"Him?"
The man then probed Sheng Tian's cultivation level with his spiritual sense and was immediately assaulted with a fierce aura that made him tremble. The man immediately pulled back his spiritual sense.
"Hey"
He jolted when the envoy nudged him with his elbow, "Are you alright?"
The man nodded and sheathed his sword, "Y-yeah"
The envoy didn't mind the man's behavior and called out to Sheng Tian, "No need to stand on ceremony, have a seat"
Sheng Tian wasn't polite and flew over before taking an empty seat, giving a slight nod to the other experts seated there.
"Hmm..."
Sheng Tian merely smiled at the other's discontent, while the one who had probed him turned away.
"Sheng Tian"
He focused on the envoy.
"Let me introduce you to the top experts of the Xia Empire!"
There were 4 others aside from the representative whom Sheng Tian had never heard about. He nodded while the envoy introduced the others, along with himself.
He placed a hand over his chest, "I am the Third Pillar of the Xia Empire, in charge of external affairs outside of the empire"
Sheng Tian raised an eyebrow, "That's a title and not your true name though"
He nodded, "I forget that most wouldn't know this," he gestured towards the others, "We servants of the empire forsake our true name to become one with the empire, tying our lives to it for as long as we live"
It was surprising news indeed, for the level of dedication and loyalty to the empire must be immense for people to forsake their true name over it.
While cultivators often take on titles and refer to themselves as such, they will never truly forsake their true name as it holds great karmic power and significance.
Next, he gestured towards the man who had drawn his sword against Sheng Tian earlier, "This is the Second Sword of the empire. The difference between a 'Sword' and a 'Pillar' is that a 'Pillar' focuses more so on the inner and outer workings of the empire. A 'Sword' on the other hand is in charge of military and informational aspects of the empire"
"I see"
Then he pointed at a skinny middle aged man with a pale complexion, "This is the Third Sword, he is in charge of collecting information all across the empire"
The man gave Sheng Tian a slight nod, which he returned in kind.
Then a man with long black hair stepped forward. He bowed and introduced himself without waiting for the Second Pillar.
"I am the First Pillar, I watch over all financial aspects of the empire"
A simple introduction, but one that made Sheng Tian tense momentarily. This man was the overseer of all things money related in the empire, and with the empire's deep pockets, this man was bound to have a lot of control.
Finally, the last man stepped forward and cupped his hands. Sheng Tian looked up and felt like he was staring at a mountain with the amount of muscles on this man.
"I am the Fifth Sword, and I train talents to fight in wars"
In front of Sheng Tian were 5 of the most influential and powerful people of the Xia Empire.
'It seems that I have underestimated the empire's foundations'
Sheng Tian stood and cupped his hands, "I am Sheng Tian of the Sky Sword Sect"
The First Pillar nodded his head and put on a pair of glasses and a pen and paper, "What an extraordinary temperament and aura! It is not unreasonable to call you one of the most talented beings that has ever existed in this realm"
The Second Pillar hurriedly pulled the First Pillar away with an embarrassed expression, "Allow me to apologize, the First Pillar has a peculiar hobby of drawing and collecting portraits of talented people"
"I see..."
"Anyway, you must be here to ask about that portrait your master had given us, right? Oh, it seems that we've also forgotten about your reward for winning the competition"
Sheng Tian nodded and pretended that he also forgot about the rewards, and was here for information on that portrait.
The First Pillar took out a jade slip, while the Second Sword took out several boxes.
"This is a jade slip containing all the techniques and info contained inside the Empire's Core Library. I made it so that the jade slip will destroy itself 3 days after you look at it. The contents also cannot be copied, so be sure to take a good look"
"Then the token-"
The Second Pillar cut in, "You can keep it. While it has few uses, you can still walk around the empire without fear if you wear it"
Sheng Tian then turned his attention to the various boxes the Third Sword had taken out.
With a wave of his sleeve, the man opened all the boxes. Inside were a wide selection of eggs in all sizes and colors. The Second Sword then explained what they were.
"These are the eggs of different Earth Beasts that I have collected. While your reward calls for a rank 1 egg, I only have rank 5 eggs here so count it as a gift from me. Feel free to choose one that you like"
Sheng Tian swept his spiritual sense over all the eggs and was able to deduce what race they are and the purity of bloodline. If he found an egg with a particularly high bloodline purity, it would be worthwhile to nurture it as his mount for the Earth Realm.
Weng!
"Hm?"
Sheng Tian turned and saw his spiritual sense being absorbed by one of the eggs. He walked over and picked up the box containing a head sized brown egg. Its shell seemed scaly and its color was dull.
However, it seemed to shine and pulsate when coming into contact with Sheng Tian's spiritual sense.
"Hmm"
The Second Sword walked over and eyed the egg.
"How interesting, this egg seems to resonate with you. Perhaps you should try and feed it your blood"
Sheng Tian nicked his finger and let a drop of his blood fall onto the egg.
Weng!
The egg lit up with a warm golden glow momentarily but died down the next. Sheng Tian was silent for a few moments before settling on this egg.
"While I do not know what race that egg belongs to, I hope you successfully nurture it"
It was at this moment that Sheng Tian felt the need to ask a question.
"Has the empire ever nurtured a beast past Foundation before?"
The men eyed each other and sighed, "Unfortunately, not"