"Tadaaa!" Adam exclaimed, his chest puffing out in pride as he noticed the gazes of the others.
"What..l.what the hell was that?" Iris asked after a moment of silence.
"It's a disguising formation I came up with on my own," Adam replied proudly. "My dad taught me how to embed formation disks into my body and assimilate them without causing internal damage, which helps control the formation disks better. Not only that, but having it embedded into my skin allows me to use it at all times without having to hold only a formation or set one up. With the two, I was able to come up with a flawless disguising method."
John's expression turned from surprise to nodding approval as he inspected Adam's disguise. It was quite remarkable, and he truly did look like another person. Even his aura had shifted slightly, as the formations released their own aura, obscuring his natural aura.
"This is actually impressive," John replied as he continued to inspect Adam's face. While it was not as flawless as the mask he had used before, it was almost as good. Even he could only tell something was wrong after very close and careful inspection.
Others would not inspect Adam's face as closely as there was no need to, and so the disguise was more than sufficient.
"You really are weird," Iris couldn't help but exclaim, her words causing Adam's prideful demeanor to turn to agitation. "But even I have to admit that your formation talents are formidable. This is truly impressive."
Iris's rare complement of Adam stopped his words of disparagement that were about to come out, as his chest puffed out with pride once more.
"I knew you would see my true genius eventually," Adam replied. Iris rolled her eyes at his words, but said nothing.
"Adam," John said, getting Adam's attention.
"Hmm?" Adam asked.
"I've never seen anyone else imbed formations into their skin before…why is that?" John asked, as a thought popped up in his mind.
"Of course you haven't," Adam chimed up, "because it's something that's incredibly dangerous to do. A formation embedded into one's body is incredibly hard to control, and even the slightest mistake can result in it going out of control. If that happens, even death is not impossible."
"Then how are you able to use such a method so freely?" John asked.
"Hmm? That….I don't actually know," Adam replied, his pride dimming for a moment before returning. "Maybe I'm just the greatest formation genius to ever live hahaha."
His prideful laughter continued for a short moment, while John's thoughts continued to swirl.
'The Starforge Clan is looking for something that they think Adam has. It could be this technique, or the method to use this technique without harm. I think there's more to this than even Adam knows.'
John thought about it for a moment before he put such thoughts aside. Regardless of the reasons, Adam was able to make a believable disguise, which solved the problem John had.
"This should solve the issue at hand then?" Iris asked John, who nodded his head. With Adam being able to disguise himself, he should be able to slip past the Starforge Clan undetected. However, there was one last matter that John had to address.
A robe suddenly appeared in his hands, one that was black and red. It was his War Hall robes, which had no identifying marks that it belonged to the Heavenly Lightning Sect other than the color scheme.
"Wear this," John said as he tossed it over to Adam.
"Hmm, why?" Adam asked as he caught it.
"Because even with your disguise, if a Starforge member runs into a middle Meridian Forging youth wearing the Heavenly Lightning Sect robes, the only two who can fit the bill are you and Chase," John replied. "The War Hall robes are much less recognizable, and a clan like the Starforge Clan most likely doesn't know such insignificant information."
"Ah…that makes sense," Adam replied as he donned the War Hall Robe. Due to John's larger body, the robe was definitely oversized, making Adam look quite funny while wearing it. The group stifled their laughter as best they could, while Adam scowled at their amusement.
John informed Adam to deactivate his disguise while they were traveling together, and only activate it once he entered his tunnel alone, so no one could put two and two together.
"That settles it then," John said as the matter at hand was resolved. "Let's head out to the tunnels, and proceed deeper into these lands."
The group nodded their heads in unison, and left the tavern. They proceeded deeper into the ancient city, their destination the tunnels at the very opposite end. While walking through the city, John and the group received many odd gazes. The gazes were mixed, some staring with awe, some with fear, some with intrigue, and some with doubt.
"What the hell are they staring at?" Adam grumbled, as the stares were starting to become annoying.
"Who knows, just ignore them," John replied, not concerned about such things.
Eventually two youths approached the group and stood in front of them. It was a pair of boys, who both had bald heads and had their chests bared. Their upper bodies were tattooed, making them look quite wild, and both exuded a powerful body aura, signifying that they were body cultivators. They both had Early Heaven Tribulation cultivations, and they stared at John with gazes of competition, as well as doubt.
"What do you want?" John asked as the group blocked their way.
"Are you John Fenix?" one of the youths asked.
"So what if I am," John replied nonchalantly.
"Hmph, you don't deserve your ranking," the other youth replied, his aura exploding outwards like he was preparing for battle. "So I'll be defeating you and taking your place."
Both youths dashed forward, their fists punching out towards John. John frowned as he saw this, while his leg suddenly swept outwards with his full bodily might. His right leg crashed into the youth on the right first, who was unable to dodge in time due to John's lightning quick actions.
His sweeping leg slammed against the youth, violently knocking him into the other youth as well. The two youths were launched to the side, their bodies slamming into the sturdy walls of one of the ancient city buildings.
Their bodies violently rebounded off the wall, crashing to the ground. A small amount of blood seeped from their mouths as the two struggled to stand up, while their gazes shifted from arrogance to caution and even slight fear. They stared at John for a moment before speeding away, realizing in that single exchange that they were not John's match.
"What the hell was that?" Chase exclaimed.
"They must have been looking to establish themselves on the Jade Dragon List, and a Late Meridian Forging youth in the bottom half of the list is the perfect target in their eyes," John replied.
"Uhhh…its not that simple anymore," Iris chimed up. John looked over, and saw a jade piece in her hands.
He realized it was the Jade Dragon List, and he quickly took out his own to inspect his current position. His eyes narrowed slightly as he spotted his name and rank.
Rank 20: John Fenix
A frown appeared on his face as he realized that Ainsel had changed his rank after they left the building.
"Establishing a friendship my ass," John grumbled.
