"Now? Are you sure?" Hesroth asked with a worried tone.
"Roth, you know what happened to me, don't you?" Nathan asked, clenching his fists. His face looked pale as he stared at Hesroth, wearing a sorrowful look and a decrepit smile.
"…I know," he knew more than anyone. Nathan himself didn't have any idea how much he knew. After all, he knew the real truth. Xue Mo had already eliminated everyone who knew the truth, making him one of the few who knew what happened.
Seeing Hesroth looking down with a hunched back, Nathan calmed down and, with a fake reassuring smile, said, "don't worry. Thanks to Master and Mistress, I am all better now. If they didn't save me back, then I would probably still be in that dungeon getting tortured!" Frustration, grief, and hatred clearly showed on his face at the end.
'There is no use mulling over this anymore. What happened had happened. There is no reason for him to know the truth; the fabrication we made was absolute according to Master,' Hesroth thought as his mind relaxed before getting up.
Stretching his hand forward, Hesroth pushed his chest out and declared, "go get your revenge. If you can't even revenge what happened to you, you don't deserve to be Master's subordinate!"
Shaking the stretched hand firmly, Nathan said, "of course! I am one of Master's people, and as one of Master's people, I will never regret anything!" Nathan's snarky and confident remark relieved Hesroth as it seemed he had started brooding a little.
Talking a little more and arranging some orders, Nathan got up and excused himself. He left with confident strides while thinking, 'this here is my true family now!'
***
"Sigh, this is boring," Lu Yao complained. She had been cultivating nonstop since they entered seclusion, and even after getting used to this, she felt bored. "Well, the feeling of getting stronger by the second makes up for the boredom but still doing nothing isn't my style!"
"This is how Cultivation works. Get used to it," his voice was indifferent and lukewarm as if he got used to these complaints. Although she was talking to herself, Xue Mo still answered her. 'Well, there is that way… no-no, let's not think about this. These two Cultivation ways might work, but they are just ideas that I haven't tested yet. Also, there is still that thought I had before making this body, it might work, but it's dangerous!'
Lu Yao's complaint broke Xue Mo's concentration and made him leave the Cultivation state he easily enters, but he didn't mind this as it gave him time to think of ideas that he had before.
"Aren't you almost done? You are near the peak of True Arch Condensation, and once you reach it, we can work on building the Foundation for the Foundation Opening realm that I created," he enticed to make her work harder.
"How are you sure that we can reach that stage? It's different than just combining realms like True Arch Sensing and True Arch Condensation realms, this time. You said you added something to the mix that might be dangerous to kill us!" Although Lu Yao asked with a worried look Xue Mo wasn't fooled.
"Stop the act. I know you don't care if we got hurt and died as long as there is a chance to become stronger," although Xue Mo said that he saw how there was faint reluctance from Lu Yao. As if there was something she had to do that is stopping her from risking her life.
They still hadn't talked about the small wall lingering between them, and he knew there was no reason to delay this further, but he wanted to wait till they reached the next realm.
"Don't worry, you know I made Infinite Darkness simulate all possible conclusions for that plan to work. And although the risk factor is a 69% chance of success, it's more than half and even more than I expected," Xue Mo tried to reassure her, even wearing a small smile that he wouldn't show to others.
"I know," Lu Yao sighed before determination filled her again. She closed her eyes and returned to Cultivation.
Their situation was weird. They anticipated themselves to take a long time to reach the True Arch Condensation peak, but they have already arrived there in no time. This Cultivation speed was unprecedented, and they would have reached her faster if they weren't cautious before.
Although the chances of Infinite Darkness weren't 100%, they would still take the risk if it meant becoming stronger. That's what Cultivation was about; taking every chance to become stronger!
After their brief halt, Xue Mo and Lu Yao returned to Cultivating with refilled determination. They had noticed how their usual talks help them sort their thoughts and replenish their wills and mental energy, which is why they decided to take some breaks in between. With that, lifestyle days came and went.
***
Nathan returned not long after he left. He looked haggard, but the happy and relieved smile on his face showed Hesroth that he hadn't realized anything.
Hesroth welcomed Nathan heartily after not seeing him for a couple of days. "Did you solve all the problems?" Knowing that Hesroth called them problems, not to mention their names, Nathan appreciated it. "Ya, I am done with those ungrateful things. To think they made one big alliance outside after the war ended, and that bastard was a part of the council that they made. I went to their new headquarters and tortured that thing in front of everyone before brutally chopping him to pieces!"
Hesroth noticed the mirth and satisfaction in Nathan's voice and shuddered. 'I shouldn't cross Nathan in the future even if I am stronger than him.' Hesroth then thought of the cause of all this, which made his heart go cold as he vowed, 'although I already said this many times before but I swear to not ever betray Master or even have such thoughts. If not, my ending wouldn't be pretty or worse; I become like Nathan. It seems Master's techniques completely changed Nathan's mentality. There isn't even a doubt in his mind that this wasn't real!'
Nathan saw Hesroth lost in thought and nudged him to see what's wrong. Coming up with a quick excuse, Hesroth answered, "We shouldn't slack like this anymore. Let's leave Dominic in charge while we go and cultivate. We should become as strong as possible to not hold Master back!"
Seeing Hesroth's enthusiasm to help their Master and be more helpful to him, Nathan also got motivated. They sent a message to Dominic telling him to command the Academy as they went into seclusion.
Nathan, although wasn't as strong as Hesroth and had no problem asking for advice and teaching from his friend not to make mistakes in his Cultivation. And that way, just like Xue Mo and Lu Yao, Hesroth and Nathan spent their time discussing and cultivating.
Days passed that way before the promised D-day of Xue Mo, and Lu Yao's seclusion ending came.