Sometime after the next challenger went inside the Carp Leaping Over Dragon’s Gate Tower, Long Yijun mumbled to Elder Xuan who was sitting right beside him, "He should be an Inner Court disciple by now. Go find him and let him enter the Dragon’s Peak alongside Fei Yuyan."
Elder Xuan nodded, "I understand."
When the other Sect Masters noticed Elder Xuan leaving the scene, they asked, "Where’s he going?"
"Elder Xuan does not want to waste any more of his time here since he already knows the outcome. Therefore, he’s leaving to work." Long Yijun responded in a nonchalant voice.
"Y-You little—!"
The Sect Masters gritted their teeth at Long Yijun’s obvious provocation. However, they didn’t dare to claim that they will definitely win this bet, especially not after what they learned about the 100th floor.
Even for a Spirit Master like them, it would be impossible to defeat 100,000 magical beasts even if they were given a month, much less 24 hours of rest time, and they cannot fathom the talent and strength that is required to pass this tower.
If what the dragon on the 100th floor told Shui Zi was true— that someone had managed to defeat 100,000 magical beasts and clear the tower, then the cultivation world is about to experience a turmoil it hasn’t felt in countless years.
"Hey, what are you guys thinking?" One of the Sect Master there suddenly whispered to the other three.
"Isn’t it obvious?! I’m thinking about how we can get ourselves out of this shithole! It’s obvious that we won’t win this bet. However, we’ll be handing 4 Divine-grade treasures to the Dragon Essence Temple if we lose!"
"Is there anything we can really do at this point? We’ve sworn a blood oath! Unless you want to invoke a Heavenly Tribulation and curse your future generations, we cannot break the blood oath!"
"Fuck! We were blinded by the Dragon Slaying Saber! That bastard really got us good this time!"
"Even though we cannot do anything about the blood oath, we can still try to work something out with him after we give him our treasures. I highly doubt the Dragon Essence Temple wants to offend four sects at once!"
"Right! We can simply buy our Divine-grade treasures back, or we can offer something else in return for them!"
"Let’s try to figure this out before our last disciple challenges the tower!"
Long Yijun noticed the other Sect Masters whispering to each other, and he could already imagine what they were talking about. However, it didn’t matter to him, as the Dragon Essence Temple would benefit from this bet no matter what they did at this point, and he continued to watch the tower light up with golden lights.
Meanwhile, Elder Xuan went to Yuan’s living quarters and knocked on the doors.
A few moments later, Yuan opened the door and greeted him, "Hello, Senior Xuan."
"Let’s talk inside." Elder Xuan said.
Yuan nodded and closed the door after he entered.
Once they were seated, Elder Xuan began to speak, "First and foremost, allow me to congratulate you on becoming an Inner Court disciple."
"Thank you, the examination was pretty fun," Yuan said with a smile.
"Fun..."
A bittersweet smile appeared on Elder Xuan’s face. In this entire sect, Yuan is probably the only disciple who would have fun during such an important examination.
"Anyway, I’m here to talk about the Dragon’s Peak. The Sect Master wants you and Fei Yuyan to enter before the Mystic Realm that is only a week away. Are you available now? I can take you there right now."
Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, I am free. I was just training my Divine Sense."
"Training Divine Sense at your cultivation level, huh? I didn’t start training my Divine Sense until I was a Spirit Master. Unfortunately, the Dragon Essence Temple doesn’t have any Soul Techniques to assist you in that matter." Elder Xuan said.
"It’s fine."
"Okay, then follow me. Let’s go pick up Disciple Fei before we head to Dragon’s Peak."
Just as Elder Xuan turned to walk towards the door, Yuan suddenly said, "Please wait a moment. Senior Xuan."
"Hmm?" Elder Xuan turned around and watched as Yuan retrieved a black jade mask before putting it on his face.
Elder Xuan raised his eyebrows after seeing this.
"Is it fine if I go outside with my mask? There are a lot of people looking for me, and I don’t want them to recognize me." Yuan said.
Elder Xuan became even more puzzled after hearing his words, and he asked, "Are there disciples bothering you right now? I will immediately deal with them if that’s the case—"
"No, it has nothing to do with the disciples, nor am I being bothered right now. However, there are people out there looking for me, and I have been told that they will be trying to enter the sect just to look for me because of my appearance at the zither competition."
"Now that you mention it, there has been an irregular amount of people trying to enter the sect as of lately, and most of them are rogue cultivators. Are they perhaps the people you’re referring to?" Elder Xuan asked him.
Ever since the zither competition, a lot of people have been visiting the Dragon Essence Temple with some people even trying to sneak inside. However, none of the elders or Long Yijun found that weird, as it was normal for people to flock to the Dragon Essence Temple after what happened at the zither competition, and this is usually what happens after a competition or tournament.
Though, the number of people visiting the sect as of recent is through the roof and unlike anything the sect has experienced before, and most of them were rogue cultivators without any backgrounds.
"If these people are here because of you, then we need to tighten up the security around the sect..." Elder Xuan mumbled with a perplexed look on his face.
Sometime later, he said, "I’ll speak with the Sect Master afterward. For now, let’s get you and Disciple Fei to the Dragon’s Peak so you can strengthen yourselves as much as possible before the Mystic Realm."