Tian stroked his white beard gently, "Indeed, I am aware of the awakening of the 13th chosen in my territory."
There was no reason to deny it; no one would believe he hadn't noticed something so significant. Experts, countless light-years away from his world, had observed it, and so could he. Denying it would only make him seem deceptive and shameless.
"The moment it happened, I felt as if the heavens were finally smiling in my direction. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to find them?"
He couldn't deny the knowledge of their existence, but that didn't mean he could discern their whereabouts. Blessed were notoriously tricky to find, as they only seemed to enhance traits that already existed within individuals. Unless the trait in question were a physical one, it would be nearly impossible to identify, except for those from clans that chose to flaunt their superiority.
'That's complete horseshit'
The moment he finished speaking, his two sworn brothers, Jin and Eddard, exchanged glances, their thoughts perfectly synchronised.
They knew Old Tian well enough to know that he had most certainly found the newly awakened chosen. His methods were very mysterious. Even if he couldn't use the Dao of Fate to divine their whereabouts, there was no way he wouldn't find them in his territory, given the power and myth behind his methods.
It was those same methods that attracted the attention of many who sought to claim them. During the last great war, Tian made numerous enemies because he refused to divulge his secrets.
He almost died numerous times in the war at the hands of close allies because of that. Many believe his methods were somewhat similar to an innate technique.
As sworn brothers, these two were close enough to him to understand some of his methods, and they knew when he was being insincere, but they decided to keep their mouths shut for now.
If Tian believes the newly awakened chosen is not a problem and worth lying for despite the current state of the world, they would choose to believe him completely. He was always good at discerning those kinds of things.
The other three nodded in understanding.
"Do you need help finding them, senior?" Novac was the one who asked.
He still held that infuriating kind smile on his face.
Tian snorted, his expression displaying disdain for a moment. He did not like this two-faced man who had led his family outside his territory to start a war and conquer another significant territory.
"There is no need for that; it would still lead to a dead end. The newly awakened, whoever they may be, are not a part of the noble clans in my territory."
This greatly disappointed them. Finding a blessed person among the general population is very challenging. In a territory with quadrillions of individuals, locating a partner seems nearly impossible.
Unless they decided to show themselves, it wasn't worth the resources when there was no guarantee of finding them.
This was the second blessing that they couldn't seem to find, not counting those that belonged to the abyssals.
"I am a man of fate. If fate allows, he will join the heavenly Archives in the future; if it doesn't, so be it."
Then he chuckled at their reaction, before saying, "As fate would have it, I found a very talented young girl to take in as my student. I am getting old, and picking a successor to take my place is the least I can do."
They became surprised, especially Novac, whose eyes flashed with greed. Choosing a disciple means he would have to teach them the same mysterious methods that make him so powerful to begin with. After his death, they could force it out of her.
The young girl Tian mentioned was, of course, the blind girl he found alongside Alaric and the other boy. During his inspection of her condition and attempts to fix her eyes, he discovered that her blindness was not naturally caused. Rather, it was due to some higher authority blocking her eyes from perceiving light. This, in turn, boosted her affinity with fate laws, the same law he was proficient in.
The thought of this talented student Tian had found being the recently awakened chosen never even crossed their minds. 'He wouldn't be that stupid,' they thought.
Taking one of the chosen as a student would be a blessing to whoever had the privilege of being their teacher. Still, in this era, where flaws had manifested with each blessed, it only brings misfortune.
When the second blessed individual awoke, an Elf took him in as a disciple. After that day, misfortune followed him wherever he went. He was often seen with an injury that would not heal, until one day he was found dead in his chambers, having committed suicide.
They did not believe that old Tian would put himself in danger, risking the very foundation of human territory.
"I believe that concludes the discussion about the newly awakened?"
They all nodded in agreement.
Old Tian then turned his attention to Novac, who suddenly went stiff at the sudden attention.
"I won't comment on why you choose to conquer the Demi-human region, nor am I foolish enough to ask how you broke the treaty without consequences, but I would like to know the situation about the abyss gate over there."
After the universe-scale war concluded, the Light Region, the strongest among the seven regions, stepped in as a mediator to end the conflict that followed the great war that occurred thousands of years ago.
After the agreement, each region and power was offered a contract that they must sign to continue trading with other regions. One of the clauses in this contract stipulates that no region should attack another, except in cases of retaliation.
As they later discovered, the power behind this contract was almost absolute, and the consequences for breaking it were severe. Even organisations within a region cannot confront organisations from a different region.
Each organisation came to regret signing that contract as they later discovered that there were hidden clauses within that could not be broken.
The most devastating clause is the mortal Non-intervention clause. This clause forbids practitioners from intervening in mortal affairs unless they are part of an organisation.
This means as practitioners, they cannot intervene when mortals outside their organisation are involved, or they would risk being hunted down. They have no choice but to watch as mortals destroy themselves and evil thrive in their territories.
What made them consider the light region with disdain was that practitioners could use mortals for evil practices, experiments and such. They could even kill them for sports, and it wouldn't be considered intervention. But helping them in any way would be punished.
This had caused a lot of resentment between practitioners and mortals.
Some mortals would refuse to even join any organisation because of their view on practitioners.
This situation has also led to an increase in the number of mortals who choose to worship a god instead of focusing on developing their strength. As a result, more people are joining the light region while leaving the rest of the organisation behind. This has been their ultimate goal all along: to find more believers, as faith can only thrive in situations filled with despair.
Old Tian recently discovered that the Light Region could break contracts without facing any consequences. He realised that the only reason Novac and the Ortenosse family could attack another territory without repercussions was that they had allied themselves with the Light Region.
He couldn't help but sigh. "I wonder what they are up to now..."
Novac answered calmly, seemingly unbothered by the accusatory tone. "The Ortenosse clan has taken full control of the maintenance of the gate leading to the Abyss Realm."
The abyss realm.
A realm they discovered is deeply connected to Undym and the origins of the great war that occurred thousands of years ago.
There were a total of three gates leading to the Abyss Plane: one in the Light Region, another in the Human Region, and the last in the Demi-Human Domain, which the Ortenosse family has taken over.
The former royal family initially maintained the sealing rune around the gate, but was recently seized by the Ortenosse family following a massive genocide.
The Abyss Realm is a plane that holds creatures known as abyssals. They were a battle race of pure destruction.
Abyssals are enemies of every lifeform in Undym. They hold a very strong vendetta against anything related to the realm. No one knows why they destroy any lifeform on Undym on sight; all they know is that you either run or fight to death when you encounter them.
What made them annoying was their strength. They were divided into three groups that possess separate traits/bloodlines.
The first group was the Gluttony group, which possesses the trait of Gluttony. The more they ate, the stronger they became. The second group, the warrior group, has the trait of adaptation. This was the group that young Alaric seemed to bear a trait of. They were notoriously difficult to deal with. The last were the psychic group that held strong psychic powers.
When they were not busy fighting each other, they made an excellent team.
It took a lot of effort and lives to seal the entrances of this realm. What made them worried now is that three blessed individuals are from this very race, each from a bloodline.
Old Tian was about to continue his question when he suddenly stopped.
The atmosphere changed, and the energy of heaven and earth became erratic, but then calmed down.
This didn't go unnoticed by those around. It was almost the same feeling they had felt when an awakening occurs, but this was a little different.
Eadgyth was the first to react. She hastily stood up, saying, "What is happening, Old man?"
Old Tian calmly assessed the situation, his eyes glowed with a golden hue as he entered a trance.
A moment later, he sighed softly and said, "The first usurper has appeared..."
Their expression turned gloomy.