1234 Insignificant
The location was one of dense darkness and even denser heat. The only light seemed to come from the faint emissions of molten rock that had turned various shades of red and orange beneath the intense heat.
The depths of this volcano was located on the Eighth Heaven. It was a mountain range simply known as Molten Essence, the kind of location that would scorch your lungs to black with a single inhale. Even Sky Gods wouldn't casually step into this place.
Despite this, hidden in a deep crevice a man sat. Sweat and soot matted his face, wounds littering his exposed chest. Rags hung from his body and only his pants seemed to be somewhat intact. His hair was a bright, fierce red, along with his beard, they seemed to shine even brighter than the molten rock around him, but not nearly as bright as his two piercing red eyes.
He stared ahead, unmoved and unhurried. The wounds on his body, rather than being aggravated by the surrounding heat, actually seemed to be slowly healing them instead. Even so, he didn't seem to be relaxed at all despite the indifference on his face. He seemed to be vigilant, looking out for something.
His breathing was slow, his mind sharp. The fatigue of these countless years didn't seem to slow him down in the slightest. His determination was just as great as it had been on the very first date.
He suddenly looked up. Above him, there was nothing more than molten rock , but his gaze seemed to pierce through it, seeing to the dark skies above. With the amount of volcanic activity in this region, the skies were cast in a perpetual night everyday.
This was actually one of the reasons reaching this location was so difficult and a reason why the man had chosen to hide here despite the fact his chasers were just as immune to the heat as he was. Because of the soot taking the place of the clouds above, outside the range of this oppressive heat, there was an expanse of cold so piercing that even those with affinity might not last even a few minutes. The number of experts who had died just making it to this location made it a hellscape.
There were some who could deal with one extreme environment, or the other, but how many could deal with both? But just now, this man sensed something.
A shadow descended through the mountain range and appeared within the volcano .
The man slowly stood to his feet, walking out from his cave's crevice with an indifferent expression on his face. He didn't sigh, he didn't frown, he just seemed used to it. However, when the shadow appeared before him, and he looked into the latter's eyes, even for him, there couldn't help but be a small flicker.
"Titus."
"Primus."
The two spoke at once with the same casualness. One would have never thought that they were grandfather and grandson. Even so, this only seemed natural for them. Titus continued to observe his grandfather as though he was prepared for the latter to make a move at any time. Surprisingly, though, seeing this, Primus' demeanor turned malevolent.
One would have thought that if a grandfather saw his grandson being wary of him, his fury would be founded upon this. Wouldn't a grandfather want his grandson to love and trust him? In that case, it would make sense that he was so infuriated. However, rather than this being the case, Primus' next words painted a completely different picture.
"Do you think anyone has the right to command me?"
Titus' pupils constricted.
Primus' meaning was clear. The only reason he could be here to chase Titus was if and only if he had fallen in line and agreed.
Primus was enraged not because his grandson didn't trust him, but rather because his grandson actually considered the idea of his grandfather submitting to others. In all these years, this was the only time Titus had ever seen Primus display an emotion outside of indifference. His words were only short of saying "how dare you?" The pride running through his veins was so dense that it exuded outward without even his conscious effort.
"Is that so? Then why are you here?" Titus asked indifferently.
"I will be ascending to the Ninth Heaven now," Primus returned to his normal self as though nothing had happened. "I still have some karmic ties that will hinder my ascension to Dao God. I've come to deal with them. After this, I will go and see that great grandson of mine."
Titus hadn't shown any reaction, even when Primus mentioned Dao God. He didn't seem to care in the slightest, even though this implied that the Primus before him was not only a Dao Sovereign, but a Peak Dao Sovereign.
However, when he heard great grandson, Titus trembled from head to toe, his indifferent gaze becoming dazed. Great grandson? How would Primus go and see him?
From the very beginning, hadn't Titus been fighting for a method to find his son's soul and return it to where it should be? Titus had not the slightest clue that his son had not only returned, he had no idea that the Tatsuya Clan had fallen and that the Martial Gods had once taken over Sacrum.
Primus had known these matters for years. Ryu had already returned over a thousand years ago. The Tatsuya Clan had already been destroyed several hundred thousand years ago. But he casually mentioned one of these events and didn't seem to have any intention of mentioning the latter.
No... it wasn't that he was intentionally hiding these truths, it was rather that to him, they felt like insignificant facts. If not for the fact that Ryu had some relevance to the conversation, he wouldn't have mentioned him at all either.
To him, these facts, the fact Ryu had lived, or the fact his Tatsuya Clan had been destroyed, were insignificant, no different from the temperature or the weather.
Even his grandson's reaction to the wellbeing of his great grandson didn't move him in the slightest. Without much care, he flipped a palm, revealing a small glass orb.
