"What does this mean?"
Kasuur frowned. Mais, meanwhile, rested one hand under his chin, leaned back in his chair and rested his cane between his knees.
"I won't lie. I'm not entirely sure, but I can tell you this: I'm almost certain that Baro was one of the few survivors of the Flame Bird Incident."
Kasuur ran his hand through his green hair and leaned back in his chair. He leaned forward when he heard the chair creak, but this time he brought his hand to his face. He was finding it hard to hide his surprise. Nevertheless, Kasuur still had his doubts.
"If what you're saying is true, shouldn't Baro be far more capable than he appears? Even with the help of our simple inheritance, we could overshadow Baro's past achievements in just one year, let alone sixteen. So what did Baro do for sixteen years? And what makes you so sure?"
Mais hesitated. But then, sighing, he decided to tell Kasuur the truth.
"When Baro attacked me, he wanted to take something from me. When he realised he couldn't do it without killing me, I bluffed to save my life. I said I had poisoned Maria. Then he mumbled something about taking Maria out of the Phoenix Paradise. The Phoenix Paradise is where the Flame Bird Incident happened and is the capital of the Phoenix Legacy."
Kasuur frowned when he heard that Baro had tried to steal something from Mais. He understood that Mais did everything to survive. How could he blame him? Yet he could also empathise with Maria's pain. She had been poisoned by her friend.
Baro was the cause of all this. But what had driven him to do such a terrible thing?
"You mentioned taking Maria out of Phoenix Paradise. That..."
"That means Maria was born in the Phoenix Paradise."
Mais became thoughtful. To be honest, he was confused, too. Maria was born in the Phoenix Paradise, but at that time, no one in the group that entered to seize the Phoenix Inheritance was pregnant. Even if someone had been pregnant, they would have only been there for a very short time. Not long enough for someone to be detected as pregnant. Besides, if someone had been pregnant, their belly would already have reached a certain size by the time they entered the Phoenix Paradise. Everyone would have realised that person was pregnant. This makes the idea of Maria being born there problematic.
Mais explained this to Kasuur.
"What if Maria's mother got pregnant inside?"
"And would she give birth to a healthy baby in such a short time? In the midst of a catastrophe?"
"The timeline in the Inheritance might be different."
Mais thought about it for a while longer, but Kasuur's theory didn't convince him either.
"What if Maria's mother didn't go inside? What if she had always been there, and had been pregnant before the members of these noble houses entered the Phoenix Paradise?"
Kasuur shook his head.
"Baro must have entered the Phoenix Paradise along with the others. How could he have impregnated Maria's mother if he wasn't even there?"
"What if he didn't impregnate her?"
Kasuur looked at Mais in astonishment. He narrowed his eyes.
"Are you implying what I'm thinking—"
"What if Baro isn't Maria's biological father?"
This explained why, despite having inherited such a legacy, Baro hadn't transcended the Sage Realm for sixteen years — or rather, had pretended not to. Firstly, it was perfectly normal that Baro hadn't obtained the main inheritance. Secondly, it was highly likely that Baro was only a godfather or guardian.
Kasuur leaned back in his chair once more, and the familiar creaking sound filled the room. No one knew how close the chair was to breaking, but everyone could guess that sitting under Kasuur's weight would inevitably cause it to break.
"So what does all this have to do with what frightens Baro?"
"Who knows?"
Mais had his own doubts, too. Names, cults and assassins. Yet a name that frightened Baro so much wasn't easily found. Further investigation was therefore needed.
They remained silent for a while. Then the three-tailed white cat on the bed woke up with a yawn. She lifted her head and looked at Kasuur indifferently. But her gaze didn't linger there for long. She averted her gaze and walked calmly over to Mais. She sat on his lap. Once, Immortal White was their shield, but now their power levels were similar, and considering the abilities Kasuur and Mais possessed, Immortal White couldn't defeat them in a direct confrontation.
Nevertheless, she was still a Sage monster, and let's not forget that Immortal White had a very specific reason for taking that name.
Mais didn't want to test Immortal White's ability. After all, there was no guarantee that Immortal White could do it again, having perhaps only returned from death once before and leapt through two realms. Did that mean she could do it again? What would be the price of trying?
Death...
Mais wouldn't kill Immortal White.
With Immortal White sitting on his lap, Mais reached for the table beside him. After feeling around for a few moments, he found the drawer. He pulled out a slice of yellow-brown 'cake', but Kasuur knew it wasn't real. He had tasted it before and it had been truly disgusting.
In truth, it was food. Not just ordinary food. It was high-quality monster bait. Yet Mais had given this to the Immortal White, who could not develop through her own efforts.
The Immortal White didn't feel like she was in a cultivation phase. She was in the Sage Realm, but at what stage? This wasn't obvious, and she didn't seem to have progressed at all since she first became a Sage. Of course, she had developed her understanding of the Tao. Especially with the support of Mais and the inheritance tree. Yet these accomplishments didn't help her at all. Immortal White was very young, and if another monster her age had reached the Sage Realm under normal circumstances, they would already have reached the Origin Heart Realm by now. After all, almost two years had passed since Immortal White entered the Sage Realm.
When Kasuur saw Little White, he was reminded of the battle that had taken place the other day. The little monster had snatched the sword from his hands with her teeth. Mais had defeated Maria and poisoned her. He still clearly remembered Baro's anger. After dropping Maria off at her house, Kasuur had fled immediately.
As a result, Baro would probably stop paying his salary. Mais wouldn't help with Maria's cultivation either. That agreement was long over.
Yet Mais still seemed to have enough money to support them. Kasuur felt he should beg Mais for money. Alternatively, he could go to the Red Road Forest, hunt a Sage monster and sell its fur and meat.
Finding the monster would be difficult, but he could earn far more than Mais would give him.
"I honestly didn't expect you to defeat Maria that day. Stage 8 Sage Realm... That was unexpected," said Kasuur. Mais stroked Little White's head; the little monster had just eaten the cake. Then he laughed bitterly.
"I wasn't expecting it either. Actually, I had reached the Stepping Stage of the Cold Tao just before you arrived. That's why the house was in that state. Otherwise, I had no intention of showing off."
Kasuur chuckled. Mais generally didn't flaunt himself, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy showing off. In truth, every move Mais made seemed showy to people. Despite not wanting to draw attention to himself, his grey eyes and defiant, self-assured attitude drew people's eyes to him.
"Actually, even that was not enough. A person who creates a technique has already mastered it to perfection. You must already know that. I'd say the test you took helped Maria create a Sage technique. It helped you, too, didn't it? You created a technique."
Kasuur paused for a moment. Then he turned his head towards the sword at his waist and sighed.
"Yes, I did."
"Can you tell me its level?"
"An Origin Heart Technique."
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