In the next following days, Nalser didn’t let Mei out of his sight. Since everyone were currently busy with their own tasks, there was no one to grin at them. Four days after Nalser had given the orders Mei wanted to go meet her family. In the beginning, Nalser wanted to follow but he quickly decided against it. At the bridge, where all the portals were converged at, there were Nalser and Mei. Nalser said, “Take all the time you need there, if something happens, immediately let me know.”

Mei let out a weak smile as she said, “Don’t worry. You have fortified this place very thoroughly. Sweeper and the rest also combed the whole Starry World inch by inch and there was no one unexpected there. I will be back in a week or two, maybe longer but I will visit at some times.” As she said so, she directed her Qi into the formation and went to the Starry World. Although they were all connected, you could go everywhere from the Starry Island, it didn’t work the other way around. Only people with permission could enter the Starry Island.

Nalser saw the pain flash from Mei’s eyes as she said so, he understood the reason she is going to visit her family. She most likely wanted to visit her mother the most. When Mei had left, Nalser’s eyes turned serious. Everyone, who had left the Island, had returned with their preliminary reports. Turning his back towards the teleporting formation, he went to the Library.

When he arrived at the conference room, he was greeted by a grim atmosphere. He sat down at the Master’s seat and said, “Now then, lets begin. First we will hear about the formations.” Artificer stood up as he cleared his throat, “We have done a complete overhaul of the previous formations. We have found what seems to be the crack that the Draconian entered from before. We have closed this breach and laying down the other formations is currently 60% completed. We need a few more days before we can finish laying down all the formations.” Nalser nodded, this was already a lot faster than expected. As he signalled for the Artificer to sit down, he asked from Sweeper what the situation with the other Remnants was.

Sweeper grimly stood up, “Only the Four Generals that followed the Ancient King gave an immediate reply of following Master. Other’s hesitated and asked for time to think about it when they heard that Master will be going up against the Ancient Prince.” Nalser let out a sigh as he signalled for Sweeper to sit down. “So, most of the Remnants are hesitating because of the Ancient Prince.” Sweeper nodded as he said, “However, they did not seemed surprised about the Ancient Prince being alive. It seems that the Ancient Prince has already reached out to them before.” N

alser just sighed again before he asked, “You said that the Ancient King didn’t give him his Legacy for some reason. Did he say why?” Everyone thought for a moment trying to remember. Suddenly, Librarian said, “I remember him saying once that there are some invisible strings tied to him. I have not understood it even till now. The Ancient Kings decision not to pass on his Legacy to him came as quite an abrupt surprise actually. The Ancient Prince had talent not seen before, his foundations were solid and his comprehending speed was fast as well.”

This made Nalser frown even more as he moved on for now. As he asked about the report about the powers that are most likely to follow the Prince, the answer was even more depressing. Nearly half of the major powers have had a change of hands in the last century. They all followed the same scenario: A Branch family meets a mysterious expert who helps them overthrow the Main family. If it happened once or twice it wouldn’t arise suspicion but to have the identical thing happen to nearly half the major powers within the span of a century made it extremely suspicious.

Finally, Nalser let out a sigh as he asked, “Okey, moving back to the Four Generals, how many people would be joining our forces then?” Sweeper thought for a second before answering, “The four Generals are all middle stage Empyrean Emperors. Other than that, they have no more Emperors but as a subtotal I would say, around 1000 Kings, 3000 Princes and 10 000 Immortals. They have a double that amount each under the Tribulation stage.” Nalser was baffled by the numbers as he asked in shock, “With an army like that, how in the Seven Hells did the Ancient King lose the war?” This was truly something that puzzled him. Sweeper just smiled weakly as he said, “We lost due to numbers. The Modern Path was something that the Ancient Prince invented to raise an army. Although their strength is not on par with people in the same stage at the Ancient Path, their training speed is faster by several fold. Even with minimal resources, a person can train to the Core Formation stage with 20 years if his talent is not half bad.” Nalser was quiet for a second as he kept listening.

Finally, Sweeper got to the point, “The amount of people the Ancient Prince had outnumbered us a 1000 to 1. No matter how valiantly our people fought, they just couldn’t fight the sheer numbers.” Nalser’s brow kept frowning as he kept thinking of something. He asked, “Did the Ancient Prince establish the Modern Path before or after the Ancient King refused to pass on his Legacy to him?” Librarian said, “After. The Ancient King and the Prince had a huge argument about that but as a result the Prince disappeared for 500 years and when he came back, he had already established the Modern Path and his numbers were also on par with ours. He carved out a little piece of territory for himself where he continued to spread the methods and a 1000 years later the Ancient War erupted.” Hearing this far, Nalser just let out a sigh as he said, “So it truly is like this.”

This statement puzzled everyone but Nalser didn’t pay it any heed s he asked Artificer, “Is this room completely and absolutely safe from being spied on?” Artificer thought for a moment before resolutely nodding. Nalser nodded as well as he said, “Now then, what I am about to say next is only a Theory but it is the most likely one.” Everyone sharpened up as they listened. Seeing this Nalser started explaining, “My Theory is that an already Ascended power stands behind the Ancient Prince.” As Nalser dropped the bombshell on everyone he took a breath.

Before anyone could ask anything, he continued, “My reasoning behind this hypothesis is that it is the only thing that would explain everything. The Ancient King suddenly refusing to pass down his Legacy to him. He creating a completely new cultivation path from scratch in merely 500 years. The mysterious experts of unknown origin by his side, who shouldn’t even exist in this Realm.” As Nalser let it all sink in to them, he could see various expressions on everyone’s faces.

His words made sense and were extremely logical, however it had a huge But. Librarian said, “But didn’t Master say that a Realm that doesn’t have an Ascended person yet, is protected by the Laws of Heaven to not let other Ascended powers to take over the Realm and even if they helped the Ancient Prince, what would they gain out of it?” Nalser nodded his head, the things Librarian said were exactly the things he was about to explain next.

He said, “As I said before it is general knowledge that an Ascended Realm can’t meddle with a Realm that has not Ascended. However, what if someone found a way to bypass the Laws? What I mean is, what if someone, either through hard work or accident, found a technique or a method to craft an Artefact that can bypass the Laws. If you think at it from an objective point of view, you will find that it is not that ridiculous.” As he said so, he finished his part for now. Everyone in the room quietly thought of this possibility. As Nalser said, it wasn’t too far fetched and it would also explain everything.

Librarian asked again, “If it truly is the case what would they gain out of it?” Nalser answered him with a serious face, “As there are Dimensional Wars to fight for the control over a Cosmos, the same applies to Realms. However, the Realm War’s can only happen between Ascended Powers. However, if we put the method of bypassing the Laws into the formula as well, the answer is obvious. They take over the Realm by putting a puppet as the Ascended. When that person finally Ascend, the Realm will issue a Realm War Challenge and the puppet accepts. He will put on a pretty show of a little resistance and then surrendering.” Saying like this, everyone understood.

The method was the same as the one the Ancient Prince was currently using. Everyone’s expressions turned grim as they thought about this. Finally Librarian asked, “So what are we going to do from now on?” Unlike before, Nalser didn’t answer immediately. This situation had now actually left the boundaries of their Realm. If there truly was a method to bypass the Laws and interfere with a not Ascended Realm, then this meant that even if Nalser won this little war against the Ancient Prince, he would need to also fight against the Realm that backs the Ancient Prince.

After fighting against the Prince he had no confidence in having a strong enough army in the Realm to take on an already Ascended Realm that was pissed off at him for messing up their plans. He also probably wouldn’t have enough resources to decline the Challenge. So for this thing, he had to approach it with extreme caution and he couldn’t make any impulsive moves. After a while of silence, Nalser opened up his mouth and also explained his final thoughts to the rest. They all agreed with Nalser’s way of thinking.

They most probably wouldn’t be able to take on the Ascended Realm right after finishing the fight with the Ancient Prince. If you looked at the current situation it was obvious. The total number of Ancient Experts didn’t even reach one tenth of the number there were before the Ancient War. The same went for the Modern Experts, even more so because the Modern Realm was fragmented and not united. This thing needed to be handled with care so for now they decided on taking the Four Generals in.

Even though Nalser was the Master and his word was final, he listened to the others. If everyone else were completely against something, then he wouldn’t push it. As the meeting ended, everyone left to carry on their tasks. However, only one person went to deal with the Ancient Remnants. It was the Sweeper, who would open a pathway to the Starry Island to bring them all here. As for the rest of the Remnants, Nalser didn’t bother with them any more. Since they already faltered once, he lost his trust in them.

The ones who were supposed to gather the information on the Princes subordinates, were all also recalled. Nalser had learned all he needed to know about that and it was no use in sending them out any more. However, he did not forget to praise all of them for gathering so much information in such a short period of time on such short notice. As everyone left, Nalser was the only one left in the conference room. He let out a sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes. This had all escalated into the worst case scenario he had thought of. As he sat there, he started thinking on what his options were.

Since he currently did not have the power to fight, he could only wait. But he was not going to sit around dwidling his thumbs but he would need to start laying down the ground work in preparation to making his moves. As Nalser was pondering on his various options, he suddenly felt his mind growing hazy. He was alarmed but before he could call anyone, he felt his consciousness being ripped out from his body. As he came back to his senses, he was standing inside a huge grandiose conference Hall.

As he looked around, he couldn’t help but let out a whistle as he looked at the luxurious surroundings. His sightseeing was interrupted by an amused voice, “This truly is impressive, for you to remain so calm even though you were brought here so abruptly. You truly are the successor of Nalser.” As he looked towards the voice his face stayed the same. The man was using the Universal Cosmos Language. As he sized the man up, he was a bit surprised about the aura he was excluding. The man had long grey hair and along with a long white beard. His face was full of wrinkles and his body was very scrawny. Although he wore a long golden robe, his bony hands made him look him like a person who even a stronger gust of win could win against. The man was sitting at head of the table and on his right hand sat a young man in beggar clothes. The young man had refined features and his long black hair was loose. His aura was as sharp as a sword.

When Nalser had finished his inspection he answered with a smile, “Well, a lot of unusual things have happened to me lately. I have grown used to these kinds of things.” As he shrugged his shoulders saying so in the Universal Language, the old man was surprised but on the face of the young man was a hint of smile. The old man just let out a hollow laugh as he pointed to the seat to the left of him, “Take a seat and I will explain why I forcibly brought you here like this.” Nalser nodded his head and slowly walked to the seat. As he sat down on the left of the old man, facing the young man, the old man opened his mouth, “I used this Artefact “Dream World” to summon your consciousness here to talk to you about what is going on in your Realm.”

Nalser stayed quiet because he had figured as much. He had never seen the two so their timing suggested that it had something to do with all the unexpected problems in his Realm. Actually, this Artefact proved one thing to Nalser. It was possible to bypass the Laws with certain abilities some Artefacts had. As he sat there listening, the old man continued, “First of all, I would like to say that you are right in your hypothesis. There is truly an Ascended Realm backing your Prince.” As the old man ended his sentence, he let out a sigh before continuing, “However, we do not have the methods necessary to do the same and send help to you. The Power that is orchestrating all of this, is extremely strong and both their origin as well as their total numbers and location are a complete mystery.” Listening thus far, Nalser’s face turned more serious. It was exactly like had feared and from what the old man said, they can’t help him.

Nalser just interjected, “Okey, lets cut to the chase. I don’t believe you brought me here just to tell me how bad my situation is and how you can’t help me.” The old man looked astonished for a moment before laughing merrily, “Even though we can’t help you fight the Prince, we can help you by not letting him get more reinforcements. Also, we will help you pay the rejection fee when you win your war and Ascend.” Nalser was genuinely surprised by the old man’s statement. He asked with suspicion, “Why are you helping me? I guess that you are not from a usual power. Why are you going out of you way to intervene like this?”

The old man laughed a bit. It was the first time in Eons that someone dared to talk to him like an equal. The last person who dared to do so was the Black Flame Angel. The smile on the young man’s face grew broader. This was a very familiar situation to him. The old man said, “Well, I am helping you for two reasons:

1. The Cosmos is my domain and to have someone sneakily turning it upside down like this is something that pisses me off.

2. Our Cosmos owes too much to Nalser. Since he made you his successor and passed off his Legacy to you, he also passed on our debt.”

Now Nalser was puzzled as he asked, “Who is this “Nalser” you speak of?” The two looked at him in astonishment as the young man chuckled, “So he didn’t tell you his name. The entity, that was inside you that helped you merge your Special Bodies, had the birth name Nura Nalser. However, travelling around he used the name Nalser vi Dragoncross.” As the young man opened his mouth for the first time, Nalser was astonished. Enn had never told him those names.

Now thinking back to everything that Enn had said had happened to him, he thought to himself, “The name Enn Tuul may be the one he grew up with. I understand where the name Nura Nalser comes from but Nalser vi Dragoncross?” As he was slowly thinking, the two others were quiet. They had a lot of time, so they were not in a hurry. After thinking about it for a while, he gave up after he couldn’t figure out where the name came from. He then turned to the old man and asked, “What do you want in return for helping me out?” The old man let out a smile as he said, “What I want is you to stand on my side since there is going to be a big storm in the Cosmos soon. There is a little more than a million years left until the next Dimensional War. If my guess is right, then the mysterious power will start making his moves to take over the cosmos in the next few millennia.”

As Nalser heard that, he slowly nodded his head as he said, “So you want me to stand on your side during this war. However, what makes you think I will be able to win the war in my Realm and achieve Ascension within a Millennia. No matter, how fast I could cultivate, to reach that stage within a millennia is a bit too optimistic, no?” The old man let out a hearty laugh hearing that rebuttal from Nalser.

The young man said, “You have the strongest Fire Type Body. You have the strongest Fire Type Cultivation Art. Your body is extremely sturdy, although the perfection has regressed as the body’s maximum tempering limit was raised by the merging of your Special Bodies. You have already completely perfected the Hidden Meridians Hidden Palaces and awakened you Soul. Your soul is extremely strong since it merged with a fragment of Nalser’s soul. Although you currently do not have any Cultivation, your starting line is different from others.”

As he said this far, he took a breath before saying the conclusion, “If we say that mediocre people start climbing at he base of the mountain, geniuses will be at about half way and you are one step away from the top. Do you understand what I mean?” After having it explained to him like that, Nalser didn’t know whether to be happy or sad.

However, the young man didn’t let Nalser say anything as he coldly added to the long list, “And to top it all off, you have already gained an Insight to a Heavenly Law. You have comprehended an innate technique from it as well. The moment you start cultivating, it won’t probably take you even half a century to reach the Tribulation.” Now Nalser wanted to say something but before he could, the old man cut him by continuing, “On the same topic, Nalser had reached a level of strength that was not inferior to mine. His soul remembers the path he took to reach there, when your souls fused, this knowledge became yours. Your Soul “remembers” the road and will now take the most optimal one instinctively. Not to ment-”

Nalser cut him off with a wave of his hand as he said, “Okey!Okey!Okey! I understand, my foundation is extremely solid. My progress rate will be extremely fast.” The two looked at each other for a second before the old man sighed, “It will not be just “extremely fast”, it will be monstrously fast. Also, the foundation you have is not just solid, it is completely unheard of solid.” Hearing this Nalser let out a hollow laugh as he couldn’t find a way to refute them any more.

Diverting the subject Nalser asked, “Hey, do you know from which Realm the Draconian came from?” The young man had a strange face on before sighing again, “I do not and I know what happened. I seriously considered breaking Laws of the Heavens to intervene then but I hesitated. I offer you my sincerest apologies for this.” As he said so, he bowed his head. His forehead hit the table and Nalser was baffled by his honesty.

However, he could not blame him. The punishment for breaking the Laws like that was having his soul shattered by lighting. It was not a simple Tribulation type where a certain number of them hit the person but the lighting wouldn’t stop before the soul was shattered. If he had intervened he would have died 100%. The old man looked at the two in surprise, he didn’t know what had happened, but it seems like it was something very major so he said, “Draconians have an innate desire of possession and they are also extremely lustful. I do not know what the Draconian did but seeing my son bowing his head in apology like that, I can only do the same.”

As the old man also bowed his head, Nalser was completely stupefied. As silence consumed the hall, Nalser came back to his senses and quickly asked the two to raise their heads. From what the old man had said, he could understand that these two were most likely from the Immortal Emperors lineage. He did not know that he was currently talking to the Immortal Emperor himself.

The young man raised his head and said, “The reason the incident happened was mainly attributed to four things:

1. The room she used was the room the Master of the Island used, so he was waiting for you.

2. The Draconians are innately lustful and they have a strong desire to possess beautiful things.

3. She has the Heavenly Water Embryo Body, something that ignites the lust in Water Draconians.

4. She currently practises the Water Fairy Art. It makes a person look as beautiful as a Fairy and also gives them the same aura.” Speaking thus far, he suddenly had a clump in his throat as he finished, “Even if he had seen her in the middle of the Island admits everyone else, he would have been taken over by his lust any ways and he would have madly dashed to do the deed.”

When Nalser heard this, his face was crestfallen. He suddenly remembered that Mei said that the Draconian was after him. He had told her to bring him to her. That meant that the Draconian could contain his lust enough not to forget his goal, Mei could have been saved from all that if he hadn’t been so weak. This realization made him cast his head down.