However, could she really blame him? With her cultivation, how could she not see through the despicable means Lilith was using?

This also confirmed something else for Lilith. Had Dyon had a true purpose here, would he really risk it just for the sake of short-sighted revenge? The fact he was willing to kill Lilith meant that he truly didn't have some higher purpose here.

But, this also confused Evangeline at the same time. She had heard Dyon promise to save the poor girl with soul talent. Why did he hold back then but not with Lilith?

Truth be told, it wasn't anything so complicated. Dyon didn't save the young lady because he knew it wasn't just her life on the line. He had a sneaking suspicion that there were many in her situation, so saving her alone would be short sighted.

However, that opportunity to kill Lilith was definitely his best. He knew that she was powerful, so attacking her while her soul was being torn apart would have been far easier. In the future, not only would she be on guard against his power, she herself would also be more powerful.

Even if he ended up being chased my the entire 98th quadrant because of it, Dyon was confident in his ability to hide and gather clues. Of course, this would be much harder without the status of a core disciple, but it would be worth it.

In the end, though, Evangeline couldn't see through Dyon. It was rare for people to care like he did, but it was even rarer for people who did care to know when to set aside their morality to fight for themselves. This latter issue was the problem Evangeline, herself, faced. However, for the sake of not becoming the same woman she was in her past, she chose to endure even when she shouldn't.

Evangeline sighed. She truly envied Dyon's demeanor.

"Since you're a member of the Jafari family, you should know a little bit about the underworking of this quadrant. Quite simply put, the clans of those young women you saw today are responsible for the state our 98th quadrant is in, but it's also the reason the current situation is sustained.

"As for why those clans chose to send their youths here, I have no idea. What I do know is that they don't plan on staying here for long. I'm sure you're clever enough to understand what that means."

Dyon pondered for only a moment before grasping the crux of the situation.

For one, Lilith took over the position of key wielder. Obviously, this meant that what the younger generation was doing here was already clear and didn't need to be explained further.

What was odd was the fact they would still be here instead of directly heading to the Epistemic Tower. Why risk being found out by experts from other quadrants? Obviously, they had some loose ends to tie here before they left, and whatever those loose ends were, was related to exactly what Dyon wanted to accomplish here.

"Seems like you understand." Evangeline continued. "Just don't do anything stupid. And don't waste my precious tea."

Standing up, Evangeline tidied the wrinkles in her golden dress before swaying her hips to walk into the distance.

"Oh." Evangeline's voice came from afar. "Don't think of taking advantage of this old lady, or else I'll cut it off."

Dyon silently chuckled to himself. He wasn't thinking of crossing those boundaries with this mature beauty, but the fact she said it like this made it feel like she was inviting him to do so.

Lightly sipping the refreshing cup of tea, Dyon lazily reclined. Over the past few months, he hadn't done much else than study the finer points of his array alchemy and whatever little information he had on runic vein theory.

He didn't cultivate at all, not because he couldn't do so, but rather because something inside of him was telling him that it wasn't appropriate to do so.

It was a truly odd feeling. Ever since he completed the second trial, Dyon had felt a fit of cognitive dissonance that was truly irritating him.

Maybe the weirdest part was that his dao heart was still incomparably firm. The disconnect he was feeling had nothing to do with what path he should take, but rather a hodgepodge of intents pulling him in different directions.

That was what was confusing Dyon. His path was the same: to reach the pinnacle of everything. However, his mind kept confusing exactly how that journey should be undertaken.

Was the path to absolute domination reliant on understanding of the laws of the universe? In that case, Dyon should focus his mind, heart and soul on array alchemy, magic and runic vein theory.

However, what if that was the wrong path? What if his path was focusing on his combat prowess? If that was the case, his entire focus should be on mastering techniques and improving his energy and body cultivation.

And what if that path was wrong too? What if his purpose in this life was to reveal the secrets of the soul? What if he was birthed with the soul kernel for a reason and the time he wasted on anything not soul related was another day the cosmos was left in the dark?

To this day, Dyon still didn't understand why he was the one to break the seal placed on his people. By all rights, a mere mortal shouldn't have had any impact whatsoever on a seal placed down by a transcendent being. And although the entity pretended to not care about this, and it was quite true that it had little affect on his plans, Dyon couldn't help but believe he, too, was confused.

In the end, Dyon believed that following the path of soul cultivation probably had the most support in terms of which path he should take. However, something was still telling him that the answer wasn't so simple.

Of course, Dyon had also thought about simply following all of these paths. After all, with his intelligence, he didn't doubt that he, with the lifespan he had gained from his cultivation, in addition to the extra lifespan Luna had given him without his knowledge, would be able to have great achievements in them all. The problem was that he couldn't help but lament that 'what if'...

Dyon's father had always been a person who placed discipline above all else. When he made a decision, he stuck to it. In fact, if Dyon's father knew he had multiple wives, he would probably get scolded to death. And maybe for good reason, too.

If it was his father making the decision, he would likely insist on choosing a single path. After all, with Dyon's potential, just what kind of result would there be if he truly focused on a single thing?

However, Dyon wasn't his father. Just like how he followed his gut when it came to his wives, he felt that choosing a single path might not correct for him.

Dyon hadn't been in the martial world for long, but he did understand that this kind of indecision when it came to cultivation was bad. Even if he was firmly set of the idea of standing atop the world, if he chose wrong like Patia-Neva did, the results could be disastrous.

So, Dyon decided to consolidate his knowledge and cultivation instead. His body had reached the celestial realm far too quickly and he could tell it still needed time to adapt. Luckily, he had spent 10 years in the third trial which helped tremendously with his consolidation, but the reason he still needed more time was mostly because of the influx of Primordial Energy.

Although Dyon's body had been tempered with Primordial Energy, it was still lacking compared to someone born and raised in the era, for obvious reasons. Because of this, Dyon wanted to first allow his body to reach that level before he continued to cultivate. In this way, his foundation would be incomparably solid.

There was something else as well. Dyon wanted to wait for his energy cultivation to unseal so he could re-temper his meridians with this Primordial Energy as well. He had a hunch that this would help his body and meridians fuse better, allowing him to jump over the hurdle placed before him by the fact these meridians weren't originally his own.

Dyon sighed. He had so many things he wanted to do, but in the end, more time than he was willing to give was necessary for them all.

'Old Lizard, I think it's about time you tell me what's going on.'