After Aldrian and ilan ca out of the secret realm, Aldrian couldn’t help but ask her.
"Miss ilan, do you always challenge every sword cultivator who is much stronger than you, or what?"
ilan shook her head.
"Of course not. I only challenge those I feel are worthy. Worthy not only in strength, but also in having a good sword path," she answered in a calm voice. However, her gaze lingered on Aldrian, as if sensing sothing even he did not realize about himself. In her eyes, she could see sothing he could not see.
What she saw was a strong golden light shining in his heart, his sword path backed by an equally strong determination. She did not know what his determination was for, but to her, Aldrian was not only strong, his strength was unshaken and uncorrupted by any negative force.
His sword path was firm and not rely ant to kill. It had a purpose, sothing he needed to hold on to or achieve. If Aldrian had been strong yet reeked of negative energy or force, if he wielded his sword only to kill as if following his own desire, she would not have asked him to duel, as she did not want to sully her sword path by learning from a corrupted sword cultivator.
Aldrian nodded. "I see. Well, that’s good. Although you are strong, I’m glad you are not satisfied too quickly and still want to learn. This is the way of a good sword cultivator," he said.
ilan fell silent for a mont before she slightly bowed to him.
"Thank you for dueling with . This was truly a battle that gave valuable experience," she said before straightening her body.
"No problem. You already gave your token anyway, I’m just doing my part," he said while waving his hand.
But then there was a mont of silence as ilan continued to look at Aldrian’s figure. Aldrian could feel that there was sothing she wanted to say but was reluctant to voice.
"Is there anything else you want to say to , Miss ilan?" he asked.
After a brief pause, she finally spoke.
"May I ask for another duel in the future? May I know where you ca from? Or how I should call you?"
Aldrian smiled behind his mask.
"You will know in the future," he said before walking away. "I think you should go back, Miss. I can sense that your friend seems panicked by your sudden disappearance from your pavilion. I’m afraid she might recklessly cause chaos in the sect," he added.
She kept looking at his figure as he continued walking toward the main pavilion’s building. But then she froze as her surroundings suddenly changed. She now stood on her own pavilion’s grounds again, which truly shocked her!
She looked toward the mountain where Aldrian resided, her expression filled with astonishnt.
How could he do that? She had been unable to resist or do anything as he simply teleported her back to this place! She understood now that he was much, much stronger than she had initially thought. Although their duel had not revealed everything about them, it was enough to show their disparity. For him to teleport her here without her detecting anything or resisting...
That man was truly mysterious!
"ilan, there you are! Where were you just now? You suddenly disappeared without telling , your friend, anything!" her friend’s voice suddenly ca from behind her. She ran toward ilan, her face full of worry.
Her voice carried grievance, which made ilan smile slightly. Her face, which was usually expressionless, only showed a smile in front of a few people and this friend was one of them.
"I’m sorry, I just took a walk for a mont without telling you anything," she said, but her friend narrowed her eyes. She looked at ilan’s figure as if inspecting her before finally eting her gaze.
"You... are you just doing heavy exercise? Or were you fighting soone?" she asked suspiciously.
ilan did not answer. Instead, she walked toward the main building of their pavilion.
"I want to take a bath," ilan said, leaving her friend stunned.
"Hey, I’m asking you!" her friend shouted, but ilan did not respond as her friend followed after her.
-------------------------------
The next day, when the sun was already quite high in the sky, the ti for Aldrian to depart to the central region of the continent arrived. However, before he could leave his pavilion, two figures ca to visit him, a man and a woman ca to visit him, escorted by a grand elder.
Both of them had long red hair, although it was slightly lighter than his, with the man tying his in a ponytail. When they arrived in front of Aldrian, he could tell that they looked at him with reverent gazes.
"Young Master Ryong, Young Miss Rin, this is the esteed guest that the sect master ntioned," the grand elder said to them before turning to Aldrian.
"Good morning, my lord. My apologies for disturbing you, but these two are the direct disciples of the sect master of the Celestial Demon Sect of the Azure Moon Star, disciple Ryong and disciple Rin. They arrived last night and wished to et your excellency after hearing about you from the sect master," he added.
Aldrian looked at the two siblings as they suddenly bowed.
"Disciple Ryong Daeho greets the successor of the Heavenly Demon."
"Disciple Rin Seoyeon greets the successor of the Heavenly Demon."
Both of them spoke in turn.
Aldrian understood that the Celestial Demon Sect was another demonic cultivator sect from Azure Moon Star, also located near the Ancient Blue Gate World. They had a close connection with the Piercing Heaven Sect, as history recorded that the Celestial Demon Sect was founded by so of the direct followers of the Heavenly Demon.
It was no wonder the two sects had a close relationship, much like the three great sects shared among themselves.
"At ease. You don’t have to bow to later, as I don’t want to draw attention yet. Do not let it be known to others that the successor of the Heavenly Demon has appeared," Aldrian said calmly.
"As you wish, my lord. Uhm... how should we address you, my lord?" Ryong asked.
"Just call Young Master. That will be enough," Aldrian answered, then looked at the grand elder. "You too."
"As you wish, Young Master," they replied.
"Anyway, when are we going to depart for the central region? Is everything ready?" Aldrian asked.
"Ah, we will depart after this, Young Master. I also ca here to inform you that the ti is near, and I will guide you to the warp gate," the grand elder replied, to which Aldrian responded with a nod.
"Alright, let’s go. Let’s not waste any ti."
Not long after, Aldrian was guided to another part of the sect where there was a warp gate reserved for the private use of the sect’s mbers. By the ti Aldrian arrived, many people were already there. They were the sa ones from Arantes Star who had boarded the interstellar vessel yesterday.
Aldrian saw the Sword Maiden and her friend. She looked in his direction, and many others did the sa. They had already wondered about his identity yesterday, and now, seeing him close with the "two red stars," their curiosity only grew. However, they could only discuss it quietly among themselves, unwilling to risk attracting possible trouble.
Sect Master Han stood in front of the warp gate, looking over the crowd.
"Alright, the warp gate is ready. Let’s depart!" he shouted before stepping into the warp gate. The others followed, with Aldrian entering not long after. He felt the slight, familiar sensation of the warp gate for a brief mont before stepping out into another place.
In his sight was a bustling city, with many of its populace turning their attention toward his entourage. There was no way they could avoid attracting notice, not with so many famous figures present, the sect master of the Piercing Heaven Sect, the Sword Maiden, and the two red-haired siblings following Aldrian, all well-known to the people here.
Above the warp gate, a massive cruiser was already waiting for them.
"This is Blue Rose City, the nearest city near to dungeon. From here, we will continue our journey using the cruiser," the grand elder guiding Aldrian explained.
All of them flew toward the cruiser. Since the group consisted of cultivators no weaker than the Emperor Stage, they could all fly with ease. Once every passenger had settled inside the cruiser, it finally began to move.
Aldrian, along with so others, chose to stand on the cruiser’s deck rather than inside one of its cabins. For Aldrian, he wanted to see the journey more clearly, so he chose to remain there.
However, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, beside him stood the two red-haired siblings, as well as the Sword Maiden with her confused friend, who seed not to understand why the Sword Maiden chose to stay near him. She also seed content to simply stand there, as if all she needed was to be close to Aldrian
Truly, he had never stepped out of the spotlight all this ti!
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