Not a goodbye

"It's about where I'm really from. I'm not really from this planet."

Joanna, Hiromi and Adele, who had sat up after hearing Vasari's solemn tone, looked at each before simultaneously speaking out loud.

""" We know."""

"Huh…?" Vasari's eyebrows were raised halfway up his forehead and his lips slightly apart in confusion. "What do you mean by 'we know'?"

"I know you're not from this planet because your knowledge about the planet is just really bad. Besides some common trivial things you are basically clueless about this planet, so I had my doubts. I'm not sure how big sister Joanna and Adele knew."

"Hey, call me big sister too!" Adele puffed her cheeks and scrunched her nose. Nowhere else would you see a woman over 10 000 years old make such childish expressions like Adele.

Vasari felt pretty stupid to be found out so easily. The information he obtained from Elder Equus was paltry to the say least since Elder Equus hasn't visited Planet Voxotis in many years and he didn't bother to ask anyone else for help.

"How did you know Joanna?"

"Well, I knew from the moment I saw you. Your cultivation is easy for me to see through and coupled with your age, it wasn't hard to figure it out." Vasari was a Superior Qi stage cultivator at 16, now 17, in a world where top-class geniuses like Hiromi, only reached that stage in their mid to late 20s.

"Wow, now I feel like an idiot for lying to you this whole time, haha."

Laughing self-deprecatingly, Vasari couldn't help but think that maybe Elder Equus and the Sect Master knew that Joanna would know that he was not a native of Planet Voxotis and think he was a spy.

'You know, I don't like being used like some sort of disposable pawn. I liked you at the beginning Elder Equus, but you are making it increasingly difficult to continue doing so and the Sect Master…I don't trust him one bit.'

"Hehe, I suggested we keep you locked in a room so you don't go running off somewhere."

Vasari's smile returned to normal and tilted his head down slightly to 'look' at the cheeky woman sitting between his legs.

"Keep me locked in a room huh? It seems that a little chatterbox needs to be disciplined."

"Eek please no. I promise to be a good girl from now on~"

"Hey, we're in a middle of a conversation, calm yourselves." Joanna intervened before these 2 started another session of debauchery.

"Hmph!"

"Moving on. I assume you have ways to contact the Cloud Haven Sect?"

"Yeah, I've already used it though. I reckon they will arrive in 2 or 3 days so I need you to leave the Planet and go home before then."

"Aww, is my little hubby worried about me~" Joanna reached out and rubbed his right cheek with her hand.

"I'm being serious." Vasari grabbed her hand caressing his cheek and gripped it tightly. He was still too weak to protect her so he didn't want Joanna and Adele to take unnecessary risks.

"Okay, I will order everyone to finish their trials in 2 days and I will leave then. Happy?"

"Very. Thank you." Vasari said before kissing the back of her hand.

"What about Hiromi, should I take her with us?" Adele asked.

"No. Hiromi, her mother and her sister will go back with me. I need them back home. Are you okay with that?"

"Of course! I'm excited to see your world and I'm sure my mom and sister would agree too."

"Okay good. Joanna are you also not interested in the tomb and trials?"

"It's not that I'm not interested, but I don't need to do anything to get most of the rewards."

"Why's that?"

"It's because those 5 Bishops are madly in love with Jo so they will probably give her their rewards to try and win her heart," Adele answered in Joanna's place with a hint of mockery in her tone.

"Oh, it's sound like it's not the first time it would happen."

"Oh my gosh, you wouldn't believe what those guys do to get Jo to even look at them."

"Enough! Vasari as compensation for lying and sending us home early you have to spend the next 2 days satisfying us completely."

Joanna licked her lips before pouncing onto Vasari.

–––––

2 days later, as promised, Joanna summoned all of the church members together.

Although many were upset about leaving early, especially those who failed to complete any trials, many others accepted the circumstances and followed along.

Getting into a fight with the Cloud Haven Sect on this small planet could lead to its complete destruction. If it was on Westernord Continent they wouldn't back down without a fight, but unfortunately, they were not.

Joanna ordered all of them to enter her mansion in an orderly manner and kept watch to ensure nobody causes trouble.

When the last cultivator walked inside the mansion, Joanna shut the door and turned around. She took a step forward and instantly appeared in front of Vasari who was nearly 300m away.

Before he could even react, Joanna hugged him with her arms tightly wrapped around his body and her head pressed against his chest.

Vasari smiled gently and rested his chin on the top of her head and similarly wrapped his arms cosily around her neck.

"This is not a farewell but a see you later, okay? They say absence makes the heart grow fonder so you better think about me plenty."

"Vasari…why don't you come with me. It will be much safer for you." Joanna's voice was soft and muffled but was still clearly heard by Vasari.

Vasari chuckled after hearing the same question he had been asked once before inside a grand carriage outside the Cloud Haven entrance exam.

"I'll be fine, trust me."

"But-"

"Joanna…even if the Sun turns cold I would not freeze for the warmth of your love is enough. As long as you keep loving me then I will always find my way back to you even if every bone in my body is crushed, for my body is repairable, but your heart is not."

Joanna giggled after hearing his words, but it was a screen to hide a sniffle she had been keeping in.

"When did you become such a romantic."

"There are still many things you don't know about me yet."

"Oh, I bet."

The two stayed in a loving embrace for a long time, refusing to let each other go. Joanna had finally found someone to mend her broken heart and now she had to leave him for who knows how long.

Joanna eventually, with much reluctance, backed away from Vasari and Adele being the opportunist that she was, squeezed in to hug Vasari goodbye too.

"No romantic farewell message for me?" Adele looked up in anticipation, her big violet eyes intently staring at his lips.

Vasari showed her a big toothy smile and flicked the blonde's forehead. "Next time I see you, you better be a single mother or else I'll just have to steal you from your husband."

"Hehe, both work for me." Adele giggled lightly earning herself a kiss on the cheek from Vasari.

After saying their goodbyes, Joanna and Adele walked back to the mansion. After one more wave goodbye, that Vasari couldn't see, they disappeared inside.

*VVVRRRROOOOMMMMM*

The loud rumbling sound of a powerful engine roaring to life reverberated throughout the entire planet. The Nakata ladies watched in fascinated awe at how the mansion they were living in for nearly a year started levitating off the ground.

6 massive rocket thrusters 2 on each side, 1 on the North side and 1 on the south side, released hot rocket exhaust out of their nozzles. It scorched the ground below and forced Vasari and the Nakata ladies to move back a few hundred metres.

"This is insane. Who knew such incredible things existed." Kurumi, Hiromi's older sister, gawked at the unreal sight of the mansion rising higher and higher in the air.

Hozumi, Hiromi's mother, was similarly gobsmacked at the sci-fi-like scene taking place before her very eyes. Her horizon had been broadened by Joanna and Adele in recent times. On Planet Voxotis she is considered a peak powerhouse cultivator, a living legend to those aspiring cultivators, but to these beings, she was no more than an ant they could squash with a light slap. She knew there were 'higher' planets out there, but she did not think the gap in cultivation would be so massive.

She subtly glanced at Vasari through the corner of her eyes, he was the key to access a higher plane of cultivation and she couldn't thank her youngest daughter enough for giving them this opportunity. She decided to follow Vasari to his world which meant she would be leaving her Sect behind, but in her eyes, it was a negligible sacrifice.

When the mansion was around 500 metres in the air, it halted for but a mere second before shooting upwards at neck-breaking speeds, easily breaking the sound barrier and piercing all the layers of Planet Voxotis' atmosphere with zero effort.

"What are we going to do now Vasari?"

Hiromi asked when the mansion was out of sight. She grew quite close to Joanna and Adele so it was sad to see them go, but at the same time, she was delighted to have Vasari all to herself again.

Vasari smiled and pointed to the giant castle not far away. "Let's go inside."

–––––

In the seemingly endless dark void of outer space, 50 humans were standing on the deck of a spaceship with a similar design to a luxury cruise liner.

Elder Equus was amongst these humans, standing on the bow of the spaceship.

In his vision, a large mansion could be seen far off in the distance. Even with his absurdly good vision, he could barely make out the mansion, but with what his vision lacked, his spirit sense made up for.

"The little lass is running away. She must have somehow found out that Vasari contacted us."

Elder Equus mumbled to himself before turning his attention to the tiny blue and brown planet orbiting a yellow sun.

"Pick up the pace! I want to be standing on that planet within the next day."