Chapter 497: Resolve.

Old Gu watched with a frown as the Heavenly Emperor chuckled at him, gazing at him gently yet with amusement.

"I don’t like that look in your eyes," he disgruntled.

"Does it make you feel young, little Gu?"

The Heavenly Emperor was perhaps the only being across all Realms who had the right to call him little.

"I’m not naive and arrogant like your son!" Old Gu unconsciously raised his aura.

The Emperor sat motionless. His thoughts were just as quiet as the room.

As the silence set in the room, Old Gu realized his mistake. He quickly grasped hold of his aura and made a mental note not to lose his calm again.

"Yet you speak and act the same." The Emperor sighed as if already bored with the conversation.

"I know something about the Demonic Emperor that he doesn’t."

"Yasashii..."

"Hm?" Old Gu hummed in confusion.

"Yasashi Hito. That is his name. Do not call him Demonic in front of me again," he clarified with a lazy tone, lost in reminiscence.

Something about the Emperor compelled Old Gu not even to question it. He simply accepted the revelation of the Demonic Emperor’s name.

"Well, Yasashii Hito is not the Eternal Darkness, is he?"

The Heavenly Emperor paused. It was subtle, but Old Gu noticed the shift in his eyes.

He forced a light smile and then averted his face, looking outside the window again. Being the closest friend of his disciple, it didn’t come as a surprise that he knew the last prophecy of the renowned Wise Seer.

Unsatisfied with his response, Old Gu pushed further, "And I know who is."

This time, there was a reaction.

The Heavenly Emperor visibly widened his eyes, turning his face again to meet Old Gu’s stern gaze.

Yet, he did not say a word.

The birds and the winds, almost like they had sensed the emotions of the Heavenly Emperor, paused their chorus.

Old Gu could only hear the sound of his own breathing in the entire room. He had never seen this ’God’ so conflicted before.

"From the looks of it, you knew as well."

Again there was no reply. The Heavenly Emperor acted like he was never having a conversation in the first place.

Old Gu could not pinpoint the reason for his quiet. What conflicted the Heavenly Emperor so much that he did not even want to talk about it?

He could only guess that maybe it was kindness.

Maybe he knew that the so-called Eternal Darkness was only an innocent child. The thought of eliminating an innocent life for his survival must go against his core principles.

And in the end, his principles took priority; he had chosen to surrender his life.

’He also withdrew from worldly affairs around the time that brat was born...’ Old Gu was confident in his understanding of the Heavenly Emperor’s heart.

Now he was even more confident in what he was about to do. He had put away this matter for so long because of his resentment, but no more was he going to look away.

"I want an item from the treasury," he demanded, uncaring of the Emperor who was still lost in thoughts.

Once again, the man everyone considered a ’God’ appeared hesitant. Something only he knew why.

At last, he painfully muttered, "I... will allow it." There was an unfamiliar look in his eyes. Like he was fighting an inner battle, and losing one at that.

The birds outside the window could not help but want to console this being’s hurting soul. They sang and cooed but to no avail.

Old Gu was aware that he may be the only man alive who had seen such expressions on the Emperor’s face. This ’God’ who had witnessed the birth of other Realms appeared at this moment, just as vulnerable as any other mortal.

Without saying another word, he left the room, leaving the Emperor to deal with his inner demon.

He took heavy steps down the long and empty corridor. He too felt distaste for what he was about to do.

However, he had determined the Heavenly Emperor’s survival essential for the well-being of all the Realms. No one in existence could replace him.

’Certainly not that Yasashii or that brat Kami...’

. . .

Back in the Realm of Abezan, inside the barrier surrounding Phoenix City.

In Ember’s estate, Ozul rested lazily in the shade of trees beside the training courtyard.

Jinx, as always, was curled beside him.

He was at the safest place he could be, yet the churning feeling inside his chest hadn’t dissipated. In fact, it grew as time passed. Something annoying was bound to happen and he was clueless as ever.

’What can I even do?’ He shifted uncomfortably in his place. It was only a feeling; there was no hint, no clue whatsoever as to what could go wrong.

It didn’t help that an intense gaze was poking at his consciousness for a long time now.

Sighing loudly, he opened his eyes and faced the direction, frowning as he spotted the source of his annoyance.

"Look away," he said with a threatening tone.

The owner of that gaze turned her face, albeit begrudgingly and not before clicking her tongue.

Her name was Alda. Since her arrival, whenever she was around Ozul, it would disturb his peace as her emotions kept poking at his senses.

’What is even her problem?’ He questioned, momentarily forgetting about the anxiety creeping up in him.

Ozul had forgotten about this girl, but she had an old enmity with him since his time in the Broken World.

An year ago, the Immortal Sect again held the summoning ceremony and brought 10 times the normal number of Dragon Hatchlings into the Realm of Abezan.

They spared no resources and brought people from all the Broken Worlds they had access to.

This time, they were also not given an option to reject the Sect’s invitation either. They were simply brought here and sent to training.

This girl named Alda was brought to the Realm of Abezan as a Dragon Hatchling as well.

She was a disciple from the famous Nine Petals Sect, one of the top powers in their Broken World.1

It also wasn’t a coincidence that she had abandoned the Immortal Sect and come to Phoenix City just 2 months ago.

Nine Petals Sect was the same place where Ozul had once dropped both Raven and Blaze to train for a long period of time. They were one of the top talents in the Nine Petals Sect and were admired by many.

However, no one admired Raven more than this girl named Alda, a junior who looked up to her with such reverence that she didn’t even show her Sect Leader.

When they were leaving, Alda had vowed to follow after her inspiration.

After arriving in the Immortal Sect, she secretly began to gather information and eventually found out that her idol was in fact in the other camp. Being faithful to the end, she took the first opportunity to escape and arrived at Phoenix City.

Since she liked Raven so much, she also deeply disliked the good-looking man whom Raven followed with absolute obedience. This frustration held in her heart was the reason for her occasional burning glances toward Ozul.

"Stop bothering him and focus on your training!" Raven spoke sternly as she arrived ahead of Zier.

"Yes, senior!"

"Anything for you, senior~" smiled Alda.

Two replies came at the same time.

Alda wasn’t the only Dragon Hatchling who had deserted the Immortal Sect. She had brought another companion with her to Phoenix City.

He was a man named Rameel. Raised in the Nine Petals Sect, he too was familiar with the two ace disciples who had broken all records. Naturally, his idol was Blaze, but his respect for Raven wasn’t lacking either.

"They are weak and useless; just kill them. They are always disturbing my peace," Ozul spoke with a monotonous tone, as if he was talking about cutting grass.

"No," replied Raven.

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue before rolling over to the other side of the tree.

Nothing was going his way these days. First he couldn’t find a Sage to ’eat’, then the endless work thrown his way, then the churning feeling in his chest, and now he wasn’t even allowed to kill these two insects.

He stayed that way for a few seconds, before turning around and facing Zier.

"You know how to make poisons right?" He asked, hope budding in his non-existent heart.

Zier replied with an unsure tone, "Yes?"

"Something that can’t be traced?"

Zier put his hand on his chin, rubbing it as he began to think. "Well, I know an air-based poison. It is very light and dissipates after the person dies."

"Perfect," Ozul nodded.

"There is a catch," Zier put up his finger, "It is too weak to be useful."

It couldn’t be helped that Zier only developed poison for pure lethal force. His objective had never been to erase his traces afterwards. Hence, he hadn’t yet developed a strong poison which was also undetectable.

Ozul narrowed his eyes at Alda and Rameel in the distance and spoke again, "Target is not even in Nascent Soul."

Zier didn’t catch his eyes and nodded confidently, "Oh! Then there will be no problem. This poison can kill someone at least at the initial stages of Nascent Soul."

"Make two doses then."

"Alrigh-" Zier was about to salute and leave, but a dark aura spiked right beside him.

"You are not making him this poison!" Raven admonished, her hands crossed. Staring down at Ozul, she scolded, "And you are not going to kill those two!"

"Tsk."

Clicking his tongue, he rolled again, turning his back to both Zier and Raven.

Now he couldn’t even poison those two to death. He couldn’t help but lament his restricted life.

I don’t remember the Chapter number where she was shown initially. But she was there, I promise.