Of course, it still wasn't comparable to the speed of top most geniuses. After all, Dyon's own little brother reached the essence gathering stage at a very young age. However, there were very few people who could provide more resources than Dyon. So, he was very impressed by this little Rose girl.
The oddest part about it all was that it was the Dragon King that told Dyon this. If it wasn't for that, she would have looked like an ordinary little girl. Evangeline truly had some great methods.
Recomposing himself, Dyon responded. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Lady Violet?"
Violet didn't seem to notice that Dyon ignored her question, instead, she leisurely took Evangeline's vacated spot and poured herself a cup of tea.
Dyon calmly sat across from her, looking off into the distance as though he didn't care whether or not she answered.
"I would like you to join my faction. For a talent on your level, of course I would personally make a trip."
"Faction?"
"Indeed. We have factions for various reasons, not all of these reasons are restricted to the sect either. For example, fighting for resources in the Epistemic Tower is a major reason they exist as well. As much as we hope to be a cohesive whole when we enter, that just isn't the case. Because our ranking is low to begin with, many have lost hope. It's a vicious cycle.
"It begins with us having too few resources to go around, which leads to us fighting over them, which results in factions, with then leads back to us having too few resources to go around.
"The most unfortunate part is that we don't have a single expert that's managed to climb to the celestial floors, so we're stuck with the poor resources of the saint floors."
Violet sighed. In order to make it to the celestial floors, the very first and most basic requirement was to become a celestial within 1000 years. This was because the age cap of the saint floors was exactly that. This requirement alone was already an impossible task for this 98th quadrant. It already took most of them about 200 years to even make it near the peak of the essence gathering stage. Even their best talents would struggle to sense saint energy because of their damaged souls, causing them to delay their break through into sainthood.
In the end, it was considered lucky to break into sainthood by 500 years old here. To then, with that pace, think of becoming a celestial before 1000 years was nothing more than a fool's dream.
...
"Hm… Factions, huh?" Dyon spoke slowly, truly pondering.
Following someone else wasn't his style, however he didn't come here to be in the spotlight. After he had done his part in becoming a core disciple, it would be better if he laid low. Although he didn't care to offend the daughter of the Head Master, or even the Head Master himself, there was no reason for him to purposefully make things hard for himself.
So, although his first instinct was to reject, he didn't do so immediately. After all, thinking about how Violet was the Head Master's daughter, and how she was a high-ranked core disciple, she might very well know about the Soul Market.
"Yes." Violet said with a sweet smile. "In recent times, we've managed to birth a few geniuses. Also, I'm not scared to tell you this secret. We will soon have a method to increase out ability to sense saint energy, and when the time comes, celestial energy.
"Of course, these resources are based on contributions made to the faction. Those who contribute the most will, of course, be rewarded more. With your resources and power, it shouldn't be a problem for you, right?"
Dyon smiled knowingly, understanding what Violet was referring to. Although his power was appealing, what was even more appealing was the Jade Queen Bee Honey that was on his person!
"However…" Violet's smile disappeared as she suddenly became serious. "As much as I want you to join our faction, you must be more careful with your words in the future.
"I understand that the history of quadrant might not be very… Clean. But, you must learn to hold your tongue. If The Cathedral decides to take action against you for so blatantly provoking them, even my father wouldn't be able to protect you."
Of course Dyon knew what Violet was referring to. He hadn't tried to hide his voice at all when he swore to save that girl from her fate. He didn't even know what her name was, yet he did so anyway.
Seeing Dyon's calm expression, Violet couldn't help but firmly continue. "You should understand at least a little of what's going on, but just know that even the Caedes and Jafari family are mostly kept in the dark. I promise you that if you think you know the whole situation, you do not.
"The powers at work here are bigger than you can imagine. I'm saying this for your own good. If you want to play hero, you need to be thousands of times more powerful than you are now."
Seeing Violet speaking so seriously, and especially considering what she said, Dyon was even more certain that she, or at least her father, knew a lot about what was going on. In fact, when he heard her speak about how they have a chance to improve their younger generation, Dyon suddenly thought of something.
Did Violet's confidence in helping her faction members sense higher levels of energy have anything to do with the Soul Market?...
The Devil Path cultivators came here to tie up loose ends before heading to the Epistemic Tower. In all likelihood, that loose end was the Soul Market.
Dyon wasn't entirely sure what they wanted to do with the Soul Market. It could be that they were going to shut its operation down, or maybe they would be taking its profits for themselves after so many years of staying in the background. What they needed those profits for? Dyon didn't know entirely… But, what he did know was that there was a massive Sapientia Auction occurring soon. An event of that level only took place very rarely. Sometimes once every thousand years, sometimes once every ten thousand years. It was all dependent on how long it would take to accumulate the necessary amount of treasures.
According to Dyon's knowledge, the auction was announced and although the date wasn't set yet, it wouldn't be much more than ten years before it took place.
Because of the exclusivity of the auction, only Kings and above could take part. Every ticket was highly sought after and many battles would be fought in the days leading up to the fateful day. In addition, there would be transmission arrays stationed on all floors to protect everyone. By projecting an image of the participants, one could avoid being there in person and thus have an added layer of protection.
All in all, this was an event that not many would want to miss. Dyon didn't believe that it was a coincidence that mere months after the announcement of this highly anticipated auction that the Devil Path cultivators would just coincidentally appear.
As for why they didn't send the elder generation, that was obvious. The only way to enter the tower is by starting from the beginning, and to start from the beginning, one needed to be less than a thousand years old. That said, a thousand-year-old character with the talent of Lilith was definitely a scary individual, likely a high level celestial, if not already a dao formation expert.
Thinking to this point, Dyon became more cautious. If the Devil Path cultivators had such a person with them now, he might definitely be in trouble.
According to the martial world, the mark of a true genius was to enter the celestial realm before 100, and the dao formation world before 1000. Of course, only a handful of people had such talent. However… Dyon wouldn't bet against the Devil Path having at least one of these individuals. After all, Lilith was only 21 yet already about to break into the celestial realm.
Of course, Dyon also understood that comprehending a new energy wasn't so simple. This was especially so for Devil Path cultivators who had their comprehension hindered. In addition, the age of '100' was taking into account time spent in the trial world, something Devil Path cultivators obviously didn't have to worry about until now.
'This Lilith will probably enter the God trial first… Plus, since they allowed her to become the key wielder, she's likely the most talented person they have. This is getting more complex…'
Dyon took a deep breath before smiling. "I don't mind joining, but I have a few conditions."
