Corrupt Creations

Lan Xue looked at him with incredulity. Even if he was the pioneer on that system, called as Soul Cultivation, the difference between their Soul Senses should not be that big right? They were all at the power level of Mana Sovereign Realm powerhouses, after all.

Even though Seth had yet to officially step on that threshold, Lan Xue and Arwen knew that he was probably the strongest one among them. His battle prowess should already be strongly solidified in the middle-stage of Mana Sovereign Realm, possibly even reaching the late-stage.

They knew it, witnessing his battles. Lan Xue saw him battle uncountable powerful enemies time and time again, deep down inside the obscure abyss and she knew that she couldn't possibly do the same. Arwen on the other hand, saw him defeating Velgor in his prime, fueled by the desperation of losing sight of his future. She knew that it would have been impossible for her to do it, without sacrificing her life.

The most impressive fact about it though, was that he had yet to step in that realm of power; the Mana Sovereign Realm. The realization that he could get even stronger when reaching that threshold, was something scary even for them, his allies. What would it be like, when he stepped into that level?

Suddenly, their reasoning was interrupted by Seth's voice.

"Let's go, I think I've found our way."

His body blurred as he swiftly moved towards a certain direction.

The Elf Queen quickly followed him and Lan Xue did the same. With their outstanding speed, in five minutes or a bit less, they arrived at the entrance of the place called as Purple Illusory Forest.

Just like its name implied, the trees there, were covered by a thick fog that could easily elude the senses of weaker cultivators. Without using their special sensorial ability, they felt their sight being vaguely affected, as the see of trees seemed to dancing from one side to the other.

Quickly activating his Soul Sense, Seth instantly saw what was real and what was not. An eerie white smoke filled the entire area, trying to influence his senses. He also realized through his special ability, that the coloration of that strange mist, seemed to changing from white to light purple, as it penetrated through the forested area.

Reasoning that it would be related to the concentration of Ethereal Illusory energy present on it, he quickly realized where his final destination should mostly be located. However, he knew that still wasn't enough to clearly determine it.

However, Seth already had some plans on how he would pinpoint the Illusive Ethereal Sanctuary and the situation around its border. He just had to find an unlucky member of that Higher Ground, that was venturing through this large forest to temper himself and extract that information from him. That shouldn't be something that difficult, right?

The Trio didn't waste any time and flew atop the trees in that area, officially entering the Purple Illusory Forest. While abusing of his Soul Sense, Seth made sure to avoid or ignore every single beast that could delay their journey, proceeding through that hellish environment, with ease. For them, it was as if they were strolling through the park, instead of adventuring to a death zone.

A few minutes into that boring task, Seth couldn't stand the silence anymore, so he started a conversation.

"Lan Xue, I've been thinking about it... How did your Glazed Lake Sect react to the destruction of the Lion's Pride Golden Palace?"

Seth was honestly curious about that topic, since it referred to the destruction of a Higher Ground, a powerful entity at the same level as her sect. He wasn't so naïve to think that an event of that magnitude, could be kept as a secret for so long. At least, the Twelve Palace Masters should know about it already, and maybe, someone of Lan Xue's caliber, already knew about his participation and his deeds.

However, for his amazement, Lan Xue's reply implied she didn't know about his involvement with what had happened.

"What?! Do you know about that?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I thought the rumors of what happened with the Lion's Pride Golden Palace, were getting heavily suppressed by the StormWind Valley and only powerful sects, like the Higher Grounds, would be able to get that information. I guess you knew about it, since it is related to demons..."

Suddenly, everyone stopped, as if they were not understanding each other. Even Arwen was feeling confused.

Lan Xue picked their confused expression and concluded that they did not know everything about it.

"Huh? Didn't you know? I thought you would know since you're somehow related to those people. It seems like the Lion's Pride Golden Palace was doing a shady business with the demons from the Demonic Shadow Royal Clan, going as far as trying to ally themselves through marriage. But they somehow screwed everything at the last second."

Lan Xue realized Seth and Arwen had the same expression as before, so she decided to continue her story: "They had a life and death conflict in the Lion's Pride Golden Palace Territory, that led to the destruction of that entire area. It seems like both sides suffered heavy losses, but the demons were the ultimate victors. However, the StormWind Valley and everyone else don't really know about the details of what really happened, since it was something that the Lake Goddess personally told us."

Seth couldn't believe that Velgor and his Twelve Shadows were being framed for something he did. Even Arwen was having a hard time to believe it. However, what puzzled him the most, was the fact that the Lake Goddess had told a partial lie to her subordinates.

"Wait... What else did she tell you? And why didn't you do anything about it?"

"Hm? Nothing else. Why do we need to do anything about it? It was their matters, something between their sects and even if we wanted to, we couldn't do anything about it, with the Illusive Ethereal Sanctuary moving towards us." Lan Xue remembered what happened on that hateful day and her expression darkened.