"... When I was an unknown cultivator going by the name of Jawren, I killed an entire family of hundred or so people and violated their women for five days and five nights. If this matter became known to the righteous path, I would be finding myself bombarded by investigations conducted by the Heaven Gazing Sect."

"What the hell?"

Davis became flabbergasted as he looked at Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky, "You were a wicked path cultivator?"

"Yes..."

"Hehe, this is going to be sweet..."

Davis took another Imagery Stone and began recording him, asking the same question while receiving the same answer. Then, he moved on to the next.

"How were you able to enter the Towering Cloud Hall?"

"I entered as an inner disciple when I bribed the examiner with a Body Tempering Cultivation Manual I found from one of the many small powers I killed for fun."

Davis recorded his speech one by one. He asked about the evil deeds he had committed and made sure to record it in case he needed to plan this old bastard's death naturally. Some of the deeds he committed were normal, but most of them were ruthless and evil, enough to make him a full-fledged wicked path cultivator.

Of course, considering the number of years Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky lived, the number of times he committed evil deeds was very few. On the other hand, the number of good deeds was more, making Davis confused.

Was he good or evil?

'No, it isn't a matter about being good or evil. It's almost as if it's a matter of doing good deeds to offset bad deeds. Karmic Luck, is that it?'

Nevertheless, Davis didn't dive too deep into it. He questioned for a short five minutes before he stopped the Imagery Stone and kept it back in his spatial ring.

"What is the matter that you want to hide the most from the Alstreim Family?"

Davis asked, feeling that the answer from this could be shocking enough that it should not be recorded.

"... I had their female youths kidnapped sometimes to have a taste occasionally..."

Davis's mouth went agape, his eyes turning cold in anger.

"How did a scum like you become the hegemon of Towering Cloud Hall?"

"... Strength..."

Davis appeared tongue-tied before he nodded, "Alright, I was stupid to ask these questions, thinking I could gain something valuable. Still, I did gain enough to make your favorite Heaven Gazing Sect hunt you down and burn your power to the ground."

He reached out his hand and commanded him to give his spatial ring, which Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky did without question in a sluggish manner.

"Truly a puppet..." Davis's eyes became full of disdain, 'Not much useful in a battle consisting of experts and techniques unless it's pure brute force that's in need...'

He pulled the spatial ring towards him and bound it. The spatial ring had the symbol of the Towering Cloud Hall etched on it, but it was the least of his concerns as his face produced a smile.

"Damn, so many Earth-Attributed Treasures... There are even four Earth-Attributed Peak-Level Spirit Stone Vein Fragments and a few dozen non-attributed Peak-Level Spirit Stone Vein Fragments."

Davis felt that it would be a bit helpful to him in comprehending Level Three Abstruse Intent for Earth Laws sooner. There were also many treasures, resources, manuals, techniques, and a lot of miscellaneous things like the master formation core to the treasury, this towering palace, and many other places he had no idea about.

A wide smile filled his face, recalling the times he killed and looted people.

'Ah, I missed this feeling of instant 'get rich' vibe...'

Davis inwardly lampooned before he shook his head.

"You just stay here and enter closed-door cultivation after we leave. You can inform your people now."

"... Yes, Master."

Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky replied, instantly taking out his messaging talisman to announce closed-door seclusion for a while. The upper echelon of the Towering Cloud Hall became abuzz after hearing this news, but this happened a bit later.

Right now, Davis satisfactorily nodded and felt that this wouldn't have a big change in fate as long as he didn't kill Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky or use him to do something. As long as Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky was cooped up in seclusion, no one, not even the Heaven Gazing Sect, should doubt anything, at least as long as they don't find out that he was enslaved, which is pretty easy to see if anyone talked to him but not if they didn't.

He lightly nodded his head in agreement with his thoughts before he turned around and took a step forward but stopped suddenly.

'Wait a minute...'

Davis's brows narrowed as he turned back to look at Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky.

'As a character who climbed up to becoming a hegemon here, would he not be bound by Blood Soul Contract to be loyal to the Towering Cloud Hall? Otherwise, I don't see the previous Ancestors, Sect Masters, or Grand Elders favoring a random nobody whose background is quite unknown. Even my Ancestors have one or two...'

"Don't resist..."

Davis commanded as he made his soul force pierce through Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky's forehead, entering his soul sea. In a few seconds, he found his soul essence and saw that it had many bindings that wouldn't react unless broken.

'That's a shit ton of Blood Soul Contracts, alright...'

Davis inwardly reveled in his misery before he noticed a Blood Soul Contract that was rather over the top; high-grade.

'This... Isn't this a binding of a High-Level Emperor Grade Blood Soul Contract? It isn't something that these small hegemons would be able to obtain with their wealth easily. They would have to squander some hefty amount of wealth to purchase this from the Soul Palace or some other higher powers, so the information hidden behind this binding should be somewhat important...'...

Davis mused as he took his soul force out of Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky. He pondered for a moment, deciding not to erase the Blood Soul Contract through brute force since it might have disadvantageous consequences. After all, it would be the same as the victim trying to break the contract.

Instead, he decided to go with questioning.

"What is the matter you are compelled to hide the most to protect yourself from the binding of a Blood Soul Contract?"

"... Soul Emperor Hadrian Cross is in seclusion in the far west of the Tripartite Alliance Territory... Pftt!~"

"...!"

Davis's eyes went wide in shock.

Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky started spitting out blood while his seven orifices bled. He lowered his head, looking even more lethargic as he dropped to his knees, looking like he was going to collapse.

*Thud!~*

His body fell on the floor, twitching. His soul had almost collapsed at this moment, although he was not dead but would eventually be.

The Blood Soul Contract had shown its prowess, leaving him in a state of near death. It was worse than being crippled, perhaps, even much worse!

Nevertheless, Davis's expression was still frozen.

Not because of Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky's crippling but because of the matter he heard.

West of the Tripartite Alliance Territory? The Desolate Plains? That was south to him since he came from the spatial gate, but it was west to the entire Fifty-Two Territories map, and that also meant that it was just far south of the Desolate Plains!

'Damn it! A Soul Emperor!? Was he the danger I sensed when Isabella left for the Grand Sea Continent!? Could it be that he was watching me at the Alstreim Family, even monitoring us going in and out of the spatial gate connecting to the Grand Sea Continent!?'

Davis was utterly stiff that he almost felt like if he turned around there would be Soul Emperor Hadrian Cross standing before him. He gulped and turned around swiftly, watching the space filled with types of furniture as his gaze panned.

"Is there something wrong, Davis?"

Nadia also became alert as she bent her waist, looking ready to pounce on anything that might show up.

Davis looked around, his gaze seemingly peering into the empty space. However, no matter how he used his senses, even his newly overpowered physical sense, he did not sense anything. He turned around again and returned his gaze to the crippled Ancestor.

"Xanbas, what's this Soul Emperor Hadrian Cross's motive in staying in the Tripartite Alliance?"

"... Pui~" Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky spat some blood, his expression looking dull and lethargic with no amount of pain whatsoever, "... To hide from the Soul Palace and heal himself up, regaining back his cultivation..."

"I see..." Davis relaxed, realizing it was not for him, "So he had done something wrong to hide? Did he belong to the Soul Palace and got exiled?"

"...Yes"

"What's Soul Emperor Hadrian Cross's current cultivation?"

"... High-Level Emperor Soul Stage..."

"Was he hiding there for the last decade?"

"... Yes."

To Davis's solemn questions came the constant yet monotonous stream of replies from the critically injured Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky.

Davis raised his head, looking at the ceiling in thought.

'So the Soul Palace is chasing their own, a High-Level Emperor Soul Stage Powerhouse? And he's apparently hiding right to the west of our spatial gate from the moment I appeared in the First Layer, and I didn't realize that until what, now?'

A stupid smile appeared on his lips. Not only did he feel like he had courted death every time he roamed the Tripartite Alliance Territory, but he also felt like he had used up an entire life's worth of luck at this moment!

What were the chances that he would not be found out by Soul Emperor Hadrian Cross?

Davis gulped, feeling his pounding heart calm down as he released a heavy sigh.

'Well, if he was the danger, then no wonder I don't experience or have that feeling of impending danger anymore. I now have enough strength to defend against that Soul Emperor's attacks with my Body Tempering Cultivation's prowess...'

Davis felt like the puzzles finally set in place but still had his doubts over this matter.

Nevertheless, he reached out his hand and began healing Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky's soul with Fallen Heaven's life energy. He didn't want to do such a thing as healing this scum but letting him die at this moment wasn't a good decision to make either.

At the very least, Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky could be the perfect bomber if he needed him to be!

However, he didn't overly heal the other party's soul essence and just left him in a state of critical soul injury. This would also clear any doubts on why Ancestor Xanbas Goldsky would suddenly go into seclusion the moment he came out of seclusion.

When looking at his strange behavior, some might even think that he went retarded from the soul injury and not from being enslaved. Therefore, leaving him in this state would be quite advantageous, or so Davis thought.

Davis's eyes narrowed as he thought about Soul Emperor Hadrian Cross.

'Defending is somewhat easy, but I would probably be wasting a lot of my soul essence if I want to kill a character of that caliber... Should I leak this information to the Soul Palace?'