Samuel arrived at Belial's residence along with Elizabeth and Eishath to find him in an indisposed state. Namely, he was nearly drowning in a body of cultivators while his expression remain thoughtful his eyes closed.

"Greetings, Belial. I have come to express my gratitude for the female cultivator who has come under my care," he said, bowing respectfully.

Belial's eyes opened, at first, trying to douse him in its oppressive hue but quickly retreating when found no purchase.

Samuel could not even imagine the myriad of vile thoughts that were running through the obese cultivator as his eyes focused.

The inner sect elder gave a cordial smile filled with hidden meaning, which Samuel did not have the mental bandwidth to grasp.

Eishath did, however, and she could not help but return that smile. Belial thought he was a tiger unaware of the dragon that stood right in front of him. Hiding one's cultivation stage was one of the first things taught to a cultivator and she was secretly excited to see what poor excuse of an assassination attempt he might concoct, only to have his resources wasted. Maybe Eishath could use that to get rid of Elizabeth if she ever became more trouble than she was worth. She needed to at least wait till Samuel reached the soul formation stage so that the backlash of losing a cauldron could be entirely negated. Losing 2% of one's lifespan was nothing to scoff at. Though on the other hand, she was a dumb slut who was just as easy to manipulate as her oblivious master,

"Decisions... decisions.." She said under her breath, a benign statement that she knew was heard by both masters who would both take it in with very different contexts, both of which were more than likely wrong.

He brought out a large chest wrapped in enchanted silk before placing it on the floor and pushing it forward.

Belial smiled, his expression unreadable, accepting the gift. "It is my pleasure to assist in your endeavors, Samuel. The cultivator you speak of was proving to be quite difficult to train, so I am not surprised she sought other pastures."

He did not open the chest as doing so while so many other disciples in the room would be untoward. After all, how could an outer sect elder create a gift to match his own? That would be like a bird trying to fill the sea.

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"He truly has eyes that cannot see..." Eishath mumbled, again to herself as if she was lost in thought.

Belial's smile twitched but did not fall, his eyes stayed steady on Samuel as he continued his statement.

"She was powerful, but sadly a frog in a well who found a way to hop out. In my inexperience, my connection with her was not firm and I allowed cracks to exist. I have now become better and future contracts will be better. May the demons we create be banished back to the infernal realms from which they came."

Samuel nodded agreeing with the statement. One needed to move beyond their limits to truly move forward to divinity. He himself had thought that dual cultivation was a detriment to his path and it may still eventually slow him down. By virtue of larger numbers, he would need to push his disciples to soul formation before thinking of getting to reborn himself. But it did allow him to get two minor breakthroughs in the span of a year and he still did not consume any heavenly treasures to augment his cultivation progress. Something he thought was about to come to an end upon the wall he had hit after nascent soul.

Eishath's malicious smile only grew, this time she spoke out loud as she bowed.

"This disciple is terribly sorry for coming into the conversation of her masters but she believes she must say this to her old but still respected master. It was not his fault that he did not understand the demons that grew under his grand light. As time grows that number will sadly only increase. Thankfully, a powerful master exists to keep such demons from havocking. One leaf obscures one's eyes but when it is opened they may be unable to recognize the Great Mountain."

Eishath was trying to hide her giggles now. Belial had fashioned himself a demonic emperor but he did not realize that he was currently being played. She did not know what was in the chest in front of her, but she was willing to bet it was very valuable. Valuable enough to make her master covet. Which would be enough to start the ball rolling.

While she was right she did not know the magnitude of the value in front of her. As a demon who could directly consume essence, there was enough essence in that box to push her directly into the fifth, origin spirit, stage of cultivation. Samuel had unwittingly shown his hand, though, he did not know he was ever hiding it in the first place.

The outer sect master assumed everyone was aware that he was a nascent soul expert and in his mind, the hierarchy of the sect was more important because it was being enforced by the sect leader a ninth, reborn, realm expert, merely a step away from the peak of this realm. The nuance of sect politics had always been beyond him.

Only the schemes of his new disciple were horribly ruined as Belial was an overly arrogant man but he was not stupid and while not readily available Samuel's information was not a matter of secrecy. The wealth he was given would make him question and play the game instead of walking into Eishath's trap. But that was still a game one where each thought they had an advantage over the other but neither truly appreciated the power of the most powerful piece. One could only imagine the chaos that was about to ensue.