117 Returning to the Imperial City

[System Upgrade Completed!]

[Now awakening from System Induced Comatose!]

[Welcome Host!]

A burst of resplendent lights cascaded upon Dan's consciousness. Lifting up his body, he glanced at the area around him and found that he was inside an unfamiliar room.

No-

It wasn't a room.

Judging from the intense shaking and the reverberating echoes of hooves, Dan understood that he was inside a moving carriage.

"A carriage? I remember that I am fighting against that old monster, just how did I arrive here? Did I manage to defeat him in the end?" Dan rubbed his pulsating temples and tried to remember whatever he could. But alas, nothing surfaced in his mind.

"Fuuu~~"

Constant soft breathing echoed behind him along with a familiar wisp of aura. Dan turned around and the figure he saw wasn't someone that he expected. In the corner of the carriage, a young woman clad in ragged clothes could be seen huddled over, hugging her knees.

Her peaceful breathing and countenance contrasted her hideous appearance.

Dan knitted his eyebrows. On the young woman's face were scorched earthworms that decorated both of her cheeks. Apart from her jet-black eyes that shone in a light of profoundness, she didn't have any other redeeming qualities that could deem her as a beauty.

If Dan didn't saw the scarf on her neck and the slight gleam of metal along with the faint fluctuations of Spiritual Qi, Dan wouldn't know that it was Grace.

Realizing the horrible situation that Grace underwent. Dan's expression distorted into anger, and the fierce aura that leaked out from him cracked the wooden floor below him.

Grace's consciousness awakened when she felt the faint thread of connection that she had with her master. Opening her eyes, she was startled and quickly took a sealing talisman and slapped it on Dan's shoulders.

An invisible shockwave swept past the entire carriage and Dan's Spiritual Qi became inhibited. His knees collapsed and with a dull thud, he fell on the ground as Grace caught him with an embrace.

"Young master, are you okay?" Grace spoke and she positioned her hands in places where she could fully support his spine and head. Dan lifted his head and felt guilty when he saw her mutilated countenance.

Because he left a mortal like Grace on her own, she suffered injuries and had to fend off her own and even carry his useless comatose body. Now, he was well-off and living, but how about Grace? With her facial appearance, no one would dare to take her as their wife and she would forever live her life, alone.

With his experience, Dan understood the significance of visual appearance for women. But now, Grace's previously goddess-like figure that could entice an entire City was gone and it was obviously his fault for being such a busy-body.

In the end, what did he achieve? Did he manage to help those disciples at the Paradyne Academy, or did he even manage to defeat Captain Demonic Dragon? According to him, No.

Every punishment that he received, in the end, was shouldered by Grace's slender frame and the result was her permanent disfiguration.

Dan's chest violently heaved from the upheaval that was happening inside his mind. Lifting his head, he stared at Grace's worried figure and mumbled, "I'm sorry, this is young master's fault that I ruined your beauty..." His hands subconsciously trembled as if he was staring at his daughter on his deathbed.

"Young master?" Grace saw her young master's pained and grieving expression. 'Just what is going on? Did I do something that made him overreact like this?'

She blanked out for a moment and when she realized it, both of Dan's palms were cupping her chin and the sensation of his thin, yet rough hands made her blush, but she didn't push him away. She wasn't the type of woman that pretended to like something that she didn't like.

But she still dispelled the misunderstanding, "Erm, actually. Young master..." She moved her head closer to his ears, all the while her face looked apple red.

Several minutes later, Dan revealed a small smile of relief and reached both of his hands and pinched her cheeks, pulling them apart like making hand-pulled noodles.

"Young master, stop! It hurts..."

Grace flailed her arms as she moaned her complaints. Dan laughed at her teary-eyed and snotty expression as she rubbed her reddened cheeks.

"You really tricked me, huh? You're happy about that now?" Dan launched his offensive once again and the joyful laughter of the two dissipated the somber and despondent atmosphere of the carriage.

It was the first time that Grace had someone that she could let herself go with and she started unleashing the skills that she learned when she took care of some babies in the slums.

With Dan above Grace, the former attacked her waist and she wildly twisted in return.

"What's wrong, what's wrong? You're already giving up?" Dan laughed in victory and pride, but at the next instance, heaven itself underwent a change as his figure suddenly fell on the ground.

Grace's slender frame enabled her to slip away from Dan's grasp and her flexibility gave her the chance to intertwine Dan's joints and forcefully turn him over. This was one of the techniques that she used against gropers back at her previous home.

"What in the..."

Dan mumbled in astonishment and he couldn't even think any further as a burst of sensation struck his waist and neck like lightning. Sizzling like freshly-fried octopus tails, Dan squirmed around and caused quite a racket.

"Hey, you two ugly bastards, stop moving around! City Inspection is here!" A fierce knock destroyed their joyous atmosphere and both of them immediately stopped their actions. After several minutes, the carriage started once again and when it finally stopped once more, a knock echoed on the wooden door beside them as it opened.

"Get up and get off you two..." A middle-aged man who shivered upon the sight of the two viciously ordered. Grace went first as she lowered her head and crawled towards the exit.

"So slow, are you a turtle?" The middle-aged man complained, staring at the mortal Grace. His expression twisted into a vicious one before sending a kick to her butt.

"Ughh..." A cold aura struck his spine and he staggered backward as someone pushed him aside. Inside the carriage, Dan could be seen with his eyes shining a critical light, giving him a vital warning for his life.

Clicking his tongue, he couldn't accept that he was being looked down by this ugly bastard. But witnessing that the recipient of the merchandises that they carried was here. He suffused a formal attitude and said, "Boss, as we agreed last month, we have brought over the herbs that you requested,

"Here," A middle-aged man clad in a fiery robe of flicked his wrist. A coin pouch landed on the merchant's palm as he carefully counted the money, "I have confirmed and certify that the amount paid was the exact amount..."

"Of course, why would I care to swindle you..." The middle-aged man waved his hand and several barrels worth of medicinal herbs disappeared into thin air.

"And who are these filthy brats?" The Elder of the Paradyne Academy revealed a disgusted expression and Dan along with Grace couldn't help but wryly smile, their plan was to remove their disguise first. But now that the merchant caravan brought them directly inside the Paradyne Academy grounds, they had no other choice but to follow up.

Seeing that this Elder didn't have a good attitude, Dan decided to hide the truth and test the waters.

"Senior, this one has been traveling with my wife from the Great Wilderness of Torb and scoured the lands so that we could earn enough resources to pay for our tuition fee, we ask Elder to give us entrance to the Academy..."

The Elder coldly snorted, "Hmmph! Look at your appearance! Even pigs won't look at both of you and you're expecting me to admit you in such a prestigious academy of ours? Scram!" He even rotated his cultivation base as Dan protected Grace and protected her from falling.

The Elder glanced at them for a moment before leaving after he lost interest.

"Didn't I told you guys that they won't accept, ugly bastards, like you?" The middle-aged man gloated before riding his carriage and hurriedly sped away. Afraid that Dan and Grace may catch up to them.

The two eventually left the scene and rented an Inn where they removed their disguise. Since it was currently three months before the year ends. The season had changed and everything was cold. Dan bought Grace a comfortable robe where she could fit in.

Paired with her silver-hair, jet-black eyes and her slender-frame that looked somewhat plump because of the aquamarine robe that she wore, Grace transformed from an ugly monster into a perfect ten, young woman.

Dan, on the other hand, possessed most of his mother's traits, signified by his fair skin and slim frame. However, his pitch-black eyes and sharp eyebrows gave him a dignified sensation.

The two walked side by side and approached the gates of the Paradyne Academy. Because the Paradyne Academy held the title of the most prestigious Academy in the entire empire that didn't discriminate against commoners, it became a place where most youngsters wanted to study in.

And today, those who lined up for the position of an Outer Sect Disciple had a cultivation of the Flesh Tempering Realm. Noticing Dan and Grace's arrival and seeing their glamorous entrance, they clicked their tongues,

"Damn, these nobles are here again to show off. I bet they're going to take a 'shortcut' once again..." They shook their heads towards the unfair events that would happen before their eyes. But what can they do? Without money, they were nothing in this society.

The Recruitment Elder that had a name tag of Elvis Paradyne knitted his eyebrows when he saw the approaching two.

"Both of you, the end of the line is over there, what are you approaching here for..."

Grace was taken aback, the situation was something that she didn't expect judging from what Dan told her earlier. Glancing at the latter, Dan maintained his small smile as he used a sleight of hand trick to momentarily flash the authority token right under the old man's eyes.

"A-a-uthority token?" Elvis Paradyne mumbled in a soft voice, "Let me see it for a moment,"

Dan nodded his head and handed over the token at Elvis who whispered in an astonished voice, "This is one of the highest possible tokens of authority in our Academy, and it grants you the position of an Honorary Disciple?"

Using a secret technique, Elvis Paradyne easily unraveled if the Token was genuine or not, and when it resonated with Dan's Spiritual Signature, he was convinced that it was his own token.

Dan didn't reply, as Elvis Paradyne stood up and summoned a bunch of Outer Sect Disciples to replace him in the recruitment process before leading Dan, and after vouching for Grace's identity, she also went along with the two.

Elvis Paradyne started her ramblings about the history of the Paradyne Academy and walked with a slow pace. Enough that Dan and Grace felt like they grew calluses in their ears just hearing him say the entire history of the Academy.

Stopping before the gates of the Fragrant Peak Pavilion of the Paradyne Academy. Elvis Paradyne left the two and disappeared, leaving Dan and Grace heaving a sigh of relief.

The Authority token that he held in his hands was something that Mathias, the Headmaster of the Academy handed over to him for saving his daughter, Charlotte.

Lifting his head, he walked inside the deserted pavilion. But as soon as he stepped a single foot on the pavilion. The formation and mechanisms of the pavilion rotated and trapped the two as Dan violently cursed,

"That old bastard, Elvis, did he bring us into the wrong place?!"

The commotion that the action sequences of the mechanisms caused were only limited to the Fragrant Peak Pavilion and so, there were no experts that rushed towards their direction. But before the two of them could sigh in their hearts. A cold laughter echoed in the air,

"Someone actually dared to intrude upon the resting place of us, Honorary Disciples?" A masculine voice echoed out followed by a lance which streaked through the air and flew towards their direction.

Dan's eyes widened in shock, the movements of the lance looked erratic and it also shone in a brilliant light which prevented him from calculating its trajectory. Summoning his Divine Art, he formed a web of lightning and protected himself along with Grace.

Peng!

The lance flew backward and the blonde-haired youth that threw the spear atop the pavilion's roof looked stunned before a blazing light of battle intent surged within his eyes, "Interesting...Intruder, it seems like you're quite powerful..."

Dan and Grace lifted their heads and found him jumping from the roof and landing on the opposite end of his lance. Kicking the lance towards the skies, the blonde-haired young man caught it in mid-air before dashing towards the direction of Dan.

"Take this!"

A brilliant light condensed on the tip of his lance and his momentum intensified in each step that he took towards Dan's direction. Grace felt suffocated but Dan took the whole brunt of the pressure and stood before her figure.

With knitted eyebrows, his mind madly spun and formulated his plan on blocking the youth's fully charged lance that could compare to a Divine Soul Realm Cultivator's full powered strike.

"Mama, Papa is there!"

A familiar adorable voice echoed throughout the entire pavilion and the blonde-haired youth's figure suddenly froze. His cultivation base stopped rotating as Dan and he, simultaneously turned around to face a young woman who both made a mark in their hearts.

"Dear~!"

Natalie sweetly smiled and ran towards Dan's direction along with Juliet who didn't let her mother take all the advantage for herself.

"Come here, come here, come here, Juliet..." Dan beckoned towards his little daughter with his right hand as Natalie thoroughly imprisoned his left arm in her embrace. Juliet's little figure jumped, but since Dan was a tall young man. She couldn't get a proper grip which made the latter laugh in delight.

Carrying his little daughter that snuggled on his neck in his right arm, Dan glanced at Natalie who also did the same. The ticklish sensation gave him a delight which made him genuinely believe that he was truly at home now.

Grace stared at this scene with a blushed and awkward expression. Vincent Lancea, the young Lance wielder stared at this scene with a similar expression to Grace. Scratching his cheek in awkwardness, he gave a dry laugh and left them alone.

Dan's eyes narrowed and enjoyed the sensation of his two beloved snuggling up to him. However, Natalie finally noticed Grace's existence and curiously stared at her for a moment. Her gaze scanned Grace's body before asking in a neutral tone,

"Dear~Can you tell me who she is?"

Dan's expression turned weird and Grace staggered backward for a moment. Dan was afraid that Natalie may transform into a raging ball of fury while Grace was scared of her young master's wife may dislike her and she would be discarded.

Her teary expression made Natalie chuckle as she pulled Grace over and said, "Don't be so scared, since Dan brought you here, I am quite sure that we'll become sisters, soon..." She ambiguously winked and as a fellow woman, Grace obviously understood what she meant as she hung her head low and followed Natalie inside.

"Juliet..."

"Papa?"

"Do you know the reason why Mama is not angry of Papa?"

Juliet shook her head, but afterward, she thought for a moment and her great memory capabilities enabled her to remember a quote that she heard from her mother when they discussed something together with Charlotte.

"I remember Mama saying to Elder Sis Char that Papa may bring more Sisters and create a harem..." The serious message on her sentence contrasted her cute and innocent tone. Dan almost spat a mouthful of blood as he walked with swift footsteps towards the pavilion as he thought.

"Who's the one that is building the harem for me?!" He wanted to scream but could only say this inside his mind.

NOTE: Help me reach top 30 this week or your author will get roasted in the writer's discord server... :'(>.<