"Ancestor..." An Eighth Stage Expert hesitantly spoke, "It is our home, our valuables were als-"
"Don’t worry." Ezekiel Alstreim possessed a majestic bearing, "I retrieved all of your valuables, and they would be distributed soon enough after we decide on how we should rebuild our new home in this place. Until then, you can all relax and celebrate that this isn’t a slaughter like it could have been."
"All the Eighth Stage Experts, gather at the mountain top over there." He arbitrarily pointed before he moved towards it without saying a word.
The people below became flabbergasted as they didn’t know what to say to this resettlement. However, they understood that the magical beast was extremely strong for their Ancestor to forget about it taking their home! They were extremely reluctant to leave their home and the training zone that they had failed to take advantage of when they had the chance.
Now, they felt extremely regretful that they wasted so much time not cultivating and instead of making an excuse that there was no need to cultivate since they couldn’t get out. They were so regretful that their intestines turned green!
Nevertheless, since their Ancestor had made the decision, who were they to say otherwise? They were now simply satisfied with the result that they hadn’t met a horrific fate instead. Now, they only had to wait for their heads to return.
Davis saw that all the experts left to the mountain top, and even Niera Alstreim did, even though she was not an Eighth Stage Expert. No one seemed to berate her but welcomed her presence as they started the meeting.
Needless to say, Davis left a body double in this location before sneakily making his way to the mountaintop as he spied on them. Using soul sense should be okay too, but he didn’t want to make a mistake this close. He listened to them speaking about Nadia’s power and concealment techniques before discussing the future of this resettlement.
Davis naturally got bored as a full hour passed by. It looks like Ezekiel Alstreim wasn’t going to share the ’trial’ that he had given to him. Nevertheless, he still listened to what they had to say before the meeting finally ended five minutes later.
Davis looked disappointed as they all went away, but his eyes lit up the moment he saw Ezekiel Alstreim stopping the three of them with soul transmission. Nero Alstreim, Keira Alstreim and Niera Alstreim remained.
"I have something dire to say..." Ezekiel Alstreim opened his mouth before he began stating his hypothesis of how that magical beast could be the guardian of this Immortal Inheritance and how it could let them leave if he cleared this suspicious trial that it had given.
The three of their expression were getting excited, especially Niera’s, as she seemed to be convinced that Davis was the reason for the guardian’s arrival. However, she didn’t say it as she promised and kept her mouth shut.
Ezekiel Alstreim looked at them enjoy before he suddenly dropped a bomb on them, "However, from its words, it seems that the trial is something gruesome and hideous. It asked me to sacrifice a child of my descent, meaning that it’s either Nero or Niera."
The three of their expressions widened as their hearts sunk, feeling heavy.
"Ahahaha! Why are you all looking as if you had all seen a ghost?" Ezekiel Alstreim couldn’t help but laugh, "That magical beast is probably lying to get a piece of free meat as it continues to look down on us. It’s either that, or it’s truly speaking to get me to clear a trial. However, a trial like this is extremely taxing on a person’s heart. Sometimes, the right answer is to not sacrifice because if I did, there’s a good fifty percent chance that I might also fail."
"Nevertheless, even if the correct answer to clear the trial is for me to sacrifice one of you two, it seems that I’m still going to fail, hehe..."
Ezekiel Alstreim wryly laughed.
"Grandpa..." Nero Alstreim uttered with a bit of difficulty while the other two trembled.
"I told you all this because I don’t want you three to worry if that magical beast suddenly decided to deceive you all, and I only told you three because I don’t want the others to start scheming against you two. This will remain a secret until the situation changes somehow in the foreseeable future." Ezekiel Alstreim’s expression became solemn, "Are we clear?"
"Yes...!" All three of them answered as their shoulders relaxed. However, Nero Alstreim instantly asked.
"Grandpa, are we sure that it asked something like that?"
"Yes, I’m sure that I had not heard it wrong as I made it repeat two times..." Ezekiel Alstreim nodded.
"Then," Nero Alstreim began to contemplate as he spoke, "We can try using someone else with a descendant to see if it asks them the same."
He suddenly looked at the others and saw that they were casting him an unexpected look. Feeling that they misunderstood, he quickly explained.
"Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this to sacrifice others, but I’m saying this because we’ll have more options to consider. Perhaps, in the future, if any of us deserve death, instead of killing, we’ll merely have their parents sacrifice them so that we can at least gain a good out of the situation as we’ll be able to leave even if there is no trial..."
"What if the magical beast is lying?" Keira Alstreim asked with narrowed eyes.
"We’ll know if it is lying at that time..." Nero Alstreim simply uttered as if it were a matter of fact, "There’s also the option of sacrificing the people untouched from the Infernal Lightning Palace, but I’m not even sure if we can enter that place... So far, we’ve been only maintaining communications with messaging talismans, so that choice is pretty bleak if you ask me..."
"Enough, we’ll discuss this at a later date..." Ezekiel Alstreim shook his head as he sighed, "This stupid magical beast is probably making us fight amongst ourselves so that it can watch from the shadows. I want to see my Elise, but I don’t want you two to die either. This is enough to give me a heart demon, but I will not let it overwhelm me. I will confront the magical beast again, pester it until I learn more. It’s not as if it could easily kill me. Otherwise, it might’ve already done that."
"I agree, but be careful, grandpa..." Nero Alstreim narrowed his eyes.
"I know... Mhm?" Ezekiel Alstreim suddenly cast a look to the side, "Niera, you look like you want to say something?"
Niera Alstreim blurted out as she came out of her reverie, "Eh...? No, I was thinking of something else."
"What were you thinking about? You are smart, so you should be able to help us, no?" Ezekiel Alstreim laughed, trying to make the atmosphere return back to normal.
"I..." Niera Alstreim hesitated, feeling that she should tell what she learned but shouldn’t, as she had said that she would try her best. However, her life and her father’s were at stake, making her incredibly reluctant to hide this information.
She bit her lips and spoke, "Grandpa, I think we should have Davis Alstreim participate in the trial if that magical beasts accept other people..."
"Mhm...?" The three of them became astonished at the same time. Nero Alstreim narrowed his eyes as he asked.
"What do you mean? He has no descendants to speak of..."
Niera Alstreim shook her head, "I’m not talking about that trial. I’m talking about another possibility because Davis Alstreim trains in Lightning Laws as his main law."
"What!?"
"Among us, he’s the only one who trains in a different law. I think we have to consider the possibility of something else happening. After all, we have to consider that the words that say ’Blazing Thunderlight Kirin’ are made up of lightning. He might have more compatibility with the Immortal Inheritance than us. Perhaps, that’s why the magical beast only said about showing the way to leave instead of showing the way to enter the trial."
"You... You’re right..." Ezekiel Alstreim looked taken aback as he possessed a shocked expression on his face, "The first time that magical beast appeared was the day when I found him! Why didn’t I realize this before!?"
"Niera, you’re truly a smart child!!! Ahahaha!" He couldn’t laugh out loud as he felt all the worry within him fade away.
He felt that he was stupid and should’ve thought of this before. The whole situation that didn’t change for thousands of years suddenly changed, and from the looks of it, it was because of this brat known as Davis Alstreim.
Could it be that the guardian would only arrive when it finds a suitable successor as it hides in the darkness? And when a suitable successor finally arrives, it gets rid of the enemies so the successor can smoothly enter the trial without encountering a problem.
He couldn’t help but suck in a cold amount of breath as he felt that the Immortals of that time had almost considered everything when placing their trial sites.
The other two were also surprised, noticing that their daughter had managed to find such a unique aspect that they hadn’t noticed.
"Still, to realize all this, were you intensely looking at Davis from afar?" Keira Alstreim laughed as she teased her daughter.
Niera blinked before she shyly lowered her head.
The other three became stunned before they looked at each other, feeling a bit taken aback.
’Uhhh... There goes my plan...’ Davis thought in exasperation, but he didn’t blame Niera because he felt that was the correct thing to do. Moreover, she didn’t reveal much other than that he trained in Lightning Laws, so he felt that he could give her full points for this like a superior existence.
’Ezekiel, don’t ever think that you’ll get the easy way out... I’m gonna have Nadia reject me on the entrance and give you a time limit, hehe...’ Davis had an evil grin on his face, ’Let’s see how you would respond at that time...’
Getting the Immortal Inheritance was his highest priority, but knowing if this Ezekiel Alstreim was reliable or not was also something he kept in his mind. Without that, he wouldn’t be able to take him out of this place when the time comes.