Leaving Olivia in one of the guesthouses that they built newly, Michael went straight towards Claire's home. From the outside, the mansion looked very elegant. It had been built with oak wood and had blue stone decorations. Large, triangular windows let in plenty of light and have been added to the house in a very symmetric way.
The mansion was equipped with a modern kitchen and one large cultivation room and bathroom, it also had a spacious living room, five bedrooms, a small dining room, and a small storage room.
The building was shaped like a short U. The two extensions were linked by a covered patio. The second floor was smaller than the first, which allowed for a roof garden on one side of the house. This floor had a different style than the floor below.
The roof was high, triangular, and layered, and was covered with grey wood shingles. Two small chimneys sit at the side of the house. Large, skylight windows let in plenty of light to the rooms below the roof.
The house itself was surrounded by a modest garden, covered mostly in grass, a few flower patches, and a small pond. The garden was completely blanketed by the snow while the pond seemed like a glass floor.
"Brother Ghost" two male disciples who were standing outside the entrance greeted Michael when they saw him.
"I had no time for hiring professional bodyguards" Michael turned back to see Gaya gracefully walking towards him. There were still some biscuit crumbs around her cherry red lips and her grey winter fur coat.
"Let Daniel and Ricky pick suitable candidates"
"I'll send them the message" Ricky and Daniel were guarding the restaurant as well as helping the dwarf with some finishing touches to the restaurant.
They were now like Michael's representatives in River Town.
Stepping into the house, the howling sound of the wind finally came to a stop. The interior of the house was elegant with fancy sofas from this world, chandeliers, flower vases, and bookshelves.
"Sect Leader Claire" Michael called out, standing in the hall. He could sense two life signs in the house, one was at the roof while the other was at the cultivation room.
"Ghost? Coming" Claire's gentle voice sounded from the second floor. A few minutes after, the beautiful blonde walked down the stairs with a smile. This was the first time Michael had seen her truly smile with joy. There was always a tinge of sadness deep within her eyes but now the sadness was replaced by a fit of anger and motivation.
Her cultivation stage surprised him a bit because, in a few months, she had reached the Body Strengthening stage. Of course, the elders and Claire must thank Michale because he was constantly supplying them with potions and pills so they could cultivate faster than usual.
" Sit down, make yourselves at home" She gestured at them towards the sofa as Michael and Gaya plunged into the sofa.
"Wow, you're really giving your sect leader a hard time by cultivating this"
She laughed. He expected her to sit on the opposite sofa but she seated herself right next to Michael.
The very next moment, she grabbed his hands,
"I never thanked you for saving my grandpa." The ability of Claire to create tears really surprised Michael. In a blink of an eye, tears began to roll out of her eyes
"I'm not like before yet I can hold back the tears. If it wasn't for you..." her voice trailed off,
"I did what I had to do as the Guardian of the sect. No need to thank me, Sect Leader Claire"
"Just thank us by leading the sect to the golden days," Gaya said. A burst of a chuckle came out of her, defeating the tears of sorrow.
"With you guys by my side, I think I can do that" He then willed the system to take 500,000 gold coins from his storage. The moment the gold coins appeared in the hall, the golden light reflected by the gold coins lightened up their faces.
"This will be enough for you to buy everything I need to brew the potion to cure Elder Sandra"
************************************
Settling everything with Claire, they went to their house to make final preparations before leaving for the Southern continent. The only thing they had left to do was visit House Bradley.
Michael informed Claire that he would enter into seclusion but in reality, he would meet with Malan before leaving to the Southern Continent. He already bought a mask similar to Gaya's to change his face.
When they opened the door to their house, they were welcomed by the sight of a light orb on their sofa.
"Nightmare?" They looked closer to see that it was Nightmare who's radiating a bright light around him.
"What's happening?" Michael frowned looking at the violent energy fluctuations around Nightmare's body. The Arch energy was flooding into his body from the atmosphere.
"He's going under Dragon metamorphosis. Yes! We can leave him behind" she seemed weirdly excited as she almost bounced in joy looking at Nightmare like this.
"Although I didn't plan to bring him along with us, why are you so excited about leaving him behind?"
"It's because..." she moved closer to Michael. Their noses almost brushed each other,
"We can have some alone time" his heart skipped a beat thinking about the possibilities. The seductive voice she just used sent electricity through his spine. He couldn't wait to get on a ship to the Southern Continent.
"Can we put him in Abyssal? It's safer there"
"No, teleportation might interrupt the Arch energy flow. We have to leave him here"
"How long will he be like this?"
"Since this is his first metamorphosis, it'll only take two or three months"
"System, can you teleport him to Abyssal without interrupting his metamorphosis?"
[Sure, just pay me 50,000 badass points] the system sounded so haughty as it already knew Michael's answer.
"Nope" as the system expected, he declined its offer because the safety measure around Nightmare was still active. If anything threatened Nightmare, he would be immediately teleported to Abyssal. By placing the banner of House Kane, he made sure the sect stays safe from any hostile activity but even if someone dared to take Nightmare during his metamorphosis, Michael didn't need to worry about Nightmare's safety.
Sitting beside Nightmare, he took a note out from the system storage. Gaya saw him scribbling something on the note before placing it near Nightmare.
"Take care, buddy"
**************************************
Suddenly in a dark alley near the Phoenix auction manor, two figures appeared from thin air. Michael changed his usual black armor to something from this world. A long winter grey coat with black linen breeches. He let his shoulder-length black hair dance in the wind instead of covering it inside a black hood. One could now clearly see the stubble beard he started to grow recently. The cultivators in this world had control over their beard growth, most tended to stop the beard from growing completely but not Michael, he liked to sport many looks instead of the same clean-shaven look.
They followed the signboards in the streets to the House Bradley compound. After a while navigating through the labyrinth of snow-covered streets, he saw a huge compound not far away.
As they walked closer to the house which was filled with a majestic and imposing aura, he noticed soldiers wearing various types of armor such as light armor and heavy armor patrolling the buildings on the other side of the gigantic metal gates.
Some servants were bringing what seemed to be hot beverages to the guards patrolling in the bone-chilling cold winter. Michael also noticed the lack of street urchins, commoners, or any merchant stalls on the premises.
Everyone he saw was either a soldier or a servant of House Bradley.
After staring at the entrance for a while, Michael and Gaya walked toward the main gate which was tightly guarded. However, before he could talk to the soldiers outside the gate, an old man, who appeared to have the position of the housekeeper, hurriedly came through the small gate beside the giant metal gate.
"Welcome to House Bradley Young Master Ghost, Young Miss Aelia. Please follow me" the old man surprised both of them by quickly recognizing them. Clearly, the old man knew their identities, so Michael did not waste time asking questions like how he recognized them. He just nodded, gesturing to the old man to lead the way.
After entering through the small gate that the old man came through, a pretty female servant hurriedly walked out from one corner. After which, she gently said a few words to them before leading the way from in front.
They followed behind the female servant at neither fast nor slow pace. Gaya seemed indifferent to the luxurious mansion but his gaze swept over everything. The towering atmosphere of the buildings caused him to secretly nod his head.
Walking on a small path that was paved by rough greyish stone fragments, his eyes suddenly narrowed slightly. From his Environmental scanning ability, he noticed numerous hidden beings hiding in the dark corners of the mansion as he entered deeper into the compound. Many sharp arrowheads that were painted black to cover the reflection were slowly moving within the mansion. Any little sign of trouble would instantly cause them to send out an attack. He could tell these secret archers and assassins were noticing his every single movement.
"Not bad..." Gaya too noticed these people and gave a small nod of approval. Following the girl, they soon came to a luxurious large hall. Their gaze passed through the unlatched door and was able to faintly see a couple of people standing within it.
The young servant girl left the hall without uttering a word leaving Michael and Gaya alone. Soon, Michael began to walk forward towards the door.
He gently pushed open the door,
"Finally, You're here Ghost"