Nero graciously accepted the spatial ring Aito had gifted him; this was after all his reward. He didn't care if the martial artists present at the feast would all gang up on him, it will take him nothing to destroy them all if he wanted to.
The feast slowly came to its natural conclusion. Everyone departed to their residence, and soon Nero too went to turn in for the night. Before Nero could leave the bouquet hall, Aito's vibrant voice called out to him.
"Little brother, can we have a small talk?" A tone of seriousness was hidden in his tone. Nero nodded and followed him to the huge library.
Getting there, Aito didn't bother with the pleasantries and spoke directly, "Little brother, although I like your vibrant fighting spirit, I also fear that you were too hasty. An elephant might be big and strong but against a pack of rabid hyenas it would still fall…"
The meaning behind Aito's words were made obvious. Not that he didn't believe in Nero's ability to win, but in a prolonged battle against that many martial artists, the result might tilt against him. Aito felt that even if Nero could jump realms to fight his opponents, doing that steadily will eventually wear him out.
Jumping realms to fight your opponent couldn't be considered an everyday incident, but it wouldn't also be considered heaven-defying. In some cases, some martial artists are born with extraordinary strength that surpasses other martial artists at the same level making them able to jump realms to fight those martial artists at higher realms. It wouldn't be so difficult to find such character amongst those promising young talents and added to the fact that they had strong backgrounds made things more complicated.
This was majorly Aito's worry. Not that Nero was in any way lacking in strength, but who amongst those promising martial artists wouldn't be considered a genius character. They all had their individual achievements which they earned at their young ages. As Aito spoke, he became more worried; this was a battle that would help strengthen their influence over the other ruling powers. But Nero's next words struck him like thunder.
"I do not intend to revoke what I said. They might be strong but we'll just have to see who is stronger."
Aito instantly swallowed his words. A wide smile spread across his face as he tapped Nero's shoulders.
"Very good! I like your fighting spirit. If you win this battle then our Gandor kingdom won't spare any expense to reward you! Haha!" Aito laughed in his usual tone.
Nero ruefully smiled. The rewards Aito must be talking about might be truly earthshaking, but to him, it wasn't worth much. He was still yet to analyze the sword and the crystal box that Aito had previously gifted him. Nero didn't think that the rewards offered to him would be worth much. However, seeing the low-class Profound grade sword, he was a bit relieved; at least it was an improvement from what he initially had in mind. When he saw that Saburo had a high-class Mortal grade spatial ring, Nero thought that this was the same with all the high leveled characters. He was secretly relieved that it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.
After their conversation, Nero went back to his room. He already knew the grade of the sword so he didn't need to bother with it again. He kept it aside and took up the crystal box. Holding the box in his hands, Nero could feel faint traces of pure Heaven and Earth Qi emanating from it rushing into his body causing a sudden cool to run through his body. Nero's interest was piqued and he opened the box.
Inside the crystal box was a fist-sized black fruit covered in thin hair-like thorns.
"Hellish thorn fruit!" Nero said, a bit surprised.
The hellish thorn fruit grew in special places where it constantly bathed in Heaven and Earth Qi. They were very difficult to find because they had no specific environment where they could grow. The only condition was that they had to be in a place where they were constantly bathed in Heaven and Earth Qi, and sometimes that might not be the case. They were incomparably useful in concocting potions and pills to heal the meridians, just like the five petal blazing flower. The only thing was that the five petal blazing flower was even more difficult to find than it and its medicinal potency was higher than the hellish thorn fruit. Nero had obtained the five petal blazing flower from a lightning Jaguar, however, its medicinal essence had drastically reduced making it less effective than it should.
Nero smiled as he held the box in his hand. With time he would be able to concoct the potion he needed to heal his wounds; at least part of it. If an average martial artist was to be hit by the weapon that struck Nero, then their death was imminent with no time to wallow in the pain; they would immediately disintegrate in nothing but ash. However, Nero had survived but with injuries. An injury of this level could cause an average martial artist to revert to a mortal, and even if they survive, their cultivation wouldn't be the same because of the leftover medicinal essence in their body.
The potions and pills taken to heal the meridians contained excessively heavy medicinal essence. If the essence wasn't completely refined then with time they would form contaminants that would obstruct ones flow of Qi. Not to talk of potions to heal the meridians, even potions and pills to heal the spirit core contained more essence that could make the body explode if not refined properly.
Nero thought of this and shook his head; his road to recovery would undoubtedly be difficult. To get the materials required wass on its own difficult, then refining it was something else altogether. Nero tightly clenched his fist, his road to recovery was going to be difficult but he had to steel his mind and venture on.
"One day… I'll avenge me!"