The Story Never Ends

The next day, early in the morning, Davion was standing in his courtyard with Ryland on his shoulders and Danny on his side.

"Hold me tight," He suggested and Danny gripped his arm.

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"Let\'s go." He took out the talisman given by Elder Liliana and channeled his spiritual energy into it.

A strange force wrapped all of them, and they disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Bang"

They landed on the ground and found themselves in a courtyard that was thrice as big as the one they used to live in.

"Father, is this where we live from now on?" Excitement could be seen on Danny\'s face. As for Ryland, he was simply closing his eyes and didn\'t seem to care about it.

However, it didn\'t last long as the door of the courtyard was wide opened and a female voice was heard.

"You are here."

Ryland immediately opened his eyes and looked ahead with fear. He recognized who it was.

"Elder," Davion bowed respectfully when he saw her coming out.

"Humm, you are on time. Follow me. I found something weird here," She ordered.

Although he didn\'t know what it was, he nodded and went inside with curiosity. There were six large rooms inside and an open field in the middle where a pond could be seen. But the pond seemed unusual as it was red in color and an odd smell was permitting from it.

Davion reached there and his expression changed with what he saw. A heavily injured bird was floating unconscious in the water. Indeed, it was Nora\'s mount that had been smashed away by Jared yesterday. It seems like it had crashed here, unfortunately.

"I didn\'t know that it had fallen here when I had allocated your courtyard. Or else I would have assigned you another one. Nonetheless, the other ones are smaller and not as good as this. After all, the better ones had been occupied already," She explained.

"It\'s ok. I like it here." Davion replied.

"Ok! Then let me clean this up." She hooked her finger, and the bird was automatically lifted up from the water. Next, she threw it on the ground and said while pointing to his right, "Go pull that lever down."

"Yes." He walked there and saw a wooden lever fixed on the ground. He used some force and pulled it downward.

"BAM"

The level of the blood-red water slowly decreased and in a couple of seconds, the pond became completely empty. He could then finally see some holes and new freshwater emerging out from it.

"Good mechanism." He muttered and gazed at the bird.

"Elder, what are you going to do with it?"

"Bury it somewhere else," She answered.

"What?" Davion looked at her in astonishment. How could she be this cruel?

"But I can still feel his breath." With his Mind-Eye, he could sense it easily.

"I know. Despite this, it won\'t last for long. The injuries are too severe, and it will die in a few minutes," She gave it a pitiful look.

"It\'s already a miracle for it to survive this long," She added.

"Can\'t it be saved?" Danny, who had been silent for a long time, spoke. He felt bad thinking about the bird.

"It can, but only a rare treasure having that can heal its mind. Such treasures are quite rare even in the Inner Region, and we don\'t have it." She shook her head. The moment Jared used that spell, it already decided the fate of this bird. This was also why the elders didn\'t bother about it even though it was a rare dual attributed beast.

Danny\'s eyes became wet after listening to this. Seeing this, Davion asked, "Can you tell me about some treasures that can heal the mind?"

She thought for a while and answered, "The Divine Aqua Calendula."

"It can only be found in the pool situated at the summit of the Tartarian Peak which lies in the Eastern Mainland. It is a flower having white petals with…" she began describing how it looked when all of a sudden she stopped.

"Where did you get it!" She became speechless.

"Hehe, I found out it in the Secret Realm." He smiled and took out the Calendula. It was one of the four major treasures obtained from that Island.

"Do you really want to use it on it? It might be better to use it during your cultivation. It helps your soul to grow faster," She suggested.

"Father.." Danny pulled his arm and gazed at Davion with anticipation.

"Of course." Davion nodded and reassured Danny causing him to giggle.

"As you say," she took the flower from his hands and crushed it with her palm.

Liquid dripped from her palm which she controlled them to move towards the mouth of the bird. It entered its mouth and its breathing became stable. However, it didn\'t seem to wake up.

"Humm, it looks like its body has become too feeble after nearing the death state," She scanned it properly with her divine sense.

"What can we do now?" Davion felt some pain thinking about the treasure that he had just wasted.

"A strong boost of flame and wind energy might be able to stimulate it." She replied.

"Is that so?" Davion remembered something and took out two more treasures from his spirit ring. One was an orange-colored fruit and the other was a leaf.

"The hundred years old burning mango and the thousand years old leaf of the gusty bamboo." Her eyes lit up. She never imagined that he could have such a great harvest during his time in the Secret Realm. Every single one of these treasures was useful even for the Domain Realm Experts.

"But the flame energy is not sufficient…" she didn\'t even get to finish her sentence when Davion took out many of them.

"Oh my! Now I\'m having the thought of taking away his spirit ring." She cast a cold gaze at him which made Davion shudder and back a few steps.

"Haha, it\'s enough," She waved her hands, and everything he had taken out floated in the air infornt of her. Next, she began doing some tricks.

"Phew, that nearly scared me." He sighed. But suddenly he felt something pricking his arm. He glanced and saw the unhappy expression of Ryland. So, he smiled warily and said, "I have something far better for you too. Just wait for a while."

He stroked his scales and comforted him. This made Ryland somewhat happy.

"Bang"

Abruptly an explosion was heard, and he saw the bird being surrounded by a ball made from flames and wind energy. It then levitated in the air.

"Elder, what is happening?" He was curious.

"It is recovering and not only that, I think it might breakthrough too. Yet, I don\'t know how long will it take to end." She had a surprised look on her face.

"Wow!" Davion exclaimed as felt the treasures he spent didn\'t go to waste.

"Now let\'s talk about why I\'m here." She said while seizing up Danny and Ryland.

He understood straight away what she meant and signaled Danny to go away and play with Ryland. Danny happily went and Ryland due to fear of Liliana didn\'t cause any issues.

After they had gone, Liliana took out a badge with a symbol of thunder on it and passed it to Davion.

"This will be your new token. As for the previous one, I will take it back." She tapped on his ring and a blue light flashed at once.

"It\'s done." She took back her hand.

"Thank you, elder." He bowed.

"So, why do you think that I\'m helping you in all this?" She asked all of a sudden.

"This.." He scratched his head and didn\'t know what to say. Nonetheless, he was also having this thought. Not only she cured Ryland, but she even helped him in many ways. Thus, he was grateful to her and curious as well.

She smiled as she had expected this reaction from him.

"What do you understand by a core disciple?" She asked again.

"Someone who has reached the Nascent Soul Stage can become one." He replied.

She shook her head and said, "Once one reaches the Nascent Soul Stage, then they can only become a core disciple when any of the elders take you in as their personal disciple. Or else you cannot."

Without waiting for him to speak she continued, "It is so because the cultivation techniques and the spiritual arts at this level are quite rare and we only have a few of them. Since the sect doesn\'t want it to be leaked, we impart them personally and teach them in parts."

"I understand. Does this require me to become your personal disciple?" He guessed.

"Yes, that\'s how it should be done. But I know that you are longing for the Central Regions, aren\'t you? I\'m sure you would leave after a couple of years with your talent." She looked at the sky and went into deep thought.