27 Ch-26:Opening Up

Raon was taken away by his two masters, who had been promoted in rank from masters to legacy masters, to their residence within the Sacred Land.

He had been wanting to reject them, question them, or at least do something, but he was not even able to circulate his energy.

Only after reaching the inner courtyard, laced with formations to prevent any prying eyes, was he allowed to be free again.

At this point, he thought they would ask him about the ruins or force him to do something, but the two simply sat side by side.

Junho calmly brewed tea as Si-Eun enjoyed the wind in the silence, which was broken by the cacophony of three tea cups being placed.

The two simply took hold of their tea cups as they waited for Raon to do the same, and without much of a choice, he followed along.

The three sipped the tea in silence, which helped calm down Raon from the agitated state that he had been in since leaving the dark void.

"Are you fine now?" Si-Eun asked with a hint of gentleness in her voice.

"Y-Yes, I feel relaxed now" answered Raon, as he hadn't heard such a voice even when she almost killed him.

"Raon, I apologize for forcing you to become our disciple" said Junho from the side.

"No need; it is better to be your disciple because you both already know me" said Raon.

Hearing that, the two had small, imperceptible smiles on their faces because they didn't have to explain everything to him.

Raon had only now gotten the time to calm down and truly realize the implications of his talent being showcased.

No other elder would let him leave if he became their legacy disciple, but Junho and Si-Eun weren't that kind of people.

As the three conversed for the next few hours about the past decade, Raon got the chance to finally question the assumption that he had.

"By the way, Master, are the two of you from the upper realm? Like, did you run away due to your love?"

"Were you expelled because you ran away with the daughter of some higher-up? Or did you get some treasure and escape due to it?"

"Could it be that you got the wave of some conspiracy that was brewing and you had to run to save your lives?"

"Did you elope with her, and her father wants to kill you? Or did you come here to secretly take over the lower realm?"

Before Raon could express more of his wild imagination about their story, Si-Eun heartily laughed, and Junho's face darkened.

The reason for their reactions was how Raon phrased everything in a way that was Junho's mistake, like a love scandal.

Well, it was good that Raon stopped, as his next one was 'Did your wife catch wind of your affair and you eloped to escape her anger?'

"Nothing like what you're thinking" said Junho, having much difficulty stopping Raon.

This was the first time that Raon had spoken his mind about his childhood fantasy of reading books to someone after Lia.

"Ahem... So you two really are escapees of the upper realm, huh?" Raon said that to hide his embarrassment.

The two didn't answer, but that was the answer that Raon was seeking, making his assumption correct in a certain way.

"Let's just say we aren't welcome there" said Si-Eun, as she thought it was better than letting Raon's imagination run wild.

The two didn't talk about it any longer as Raon returned to his residence to think about the various things happening.

The time that he spent in the competition was 10 years, but that wasn't their world, as more than 15 years had passed during that time.

Altair had turned 4 years old while he was missing, so he decided to give her a late birthday present.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to leave for the next two decades as Junho and Si-Eun drilled their respective teachings into him.

In just two decades, Raon had advanced not just one stage in cultivation but also polished all his lacking skills.

His sword art had become more refined alongside his understanding of it, and even his side occupations had improved with direct guidance.

His level in anything was better than most, as his two masters were from the upper realm, knowing much more about all fields than anyone in this world.

After 23 years of being a sparring partner and being secluded inside his master's residence, Raon was sent out to do missions assigned by his master.

The first thing he did was complete his mission, as he would later go and see the recent developments in his Empire.

He took nearly two whole years to finish the mission, despite the time limit being five years, as he didn't hold back at all.

The first news he heard when he reached the Arcane Empire was that wars were brewing in the outer corners of their territory, where his Empire took shape.

It was a good piece of news for him, as it confirmed that the existence of the Empire was out and they were making deals to delay the war.

It was a good decision, as Raon's current strength would allow him to bend the Unranked Empires around his as they were one of the weakest ones.

This was the reason Raon couldn't even think of getting into conflict with any Tier-2 Empire with his current strength, as he would be wiped out easily.

He decided to visit Altair before going to his Empire as he would spend some time with her due to her growing up.

Raon didn't wake her up from her little slumber, as he was the one who used the formation to implant memories into her, and he wouldn't want to wake her up from her sweet life.

He simply put in more rank-2 stones and a few rank-3 stones, like he did last time, for the formation to work as long as possible.

He was aware, though, that its maximum life would be 170-200 years, even with all the energy he provided for it.

After spending some time looking at her and checking the formation for any problems, he left for the Empire.

As soon as he entered, he directly contacted his shadows for information regarding the recent unrest that seemed to dwell in the entire territory based on his observations.

The shadows were delighted to hear of his return and provided all the information as well as introduced the recruits.

Raon didn't waste time in giving them rank-2 stones alongside more soul contracts and even improved the cultivation technique of the recruits.

He was happy with the result and decided to refine all the techniques that were being used by the original members, ultimately improving them all.

The most important event was that their average strength had increased to the point of rivaling the best kingdoms throughout the Empire.

It was better than what he expected of them, but it only made him move forward with his plans faster than his initial expectations.

For the next three years, he refined and improved the cultivation techniques of those in a soul contract with him, including Mia's family.

He returned soon after, as he asked them to pull back their borders a little, allowing the demon beasts access to their enemies.

Their borders had expanded quite a bit, to the point that the demon beasts Raon had a deal with were all on their borders.

Luckily, by giving away less than an average kingdom's land size, the demon beasts will be able to attack their bordering unallied territories.

Just like that, time passed by as the time for Altair to turn five arrived when she'd be able to cultivate, and Raon had already reached the cusp of breaking through the next realm.

Before his breakthrough, though, he decided to tell his masters about Altair being his daughter and her turning 5.

Si-Eun was quite ecstatic, as she would also be able to have a legacy disciple, and decided to go with it irrespective of Altair's talent grade.

Raon had started to trust his masters after he became close to them as Junho imparted his personal techniques onto him as a proper legacy disciple would receive.

Raon had also started opening up to them, as he now joked around with them as well as not hiding his actual power and talking about his past.

At this point, Raon wasn't bothered with hiding and took them to Altair, changing her dream to showcase a situation where Lia sacrificed herself for Altair.

He didn't want to tell her the truth, and this was the closure he decided would be best for her before she woke up.

Unfortunately, all his estimates were falsified, as the entire formation started trembling tremendously on the verge of exploding.

Junho immediately used all his energy to pull Raon as well as protect him, and Si-Eun did the same for Altair, who was in Raon's arms.

The two were observing the formation, so they had noticed the instability before Raon, as he was absorbed in his guilt about Altair.

Raon and Altair got saved due to the higher cultivation of Junho and Si-Eun, but Raon was trying to leave and go towards the formation.

He wanted to see Lia's body but couldn't see it, and the last time he saw her was more than a few years ago, when he placed 5 rank-4 stones above her crown, signifying Altair's oncoming birthday.

The entire formation got destroyed as Junho and Si-Eun took Raon and Altair away from it to a safe place, as they expected cultivators to come near that place to investigate soon.

They were correct, but it took more than a day for the first cultivators to arrive as the place was surrounded by low-valued land, making it quite isolated.

Junho and Si-Eun used healing pills to heal Raon, while Altair was unconscious but wasn't injured as Si-Eun used all her strength to protect her future protégé.

That resulted in Si-Eun getting injured herself, but she simply took some healing pills as her injuries were only superficial compared to Raon's due to her advantage in cultivation.