[If all the girls will be pushed into the Forbidden Mist Grounds, if I am already inside and can get the attention of the Jade Empress, then I can take Angela and the Weston Family daughter and leave] planned Lex as he blitzed into the mist.
"That guy with the hood just went into the mist" the bandits exclaimed.
"He will die anyway as only girls are accepted inside and it is at sunset when they are accepted" the bandit leader announced while they all began laughing.
Meanwhile, Lex with his Scouting Eye could feel that the mist was stopping him from leaving and almost completely blocked off the mist grounds from the rest of the area.
The familiar site of corpse beasts and skeletons rising from the ground appeared, but instead of battling them, Lex dashed straight towards the golden temple that he could see.
However, just like everything else in this reality, the undead guards were much stronger and were hard for Lex to get past.
[Should I call out to the Jade Empress as getting past these corpse beasts will be too difficult even with my cultivation] Lex thought to himself.
Lex was unsure whether to act confident with the knowledge he knew from his past reality, or act as though he merely knew her name, but decided he would act according to her reaction to him calling out her name.
"Jade Empress I would like to talk to you" announced Lex confidently.
Instantly all the corpses that were rabidly charging at Lex reached an abrupt halt, as a figure of a woman began to form in the mist.
"Who are you and why the hell do you know who I am" roared the beautiful figure that was formed out of the mist.
Controlling the mist to form a hand, the Jade Empress strangled Lex while lifting him and threw him with incredible power into the temple as the door opened allowing him to slide in.
Lex slid and slammed into a golden wall as he felt winded by the impact and almost vomited blood.
Seeing another fist form of mist, Lex was scared he would be beaten to death before he could give her and explanation.
"Wait, wait, wait, let me explain" screamed Lex as he retracted his Scouting Eye before she noticed his eyes and placed Kano into the inventory revealing himself.
He knew she would be very curious about how the robe disappeared, but he had to reveal to her that he wasn't a threat and was a mere child before she killed him.
"Speak child, how do you know of me, and how did you know I was within this place," she asked sternly, as her figure formed of mist dispersed, then appeared before him.
[What the fuck am I supposed to tell her, I have an Eye System and met you in another reality] screamed Lex within his mind, unsure of what to tell her.
"If you shall not speak, you shall die here and become another corpse beast to protect this temple" she declared as she formed a spike from the mist.
"I, I, I heard about the rumours you spread that girls were accepted into the forbidden mist grounds and also heard about a legendary sect that is called the Jade Palace that only have female disciples and I am an explorer and wanted to test my theory" blurted out Lex, who made up a random story.
She could see that there were some truths and some lies in what he said, but could also see that he didn't have bad intentions and also seeing his robe disappear into thin air, she couldn't help but be curious in him.
"What do you want," she asked curiously.
Seeing how he was able to stay calm under such a situation and knew her identity at such a young age, she was curious to find out what he wanted.
Noticing that she was no longer angry or trying to kill him, Lex stood up and dusted off his clothes.
"Why don't we make a deal" stated Lex with a friendly smile.
"Do speak child" she replied interesting in what he had to offer.
"Well, you are looking for somebody to inherit your skills and cultivation methods as you are merely a spirit of the Jade Empress that is already dead and I have the perfect candidate for you" stated Lex with a confident smile.
She was shocked by what the child before her who had just told her, her secrets and couldn't help but pause for a few seconds to recover from such a shock.
"And what do you want," she asked, playing along with Lex curious about his intentions.
"I would like you to save 2 girls from the savage men that captured and brought them here, including the candidate that is one of them" stated Lex with a serious expression.
"Interesting, but if they will be placed within here anyway, I can choose any one of them as my successor and you haven't done anything for me in this exchange" she replied gauging the depth of his ability and knowledge.
"Well, when you dissipate in a few weeks, who will protect your successor from the waiting savage men around your mist grounds," said Lex hoping that what occurred in his past reality would be the same in its reality.
"You really are an interesting child, but what if I go against my word and kill you and find a way to save my successor and what guarantee do I have that you can protect her" she enquired trying to find out how much he knew.
"I am not going to keep answering your questions and don't have time to continue this pointless chatter with you, first off tell me what rank continent is the Jade Palace on" Lex stated with a stern expression, bluffing that he had the upper hand.
The Jade Empress just began to laugh.
"I could kill you at any moment child, so keep your respectful tone and don't try and bluff with me," she said releasing a bone-chilling aura that froze Lex for an instant, then retracted it.
"However you have impressed me with your bravery to save two females and for this heroic nature I will accept your deal" she stated.
Reminding Lex of his past reality where she saved him and accepted Angela only due to his heroic nature.
[I guess there really is fate] thought Lex to himself, worrying that Angela's death may also repeat itself.
"The Jade Palace is one of the big powers or sect in the Lower Plains and even have connections in places higher than that, and have secular sects all over the continents with the lowest being rank 2 continents and the highest, being the highest-ranked continents.
I was once the Jade Empress but was betrayed due to somebody wanting something from me that I didn't want to give away, which I will pass on to my successor" she narrated missing out all the information that was too profound for him, but saw his eyes suddenly light up when she spoke about the valuable item she is giving to her successor.
"Don't even think about taking it away from her, if she is even worthy which is almost impossible and if she is, it will be integrated with her blood and will be useless to a male such as yourself" she declared furiously as old emotions began to rise.
Lex had no intention to steal from Angela and was merely curious, which she observed and calmed down.
"Who would have thought myself the Icy Queen, would allow my emotions to take over before a child. I was once at the top of the Lower Plains with a few others, but now I am reduced to a fading state" she muttered with a regretful and reminiscent expression.
"Well there is one thing I can guarantee you, your successor will surpass you and will never be harmed in the slightest" declared Lex who had his determination to defy fate ignited by seeing her regretful state.
[I will live without regrets] he vowed within his mind seeing that despite her strength she still had regrets after death.
Seeing this it was the first time she felt positively towards a male ever since she began her cultivation journey, hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
"You do realise that if the female you know is worthy of being my successor, as a practice of the extreme Yin-Arts, she will have to stay sexually abstinent, meaning you cannot be with her as a partner," she said to him, unsure of their relationship.
"She is more of somebody I wish to protect because of how many times she has helped me, like a sister figure and not a partner" stated Lex unfazed by what she said.
"When will you begin testing the girls that were bought here," asked Lex.
"When it is sunset, then I will look for a successor and it being my last year of existence, I have to either find a successor this time or bury the inheritance with me" she pronounced.
"Well then, I can't wait to meet her and test whether there can even be somebody on this weak island worthy of my inheritance"