Under the close scrutiny of his ancestor and the other absolute powerhouses, Damian was forced to reveal every excruciating detail about how unpleasant his relationship was between him and his son.
In Damian's defense, he had many children of various ages, due to the fact that he himself was not that young, and his wife was a cultivator as well. The sense of familial bond was very limited between him and his children to begin with, and the fact that he ordered his children about like his subordinates, manipulating their relationship like it gave him control over them made them even more distant.
With his other children this was not much of a problem since none of them were absurdly talented, and even now had not come close to him in power. But Leon, his most talented son and Lex's father, was an entirely different case. He was always rebellious, though not to a problematic amount. It was only when he got to earth that the problem was exacerbated.
William had already heard everything from Damian before, so he did not say anything, but the others listened intently.
"Leon went to Earth to fulfill a mission and deliver a political prisoner there. Since the planet was deprived of spiritual energy, it was an excellent place to hold political prisoners. We also had a few experiments running stored away on that planet which he needed to overlook.
"It was during his time there that he met a mortal woman… by the name of Serene. On that planet, the local calendar recorded the year as 1748, and technology and education were extremely limited.
"All these factors combined together meant that the woman was extremely ignorant and uneducated, without a trace or hint of any knowledge about the cultivation world. I do not know the specifics of what happened… and there's no way to get a record of it either. All I can say is that he spent a couple of decades there, with her, before disappearing.
"Leon's disappearance did not go without notice, as not only did it affect some of my plans, he also lost his own status as Paragon and fell out of the race for family head. Of course, by then I had already gotten my own position, but I was still dissatisfied with him. Given his talent, I fully expected that he would be able to enter the Heavenly Immortal realm, and bring the William family on par with the other three great noble families of the Jotun Empire.
"Alas, it was not meant to be. When he finally reappeared, he was back on Earth. Moreover, it was not just that. He had suppressed his tenets, and entirely discarded his cultivation, dropping back down to a mortal! I thought he had been attacked by an enemy, but later discovered he had done it himself to recultivate from scratch!
"I was beyond furious, but it was already too late. That is when I discovered that he had already married that… that mortal Serene, and they had a child together, Belle. Originally, I was extremely furious, until I discovered that the babe had something special about her, much like Leon himself back then.
"She did not have a unique physique, like Leons. Instead, she was born with the heart of a Valkyrie. I do not know how such a thing was possible, as that was a literal organ from an entirely different race, and one much stronger than humans as well. If it could be adequately nurtured, she could grow to be extremely powerful.
"Angry at my own son, who would not listen to reason, I instead turned my attention to Belle. I marked her, so that I could find her anywhere in the Origin realm, and informed Leon that I would take her away at the age of 8 to begin her training. Through the use of special fruits that could allow her body to strengthen adequately, I would begin her cultivation path early.
"Leon was furious, but as a mortal he could do nothing to me. Eight years later, I returned and discovered my insolent son barely having entered the Qi training realm. After destroying his cultivation it was not easy to cultivate again, so I held no hope from him. I came to take Belle, but discovered another daughter Leon had, little Elizabeth. Just like her father and sister, her body was unique as well. By now, I realized something was amiss, for if it was so easy to produce offsprings with great talents then the William family would never have declined.
"Elizabeth, or Liz as she called herself, had a mythical 100% affinity for the Beast Master path. Although not as common or mainstream as cultivation, Beast Masters could not be underestimated, so I marked her as well and gave the same stipulation. Leon was once again angered, but at Qi training, what could he even do?"
At this point, Damien paused. None of his listeners found his actions unusual or cruel. Training descendants strictly was a common practice among cultivator families. Sending one's kids with their own grandparent could not even be considered cruel, for so many of them were shipped off to boarding schools for centuries without ever even meeting their families. That was just how the dynamic of powerful families worked. Of course, the kids or Leon may not have felt that way. But it was not as if the kids were being harmed in any way. They were just returning to their family to train.
"By then, my relationship with Leon had completely soured, but I was too angry at him for wasting his talents to pay much attention to it. When I returned next, I discovered he had one more daughter, named Moon. Moreover… her speciality was incredibly… unbelievable. Not only could she use her own power to heal souls, she had the potential to assist cultivators in crossing tribulations. At that point I… I let my greed get the better of me.
"Moon's ability was too amazing, and too valuable. She could not be left on Earth at all. I took her and Liz with me immediately. Leon had managed to reach the Golden core realm, somehow, during this time. I should have noticed the anomaly which was his growing strength but… I was too blinded by Moon's ability.
"What I had not realized was that while Leon was recultivating from a mortal, his wife Serene had a higher cultivation all this time. She used some unknown means to create spiritual clones of all her children, so that even if their real bodies were far away, in a way, they had a normal childhood as well, through their clones."
"Is that when the infamous 'Moon incident' took place?" asked Batu. Although they were all asking Damian questions in detail, they had already been briefed by William about the significant details. Clearly the incident with Moon was one such incident.
"Yes. Unfortunately, that is how I came to learn that Serene was not as simple as I had long thought. Although she was having Leon cultivate again from scratch, he had only grown stronger than his peak, not weaker, even at a lower cultivation realm. When the incident with Moon happened, her spiritual clone nearly collapsed. Leon lost his mind in anger, and that is when I found out how absurdly strong he had become.
"Even in his Golden core cultivation, he was able to use his sword intent to rip open a tear in space and cross entire galaxies to reach me. If Serene had not intervened, and the ensuing fight not stopped, it may have resulted in me being critically injured, and Leon dead. Even after the interruption, it was not as if we managed to escape unharmed.
"The last time I saw Leon, he had reached the Nascent realm. That was also the time when I discovered an anomaly in the treasure that records the family tree, as the name Lex Williams had suddenly appeared on it. All this time, and I never knew that he even had a son, let alone that he had grown so much. At that time, I really felt that if I challenged Leon he would be able to kill me, so I didn't push the topic too hard.
"All this time, I was wondering what made Lex so special, that Leon managed to hide his son from the family treasure. It must not have been an easy achievement. But a few weeks ago, when I saw that video of Lex climbing that dragon…"
Damian did not finish his sentence, as the immense stress he felt caused him to rub his forehead. Although he did not know much about this grandson of his, he really hoped that he did not have the same anger problems Leon had.
"Based on the information I have collected on Leon and his children, especially Lex, I may have come to a conclusion about why he especially was hidden from sight," said William very calmly.
"Before I mention my theory to everyone, I would like to emphasize that I strongly believe that Lex Williams has a very strong connection to the Midnight Inn, so no one should think about making any moves against him, for now at least."
William especially looked at his siblings when he said this.
"Some time ago, I experienced an abnormality in my ability Gelid Anima, and actually developed a hint of a bloodline. Such a thing… should not really be possible. But following the pattern of Leon having kids with mythical abilities that have only been recorded in legend, and never witnessed, I discovered one particular ability that could explain what happened to me, given that Lex was nearby at the time. It is called… Bloodline Resonance."
Damian seemed ignorant of what those words meant, but the rest of them were startled.