Chapter 695: The First Sunbringer And The Second

"You were playing with me this whole time?"

"I knew you had the power of a higher-ranked being, so what else was I supposed to do? If I tried anything funny, you might have wiped me out of the Red Realm."

"What made you think I wouldn't do that now?"

"You didn't seem like the type."

"The technique you used on me belonged to a righteous cultivator, and you just used your old power to save your father."

She had certainly crossed a line at the hotel, but he had seen enough to think they could talk. Someone willing to spend her remaining power to save her family was better company than the fellows who had destroyed his room.

"Then you did come from the ancient forest, and you lied to me."

"Maybe, but you would have to share a few secrets before I answered that."

"What do you want to know?"

"That's more like it, but let's move somewhere else."

Another group of Abyssal beings came through the portal and attacked one of the city's towers. Fragment intercepted their attack before it reached them.

"Before that, I need to deal with this invasion."

The stronger attackers had already been killed, and those still coming through were at the first sub-level of the 13th Rank. Grey could handle them.

He flew toward the portal and stopped beside its edge. Dark mist swept around him as the World-Breaking Source Power kept tearing at the space nearby.

An Abyssal being rushed out and raised its weapon, but Grey caught its head and crushed its world with Axiom Power. Its remains faded while he reached toward the force holding the opening apart.

Grey drew the World-Breaking Source Power away from the portal's edges and gathered it into his palm. Without it forcing the passage open, the damaged space began closing.

Several Abyssal beings rushed toward the shrinking gap, but Grey took the last of the power before they reached him. The portal sealed as he closed his hand.

He spread his consciousness through the streets and found the remaining attackers among the guards and fleeing residents. They were all trying to steal Origin Power.

Speaking of which, this place was filled with a lot of Origin Power. It wasn't just the city, even the forests had it. But the concentration was higher here.

Grey then snapped his fingers, sending a wave of Axiom Power across the city. It passed through the buildings without harming them, then formed luminous cubes around the Abyssal beings and tore through their worlds.

One had been about to strike a guard when its arm disappeared. Another tried to flee above the rooftops, only to break apart before it cleared the nearest building.

The wave passed through the last district and ended the attacks. Grey returned to the balcony while Fragment came back to his side.

"You could directly control World-Breaking Source Power?"

Grey left the question unanswered.

His fellow Earth transmigrators in Helios had used a Chaos artifact to handle that power. The artifact had done the work for them, but Grey had no need for one.

Beings like the Lesser Heavens could control it themselves. Though, he wasn't going to explain all that to her.

"Alright. Now we can find somewhere to talk."

"Wait, I need to speak with my father first. I can't just leave out of nowhere."

"Then I'll find the nearest café that still has a roof."

Lily thought for a moment before nodding. "Alright. I'll meet you there. I Promise."

Grey left her with the others in the mansion and went down to the street. He had done enough work for someone whose room had been destroyed before he could even use it and the worst part was that he couldn't even reach 11th rank yet.

About an hour later, Lily found him outside a café a few streets from the mansion. One side of its sign had fallen off, but the tables were intact.

She had spent the last hour explaining what she could to her father and helping him deal with the attack. The fact that Grey had sealed the portal himself had only given her more questions.

"Alright, I hope we can share what we know and reach an understanding."

"Nuh-uh, that's not how this works."

Grey raised a finger before she could continue.

"You tried to pull information out of my head and erase my memory, so I get to set the rules."

"Fine, what are your rules?"

"First, we tell each other what we know."

"Wasn't that what I just said?"

"Yes, but it had to be me saying it. I was the one who suffered an injustice."

In the end, Lily didn't argue because she knew she was in the wrong.

"I already agreed to that, so could we get on with it?"

Grey spread a layer of power around their table so nobody nearby could hear their conversation.

"Alright, who are you? Some ancient immortal cultivator?"

"Why does that matter? We don't need to discuss our personal lives."

Hearing this, Grey just grinned. "You're the Second Sunbringer, aren't you?"

Lily's expression changed, confirming his guess.

While he had been near the mansion, Grey had found traces of old records within the Information Layer. Most were damaged and would never have appeared in an ordinary search.

Their copies in the city's records had been erased long ago, but Grey had followed the remaining traces and recovered a few pieces.

There had been a damaged image of a woman named Lily Sunbringer, the Second Sunbringer of the Zenith Heaven Faction. The records described an immortal whose power had been enough to reshape a Tier 1 Higher Realm like the Red Realm.

There were differences between the image and Lily, but he had already seen how old her soul was. Once he put the two together, it was not difficult to guess.

"Where did you hear that name?"

Grey ignored her question and asked another.

"That ancient forest had something to do with the First Sunbringer, didn't it?"

"You... can you hear my thoughts?"

Lily genuinely wanted to know, because how else was he finding out all these things about her?

Grey chuckled without answering. Having access to the Information Layer was rather useful at times like this.

Before she could ask anything else, he continued.

"I can tell you where the forest is, but you need to tell me what's inside it."

"You really found it?"

"That depends on whether you're ready to answer."

Grey gave her time to decide. Whatever she wanted from that place had mattered enough for her to search the area and question him with a technique from her previous life.

"The forest contains a True Artifact left by a True Source being."

"A True Source being?"

"The First Sunbringer was our ancestor, and he practiced the Source Law of the Sun."

Grey remembered the traces she had claimed to sense on him, but he let her continue.

"His law carried extreme Yang power, and the Power behind it stood above many others. That power allowed him to dominate an era in Zenith Heaven."

He had expected an old treasure or a sealed inheritance. Something left by a True Source being was a different matter.

"However, he didn't reach that position entirely on his own."

"He had a lover who helped him, and she was a True Source Lion."

"A what now?"

"A True Source Lion."

The True Source World had quite a few races, didn't it? At this rate, he might meet a True Source Human next.

"Go on."

"She was a princess from one of the clans there, and she helped him gain the ability to practice the Source Law of the Sun. She also gave him an artifact that could help him reach the 15th Rank and some other things."

He had only just begun preparing his own 11th Rank, and something that could help with the 15th was sitting inside the forest he had walked out of.

Maybe he was actually blind. He hoped he had not stepped over it while picking flowers.

"Was that the artifact hidden in the forest?"

"Yes, though reaching the 15th Rank wasn't its only use. I don't know everything it could do."

An artifact left by a True Source princess that could help someone reach the 15th Rank was worth finding. Grey now had a very good reason to visit that forest again.

But he felt stupid. How come he didn't find it when he was there? He even swept his consciousness across the forest. Or was he just too low-powered to even sense it?

If that was the case, it would make sense because that artifact was something that would help you with reaching the 15th rank. It was several stages and sub-levels away from him right now.

The 15th Rank was not an easy barrier to cross, and such an artifact was incredibly valuable, to say the least.

If possible, he wanted it for himself too.

'Now it kind of makes sense why there were those tiny herbs with universes in that forest.'

But that aside, what exactly was Lily looking for in that space? It can't be the 15th rank artifact, right?

If it was, why would she reveal it to him so openly? He knew this wasn't a trap. This girl was smart, and as a result, she should also know that he also was smart. She wouldn't make such obvious bait. That can only mean one thing. She wasn't after the artifact but something else in the forest.