Chapter 696: Binding Vow With Lily

"Alright, but you aren't really here for the artifact. I know that much." Grey said. "What else are you looking for?"

Lily had hoped the artifact would be enough to satisfy him, but he had gone straight to the part she wanted to keep to herself. In the end, she couldn't lie either.

"It's his inheritance, which he left behind for the future of Sunbringers."

"Oh, that makes sense."

The artifact could help her grow stronger, but an inheritance from the First Sunbringer would offer more than power alone. Grey could understand why she had gone through so much trouble to find it.

"Okay, I'll take you there after you swear an oath to help me three times."

"Hell no, why would I agree to that?"

"Because you tried to take information from me and still kept hiding things until I figured them out myself."

Lily could not deny that, but three favors were a different matter. She knew almost nothing about him or what he might ask her to do.

"What sort of help do you want?"

"That depends on what I need."

"I'm not selling my body."

Grey rolled his eyes at her answer.

"Calm down, girl. I don't want you."

Lily had been prepared to refuse some shameless demand, but his quick answer left her unsure what to say. A faint blush appeared before she managed to reply.

"If you dare make advances on me, I'll kill you."

"So are you going to agree or not?"

Three favors seemed like too much just to be shown a location. Unfortunately, she had searched for the forest herself and still failed to find its entrance.

She needed that inheritance to recover what she had lost and return to Zenith Heaven as soon as possible.

Lily also practiced the True Source Law of the Sun, but she had never reached the heights she wanted with it. The First Sunbringer's insight might help her move past the limits of her previous life.

Giving up now would be foolish.

"Fine, I accept."

"Then let's make it binding."

Grey started the vow himself and made its terms clear before letting her join. He remembered what had happened when he first met Jasmine on Earth and had no interest in repeating that experience.

Whatever Lily knew about vows from her previous life, he would not leave the whole thing in her hands.

"I swear to bring you into the ancient forest we discussed."

Lily added her part once his promise was set.

"After you bring me there, I swear to help you three times. I also swear not to harm you or the people around you."

The vow took hold between them, and Grey checked that both promises had been included properly.

With this, he can make her work for him and help him reach Zenith Heaven fast. That Inheritance must contain that Sunbringer's power too. That's also why he told her to help him.

Once he was satisfied, he removed the barrier around their table and stood.

"Alright, come with me."

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now."

Lily had expected him to delay or add another condition, but she was not about to complain when he was finally willing to take her.

"I need to tell my father first, then I'll meet you outside the city."

Grey gave her a place to meet him and left while she returned to the mansion. The guards were still clearing the damage from the attack, though several routes out of the city had reopened.

He reached their meeting place before Lily and checked the direction of the mountain.

It had not been long since he left that forest. Now he was returning with someone who claimed there was an inheritance inside that he had somehow missed.

Hopefully, finding it would be easier than getting a straight answer out of her.

Lily arrived after speaking with her father, and Grey led her toward the mountain without another delay. They passed over the forest where they had first met and continued toward the cave above it.

They soon landed near the cave entrance, where the passage opened deep into the mountain.

"We need to travel farther in, and it's a pretty long way."

"That's fine, lead the way."

Grey flew into the cave with Lily following beside him. The passage soon blocked the light from outside, leaving only the faint glow of their energy along the walls.

For a while, Lily stayed focused on where they were going. Then her thoughts returned to the question she had been unable to answer since meeting him.

"Hey, how old are you?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"You know my age, so asking yours seems fair."

"Don't you know it's rude to ask a young person their age?"

"What are you, a girl?"

Grey laughed at her words and followed the next bend in the passage. Lily was already starting to understand how he worked, which made dealing with him no less annoying.

He had learned her age on his own, so he would make her work for an answer she had not freely given him.

"Well, I'll be kind and tell you. I'm eighteen this year."

Lily immediately thought he was joking. She gave him a speechless look as if telling "who would believe such lie".

He had fought 13th Rank beings and sealed an Abyssal portal by directly controlling World-Breaking Source Power. Eighteen years would barely count as the start of a life here.

"Eighteen? Could you at least tell a believable lie?"

"Hey, don't call me a liar unless you want a beating."

"You would beat up a woman?"

"Of course I will if you are my enemy and why are you bringing men and women into this? We're higher-dimensional beings, have some shame."

Lily clicked her tongue and kept flying.

"I still don't believe you, and you're probably older than me."

Grey had expected some doubt, but she seemed determined to add several billion years to his age. Rather than argue for the rest of the trip, he loosened the Nexus Energy covering his Source just enough for her to check.

"Go on, check for yourself."

Lily examined the part he had revealed and found none of the signs she expected from an old being hiding in a young form. His age matched what he had told her.

"You really are eighteen?"

"That's what I said."

"And you already have the power of the 13th Rank?"

Grey covered his Source again while Lily tried to make sense of it.

Even if his path was unusual, he had only lived for eighteen years. She had known talented people in her previous life, but this was a bit much.

"You're a monster."

"Thanks, now keep your mouth shut and follow me."

"Hey, I'm still your senior."

"Okay, and?"

Lily decided that continuing the conversation would only annoy her more. She followed him through the passage and focused on the reason she had come.

They soon reached the chamber where Grey had fought the worm.

The creature was still there, but it pulled its head away from the passage as soon as he approached. Grey passed without bothering it, and Lily followed him toward the sealed entrance.

A short distance later, he stopped before a rough stone wall.

"We're here."

Lily checked the wall and the space around it, but she found no entrance. The passage ended here without any clear sign of an array.

"There's nothing here."

"Think again."

Grey placed his hand near the wall and sent a small amount of Axiom Power through the hidden inscription lines. Light spread across the stone and revealed the formation beneath it.

Grey soon begin manipulating the array, creating a narrow gap without damaging the rest of the formation. Trees appeared on the other side as air from the forest flowed into the passage.

"You opened this before?"

"How else do you think I got out?"

Grey stepped through and waited for her to follow. Once Lily entered, he withdrew his power and let the gap close behind them.

The cave disappeared, leaving the two of them among the trees.

Lily immediately felt the difference in the surrounding power. As her own law responded, she felt a faint pull from deeper inside the forest.

"Did you find something?" Grey asked.

"I feel like something is calling to me."

"Then it might be the inheritance, can you tell where it is?"

"Yes, this way."

Lily took the lead between the trees, following the feeling while Grey stayed beside her. He had not noticed anything like it during his first visit, so it might have been a response to her law.

That would explain why he had wandered through the place without finding the inheritance. He had begun to worry that he really had been too busy picking flowers.

The pull grew clearer as they went deeper into the forest. Lily changed direction whenever it shifted, taking them away from the route Grey had followed before.

They passed several large roots and entered a clearing with no trees at its center. Lily stopped near the middle and checked the pull again.

"This is where the connection ends."

Grey examined the ground beneath them, but there was no building or entrance. Nothing nearby explained why the call had led her here.

Still, the forest's outer entrance had looked like an ordinary wall too.

"Let me take a look."

But just as he said that, he felt something moving within his Lesser Heaven Space. Looking closely he realized that it was the Chaos Source Codex.

'Oh? Is it finally about to awaken?'