River and Pearl sat on one side, while Cliff sat on the other side of the table, alongside the weasel and the bird. But now, Lex had spent long enough in the Land of River that he had thoroughly understood its history and its laws.

He’d been paying attention to more than just those two, so he had learned quite a lot - and in fact, probably now knew more about this place than most of the people who lived in it.

River was surprised when he heard the news that Cliff was the spirit of the necklace he often wore. But, in hindsight, it made sense. Why else would he be chosen by Cliff to help out, and why could only he see him? Between himself and Pearl, clearly he was in the better condition to act on his behalf. However, he was confused about why Cliff introduced himself in the way he did, and didn’t like being called senior.

Either way, River just naturally accepted the news and saw nothing wrong with it. Pearl, however, had a deeper background, and had been exposed to much more than River. She knew what ordinary treasure spirits were capable of, and this was far beyond that. Although she did not know the full extent of its abilities, just appearing as a person before them should have been impossible.

That only left one possibility: an Immortal treasure! This necklace, which had been in her family for centuries, was an Immortal treasure! It was just that, prior to this, the treasure spirit was likely wounded or recovering, and so it never appeared before anyone.

She was wary, but not so much. She didn’t think she had much of a future anyway - what did it matter if the one that killed her was a magic necklace or greedy nobles?

Lex had already become aware of the history of the necklace and Pearl’s family. Considering the odd flow of time, it was not unusual to him that it had already been here for so long. In fact, the longer the better!

While he was gathering energy, and deducing the chances of him being discovered, he found that Time had an amazing effect on all traces left behind by him on the necklace! The more time that it experienced, the more all external auras and traces on it were washed off.

Time had given his necklace the ultimate baptism, perfectly hiding it from detection. The Masterless technique, of course, only enhanced that protection even more, yet he was unaware if the technique covered him and the necklace. After all, in his current state, this small piece of him couldn’t run the technique himself.

Lex had always avoided using and studying Time too much, just because of how dangerous it was, thus this was the first time he was exposed to the purifying aspect of time.

"I promised River that if he bought this property, and built a house on it, I would help him and help you as well," Lex said politely. "His meridians were crippled, and healing them was difficult based on the resources available to us, so instead I have led him towards another path. It is a path of protectors and heroes, granting him the title of a paladin.

"You, however, can cultivate normally, and so in the basement I have prepared a cultivation room for you. The reason I had River redeem this plot of land is because hidden underneath it is a Spirit Node - one that has accumulated an immense amount of energy. That energy is now directly channeled into the basement and will not escape anywhere else, providing you with the best cultivation conditions."

River was naturally surprised, and so was Pearl. An undiscovered Spiritual Node? The Land of Rivers did not have the same level of spiritual energy throughout the land. Instead, it had Spiritual nodes of various levels spread throughout the lands, and most major cities and strongholds were built around those nodes.

The nodes endlessly gave off spiritual energy to the land, and the closer one was to the node, the higher concentration of energy. But if the node was somehow damaged, then it would eventually stop working. That was quite unfortunate because the node was not some spiritual object that could be identified. Instead, it was an unseen thing that existed within the ground or air - completely out of reach, and beyond the understanding of the common people.

Moreover, there were numerous ways in which these nodes could be damaged. From spiritual pollution, to the build up of too much death in one area, or a plague, or a drought... There were too many ways, which is why protection of nodes was so intense and so regulated in most cities.

"And what do you need from us, senior, in exchange?" Pearl asked.

Cliff’s lips twitched. What was with all this senior business? Did he look that old? As far as he was concerned, there wasn’t a single strand of white hair in his head.

"There is no need to be so formal. I also need to absorb the energy from the node, so at any given time either you or I will be absorbing the energy produced from it. At the same time, I can give you both some pointers on how to grow stronger so as to reclaim control over your lives. We will both be getting what we need by staying here, so there is no need to feel indebted to one another."

Pearl was smart - smart enough to realize that Cliff was trying to form too close a connection. By keeping things between them as a simple understanding of exchange, their relationship was similar to a trade or business agreement, instead of any actual emotional connection. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

That both comforted her, and also concerned her. It comforted her because he was being up front about what he wanted - which was to stay here. It was not yet clear to her the extent of this spirit’s powers, but if he could set up an underground formation he had to be formidable. At the same time, it concerned her because if he did not want to grow any emotional attachment, it indicated that he might be concerned that something bad might happen in the future.

Of course, that was only one possibility of many, but it was the one that concerned her the most.

"Were you the one who told River to cut off his fingers?" Pearl suddenly asked coldly, causing Lex’s expression to freeze. Damn, he’d forgotten about that. How inconvenient was it that mortal humans couldn’t regrow limbs?

"Not exactly. I only informed him that the way you two were being tracked was through the Qi in his bones in those fingers," Lex explained. "There were many ways to handle the situation, but he chose the quickest and most effective. I can guide you two, but that’s it. Any action for your own future will have to be taken by yourselves."

River didn’t mind, but Pearl felt sceptical. This felt too easy.

"So it’s not that you can’t act, but you won’t. Is that right?" she asked for clarification.

Lex wasn’t bothered by her intense interrogation, though. Instead, he found her protectiveness to be somewhat adorable. It was like a baby lion practicing their roar.

"I am severely weakened. I don’t have the energy to spare. What I can do is limited, which is why you will have to rely on yourselves."

Pearl nodded, his answer somewhat falling within the range of her expectations.

"I... I have one more question. Do you... do you know about those who used to wear the necklace before us?" she ashed, her voice suddenly doubtful and hesitant.

"Somewhat," Lex answered, considering he’d already checked the karma of the necklace, and so had sensed everyone who had ever worn it. "Are you asking about your grandfather?"

A faint sense of hope seemed to flicker through her eyes as she nodded, and looked at Cliff. Her grandfather - possibly the only living family she had left.

At that point, Cliff sighed.

"Well, if you want to know his current situation, I can’t help you. I can look into it, but I don’t have the energy to do so at the moment. However, the chances are quite high he’s alive. At least, his ascension should not have killed him."

Pearl nodded, but seemed disappointed. Yet there was hope. Did that mean that if Cliff could get more energy he could find out?

In truth, she had many suspicions about Cliff, and didn’t believe everything he said. The instincts from her upbringing were slowly kicking in, but they were suppressed by her numbed mind...

"By the way, the first thing I’ll teach you is a little trick - it’ll help with your cultivation while also resisting the Mind Curse on you," said Cliff as he flicked a finger, sending a beam of light into Pearl’s forehead, transmitting a cultivation technique focused on healing herself and others.