Aaron POV

He rubbed his eyes, the pain still lingering as he watched Julius dive into the lake with a complicated expression on his face. He had heard many things about the young man over the past several weeks. Most of them came from Healer Gui.

The older healer was constantly complaining that Julius asked too many questions and wouldn’t leave him alone. But Aaron knew that Healer Gui didn’t care about that. If it really bothered him, then Julius would have been in the infirmary, rather than drinking tea with the man.

Aaron knew better than most. He had angered Healer Gui a few years ago and experienced the consequences of his actions. His body remembered that time well; he might even still have the bruises to show for it. Therefore, he knew that Healer Gui liked the young man, or at least enough to tolerate him. Which was saying a lot.

Healer Gui had unbearably high standards and was prickly during the best of times. That meant he saw something in Julius. Something that gave him the patience to let him stay around.

Aaron doubted it was because of Julius’s status as an honored guest. Healer Gui wasn’t the sort to care about that kind of stuff. The man would have kicked Grand Elder Koenn if he were disgruntled.

He also heard things from other disciples. They were simply rumors, but he heard conversations regarding Julius’s brutal willpower training lessons. He knew that almost a third of the class no longer attended the lessons. There could be many reasons for that, but from what he heard, the outer disciples found him scary to be around.

Which was crazy to Aaron because Julius focused on life mana and was learning things at the Medical Hall. Healers weren’t known to be scary. He and the other inner disciples believed these outer disciples were being wimps in the face of another Tier 4. Some even thought Julius was bullying the Tier 3s with his superior cultivation.

What interested people was that Core Disciple Maya attended these lessons as well. He heard they were friends, and that was why she was going to these lessons, but Aaron doubted that was the whole story. She must have found some kind of value in these willpower lessons. He knew that other people tried to attend this class, but were denied by the higher-ups.

Another interesting detail was that Maya and Julius returned to the sect at the same time, along with the vice sect leader. That was the main thing that garnered people’s attention. Vice Sect Leader Cassandra’s supposed interest in this young man.

It didn’t help that she had just returned from the Empire as a representative from the sect. Nobody knew the exact reason she had gone, but there were plenty of theories making their way through the sect.

That being said, nobody had a good explanation of why Julius was at the Burning Sun Sect. It was quite a mystery. He knew that many people wanted to find out why, too.

Nora was one of those people.

“What is it?” she asked him quietly as she approached him. He felt her put up an isolation barrier around them.

He played ignorantly. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what’s got your panties all twisted up? You sensed something from him, right?”

He shook his head. “No, he was fine.”

“You’re an awful liar. Tell me, what did your powerful analysis skill pick up?”

He frowned at her. “You know I can’t do that.”

She rolled her eyes. “He’s not even officially a part of the sect. You aren’t obligated to defend him.”

“No, he might not be. But he is still an honored guest, and I don’t trust you to keep such information to yourself. I am sure you will tell your master or someone else.”

“Ohh, so it’s that important, huh?” she said with a smirk.

He cursed himself internally. He didn’t mean to let that slip. While he didn’t hate Nora, he didn’t like how involved she was with sect politics. She would have been better off focusing on her own skills and cultivation. She was talented, extremely so. But for some reason, she wanted to spend her time on inconsequential things.

Aaron was aware that her master, Elder Erik, didn’t like Julius’s presence in the sect. Apparently, he didn’t trust the young man. Aaron didn’t know the reason behind this suspicion, but Elder Erik wasn’t the only one who thought this way. Not everyone in the Burning Sun Sect liked new blood, especially one who was supposedly favored by the vice sect leader.

“Come on, just tell me. I will owe you a favor,” she promised.

He shook his head. There was no way he was going to tell her what he had found. As he mentioned earlier, many people were trying to figure out the secret of the new honored guest of the sect. And what Aaron had just found might be a big hint of why he was here and why the vice sect leader was interested in him.

He still hadn’t recovered from the backlash he received from his skill. He had barely gotten anything, and even that little bit had hurt his soul as well as his eyes. They felt like they were still on fire. And for good reason.

Taking a small peek at Julius’s Tier 4 body was almost too much for them. The sheer power and potential it held were staggering. He didn’t even get a description of the skill. He had no clue what kind of monstrous body the young man had gained during his advancement, but he was certain that Julius had gained a similar Seed of Authority, which made it even more terrifying.

He had never felt so much destruction and life present in one Tier 4 body. Never.

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If his aura was a representation of this power, then it was no wonder that he was helping train the younger generation’s willpower. It was also no wonder that Vice Sect Leader Cassandra was fascinated with him.

If he even had a modicum of talent for mana and combat, then Aaron would bet he was a fiend on the battlefield. Nobody had such a dangerous and potent body without bearing a cost.

Aaron was wondering what that cost might have been for Julius, but before he could think too deeply, he was shaken out of his reverie by the massive explosion of water. Everyone around him shot into position, activating their own skills. But Aaron, on the other hand, had a frown on his face, because he could have sworn he saw what seemed to be a familiar figure falling out of the sky.

***

Julius POV

Unlike when he drank the water, it didn’t seem to affect him when he swam in it. Or at least, not to such a degree. However, he was curious as to why the water had this kind of energy and swam to the bottom of the lake. It was very hard to see; the sparkling water practically blinded him, and he had to rely on his spatial senses.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry about drowning. His healing skill would continuously heal him as he ran out of air.

The lake itself was very deep. He was shocked at how far it reached down. His senses were barely able to detect the bottom. He spotted several very large fish swimming around him. They didn’t seem hostile, though, simply curious about him.

A particularly small fish was following behind him, and to Julius’s surprise, he felt a tug on his soul as Serahphyne came out all on her own accord.

He sent her an impression of emotions and intent, but he didn’t get a response. She started to pull him towards something. He could feel her excitement, and so he followed. The water’s unique properties made sensing mana an absolute pain in the ass, and it was hard to keep up with everything happening inside the lake.

After a few minutes, he finally sensed something with his spatial senses. It was a large structure lying at the bottom. Or rather, that was what he thought it was. When he got closer, he realized that it wasn’t a structure, but a body of some kind.

And boy, was it a big one. It had to be over fifty feet long and looked very similar to a snake. Its body is so thick that it would take several of him to wrap his arms around it. The water made it hard to see, but the iridescent shimmering gave him small glimpses.

Its scales were pale and lifeless, so he thought it was dead. But to his surprise, he detected slight signs of life. The creature was covered in wounds, with blood seeping into the water. He was slowly building a theory of why the water was so weird and shiny. The blood carried a similar signature to what he found in the water.

However, despite his curiosity, he held very still. His instincts told him that this was a powerful beast, one that he wasn’t prepared to fight. It might have been on the brink of death, but it was no doubt an extraordinarily strong beast. The mere fact that its blood had that much of an effect on the water was even more evidence.

Seraphyne didn’t seem to hold as much wariness and was already swimming towards the ginormous beast. Julisu tried to call out to her, but she kept on swimming.

“Get over here, she needs our help,” Seraphyne called out to him.

He wanted to tell her that it was dangerous, but he also felt the worry in her emotions. He wasn’t the best at sending messages through his side of the connection, but he tried his best to talk with her.

“She? Do you know what this creature is?” He didn’t know if she understood everything, but she must have gotten the generous gist because she responded.

“Yes, I can explain later, but please try and heal her, she’s dying.”

Julius looked over at the massive, scary creature with a hesitant look, but eventually let out a sigh. Seraphyne never asked for anything, and so he found it impossible to deny her when she finally asked for his help. Plus, it wasn’t even for her; it was for someone else.

He blew out a stream of bubbles as he sighed, but quickly followed her over to the ginormous creature. It was still indeed alive; he could feel faint tremors in the water with each shallow heartbeat.

It was even larger up close, and he placed his hands onto the metallic-like scales. He could feel their immense power and toughness the moment he touched them. However, he didn’t have time to admire them.

He could feel how faint the creature’s life signature was. It was almost entirely snuffed out. He needed to work quickly. He let his mana gather, and once he was ready, he pushed his life mana into the creature. He didn’t bother to hold back his Phoenix Concept and let his skill do all of the heavy lifting.

His life mana was sucked in, as if drawn into a whirlpool. He was taken aback, but didn’t stop and continued to feed even more mana into his skill; he even felt Drasil coming to his aid and offering his own mana to supplement his skill.

Julius flailed his limbs when the giant creature moved slightly, but he maintained firm contact and worked fast. His healing skill was powerful, but as he had already learned for himself, the stronger the body, the more power was required to heal it.

And this body was unbelievably strong. He felt a third of his mana completely dry up in less than ten seconds. Unfathomable, considering his massive mana pool. Thankfully, Drasil was there to help him, and the little guy must have been storing this mana somewhere secret, because unlike him, Drasil didn’t seem to be struggling with mana. He had even more to give.

Sadly, it wasn’t just mana that he required. There was an unknown force buried in the creature’s body, which was interfering with its healing. Julius tried to brute force it with his authority and concepts, but it wasn’t enough. Instead, he took control of his aura and slowly injected it into the creature.

Normally, he would not do this. His aura, when not controlled properly, was one of the most dangerous abilities that he had. But time was of the essence, and he didn’t have time to worry about hurting this creature even more. It would be dead if he didn’t do it.

And so he let his ruinous aura tear into the creature, letting it find this unknown source and devour it. Thankfully, the energy was familiar. One that he had recently dealt with.

Corruption, he realized.

It was harder than it seemed. It took every ounce of his willpower and control to make sure the ruinous aura didn’t kill the creature as much as it was healing it.

He could feel the creature in pain as his aura worked and as it healed. He created several constructs to anchor himself onto the scales while it began to thrash around. His aura was slow, but it was doing its job, gradually destroying the corruption that was infecting the creature.

If this were a month ago, he didn’t know if he could have handled such a task. But teaching these lessons actually did him a lot of good in terms of control. With the courtyard enhancements' help, he learned how to control multiple aura applications at once. He knew teaching would help him, but he didn’t expect to come in handy so soon.

It took a while longer than he expected, but once his mana and Drasil’s mana were almost dry, he finally felt a surge of life beneath his feet and throughout the body of the creature. It shook instinctively and thrashed around.

Too bad for him, he was like an ant compared to it, and his entire body was flung off. His constructs were shattered in an instant, and he let out a surprised cry as he breached the surface of the water and found himself flying high in the sky, barely able to hold his underwear in place.