Nexus Ascension: My Comprehension Defies the Heaven

Chapter 692: Interrogation And Surprise Attack

Lily returned to the Sunbringer City Lordʼs mansion and went directly to meet her father, the Overseer of Sunbringer City and had a long chat.

Their conversation soon turned toward her recent hunt.

Lily explained that the hunt had gone relatively well at first. They had managed to kill several powerful beasts, but near the end, they encountered a Golden Vajra Beast that was far stronger than expected. She had nearly been injured when someone suddenly appeared and saved them.

The Overseer raised an eyebrow.

”Someone strong enough to save your group? Interesting. How strong was he?”

”Iʼm not sure,” Lily replied. ”But he destroyed the Golden Vajra Beast effortlessly.”

The Overseer gave a thoughtful nod.

”How old is he?”

”He looks younger than me.”

That didnʼt surprise him much. At their level, appearance was hardly a reliable way to judge someoneʼs true age.

After thinking for a moment, the Overseer smiled.

”Bring him here. Anyone who saved my daughter deserves a proper feast.”

”Iʼll go get him.”

”Good.”

Lily left the mansion shortly afterward.

The moment she returned to the others, the boys from before immediately approached her.

”Princess, what did you tell the Overseer?”

Lily glanced at them coldly.

”Thatʼs none of your concern.”

They immediately fell silent.

Lilyʼs expression became even colder as she looked across the group.

”Iʼve already warned all of you before. Donʼt interfere with my affairs unless I ask you to.”

”Weʼre sorry, Princess.”

Lily ignored them and left.

Her destination was Greyʼs residence.

At the same time, Grey was completely absorbed in researching the evolutionary system of this world.

Through the Information Layer, he continuously gathered knowledge concerning the 11th Rank, comparing thousands of cultivation techniques, records, experiences, and theories.

He finally understood what separated the 10th and 11th Ranks.

The 10th Rank focused on creating an Inner Universe.

The problem was that an Inner Universe was incredibly vast but comparatively loose. Its laws, energy, matter, and spatial structure existed across an enormous internal expanse.

Advancing into the 11th Rank required changing that.

One had to condense the entire Inner Universe.

The 11th Rank contained twelve stages, with each stage representing another level of condensation.

Grey found the process strangely similar to folding a piece of paper.

At the First Stage, the cultivator had to compress and ”fold” their Inner Universe once, forcing the same amount of powers, matter, energy, and spatial structure into a vastly denser state.

At the Second Stage, they had to fold that already-condensed world again.

This process was repeated twelve times.

Each successful condensation caused the density and quality of the Inner World to increase tremendously, which was why the difference between individual stages of the 11th Rank could become enormous.

However, every condensation was substantially harder than the previous one.

It wasnʼt simply a matter of possessing enough energy.

The evolver had to maintain the purity, stability, and structural integrity of the entire world while compressing it. A single mistake could introduce flaws into the worldʼs foundation, permanently lowering its quality or even making future condensation impossible.

This was why many cultivators practiced forging before seriously advancing through the 11th Rank.

Forging taught them how to refine impurities, control density, preserve structural integrity, and improve the quality of materials under extreme pressure.

The principles were surprisingly similar.

Except instead of forging a weapon, an 11th Rank cultivator was essentially forging their own world.

Furthermore, every additional condensation increased the worldʼs density so drastically that ordinary methods eventually stopped working. Specialized techniques were required for the later stages, and those techniques were among the most valuable inheritances of powerful factions.

Fortunately, Grey didnʼt lack references.

Through the Information Layer, he had already collected an enormous amount of information regarding different 11th Rank cultivation methods.

What bothered him was something else entirely.

The 10th Rank.

Grey frowned as he examined the information before him.

Something didnʼt make sense.

According to everything he had previously understood, reaching the 10th Rank required developing a unique interpretation of oneʼs Dao or Power and using that understanding to establish an Inner Universe.

It wasnʼt supposed to be an easy realm.

Yet in this world, the 10th Rank was the absolute bottom.

Even children were born at the 10th Rank.

Grey tapped his fingers against the table.

”How can someone be born with a unique interpretation of a Dao?”

That was the contradiction.

Perhaps the people of this world possessed something fundamentally different from cultivators of the lower realms, or perhaps what they called the 10th Rank wasnʼt achieved through the same process at all.

Either way, Grey needed to investigate it properly.

Just as he began digging deeper into the Information Layer, he sensed someone approaching.

Lily.

Grey temporarily stopped his research and allowed her inside.

Lily entered and looked at him.

”I spoke with my father.”

”He wants to hold a feast for you.”

”No thanks. Iʼm good.” Grey replied as fast as possible.

”You saved my life. At least let us properly thank you.”

Grey wanted to refuse again, but Lily continued insisting.

Eventually, he gave in.

”Fine. Iʼll go.”

”Good.”

However, Lily didnʼt immediately leave.

She stood there for several seconds with hesitation visible in her eyes.

Grey noticed it.

”What?”

Lily remained silent.

Then something changed.

The atmosphere around her became completely different.

Her eyes flickered with an indescribable light, and an invisible force instantly descended upon Greyʼs consciousness.

Grey froze.

The attack had directly targeted his mind.

Yet the moment it entered his consciousness, it disappeared into the depths of his consciousness without accomplishing anything.

Greyʼs expression nearly changed.

Not because she had attacked him.

But because he had sensed the level of power contained within those eyes.

ʼWhat the fuck?ʼ

That power definitely exceeded the 13th Rank.

His comprehension immediately analyzed the technique and allowed him to understand its purpose.

It wasnʼt true hypnosis.

It was closer to a truth-compulsion technique. The targetʼs consciousness would be suppressed just enough to prevent them from deliberately lying.

Grey immediately stopped resisting outwardly and allowed his eyes to become slightly unfocused.

Lily stared directly into them.

”Were you inside a separate space hidden within that forest?”

”No.”

Grey answered without hesitation.

The light within Lilyʼs eyes weakened slightly.

Grey tilted his head as though confused.

”Why do you ask?”

Lily carefully observed him.

”Legends say an ancient forest was sealed somewhere around the area where you appeared.”

Greyʼs thoughts immediately accelerated.

Ancient forest?

Sealed space?

”And when you first appeared,” Lily continued, ”you carried traces of the first Sunbringerʼs presence.”

Grey became even more confused.

He genuinely had no idea what she was talking about.

”I donʼt know anything about that.”

Lily stared at him for several more seconds.

A faint trace of disappointment appeared in her eyes.

”Forget it.”

Her eyes changed again.

Another invisible force entered Greyʼs consciousness.

This one was different.

It was Memory erasure.

Grey immediately understood what she was attempting and played along. His eyes went blank for a moment as though the previous conversation was being erased from his mind.

Lily silently waved her hand.

A piece of paper appeared on the table containing the location of the Sunbringer City Lordʼs mansion along with a way to contact her.

Then she left.

Grey remained motionless for several seconds.

His blank expression soon disappeared and was replaced by a frown.

”That woman...”

During the interrogation, Grey hadnʼt simply allowed Lily to examine him.

He had examined her as well.

More specifically, he had looked at her soul.

The result had been absurd.

Her physical age and soul age were completely different.

Her soul had existed for approximately ten billion years and he also understood she was an immortal cultivator.

Grey leaned back in his chair.

”Sheʼs definitely a reincarnated being.”

That explained far too much.

Her knowledge of the sealed forest.

And most importantly, the terrifying power hidden within those eyes.

However, Grey didnʼt sense any genuine killing intent from her. If anything, Lily seemed primarily interested in discovering whether he had some connection to that ancient forest.

Grey looked toward the door.

”No information about an ancient forest exists in the Information Layer.”

That was even stranger.

Was the information deliberately hidden?

Or was Lily one of the only people who still knew about it?

Another possibility entered his mind.

”Is that why she deliberately chose that forest for her training?”

Perhaps Lily hadnʼt gone there simply because it happened to be near Sunbringer City.

She had specifically chosen that location because she was searching for something.

If that were true, then Grey suspected something else as well.

Even if he hadnʼt interfered with the Golden Vajra Beast, Lily probably wouldnʼt have died.

Someone capable of releasing power beyond the 13th Rank couldnʼt possibly lack a hidden method of protecting herself.

And the entire gratitude thing for saving her was just to interrogate him.

He understood that her technique only worked on people that didnʼt see her in a bad light. It seems like sheʼs a righteous cultivator.

Grey rubbed his forehead.

”I already met a final boss right after arriving here.”

He clicked his tongue.

Still, the discovery only strengthened his desire to increase his cultivation as quickly as possible.

He wanted to question Lily about the ancient forest eventually, especially since it might be connected to the Ascension Plane from which he had entered this world.

But not yet.

Grey didnʼt know how much power Lily could actually recover or temporarily utilize from her previous life.

Her soul was billions of years old, and even a casual consciousness technique had displayed power exceeding the 13th Rank.

If she had been a 14th Rank existence in her previous life and still possessed some method of temporarily accessing that strength...

Greyʼs mouth twitched.

”Yeah. Iʼm not touching that problem until Iʼm stronger.”

For now, the 11th Rank came first.