The journey after his visit to Dongqiu city was quite peaceful with a few fights against rogue cultivators and beasts, but nothing too remarkable in strength, Chen Kai practiced his Galick Gun in the way, he now can use it, but he still lacks some control over it, the amount of energy he uses to perform it causes that his Galick Gun became a very destructive technique that even he surprised when he blew up a small mountain when practicing it, so he decided to use it as last resort, another thing was that he was three times stronger since he started his journey, reaching a power comparable to a Half-Step Spirit Ocean cultivator, he wished he could have fought someone as strong as the Elders of the Lan family, he knew that now he won't need to run from them anymore, even if they come once again to take his life, he knew Lan Xue, and he was sure that she wouldn't give up easily so it's a matter of time
Chen Kai was now on the outskirts of the Xuixin Empire, where the tournament would be held in the next couple of days. There was a huge bamboo forest surrounding the Empire as some big mountains. The number of roads connecting to the empire was plenty, with many people walking on them, some were going in horses, carriages, or even big tamed beasts. Most of those people were heading toward the empire
Suddenly, Chen Kai felt a strange energy coming in front of him, the energy was completely different from the one that all the people were emitting even if it felt very weak, so he decided to see what it was. Chen Kai walked for a couple of minutes until he noticed a man wearing a black robe with a hood that covered his face, he was leaning his back on a tree while he crossed his arms at the side of the road, at the sight of that man Chen Kai knew that it was Shallot who has been living in the Empire all this time
Chen Kai was confused after all this was the first time he felt Shallot's energy so when he walked towards him, he said " This is the first time I feel your Ki, but why is it so small? "
Shallot doesn't even bother to turn to see him he answers with a calm voice " I just let out a little bit of it to reveal my position, to you brats, no one of these people will bother feeling such small and weird energy "
Chen Kai stayed silent, but he felt quite curious about how Shallot could control his energy without the help of his vest. The pair stood still for a few minutes until Chen Kai spoke again " We will wait here, or we will go into the Empire? "
Shallot again without seeing him says " We will wait here for the other brat, so shut up "
Chen Kai shook his head slightly at Shallot's rude behavior, but he was getting used to him so he just waited there, in the meantime he saw the passing cultivators, some were strong which made him quite insecure about his current strength, despite that his power had grown in the last year something that could be called outstanding for any young cultivator, but for some reason, something inside him told him that that wasn't enough for this tournament but at least Callion would be at the same range as him, right? Only Tercres is the abnormal one between them ' I wonder if he managed to break through that limit ' Chen Kai wondered about Tercres who he hadn't seen in a few months
Suddenly Shallot said " Okay, he is already here " Chen Kai turned to see him then his eyes searched for Callion, but he couldn't see him or feel his Ki, but then from inside the bamboo forest he saw a young man walk towards them, that young man was Callion whose looks were rough. His vest was broken just like his pants, and he was covered with small scars, but the more noticeable change was his muscles which looked even tougher than before
' I can't feel his Ki at all, why? ' Chen Kai thought looking at Callion who was smirking at them. Callion walks near them and told Shallot " It seems that I'm the last one, so what now? " Shallot turns to see him with a frowning expression, then he says with a smirk " It seems that you have learned to hide your Ki, brat, but it's not enough to fool me "
Callion grins coldly and says " I had to do it when my vest broke, my Ki brought me a lot of trouble, and every bastard that came after I wanted to dissect my body for its secrets, these old bastards were too much even for my current strength "
" Hmph " Shallot snorts with a grin on his face
' He knows how to hide his Ki, that's why I can't feel it, he learned that by himself, or did Fannel help him? ' Thought Chen Kai with a serious expression seeing Callion
Shallot turns around to face both of them, then he makes a serious expression making them see him in the same way
" Now, if you remember, this tournament is for let me look at your progressions, nothing more, I don't care if you win it, or you lose it, I just want to know if you two are worthy to keep going " Said Shallot keeping his serious expression
Both Chen Kai and Callion frown upon hearing him, and then Shallot says " Do not disappoint me " These sole words are directed to Chen Kai, and he notices by the way that Shallot is looking at him, and even Callion notices it
Chen Kai felt threatened by Shallot's remark, he didn't know the outcome of what would happen if he failed Shallot's requirements maybe he will become a cripple once again, or even worse he could die
Shallot turns around and says " Let's go " and he begins to walk with Chen Kai and Callion behind him
The three of them walked towards the Empire and as always they attracted the gazes of many onlookers
" Look at those hobos, why are they here? " Said a young cultivator
" Fools they won't be able to enter if they don't pay, haha " Responded another with a mocking laugh
Chen Kai and Shallot ignored the comments of those people but Callion showed them a cold smile which made some of them shake, it was like looking at a tiger ready to pounce on them
The three of them walked near the gate and saw the great number of people from different sects that had been gathering there, but the crowd wasn't only composed of sect warriors there were a lot of civilians wanting to see the battles
" Damn it, why the hell are there so many people gathered at the entrance? " Callion said with annoyance seeing the crowd at the entrance, they had come to the point of stopping unable to enter the Empire by the number of people gathered there
Shallot makes an annoyed expression and responds " It should be obvious, there are so many of them thanks to the fame of some of the sects that are going to participate, most of these people just came to see the fights, so the Emperor decided to charge the entry to make some money "
*TCH* Callion clicks his tongue and says " Greedy bastard, why don't we jump the wall and get this over with? "
" Hmph " Shallot snorts with a grin then he says to Callion " It isn't that easy I have to register you two for the tournament at the entry, we have to wait " Shallot, Callion, and Chen Kai were approached by an armed guard who said to Shallot " Are you going to participate? or are you here to see the battles? " The guard said with a serious expression
Shallot then answers " These two are the ones who are gonna fight, I'm his master " The guard nods then he points at a table where another group of guards was attending to a group of 12 women wearing light blue clothes, who attracted the gazes of the passersby by how charming they looked even the guards were charmed by them even if all of them have their faces covered with veils " Please go there to get your registration "
Shallot nods and walks there, with Chen Kai and Callion behind him. Almost at the same time they arrived, the women's group walked to leave as Chen Kai and Callion crossed gazes with a few of them for a moment then ignored them completely which confused the women completely, after all, this was the first time that men dared to ignore them, and then they approached the guards, the guard taking notes and turns to see them with raised eyebrows then he said in a formal voice " Welcome to the annual sects' tournament, thanks to the great number of sects participating this year the number of participants had been reduced to only 6 per sect can you tell me the name of your sect and those who are going to participate? "
Shallot nods and says " We only need two places, no need for more, our Sect is the Sayan Sect, these two behind me are the ones who are going to participate "
The guard nods and takes notes, he doesn't seem surprised by the name of the sect there must be many small sects that have joined the tournament then he says " Alright, can you two tell me your names "
Chen Kai and Callion were about to speak, but they were interrupted by Shallot who said " Their names are Callion and Dakon no need to add their last names " Callion rolled his eyes, but Chen Kai was visibly annoyed after all he didn't want to use that name, yet Shallot registered him with it so when he was about to tell him something Shallot turns to see him coldly and say " It's only for the tournament, you don't need to cry about it "
Chen Kai only frowns at him, but Shallot ignores him then the guard hands two golden tickets to Shallot and says " The registration is done your numbers are 75, and 76 have been assigned to each one of them, there will be a meeting in the empire's main square where the battles are going to be held, the meeting will be approx in two hours you can go explore the empire in the meantime, it will be four golden taels for the registration "
Shallot nods and gives the guard the four teals then he walks away with Callion and Chen Kai behind him
" 4 golden taels for just the registration, this Emperor's greediness doesn't stop surprising me " Callion said with a cold grin
Shallot shakes his head slightly and says " The bastard thinks that he can take all the money to his grave, anyway, let's go to eat something before the meeting I will pay this time "
Callion smirks and says " Alright! I'm starving "
Meanwhile, Chen Kai was distracted by something else ' It seems that Ying Jie and Lan Xue have arrived at the empire, flying is a very convenient thing they arrived earlier than me, I can feel Teacher Shen, Lang Lin, and Yuan Ning's energies even that guy Wuhan, they have become stronger ' Chen Kai smiled, and he walked towards the restaurant
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In a far location, a young man and a woman were embracing each other, she was gorgeous, with her curvy figure and long red hair, she was slightly taller than him, she could even be a little older than him
The woman separates from the embrace and narrows her eyes, seeing him with an amused expression, but the young man shows a surprised expression. The young man was handsome with long brown hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes, the young saw her and said " What's wrong little fairy? Did I do something wrong? " The young man's face showed a face of desperation
The woman smiled slightly under her veiled face making his heart race at the glimpse she showed him then she touched his chin and said " You haven't done what I asked you "
The man opens his eyes wide in surprise then he says with panic " I did do as you wanted, little fairy, she is madly in love with me, I'm sure of that, she will do anything I ask her "
The woman keeps smiling as she caresses the man's face, then she says " Are you sure? Because I don't see any results "
The young man shakes his head a few times and with a hurried voice he says " It's not like that, it's just that she hasn't found him yet "
The woman caresses his face once again making the young man daze seeing her beautiful violet eyes through her veiled face, then she says " You don't love me? "
The young man nods with an enchanted expression " Yes I do, little fairy, I would go to the demon realm for you "
The woman smiles slightly and uncovers her veiled face showing her perfect face that made the young man sigh with delight then she closes the distance between them and begins to kiss the young man who closes his eyes with satisfaction ignoring the cold and disgusted expression that the woman is showing
After a couple of minutes, she separates from him then she walks away from the young to tell him " You may leave now, I have to focus on my cultivation "
The young man showed a surprised expression as he said " But little fairy, I thought that today we could... "
The young man couldn't even finish when he noticed the annoyed expression that the woman was showing him so he said " I-I understand, I will see you later then, little fairy " Then he turned around and walked away with a small smile on his face he doesn't seem to care at all about how she sent him away, he was more than happy
A few minutes after the young man left the woman was standing still when someone came behind her and said " Miss Zemin, I have news " It was a woman around the same age as her, but this woman wore completely black clothes and a mask that hides her face
" Speak " The woman named Zemin said with a cold and indifferent voice
" We have gathered the exact number of how many of those demons are in the Lower Realm " The Black-clothed woman said with a calm voice
Zemin turns around and with a cold expression says " I know how many of those small bugs there are, just tell me how many monsters from the Upper Realms have descended "
The Black-clothed woman nods and says " There are 4 demon level threats currently in the lower realm, besides we thought that there could be 1 godly level threat somewhere "
Zemin frowns and bites her thumbnail then the Black-clothed woman says " Miss Zemin, we could act right now and kill the small threats before they ascend "
Zemin turns to see her with a frowning expression and says " Don't be stupid, we can't act so rashly, the godly level threat could be even stronger than me, besides if we fail our sect could be exposed, and it will be the end of it and us, even my master doesn't dare to go to a full-on a war against them, we have to use small tricks to kill them we can't fight here "
" I understand Miss Zemin, there is something more " The Black-clothed woman said bowing her head slightly
Zemin turns to see her with a frowning expression, then she says " What? "
" It seems that we weren't the only ones that have descended, Sister Qin, noticed a fluctuation " The Black-clothed woman said with a serious voice
Zemin opens her eyes with surprise then she thinks ' There is no chance that it is another one of them, they don't need to open gates to move between Realms ' The woman frowns seeing the Black-clothed woman, and says " I need you, and the others to find out who has descended, once you know to report to me immediately in the meantime I will deal with those little monsters "
" As you command Miss Zemin " The Black-clothed woman bows and walks away
Zemin bites her thumbnail with frustration as she thinks ' Why is this happening? If they are from those sects allied with them, they have to die or the things we are doing here will be exposed, I can only wait to confirm it, in the meantime time I have to gather more allies, those old fools don't seem to have made any progress even with the artifacts I gave them and that little bastard is taking so much time to make his little girlfriend do the work '