An Unexpected Participant
Hearing the message, Li Rou didn't plan on wasting time, and since the children were already dressed, she simply lifted them up with her Spiritual Qi and flew them alongside her, going toward Yue Zifeng's peak.
And with her Spirit Awakening realm cultivation, Li Rou wasn't slow by any means and turned the originally hour-long walk into a short 5-minute flight. Of course, she could've gone much faster, but since she had to make sure none of the children got hurt from the speed, Li Rou could only go that fast.
Landing at the peak, the group saw both Xue Feng and Yue Zifeng standing next to each other, laughing and patting each other's backs as old friends would.
Ye Rou was also there, but since she couldn't really join the conversation between the two men, she only stood behind them obediently without saying anything. Her eyes did brighten, though, when she saw Xue Bai and the rest arrive.
"Bai'er, you're here. Good, we can leave now." Yue Zifeng noticed the group's arrival and led them toward the teleportation array.
"Master, where is the ceremony going to be held? It can't be in the main hall. I heard there is going to be a tournament for potential disciples." Xue Bai asked as they landed.
"Where did you hear that from?" Yue Zifeng questioned, "But yes, that's right. There will be a tournament. So we will be holding it in the city square of Soaring Sword City, where the entrance exam was held. Elder Zhuo had personally renovated the area for this."
Xue Bai nodded at this and didn't ask any more questions, making the group descend into a calm silence as they walked toward the teleportation array.
Though they were all cultivators who could cross several meters with one casual step, no one was in a rush and instead walked normally like mortals, taking their time.
Ye Rou also took the moment of silence, ran over to her fellow disciples, and started talking to them.
Since she was in the Qi Sea realm above them all, she had obviously noticed the group's crazy advancement speed and wanted to know how they cultivated so fast.
However, none of the three answered her, angering her to no end.
"I am your Senior Sister!" Ye Rou grunted.
But the three were merciless and ignored her qualms.
After a quick walk, the group eventually reached the teleportation array. There, Yue Zifeng chose the destination of Soaring Sword City, and soon, the group vanished from their original position.
Arriving in Soaring Sword City, a thought suddenly came to Xue Bai.
"Master, wouldn't it have been better for our image if you flew us here on your flying sword and not us walking from the teleportation hall?" Xue Bai asked.
Yue Zifeng was stunned in place, and the smile on his face froze. He hadn't thought of that. However, since he couldn't reveal the mistake to his disciples, he quickly composed himself.
"Bai'er, we are already the strongest sect on the continent, and any more showy acts would only make us look vain. We also are Sword Cultivators. So these fancy showy worldly things are beneath us. Don't you forget!" Yue Zifeng seriously spoke as he seriously believed his own words.
However, his efforts were in vain, as Xue Bai had seen the stop and facial expression change. But since his Master had tried so hard to cover it up, Xue Bai didn't expose the man and nodded solemnly as if he mentally engraved the words in his mind.
Since the teleportation hall was extremely close to the city square, the group didn't have to walk far. And after a quick 10-minute walk, they arrived.
Like during the final trial in the entrance exam, the city square was cleared out of any structures and had a stage at its front with a dozen seats. The stage this time was however raised a few meters into the air to give a certain ambiance to the noble people who were allowed to sit on it.
But unlike the final trial, where the center of the square was empty, now there were ten large battle areas ready for the upcoming tournament.
As they entered, Li Rou and Xue Feng also left, leaving to sit at the Great Xuan Empire's section. After all, they were the newest Xiantian Great Realm experts of the empire, making them much more important than they were before.
They had thought about concealing their breakthrough to lure the Wang Clan into a sense of security while further reducing the number of their members. Sadly Imperial Advisor Lu had seen Xue Feng during his excursion and also his new cultivation base.
He had also made a huge deal out of it, giving the couple a new honorary title of Grand Duke and Duchess to commemorate it.
And while the title did exist and wasn't something he had randomly created to bind the couple to the empire.
However, the title was usually only used for Imperial Family members who were out of the throne inheritance line yet too strong to be killed off but their contender siblings.
For the title to be given to Xue Feng and Li Rou was certainly a shock to the empire, but after the couple exposed their cultivation bases, no one had any complaints, of course, besides the Wang Clan. But they weren't here.
So after Li Rou and Xue Feng took their seats behind Duan Zhen and Imperial Advisor Lu, Yue Zifeng also made his way toward the guest of honor seat.
The ceremony was quick, with Yue Zifeng only publicly announcing he had taken on two more disciples while showing off Xue Bai and Ye Rou to the crowd. He, however, hadn't exposed Xue Bai's cultivation. Ye Rou's he did, though.
Other than that, nothing of importance happened, which soon led to the main event.
"Sect Leader Zi, Dean Guo, Emperor Duan, this seat has talked long enough. Which of you would like to take the honors and start the tournament." Yue Zifeng spoke as he returned to his seat.
Sect Leader Zi didn't even bother to look at Yue Zifeng and turned her head away in protest, while Duan Zhen felt out of place because of his weakness.
He was the only head in the Spirit Awakening realm, which made him a lot less powerful in the eyes of the many people in attendance.
However, what could he do? He was more than 50 years younger than the other three and had much less time to cultivate. Duan Zhen knew he wasn't any worse than them but just needed more time to lessen the strength gap.
"Then this Seat will take the honors." Dean Guo spoke in his rough voice as he stood up.
Duan Zhen was too weak, while Sect Leader Zi was still acting petty toward Yue Zifeng, making him the only option.
"Since I'm a man for no pleasantries, I'll make it quick," Dean Guo spoke loudly, projecting his voice throughout the city square, "The rules for the first round are simple. 10,000 of you are here, and there are 10 arenas. Elder Zhuo from the Soaring Sword Sect will divide you all into ten groups, and the last 100 people in each field will move on to the next round."
Sitting back down, Dean Guo let the Elders in the square deal with the chaos themselves.
"Sect Leader Yue, I see the cultivation bases of your disciples are advancing at heaven-defying speeds. Is there something you taught them that let them advance so fast?" Dean Guo asked as he noticed Xue Bai's cultivation.
From what his intelligence reports said, Xue Bai was only at the 2nd stage of the Bone Strengthening realm when he first joined the sect. So seeing him at the 8th stage of the realm not even two months later, he was definitely curious.
"Haha! I haven't taught Bai'er anything yet. His cultivation speed is due to his diligence and talent." Yue Zifeng laughed, ignoring the loaded question.
"What about you? I heard that you also recruited one of this generation's greatest talents sometime ago," Yue Zifeng suddenly remembered, "What was his name? Huo Long! Yes, Huo Long, where is he? Surely he deserves to be your disciple. While it's worse than Bai'er, a fire element Low Black-grade Martial Vein is something that comes only once a generation on this continent."
"Sect Leader Yue while I know you sword cultivators are recluses and ignore worldly matters, surely you know what happened to Huo Long, right?" Dean Guo angrily replied as he squeezed the armrest of the chair.
Dean Guo was a rash man who was quick to violence, so the fact that he was holding back his anger right now was quite surprising to those around him.
Yue Zifeng as well, so after seeing that, he stopped. Angering the man further would only cause a fight. He only wanted to send a shot back at Dean Guo, not turn this tournament into a bloodbath.
However, he didn't apologize and merely stopped talking about the subject, dropping it altogether.
"Sect Leader Yue, I heard that your disciple is also extremely close to this Huo Long. Apparently, they were even brothers for a while, but yet one became a dragon and the other a loach. Doesn't that portray an image?" Sect Leader Zi, in the back, spoke up, sending another jab at Yue Zifeng.
Yue Zifeng, obviously not knowing such a detail, looked at Xue Bai for confirmation.
"Master, I did send Brother Long many things in hopes of him healing his Martial Veins, but he sent them all back. He was a man with a spine, and his accident didn't change anything." Xue Bai replied.
"Tsk! Flowery words for a swordsman." Sect Leader Zi mumbled. However, she didn't say anything else. From the information her sect had gathered, she also knew that Huo Long was a prideful man and the excuse that Xue Bai spoke of was reasonable.
Following the many indirect jabs at each other, the heads eventually became silent and watched the many fights down below with interest.
In order to join the tournament down below, there weren't many requirements other than one had to be younger than 25 and below the Qi Sea realm to participate. So while the fights were almost like children fighting to the Xiantian Great Realm experts on the stage, watching the fights early would allow them to pick out high-value disciples early on.
"Hm?" Dean Guo suddenly raised an eyebrow.
"What's wrong, Dean Guo?" Yue Zifeng asked, hearing the sudden confusion-filled voice.
"Look at the 10th arena. That figure with the black cloak. I can't see through it. Hell, I can't even sense the person's gender." Dean Guo spoke as he focused his eyes on the figure fighting.
Curious, Yue Zifeng, Sect Leader Zi, and Duan Zhen all looked over to see the figure. And true to the burly man's words, none of them could detect what person was under the cloak. The only thing they could detect was that the figure had a half-step Qi Sea realm cultivation base.
'He's here?' Xue Bai was stunned.
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