The first thing Ace did after returning to the courtyard, was take another route towards his own room.
Even though his disciples knowing his return wouldn't affect his plans, it would be the wiser choice to avoid any hassle.
Approaching his own courtyard, there was an alluring scent wafting in the air. A violet mist could be seen blooming with room as the centre point.
The violet mist wasn't the source of the fragrance, but it was drawing him into the direction of his room.
Reaching his hand out, Ace touched the mist with his bare skin.
"Vzzt!"
An electrocuting pain made Ace withdraw his hand suddenly, his face wincing in pain as the charming voice of a woman sounded into his ears.
"I'm already in your room, what's taking you so long." Judging from the voice, it was most likely a mature woman contacting him.
In my room? This question perplexed Ace for a moment, but when he figured out who that woman's true identity was, all that awaited him was shock.
The Legacy Paladin who has never revealed her true appearance to the cultivation world was actually a female.
Maybe that was the reason why no one has ever met her in person, in the end, just like the mortal kingdoms, females were expected to be in a position below all men.
If the Legacy Paladin had let the cultivation world learn about her gender, there was a chance that others from the Paladin Haven might try to take over her position.
As for the reason they would provide, it would be targeted at her gender even though she was stronger in terms of both strength and management skills.
The Paladin Haven being a righteous force which always stands out to help those in need, has already offended countless cultivation forces. If an internal strife were to break out, the dire consequences would be more than what the Paladin Haven could handle.
Calming himself down, Ace ambled towards his own room. The Legacy Paladin had no reason to cause tensions in between the Nirvana Sect and the Paladin Haven, not to mention that she was related to his disciple, Garen in some ways as of now.
*Creak*
Pushing the doors open, Ace stepped into the room and saw a woman wearing a long robe seated on the round chair, on the table was a pot of freshly brewed tea and two cups.
The woman had wavy blonde hair that seemed to embody a natural shine to it, a pretty face that could enchant any man even without any form of makeup on and a unique demeanor to her.
One which attracts someone to her without the other party being able to raise any carnal desires or any negative thoughts towards her.
She was a holy maiden to be showered with love, to be untainted by the filth of this world.
"You must be the Legacy Paladin, how do I address you?" Unwavered by her out of the world beauty, Ace asked politely without a single trace of disrespect of ulterior motive in his gestures as he took a seat opposite to her.
"You can address me by the name Alice, as for the reason why I paid you a visit today, I'm sure you know of the answer by now." The Legacy Paladin, Alice introduced herself with equal respect for Ace despite being a senior.
"Yes, I didn't mention this to anyone else, but why was the disciple of Great Paladin Malene, Grace, shocked when she saw Garen at that time?" Ace cut straight to the chase and probed while Alice poured him a cup of tea.
The tea had a gentle, aromatic smell to it, floating on the tea surface were a few tea leaves a light shade of red in colour.
"Still, why did you choose Garen of all people considering that you had only bumped into him by luck to begin with? Of all the talented youths and geniuses out there, why did you choose Garen?"
"That boy, his heart is pure. You may not know about it, but my pair of eyes are unique. In my eyes, those who have committed grievous sins would be enveloped by an ominous aura of darkness, those of righteousness would be surrounded by a golden glow." Alice explained patiently.
"Oh, what about me?" Ace asked in curiosity as he brought the cup of tea to his nose, breathing in the pleasant smell of the tea which refreshed his mind.
"Your case is different from the others, believe it or not, you're the only person I'm unable to see in my life until now despite your young age." Alice replied briefly before returning to the main topic.
"In Garen, all I saw was a golden glow similar to mine. Just like me, he had a compassionate heart and the ability to determine the good and evil, maybe that's the reason why he was willing to follow you."
"I see, but what was with Grace's reaction back then?"
"You see, the two inheritors I choose must get married to each other, that's the unbroken law of the Paladin Haven and...anyways, just know that the two of them must get together before the age of twenty of catastrophic disaster would befall the two of them and the Paladin Haven."
"What disaster is it?" Ace asked.
"Some secrets aren't meant to be divulged. But since I'm already here, just know that I expect the Nirvana Sect to go much further than this. Also, just a final warning, be careful of your opponents in the cultivation forces competition, the situation is more complicated than what you see on the surface right now."
Alice warned Ace out of goodwill before standing up from her seat, "Thank you for granting me this meeting with you, I've passed down my message."
Alice then left as a streak of light as she took off into the sky and vanished before Ace's eyes as though she had never appeared.
*Phoenix Race*
"Shia, have you managed to locate the chosen inheritor yet?"
One of the phoenix who took on a human form asked as the two of them walked along the streets of Valent City, somewhere which Ace had been in just a few months ago.
"I lost track of his aura here, if I'm not strong, there must be someone preventing us from locating him time and time again."
"Why, did something happen?" Another member of the Phoenix race asked.
"Yes, whenever I locate the aura of the chosen inheritor, there would always be a mysterious force that cuts off his aura to prevent us from locating him."
"What? Are you unable to trace it back to the chosen inheritor as well?"
"I can't, that person is only stronger than me. But there's one thing I'm certain of and that is the fact that the chosen inheritor is safe."
"I guess that's good enough for now, but what shall we do now then? We have already come so far from our homeland after all." The first phoenix who spoke up sighed and hinted as Shia and the others broke out in laughter.
"Fine, we shall have some fun here, just remember not to get into any trouble."
"Of course."
"You can trust us on this."
"Are you doubting us right now?"
Even though the phoenixes said this to Shia, they vanished immediately without even giving her the chance to speak.
*Whirr*
"Wait. This disturbance in the air...what is that race doing here in the Divine realm? No, wait, they're on their way to the fragmented cultivation world." Shia cursed as she followed the disturbance silently, unaware of the fact that the mysterious race had already noticed her pursuit.
In the meantime, Ace was sitting in his own room cultivating, trying to comprehend his slaughter law to a deeper stage. It was a process which took time and life experience, yet these two aspects were the ones he lacked most and to make matters worse, he had no way to gain them in a short amount of time.
Neither would his cultivation make another breakthrough in a short period of time either, since that was the case, there was only one thing Ace could do right now.
Wait patiently for another chance to arrive and most importantly, find a way to increase the overall strength of his sect even further. Ace had three plans in mind right now.
The first was to raise the recruitment standard of the disciples by another notch above the initial plans, recruiting only those that breakthrough to the Martial Master realm below sixteen years old or Great Martial Master below twenty six years of age,
The second was to recruit demon beasts and form a demon beasts hall which would be managed by the disciple known as Tiger to all, poor fella who doesn't have a name isn't he?
The third was to set up trades with external auction halls in order to gain a profit of mass spirit stones at certain point of times so as to help the sect accumulate wealth.
"Sect master, the news for the official rounds has just been released."