Liam was tense.
The first time he had met with a Zenith was with Patriarch Edwin, and that meeting got his heart pumping nervously.
Although he kept a calm face, he was worried if the Zenith was going to find out about his King’s Eye and chaos.
The same thing applied in the present… under even graver circumstances.
Liam was from a different race altogether!
He had a completely different center of power in his solar plexus, but thankfully, the chaos inside it wasn’t visible to even Zeniths.
Edwin hadn’t seen it despite having a Rank 4 sea of consciousness to probe his mind and body with.
However, the Chaos Pearl was still a physical organ. He couldn’t hide its appearance from them even if he tried.
‘There’s no choice,’ Liam thought as he followed a short distance behind Zeth.
‘The only issue is how they will react. Even if I transform into a full Ashura, I doubt I can even scratch their bodies.’
Behind Zeth, a cold aura started to spread from Liam.
“Zeth, you fool!”
A deep voice rang out from one of the triangular houses, and a thick-bearded, burly, tall man exited, making a beeline towards Liam and Zeth.
“What did you do to your outpost? You killed four members of the Leash Sect?!” 𝗼𝘃𝗹.𝗼𝐫𝗴
His voice was unnaturally loud and powerful, and Liam had to brace his consciousness to withstand the pressure.
Liam instantly realized the man’s mental capabilities as a Rank 3 sea of consciousness.
“Krel, relax, it was for a good reason.”
Zeth tried to calm the menacing figure down as he got closer, but the enraged frown on his face wasn’t quelled in the least.
BAM!
A punch landed on Zeth’s face, sending him flying.
When Krel’s green eyes fell on Liam, his grimace deepened. Pressure grew around him and enveloped Liam’s mental sphere.
“Who’re you?”
Liam used Thicken and took a wide jump backwards to distance himself.
In his human form, the deep pressure pressing against his mental sphere was enough to riddle it with cracks.
Frowning, he unsheathed blades and prepared for a fight, when Zeth jumped in front of the man.
“He’s of the darkness element!”
Almost instantly, the pressure lessened, and Krel’s face flickered with surprise. He looked at Liam in a different light.
“He wants to join the Temple. He helped kill those four and left no witnesses, too.”
Liam still kept his distance despite the lesser pressure.
By then, a small crowd had gathered around the commotion.
They looked at Liam with hostility in their eyes, but they couldn’t do anything.
The dangerous aura made them think twice about approaching.
Liam’s cold eyes shifted left and right, the grip on his blades tightening.
A tense silence stilled the air. All the surrounding members were waiting on the strongest of them to grant permission for battle.
“Let him pass.”
Krel broke the silence and dismissed the acolytes, who lingered momentarily before going back to their spaces.
“Leave us,” Krel asked Zeth and turned around, looking over his shoulder and gesturing for Liam to follow him.
“Come with me. I can bring you to an Elder.”
Zeth nodded and exchanged a short look with Liam, before leaving himself.
Reluctantly, Liam followed, keeping a safe distance away from the Rank 3 cultivator. He didn’t sheath his blades, but Krel didn’t blame him for it.
“You better hide those blades if you’re granted a meeting.”
Liam let out a non-committal hum in response, his attention fixed on the countless writings riddling the Temple’s surface.
A ramp ran through from the base to the peak of the pyramid, and brilliant inscriptions covered its surface.
There was a small entrance at the base, and that’s where the pair entered through.
Passing through a series of dark corridors, Liam was led to a small entrance. It was the same shadow-made formation radiating danger.
Krel coated his hand in black and placed his hand on the wall.
SHHHHR.
The entrance opened, revealing a large circular room filled with deep pressure, enough to force Liam to his knees as soon as the doors opened.
He suppressed a curse and used Thicken to bear the pain.
Krel entered with an enduring grimace and made a respectful gesture, putting his fist on his chest.
In front and above, an eccentrically masked woman wearing an inscribed black robe sat above an earth-made tower in cultivation.
Only her pale nose and plump lips were visible, showing no discomfort despite the mountainous pressure in the room.
Noticing the intrusion, the woman’s lips tightened to a frown, and with the wave of her hand, the weight on their minds disappeared.
Liam began panting heavily as he sat crouched on one knee.
“Elder Jane, forgive my intrusion, but I have crucial news.”
Krel began sweating under the Elder’s piercing gaze.
That exact gaze shifted towards Liam, who felt no gentleness under her eyes.
Despite that, he raised his head and looked at her with respect, imitating Krel’s gesture.
Elder Jane’s mental waves invaded both his mind and body, thoroughly inspecting every corner of his body, including his Chaos Pearl.
Her lips tightened even further as she had no idea what she was looking at.
“What are you?” she eventually asked. Her voice was low and soothing, but the coldness in her tone overpowered everything else.
“I can see you’re of darkness, but your body structure does not resemble a human’s.”
“You even lack a male apparatus.”
Krel raised his brows, aghast.
…What now?
Elder Jane waved a hand and dismissed him before he could voice his concerns, closing the door behind him as he left.
Liam sighed under his breath, giving the woman a wry smile.
“It’s a long story.”
Elder Jane didn’t like his words.
“I have time. Explain.”
Elder Jane’s figure suddenly turned into a silhouette of shadows that sunk into the tower.
A moment later, she reappeared from the ground below Liam’s feet, emerging from a puddle of darkness as though she had just teleported from there.