Chapter 327 - Bayuen of the White Tiger Immortal Sect

Lu Tianzi spent the next day exploring the city.

He had tried to invite Nanlan Qianxue along as well. However, the latter's mood had already been ruined by Chengban's antiques, and she decided to simply stay in Mengxi's residence to further consolidate her cultivation.

But because Lu Tianzi was not a member of the Divine Storm Sect, Mengxi's companion from the Redstone Restaurant had to accompany him all day.

Without her by Lu Tianzi's side, there was no way that he would be allowed to enter and exit the Divine Storm City freely.

As for Mengxi herself, her presence as a core disciple was required for the preparations of the the upcoming wedding, and had no time for anything else.

Divine Storm City was a city unlike any other that Lu Tianzi had visited.

As the headquarters of the powerful Divine Storm Sect, the city was a hub for all high quality items, and all sorts of items could be purchased for the right price.

On top of that, the upcoming wedding was bound to have countless respectable people attending. This fact alone attracted merchants from all around the region, all of them seeing this as a rare opportunity to peddle their goods.

Because of that, Lu Tianzi was especially excited to visit the marketplace and see what they had to offer.

But instead of visiting the weapons or pills sections like most other martial artists would, Lu Tianzi headed straight for the section that was selling raw materials.

It had been some time since he had received an unidentified metal ore from the Scarlet Moon Overlord, so he wanted to take this opportunity to figure out exactly what kind of metal it was.

However, doing so was not as simple as he thought it would be.

The variety of metal ores in the market was far too huge, such that not everything could be put on display. No matter where he looked, Lu Tianzi was simply unable to find a metal ore that resembled the one in his possession.

Since Lu Tianzi did not know of the name of the metal ore in question, he could not even ask about it.

At the same time, Lu Tianzi was reluctant to bring it out to show the merchants.

No matter what, the metal ore was a gift from an Overlord realm character.

Lu Tianzi felt like he could be slightly overestimating the Scarlet Moon Overlord's generosity, but before knowing just how valuable the metal ore was, he was not intending to take any chances.

There was surely no lack of powerful characters in Divine Storm City.

If he revealed that he had something precious in his possession, who knew how many people would start targeting him because of that?

"Still no sign of what you are looking for?" Ruoyan asked while they were taking a short break at a small restaurant.

Ruoyan was none other than Mengxi's companion, the one who had been accompanying Lu Tianzi all day.

Over the course of the day, Lu Tianzi had learnt that Ruoyan was an inner disciple of the sect just like Bocheng.

Being only at the Second Cycle Origin Core realm, her cultivation level was far lower than Mengxi. However, her looks certainly did not pale in comparison.

"Not at all," Lu Tianzi let out a helpless sigh. "My apologies for making you follow me around in vain."

"Don't worry about it," Ruoyan shook her head with a smile. "It is a good opportunity for me to escape from the sect grounds during this busy period anyway."

"Oh? Is it about the wedding that will be happening tomorrow?" Lu Tianzi asked. "I have been meaning to ask, but wouldn't a huge sect like the Divine Storm Sect have plenty of servants among their ranks? Why do you guys, and even core disciples like Lady Mengxi, have to partake in the preparations?"

"The menial matters are naturally delegated to the servants, but there are limitations to what the servants are able to do as well," Ruoyan explained. "For example, top characters from the other influences are arriving in large numbers to attend the coming wedding. It is not too presentable to send servants to welcome them, is it?"

"Ah, that's true. Sounds troublesome," Lu Tianzi remarked.

"Haha, it is not all bad either," Ruoyan laughed. "It is actually a good way to build up our connections. This will make things easier if we require help in the future."

Lu Tianzi nodded in understanding.

As members of a major influence like the Divine Storm Sect, it was only natural that they would leave Divine Storm City at some point to explore the outside world.

When they do venture out to foreign lands, knowing someone who was familiar with the locality would make things much more convenient for them.

Not just that, but given the ongoing factional rivalry within the Divine Storm Sect, the more allies they had, the greater the ch.i.p.s they had at their disposal.

Just the fact that they had powerful allies on their side would serve as a form of deterrence for their rivals.

Just as Lu Tianzi was deep in thought, a loud voice suddenly came from the entrance of the small restaurant.

"We will be taking the entire place, so everyone leave right now. Don't worry about your bill, we will be paying for whatever had already been ordered so just hurry and go!"

It was a group of five youngsters, comprising three men and two women.

While this was only a small restaurant, almost every seat had been taken up. The words of the young man immediately drew the attention of everyone in the restaurant, including that of Lu Tianzi and Ruoyan.

Everyone was wondering just who was so arrogant to evict everyone from the restaurant. Some were even cracking their knuckles, ready to teach the person a lesson.

But when these people caught sight of the group at the entrance, all thoughts of aggression were instantly dispelled. Not a single one of them dared to utter a word of complaint as they began to pack up.

In fact, even Lu Tianzi's eyes lit up in surprise.

He was wondering who this group of arrogant people were, but Mengxi was actually among the group of five!

Not just that, but all five of the youngsters had cultivation levels that were all extremely high.

All of them were at the Sixth Cycle Origin Core realm and above, and one of them was even at the Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm!

"Let's go," Ruoyan's voice sounded out in his head at that instant.

Lu Tianzi turned to look at Ruoyan.

Just like the other customers in the restaurant, she was already standing up from her seat as though it was only natural to listen to these people.

Since everyone was obeying the young man's words, Lu Tianzi naturally would not cause trouble by going against it for no particular reason either.

He followed Ruoyan's lead and quietly left the restaurant.

Mengxi was chatting happily with the members of her group all along. Despite Ruoyan being an inner disciple of the Divine Storm Sect, neither Mengxi nor the other four seemed to even notice her existence among those who were leaving the restaurant.

"Who are those people with Lady Mengxi?" Lu Tianzi asked when they were finally out on the streets once more.

"Except for the young man in white, all of them are core disciples of the Divine Storm Sect," Ruoyan answered with a bitter smile. "As for the young man in white, he is Bayuen from the White Tiger Immortal Sect. In the wedding tomorrow, he is going to be the guest of honour!"

"He is the guest of honour?" Lu Tianzi exclaimed in surprise.

With how influential the Divine Storm Sect was, Lu Tianzi certainly was not expecting the guest of honour to at least be a young man like that.

Ruoyan chuckled upon seeing Lu Tianzi's contemplative look. "Bayuen has yet to even hit fifty years old. To be able to reach the Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm at his age, he is considered as one of the supreme geniuses of the central regions!"

"So that's why…"

Lu Tianzi finally understood.

Since Bayuen had been able to reach the Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm at a relatively young age, it was more than likely that he would be able to reach far greater heights in the future.

This meant that Bayuen was essentially an Overlord realm powerhouse in the making!

Back on Wondertrap Mountain, Lu Tianzi had witnessed with his own eyes the great difference between an Overlord and an Origin Core realm martial artist.

It would not be an overexaggeration to say that Origin Core realm martial artists would appear to be more than little kids in the eyes of an Overlord!

As long as this Bayuen had a strong backing as well, it was understandable why even a powerful influence like the Divine Storm Sect would value him highly enough to consider him the guest of honour.

Lu Tianzi and Ruoyan did not discuss further on this topic, but Lu Tianzi's thoughts continued to linger on what just happened.

He fully understood that as an Origin Core realm martial artist, there was no way that Mengxi did not notice them back at the restaurant.

Since there were only five of them in the group, all they really needed was a single table.

It was one thing to not want to be disturbed by outsiders, but Ruoyan was an inner disciple of the Divine Storm Sect!

It would not have cost Mengxi anything to just allow them stay and finish their meal.

But the fact remained that she did not do so.

As for the reason why, Lu Tianzi had a rough idea.

It was the difference in their status.

From their earlier interactions, Lu Tianzi knew that Mengxi obviously did not despise Ruoyan.

However, Mengxi probably believed that her status in the group might be affected simply by revealing that she was associating with Ruoyan.

The fact that she had been in the company of the guest of honour Bayuen only served to strengthen Lu Tianzi's belief.

Perhaps she was trying to sell herself as a high and lofty character of the Divine Storm Sect in a bid to pull Bayuen over to her side.

If that was true, then everything would make sense.

After all, the other party was someone who was important enough to be considered a guest of honour of the sect. If Mengxi really managed to turn him into an ally of the Southern Faction, that would be a really big deal.

Considering that, it was difficult to blame Mengxi for not acknowledging Ruoyan's existence earlier.

In the end, it all boiled down to individual strength.

Because Ruoyan lacked strength, she was ignored.

Because Bayuen possessed strength, he was adored.

It was as simple as that.

Lu Tianzi and Ruoyan only continued to explore the marketplace for a little longer before returning to the Divine Storm Palace.

Even though Ruoyan had said that she appreciated the chance to escape from her duties, this was simply not good enough of an excuse.

Ultimately, she was still unable to avoid the fate of being called back to work.

Without Ruoyan to accompany him, Lu Tianzi had no choice but to return early.

In the end, he was unable to find out any information on the metal ore.

However, Lu Tianzi was not too disappointed.

After all, their main goal here was to claim their rewards for their deed in Bog Town. Anything else would simply be a bonus.

Upon his return to the Divine Storm Palace, Lu Tianzi did not waste any time before jumping right into cultivation.

The World Origin Energy in the Divine Storm Palace was extremely dense, and it was even more so at Mengxi's residence.

It was likely that this was a deliberate design to benefit the core disciples more.

And now that Lu Tianzi was given a sneak preview, he certainly was not going to let this opportunity slip him by without taking full advantage of it.

Time passed quickly with him holed up in his room in deep meditation.

Just like that, the morning of the grand wedding finally arrived.