One of the disciples around said with incredulity, "Senior Brother Lian, please don't joke around in front of the wood heavenly king!"
The old man with unfathomable cultivation seemed to be the wood heavenly king. Heavenly King was a title given to famous heavenly awakening realm cultivators.
Lian Qiu ignored the disciple and turned to look at Ling Tian with a nervous smile, "Brother Ling is a son of heaven, you are surely more suited for this task!"
The wood heavenly king sighed, "Lian Shuren, your son..."
Ling Tian's lips twitched and he got ready to scold Lian Qiu but a voice interrupted him. A lovely and bell-like voice was heard from an approaching figure, "Little Brother, you are as irresponsible as ever!"
The figure seemed petite but had a big bosom; she had a curvy and lithe form. It was a very beautiful girl who wore graceful and slightly revealing azure robes and had jade-like skin. Her face was alluring and very charming. She seemed very delicate but her Cultivation realm was above Ling Tian. An elegant pink sword was strapped to her back with flower designs. She seemed to be in her early twenties.
Lian Qiu turned pale and jumped away as if he was a cat and someone had stepped on his tail. "Big sister! 'Gulp' How are you?!" his tone had a certain edge as if he was a little afraid.
The girl had a broad and innocent smile with hidden danger behind it, "I was fine until I heard you ran away to 'Experience the world'..."
Lian Qiu turned paler as he backed away a little, he pointed at Ling Tian and said hurriedly, "You see, hmm... I was trying to meet a friend of mine and invite him to the sect! I swear! Look he is here right?! I didn't run away actually! I simply left hurridly to not waste time."
The girl turned her sights on a perplexed Ling Tian who thought, 'Was he afraid of the punishment or her?!'
She looked him up and down calmly and put on a polite smile, "Hello, I am Lian RuXue. Sorry if my little brother had bothered you, you don't need to pretend; I know of my brother's tricks."
Lian Qiu turned even paler if that was possible and looked at Ling Tian with pleading eyes. The latter put on a polite smile, "Hello, miss Lian, I am Ling Tian, and you little brother and I are good friends; We have been through life and death so you don't need to worry."
Lian RuXue seemed skeptical, "If you are doing this for something my brother offered, I sincerely advise you to turn back; He is in deep trouble..." Lian Qiu wanted to cry...
Ling Tian indifferently replied, "What kind of a friend would I be if I turn my back on him now that he needs me? Thanks for your kind advice but I am his friend. I hope you end this discussion as it's insulting my honor..."
Lian RuXue said with a slight frown, "Then I won't bother you anymore. Just know that being my brother's friend needs qualifications that I am afraid you don't have."
Ling Tian's tone was icy, "That is for me to judge, I am afraid you don't have the qualifications to Judge me."
A small commotion broke out within the surrounding cultivators. The heavenly king present smiled in amusement as Lian Qiu nearly fainted.
Lian RuXue looked at Ling Tian coldly, "Oh?"
She brandished the sword on her back as her cultivation flared, putting pressure on everyone around. She was a peak Inner-Heaven Realm Cultivator!
Ling Tian looked on coldly as his eyes slowly began shining a sinister red color. He also released all the pressure he could and due to his sword intent, it appeared quite menacing and fearful. A blood-red halo surrounded him and the aura of slaughter and death appeared in the surroundings. Everyone except the heavenly king turned pale.
Lian RuXue seemed taken aback, such killing-intent mixed perfectly into sword intent made her uncomfortable as if hundreds of sword tips were about to pierce her skin. However, She didn't back down.
A blooming white Lotus appeared above her head, It gave the aura of serenity and lonely beauty. The petals turned pink towards the edges. A whitish-pink cold Qi surrounded her, protecting her from Ling Tian's sword-intent.
The Wood Heavenly King had a smile of interest as he watched the two youngsters going at it. Two auras clashed with one another and created fierce winds that blew everyone's hair back and made the grass on the ground move around chaotically.
The two seemed to be in a draw. Ling Tian slowly reached out for the sword on his back and the wood heavenly king stepped in.
'This young man... He is holding his own without his sword! If he were to use it, he will overpower this little lass's aura.'
Ling Tian had immediately purchased a blood bringer sword upon realizing he didn't have any sword. He had checked his system points and he had 200k EP so he had enough points. He had not checked Log since a lot of massages and notifications were there so he had decided to inspect his situation and surroundings first.
The old man appeared between two of them suddenly and all the pressure vanished with a wave of his hand, "It's quite enough, Lian RuXue, need I remind you that we have to prepare for a battle soon?"
The girl respectfully nodded towards the elder and glared at Ling Tian one last time and moved away. Ling Tian watched calmly, 'So this is the level of an accepted genius? I am stronger...'
Lian Qiu suddenly grasped Ling Tian's shoulders and began shaking him madly, "WOW! That was amazing! I have never seen anyone stand up to her like that! You are my hero! Teach me!"
The surrounding cultivators quickly dispersed while whispering to each other, it seemed word of this encounter would soon spread through the entire camp of cultivators.
Ling Tian asked with a puzzled face, "Why? Is she so fierce?!"
Lian Qiu answered heatedly, "She is one of the 13 great geniuses in our generation in the Dao Empire. She is also widely acknowledged as one of the 5 great beauties of our generation. However, no one knows she is quite scary..."
Ling Tian shrugged his shoulders, "That has got nothing to do with me! In any case, it seems the whole lead the army thing may have been her idea to mess with you. I have some things to do..." He walked away.
Lian Qiu followed silently, he looked at Lian Qiu and sighed. He searched around and found the old village chief, the latter seemed quite happy to meet him and they chatted for a while.
"So, where is old wang? I don't see him around!"
"Ah, he took his granddaughter and left the village a while ago..."
"Do you know why?" Ling Tian was confused.
The village chief said with a sigh, "He didn't say anything... that stubborn old fool... I hope they are doing well."
Ling Tian said optimistically as he stood up to leave, "I am sure they are fine, no need to worry. See you around!"
"Sure, take care!"
He moved around and enjoyed the scenery as he talked with Lian Qiu, "Hey, did you carry us all the way here?! Where is Huo Bing?"
Lian Qiu scratched the back of his head and answered with a smirk, "Well, I encountered the heavenly king on the way and he helped us. He treated your wounds and brought us to this place, this is a camp for the Profound Dao sect's army. As for Huo Bing, she is doing well. She has been sleeping due to exhaustion. She lost everything so..."
Ling Tian nodded in understanding, "I see, I want to officially meet this heavenly king and thank him. then we go to see how the little girl is doing.".
Lian Qiu pointed to a direction, "That's where he is usually, let's go!"
He followed him and they eventually reached a newly built bamboo house in the forest. The old man from before stood near it looking at the surroundings, deep in thought. He turned to look at them as they approached, "I expected to see you two. How are you feeling?"
Ling Tian smiled as he respectfully said, "Thank you for helping us!"
The old man smiled broadly, "It the duty of the older generation to take care of the young ones. You don't need to thank me, in these grim times we must stand united and help one another."
Ling Tian nodded as he observed the old man. The old man had white hair to his waist and had green eyes that seemed much younger than they should. The eyes held vitality and strange power. His skin was smooth as a youth's despite his hair and beard showing his true age. His teeth were all white and in perfect condition.
Ling Tian felt the old man looked a little bizarre, he looked like a mix between someone young and old. The old man noticed this, "Ling Tian, right? I am known as the wood Heavenly King but just refer to me as 'old man' if you are more comfortable that way."
Lian Qiu explained on the side, "Brother Ling when one reaches the peak of the heavenly awakening realm they get the title of heavenly king and those who are truly famous get a unique title like our senior the wood heavenly king."
The old man laughed as he heard Lian Qiu's explanation, "Haha, I am not that famous! The young ones spread rumors and people gave this old man a moniker of sorts..."
Ling Tian smiled brightly, "Sure, It is not my place to call you old man thus I will call you old senior."
The wood heavenly king said kindly, "Good! Now let me ask you a question."
The old man suddenly turned solemn, "We are going to attack one of the great cities captured by Devil cultivators and their army; It is an important strategic point so we have to get it back. I have heard from Lian Qiu that you managed to slay a greater demon; Is this true?"
Ling Tian nodded as he said, "Indeed, however, it was mostly luck."
The old cultivator said seriously, "It doesn't change the fact that you are capable of doing something that almost no one on your generation can claim to do with confidence. I sincerely hope you will join us in this war."
Ling Tian remained silent for a few seconds and pondered, "When will you attack?"
The old man answered, "A week from now.".
Ling Tian reasoned, 'I need EP and I can achieve a breakthrough to peak inner heaven in a week of farming it and solidify my power, sword arts, and everything else with training meanwhile; There is a high possibility of another comprehension barrier at the threshold of Heavenly awakening and the best way of comprehending the way of the sword is through fighting. This is a good opportunity! Also, I need to see the world and find my purpose, and seeing a true battle of this scale could be helpful in that regard.'
Ling Tian nodded after a while, "I will join you in this battle."
The old man smiled, "Wonderful!" He took out a badge with the words Dao engraved on it. "I am a core elder of the sect and can accept members. With this badge, you are officially a Core disciple."
Lian Qiu gawked as Ling Tian calmly took the badge and inerted his Qi into it. The badge turned crimson-colored and beside the words, Dao appeared the words 'Core disciple'.
'I will stay in this sect to join the battles and kill demons and etc. for points; After getting strong enough and breakthrough to peak Heavenly awakening realm... Empress Rong, I am coming for you...'
Meanwhile, a dejected baby crocodile with nearly transparent skin was slowly walking in the forest to return to his home lake when it suddenly spotted Ling Tian and Lian Qiu talking with the old man in the distance. 'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, This bastard is my bane! He came back to make living for this emperor, a true hell! This emperor will get revenge for sure this time!'