Dima let out a breath of relief. The pressure those two exerted on each other was mostly felt by him since they both weren't here physically. For absolutely no reason at all, Dima was the one that got the worst of it.
Wiping the sweat off his shiny forehead, he walked out of the circular room. He walked through a couple of empty hallways and came out to a balcony overlooking a small city of gold and silver.
There was one person already there on the balcony. She was sitting on a sofa comfortably, eating grapes that shone with a purple light. A sweet scent was coming of off each grape as she chewed loudly. She wore a white frilly dress, the exact same one she was wearing at the ball (introduced around ch 405).
"How did it go?" her voice came into Dima's ears before he had even reached the balcony.
He came out and rested his elbows on the railing as warm air passed over his skinny head.
"What do you think? Senior Dai Zhi can't even be in the same room as him. He wants me to act as an intermediary every time," Dima replied helplessly.
The girl giggled innocently.
"Can you blame him? It's not often you see people practicing such outdated traditions in this day and age. Not that Tian Zheng has such a noble cause. It's just his fetish."
Dima turned his head halfway and looked at her suspiciously, "You know what they were talking about?"
Now it was the girl's turn to be surprised. For a couple of seconds her mouth opened wide before she broke out laughing.
"Haha, I forgot you barely spend any time here. Almost everybody knows this, it's not really a secret."
Hesitation was apparent on Dima's face before he finally found the courage to ask.
"Can you tell me?"
The girl laughed again before smiling at him meaningfully, "Of course, like I said, it's not a secret. You know about the Tian Clan right?"
Dima shrugged, "Aren't they just an old clan? Why are they so special?"
The girl threw a few other grapes in her mouth before standing up and going next to Dima. She snapped her fingers and a single massive symbol appeared beneath their feet and created an invisible barrier.
"It's not the Tian clan that's famous, but their secret art," she started explaining.
The sun was about to set in the distance so the sky was dyed in a hue of scarlet red, making the city underneath look almost like a painting.
She looked at Dima in the eyes before continuing, "Only one person from each generation is allowed to cultivate the secret art. It greatly increases the person's talents and aptitude, allowing them to better understand all sorts of energies and even refine laws that would normally be out of reach. But, it's not free."
"This secret art, it was derived from ancient devils and demons. For a person to cultivate it, they have to 'partake' in some truly vile endeavors."
Dima was thoroughly engrossed by now so when the girl paused, he quickly asked, "What endeavors?"
"All kinds. From things like self-mutilation, cannibalism, incest, matricide, neonaticide, to ****, murder, genocide etc etc. They basically have to commit one type of sin each, of every single kind. That's why only one member of each generation is allowed to cultivate it, otherwise, their bloodline would go extinct from doing all those things."
The girl sounded like she was talking about something completely normal which shocked Dima to the core.
"E-Everyone knows about this?! And they allow it??" he asked with a stammer.
The girl nodded.
"Because they don't cross the line. They keep it under control, only killing when necessary for the secret art. Plus the Tian clan is filthy rich and pays off most people and things. Not to mention when cultivated to the middle stage, the secret art truly starts to shine and bestows on the cultivator a power that is, for the lack of a better word, earth-shattering. They are strong beyond belief and not easy to kill either with their many life-preserving methods."
"So most families look the other way. They would have to pay too big a price to eradicate them completely, leaving even a single member of their family alive would be too dangerous."
Dima was left speechless by her explanation.
"No wonder..." he murmured upon remembering Dai Zhi's expression.
The girl waved her dainty little hand and patted Dima's bald head.
"Forget about him. Who's going to go rescue the newcomers?"
Dima snapped out of his daze and pushed her hand away which was 'molesting' his scalp.
"Senior Brother Dai Zhi will go himself. Princess Ceni is one of the participants that was taken so he wants to go rescue her himself."
The girl couldn't help chortle at the idea.
"Yeah, he'll "rescue" her alright, hahaha!"
Dima frowned, "What?"
The girl shook her head and turned away, trying to hold in the laughter.
"Nothing, just go with him. We can't have the little princess just disappearing like this. Go and keep an eye on Dai Zhi.. He won't do anything with you there."