He recalled that Delia’s mother had suffered terribly for her beauty, and that the young woman herself had been subjected to countless problems because of it. This was the reason why she had been travelling alone ever since she had left the Kingdom of Ridgerock where she had been fostered by the previous king for several years, and why she was so bad at socializing with other people. Psychologically, attending the party the night before had probably made her feel extremely uncomfortable, since for all of her strength she was still a human being.

When Delia didn’t respond to him, he added, “May shouldn’t have lied to you, so I’m sorry about that.” Pausing for a moment to find the right words, he said, “You know, there’s nothing wrong with being beautiful. I know there’re a lot of shitty people out there, but as long as you find people that you trust and get along with then who cares what other people think?”

All she did was snicker.

“I’m just saying, if you want to keep travelling with us after I end the contract between us, you’re more than welcome to.”

“If that day ever comes.”

“It won’t be too far off. A couple of years at the most.”

“Just a couple of years,” she muttered, eyes narrowing in frustration.

“Your lifespan is at least a thousand years at this point. You’re only in your twenties, so two years is nothing. If you’re still annoyed, just imagine how someone else might treat you if they were in my position, especially after you almost killed me and my friends when we were running from Tems and his people.”

She didn’t have a response, since his words were very reasonable. Not only did he allow her a high degree of freedom, but he had left her with most of her possessions while at the same time providing her with a fortune’s worth of extremely rare cultivation resources. These had allowed her to reach the eighth level of Genesis decades before she would have managed to do so by relying on her own means. On top of that, she now had more spirit stones on her person than before they’d met, and by a significant degree.

After remaining quiet for a time, all of the earlier tension left Delia’s expression. “I’ve met thousands of people in my life, and those that I can tolerate can be counted on one hand. I just prefer to be alone, so being forced to accompany you all is a great test to my patience.”

Nolan crossed his arms and gave a subtle smirk. “Come on, you can’t say that it’s been all bad. So much has happened in the weeks since we left the sect’s territory, but a lot of it was pretty fun.”

“Perhaps for you lot.”

“Don’t lie. You hardly spoke at all when we first met, now we can actually talk like this without any problems.”

She was quiet for a moment, her silver eyes unreadable. “Was there anything else?”

“Just think about what I said. I’m not some petty person, so I’ve already forgotten about everything from before. I know you’ve killed a lot of people, but none of us are saints, so there’s no judgment on that end either.”

“You just want a strong backer that you can order around any time you like. I’m sure if your friends had to sign a master-slave contract with you in order to remain in your company then they would leave at the earliest possibility.”

Nolan took a step closer and pulled out a little cup, dipping it slightly beneath the surface of the crate and then taking an immediate sip. Returning to where he’d been standing before, he enjoyed the massive amounts of exceedingly pure energy that immediately began to stimulate both his dantian and spiritual space. If he was going to take time off of cultivating, he might as well improve his energies.

“What?” he said, noticing that Delia had pulled back against the far end of the crate.

Based on the position of her shoulders, which were now slightly above the surface of the liquid, she had draped an arm over her chest.

“Are you…not wearing any clothes?” Sensing a subtle threat, he instinctually took a step back. “Nobody wants to be seen naked accidently, I get it. But I swear, I didn’t see anything.”

An unknown memory seemed to cross Delia’s mind, which led to her ducking her head beneath the water so that only her eyes and above were visible. Before Nolan could even wonder what she was thinking about, a sudden surge of force sent him flying into the door and out into the common area with an explosion of splintered wood. Laying atop a scuffed-up carpet for a few moments, Nolan hopped back onto his feet and then calmly repaired the door with a basic construction arrayment.

Ian was in the middle of enjoying a quick bite to eat in between cultivation sessions, his golden eyebrows tugging up in surprise as he stared at Nolan with an impressed gaze.

“Ahem. I didn’t see anything.”

“We were just talking.”

“And how did that go?”

“Not great.”

Ian took a few moments to chew some food and then said, “Brave on the battlefield and brave in the bed sheets. My respect for you only continues to grow, my friend.” Hit with a sudden thought, Ian gave him a stern stare and said, “Just keep off of my sister, and all will be well.”

“What kind of person do you think I am?”

Ian knelt down and picked up a splinter from Delia’s door that Nolan’s arrayment had overlooked, pursing his lips and nodding with a flat expression, an unspoken answer.

Changing the subject, Nolan said, “And I can’t help but remember sensing you leaving the dance area with a couple of girls that you and Sean had been talking to. You were in the manor house for a pretty long time…”

“I’m sure you were just imagining things. Ahem, it’s about time I resume cultivating, so if you need me you know where I’ll be.”

Ian left on fast feet, disappearing into his room with the speed of a man being chased by ghosts. Alone in the common area, Nolan also returned to his room and then stripped naked, quietly slipping into the crate of heavenly dew that he had left inside. A moment later and he was cultivating the White Flame Scripture, something he intended to do for the next several days before he planned to consume a piece of divine fruit and then switch over to the Ancestral Body Technique.

So long as their enemies didn’t arrive within the next ten or so days, Nolan had full confidence that he could not only reach the seventh level of Integration, but that he could also achieve several minor breakthroughs after that point. This was a conservative estimate, as he had yet to make full use of the divine fruit that still sat safely within his spatial bag.

Uncle Grey, are you there? When no response came, he went on in an urgent voice, If you can hear me but you’re just being low key, this isn’t the time. We’re about to have a big fight soon and we could really use your help with the formation that we’re going to set up.

Nolan hadn’t expected a response, though he was still a bit let down at the continued absence of his eccentric teacher. The old ghost had been behaving a bit shady before they had lost contact with him, though he wasn’t too worried over it considering that the reason for said loss of contact was that Uncle Grey had possessed Nolan’s body and consumed too much energy while dealing with the spirit of the lake. Even so, he had used some method or other to absorb half of the heavenly dew that they had harvested at that time, so Nolan doubted that he lacked enough energy to initiate contact between them. Maybe he’s still refining it? No, at least a few years had passed on Nia since the last time that they had spoken, which should have afforded him enough time to successfully refine all of that energy.

Whatever the reason, I’m sure I’ll find out soon.

Pushing all worries from his mind, Nolan committed to making use of his secondary cultivation method and soon lost himself to his meditations. There was a terrible fight looming on the horizon, after which more conflict awaited him and his friends at North Island, where a large-scale civil war was set to begin any day now.

Nolan had a lot of things to think about and a lot of causes for stress, but one thing that he knew for sure was that increasing his strength could only help his situation.