Rise of The Anti God

Damien decided to help the Ancestor seeing how he was the kind of man who cared about his own family more rather than the kind of man who would do anything to keep their empire safe.

If the Ancestor was concerned about the safety of the empire and his own, he would have long given up Lily for marriage to any one of the other empires and even rake in some benefits for himself.

Instead, he was ready to sacrifice his own life for Lily just like how a loving grandfather would for their grandchildren.

A few moments ago, Damien mentally conversed with Luna, "You can remove the poison essence from his body, right?"

Luna said in a dismissive tone, "No need to even think about it. I am not going to heal some random old man and deplete my precious soul essence when one could simply heal him with a Supreme Tier Peak Grade Rank 6 Pill. Besides you know even if I simply remove the poison essence, his internal organs have already been seriously damaged and can only be healed with a Supreme Tier Rank 6 Pill."

"Rank 6?? I have to struggle to concoct even Rank 4 Pills. How do you expect me to concoct a Rank 6 Pill? Besides, it's tough to find High-Level Sky Grade herbs in the market."

Damien simply wanted to try his luck and see if Luna would heal the Ancestor, but as expected she didn't even hesitate to say no. But he didn't expect her to talk about a Rank 6 healing pill when she clearly knew he wouldn't be able to concoct them now.

He knew she was talking about the 'Heaven Healing Pill' which is an extremely rare Peak Grade Rank 6 Pill. However, he was aware that it was not even present in the current market since it would instantly get sold and would rarely pop up in the market every three years.

Besides even if he could buy, it wouldn't be a Supreme Tier Pill which is necessary to heal the Ancestor and he would also need to make a small change in the medical formula to accommodate the strange factor of his injuries. Otherwise, it would simply aggravate his injuries.

In other words, he would need to find the 'Angel's Bone Flower' which is infamous for the extreme poison essence it holds.

However, Damien hypothesized that its medical essence could be used to heal any long term sequelae of poisoned injuries and also could act as a replacement for the Peak Level Sky Grade herb that should be originally used as an ingredient to concoct the pill.

But the problem was that there was none in the market and is only located in the deepest regions of the Dark Forest where even most experts don't return alive once they enter those regions.

It was a Peak Level Sky Grade flower that is even tough to find in other empires. Coincidentally, the flower blooms during this time of the year and there would only be a single one.

"Hmph, of course, you can't. I never said you have to concoct them. But there is someone who can do it for a certain price." Luna said in an amused tone.

"What do you want?" Damien wasn't surprised Luna was able to concoct pills and in fact, he suspected it all along since the day he first talked about concocting pills. He knew with her Shard Of Essence she could easily manipulate the medical essences of the herbs and use them to concoct a pill of any rank!

"I want you to obtain the Crimson Berry." Luna said casually.

"That is a Peak Level Sky Grade Fruit with rich spiritual essence. So that's how you plan to compensate for the consumption of your precious soul essence...Do you really have to drive such a hard bargain?" Damien asked wryly.

He knew that the Crimson Berry was also located at the innermost regions of the Dark Forest and was rumored to be located at a place fraught with danger.

He didn't even know if he could survive in those regions. He could only bet on his ethereal arts and wits to make it out of there alive.

"Hmph, every tiny fraction of this goddess' essence is more precious than you can imagine. You can decide if you want to accept my deal or not. Besides, I think you should just give up on healing him since it's not worth risking your life." Luna was hoping that Damien would get discouraged instead of venturing into the Dark Forest in search of these herbs.

But Damien said in a determined tone, "Fine. I will collect both these herbs and somehow make it back."

"Are you dumb?? You...nevermind." Luna sighed seeing how resolute Damien was in his decision and felt that it was a bad idea she even proposed a deal in the first place. She offered the deal only because she didn't want him getting any crazier ideas.

She couldn't understand why he would go so far for a childhood friend. She thought that if she was in Damien's place, she would simply take advantage of Lily's kindness for her own benefit and wouldn't care whether she gets sold off as a political tool or not.

Damien looked at the Ancestor and smiled as he asked, "What if I tell Your Highness that not all hope is lost."

The Ancestor sighed and said, "Look Damien, I know you mean well, but it's fine, there's nothing more that can be done."

"Even if Your Highness hasn't tried taking a Supreme Tier Heaven Healing Pill?" Damien asked.

The Ancestor's eyes flashed, "What...that is not possible. With your soul cultivation, how could you possibly even concoct a Rank 6 Pill?"

Damien's lips curved up as he said, "Why don't Your Highness let me worry about that? You said you were astonished by many things I did. So you can consider this one also as one."

The Ancestor's eyes squinted and inwardly he was dying to know how Damien was able to do these impossible things. But he knew for the sake of Lily he can't make things difficult for Damien. He had already paid a heavy price for his greed once and he for sure was determined not to make that same mistake twice.

Besides he already admired Damien after interacting with him and looked at him in a favorable light.

He sighed and said, "But no matter what you do, remember that your life is more important than anything else. Don't get yourself in dangerous situations or face people you can't handle. I don't want Lily crying again if something happened to her only friend. She already lost her father because of my negligence and I don't want anything happening to you because of me as well. Even in this empire, you can't trust anybody else other than Lily, especially the empress. I hope you know that."

Damien nodded, "Of course, I know that the empress is the one making things tough for Lily. But why don't Your Highness do anything about her?" He asked though he had an idea of the reason.

The Ancestor scoffed, "It's not because I don't want to do anything about her...but because ironically she is the reason we can buy some time for now. Surely just like others, she is waiting for my demise so that she could finally have full control of this empire. But she is a careful one and even persuaded the other empires to keep the tournament after two years when I may not even be alive anymore. If I remove or kill her right now, the empire would only destabilize and weaken further since she has the support of major families. I just don't want things to get any worse."

Damien nodded in understanding as he guessed the reason to be somewhat like that.

Damien said in an earnest tone as he got up, "Your Highness, I shall take my leave now. I don't want to keep Lily waiting. I will be back when I am ready to cure Your Highness."