Chapter 1613: At what cost?

"Talk."

That was all that Lin Fan said when Old Duan finally responded.

After leaving that main hall, Lin Fan didn’t say anything to Old Duan until they were back at the lab.

After all, figuring out everything had made him paranoid that he was being watched. He didn’t want to take the risk of exposing everything, which was why he waited until they were back here before actually asking Old Duan the questions that he had.

Old Duan took his soul form even though it wasn’t necessary for him to take this form.

In a way, it was how he was choosing to repent for his actions.

Though that didn’t matter right now, the only thing that mattered was the answer that he gave.

"It’s not as if there’s anything that I can tell you even if you know. The more that we talk about this, the more danger we’ll be in. It’ll let them know more and more about the situation happening here."

Though he didn’t say it directly, he did indirectly reveal a bit of information.

However, that wasn’t the information that Lin Fan wanted.

"Not that, tell us about the benefits of going there."

Old Duan seemed surprised to hear this, but then it looked like he had to seriously consider this.

After a moment of thought, he finally said, "Right, it doesn’t matter what I tell you about that since you’ve already experienced it. Explaining it to you should be possible now, but..."

"We’ll deal with it when it comes. If you can’t say anything, then just don’t." That was how Lin Fan responded to this.

"Alright." Old Duan didn’t seem to mind how direct Lin Fan was, he even seemed to enjoy it as he did the same thing.

Taking a deep breath as if to compose himself, Old Duan then said, "It’s actually very simple, it’s that your token is now properly registered. Before this, you only had the right to inherit, but never actual qualifications."

"Isn’t that the same?"

"Normally, that would be the case. It’s just that it’s different with the current Dao Sect since it isn’t exactly run by the Dao Sect." He immediately stopped after saying this.

Indirectly, he had given even more information. It was just that it seemed to have crossed a line with how Old Duan immediately stopped talking.

Though his words did once again reveal even more information.

"After they destroyed the Dao Sect, they took everything from them and even forced them into this state." That was the best way to describe what the current Dao Sect was like and why Old Duan said all of this.

"Isn’t it still dangerous to do this?" Lin Fan narrowed his eyes to look at Old Duan when he said this.

He recognized that Old Duan was right about having to do this since this was the only way to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish. But playing by their rules no doubt had a price to it.

He had to wonder if they were able to pay this price.

This time, Old Duan didn’t answer right away.

Instead, he revealed an expression that showed that he had to seriously consider this.

In the end, he slowly shook his head to show that he didn’t know anything about this either. Even though it seemed like he wanted to say something, it didn’t seem like he was able to say anything.

After a moment of silence, he finally said with a sigh, "There is a price to pay for everything."

"A price to pay..." These words lingered in the air for a while after it was said.

But after a while, they couldn’t help revealing bitter smiles.

Everything had seemed much more simple when it was just about exploring these ruins and bringing some benefits back to the Heavenly Demon Sect. But sometimes being able to gain a lot meant that one had to take on a lot of responsibility.

In this case, it seemed like they had taken this pot from the Dao Sect.

Instead of pursuing this matter, Lin Fan looked at Old Duan and said, "Can you swear that you’ll help us?"

He didn’t force Old Duan to swear that he didn’t have any ulterior motives since there was no need for this. The only thing that mattered right now was that they needed someone that would fully cooperate with them.

Old Duan revealed a wry smile hearing this before saying, "It would be dangerous for me to swear such a thing right now."

One might think that he was just saying this to get out of it, but the reality of the matter was that it was the truth.

After all, the thing that he would have made this kind of vow to was the Heavenly Dao. But when the enemy was the upper realm itself, the Heavenly Dao really wasn’t something that one could rely on.

This vow might even implicate them if he were to make it.

So instead of that, Old Duan proved himself with something else.

There was this spec of light that came out of the token and entered Xiao Mu’s hand. After entering Xiao Mu’s hand, there was this layer of light that appeared around it that even seemed to change it.

When one looked closely, they would be able to see that there was a piece that was missing from the token itself.

Xiao Mu couldn’t help knitting its brows when it felt the sensation that came from its hand before looking at Old Duan with a strange look.

Old Duan just said with a smile, "Actions speak louder than words. It was clear that you didn’t trust me, but I was also thinking the same thing. Now that you’ve shown your determination, what kind of elder would I be if I were to be petty like that?"

While Lin Fan and Ye Qing Huan didn’t know exactly what Old Duan did, they did have an idea of what just happened.

The ball of light that went into Xiao Mu’s hand should be a part of Old Duan’s soul which meant that as long as Xiao Mu wanted it, it would be able to completely destroy Old Duan. Or if it was a more conservative portion, then it would have at least been capable of seriously injuring him and making him fall into a deep slumber.

Regardless of how big it was, it was a fact that Old Duan was entrusting Xiao Mu with something this precious.

So in a way, it was considered putting himself in the same boat as them.

"What did you do to my hand?" Xiao Mu asked this question in the end.

Though what Xiao Mu was actually asking was something completely different.

Old Duan knew what Xiao Mu wanted to say, so he said, "I helped the one that created you during the process, so I know a few tricks. It’s the only way to make sure that it’s hidden or else it’ll cause even more trouble."

Xiao Mu didn’t seem to react at first, but then it slowly nodded as it said, "So it seems like you really can be considered my uncle."

Old Duan just smiled without saying anything, but the way that he looked at Xiao Mu remained the same. It seemed from the very beginning, Old Duan had indeed been sincere towards Xiao Mu.

With a sigh, Lin Fan asked, "Alright, where do we go next?"

Since Old Duan was already going this far, it would be too petty for him to say anything else. The only thing that he could do was act the same way that Old Duan had and show his own conviction.

Old Duan floated over to the map and looked over it in silence for a while.

After looking it over like this, he finally said, "There’s a few places that you can go."

Without another word, he pointed out all of the different marks on the map that he recommended. Though after pointing them out, it didn’t seem like he was planning on saying anything else.

It didn’t seem like he was planning on telling them anything about these places.

"It should be different from the main hall, right? There wouldn’t be as much surveillance as in the main hall."

Old Duan nodded in agreement with this, but he also shook his head a bit before saying, "Regardless, it’s better to be safe than sorry."

Narrowing his eyes to look at Lin Fan, he then said, "You should have already built up some resistance, but where did that resistance come from?"

Lin Fan fell into a daze at these words, but he slowly nodded to show his agreement with Old Duan.

What Old Duan was saying was that even if the upper realm only focused on the main hall since that was where the truly dangerous ones that came to this Dao Sect ruins would gather, it wasn’t as if they would completely ignore this place.

The surveillance in the other areas were lax and would only trigger if something taboo was mentioned.

The less that they knew, the less bias that they would have.

It made it less likely that they would think of anything related to the taboo topics in the Dao Sect.

But there was one more thing that Lin Fan did have to ask, "What will be the cost of doing all of this?"

"Even I don’t know that." Old Duan said with a sigh and a shrug before continuing, "I’ve been sealed too long to know anything about these ruins."