--- Chapter 10 ---
In a small pavilion behind City Lord's Villa.
Cang Yue silently watched Hayate train martial arts with Hong Guan, who released a fiery aura.
When Hayate and Hong Guan moved, Cang Yue would lose her focus because they were too fast for her eyes.
BAM!
Hong Guan threw a fist at Hayate, to which he countered with a grappling technique. He tried to reach Hong Guan's clothes, but she was used to his mixed martial arts and freed herself quickly.
If Hayate had a full-contact with her body, she'd have lost there.
"You've become better, young master." Hong Guan praised with a smile on her face.
"Likewise, I can't throw you around like usual now," Hayate answered casually.
Even though Hong Guan possessed a better cultivation realm, her martial art skill was below Hayate's.
"Well, let's increase the difficulty a little." Hayate released his cultivation realm.
Hong Guan's face became serious and quickly matched Hayate's 7th of Earth Profound Realm. They stared at each other and disappeared from the training field once again.
Hayate planted his foot into the ground and released a forceful kick at Hong Guan.
Hong Guan clenched her hand and countered the incoming attack with a gentle fist.
"Flamingo," Hayate smirked slightly.
BAM!
Hong Guan watched Hayate's leg direction abruptly change and battered her left abdomen area instead. He swiftly arrived behind her and secured a position to launch several attacks on her.
"I give up." Hong Guan raised her arms in defeat. "Ah... Your sudden change of position and pace is bothersome, young master."
"Also, your body shouldn't be able to shift abruptly like that."
"Cultivators with weak physique would get their bones twisted if they tried to do what you were doing a few seconds ago."
Hayate shrugged because [Mystic Art of Body Cultivation] enhanced his physique to the most outstanding possibility. There are a few more steps in his profound arts, but he needed more insight in [Titleless Medical Book] to reach that stage.
He also had gone through [Body Reconstruction], which amplified his physical strength enormously. If Hayate reached the following stages without any problem, he presumably could attain a realm beyond this world's limit.
Hong Guan kissed Hayate's forehead and said, "Then, I'll take a warm shower and inspect the Silver Lake City's progress like usual."
"Sure," Hayate nodded while wiping sweat from his face.
He turned around and saw Cang Yue intensely staring at him with curiosity. Hayate walked into the pavilion and sat on a wooden chair within it.
"How was it, Princess?" He smiled at her. "Are you amazed by this brother's training?"
Cang Yue lunged her head excitedly and asked, "Are you really in the Earth Profound Realm??!"
"Yes." Hayate frowned because he thought his cultivation realm was normal.
"But, you are only 15 years old!"
"So?" He tilted his head in confusion.
Since Hayate rarely goes outside and has always locked himself in Silver Lake City to cultivate his strength. He maintained a broken sense of norm in Cultivation Realm.
"Young brother Hayate." Cang Yue grasped his hand. "After you treated my father, can you help me with something else?"
"What...?" Hayate sighed and sought an answer from Cang Yue, which she explained in detail a few minutes later.
The Blue Wind Ranking Tournament is a profound tournament for youths between 16 and 20 years old.
The number of participants reached 1500 top talents from all across Blue Wind Empire, and 500 highest sects got invited, with each faction allowed to bring three contestants.
The Blue Wind Ranking Tournament's result decided a sect level, and if a previously anonymous sect had an exceptional performance in the tournament and entered the top one hundred. That sect would become famous overnight.
However, for the sects that already stood at the apex, a good ranking was also meaningful because it would decide their position and prestige for the next three years.
"Blue Wind Ranking Tournament..."
He solemnly listened to everything Cang Yue said and couldn't help but wonder about something.
"When will this tournament be held again?"
"Hmm, in less than two years, the next tournament will be held." Cang Yue answered with a calm expression.
"It was held once every ten years but has now been compressed to once every three years."
Hayate stared at Cang Yue's bright eyes and chuckled, "You want me to participate, no?"
Cang Yue doesn't deny Hayate's statement, which left him speechless inside because she had so many requests for some reason. Nevertheless, no one of them really put him at a disadvantage.
"Beside obligatory reward and power ranking, is there any special reason the tournament has maintained for years?" He questioned weirdly.
Cang Yue nodded and replied, "Yes, there is a secret realm for a top-ranked candidate to enter after the tournament."
"However, I do not know completely about this information because our sect never entered the top 100..."
Cang Yue's face blushed in shame because the Blue Wind Imperial Family has never birthed genius. They had to recruit young cultivators with potential and help them grow to attend the tournament.
Hayate's presence was unknown for years, which was a mystery because he should have been famous with that kind of Cultivation Realm at such a young age.
Cang Yue considered Hayate as a gift from heaven because not only he could save her father, but he was also a genius, profound practitioner, and an expert in martial arts.
"I'll think about it first," Hayate stated while cooling his body. "We are not in a hurry after all."
"That's true.." Cang Yue returned quietly.
The pavilion was quiet because no one tried to start a conversation, making the atmosphere quite awkward.
"Well, let's prepare a few things first." Hayate lifted his body off the chair.
Cang Yue also hurriedly lifted her body and tried to follow him away, but Hayate chuckled and stopped her immediately.
"Stop, Princess. You can't follow me."
"Why... Is it because-." Cang Yue panicked, but Hayate only shook his head wryly.
"Are you going to follow me to the bathroom?" He said, which caught her off guard. "I can't be at the Imperial Palace with my current sweaty clothes after training."
"..." Cang Yue's eyes widened.
She opened her mouth in embarrassment, but no words came out.
"Ah, Um..." She stuttered slightly.
"I'll wait here..."
"How adorable of you, Princess," Hayate playfully commented as he walked away from the training ground.
Cang Yue dropped down and covered her flustered face instantly with a handkerchief. 'Ahh... So embarrassing!!' She thought while thinking about Hayate's sweaty body for some reason.
Even though Hayate is two years younger than her, he has the body of a healthy young man with refined muscle under his clothes.
He is also exceptionally handsome with his mysterious golden eyes that shine under his messy short black hair.
Hayate has made another young lady fall into his absolute grasp, unlike Xia Qingye, who he teased a lot. Cang Yue naturally fell because he left quite an impression on her last night.
A few minutes later, Hayate has now worn a freshly prepared outfit by Hong Guan, consisting of a black robe with a white shirt inside and clean trousers.
He approached Cang Yue in the training ground and shocked her with his current look. She stared at Hayate from top to toe and nodded inside because he looked charming.
"Princess," Hayate flicked her forehead. "If you kept staring at me like that, we wouldn't be able to go,"
"O-Ok, I was thinking how fast you took a bath..." Cang Yue muttered quietly.
Hayate amusingly crossed his arms and replied, "Of course, I was taking a bath, not entering seclusive cultivation."
"How long can a bath be?"
Cang Yue could only nod her head, but deep inside realized she usually took more than one-hour baths in the Imperial Palace.
She summoned her flying beast with a small flute and brought Hayate to the sky with her.
Hayate's eyes scanned the scenery with great interest because he had never tested this world's sky. He felt the winds around them and smiled because there was no pollution like in his last world.
'I just need to break through a few more times, and I could fly in the sky without using my Kaiju cores.' He thought while closing his eyes.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Cang Yue has been observing him quietly like a curious cat. She had never removed her gaze from Hayate because of how mysterious he was.
The journey silently continued for a few hours, and when they arrived at the Blue Wind Imperial City, Hayate could see the Imperial Palace standing in the dead center of the city.
Cang Yue landed her flying beast on the Royal Family's personal garden and frowned because someone stayed a few meters away from them.
"Third brother..." She has a cold expression.
One of the reasons Burning Heaven Clan supported Cang Shuo was due to Burning Heaven Clan Young Master Feng Juecheng.
Fen Juecheng wanted to marry Princess Cang Yue, and Third Prince Cang Shuo would regularly invite Fen Juecheng to the imperial palace so that he could meet Cang Yue.
The Third Prince would regularly pressure her about the marriage proposal to the point that Cang Yue left the imperial palace to avoid them.
If Cang Yue were not worried about her father's illness, she wouldn't want to see her third brother's face.
Hayate glanced at Cang Shuo and whispered, "So that's the third prince, huh."
Cang Shuo is a man in his late twenties with a somewhat dignified appearance. He wore a red attire filled with faint flame-like patterns.
"You can ignore him." Hayate shook his head and tapped Cang Yue's shoulder to wake her up. "He's not that strong after all."
Cang Yue nodded and jumped off her flying beast, which slowly was followed by Hayate from behind. They walked past Cang Shuo and ignored him like he was a wind.
Cang Shuo obviously was angered by their actions, but Hayate aimed wild beast intimidation at him. He couldn't even move his mouth to talk as they disappeared into the palace.
Cang Yue sighed in relief and said, "Thank you, younger brother Hayate."
"It's nothing. I also have some grudge against the third prince." Hayate replied casually.
As they walked toward the emperor's bedroom, which is located deep within the Imperial Palace, some people greeted them in the corridor.
They stopped in front of a big door, and Cang Yue knocked on it a few times.
Knock! Knock!
Cough!
Cang Yue frowned and entered the bedroom quickly, finding her father lying on the bed with a pale complexion.
"Father?" She said while grasping Cang Wanhe's frail hand.
Cang Wanhe, the 99th emperor of the Blue Wind Empire, is a gray-haired man who seemed to age poorly. He barely has any muscle with a thin body.
"A normal cold wouldn't affect one's body this heavily," Hayate commented while standing behind Cang Yue.
He scanned Cang Wanhe's body in detail and noticed a scar mark on his chest, which lifted the corner of his mouth.
Cough!
Cang Wanhe coughed blood and woke up from his sleep. He looked around in worry and saw his daughter looking at him with a lamentable expression.
"Yue'er." He smiled while patting her head.
"Father, have you eaten your medicine?" Cang Yue asked, to which Cang Wanhe responded with a shake of his head.
Even though Cang Wanhe fell ill, he wasn't blind nor deaf to notice there was something weird in his medicine. He just hasn't possessed enough evidence to find the truth himself.
"I'm okay..." He laughed slightly.
Cang Wanhe noticed a black-haired young man behind her daughter and asked, "Yue'er, who is this young man?"
"Nice to meet you, Your Majesty." Hayate bowed his head. "I'm Hayate Kurogami, and Princess Yue assigned me to treat your illness."
"Well, it's not really an illness."
"Oh?" Cang Wanhe observed the young man with great interest.
Hayate smiled and added, "You're not sick."
"It's just that something is leeching inside your body."
Cang Yue listened quietly and looked at the small knife that appeared in Hayate's hand.
"Excuse me, but It would be quicker if I showed it by myself."
Cang Wanhe waited for Cang Yue's reaction, but his daughter only nodded because she trusted Hayate.
"Very well." He responded because Cang Yue would never hurt him.
Hayate brought the Scalpel to Cang Wanhe's chest and created an incision precisely to expose something to them. A wriggly red worm entered their vision.
"T-That thing lives inside my father's chest..." Cang Yue covered her mouth in horror.
"Hsss..." Cang Wanghe felt a slight pain because of the red worm.
Hayate placed his palm onto Cang Wanhe's chest and sealed the incision with physical restoration.
"It's a parasite."
"The Soul Devouring Life Binding Parasite, to be exact."
"It is a horrible parasite planted inside the body and relies on the heart's blood to mature. It shares life with its host, so only the person who planted it can take this parasite away."
"Now, the question is... Who's close enough to plant such a thing into the emperor's body?"
Hayate watched Cang Yue's expressions become grim because she knew the answer.
Cang Wanhe's face darkened, and he indifferently murmured, "Gu Quihong, that despicable piece of shit."
PA!
"Your highness, princess." Hayate quickly caught their attention with a clap.
He grinned at them and asked, "How good is your acting skill?"