Chapter 146 - 100 : The invitation

Chapter 146: Chapter 100 : The invitation

Lucian hesitated before speaking again, studying Ethan for a moment as if trying to make sure of something.

"You really don’t know where you are, do you?"

"No." Ethan answered honestly. "I don’t."

Lucian fell quiet.

He had already suspected as much, but hearing Ethan say it so plainly made him reconsider everything that had happened that night. When he had first found Ethan, the man had been lying in the middle of a crater. The ground around him had been freshly torn apart, and the impact had been strong enough to leave a deep mark in the earth. Lucian remembered the sound he had heard while fleeing his pursuers, the heavy crash and the vibration beneath his feet. At the time, he had assumed it was thunder, part of the storm, or perhaps something collapsing somewhere nearby. He had never imagined that it might have been a person falling from the sky.

Now that he thought about it, the situation made even less sense.

There was no mountain nearby from which someone could have fallen. There was certainly no giant tree or anything else that could explain an impact of that scale. And from what Lucian understood of martial arts, no ordinary martial expert could survive something like that, let alone remain alive after landing in such a place.

Yet Ethan had survived.

Not only that, but after everything Lucian had seen since bringing him into the cave, Ethan clearly possessed strength far beyond what he could understand. There was something extraordinary about this man, and Lucian could not help wondering what kind of circumstances had brought him here.

The thought passed through his mind quickly.

If Ethan truly came from somewhere beyond their kingdom, beyond even their known lands, then helping him might mean more than simply doing a good deed. It could become an opportunity unlike anything the Veymont family had encountered before. A person capable of surviving such an impossible fall might know things they had never even heard of. Whatever his origin, whatever he was capable of, having someone like Ethan connected to the family could change its future.

But Lucian did not let that thought turn his intentions selfish.

His family had always been willing to help those in need, and Ethan was clearly someone who needed help. There was no reason for him to leave the man alone simply because there might also be something to gain from helping him.

After considering it all, Lucian finally spoke.

"Then perhaps I can help."

Ethan looked back at him.

"My family’s main city isn’t far from here. I should have arrived there by tonight, or by daybreak at the latest. If I don’t appear by then, my family will know something happened and will send people to look for me."

Lucian paused, then continued, "You can come with me."

Ethan remained silent.

Lucian seemed to understand his hesitation and explained carefully, "I’m not asking you to swear anything or stay with us forever. If you don’t know this region, you can remain at my family’s castle for a while, at least until you have a better understanding of where you are."

He glanced toward Ethan before adding, "And if you’re still looking for the organization you mentioned, the Azure Cloud Sect, my family has people throughout the region. We can ask around. If they’re known here, someone should have heard of them."

Ethan studied Lucian quietly.

From what he could sense through his blood perception, Lucian was only a mortal. A strong one, certainly, with a body that had clearly been trained, perhaps comparable to an exceptionally healthy soldier. But compared to a Body Tempering cultivator, he was still only at the lowest edge of what such a cultivator could be considered capable of.

He posed no threat.

Even in his current weakened state, Ethan was no longer as helpless as he had been when he first crashed into the forest. His body had recovered considerably, and he was still a Late Qi Refining cultivator. The foundation he had built through Body Tempering alone placed his physical strength far beyond that of an ordinary mortal. With Qi on top of that, there was little Lucian could do against him even if his intentions changed.

But Ethan had seen enough of Lucian’s character to believe that would not happen.

More importantly, the offer itself made sense.

If Ethan’s suspicions were correct and this was truly a small world, then Lucian’s family could be extremely useful. They were already established here, with influence, people, and information spread throughout the region. That alone would make them valuable to someone who knew nothing about the world around him.

Ethan also needed a place to recover.

His injuries were far from healed, and restoring himself would require enough blood and time. Staying somewhere under the protection of an influential family would make both easier. With the Veymonts’ resources and reach, finding what he needed would likely be far simpler than trying to search for everything himself while wounded and unfamiliar with the region. More importantly, he could recover without constantly worrying about what might find him while he was at his weakest.

Even if this place turned out to be nothing more than an unfamiliar region of the cultivation world, the Veymont family could still help him learn where he was and find a way forward.

Ethan considered the risks once more. And honestly there were few, the advantages were obviously far greater.

"All right," Ethan said.

Lucian looked at him.

"I’ll go with you."

A smile appeared on Lucian’s face, and some of the weight in his expression eased.

"Good."

Ethan settled back against the cave wall, his thoughts already turning toward what he needed to learn and what he would do next. He still had no clear answer about where he had ended up, but at least he now had a direction to follow.

By dawn, Ethan could stand.

The improvement was not dramatic.

The spatial energy still moved through his body like something that did not belong there, occasionally tearing through his meridians and organs before his Living Blood pushed back against it. But the damage was no longer immediately overwhelming. His body was beginning to adapt to the constant struggle.

Before Lucian fully woke, Ethan left the cave.

He still could not access his storage ring. He could not use his Qi properly.

So he relied on his blood perception to search the surrounding forest. It did not take long before he sensed the presence of a small wild animal nearby. He followed its movements through the trees, moving quickly but carefully. His speed was still far below what it should have been. Whenever he pushed himself too hard, the pain inside his body intensified, as though every violent movement pulled against the wounds left by the spatial energy. His body could move, but forcing it to move at full speed was another matter.

Even so, what remained of his natural speed was more than enough. He soon found the animal and killed it quickly.

The blood was weak. Extremely weak. Compared with the blood of a cultivator, there was almost nothing to it.

But when Ethan consumed it, the Blood Seed responded. A small amount of energy entered the Blood Seed and was refined. The process was slow, and the amount of Living Blood produced was tiny. Yet it was enough for Ethan to understand something important.

He did not necessarily need onlg high-quality blood to recover. Regular blood will do, just in larger quantity.

The blood of a cultivator would have been far more efficient, but ordinary blood could still provide what his body needed.

By the time Ethan returned to the cave carrying the carcass Lucian was beginning to wake up. A low groan escaped him as he shifted, and his injured arm immediately reminded him of the previous night’s attack. He reached for it instinctively, then stopped when the movement pulled at the wound. The arm felt stiff and sore, and the pain was sharper than it had been before he fell asleep.

He slowly pushed himself upright and noticed Ethan standing near the fire with the carcass beside him. His eyes moved from the animal to Ethan, and a brief flicker of surprise appeared in them.

"I see you’ve recovered enough to be on your feet."

Ethan simply gave a small nod.

He began preparing the animal while Lucian cleaned his wound as best he could. Soon, the smell of roasting meat filled the cave, and the two of them ate together without much conversation. The forest was quiet now, the night’s rain reduced to occasional droplets falling from the canopy.

After they finished eating, Ethan looked toward the mouth of the cave.

"We shouldn’t wait here."

Lucian looked at him. "What?"

"You said your family would be searching for you, right?" Ethan said. "We should start moving. If they’re already looking for you, we’ll have a better chance of meeting them on the way."

Lucian hesitated. His expression showed some concern. "What if the people who attacked me find us first?"

Ethan looked at him calmly. "Then they’ll find us."

Lucian remained silent, his gaze lingering on Ethan with a trace of uncertainty. Ethan noticed it and spoke again without hesitation.

"They won’t be a problem. Even if a hundred men came after us, it would make no difference."

Lucian stared at him for a moment.

Under normal circumstances, he would have thought such a statement absurd. But Ethan was different. He was an enigma. Everything about him was different. From the strange circumstances in which Lucian had found him to the speed of his recovery, there were simply too many things about this man that Lucian could not explain.

And yet, somehow, he believed him.

Lucian finally nodded. "Then let’s go."

He scattered the remains of the fire, and together they left the cave.