Sometime later;
After having a night of good sleep, Mark slowly wakes up in the morning and lazily stretches his body, "Yooo…shaaaa… Today is Day 17 and less than two weeks away from the completion of the system upgrade. Hmm, I guess there is enough time… Anyway, let's go and resume our journey. We should reach the palace by evening… Hmmm…"
*Clang* Clang* Clang*
The sounds of metals clashing with each other disturbed his thoughts and made him focus on the outside. Wondering what's going on, he raises the door only to witness two strangers having a swordfight, not just far away from his tent. His other companions were staring at the teenage couple.
Mark stepped outside but it appeared that no one but Song Yue paid attention to him as everyone's eyes were on the strangers who were moving at a crazy speed.
Meanwhile, Song Yue walked toward him and greeted him good morning, asking about how his sleep went.
Mark asked about the strangers in reply.
"Oh, those kids were brought by guardian Lan… I mean, Mr. Wu," replied Song Yue. After taking a pause, she further added, "It appeared that Coachman Dai had a fortuitous encounter. Yesterday, he was at 3-circle, and today, he suddenly became a 5-circle warrior. Those two kids were demanding him to return with them and serve their sect."
If it was previous Mark, he would have gotten quite interested in the treasure that this adventurer turned coachman acquired. But, at his present stage, only divine-grade artifacts might interest him.
Mark didn't think too much about it and placed his focus on the teenagers before speaking out loud, "*clap* *clap* Alright. That's enough playing around. Now, everyone, gather here…"
Upon hearing Mark's voice, the two teenagers who just started their sparring suddenly halted their movements and looked in the direction of the sound.
Meanwhile, the others quickly left their positions and went toward Mark. Seeing the others, the teenagers also followed them.
Mark then enquired about their identities, wanting to listen to their story from their mouths.
While the girl appeared to be slightly nervous, the boy took responsibility to answer the questions. From the others, he heard of Mark and he had also seen the royal crest on the bicorn carriages. Hence, he made sure to be as polite as possible.
Cupping his fists, he greeted Mark before retelling his story, "Lord Lu, we are the members of Leon Empire's Kunlun sect. My name is Dong Fang, and she is Zi Ling, the granddaughter of our Patriarch."
Mark took a glance at the girl, who immediately dropped her head in shyness. As he looked back at the boy, he continued the story.
They were on their way to Kun Empire's Xianshu sect for the Dragon Warrior Tournament, which is conducted every decade where every talented individual can participate as long as they fulfill three conditions.
One, the individual should belong to a sect, which should be located in the vermilion bird continent.
Two, the individual should atleast be in the cultivation realm of 4-circle but he/she cannot have a cultivation realm greater than 6-circle.
And three, the individual's age should be below 30 years old.
Because the Kunlun sect is quite well known and is one of the top 10 sects of the continent, the sect received four seeded spots where the selected individuals wouldn't need to participate in qualifying rounds.
Dong Fang claimed that while he and Zi Ling along with three more companions were on their way to the destination, they were ambushed by their bitter rivals, the members of Wuji Sect.
Mark was slightly taken aback upon hearing a familiar name. He planned to go there anyways to retrieve the artifact. Now, his interest in these teenagers increased a little bit.
Meanwhile, Dong Fang continued to speak with a look of frustration on his face, "That traitorous bitch Ai Qing colluded with the enemies to take down our elder and another sect member. If not for our elder's sacrifice, we would have died too."
"Dong Fang…"
Zi Ling couldn't help but raise her head and pat his shoulder in pity as the boy grit his teeth in anger.
Mark didn't want to know how close they are to this person Ai Qing or the late elder. He was just interested in knowing whether these two could be helpful to him in some way or whether it is just a waste of time to talk with them.
Hence, he asked the boy, "so, what do you plan on doing? Will you return to the sect?"
Dong Fang shook his head and answered with a determined expression, "there's no way we would return empty-handed and make a joke out of the sacrifice of our companions. We must return victorious."
"Hmm…" Mark fell into thoughts for a while. Upon thinking about how to use them, he turned to the shy girl, "Ms. Zi, I have a question for you."
"Yes?" She yelped in surprise and looked at Mark directly before looking down at the ground. "Please speak…"
As Dong Fang and others curiously looked at Mark, wondering what he wanted to ask, the latter put forth a proposal, using the opportunity, "I'll help the both of you to safely travel to your destination and I will also help you take your revenge to return to your sect with the heads of your enemies. In return, I want you to arrange a meeting with your Patriarch and the other elders that have the power to make or break the laws of your sect. Will you be able to do that?"
"Eh? Why?" The girl's eyes widened and she abruptly raised her head to look at Mark for a moment before going back to her shy mode.
Not only her, but even the others were also thinking that this proposal is quite strange and wondered what was going on in this handsome fellow's mind. After all, the sects won't use firearms as it would go against their principles.
Hence, if Mark has only a weapon-selling deal in his mind, then, generously helping these teenagers in such a way is a bad idea. However, is that everything? Perhaps, Mark has a different motive for helping them. Everyone wondered but didn't voice it out.