Ken joined the disciples coming out, earning a few stares for his beauty. However, due to his young age, most disciples deemed it inappropriate to approach him, sparing him the need to deal with flirting.
"We're finally outside!"nov?dot?/o/?
Some disciples exclaimed when they saw the outside world. Ken was neither the last nor the first disciple to come out; he merged into the crowd somewhere in the middle.
He sensed the world around him by differentiating the bloodlust auras and looked for his companions. In a short while, he skimmed through the survivors and found those he had been looking for.
'One Step.'
Ken vanished from his spot and halted near Tiara, coming face-to-face with her. The icy princess was surprised by the beautiful girl that appeared in front of her out of nowhere and placed a hand on her saber's hilt hesitantly. The young girl seemed strangely familiar, although Tiara was sure she would remember if she met a powerful teen girl.
"It's me, Ken," Ken's new feminine voice came out of his throat. He still wasn't used to hearing a girl's voice when he talked. His natural voice could also pass as a slightly masculine voice of a female, but he preferred changing it completely since he did speak in the past and people could recognize it.
"Ken? That's… impressive." Tiara complimented her team leader with an undisguised smile. She understood that he had many enemies here, so it wasn't hard to guess the reason he was dressed as a girl.
"Thank you. Anyway, the elder of the Serene Lotus Sect should approach us soon. First because of our robes, and second because I still have his token in my storage ring. Let's wait for Alaric to come here."
Before the three of them separated, they already agreed to wear robes of the Serene Lotus Sect when they come out as Alaric and Tiara agreed to join along with Ken.
"Hey, Tiara, there you are! Who is the beautiful girl?"
Alaric's voice reached their ears as the man caught up with them. He located Tiara's voice with his Sound Qi and approached her since he couldn't find Ken.
"She was just talking to me about you, would you like me to make introductions?" Tiara replied and a slight smile adorned her usually tightly sealed lips. The smile threatened to spread even to her eyes when she saw Alaric's widened eyes and bright expression.
"Haha, of course. I'm pretty famous in the cultivation world, it's no wonder she had heard about me before. Young Fairy, I'm afraid we would have to wait a few years first, but we could get to know each other in the meantime!"
"It's me, Ken. Tiara is just teasing you. I'm disguising myself as a girl to avoid the Four Seasons Sect's elders who want me dead. Just stick close for now."
Ken replied with a cold voice, he didn't exactly enjoy being hit on by Alaric.
"Team Leader..? It's you..? I- I'm sorry, I didn't know-"
"Enough, it's fine," Ken cut the man's stuttering and led the group slowly toward the airship with the crest of the Serene Lotus Sect.
It didn't take long for him to hear the voice he had waited for.I think you should take a look at
"Kid, who are you? Did you kill the other kid, or are you the same kid?"
Elmer appeared before the three and asked with an intrigued tone. He never saw Ken's face before because of the mask, but he did know the child's Qi imprint and that he was a boy. However, Ken's Qi imprint was changed due to the white mask, and he turned into a girl.
Ken's face was revealed, but he still tied the eighth-grade mask to his chest under his robes, and although it didn't do much to hide his face, it still helped change his body build slightly as well as change his Qi.
"I'm the same, it's just me with some makeup and without a mask."
"I see. It was a good call; I'm not confident I could save you from the elders of the Four Seasons Sect this time, they have brought a large force to capture you. Let's go, we can't seem suspicious."
The elder understood the gist of the situation and threw two tokens to Alaric and Tiara. He didn't sense discipleship tokens on them, and as they were on Ken's side, he guessed their intentions.
"You still carry the token I've given you. Is it safe to interpret that as an agreement to my offer to join the Serene Lotus Sect?"
Elmer asked Ken as he enveloped the three with his Qi and carried them to the sect's airship. It wasn't an uncommon sight; the other elders also searched for disciples and pulled them to the airship.
They didn't know what kind of treasures each one of them found in the secret realm, and what kind of enmities they had created. Thus, they preferred to just bring them all together and protect them instead of letting them be and risking ambushes.
"Indeed. Those are my two friends, Tiara and Alaric, and they will be joining the sect with me. I hope it would not be a problem."
"No problem. I'm sure they're extremely talented if you want them to be by your side," Elmer replied with a smile. His intention wasn't to compliment the two extras but to question Ken whether that's the case or they just share a friendship. If Ken brought them along because of friendship alone, Elmer would put them in the outer sect.
"Indeed, they are very powerful. I'm sure they would be considered elites even among the core disciples of the first-ranked sect in the continent."
The young teen answered with a calm voice, relaying the message that they deserve the best treatment.
"All right, then they can start as inner disciples, and if they catch the eyes of one of the elders, they can turn into core disciples. I hope you don't have any complaints."
"Thank you for the opportunity, Elder," Tiara and Alaric cupped their fists and bowed.
"So, why are you giving me back your token if your friends join?"
Elmer asked with a bewildered tone.