Rex came back to his room, on Luna's control the map model changed and the situation outside was shown on it.
A man in white was standing outside the light barrier of the island.
Several bodies were lying around him.
Among them, the body of a beast-man and a human was lying beside him. Although they were heavily injured, but unlike others, they weren't dead. The size of the Karmic Indicator above them stated that both of them were Sky Body Formation stage experts.
Rex observed for a while and realized that the man was stopping and checking anyone who came out of the tomb, if they resisted, a battle will follow out which won't last long and the winner will always be the man in white.
The crowd of people was observing him from the sides but no one stepped out to confront him, those who did weren't able to step back alive.
"Masterrr Whattt Shouldd Luna Dooo, Theyy camee Forrr thee Tombb," Luna said with teary eyes as she blindly flew around in the room looking extremely anxious.
Rex grabbed her head to stop her at one place then spoke.
"Calm down and tell me, from which faction is he, I mean from which sect is he?" Rex asked.
"Huh? Does Master not know? Although Luna doesn't know from which sect he is, but the symbol on his mask clearly says he is from Heaven Devouring Snake Clan also known as Ancient Snake Clan, but it's strange, Ancient Snake Clan never attacked us before.
Other Ancient Clans were the same, they worry too much about their reputation so they won't ally with those sects to snatch a tomb and harm a famous Divine Doctor. But Master, although he is alone we shouldn't fight him, it's better to use one of the two remaining two Grand Teleportation Scroll and escape," Luna said as she rubbed her teary eyes.
Rex slightly nodded.
"Say, Luna, he is standing outside, does that mean, he cannot enter the tomb?" Rex asked.
Luna shook her head.
"He cannot, the tomb lets in the challengers with lower cultivation base in first, the tomb judges people based on their real cultivation base. That man's real cultivation base his way higher than others so he has to wait for a few days before he can enter the tomb himself," Luna explained.
Rex started to think of a solution.
Throwing the challengers inside the tomb out and teleporting wasn't hard but if the man in white investigated and find out that two Calamity Lords didn't come out then he would likely start his search for the tomb from Frozen Flame.
As for letting him in and killing him, if he is killed then the forces behind him won't sit idle.
Suddenly his eyes lit up.
"Luna is there something I can use to contact you, without others knowing it?" Rex asked.
Luna nodded, she extended her hand and a silver sword-shaped earring appeared in her small palm.
"It's a modified communicator Crimson Sun Emperor used to talk to me from outside the tomb, it has a concealing array engraved on it so it will only look like a normal earing to others," Luna said.
Rex took it and wore it on his left ear then looked at Lerna.
She nodded, indicating that it looks good.
"Now you two, listen to me, do as I tell you to do..." Rex told them his plan.
Outside the tomb...
A big man with goat-like horns and a bear-like body excitedly came out of the tomb, he had a big hammer like Artifact Treasure in his hand, several visible injuries were covering his body but he was happy. He was a Calamity Lord, such injuries will recover on their own soon but now that he had a Treasure Artifact in his hands, his strength would grow by a big leap.
"Hey big man, if you don't mind can I have look at your storage ring?" An unfamiliar voice disrupted his good moment.
The man furrowed his brows and looked at the man in white in front, who was just half his size.
"Shut up and scram! I'm in good mood or those would have become your last words," He said in a displeased tone, and flew into the air without even looking at the dead bodies on the ground or the sympathetic looks the onlookers were giving him.
The man in white sighed, he reached out to the two blades on his back.
'Phantom Slash'
His body became illusory, then several afterimages appeared in the surrounding with each one appearing a meter close to the beastman. Before the beastman could react he felt a chilling sensation on his back, he tried to turn and only managed to take a glimpse of the white shadow appearing behind his back.
The strike landed and the beastman fell to the ground, completely unconscious.
The man in white didn't kill him, not because of mercy or righteousness but to not break the power balance of the Middle Realm.
He made a pulling sign and the storage ring on the beastman's finger flew out and landed on his palm, after checking it out for a while, he threw it back at the beastman.
He had just turned back to the tomb when two silhouettes flew out of the tomb, the man's eyes lit up, he moved to them.
Two silhouettes that came out consisted of a white-haired man and a green-haired woman.
The white-haired man looked injured, most of his injuries were hidden because of his red coat but his blood died shirt was still visible. The green-haired woman was supporting him from the side.
The man in white looked at them and realized that he couldn't see Rex's cultivation base and realized that it was the work of a Treasure Artifact in one glance.
"Hey you two, do you have a moment?" He approached the two of them.
"A moment? Yeah why not, I have an hour, I have a day, and even a month, but da fukk it has to do with you? Are you blind man, can't you see my condition, remove that mask and you will be able to see it," Rex said in a displeased tone.
The man stopped in his tracks, his lips twitching, he was thinking if he should display his ‹Phantom Slash› again but attacking an injured person who couldn't even walk will hurt his consciousness a little.
"Juniors I will directly talk on the point then, can I have a look at your storage rings?" He asked directly.
Rex looked at Lerna then at him and narrowed his eyes.
{Is Heaven Devouring Snake Clan acting that brazen these days?} Rex sent a Qi transmission message to him.
The man's body slightly trembled, he looked at Rex from top to bottom again. Several thoughts appeared in his head as he evaluated Rex's identity.
The first thought was that Rex also came from Higher Ream and is after the tomb but then why was he injured? He could have just used a good pill to heal these injuries instantly, second his clothes were of low quality with no defensive measure. The woman beside him didn't seem like a bodyguard either as she was just an early Sky Body Formation expert.
If he was a normal person from the Middle Realm then there was no way he would have recognized his clan's symbol moreover, not only he recognized it, the way he talked didn't seem like he was in any way afraid of offending him and was talking at equal footing.
{A Heir Candidate?} The man in white said after some thinking.
At the same time, Rex received a message from Luna.
{Master Luna says that some Ancient Clan degrade the cultivation base of their geniuses and throw them into dangerous lands, secret realms and lower realms to gain experience, those who manage to survive till the end are all monsters. Luna is telling you, they are all monsters and no one of them would die without making their name spread throughout the whole realm.
They are called Heir Candidate because if they survive then there is a high chance that one of them will become the future Patriarch or Matriarch of their respective clan, even if they don't become the head of the clan they would still have a status that other cannot hope to shake. Some powerhouses in the current era were once Heir Candidates in the past, Luna had even heard the names of a few of them... Nirvana Flame Queen, Desolate Dragon King, Star Destroying Titan, Black Rose Empress, and The Death Trickster,} Luna said.
Rex was quietly hearing what Luna said but when he heard the title name of Zakiya among those, he almost gave away his calm expression. The name alone gave a lot of information. A new question appeared in his head...
'Don't tell me that the Blood Clan is actually an Ancient Clan?' He thought, but he calmed himself down for now.
{You guess,} Rex said.
The man in white stared at Rex, his words had only deepened his doubt but he wasn't a reckless person and won't reach a conclusion that early, he decided to probe Rex a little.
{Junior, the entrance trial of Star Guardian Sect has already started, the trial at Aerial Plane is just after two months, then later it would be the turn of Aqua Plane, Nether Plane and finally Earth Plane, so what are you doing here? You should go as soon as possible,} He said.
{That's a question you should ask my Master, want to talk to him? You are always welcome,} Rex said with a smile.
The man in white laughed bitterly.
Talking to his Master? It would mean he would be representing his clan while meeting if something goes wrong then he would have to pay compensation because of trying to reveal an Heir Candidate's identity, it won't be surprised if he had to sign a contract too.
In the whole conversation, he didn't ask from which clan is Rex from or on which plane on Higher Realm does he live. Many people would try to trick and kill the Heir Candidate of their enemy clan before they mature. If he asks for any personal detail then it would be like he had written his name on the top of the suspicion list of Rex's 'Ancient Clan' and if something happened to him like an assassination attempt then it would become a good excuse for others to mock his Ancient Snake Clan without restraint.
{Junior, I won't take more of your time and get to the point. I'm a disciple of Star Guardian Sect, my name is Shay- Shaun, my mission is to destroy the main inheritance related to Crimson Sun Emperor, if someone acquires it then they would probably fall into his trap and would likely have no choice but to exact revenge on his behalf.
The sect is already solving a problem related to one of the Divine Doctors, Saintess Kissandra. If someone gets his inheritance and is tricked into making some oath of exacting revenge on his enemies on his behalf, then it would be a problem. I won't take anything that is not related to his main inheritance, you see you are still lucky if Star Guardian Sect hasn't acted to deal with the matter itself then there would be many sects from Higher Realm who would have come attacking this tomb instead of me,} Shaun explained.
Rex wanted to cry.
'You bastard, can't you come a few days ago. What's the use of warning now? Are you mocking me?' Rex screamed inwardly.
[I have a feeling the result would be the same even if he had come early and warned you,]
Rex rolled his eyes, no one believes him these days.
He didn't use Appraisal on him because Zakiya had warned him not to blindly use his Pupil Technique on anyone, some experts can sense it while some have a defensive measure that will automatically counter-attack.
Rex made a thoughtful expression then gave his and Lerna's storage ring to Shaun.
The onlooker was confused, they looked at each other in the eyes but didn't talk. They can guess that Rex reached to some kind of deal with the strange man and chose to compromise.
Shaun took the rings and probed them, he ignored the Treasure Artifacts, then his eyes landed on a tiny red scroll lying at the corner, he quickly took it out.
He slowly opened it and checked the headline.
"This, where did you found it?" He asked.
It was the scroll containing the ‹Sacred Blood Seed Formula›.
"This one? If I remember clearly it was inside the stomach of a big strange lion-like creature. I haven't checked it yet but... Is it something precious?" Rex's eyes shined.
Shaun hurriedly took it back.
"No, it's a despicable cloning technique that uses the blood of innocents to work," He said in a solemn tone.
"Oh, then as Senior said before we should destroy it, Senior let this Junior do it," Rex said with a serious expression.
Shaun shook his head and hurriedly put it in his storage ring.
"I need to show it to the sect as proof," He said in a serious tone.
Rex sneered inwardly but still nodded.
The real recipe was in his hand, the one on the scroll was just a fake made to waste their time for years.
Shaun sensed something wrong then looked around and saw the mocking gazes of people around him. He pondered over his actions and felt somewhat embarrassed.
He quickly took out a soft innerwear top made of silk-like cloth and gave it to Rex.
"It's a 2 Star Soft Silk Armour, it can absorb a part of any kind of physical attack and protect your inner organs, it's a reward for helping me," Shaun said while giving back the storage rings to them.
Rex happily took them, this was a free bonus so why would he reject it?
Just then, Shaun froze on the spot.
Several lights shot out of the tomb, then turned into the figures of people with a confused expression on their faces. the whole island started to shine brightly.
"Nooo.." Shaun dashed towards the island but he only managed to grab the air while the tomb disappeared without a trace.