356 Old Man (1/2)

An old man with a long white beard and thick white eyebrows showed up from the shadows of the Guardian Yeti.

His eyes were closed so Raven had no idea what his pupils look like. His face was wrinkled with age, his earlobes were elongated due to the unique earrings he was wearing. He was holding a wooden cane that supported his posture, his back was bent and he was wearing what looks like a dirty martial gi, and he was barefooted as well.

His tone and face showed kindness, but behind this expression, Raven could sense so much more.

This old man, was incredibly suspicious. It also didn't help that he could somehow recognize his face.

”You are…” Raven paused. He stared at the old man and racked his memories in his attempts to remember who this was.

The old man was aware that Raven was getting suspicious of him, but instead of saying anything, he chose to remain silent and instead, he lovingly stroked the fur of the Guardian Yeti like it was some sort of a house pet.

In his stupor, Raven eventually figured out who this old man looked like. But at the same time, he also didn't want to believe that this old man was the same person he was thinking about.

”Greetings, Elder. My name is Raven.” He said as he introduced himself, ”May I know yours?”

The old man looked back at him and smiled kindly, he then asked: ”Don't you already have your answers? Why ask me still?”

”But you can't possibly be the same person I am thinking.” Raven answered as confidently as he could.

The old man raised his brow in amusement and asked: ”Oh? And why is that?”

”It's because I could neither sense any fluctuations of Ice Laws on you, so you can't possibly be the Ice Emperor.” Raven answered, ”I also almost mistook you as the Ice Emperor's biological father, the 'Caretaker', but you're also not him since I can't feel any Mantras coming off of you.”

”So who are you really?” Raven asked.

His words and question finally caused the old man's expression to change into a more serious one. However that only lasted for a mere moment before his face returned to it's usual kindness. He then said:

”Well I'll be…” The old man laughed softly, ”The Ice Emperor himself didn't even know who his own biological parents were. But you, someone who were born ages after his death and never had any chances of meeting him personally, knew about it.”

”Not only that, you can also tell that I don't have any Ice Laws and you are also aware of Buddhist Mantras.” The old man laughed heartily this time and said: ”You really are an impressive young man.”

”Thank you for your praise, Elder.” Raven replied. But even though he appeared to be calm, he was actually preparing for the worst already.

'He basically confirmed that he's neither of them. Who could this old man possibly be?'

Raven's senses told him that this old man is older than what he actually looks like. He could sense a profound ancientness in the way that he moves and talks. But at the same time, he also found him incredibly weird. Something's not right with this old man.

*Groans*

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound of groaning from the Guardian Yeti. His gaze turned towards it and he saw that it was shaking off the accumulating snow on it's body.

”There, there.” The old man said as he continued stroking the white and glossy fur of the humongous being.

'Wait!' Raven suddenly recalled something as he saw this interaction. 'He's treating the Guardian Yeti like a house pet! That shouldn't be possible. According to the words of the Ice Emperor himself, the Guardian Yeti doesn't like being with humans aside from him. The Ice Emperor left nothing about this old man at all, which means that either he doesn't know of him, or this old man asked him to keep his identity as a secret. But why would he do that?'

He also recalled another important information.

'Right, he also called the Guardian Yeti with a different name.' He thought to himself. 'He called it, A'nu. The Ice Emperor called it Father. What's going on here?'

'All I know that this old man is really old. Like really, really old. As if…wait!'

Raven suddenly realized something, and the thought struck him like thunderbolt, causing him to inhale sharply. This of course wasn't missed by the old man who looked at him in curiosity. It was then that Raven suddenly blurted out these words:

”You aren't human.”