"What is this thing, how can I still hear you?" While Michael was on his way to Sarton, he heard Gaya's voice through his earbud.
"It's called earbuds, I can talk to you even after I entered the Nether realm"
"Where did you get it?"
"It's among the few things that mysterious light left me with. We can not only talk to each other through this but also I can find you wherever you are, so you won't get your snakey ass kicked like at the Phoenix island"
"You're not going to drop this, are you?" She could tell he was enjoying teasing her.
"Nope!" She proved the much-needed entertainment on his way to Sarton.
"Now that I think about it, I don't have to put up with your shit for five long days and I'm gonna enjoy every second of it" She sounded elated.
Yet, he knew she's going to miss him. After running for half an hour, he began to see the outer walls of Sarton and carriages on his way. Inside the city walls, Michael could sense a fluctuation in Arch Energy and saw a crowd of people going towards the center of the city.
"Hey!"
"What was that?'
"Is that lightning?"
After a golden lightning bolt passed by them, people were stunned and they had no idea it was Michael who just ran past them. Michael's full focus was on the center of the city where he sensed the Arch Energy fluctuations, so he didn't stop by to look around his surroundings and enjoy the view in the daytime. The last time he came to Sarton, he came by the night to slaughter a group of criminals to spread the legend of Lucifer.
**********************
At the moment in the center of Sarton, Noah was standing in there and waiting for the portal to the Nether realm to open with his friends. Beside him, Abel was gawking around and looked extremely nervous.
"Calm down Abel, Peyton said she will take care of it and we believe her" Norvin lazily lied on Noah's shoulder and said.
Suddenly, five groups of people flew towards the crowd from different directions at a very fast speed. Many people who were in lower level cultivation such as the Body Refining stage couldn't even catch a glimpse of their silhouettes and even Noah and his group of geniuses barely caught a glimpse of their figures. They appeared above the sky within a split second.
It was like they had made an appointment for a meeting as they had all appeared at exactly the same time.
Their emergence quietened the crowd down at the scene. An intense Aura was released from their bodies like a high tide wave in the sea, totally covering the sky. The people felt pressured by these auras that their souls shivered slightly, stirring up their sense of admiration for them. One group wore casual but noble clothes while the other four wore clothes that looked like uniforms.
The silhouettes were Gerard Atkins of the Guardians Guild, Royce Camden of the Morning Star, Hazel Belmont of the Silvermoon, Edgar Godfrey of Aragoth, and Dean Byrne of the Golden Valley. If Michael was here he would recognize his one-night stand, Sadie Kaplan who was standing behind Hazel Belmont, her teacher. Besides Sadie, there were also familiar faces of Evan, Victoria, and Celina among the people in the sky.
"Sigh" Abel sighed when he noticed Peyton and Xanali behind Gerard Atkins who was a dark-haired man with a sturdy body.
Everyone's gaze fell upon them with burning eyes, especially those rogue cultivators and some disciples of minor powers. They were all excited to be able to see the legendary figures of Bredia and Elon in person. It wasn't something that they had even dreamt of, especially seeing the famous legendary Guardian, Gerard Atkins. This matter was enough for them to boast in front of those who didn't have the chance to come when they returned.
Edgar was wearing greyish armor on his sturdy body. After he arrived, one of the youngsters behind him murmured something in his ears looking at Noah and his group immediately after he saw them. The youngster recognized Noah by his pure white clothes and the Golden babaroo on his shoulder.
"Who the heck is Noah Winstons and how dare you kill one of my disciples?"
Edgar raged. A strong aura suddenly rushed out of his body, inciting fear among the crowd.
After his sentence was finished, everyone both in the sky and land fixed their eyes on Noah. Gerard was the one who was surprised the most. Back when Peyton told him that she found the replacement for Ghost of the River town, Noah was merely a Body Refining stage level 4 warrior. Within a short period of time, he had reached level 8, this kind of cultivation speed really startled him.
Yet, even though he was surprised by Noah, he was the calmest of all. Gerard gave a nod of approval at Peyton for finding a genius for the trainee guardian position.
"Humph! Do you think you can kill my disciples and escape the wrath of Aragoth?" Edgar made a cold humph. He launched an attack with his palm-like claw at Noah. Who wouldn't know how powerful a Core Strengthening stage level 10 was? The powerful aura he radiated was strong enough to immobilize Noah.
To Edgar, he was a very rare genius, but he was an enemy now. He was as fragile as an ant in front of a Core Strengthening stage warrior and could be pinched to death easily.
Swoosh!
At the same time, another hand made of Arch Energy clashed with Edgar's and destroyed Edgar's spell.
"Edgar, he's a member of the Guardian guild, you can't kill him as you like."
Gerard was enraged. His relationship with Edgar hadn't been very good, and Noah was his responsibility. If he didn't stop Edgar from killing his subordinate, everyone would laugh him at for his cowardice.
"Gerard, you wish to start a war with me just because of a trainee?" Edgar's face was solemn.
"What if I am? " Gerard calmly asked him,
"Haha…Edgar, this is too shameful. The famous Aragoth sect is bullying a kid "
Hazel laughed, not willing to let go of the chance to send an insult to Edgar.
Edgar's expression changed, he made a cold humph and stopped his attempt to attack. To personally handle a Body Refining stage cultivator by himself was really a shameful act. There were more than enough inner disciples who could get rid of him.
Edgar gave the orders secretly using his telekinetic Sense to his disciples. "Listen, don't let me see this kid walk out of the Nether Realm alive."
One youngster behind him nodded and bowed at Edgar after receiving the order. Meanwhile, Hazel flicked her wrist as numerous space rings appeared in the air and each of the rings floated towards a person.
"You can't use any space rings inside the Nether realm except the one in front of you. Utility space carefully by taking what you really want"
"Avoid fighting with each other and concentrate on getting the treasures for your cultivation" After Hazel, Royce Camden of Morning star gave a piece of advice to all the youngsters.
"Alright. No more delays. We should open the rift with no delays" Dean said after everyone grabbed the space rings.
Right after that, the five masters came together and formed a portal on the ground connecting this world to the Nether Realm.
"We are finally going to enter the Nether realm for an expedition, I have been expecting this for a long time."
"I must get something good when I enter."
.....
Many had started to feel nervous. This was the day that they had been waiting for. They have all been preparing for this big event to happen and would rush into it as soon as it was opened.
.
"Let's go, we are going in."
Some had flown up wildly and rushed into the portal like there's no tomorrow. The entrance of the portal was enormous, big enough for them to enter in a large group like a swarm of wasps.
The geniuses of the three big sects and disciples of Aragoth were also entering the portal excitedly. Meanwhile, Xanali and Peyton descended from the sky and landed near Noah and his group.
"Big brother, let's go in together."
Maisy stood beside Noah.
"Who's this little girl?"
Peyton asked with a smile on her face. She could tell that there's a special relationship between the two.
"This is Maisy, my good foster sister. This is my friend, Abel"
Noah introduced them to one another as Peyton seemed like she just realized something," She's the one you recommended us to recruit, not bad, not bad at all" Peyton was slightly shocked to learn a thirteen years old little girl had reached the Body Refining stage level 5. She was a genius who could be compared to Noah or even Xanali's step-sister.
"Ah Peyton, Xanali, this is Abel. He is also one of my good friends. We have faced life-and-death trials before."
Noah patted Abel's shoulder while introducing him.
"Miss Peyton, Miss Xanali"
Peyton put one palm on his chest and said with respect.
"Nice to meet you Abel" Peyton and Xanali responded with a friendly smile.
"You should go. The others have already entered. You can't be left behind" Peyton said as Noah and Alicia nodded.
"Let's go" Right after that, he and his group rushed into the portal but just as they were about to step into the portal, they halted their steps when they saw a flash of gold lighting bolt into the portal.
"Wow, what was that?" Maisy and Abel did see nothing while Noah and Alicia barely caught a glimpse of a man in the flash of lightning.
"That was the guy who rejected our offer of joining the Guardian Guild in the first place, Ghost " Noah and his group were stunned for a moment. They wanted to probe into this matter but Gerard's sudden appearance pulled their attention more,
"Guardian Captain" Peyton and Xanali immediately lowered their heads and bowed with the utmost respect towards Gerard while the others awkwardly lowered their heads
"I have an important task for all of you in the Nether Realm"