"So tell me, Adrian," Hestia continued, "Why does a being who can hide his power even from me choose to walk into a dying sect's territory instead of a powerful sect?"
She took a step forward, the unstable crimson essence around her body pulsing slightly.
"And why should I believe that your arrival will not be the final calamity that finishes us?"
Adrian was a little surprised by her words. He had never considered that suppressing his divine concepts completely would project him as someone powerful. He had always been able to suppress his concepts if he wanted. He had never struggled with doing that. And from everything he had read in the forums, he didn't see anything about this. So he had been thinking suppression was something normal.
But now, this was a situation he didn't expect. His original plan had been to reveal a controlled amount of authority through the Source if he needed to prove his strength. Now, it seemed that such a demonstration might not even be necessary.
Still, he replied calmly, "You should have already heard from Lyra. What I'm seeking is not power alone. I'm looking for trust, connection, and a good environment. I'm here because I need a place where my people can grow without being devoured from within."
Hestia's eyes narrowed slightly, "And you believe this place qualifies?"
"Yes," Adrian answered, "From what I have seen, and from what I have heard from Lyra, your sect is worth joining."
The sect leader's gaze sharpened further, "I heard the same from Lyra, but let me ask you directly. You claim you want safety and stability for your people, yet you are bringing them straight into an active war. If I were in your position, I would search for a different sect instead of dragging my people into danger."
"With your power, an upper minor sect would welcome you and treat you with respect. So what you are doing now appears illogical." Her tone hardened. "From where I stand, this looks like a poorly constructed scheme aimed at exploiting a weakened sect."
Adrian met her gaze evenly. In truth, he understood her reasoning. If he were truly as strong as she assumed him to be, then internal struggles within an upper minor sect would mean nothing to him. He could crush them with ease. But that was not his reality. With his current strength, such entanglements were dangers he could not afford.
Even if he had that power, he would have still preferred this. He did not reveal the truth about his power level. Instead, he said, "I understand your point. Yes, I could search for an upper minor sect. But among all the sects I studied, yours stood apart. I prefer a sect like yours over the others. And I do not mind the war your sect is facing."
"You should already understand this truth," Adrian continued, "Survival in the universe itself is dangerous. Every place has enemies, wars, and threats. No matter where I take my people, danger will come for them one day. If not now, then later. If not here, then elsewhere."
"So I would rather choose a sect like yours, which doesn't have internal conflicts. I do not see this as reckless or illogical. I see it as an opportunity to strengthen my people and to build genuine connections with a sect like yours."
Hestia studied him for a long moment and said, "Then let me ask you this. Do you truly believe everything you were told is the truth? Do you think my sect has no internal conflict, no hidden politics, no decay festering beneath desperation?"
"What if you are wrong? What if your misjudgment costs your people their lives?"
Adrian replied, "I do not claim to know everything about your sect. But I can already see the reality of your sect. A sect on the brink has no room for internal rot. Even if such things existed, desperation strips them bare. People reveal their true nature when survival is at stake. Seeing your sect now, just the fact that your disciples chose to fight instead of abandoning the sect told me more than anything else ever could."
His eyes slowly turned white-grey, "Still, things could be different from what I see from the outside. If that is the case, then anyone who touches my people will die, no matter who they are. If I find that your entire sect is responsible for it, then I will destroy this sect!"
Crimson essence erupted from Hestia's body. A sword formed in her hand, shaped entirely from her divine essence. She dashed forward in an instant, her body blurring across the space between them, slashing toward Adrian.
Adrian's Source Blade materialized. He blocked the strike, the collision sending a shockwave rippling through the chamber. The transparent dome overhead trembled.
In the same motion, Hestia raised her blade and pointed it toward his neck, the crimson edge hovering a hair's breadth from his skin. Adrian mirrored the action, his blade aimed at her throat with identical proximity.
Locked in this deadly standoff, neither moved.
Her voice rang cold and sharp, "You dare speak such words in front of me?"
"Yes," Adrian replied without flinching, his white-grey eyes meeting her gold. "Even if it is you, you will die the moment you lay a hand on my people."
Silence followed.
Hestia sensed his Source Blade and felt his power for the first time. This concept itself felt higher-tier than hers, and that shocked her!
She quickly tried to sense more, but Adrian was not using his domain or his authority, so she could not exactly figure out everything about it. For now, the only thing she knew was that, even though she didn't use her own domain or authority, she had attacked with her fully mastered divine concept, pouring her full power into the strike despite the strain on her damaged Rule Core. And yet Adrian had blocked it.
This alone confirmed what she had already suspected. This being in front of her was powerful, and his divine concept being higher-tier than hers meant he was even stronger than her!
"Interesting," Hestia murmured.
She didn't know if this being wielded high-tier or even an ultimate-tier divine concept. But he was able to suppress his concept, which meant he had fully mastered it!
A being who had fully mastered a high or ultimate-tier divine concept was a powerhouse in Major Sects! Such a being standing in front of her, asking for a place for his people, and that too in a little sect like hers, was something she never expected would ever happen.
Suddenly, as she looked at Adrian, for a brief moment, she felt like staring into her own past.
She remembered herself hundreds of thousands of years ago, when she had been nothing more than a mortal patriarch of a clan. The empire she lived in existed under the control of a Major Sect, and her people had never truly possessed freedom. Even the emperor had been little more than a servant to the sect.
The memory surfaced unbidden, standing in the imperial throne room, watching her emperor bow before sect representatives who treated him like livestock. She had clenched her fists that day, powerless to change anything.
She had hated that reality. So she took her clan and fled into the Andromeda Galaxy. But back then, they were only mortals. She had been too reckless in bringing her clan without knowing its dangers. She faced countless dangers and nearly lost most of the clan members she had brought with her, learning firsthand how merciless the universe truly was.
The first year alone had claimed half her people. Void beasts, Spatial storms, Pirates who saw mortals as nothing more than cargo. She could still recall the screams, the way her sister's body had dissolved in a corrosive cloud before she could reach her.
At that time, she was forced to join a sect to survive, but when she joined a sect with her people, every sect she joined dragged her clan into internal politics and deadly conflicts. Again and again, she lost her people.
The Grave-Sky Sect had promised sanctuary. Within three months, her people became pawns in an elder's succession struggle. The Ironbound Path Sect welcomed them, then sent her clan members into suicidal missions to settle old grudges. Each time, she watched those she swore to protect die for causes that meant nothing to them.
Only then did she realize that no place in the universe existed without selfish beings and eternal conflicts. That was when she abandoned all the sects. She hated a place like that and spent thousands of years forging her own divine concept, and founded the Crimson Vital Sect herself, a place she dreamed to be truly safe.
Many had called her foolish at that time. Creating a sect was something that happened over generations, and her choosing to create a sect at an age where other sects had already existed for so many years was dumb.
"You'll die before you even lay the foundation," one cultivator had told her, laughing. "The resources alone would bankrupt you."
But she persisted on her path, and slowly, she made it here.
She spent every mana crystal wisely, and every disciple was chosen carefully. She built the Crimson Vital Sect not for glory or conquest, but as the sanctuary she had once desperately sought and never found.
And now, standing before Adrian, it felt as though she was seeing that younger version of herself seeking a safe place for her people. That same stubborn conviction. That same willingness to threaten anyone if they dared touch what he protected. She recognized it because she had once carried it herself. And Adrian was different from her, he was not as weak as her when she was young and still chose a little sect like hers.
Slowly, she withdrew her sword. The crimson essence receded back into her body, and the oppressive pressure vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.
Her damaged Rule Core pulsed painfully at the exertion, but she ignored it. The test had revealed what she needed to know.
Adrian lowered his blade and dispersed it as well. His white-grey eyes returned to normal.
"So that is your resolve," Hestia said, her voice softer than before. "But words alone are not enough to earn trust. Prove it through your actions."
"Tell me how," Adrian replied.
"The relic expedition will become a battlefield. The Everlasting Pill Sect will come with everything they have. If you make enough contributions, or if you could retrieve a Core-Reforging Lotus and bring it back, then you will have proven yourself."
Hestia did not know whether all of Adrian's claims were true. There was a possibility that this was all a part of a grand scheme. But she didn't see any reason why such a being as him even needs to scheme when he can simply destroy everything with his power. But if this were a scheme, then the expedition itself would reveal everything. A strong cultivator like him should be able to dominate any cultivator the Everlasting Pill Sect could send. For someone like that, obtaining a single lotus should not be difficult.
If Adrian's intentions were something else, then she could instantly know from his actions. And she did not fear sending Adrian into the relic site. If the relic were his true goal, then he could have killed Lyra and taken the key already. He had no reason to come here in the first place with some mortals behind him.
She continued, "And I promise that your people will be safe within the sect while you are gone. Until someone kills me, no one will touch them. If you prove yourself, I will make you an elder of my sect and grant your people a safe place."
Adrian could tell that she was using his people as leverage. It left a bitter taste, but he understood the necessity. Trust in the universe was never given freely at the beginning, especially between powerful beings.
The arrangement mirrored exactly what he would have done if he were in her position. Protect the hostages, test the unknown variable, measure results before commitment. He saw no other path forward and nodded.
"I agree," he said.
"Very well, Adrian," Hestia replied. "Everyone is already assembling. The relic expedition will begin soon."