Even though the Artefact King remained silent and continued his climb without spreading the news, how could the rest of ordinary Disciples resist themselves? The scene was too cool not to share with all their friends.
"Confrontation on the top Dragon Steps! Artefact King versus new giant, Elemental Bracelet Holder Liu Xuefeng! Watch the challenge on today's Daily News! Only ten credits!"
Young boys were running on the streets with a fresh video newspaper, selling them on the streets as well as the air, approaching all flying beasts in the traffic. Even though ten credits wasn't cheap, no one hesitated in buying it.
"Elemental Bracelet Holder Liu Xuefeng claiming to reach the top of the Dragon Tower! Will he claim the top of Dragon Steps as well?! Find out on Daily Ne—"
"I will take one."
Right when the newspaper boy passed by the busy garden restaurant, he was stopped by an extended hand. He immediately got excited but when he saw who it was, his eyes widened.
"S-Sir Morgan!" he stuttered as he spoke his name.
He couldn't be wrong! It was impossible to mistake the top one on the Dragon Steps! This single blue horn, flaming-red hair, and scales covering part of his body. They were the remains coming from his Beast Form.
He was casually eating in the restaurant with his friends as if nothing could move him.
Wait…
The newspaper boy looked at the rest and almost fell down to the ground. All of his idols were here! Top two! Top three! Top four and five too! All five were eating breakfast without caring about the onlookers.
"Hehe, Sir Morgan is too formal. I'm Ryan. Anyway, can I have the disk?"
Ryan corrected patiently, snapping the boy back to reality. Despite being the top one on the Dragon Steps, Ryan didn't seem arrogant at all.
"Y-yes! Here you go Sir!" the boy called out embarrassed and passed him the disk with a smile. "Sir, it's free for you! You are my hero!"
"Heh," Ryan chuckled as he pulled out an ID card and neared it next to the boy's scanner to pay. "Would I be a hero if I didn't pay? Work hard boy. Maybe you can take over our place one day."
The boy's eyes brightened and he nodded eagerly.
"I will! Thank you!"
He skipped away after Ryan ruffled his hair and activated the disk for them to watch as he returned to eating. The whole confrontation between Xuefeng and Artefact King displayed for them as if someone recorded everything.
The moment Xuefeng confidently claimed he knows what the Cursed Fragments turn into, all of them raised their eyebrows in surprise.
"Hey, did you guys hear the news?"
Just as the video ended, a pretty woman of blue hair walked up to their table, sitting right by Ryan's side.
"Yeah, we just watched it. The guy seems legit," Ryan replied as he embraced the woman's waist. It was clear they were a couple as she replied with the same kind of affection.
"Yeah, I heard it as I came back from the toilet. He actually claimed he can get to the top of Dragon Tower. What do you think about it, babe?" She asked worriedly, but Ryan didn't seem even a bit worried.
"What about it? If he can get to the top of the Dragon Tower then good for him. I can't do that. I will gladly give him my top spot on Dragon Steps if he can achieve that," Ryan replied as he eyed his friend's food. "Are you going to eat that?"
They all turned speechless.
"What?" Ryan asked back confused, helping himself by stealing more food. "If he is better than me, I can only congratulate him and befriend him. Maybe he can teach me some tricks."
"You won't contest for the top one spot?" his friends questioned surprised, causing Ryan to roll his eyes.
"You must be crazy. Do I look like I'm suicidal? Haven't you seen the recording? This guy is a monster. He already has three Elemental Stones on his Elemental Bracelet which means he can control three elements. Just this alone should be enough to make you hesitate to mess with him," Ryan pointed out eagerly. "Also, do you recall the girls that followed him?"
"Yeah, I saw Xinyu with him. Never would have thought she would agree to share her man with anyone," his girl muttered as she scratched Ryan's head. "I would never let that happen."
"My Rose, of course, I wouldn't even think about it," Ryan called out as if he was in danger. "Anyway, you get my point. For her to put her pride away only means he is something else. And did you see a beauty similar to her, just a bit older? Don't you recognize her? That's Sect Master Liu's wife. Her mother. This guy had the audacity to get both his wife and his daughter and Sect Master Liu didn't do anything about it. For me, that clearly tells something about him."
"He has balls..." the guys commented. "Maybe he is even stronger than Sect Master Liu already?"
"That's what I'm trying to say," Ryan nodded, finishing his meal. "Let's go. I wanna meet him."
———
'Yeah, I really have no idea what this is. Those Fragments don't even match together.'
Even after collecting seven Cursed Fragments, Xuefeng could hear Ming's lament at her fruitless efforts to brainstorm what Artefact it was. Their run was pretty smooth so far but while everyone was collecting new useful Artefacts, he was left with a pile of scrap metal.
'Maybe it was really a mistake?' Xuefeng wondered, but Ling quickly denied. 'No. Ming is right. I can also feel faint power inside of it. I just can't tell what it is. It is definitely not Qi.'
'Welp, I guess we can only keep going,' Xuefeng muttered as he gazed in search of his wives. They were still checking out the Rooms to have their own pick while he stayed with Katherine and Xinyu who already did in the past.
"Xuefeng… I have a question."
Xinyu's voice broke his thoughts as she tugged on his sleeve.
"You know, this was the floor I reached when I entered Dragon Tower last month. I was barely hanging on so I decided to stop here," Xinyu added.
"Oh, congrats then. It seems like you improved greatly," Xuefeng replied happily, caressing her cheek as a reward.
She grabbed only his hand and looked up into his eyes.
"That's the point. I didn't do anything that would make me improve this much. Also, I noticed all your wives are doing so well, not even sweating on this high floor," Xinyu explained. "I was thinking that maybe the credit goes to you for that."
Xuefeng didn't even need to ponder on it.
"Of course it does. I have been tempering my wives' bodies for years with my ability. You also received some earlier, forgot?" Xuefeng reminded.
"Yeah… I knew it," Xinyu muttered to herself as she bit on her lip. She eyed his body and then looked around the floor suspiciously.
Katherine and Xinyu exchanged glances before suddenly pulling him inside the empty Cursed Fragment Room. They hid behind the entrance edge and pinned him to the wall, looking at him expectantly.
"Can you give us some more now?"
