"You are a Valiant?" asked the Grand Elder Rowan after staring at him in silence for a while, making Max thoroughly uncomfortable.
"Huh?" Max was caught off guard and almost asked what was a Valiant when his eyes flashed and he remembered his motherâs family name was the Valiant.
âDonât tell me he didnât notice the Devil Blood, and my bloodline energy or didnât pry into my dantian?â He thought, surprised.
Because if he had, it didnât make sense that he asked whether he was Valiant instead questioning him about them.
Despite the questions in his heart, he answered, "No, Grand Elder, Iâm not a Valiant, my mother was."
"I see." Grand Elder Rowan nodded in understanding. Then, he said, "The Supreme Elder of the Valiant family was my friend and you looked similar to him with your hair, eyes and bearing, so I thought you were one of the Valiant familyâs survivors."
"Hm." Max didnât comment on it, not in mood to talk about the Valiant familyâs affairs at the moment.
Grand Elder Rowan could see it and his expression became serious.
"I donât care whether you
were
possessed or not. I just want to know... Can you
still
become possessed again or not? Tell me the truth. On the account that you are my late friendâs descendant, even if you are at risk of becoming possessed again, Iâll show you a path to survival."
"I wonât become possessed ever again, Grand Elder. You can be rest assured." Max calmly answered.
He didnât know whether he really cared about him because he was his friendâs descendant or not because he didnât dare use his bloodline energy. And even if he could, he wouldnât have been able to discern his emotion given the wide gulf between them.
Therefore, he decided to be honest.
"So..." Grand Elder looked him in the eyes as he asked, "...You are saying you can control the Devil Blood in your heart?"
âHe did notice, huh.â thought Max before nodding, "Yes, itâs under control."
Before the Grand Elder could say anything more, he added, "Just so you know, it wasnât the Devil Blood that possessed me."
"Oh?" Grand Elderâs eyes narrowed, "What was it?"
Max leaned back in the chair and began, "It was a finger-thin black snake. I was completely exhausted after fighting the hordes of mutated beasts for three days straight and had ended the last battle in the underground cavern when it suddenly appeared and bit my ankle. It poured a lot of devil energy inside me which took control of me when I was passed out."
"A black snake?" The Grand Elderâs eyes narrowed.
In his long life, he had read about and heard of several cases where people encountered the devil energy and became possessed.
While most had lost their minds completely, a few had managed to retain enough sanity to describe how they were possessed before they lost their minds completely.
Some encountered some devil artifacts, devil blood and preserved devil energy. But not one of them was possessed by a living creature.
However, it wasnât difficult to believe because even the possessed could inject the people with devil energy who they came into contact with. Though it rarely resulted into complete possession because the devil energy would have become diluted when it spread to others.
"Yes." Max nodded.
The Grand Elder fell silent, his brows furrowed slightly.
Max watched him in silence, not in a rush to say anything else.
After a while, Grand Elder Rowan said, "Iâll stimulate the Devil Blood in your heart. If you can suppress it, Iâll consider you stable and will allow you to join the Beast Emperor Hall as an Inner Hall disciple. Do you accept?"
Maxâs eyes flickered when he heard this.
"Yes. I accept it, Grand Elder." he said before he put on a grateful look on his face and said, "I have to admit, the Elders of the Beast Emperor Hall are good people."
"Oh? How so?" Grand Elder Rowan asked as he raised the index finger of his right hand, concentrating a hint of his aura on the tip.
Max watched him slowly bring his finger toward his chest and said, "The Elder earlier, in the minor realm, he asked for my permission before he used his Divine Sense on me, but not to pry in my cultivation secrets, he didnât try to scan my dantian.
And you, Grand Elder, while you didnât ask for my permission which is understandable, you didnât pry into my dantian either. If it was someone else, they would have done it, especially if they were as strong as you, making it impossible for me to detect them."
Grand Elder Rowan was about to press his finger on his chest, right above his heart when he heard this and paused.
"How do you know I did not try to scan your dantian?" He asked, a strange look in his eyes.
Max bit his tongue, having already decided to take the risk, and said, "Because if you had, you would have found some devil energy in there."
Without a pause, he quickly and calmly added, "Please donât worry, I deliberately put it there so others wouldnât be able to sense it which would prevent some potential misunderstandings. With the Devil Blood and my Thunder Bloodline, I can easily expel it whenever I want to. The only reason I havenât done so already is because I want to use it to temper my foundation."
Grand Elder stared at him for a moment before...
Tap!
He pushed his finger forward and tapped his chest.
Argh!
Immediately, Max felt as if his heart was being squeezed and inflated to the limits at the same time, which made him let out a pained grunt.
Ignoring the pain, Max focused inside his heart and felt an invisible and formless energyâHis auraâcovered the drop of Devil Blood.
Sizzle!
Immediately, the Devil Blood began to sizzle as if it was being burned.
The next moment...
BOOM!
A large amount of devil energy burst out of it and permeated every corner of his heart.
âIt had stored
so much
energy?â Maxâs brows furrowed.
Right then, Grand Elderâs voice sounded in his ears.
[You can begin now.]