The interior of the refuge was cramped with only a few basic supplies like a table, chairs and beds with everything needed for cooking. Nothing more.
The only thing that indicated was a lamp on the table that emitted a white phantom light.
But to Dracs surprise, the place was not empty, there were indeed two masked individuals sitting at the table drinking tea.
These were two young men, a man and a woman, dressed in a gray robe similar to that worn by Farek, obviously these two were most likely disciples of the White Ghost Temple.
Farek greeted them.
"Greetings younger brother, younger sister, may I ask for two cups of tea, it was a bit awful there, we had to hurry on the road and my throat is dry."
The girl looked a little older than Taidian but not by much, she looked barely in her twenties. She stood up elegantly and bowed politely before serving two cups and answering.
"Senior brother must be joking, the road was still safe until yesterday, did you meet the White Fog?"
Farek scratched his head and laughed nervously before saying.
"Not directly but I sensed its familiar presence around, maybe I'm just tired but let's be careful ..."
With these words the young woman nodded thoughtfully and sat down again. At this moment the other disciple took his turn to speak and looked at Dracs with intensity.
"And what do we have here? A disciple without a mask? Who doesn't even wear the gray cloth. Senior brother, could you enlighten us on this young Profound Realm cultivator?"
Dracs was starting to get used to this kind of reaction and so he didn't respond.
Farek took the opportunity to introduce him.
"This is Young Master Taidian Akran, the third Young Master of the Clan. Master Taikian tested him after that he was recommended by our Ancestor, and Young Master Taidian passed the tests swiftly. And then, he became our Master's personal student."
The two young people looked at Dracs with wide eyes and Farek took the opportunity to add.
"I am responsible for showing him our training ground and explaining our functions in more detail. It is obviously a bit early for a disciple but the Young Master has a special status, his abilities are out of the ordinary. "
The young disciple in front of them seemed lost in thought and whispered.
"I would love to see that ..."
"Sorry?"
Farek was the one who had to take care of Dracs here so he wasn't too keen on anyone doubting their abilities.
At this point Dracs waved his hand at Farek to calm things down.
As a senior, Farek obviously had a right to be angry with the disrespect on the part of the young disciple named Jezdal. But he had more important things to take care of so he said.
"Young Master Taidian will be entering the inheritance ground in less than three months, my mission is to help him train as much as possible and of course familiarize with our customs and duties."
By this time, Jezdal had felt humiliated and he clenched his fist but said nothing, after all, the Holy Ground was not a place where duels were allowed, their missions went far beyond.
The whole time the young lady hadn't said anything but in the end she couldn't contain her frustration and said.
"So what, brother Jezdal? If the young master was chosen by Master Taikian and recognized by our Ancestor, it is because he has as much the right to be there as we do, you should rejoice that such a talent can enter our rank and help us with our duty."
When he heard junior sister Feina, Jezdal turned red from embarrassment and he coughed to hide it.
~Cough, cough~
Dracs was absentmindedly sipping his tea, he was already calculating many hypotheses and analysing the virtual map at the same time. At this stage of the conversation, it was only bickering and he was already fed up with it.
In his mind there was only the ruins and his plan to recover a body of his own. The more he thought about it, the more it became complicated.
Finding a thousand corpses of white bats was easy, it was the same for the thousand human skulls, after all, the Mausoleum was full of bones. What was more difficult was the Blood Crystal and the 'powerful human bloodline'.
Even with his compiled knowledge in his virtual library, he couldn't find the slightest clue about it. At first, he thought that it referred to the different kind of body a cultivator can attain or an innate secret body. But after further calculations, it was evident that that wasn't the case.
At this moment, Farek couldn't bear to see him being so leisurely without even taking the time to salute his junior brother and sister, he coughed and said.
"Young Master, let me introduce your junior sister and junior brother here. This is junior sister Feina and junior brother Jezdal. In terms of cultivation they are just a bit inferior to me and in terms of seniority they are older than you so it's ok just to call them brother and sister. Right?"
Feina responded without any hesitation with a courteous smile.
"Of course, call me sister Feina, I have no problem with that."
Jezdal on the other hand turned red to green before returning to normal and he could only nod and say.
"No problem at all, should we call you brother too?"
When hearing this nonsense, Farek almost slapped his own face, how could a Young Master could be called so easily a brother? And before Dracs could even answer he replied strongly.
"Don't you go overboard junior brother. Young Master Taidian would already be courteous with you if he calls you by your name."
Dracs had no opinion on it, he was already calling Farek only by his name, but he didn't want to cause unnecessary troubles so he nodded and said.
"Sister Feinar, brother Jezdal, take care of me please."
The two of them smiled and nodded their heads in return. Feina couldn't help giggling and Jezdal relaxed after this short approval and laugh.
"It's okay Young Master, nice to meet you!"
Feina was relieved, in this place it was better to have good relationships with others because the environment was really harsh.
Even jezdal couldn't hide his smile, his previous demeanor was already put in the past and of course he wanted to appear nice in front of Feina. It was not a secret that the guy was fond of her and could do everything to please her.
Dracs also felt good, this youngster wasn't that bad, he was starting to familiarise with how the people of this world interact so he couldn't blame them. After all, he was not himself a Young Master and was only borrowing the body of one.
He couldn't let himself be angry at others for nothing. His objectives were far more important than these small matters and he could bear with that.
Also, now that the introductions were done, the atmosphere had turned to the better. All in all, it was pleasant to find living people in this corrupted and ruined place.
After a short moment, Dracs finally said.
"You were all speaking about your duties, can you enlighten me on this subject please?"
Farek was about to respond when Feina started to say.
"As disciples of the White Ghost Temple, we are here to subjugate as much ghost as we can, it's a kind of purification, also we keep some for our own cultivation while the others are brought to the Temple and be refined into ghost essence in the ghost pond."
Farek and Jezdal nodded in approval at the same time.
"So it's like this. I was wondering what was the use of this mysterious pond, but if I remember correctly I saw one of the Guardian jumped into that pond, what is it for?"
This time it was jezdal that answered.
"Guess. Of course it is to feed on the ghost essence. The Guardian and other high ghost entities need that ressource to strengthen but…"
Jezdal was a bit confused, he seemed to not know how to explain it and he looked toward his senior brother for help.
Farek sighed, then he took a breath before explaining
"It's nothing junior brother. Young Master has the right to know. It's not that complicated, in fact, the ghost essence is more than only to strengthen them, it's the pillar of our survival, it's in these terms that Master Taikian told me that if we weren't able to obtain sufficient ghost essence, we are bound to face a catastrophe."
"What kind of catastrophe, it seems to be more serious than what you want to say, Farek."
Farek sighed again and looked at his junior brother and sister with a sad smile. Then ,he continued.
"It's not that hard to understand… Do you remember the formation we saw before coming to this destroyed area? They are all the previous disciples. We sacrifice our lives in order to reinforce the formation…"