Chapter 441 441. WARMTH

"You can all rise," Elder Adonis' voice reached the bowing duo, distracting Noah from the words of the others.

They immediately rose to face the masters, and Noah first felt all their gazes converge on his figure for a moment even if he stood behind the others.

They had immediately gotten the information about his trio affinity status but kept quiet.

"What do we have here? You've successfully crossed over into the fourth tier, Sarah," One of the females there spoke and the others immediately commented on it, even if they were all interested in the young man more.

A cheeky smile appeared on Elder Sarah's face.

"As you can see," she replied suddenly beginning to float while a purple halo slowly seeped out of her very skin, and her eyes began to blaze with both a red and blue light, creating a strange scene.

She allowed her aura to flow freely from her body and it quickly filled the entire room. A strange heat suddenly flickered into existence after that, but elder Adonis raised his hand to stop that process, and it immediately vanished.

She returned to the ground with a brighter smile.

"Very impressive," A middle-aged-looking man featuring short brown hair, a pair of bright yellow eyes, and a voice that sounded aged commented. He sat closest to the center throne amongst the seven that were present.

"True," the man who had spoken rashly earlier, also commented. He was a man who looked far well into his forties. His head was full of unkempt brown hair. His expression was wild and his voice was intimidating.

Everyone stayed quiet as Elder Sarah went forward flaunting her new power, while the masters commented on the fact that they had expected a few years of slumber before she got to that point.

Noah made minimal movement while that scene played out, but he made sure to memorize the features of the present masters.

Apart from the two men he had mentioned, and the stunning Elder Adonis, there was a bald man who had a chin full of black hair. His eyes were black, but they visibly swirled with a light of their own, even if it was low.

There were three women present. All looked about the same age, only that the Cyan-haired lady reminded him of a certain someone he hadn't seen in close to a year.

The lady had eyes that scared Noah. Or rather her eyes in particular seemed to hold knowledge the others didn't have since he felt his muscles tense every time. Her blue eyes felt intense even if they were just simple glances.

The second woman was rather reserved throughout the whole thing. It would seem that she really wanted to uphold the face of the seriousness of the guild. If only Noah knew she had fallen asleep with her eyes open multiple times during the conversations.

The third and last woman in the group was a black-haired lady, who looked well into her forties like the rest of the women, Noah didn't need anyone to tell him that she was centuries old. She was quite chatty, however.

"What do you have there, Young man," the cyan-haired lady called out pulling all attention to Noah's figure.

She rose from her throne before moving towards him.

"You have someone with you in here. Someone who shouldn't be here," she hovered slowly around him, her black and golden robe falling to the ground due to how long it was. It was almost ridiculous.

However, Noah recalled that they would mostly be in the sky outside of confined spaces like the castle.

Noah fell into ultimate confusion at her accusation even if her tone was calm and collected.

"What does she mean, Aiden?" Elder Sarah had begun to frown, Noah struggled not to let his mood plummet.

"Are you suggesting he brought someone who shouldn't be here in," Dan voiced his confusion.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Her eyes never left Noah's figure. Her words had made the four cultivators gasp in shock, even Noah. But his was lighter.

"What do you mean? Master," Noah spoke for the second time since he arrived there.

"I had started to wonder if you could say any more words than the greetings you bore a few minutes ago," her eyes darted to his face, and Noah felt his heart jump to his throat.

There was something about that simple gesture that held a lot of meaning. Meaning, he could not comprehend.

"If he truly brought an intruder then how come the oath didn't activate?" Elder Von asked, silently concerned about Aiden. He hoped the young man had not done anything stupid.

"When did I mention an intruder," she giggled at Von's words, genuinely surprised.

"Oh that," the bald man pointed out with a nod of his head. "I had noticed that immediately he entered here, but I couldn't be too sure since it's not my area of expertise," the man explained while the others including the dozing woman and Adonis nodded. Stunning the others.

"A spirit is attached to you. It would seem they have decided not to leave you," The lady explained allowing her legs touch the ground then she placed her hands on his back.

Noah tensed up, still unsure of what she was talking about.

"Have any deaths happened around you lately?" She asked, tilting her head as though she wanted to get a good view of his expression.

Noah's head spun at that question, but he nodded. If only they knew the amount he had wiped out.

"Was it someone close?" She voiced another question, and he immediately understood.

Noah recalled the children and his mood steadily began to decline. It was still only yesterday that all those events occurred.

He had momentarily forgotten about them due to the commotion about Elder Sarah's breakthrough.

"Somewhat," Noah replied bringing questioning glances his way.

He avoided them all.

The lady nodded at his positive answer.

"Should I remove it?" She asked. "It's far lower in level than I. I should be able to-" Noah cut her short. But not disrespectfully.

"Thank you. But no," he announced and the room went dead silent.

"It may cause you some trouble. Spirits at this level but are sentient are rare. Any fourth-tier expert or higher dabbling in the spirit arts would be able to notice it and go after you," she explained genuinely concerned.

"I'll try my best to get as strong as I can then," Noah replied, silently glad about her genuine worry. For some reason, she exuded the feelings that a real mother would. Warmth.

She sighed but didn't push further. She returned to her throne afterward.

"So um," Anna's voice rang out. "Should we test her prowess or not?" She brought their attention to one of the main reasons they came there.