Chapter 82 - You Are Not A Simple Boy
"So, when I said before I was really astounded...I wasn't joking. For you to be able to fool all these experts around the palace and even kill disciples from our Imperial Ethereal Court...I should say that you are not a simple boy...isn't that right...Damien?" The Ancestor said as his lips closed into a firm line.
Damien frowned as he quickly glanced around the room for a possible exit.
"Relax, I won't do anything to you. In fact, I know you don't hold malicious intentions towards Lily or our Rong Empire." The Ancestor said calmly trying to relax Damien as he saw him get tensed.
Damien knew something was off when the Ancestor told everyone to go out and the smile he had on his face. He couldn't understand how the Ancestor found him out.
Damien lowered his hood as he knew that the Ancestor wouldn't do anything to him and besides he couldn't possibly struggle against a powerhouse like him even if he wanted to.
The Ancestor saw Damien's young and stunningly handsome face and was yet again shocked inwardly wondering how someone as young and weak as him was able to pull off astonishing feats.
"Before we talk, why don't you have a seat here. I don't want a reputed alchemist like you to stand the whole time." The Ancestor said in a slightly sarcastic tone.
Damien sighed and pulled up a chair towards the bed and sat on it. He asked as he narrowed his brows, "How did Your Highness know?"
The Ancestor gave a soft chuckle as he said, "It didn't take much. I already kept an eye on you when Lily brought you here. It was the first time she had ever brought anybody home and the way she treated you was not like a servant at all. I had to make sure you didn't have any bad designs on Lily. But, later she herself told me that she found her childhood friend, that is, you and she even asked me if I knew any way to fix your crippled ethereal core points."
The Ancestor paused as he shook his head and continued, "I wanted to inspect your ethereal core points, but I couldn't believe it when I wasn't able to see through you, a crippled boy even with my spiritual perception. It immediately raised a lot of questions in my head but I still didn't probe you forcefully in order to not frighten you. After all, I have seen that you care for Lily and even made an oath to help her. The last thing I wanted is to scare away the only person who wanted to help her."
The Ancestor genuinely didn't want to frighten Damien since he knew how much frightening potential Damien had and the way Lily talked about him only made him smile inwardly thinking about certain things.
In his perspective, no one in the world could ever match the heights Damien could reach, not even the top genius youngsters from the Xeton Empire. And of course in his mind, there can't be a better match than Damien for Lily.
But Damien had no idea that he was being evaluated by the Ancestor as a potential marriage partner for Lily.
Damien narrowed his eyes as he felt that he was stupid and careless to not think that someone with a superior cultivation could have been spying on him.
Luna's voice sounded in his mind, "I guess this is not because of your carelessness as there is nothing you can do if a powerhouse was keeping an eye on you right from the start. You couldn't possibly conceal yourself from his superior soul cultivation. A casual sweep of his spiritual perception is enough to spot you and even cover a 10,000 km radius."
Damien was shocked when he heard that the Ancestor's spiritual perception range had a radius of 10,000 km. He now felt that it made sense because there is now way he could detect the spiritual perception from someone with superior soul cultivation.
Luna could only warn him if someone forcefully probed him or if someone continuously had Damien under their spiritual perception but other than that, she would be anyways asleep most of the time and wouldn't strain herself out by spreading her spiritual perception all the time. After all, her soul plane is fragmented and wouldn't be able to make use even a millionth of her true spiritual perception ability.
Even the reason she was able to detect the seal around the continent was because Damien had visited the outer regions of the Dark Forest located near the ocean.
But Damien still felt disgruntled that he was found out. The Ancestor chuckled guessing what was going through Damien's mind, "You might feel angry at me for keeping an eye on you, but for Lily I had no choice but to look into you. She had gone through enough suffering in her life and I don't want her to suffer more. I noticed that after she took you in, she was more cheerful and happy instead of the usual gloomy aura around her. And I know you must have had a valid reason for the death of the four disciples from our Imperial Ethereal Court, isn't that right?"
Damien saw the penetrating gaze of the Ancestor but he didn't draw back his gaze and replied in a candid tone, "They tried to take something that belonged to me."
The Ancestor heaved a sigh and said in a world-weary tone, "In this world, everyday practitioners die even for petty things...and this scenario is even more exaggerated in the Dark Forest. I never expected the standards of our Imperial Ethereal Court to go down to such an extent. I guess gone were the days when the disciples were extremely disciplined and hardworking without meddling themselves in petty matters."
He continued as he said in a cautionary tone, "And one of the disciples you killed is a relative of an eminent practitioner from the Gale Empire known as the 'Typhoon Lord'. Even one or two centuries ago, he was quite famous for his talent in Wind Laws when he was in his teens during that time. So, you have to be careful as it is his grandson you killed and probably he won't take it lightly. Not that he really cares but for the sake of his reputation."
Damien nodded and said in a confident tone, "I thank Your Highness for the warning, but rest assured I don't plan on getting caught."
The Ancestor smiled and looked at Damien as he squinted his eyes, "I suppose you won't tell me how you managed to do these astonishing things? Like being able to kill someone even a whole realm stronger than you or how you are able to concoct the mythical Supreme Tier Pills that no one in the history of this world had ever been able to do. Or how did you manage to keep your cultivation level hidden or alter it?"
Damien smiled, "Well, let's just say I have divine level talent."
The Ancestor laughed, "Of course, people will think that your absurd talent can explain your ridiculous combat prowess and maybe even your ability to concoct Supreme Tier Pills. And let's say you somehow came upon a heavenly treasure that could even mask your cultivation level from someone like me. But how do you explain the ability to fake one's cultivation level? Sure, there are treasures one can use to lower their ethereal aura but not to increase it.
Your ethereal cultivation is just at the Nascent Ethereal Realm but you somehow made it look like you were at the Heaven Ethereal Realm. Don't worry, I won't probe into your secrets no matter how curious I am, since the well-being of Lily is more important to me than my curiosity. But be careful next time since not everybody would be willing to let go of such an abnormality like me."
"Thank you, Your Highness. I will keep that in mind. Uhm...coming to business, can I check on your condition?" Damien asked straight to the point.. He felt uneasy being probed any further by the seemingly all knowing old man before him.