Just as Lilith was brooding over her will to cut Dyon limb from limb, Sokzac knocked lightly on her door.
"Come in." Lilith said softly.
Currently, she sat in meditation, trying to calm the state of her heart. If she let this feeling get out of control, then it would definitely effect her dao heart. Although she was feeling the impulse to lean on someone, she was also feeling a strong repulsion to it as well. Having two drastically different mentalities would be terrible for her future.
Sokzac walked in with a smile on his handsome face. "How are you feeling?"
Lilith felt her heart flutter again, but she quickly calmed with a deep breath. "I'm progressing slowly."
Hearing the slight tenderness in Lilith's voice made Sokzac's eyes open in surprise. Even though he tried to quickly hide it so as not to embarrass Lilith, with her cultivation, she had already caught the slight change in his expression, causing her delicate, ice carved cheeks to redden.
Sokzac tactfully decided not to mention the oddity in Lilith's actions, leaving both of them room to take a step back.
"Here." Sokzac recovered something from his spatial ring.
Seeing the orb of light and the blood red pill, Lilith felt a shiver go down her spine. However, she still took them, placing the pair into her own spatial ring.
"Try to get better as soon as you can. An elder of the sect came by earlier today, apparently we're going on a trip to the tower to gain experience. The Valley of Geniuses is opening soon, so we should go try our luck."
Lilith's brow furrowed. "We still have many things to do here."
"It's best if we leave those tedious things to the supervisors we've long since stationed here. This isn't an opportunity we should miss and it's also a good opportunity to make our presence known."
"That won't be possible. If we reveal ourselves as devil path cultivators before matters are concluded, everything we've worked for would be meaningless. There is still one massive shipment we have to oversee, then we can gut the funds and destroy all of the evidence before those conventional path leaches have time to see that something is wrong. We can't do anything to jeapordize that."
Sokzac smiled. "With our power, as long as we're not suppressed, would we really need to use our devil path energies to make a statement?"
This was true. As devil path cultivators, they were suppressed even more than Dyon was, easily by 70 or even 80%. Although they wouldn't be able to use their true strength so as not to be exposed, it would still be a net positive for them.
Lilith sighed, "As much as I want to, if we went now, people would begin asking questions about just where a mere 98th quadrant got disciples as powerful as us. If that makes people more interested in the happenings here, it could be trouble."
Lilith couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with Sokzac, so she only meekly nodded and saw him out. It was only after he left that it began to dawn on her what was happening…
'I can't be falling for him, right?...'
**
Dyon and Wess, his senior brother, soon made their way into Violet's massive courtyard.
'The more time I spend around this Violet girl, the more odd it is. She's ranked 6th, yet Wess follows her despite being ranked 4th, all while she lives in the 1st ranked courtyard? What is going on here?'
The moment Dyon walked in, following behind Wess, tens of pairs of eyes trained on him, causing him to raise an eyebrow. These indivuals were definitely not all core disciples, most were outer, with a large percentage being made up in inner. In total there were only 4 core disciples, 3 of which included Dyon, Wess and Violet. The reason why Dyon was surprised was because although he, as a core disciple, could easily walk between regions, it wasn't allowed for those of lower status to walk into higher ranked regions. The fact so many non-core disciples were here was definitely in opposition to the rules.
"This is our new vice leader?" A voice filled with anger and rage filled the room.
"Vice leader?" For good reason, Dyon was shocked by these words. They were clearly aimed toward him, but he didn't remember ever accepting such a position nor even being offered it.
When Dyon looked over to had been spoken, he realized that it was actually the 4th core disciple of the faction.
"Junior Brother Novrel, behave yourself." Violet spoke in a cold voice.
'Yet another member of the up and coming families?'
"But, Senior Sister! I'm not convinced! How can a disciple who hasn't even passed the trial and become a true core disciple become out vice leader?"
At first, Luka had wanted to mention the fact Dyon was ranked dead last amongst core disciples, but he didn't want to give Violet a reason to be angered. After all, she was ranked below both him and Wess, did that mean she couldn't be leader?
Of course, Dyon was only ranked last because he was the last among core disciples to join and hadn't formally challenged anyone – this was because he wasn't a disciple when he defeated Asyna, so she didn't lose her placement. That said, he couldn't bother to care about such rankings. Maybe if he was feeling petty enough in the future, he'd do something about it.
"Enough." Violet cut Luka off. "If we want to resist against the Caedes family faction, as well as survive the attacks and tribulations of the Valley of Geniuses, we have to stay together. I don't want any of you getting injured. When we come back, if you're still unsatisfied, then you can challenge Junior Brother Jafari as you see fit.
"Let's go. The elders are already waiting for us all at the gates. On the way, I'll explain a few things to you all."