiners onboard were skilled enough to help him make one, but Kelsa had a much more difficult time adapting to the control over her Gold madra than he had.
At first, he had assumed she was suffering from the effects of spending so long in Sacred Valley, or from practicing low-quality cycling techniques for so long. But it turned out this was common, even in those with flawless foundations. Some people just didn’t have a good sense for madra control.
She would gradually adapt, but it left Lindon surprised. He had intended to forcibly advance his entire family to the peak of Truegold immediately, and had expected Kelsa to break through to the Lord realm without much trouble.
He wondered aloud if maybe not everyone could advance as quickly as he did, even given the chance.
Yerin had stared at him for five straight minutes when she heard him say that, while Eithan laughed himself sick and then stored the memory in a dream tablet to share with others.
Lindon still didn’t see why it was funny.
Eithan, as usual, was everywhere.
He hopped from ship to ship, keeping an eye on everyone—though he could have done that without moving—and popped up randomly to give advice to every guard, soldier, servant, deckhand, and fighter in the fleet.