News of the arrival of the third Young Master was almost like a drop of water in the ocean... No people came to welcome him and when some guys saw him they hurriedly changed sidewalk and dodged him while looking away.
No Elders, no other young masters so of course no Lords. Not even his old acquaintances from the inner circle of the main branch. This couldn't be a coincidence, but at this moment they felt that there should be a reason for that so they didn't act rashly.
Dracs was focused on absorbing all the details of this new environment and started to compare them immediately with the ones he obtained with Taidian's memory. He was completely absorbed in the process.
On the contrary the captain was more alert to evaluate the situation as a whole. It was a very strange occurrence that no one with an important position came to welcome the third young master while the third lord was nowhere to be seen.
So he decided to neared the 'Young' Master and whispered to his ear.
"Young Master, there is something amiss going there. Firstly, I had a bad feeling but now that impression is worsening with each step we take."
Dracs was aware of it so he furrowed his eyebrows and replied.
"I know, but I want to return to my courtyard anyway. We'll be able to obtain more information there. Furthermore I don't think that my Ancestor would trick me, this flying sword was a great gift after all." He said seriously.
The captain nodded without much conviction and said.
"Of course, we should hurry."
Dracs nodded, he wasn't as worried as the captain so he continued to focus on his surroundings without putting much energy in his abilities.
Like this, they finally reached his personal courtyard. It was very huge in comparison with what they saw since they entered the inner circle, this Young Master Taidian had a big manor as his house and many buildings attendants.
When they saw Dracs arrive with the captain, the men guarding the huge door of the courtyard had their eyes wide open as if they had seen a ghost!
They couldn't help but shout in unison.
"Young Master!"
Then, they kowtowed immediately on the ground. Dracs was fed up with this reaction so he angrily said.
"Get up fast, stop crawling on the ground like some dogs! Is butler Jonas in my manor right now?" he almost shouted at the two men.
The men didn't have to hear it twice so they hurriedly got up and answered right away.
"Yes, Young Master, butler Jonas is there!" The blank man says loudly with fear.
Dracs nodded and said to these men.
"The captain will accompany me there, just open the gate."
"Yes, Young Master!" They shouted in unison.
Inside, the courtyard was beautifully designed, a big pond with a small wooden bridge above it was right in front of the imposant manor. Huge yellow fishes were swimming gently in the water, and small magical beasts were jumping here and there around rocks and aquatic flowers.
But Dracs didn't pay it much attention and went directly to the manor.
A maidservant saw both of them coming at a rapid pace and she almost dropped the bucket she was holding. She didn't need a long time to adjust her composure and immediately did a ninety degree bow and didn't dare to move.
The captain took the lead and feeling the mood of his Master, he didn't hesitate a second before opening the main door of the manor, scaring the people inside!
There, the butler, who was probably giving orders to some servants, didn't have the time to react before Dracs released Taidian's Profound Realm aura with full force and said with an imposing tone.
"Butler Jonas! What is happening here! I just returned and no one is here to welcome me like I was some trash!
Since he had arrived in the headquarters of the Akran Clan, Dracs had used a portion of Taidian's emotions and consciousness to act more naturally, of course it was more simple to say than done but with the help of his corruption it wasn't so hard.
So, of course, the butler didn't see the difference, anyway he seemed so shocked that no matter how he would have acted, the old man would have probably didn't seen the difference with the real Taidian!
"Th… Thir…. Third Young Master!" He exclaimed in shock, while putting his hand on his chest as if he was about to have a heart attack!
But at this moment Dracs cutted off the tiny link with Taidian, he was no longer in the mood to share the emotions of the young man and needed his whole concentration to understand the situation clearly.
"Tell me what happened? Where is the third Lord and why is everyone looking at me like I was a ghost." He said without any emotions.
The old butler felt a chill run down his spine and cold sweat began to appear on his neck. He couldn't calm down but as the butler of this manor and an experienced man his duty was still above. So he took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a couple seconds before he started to speak again.
"Young Master… We really thought that you were dead. Maybe I'll lose my life to tell you this but it's your Lord Father himself that has declared your death around two months ago."
He old butler waited for a reaction from the Young Master but the latter only stare seriously without saying anything so the old man could only continued.
"At first, it made a huge commotion but it was soon extinct because your father declared that you were the culprit of the death of young miss Shian. But after that, he himself disappeared mysteriously and no one dared to inquire about its whereabouts."
Dracs' brain started calculating maddly all the possibilities and he soon made a clear picture of what should've happened. Firstly, there was a huge probability that the Ancestor of the Akran clan was linked to this story in some way or another but that couldn't explain all of it.
Koudian Akran, the third Lord, was also a cultivator with a Mortal Core solid stage Realm, so he probably had techniques and tricks up his sleeves and finding clues about what really happened to Shian was surely in his power.
After some time he knew exactly what he had to do so he didn't waste time with further exchanges and only said while showing the Ancestor's jade token.
"I understand. Just act as if nothing has happened. I'll take care of these bullshits personally. If you have questions just ask the captain, I will be in my appartements until dinner. Treat him with the same respect you show to me, Captain Gimmury has become my Knight and will accompany me wherever I go from now then."
Butler Jonas didn't dare to disobey and bowed deeply.
"As you wish, Young Master. Do you need a maid to come up to your apartments to bring you anything?
Dracs waved his hand in sign of dismissal and replied.
"It's not necessary, don't bother me until dinner. Captain, the rest is up to you, do what you have to do. If anything funny happens you know how to contact me."
The captain nodded sternly and said.
"Rest assured Young Master, I'll take care of everything."
Dracs nodded in return and went up to his appartements in front of the anxious gazes of the people living here.
Soon, he entered a suite of spacious and well decorated rooms. This Taidian was really not stingy with his lifestyle! But what Dracs wanted was only a place to contact the Ancestor again. And so he did it.
"Old Jikoudian Akran, where's the lad's father? it would seem that you hid a lot of things from me, I don't really care but at least you could have used an Elder to state that the young man wasn't dead. Now I'm welcomed with terrified eyes everywhere I go. I should say that you have a certain sense of humor."
In his underground chamber, the old man sneered.
"Senior Dracs, I hope that my gift pleased you. Well, I kept my promise to the lad and had a little conversation with little Koudian, this man is a complete failure, you were right when you said that my Clan was corrupted, it was beyond my imagination." He said with displeasure.
Dracs remembered the corruption's aura of the Ancestor and how the system had extrapole the state of the Akran Clan. So he said.
"How could it be otherwise? Even this young lad was corrupted. Also, I sensed the corruption leaking off everywhere when I strolled around the inner Clan. I'm pretty sure that your technique is a kind of demonic one, but I didn't sense any demonic aura inside you, why?"
"Senior this…"
~sigh~
"You should meet me in my secluded place and you will understand, maybe you'll be able to help me at the same time, of course you'll be able to meet this failure of Koudian."
Dracs was curious and confident that the old man wouldn't try to trick him because he felt throughout the link of the seed of corruption that the Ancestor's power was slightly unstable.
"Alright, we'll talk tomorrow then."