Next morning, Bary and a few elders were already waiting close to the long-distance teleport formation. Krune's group arrived right after. Only Krune and Ao will be participating this time around. But Shinja and Yusa were going together just to see how the first phase would go out. Bary didn't mind. Many contestants are bringing their subordinates to take care of their necessities. It's a common situation in the cultivator world anyway.
"I see you achieved a breakthrough into the 8th stage. That is good! You should have a better chance of passing the Martial Gathering now. But I know you did it quite in a hurry. So, remember to spend the next few months reinforcing your foundation instead of cultivating!"
Krune nodded.
"That was my plan from the start. Guild Head Bary has no need to worry."
Bary then looked at Ao Sulian.
"How was this period of training with Orle?"
Ao immediately thanked Bary.
"He was of immense help. I was somewhat weaker than Arlan, but I reckon I should be able to fight on equal grounds against him now."
Bary and the elders heard that and were very satisfied. Arlan definitely had the strength to fight for one of the ten slots. if Ao has the power to fight against him on equal grounds, he also has a chance to get one of the ten slots. Bary them clapped his hands and said:
"Alright, get over the long-distance teleport formation, we are going to the Makui Continent."
They stepped on it. After the teleport formation finished charging up with spiritual energy, everyone disappeared with a silver flash.
The city of Marlow was where the Spaceship of the Divine Path Sect was staying at that moment. It was on the border of the biggest danger zone of the Makui Continent, the Abyss Danger Zone. Different from other cities bordering danger zones, that one was stationed right beside it. So anyone who wished to enter the danger zone wouldn't need to travel for days to reach it.
One of the various long-distance teleport formations in the city started to shine. An instant later, Krune's group appeared on it. That time, there was no one waiting for them, which is to be expected. There were a lot of contestants this time around. The city couldn't possibly arrange so many people at the same time. After arriving there, Guild Head Bary guided everyone to the Mercenary Guild Branch of that city where their rooms were already waiting.
As soon as they arrived, they bumped on the Makui Continent Mercenary Guild Head, Lowen Isfal, and Arlan Rosier was beside him. They had just arrived as well. Bary and Lowen went somewhere else to talk while Arlan stayed behind, he then turned to Krune and Ao.
"It's been a while."
Ao and Krune nodded. Ao had quite a good impression of him.
"Not that long, just one month and something. How has your training coming around?"
Arlan laughed at that question.
"You really are a sword maniac just like me. The first thing you ask was about my skills. But I like that! I've been receiving swordsmanship training from the Guild Head this time around. It seems like he has quite high hopes for me."
Ao eyes lit up. All he wanted was to spar with Arlan to see how much they had really improved, but Yusa stopped them the middle way.
"Alright! Don't go out there challenging people right when you see them! You need to keep your peak condition for the Martial Gathering, and you can display all your skills as much as you want when it starts."
Arlan and Ao nodded. In the end, Krune's group invited Arlan to have a meal with them. Surprisingly, Arlan really accepted the invitation.
"I was expecting you to refuse, you know?"
Arlan then asked.
"Should I leave then?"
Krune shook his head.
"Ignore her, I'm more than happy to cook for more people. Just meet us back here in an hour, I'm going to take a look in my room first. I believe the rest of us will be doing the same."
Arlan nodded and then went back to do his own things. The same was for Krune and the others. After checking in their rooms and looking into some information, they gathered again at the entrance around one hour later.
Arlan then asked.
"Where should we go? I know a few restaurants around here."
Since he was willing to show it for them, everyone nodded.
After taking a room for themselves, Krune looked on the menu and asked for almost everything he hasn't tasted before, making Arlan's jaw drop. He wondered if Krune could really eat all of that. Not long after, the food arrived.
While they were eating, Arlan made an invitation.
"After this, I'm going to the Danger Zone beside the city to train my sword skills a bit. Do you guys want to tag along?"
Ao immediately accepted. Seeing that, Krune and the others nodded too, they had nothing to do in the meantime anyway. Since they still have a week before the Spaceship departs, they might take a look in this danger zone. As long as they don't go more in-depth, a group at their level shouldn't have any issues.
After finishing eating, they were about to stand up to leave the restaurant when they suddenly heard a commotion coming from the entrance. After making their way down to see, they found out who was the culprit. Arlan then explained:
"That is Roni. He came with the elder of the Divine Path Sect, who is overseeing the Martial Gathering of our planet this time. I heard that he hated being on our planet and has been causing trouble around ever since he arrived."
Krune's group didn't expect that guy to be someone from the Divine Path Sect. They could see him complaining about the quality of the restaurant and its food. Then, Arlan explained the things Roni had been doing ever since and how his martial sister had to intervene every time to prevent things from scaling.
Krune's group saw how Roni was acting, and their first impression of him was as bad as bad could be. However, they decided to ignore him. This guy wasn't their problem, after all. So they moved to the entrance to exit the restaurant. It was then that Roni caught a glance from Shinja in the middle of Krune's group. As a Pure Yin Body woman, she was obviously very beautiful. He immediately stopped what he was doing and came over.
He stopped the group and talked with Shinja. His eyes didn't stop on Krune or the others for even a second, he was obviously treating them like air.
"Hello, lady! Would you like to accompany me for a chat?"
Shinja's face immediately darkened. Other than the people in her group, she usually turned a cold shoulder to anyone approaching her. Divine Path Sect or not, she couldn't care less about him.
"Scram!"
She ignored him and left with everyone. Roni was frozen on the spot. He had never expected someone of this planet would dare to ask for him to scram. A moment after his face turned ugly and he immediately went after Krune's group. However, just as he was about to start another big commotion, his martial sister appeared and grabbed his shoulder.
"She doesn't want to talk with you, so leave her alone."
In fact, Lena was very satisfied with the way Shinja treated this idiot martial brother of hers. If not for the fact they have the same Master, she would have crippled him already. She really couldn't understand why her Master kept someone like him on his side as a disciple.
Roni understood he wouldn't be able to make a move on Shinja at that moment and just snorted. He took flight and left straight away. Lena looked back at Krune's group and sighed. She knew that Roni wouldn't give up so easily. His pride was so big that it could reach the heavens. But she did all that she could at that moment. She then let out a sigh and left as well.
Arlan was still impressed by the way Shinja treated the Divine Path Sect guy. How many people on their planet would dare to do so?
"Sister Shinja, I'm really amazed by your actions. Don't you fear that guy taking revenge on you? I heard he raised a tumult every time something displeased him on our planet. Quite a lot of people got injured just because of his whims."
Shinja wasn't the only one to not care about Roni. Krune didn't give a damn about him either. As for Ao and Yusa, they were more or less following the flow. They did think that offending someone of the Divine Path Sect wasn't right, but they wouldn't stand on their side if Roni decided to bully someone of their group.
"He is just a Core Formation Realm like me. I have nothing to fear! According to what you told us, the Divine Path Sect seems to don't mind his actions. Only his martial sister is stopping by sometimes to check if he isn't starting a war suddenly, which means that no one is giving him any backup."
Arlan was taken aback by those words. He had to admit that it made some sense. Other than Lena, no one appeared to care about what he was doing.
It didn't take long for them to arrive at the city's gate. After signing the same agreement as always, they immediately left. Ao and Arlan decided to use the demon beasts to see who was better at fighting them. Although their personalities were quite different, they seemed to be very competitive when the way of the sword was involved. Krune and the others tagged along and watched the show. It was very entertaining for them to see those two fights.
There was only one thing Arlan found strange. Ao had put the condition they shouldn't kill or cripple the demons beasts, only defeat them.
'Maybe because it's harder to simply defeat instead of killing that he asked for it.'
Back at the Divine Path Sect Spaceship, Lena was taking care of a few things when she noticed that her martial brother disappeared again. She could already imagine where he went. But since that girl who said 'scram' to Roni was also a Core Formation Realm cultivator, she should be able to flee at least. So she didn't pursue him this time. Instead, she went to talk with her Master.
After knocking the door, her Master allowed her to enter.
"Master, that time bomb left again."
Loni heard that and sighed.
"Just let him be. I'm starting to feel tired of taking care of his delusions ."
Lena couldn't help but ask:
"Master, I really can't understand! I refuse to believe that you would take someone like him as a disciple. He doesn't suit Master's teachings at all."
Loni heard that and shook his head.
"I don't like him either, but that was a request from his grandfather. I couldn't simply refuse."
Lena was taken aback to make an external elder to be forced to take Roni as a disciple. His grandfather must have a great influence on the sect.
"Just who is he?"
Her Master looked away and just said:
"His grandfather is Gile Qergil, one of the Core Elders of the sect!"
Lena finally understood why her Master couldn't ignore that request. But why would they ask an external elder to take care of a member of their family? With their influence, it would be too easy to ask for an inner elder to teach him instead.
Noticing the puzzled face of her disciple, Loni explained.
"It's his talent. It turns out that his family has very little hope for his future accomplishments, so they ditched him over for me to take care, that's why he is always like that."
Lena got puzzled again.
"But he is also a 3rd stage Core Formation Realm just like me, and he is even two years younger, how come his talent is low?"
It was then that Lena thought about something.
"I see, it was through a lot of pills and resources that he got to where he is, am I right?"
Loni nodded.
"Yes, but his talent wasn't always like that. He had big hopes before, but his nature of always playing around and never cultivating affected him greatly. I heard that after he'd used some pills to raise his cultivation. He got addicted to them and thought that with his background and enough cultivation resources, he wouldn't need to care about getting strong. Of course, as you know, if you don't properly cultivate and keep using pills and whatever all the time, your foundation will become unstable. Eventually, you won't be able to improve anymore."
He then continued:
"His family has a lot of children, so they usually don't pay too much attention to every single one of them. They finally noticed how shaky Roni's foundation had become. It was already too late to fix it unless they paid a heavy price for some heavenly treasures. There is no way he can recover from that. And considering his lax attitude and laziness for cultivation, there was no way that his family would ever pay the price for him. They could only ditch him somewhere, and your Master just happens to be the one to bear the burden."
Loni then sighed.
"Of course, with his background and resources, he can still enter the Soul Forging Realm relying on it alone, maybe even the Void Breaking Realm. But for a member of the Core Elder Gile Qergil's family, stopping at the Void Breaking Realm is nothing but humiliation in their records. That's why they immediately got rid of him."
Loni then put a severe expression and warned Lena.
"Do not spread this information! It is because the Master trusts you that I'm telling you about it. Otherwise, the Qergil family might find problems with you. Your talent is a lot higher than mine. I trust that you will be able to become an inner elder or maybe even a Core Elder in the future. So, make sure to stay out of this troubled water."
Lena took a deep breath and nodded.
Roni was still holding a grudge about what had happened with Shinja. Even though he was cast aside by his family, he is still a member of the Divine Path Sect. Because of his extremely proud character, there was no way. He could simply let it go, so he made sure to keep track of where they had gone and immediately left the city after Krune's group. Since they entered the danger zone, he didn't need to care about what happened there. He was planning to kill Krune and the others and rape Shinja before killing her too.
Even though his foundation is now lost, his cultivation techniques and skills are far above those that can be found in the Makui Planet. He would still be able to fight 4th and even 5th Stage ordinary Core Formation Realm cultivators. He noticed that Shinja was only at the 2nd stage, so he wasn't afraid of her at all. As for the others, since they weren't in the Core Formation Realm, he couldn't care less about them.
It only took him a few hours to catch up with them.
"Gotcha!"