Bai Jingshen was shocked and angry. He never imagined that Spike Sr. would just fire at him.
"Are you out of your mind old man?!", the former emperor yelled furiously.
"You! You destroyed my son's future! How dare you!"
"Are you delusional? What did I do?!"
"Of course! He would be a friend of Lord Ellshire by now if it wasn't for you humiliating him! He would win the newcomer competition! He would be a star! You destroyed EVERYTHING!"
As Bai Jingshen confusedly looked on while Spike Sr. tried to build his own fantasy world, a door to the left suddenly opened, showing a just as confused RSS team as they entered the room. Spike Sr. was already in a weird state of rage and trance, instinctively pointing his weapon at the new arrivals. The RSS team panicked and began to shove each other, but before something could happen Phill already gave the order to fire.
If Bennet earlier felt like he got hit by a flash of lightning, Spike Sr. suddenly entered a lightning storm. From all over the walls bullets rained down on him, paralyzing him in milliseconds. Bai Jingshen shuddered at the sight, silently swearing to be on his best behavior for now on.
Suddenly, their cube's hatch opened again. A big vehicle, almost completely rectangular came flying in at a brisk pace. Bai Jingshen was impressed with this new arrival, as he felt the enormous anergy it contained. Thobar Bionics' Mana bus in comparison felt like a firefly competing with the moon. He was sure this vehicle, which proudly carried New Haven City's logo, was a real military aircraft armed with weapons capable of killing at least Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.
Bai Jingshen suddenly felt he had to adjust his attitude towards guns a bit. Those points Bennet brought up about guns having energy problems might be true, however, Bai Jingshen had to admit that high-class guns seemed really dreadful, if provided with enough energy.
While Bai Jingshen was admiring the military aircraft, its backdoor suddenly opened. Obviously Phill's reinforcement already had a clear picture of the ongoing situation. They didn't delay even a second, as two menacing black clothed soldiers jumped out.
Bai Jingshen couldn't observe anything about those fighters, as their closed-up armor was surrounded by a slight Mana field, seemingly blocking Bai Jingshen's senses. He could feel some pressure however, as he clearly noticed the aura of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator from inside the aircraft.
The two New Haven City soldiers weren't distracted by anything, quickly arriving by Spike Sr. They picked him up on his feet and hands, carried him to their vehicle and unceremoniously threw him in. At this point a deep voice sounded from inside:
"Chief Instructor Spike of Thobar Bionics will be sent to prison for disregarding and attacking New Haven City's authority. He is to be judged after this batch of newcomers left for the New World. Candidate 142 is to be banned from this competition."
Bai Jingshen looked at Phill in surprise, as the latter's whole demeanor instantly changed. He stood stiff like a metal pole, suddenly giving of the aura of a professional soldier, as he saluted towards the vehicle and answered with a loud:
"Sir! Yes sir!"
The former emperor had to admit that he might have underestimated New Haven City and their education from Phill's nonchalant attitude before. Now however, he couldn't help but respect them as Phill seemed to have handled the whole situation perfectly even at his still rather young age.
Shortly after, the military left as quickly as it came, with Spike Jr.'s medical vehicle following behind. Bai Jingshen almost pitied Spike Jr. for being disqualified because of his father, but he quickly remembered that he might have permanent damage from Spike Jr.'s bullets if not for his core energy. All pity instantly vanished, as Bai Jingshen marked the father-son pair as must-kill in his mind.
After all the excitement, the RSS team quickly surrounded Bai Jingshen. The talkative Sam was the first to show his concern, asking Bia Jingshen about what had happened. The former emperor took a bit of time to placate his team members.
Meanwhile the SFT members were awkwardly standing in a corner. Just now they were still gloating at Bennet's misfortune, but a short moment later they had lost all their support. Luckily, Bai Jingshen quickly went back into his bedroom, ignoring the hostile team. Since the main victim didn't do anything, the other RSS members followed suit and decided to check on Bennet.
Phil in the meantime looked at his necklace. Bai Jingshen might have praised him inwardly, but for the young elite it still came as a shock, how someone would open fire here, especially on their own comrades. He slowly shook his head and just grabbed a random book, which seemed still mostly intact, from the ground before sitting down to read and calm his mind. He had often thanked those people responsible for making sure printed books stayed a thing, but at this moment he was especially thankful. Fortunately, he wasn't responsible for cleaning up this mess, as designated staff would soon come in.
In the highest viewing platform Titus Gaian told his AI to put the competition back on his screen. As soon as the alarm sounded, he was also informed. The main room of all cubes had multiple cameras on them, so Titus would be able to assert the situation on his screen. After realizing that only a small Mana Core cultivator was causing trouble, he quickly lost interest. He only mumbled for bit:
"The tallest tree catches the strongest winds, but only through hardships can you grow strong."
His personal secretary behind him finally decided to note down the name Bai Jingshen, after her boss had shown repeated curiosity.
As the center of the previous incident however, Bai Jingshen just hoped to go back to cultivation as fast as possible. With Spike's shot suddenly requiring all of his attention, his core energy seemed to have trouble in suppressing the poison.
Like this he realized how much stronger this poison was compared to the one used by Terr Iros. Therefore, Bai Jingshen quickly took on a meditative position, fully concentrating on his core energy.
Right now, his body seemed to be locked in a fierce struggle to not allow any leakage of poison into his Dantian. Bai Jingshen purposely calmed himself down, knowing that panic would only prove harmful. He quickly used his spirit to carefully guide his core energy. Those two forces together slowly began to dissolve the poison.
Bai Jingshen was elated as he once again felt a warm feeling surging through his body, strengthening all his muscles, bones, and tendons, while increasing his core energy. However, contrary to the fist time he was dissolving poison, Bai Jingshen felt himself getting tired this time. He realized that this poison was putting up a fight, leading to his core energy not being strong enough on its own, so his spirit used up a lot of strength as well.
At this point he was sure that Spike Jr. wasn't using the same poison his father used in the past. It seemed Spike Sr. might have tried to create mor of the substance he found in a secret realm, but was only able to create a weaker version. Otherwise, from the strength he was exercising, his spirit certainly couldn't fight the stronger poison, and his mysterious core energy probably couldn't either.
It was a novel feeling for Bai Jingshen to not have accurate information about a force in his body. It was however definitely not a pleasant one. For now, he had to win a competition, but if he could safely cultivate in the future, he had to explore his core energy as much as possible.
It took a long time for Bai Jingshen deal with the poison this time. In fact he had to rest two times to recover his spirit, before he was finally done. However, the former emperor felt that every second of it was definitely worth it, as his physical strength seemed to vaguely surpass the Body Refinement Realm now.
After gathering himself, Bai Jingshen thought about the competition again. He was suddenly confused, as from his feeling a day should have passed at least in meditation. He quickly asked General Mao when his next match would be, but was told that two opponents of his surrendered without a fight, so he was already in the finale.
The former emperor couldn't understand what those people were afraid of. But how could he know, that one of those was Lehno's subordinate while the arrogant noble was pressuring his other opponent into giving up. Doing so with the simple goal of beating up, or better crippling, Bai Jingshen personally, meanwhile showing Julia who the real man was.
Bai Jingshen didn't think much longer about his situation however, as he grew exited about the next match: The losers-bracket final between Julia and Ra.