Chapter 780: End of the Competition
Just as the grand elder did not know what to do, his expression suddenly had a slight change. A sliver of courtesy appeared on his face before he spoke to the four protectors of the Bloodsword sect, “Four protectors, the ancestor of our Zaar family would like to extend an invitation for you to visit out Zaar family.”
The four protectors pondered a while before one of them said without any expression, “Lead the way!”
The four of them did not dare to act recklessly in the City of God. After all, the Holy Empire was not just any small nation. The Zaar family of the City of God were extremely powerful, ranking on top among all the ancient clans. The four of them did not want to offend the Zaar family before completing the sect master’s orders unless forced to, or they would just earn a name of incompetence.
The four people followed the people of the Zaar family and disappeared into the horizon. All the other people who had gathered also dispersed one by one, but they all pondered over something weird. They wondered what the traitors of the human race mentioned by the four protectors was about.
“Looks like the Bloodsword sect hasn’t come for Yang Yutian.” The president of the Radiant Saint Master Union relaxed slightly.
Watching the four people disappear into the distance the grand elder behind him commented, “But the four of them have already been invited away by the Zaar family. They may not have come for Yang Yutian, but I worry that the situation will change after they leave the Zaar family.”
The president shook his head, “It shouldn’t. With my understanding of the Bloodsword sect, even when they need to assassinate people they will only send people who have similar strengths to the target. They never send assassins who are much more stronger. Yang Yutian is still a Class 6 Radiant Saint Master. With their pride, they definitely will not stoop so low to kill a twenty-odd-year-old junior.”
“Most importantly, the Bloodsword sect’s already stepped down and hasn’t returned. As long as they don’t return they won’t accept it.”
“Then we don’t need to worry.” The grand elder relaxed secretly before following the president back to the headquarters.
In a beautifully-decorated room at the Zaar family, the four protectors sat quietly in seats to the side. They were received personally by the grand elder as a sign of respect towards the Bloodsword sect. The grand elder possessed an almost-paramount status in the sect. He was the third most powerful in the entire clan, only ranking below the ancestors. The family had already shown enough respect by getting him to receive the four protectors.
The hall was currently empty. There was no one else other than the four protectors and the grand elder. A powerful barrier suddenly appeared and enveloped the entire hall.
The four people sat there like normal, completely unalarmed. However, they were already filled with caution.
“I wonder if the sect master Xiu Houston is still doing well? I, Zaar Milo, hope that when the four honored guests return you can help me ask about the wellbeing of the sect master!” An old voice sounded in the hall, but no one was to be seen.
“Junior will personally tell the sect master what senior has said.” One of the protectors clasped his hands expressionlessly.
“Four protectors, I wonder why you have come to my City of God?” The old voice boomed once again.
“We have come to kill the traitors of the human race under the sect master’s orders.” The protector said.
The old voice hesitated for a while before continuing, “It’s possible for our Zaar family to not interfere with your plans, but I hope we can make a deal before all this.”
The energy of the world began to move within the hall. A while later an image, completely coalesced from the energy, appeared before the four people.
Seeing the image, the four people suddenly narrowed their eyes. However, they soon recovered to how they were before.
“This person is called Yang Yutian, and is an extremely talented Radiant Saint Master. His existence obstructs the development of my Zaar family. I hope the four protectors can eliminate this Yang Yutian along the way. My Zaar family will definitely give a satisfying remuneration in return.” The old voice boomed.
“Senior, we will not be accepting this mission!” A protector declined the ancestor’s deal without a second thought. He did not even spend any time to consider it.
“Four protectors, as long as you complete the mission my Zaar family will definitely pay a generous price. You will not suffer any losses.” The old voice boomed once again.
“Senior, our mission is to pursue and kill the traitors of the human race under the sect master’s orders. We cannot accept other missions. Also, our Bloosword sect has yet to return to the continent. If senior wants our sect to assassinate the person called Yang Yutian, senior can only go and find our sect master.” A protector said.
“If the four of you accept my deal, I can help you find the traitors. You would be able to complete the mission much easier with my help.” The old voice boomed again, this time slightly hurried. Though he was a Saint King, due to certain reasons his family was unable to assassinate Yang Yutian in the open. He could only find someone else to do the deed.
The four protectors stood up simultaneously. One of them clasped their hands, “Senior, if there is nothing else, the four of us will be leaving first.” With that, they left the hall.
“Hmph. Grand elder, quickly go and organise some people to activate the concealing array and hide the presence of everyone in the city. Since the four protectors don’t know what’s best for them, I will not allow them complete their mission easily.”
Hearing that, the grand elder’s expression changed slightly. He said rather anxiously, “Ancestor, wouldn’t this offend the Bloodsword sect?”
“The concealing array is an array that protects our City of God. We, the Zaar family, are the ones in charge of the City of God, so is there anything wrong for us to activate it?” The old voice said slightly gruffly.
“Very well ancestor, I will immediately go organise some people to activate the array.”
...
The four protectors left the Zaar family and walked on the streets side-by-side.
“Those five old coots are just too good at hiding their presence. Finding them will not be easy, and there’s just too many people in the City of God. There are presences all over the place. Wanting to find them precisely in such a populated area is just making something already difficult even harder.” A protector said expressionlessly.
“I can only sense that the five traitors are in this city, but I can’t find their exact whereabouts.”
“It won’t work if we continue like this. We should find a quiet place to use the secret technique and look for where they are. We need to complete the sect master’s mission as soon as possible. We can’t drag it out any longer.”
The four protectors immediately arrived in a location where no one was present. They sat cross-legged on the ground in a circle and before each of them floated a long, blood-red awl. The four tips touched each other, forming a cross that rotated slowly.
Suddenly, the four protectors spat out a mouthful of blood simultaneously and bellowed, “Blood God’s Guide!” The four people’s blood condensed together in the air very quickly before becoming a streak of blood-red light and flying off into the distance.
“Follow quickly!” A protecter called out. Shortly afterwards the four of them became a single streak of red light, chasing after it.
However, at this very moment, the sky above the entire city suddenly began to churn. The originally gentle energy of the world became violent. It greatly surprised all the experts in the City of God, causing them to raise their heads. The people of the Kara and Kazda clan were affected in particular. A certain light flickered in their eyes, and the two groups were already joining together to prevent any sudden attack from the Zaar family.
“This is the concealing array that can hide all presences.” In the castle of the Radiant Saint Master union, the white-robed president stood beside a window staring sternly at the sky. He mumbled, “The Zaar family’s suddenly activated the concealing array, probably both because of the four protectors from the Bloodsword sect, and because they want to start moving against the other two clans.”
At the same time, the protectors shooting through the sky at full speed came to a stop together. A sliver of anger finally appeared on their cold faces, and their gazes turned to an extremely sharp glare.
“It’s the City of God’s concealing array. It can hide all presences. The Zaar family activating this array right now clearly means that they want to prevent us from completing the sect master’s mission.” A protector said with a deep voice, while powerful killing intent began to radiate from his body.
“This Zaar family is obstructing us on purpose. Once we get back I will definitely report it to the sect master without obscuring anything. I will ask the sect master to make a decision.” The second protector also said with a deep voice. He too experienced unconcealable rage in his heart.
“Let’s not focus on this for now. We should think of ideas on how to find the five people. If we don’t complete the mission, would we even have the dignity to return and report to the sect master?”
“The Blood God’s Guide has failed. The City of God is huge, and they’ve already used the concealing array to hide the people’s presences. How do we find them?”
“Fly in the direction of the guide. We might be able to find them like that.”
...
In the blink of an eye, a whole fifteen days had already passed in the saint artifact. It was the day that the competition would end. The surroundings of the square outside the Radiant Saint Master Union was already full of people in the morning, but the square itself was completely empty. It was the location where the competitors would appear.
Currently, all the people gathered stared at the saint artifact at the very top of the castle in anticipation. Although it was not as lively as the Gathering of Mercenaries, the Radiant Saint Master competition every fifty years received a lot of attention as well. The people who placed in the top ten received the attention of many different groups in particular because they were geniuses who had the chance to reach Class 7.
There were only two dozen or so Class 7 Radiant Saint Masters on the entire continent. The birth of every Class 7 Radiant Saint Master was something that would cause a huge commotion.
To no surprise, the five old men who had come to the City of God to take refuge mingled in the crowd as well. They no longer carried anxious expressions. The activation of the concealing array was naturally sensed by them and caused them to become overjoyed. With the concealing array and their purposeful hiding of their presence, it would become extremely difficult for the four protectors to find them. It was one less problem they had to worry about while finding Jian Chen.
“This Yang Yutian seems to only be twenty-four. Not only is he a Class 6 Radiant Saint Master, but he’s also grasped the three great Radiant Artes and even tamed a beast of antiquity. I’m extremely curious about him. I really want to see what type of person he is.” Old man Mateng muttered to himself. Along the way they had heard too many rumors regarding Yang Yutian, which made them want to see what type of person Yang Yutian was.
“And that beast of antiquity. They’re extremely rare on the Tian Yuan Continent. I must see one personally.” Old man Situ produced a light chuckle. He felt a sliver of anticipation.
...
Although the time was passing slowly, it eventually reached noon. At that exact moment, powerful white light descended from the sky and directly rained onto the empty square. With each streak of white light a Radiant Saint Master would appear, causing the empty square to be quickly filled.
The white light continued to fall without any signs of stopping. Very soon, hundreds of competitors appeared on the square. Every single one of them was weary-looking and in horrible shape, clearly having suffered many hardships in the fifteen days within the artifact. However, without any exceptions, every single person carried simple bags of different sizes made completely out of beast skin. They all contained high class monster cores that the competitors had collected in the artifact.
Suddenly, a rainbow appeared in the sky. Ten Radiant Saint Masters of varying ages slowly descended from the sky in a pillar of rainbow light.
Their appearance immediately attracted that attention of everyone present. This was because the ten people in the rainbow light were the people who had collected the most points, the outstanding victors who had placed in the top ten.
“That’s Yang Yutian. He really does have a small beast on his shoulder. Is that perhaps the beast of antiquity?” A person suddenly cried out from the crowd. Immediately, all the people focused on the beast, their eyes filled with envy and admiration.
When the five old men saw the white tiger, a sliver of light immediately flashed across their eyes. One of them muttered, “Why do I feel that the beast of antiquity is extremely similar to the cub mentioned by the tiger king? If you look carefully on its back, there seems to be a pair of wings.”
“Hmm? There really is a pair of wings, though the beast of antiquity has hidden it very well. It’s very hard to discover.” A sliver of surprise appeared in old man Mateng’s eyes. After pondering slightly, he immediately said to old man Situ, “Situ, cast the Great Soothsaying Technique again immediately. See if you can find him or not. I feel that the beast of antiquity is what the tiger king wants.”
Hearing that, a sliver of light flashed across old man Situ’s eyes. “The concealing array’s been activated, so my Great Soothsaying Technique will definitely be affected. I will try my best.” With that, old man Situ immediately closed his eyes and formed a weird hand seal. He began casting the technique silently, sensing for the presence of Jian Chen’s bloodline.
Three second later, old man Sity snapped over his eyes. Two shocking streaks of light shot out of his eyes, disappearing with a flash.
“I finally found Jian Chen! He’s actually Yang Yutian!” Old man Situ pointed to Jian Chen who slowly descended from the sky in the rainbow light. He revealed unconcealable shock and joy.