There were a lot of people when he arrived. Some of them he knew. He was a little surprised to see that Elder Huan and Elder Malric were there. They both nodded toward him when he approached. They were standing outside another room along with the other elders.

Cassandra dragged him into the room before he could go and talk with them. Upon entering the room, he immediately spotted Grand Elder Koenn. The stern older man was standing toward the front, it looked like he was directing the meeting. There were two more people sitting next to him. One of them, Julius, recognized. It was Grand Elder Rhynus and a woman whom he presumed was Grand Elder Avis.

The woman was… unique. She was very tall and slim. But there was a weird sense of danger and warmth, as if both were fighting for dominance. Her face was soft, but her eyes were cold as ice. And they were currently staring at Julius as if he had just slaughtered her puppy.

He pointedly avoided her gaze and waved at Grand Elder Koenn. The man didn’t wave back, but he gave a shallow nod in response. Grand Elder Rhynus seemed like it was a chore to be here; his legs were propped up on another chair.

Cassandra had him sit next to her toward the head of the table. The chair at the very head of the table was empty. Perhaps this was where the sect leader would sit if he were attending this meeting.

“Is this all for me?” he asked in a hushed whisper to Cassandra.

“Yep, the elders outside are waiting until we finish up this little meeting. But it was decided to talk about your future and what to do with you first.”

“I’m flattered,” he muttered.

She nudged him with a small laugh and looked over at Grand Elder Koenn, who was waiting to start the meeting.

“Are we all good?”

“Almost, we’ll give it a few more minutes.”

There was something quite uncomfortable about being in a room with four Tier 6s. These were some of the strongest people on the continent. Any one of them would be enough to destroy a small city on their own. But here they were, like they were meeting for Sunday brunch.

After a couple more minutes, Grand Elder Koenn finally seemed satisfied after checking his communication device and activating some kind of enchantment. A thrum of mana charged the air.

“Okay, let’s get started. Firstly, I wanted to quickly discuss the events that led up to the disaster in the Scorched Wastelands.”

“Have we figured out why this happened?” Grand Elder Rhynus asked.

“Yes, we have figured out a few things. The first and most alarming thing we found was that—”

“Hold on. Why are we discussing this? I was told that we were going to talk about him?” Grand Elder Avis asked, looking over at Julius.

“Because it’s important—”

“No, let’s figure it out now, especially before we discuss sensitive information in the presence of someone who hasn’t even sworn loyalty to our sect. We were supposed to talk about him, not have him join in on the meeting,” she said firmly, with a pointed look at Julius.

Cassandra scoffed. “I don’t know why you are still on this Avis. I assure you, Julius isn’t a threat to the sect. In fact, he was one of the major reasons there weren’t more casualties. He was also the one who helped find the mysterious gorge in the first place. By questioning him, you question my allegiance to the sect.”

“I’m questioning your sanity,” the other woman snapped back. “This random boy comes back with you, and you expect us to treat him like a core disciple or another elder. You even gave him permission to live at the Sunfire Pavilion. A place that is specifically meant for the vice sect leader.”

“Yes, and it's also within my purview to use it however I wish to.”

“Okay, that’s fine. But don’t expect us to simply allow such a gross infringement on our traditions and on our sect as a whole. We have no idea where he’s from, and almost everything I’ve heard about him depicts him as a cruel teacher and a person who enjoys bullying those weaker than him.”

“Hey, I strongly disagree with that last part,” Julius objected. He couldn’t really argue about the cruel teacher part. He’d been trying to mimic Edwin’s style after all.

“Be quiet. I am not speaking to you,” she said with a dark stare, pressing her aura on him. And Julius noticed that Cassandra didn’t make any moves to protect him from her aura. In fact, nobody did.

Thankfully, it wasn’t pressing down on him with that much force, and he was able to wiggle out of it. However, doing this much seemed to surprise the woman, and she cranked up the pressure. He grunted but held on, not letting her crush him.

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She stared at him coldly, but she seemed to be more disgruntled than anything else and abruptly let him go, turning to her colleagues.

“See? This is exactly what concerns me. How is he able to withstand my aura while still a Tier 4? It’s clear as day that someone powerful trained him, someone very skilled in aura resilience and control. He isn’t some random orphan you found off the street.”

“You really think he’s some spy from another sect?” Grand Elder Koenn asked with a flat look.

“It would certainly explain the defenses around his mind and his soul. The only people I have seen with that level of protection are high-level scions or people who were trained for infiltration.” 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

“Wait, when did you test the defenses in my mind?” Julius asked, genuinely curious.

“So you don’t deny it?”

He rolled his eyes and let his aura open up, essentially letting them feel if he was being trustworthy for themselves.

“I have a friend who is extremely talented in mind magic. She taught me some things, and my willpower has always been stronger than others my age, so that helps a lot,” he explained.

“Anyone who has been trained in infiltration would probably have a skill that allows them to manipulate their aura to help them lie.”

Julius laughed. “You guys are Tier 6. If not a single one of you managed to detect something, then that’s a whole other issue.”

This seemed to only further annoy the tall woman, but he saw Grand Elder Koenn look at him with a strange expression.

Julius held up his hands. “Look, I get why you are mistrustful of me. And I don’t blame you. You’re correct. I have been trained by someone else before, but that doesn’t make me an enemy or a spy from another sect. I only came to the Burning Sun Sect because Cassandra asked me to. If this is going to become such a big issue, then I will gladly leave.”

“Let’s not be rash. We are having this meeting to settle things before it comes to that.”

“If you want to leave, then you will have no arguments from me,” Grand Elder Avis stated bluntly.

“Just give it a break, Avis. We are about to go to war with the top three sects; we are going to need all of the talent we can spare. I don’t see why you are so hung up on this. I have already aggressively looked into it; he had nothing to do with the Heavenly Crane Sect or the Inferno Array Sect,” Grand Elder Rhynus said with a roll of his eyes, his legs still propped up on the chair.

“Wait, what about the Inferno Array Sect?” Julius asked, confused by that last part.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we figured out the elder they sent was caught sending coded messages to the Golden Cauldron Sect. We suspect they may have something to do with the recent event,” Cassandra explained to him casually.

“Cassandra,” Grand Elder Koenn rebuked.

“It was Rhynus who brought it up first. I was just clarifying.”

Grand Elder Koenn gripped his nose. “That’s not what I mean.” The man paused for a brief moment. “Look, I asked for this meeting because I had a few plans I wanted to discuss with you all. And one of them involves Julius,” he said the last part with a stern look at Avis.

“What kind of plan?” Cassandra asked hesitantly.

“Wait, we’re seriously just going to allow him to hear this? Why not have him leave, and we can discuss it ourselves?” Avis asked.

“Because it will only work if he agrees to do it, so I think he deserves to hear it out.”

“I still think it's a bad idea.”

“Look, how about this? If I so much as breathe a word about what I hear in here, I give you full permission to lop my head off, okay?” Julius said calmly, making sure to maintain eye contact with her.

Funnily enough, this seemed to work, and she nodded her head. “Fine,” she said, and it almost looked like she was already imagining doing that.

Grand Elder Koenn seemed to be at the limit of his patience and looked relieved that that was settled.

“What I was saying is that Julius’s existence offers us a very unique opportunity.”

“What kind of opportunity?” Grand Elder Rhynus asked.

“Well, as Cassandra helpfully explained already, the Inferno Array Sect, or at least some of their elders, have betrayed us and are working for the Golden Cauldron Sect. They are probably being offered something for their help, but that’s not good for us either way. Their betrayal does not bode well; they know too much about our own arrays, which causes many issues in itself. Not to mention how many other sects are against us.”

“So where does the kid come in?”

“Well, he’s an unknown. Like Avis pointed out, he’s not formally a part of the sect, and thus, he has certain freedoms that other disciples don’t have.”

“And that matters, why?”

“Because I want to ask him to spy for us.”

Julius snapped his head toward him. “You want me to do what?”

“I want you to help us figure out what the top three sects are planning to do.” The stern older man looked deadly serious, too.

Julius raised a finger. “I see a few major issues with that. For one, I’m not a spy.”

“Oh? You certainly have all the abilities and items a spy would need.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your impressive control of your aura and your ability to hide your true intentions. Don’t think you can fool me, if you truly wanted to hide your intentions behind your aura, I don’t think I would be able to detect what’s a lie or not without paying close attention.”

Avis appeared ready to say something, but Koenn gave her a dark look.

“It’s not that impressive,” Julius muttered.

“Impressive enough for a Tier 4.”

“Okay, so I have good aura control, I don’t think that makes me a prime candidate for a spy.”

“Perhaps, but with that necklace around your neck, it will make it a lot easier.” Grand Elder Koenn stated bluntly.

Julius opened his mouth, but nothing came out. And he stayed there frozen for a few moments until he could find the words. How'd he know about that?