The Witch Hunter System
chapter-863

Nevertheless, although Vaan was astonished, he didn't forget his manners as he cupped his fist to greet the Elder Spirit.

"This Junior is called Vaan Raphna. How may I address you, Senior?" Vaan inquired politely.

The Elder Spirit calmly glanced at him before smiling with approval. Then, he pleasantly replied, "Hoho, since you acknowledge this Old Man as your senior, you can call me Senior Willowthorn, and I will also shamelessly call you Junior Vaan."

"Is that acceptable?" Senior Willowthorn asked amicably.

"It is," Vaan nodded, but he was briefly dumbfounded by the Elder Spirit's choice of words.

Shortly after, his pupils glinted with suspicion before he asked, "Why do you say it is shameless, Senior Willowthorn?"

"Oh? You don't think it would be shameless of this Old Man to address you as such, Junior Vaan?" Senior Willowthorn casually smiled.

Shortly after, his aura suddenly surged outwards, sealing in all sound from escaping to prevent others from hearing.

Evidently, he was prepared to mention some sensitive information for Vaan's ears only.

"I've heard that only True God-level beings and above possess Eternal Souls, and such great beings seldom abandon their True Divinity to enter the cycle of reincarnation and experience the mortal coil again," Senior Willowthorn mentioned shortly after.

"True Divinities are venerated existences that even this Old Man can only look up to. Goddess Thyia was also at such a level. Beings like them are normally far beyond our reach and almost impossible to meet at our level without special statuses or privileges."

"However, a person with such a brilliant Eternal Soul is standing right in front of me. No doubt, you were at least a True God in your past life, Junior Vaan. So, tell me. Given your distinguished past, wouldn't it be shameless of me to consider myself your senior?"

"Or have you not awakened your memories and still unaware of your prominent past?" Senior Willowthorn added with doubt.

Vaan silently agreed in his heart.

Indeed, if he were to take into account the ages of his past lives, hardly anyone was qualified to be his senior, let alone the Elder Spirit.

However, that was all in the past and didn't change the fact that he no longer wielded the accompanying might of his past lives.

"A competent man does not boast about his past achievements," Vaan calmly stated before humbly adding, "Since I am younger and less achieved in this life, you are naturally the senior, Senior Willowthorn."

"Hoho, so you have awakened your memories and know about your past life... But you are neither arrogant nor overbearing due to your past glory either. Good, good... Only a reincarnated god with this kind of temperament can overcome their life tribulations," Senior Willowthorn commented approvingly.

Nevertheless, Vaan couldn't help but ask, "Senior, this Junior hopes to be enlightened on one matter. How did you find out about my Eternal Soul? Can you really see it?"

If any powerful divine being at the Elder Spirit's level could discover his Eternal Soul, wouldn't that be problematic for him?

"I know what you are worried about, Junior Vaan. However, you don't have to be too concerned over this," Senior Willowthorn assured before saying, "Seeing 'it' isn't as accurate as feeling it."

"The reason this Old Man can sense your Eternal Soul is because it possesses a very particular aura of life, which this Old Man is quite familiar with, as it resembles that of Goddess Thyia's."

"This kind of life aura can only be possessed by those who have nurtured or created countless lives. For that alone, you deserve the highest recognition and respect from this Old Man, even though I do not usually welcome outsiders in the Garden of Thyia."

"In any case, unless one were a Divine Lord and a Wood Spirit with familiarity with this type of life aura, one would not be aware of your Eternal Soul," Senior Willowthorn stated.

However, Vaan couldn't feel any assurance with the Elder Spirit's words, and he was right to feel that way.

"Of course, there are many other ways to sense a person's soul, let alone an Eternal Soul," Senior Willowthorn continued.

"Any True Divinity should be able to see through a person's soul easily. But outside of them, there are also special constitutions, innate eye abilities, ocular divine arts, soul formations, heavenly treasures, and so on that could spy on the form of a person's soul and determine their origins."

"There are simply far too many possibilities, considering the vastness of Chaos and the innumerable lifeforms living within it. You can assume that if you can think of it, then the possibility of it existing is true."

"However, the chances of you coming across another being who could satisfy these conditions and discover your Eternal Soul is quite low. It's quite unlikely to meet another one unless you travel to hundreds or thousands of low-tier star realms or even higher-tier ones," Senior Willowthorn patiently explained.

Vaan frowned deeply before inquiring, "Since there are many ways to detect a person's soul, are there also many ways to hide it, Senior Willowthorn?"

"Of course, there are," Senior Willowthorn confirmed with a nod and said, "However, the soul is a very special and complex subject. I'm afraid most methods are unavailable to you unless you are lucky enough to meet a great patron with specialties in this specific field." "Perhaps the easiest yet equally the hardest method for you to hide your Eternal Soul is to learn the Divine Astral Soul Arts of Soul Masters. Unfortunately, even naturally-gifted Soul Masters will be confused in the way of the Divine Astral Soul Arts unless they had a teacher." "More unfortunately, Soul Masters are very rare, to begin with. As such, finding a Soul Master to be your teacher can only depend on luck and fate," Senior Willowthorn said regretfully. Vaan studied the Elder Spirit's expression and understood that he didn't have any methods to help him in this regard.

Even so, he noted the term 'Divine Astral Soul Arts' in his heart.

On another note, Vaan was quite surprised by the Elder Spirit's extensive knowledge despite living in such an isolated realm.

It seemed the Elder Spirit had already been a sentient being when the Divine Tree of Life and Goddess Thyia were still around.