An almost imperceptible shimmer in space sped forward at a rapid speed, unnoticed by anyone it passed by. The shimmer paused for a moment as John was knocked into the Dao Transformation portal, before it sped forward once more. It disappeared into the Heaven Tribulation warrior portal, unnoticed by anyone.
The shimmer instantly appeared before an expansive forest. Trees that stretched miles into the sky with trunks hundreds of yards wide appeared, as an ancient aura emanated from the awe-inspiring forest. Calls of various beasts sounded out occasionally, revealing the forest to be inhabited by more than just the trial participants.
The shimmer ignored the awe-inspiring forest as it sped forward once more, its direction purposeful as if it knew where it was going. The shimmer traversed the forest with ease, bypassing any dangerous beast that occasionally appeared. It continued like this for half a day before it suddenly stopped, just a hundred yards from a lone youth.
The lone youth stopped as well, as if it had noticed the shimmer's arrival. The youth turned towards the shimmer, while her eyes shifted and slightly changed colors, becoming bluer and more vibrant.
"Who are you?" Iris asked coldly, her guard raised. She had noticed the arrival of the shimmer, and her Eyes of Heavenly Truth instantly saw through the youths' spatial disguise. Her eyes narrowed even further as she noticed what the youth was carrying, and rage quickly coursed throughout her body.
"Impressive," the youth replied as he revealed himself. "For you to be able to detect me so easily, even my master was not able to do such a thing. I'm assuming you spotted Number Three trailing you from a distance all this time then?"
"I noticed, and who is your master?" Iris asked, her gaze shifting towards the figure the youth was carrying. "And what are you doing with him? Did you do this to him?" she asked.
"Yes, my master…your friend John," Number One replied as he began to walk towards Iris. "And I did not do this to your friend."
"John?" Iris exclaimed, not sure what was going on. "Why would an assassin like you call John your master?"
"It's a rather long story," Number One sighed, "but to summarize, your friend beat me in battle and gave me two options, die, or become his servant. I chose the latter option, and now here I am."
Slight surprise appeared on Iris's face as she heard that, but she ignored further questions as she gazed at Adam. Despite his wounds mostly being healed, he still looked quite gruesome, as the girl had not had time to fully heal him. Iris's expression turned even more grave as her gaze noticed the incredibly weak aura from Adam, as if his life-force was hardly there.
Number One quickly explained everything that had happened, including how Number Three had informed him of her location through their communication method. Iris's body turned numb as she heard John be knocked into the Dao Transformation portal, while Number One walked up and placed the barely alive Adam at her feet.
"His last instruction was for me to take your injured friend to you. My slave contract is still intact, so he still lives, but for how long is the true question," Number One explained as he glanced down to Adam. "You might want to find some place to hide and help him recover. He may be alive, but he'll die again soon if you don't help him."
His body suddenly disappeared again as he slipped into the folds of space and quickly disappeared from Iris's view. Iris quickly recovered from her complete numbness, and scooped up Adam in her arms, while her body sped off in a certain direction.
…
The crowd stared at the portal in stunned silence, unable to believe what they had seen. They all recognized John as the Jade Dragon List prodigy, and just like that he had been sent into the Dao Transformation portal. No matter how powerful he was, that was a surefire death sentence for him.
The black-clothed figure's gaze shifted towards the crowd, and the crowd too looked towards the source of the attack that had just been unleashed. Their gazes rested on a lone figure, who looked on with a haughty and unapologetic expression.
The youth had long silver hair, and a sharp yet handsome face. The crowd instantly recognized who it was, as it was one of the most famed geniuses within these lands.
"Kadin! That's Kadin!" a youth exclaimed.
"From the Starforge Clan? Why would he attack the Heavenly Lightning Sect kid like that?" another asked.
Discussions immediately broke out within the crowd, as they tried to process what had happened. Kadin's gaze ignored the crowd, and instead was locked onto the black-clothed figure who stared straight at him. A thought appeared in his mind as to the identity of the figure as he recalled their aura, but he brushed aside the thought as it was not likely that they would be here.
"What the hell did you do that for?" the shrouded figure exclaimed, anger clearly contained within her feminine voice. It sounded quite odd, as if the figure was not used to expressing her rage.
Kadin frowned as he heard the figure speak to him.
"You dare speak to me that way?" Kadin replied, not apologetic at all. "I have no reason to answer to the likes of you."
The figure stepped forward, while their hand reached up to their hood and lowered it. The crowd gasped at the sight, as a veiled face appeared before them. The figure had long lavender hair and her face was veiled, revealing only her mesmerizing blue eyes.
While the crowd was stunned by the girl's face, Kadin's face scrunched up, a mixture of surprise and slight panic appearing on his face.
"My apologies, I didn't realize it was you," Kadin replied, his voice going from haughty to respectul in an instant. The girl ignored his apologetic reply, and gazed at him with narrowed eyes.
"I ask you again, why did you attack him?" the girl asked.
"I…that boy killed one of my friends in this realm," Kadin replied. "I just arrived here, and when I saw him, I attacked in rage. I didn't mean to knock him into the portal."
Everyone could tell that what Kadin had said was a lie, but they had no proof against his claim.
"And the boy that was mutilated beyond compare…was that you as well?" the girl asked, her voice icy and cold.
"That…that was not me, I swear it," Kadin replied. "Me and Adam may have a bad history, but I would never stoop to do such a thing."
Yet again, the crowd did not believe his words, but no one had any proof to the contrary. Not only that, but Kadin's strength was far beyond anyone's here, and so no one in the crowd could do anything even if they wanted to. Lastly, no one would dare touch the heir of the Starforge Clan to avenge someone from a different sect, alliance or not.
The veiled girl stared at Kadin with narrowed eyes, not moved at all by his lies.
Kadin's stunned expression slowly changed, as a thought formed in his mind. His fear was replaced with bravado, as he gestured out a hand towards the girl.
"I must say, I never expected someone as esteemed as yourself to appear in these lands," Kadin said to her with a charming and warm smile on his face. "There are also many dangers in these lands. How about the two of us venture forward together. While I'm sure you can protect yourself, I believe this cooperation would benefit the both of us, how about it, Miss La-."
The crowd was quite surprised at Kadin's audacity, as they could tell by the girl's reaction that she was not pleased with Kadin's actions. However, he had still suggested such a thing, revealing the shamelessness he had, as well as the self-confidence. While none of them knew who the mysterious girl was, they could tell she was incredibly important just by witnessing Kadin's reaction.
However, the girl had interrupted Kadin before he could finish talking, her icy eyes revealing what she thought of him in the moment.
"You better pray we don't make it out of that portal, because if there's one thing I know about him, it's that he'll kill you without hesitation if you two ever meet again," the girl replied, ignoring Kadin's offer of cooperation.
"We?" Kadin replied with confusion, as he had heard her say that. However, his confusion was quickly answered as he watched in stunned surprise as the girl turned and dashed forward without hesitation, her figure disappearing into the Dao Transformation portal.
