Within the guest estate, Yan Wen fell into an immediate state of shock over what he just heard.

A communication crystal was held on top of his palm.

“Elder?” the crystal glowed and the voice of a polite male was heard.

“I-is what you said true?”

“Yes, elder, it has already been confirmed in multiple major cities. At this moment, there are hordes of mortals and cultivators trying out the cold steel smithing method and have found how to easily replicate the quality of the Jade Flower Trading group. Similarly, the three flame pill condensation method has also found success in the hands of several individuals and many sects have already begun production of their own pills using this method. As for the truffles… rumours discrediting the fact that truffles found in the wild are poisonous have already begun to spread to the four corners. At this rate, all three of these secrets shall be known to all in the following morning.”

Yan Wen closed his palm and staggered to a chair. It looked as if he had aged around 10 years and was continually aging.

“Uncle, what’s wrong?!” Yan Mu, who happened to walk by, noticed the disarray look on his uncle and hurried to his side.

“It’s all worthless now….”

“What?”

Yan Wen summoned out several bags of truffles and immediately set them on fire.

Yan Mu gasped. “What are you doing?!” he immediately tried to put the fire out.

“It’s worthless! If we were able to acquire this land before and then offer it to the Sun and Moon group, we would have raised our rank within the organisation. Our family would have been propelled to new heights and the balance of power in the rainfall region would be broken with us as the true powerhouse!”

“Uncle, what happened?” Yan Mu asked, still uncertain what his uncle was saying.

“The location of the truffles have been leaked.” He sighed.

“What?! Why isn’t the Sun and Moon group doing anything to stop it?”

“They can’t. In the past, whenever someone found out about the truth, the group would just destroy the person who found out and everyone they knew. In extreme cases, they would even destroy an entire city. However, this time, someone has deliberately started off a chain of rumours regarding the location. Within an hour of revealing the secret, it was already spread throughout multiple cities. There have also been cases of random people confirming the rumour, meaning everyone knows the rumours are true.”

“W-was it one of the other trading groups?”

Yan Wen shook his head. “Their secrets have been leaked as well.”

Yan Mu was very much speechless the same way as when his Uncle first heard the news. He couldn’t imagine who could have done this. Any of the other major powers wouldn’t dare reveal these secrets as that would cause mass implications of them from all three of the trading groups.

“Could it have been the person selling those truffles to that restaurant?” Yan Mu suddenly asked.

However, Yan Wen only sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Even if it was, that person has completely derailed our plans. We’ll leave tonight.”

Yan Wen left dejectedly, leaving Yan Mu alone in the room.

“Uncle…” Yan Mu clenched his hands. He felt an even greater amount of hatred than his uncle did. If everything succeeded then he would have become an exalted young master and the heirs from the other families would no longer look down on him. Now…it was all ruined!

“DAMMIT!” He punched the wall next to him causing the walls to shake slightly.

After a few moments, his anger began to subside and he thought about the last time he was this anger. “Those twins…. Now that we don’t have to put up a face for that Mayor you two are dead!”

He left the room and immediately summoned his guards and some of the other servants.

….

Back Inside the immortal cave, Hana had just woken up and was stretching her arms.

*Yawn…

She looked around as she rubbed her tired eyes.

“Did I fall asleep?”

“Hana.”

Hana quickly turned around and saw her brother standing next to the Mayor.

“Ah, Mr. Mayor.” Hana got up and greeted him respectfully.

“Mn, it’s good to see you again.” He said with a smile. The smile was soft and endearing.

Cornelius was obviously trying to give off a better impression now that he was going to be her teacher. If she was someday going to reach the apex he had to make sure she would still remember him in the future. Who would ever forget the kindness of their teacher who taught them everything they knew?

Unfortunately, his attempt for a good impression went over board and his smile somehow turned a bit sinister. The excitement of teaching this girl made his smile overly exaggerated.

Hana silently took a step back.

“Hana, starting tomorrow the Mayor will be your new teacher. He will teach you all the fundamentals of cultivation and guide you whenever you have any troubles.”

Hana immediately panicked.

“Why aren’t you going to teach me anymore? IS it because I fell asleep during your lesson? I promise I won’t do it again!” She thought her brother must have been mad after she dozed off several times during their lessons.

“No, it’s nothing like that. I will still be around if you need me for anything.” He patted her head. “Do you remember what I said before, that I was picked up by my master and she took me in as her disciple?”

Hana nodded.

“The truth is my master will be coming here soon. There are a lot of things I need to prepare before she arrives. The Mayor is actually helping me out so that I have a bit more time to prepare. Of course, if you ever want to ask me a question you can.”

Seeing the caring look on Relic’s face she knew he was telling the truth.

“I understand.” She said before giving Relic a hug. For some reason, although he didn’t say anything, she felt like he would be leaving soon.

“Eh?” She suddenly paused. “Brother, how come you’re different?”

“What do you mean?” Relic was slightly confused by her question.

“Inside, there is green light flowing in my body. But inside brother, I don’t see any of that green light.”

Cornelius and Relic stilled in complete shock. They thought there was nothing left Hana could do to shock them but this just wasn’t the case.

“Spiritual sense?!” They both understood what Hana had done.

Spiritual sense was slightly different from Divine Sense. Spiritual sense usually covered a person’s immediately area; while divine sense covered incredibly longer distances which made it capable of seeing all movements within an area.

Learning to use your Spiritual Sense was not something difficult for cultivators to learn. In fact, it almost came naturally to them. However, the ability to use Divine Sense was only available for those starting in the Spirit Realm. There has never been a case of a cultivator learning it any earlier than that.

“Hana…” Relic sighed. “The green light flowing in your body is the qi energy you have cultivated. The energy you cultivate is collected to your dantian and flows through your body, making you stronger. The reason you don’t see any green light in my body is because I haven’t actually begun to cultivate yet.”

“But isn’t brother a cultivator? You taught me the cultivation technique, shouldn’t you also have begun to cultivate?”

Relic shook his head. “To be a cultivator one must grasp on to the Heavenly Threads. Without it, cultivation techniques are just a set of movements.”

“Then why…”

“There are many paths in reaching the Dao. I merely walk a different path which prevents me from cultivating this way. ”

Cornelius raised an eye brow hearing what Relic just said. “What other path is there?” He couldn’t help but question.

“Hana, you have not even acknowledged your new teacher yet. You better hurry up otherwise he might change his mind.” Relic suddenly said.

“ah, okay.” She said with a hint of sadness.

Hana turned to Cornelius who had a bright smile on his face. However, with every step closer to Cornelius, his soft smile would turn a little more sinister. She began to shake and she quickly became teary eyed the closer she got.

“Mr. Saviour, please put away that smile, you are scaring the poor girl.” An angelic voice could suddenly be heard.

When Hana heard the familiar angelic voice she immediately became excited and ran towards a female descending from the large tree.

“Princess Diana!” Hana yelled out excitedly. She immediately ran towards Diana and embraced her tightly. “So soft…” Embracing Diana immediately calmed Hana’s heart.

“Princess Diana, you’re awake.” Cornelius also greeted her.

“Mr. Savior, I have overheard your conversation. I understand you are excited to teach her but I’m afraid your excitement does not show well on your face.” She said with a little chuckle.

“My face?” He gave a troubled look.

Diana then turned to Hana and stroked her hair. “Don’t mind Mr. Savior’s smile, he is just really excited to be your teacher.” Although she said that she could see that Hana still had a look of resignation. “Do you know why I call the mayor Mr. Savior?”

Hana shook her head.

“You see, just before I met Mr Savior, I was being chased by some fearsome spirit beasts. I used all my strength to flee but it was futile as they soon caught up. They were just about to deal the final blow when, out of nowhere, Mr Savior came and saved me from those spirit beasts. He carried and protected me until those spirit beasts had no choice but to give up. Then he spent a week looking after me because I was too injured to move before he finally carried me back to his home. I have been indebted to Mr Savior’s kindness ever since. “She proceeded to give Hana a gentle hug. “He is the most wonderful man I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. He is definitely worth your trust.”

Cornelius blushed red and Relic chuckled slightly.

Diana stared at Hana with a look of melancholy and whispered, “Hana, when you someday get strong, I hope you will still remember me as the princess who rules over the Divine Beast Forest.”

“What do you mean? We will be friends forever, right?”

Diana smiled. “Of course. Now go to your teacher.”

Diana’s words had completely washed any doubt Hana had towards the Mayor. She appeared in front of him and bowed. “Please allow me to be your student!”

“Mn, starting today you will be my student. I will guide you to the best of my abilities so that one day, you will stand at the pinnacle of this world!” Cornelius spoke with intense zeal making it sound almost childish. It caused both Diana and Relic to let out a bit of a chuckle but to Hana, it seemed like the Mayor had turned a little cooler.

“Hana, it’s getting late, let’s head home.” Relic suddenly said.

“Okay!”

The two said their goodbyes to Cornelius and Diana before hopping on to Jiro and flying back up to Heaven’s Peak.

“Mr Savior, there something I would like to discuss with you.”

“Princess Diana, what is it?” He turned around only suddenly see Diana’s face a hair’s breadth apart. She kissed him on the side of the cheek causing Cornelius to stagger a step back before turning red.

Dianna giggled slightly and continued, “Thank you for everything you have done for me.” She gave a small bow.

“Of course, that’s…”

“But it is time for me to go.”

“Eh?” Cornelius heart suddenly accelerated. “Aren’t you still injured? You can stay here as long as you want; it really is no inconvenience to me!”

“Thank you, but all of my serious injuries have already been healed. Only a few superficial ones remain. ” Diana was also feeling a bit of heartache saying all of this but she kept a strong front. “I’m still a princess and I have a duty to my people.”

Cornelius wanted to speak out and try to convince her to stay longer but even as he tried he felt like something was stuck in his throat. After a moment he sighed, “Will we ever see each other again?”

“I’m afraid that is very unlikely.” She slowly said. She began to reach her hand behind as if she was trying to reach something when she suddenly shook her head and stopped herself. “Mr Savior….Cornelius, this is good bye. I wish you and your town a happy and blessed life.”

She made her way towards the entrance of the cave.

“Until next time, Diana.” Cornelius waved goodbye.

A single tear was shed from Diana’s eye as turned back into the 119m long black and gold serpent. She silently made her way into the covering of the forest before looking back at the large mountain. “I had a duty to destroy any cultivators who would bring harm to my people. But how could I kill Mr. Saviors only student…” She sighed as she continued deeper in to the forest.

Back in the Immortal cave, Cornelius had a sorrowful look on his face.

He had done and seen many things in his youth and aside from Hana’s recent visit, rarely was he ever moved by anything. Yet, as Diana was leaving, he could feel a small hole open in his heart.

He walked towards the crystal clear lake and decided to calm his mind by meditating.

…

Back in Heaven’s Peak, two children and a peacock descended on to the empty streets.

It was night time and many of the residents have already retreated back to their homes.

“Princess Diana is so pretty, I wonder if I can ever visit her in her kingdom!” Hana excitedly questioned.

“A beast kingdom is not really suited for humans to visit. However, if you stay diligent in your studies and training, then maybe someday you will be powerful enough to be able to.” Relic Replied.

“En!” She nodded.

As they continued to walk, a group of people slowly entered into their view.

“So you have finally arrived. I was worried you wouldn’t show before we had to leave.” An arrogant voice of a man sounded.

The group of people advanced and Relic saw the face of the man speaking. It was Yan Mu!