Xue Wei was in deep thought while the audience and the other participants were looking at him as if they had seen a monster.

The next round of the tournament came to a close. As it did, a council of elders who had observed the tournament gathered in the main keep of the fort.

They were led by Wan Qiang, but all of them had serious expressions. They were the ones overseeing the tournament battles as the judges. All of them were Ordinary Knights.

"Master Wan, we understand that you encourage life-and-death battles as a way to temper and stimulate the younger generation, but we fear that things have gotten out of hand. Now many have died, and a monster has even appeared on stage!" one of the elders complained out loud. His eyes glistened in the darkness.

"We must eliminate him! He is a danger to the human race. We cannot let him leave the Black Iron Fortress alive. We are one of the pillars of the Skyward Empire, we will never let a threat pass through our gates!”

"He is also likely to be a deserter! A deserter that kills humans! He is the vilest of all vile creatures. He deserves death before he kills more of our talented geniuses!"

"Relax." Wan Qiang smiled when he saw their reactions, aware of what was happening. "We do not actually know about this young man’s background," he explained. The others frowned.

"We do not know if he is a deserter, or if he just looks young. Nor do we know if he has slain humans before, or if his murderous intent has been forged through killing numerous beasts, which could also explain the strength of it. We should not act so hastily when he is simply doing what the tournament asks of him.."

"We did allow them to kill, but that was to train them, not for them to actually kill their opponents!" someone objected. However, Wan Qiang just shook his head. "We already agreed," he said. "We cannot go back on our words, so let the man be. When he leaves the Black Iron Fortress in the future, I will not stop any of you, but he is currently under my protection."

A heavy pressure emanated from Wan Qiang’s position, and it made all the faces of the Elders turn grave. Some of them could not help but curse in their hearts.

It was clear that every senior figure present wanted to kill Xue Wei. However, Wan Qiang had ordered them not to touch him. Although they had the numerical advantage, the one with the strongest fist set the rules, and that someone happened to be Wan Qiang when it came to their Skyward Empire.

No one dared to go against Wan Qiang, but all of them felt uncomfortable when they thought about Xue Wei.

Many of them had descendants participating in the tournament. Some of them even had descendants in the three great sects, and they could not help but fear for their wellbeing. It was clear that Xue Wei had no qualms about taking the life of any who stood in his way.

Wan Qiang proceeded to make his exit. He had already said what he wanted to say and had warned them all. No one was dumb enough to kill Xue Wei when the strongest expert of the empire had taken him under his wing, but that did not mean that they would just give up.

"Let’s run a background check on him," one of the elders said. "It is imperative that we dig up dirt about him and analyze his behavior. Then we stand a better chance of killing him in one swoop."

Having reached a decision, the elders split up and headed back to their respective homes, sending down the order to their servants to gather intel on this stranger with an abnormally heavy killing intent.

While the Elders returned to their rooms, Xue Wei had already returned to his inn and was sitting inside his room, absorbing the heaven and earth essence, in the midst of increasing his cultivation base.

He had taken a spiritual fruit, and his strength and Qi gained a boost once more. However this time he did not break through but hovered at the peak of the fourth layer.

Xue Wei could feel that he was on the cusp of a breakthrough, but it was apparent the cultivation supplements were starting to lose their efficiency. He needed something different.

The following day, Xue Wei encountered an expert in the arena who instantly forfeited the moment he saw Xue Wei. His face displayed both fear and indignation at having been pitted against such a monster who gave off a vibe that made it seem like he had claimed dozens of human lives before, but still there was something much stronger on his face. It was disdain and disgust.

A person who wantonly murdered other human beings was the scum of society in this expert’s eyes. They were even worse than those who could not cultivate due to their poor talent, because they were directly harming the human side in the war.

The rest of the tournament was like one big blur to Xue Wei. He had expected to encounter a great deal of opponents that would threaten him, but after dealing with Ling Mo, everyone he encountered forfeited right away.

As such, he ended up becoming the number one without even having to bother trying.

Xue Wei could not help but feel that something was off. These experts were all the most outstanding experts in the Skyward Empire, and many of them were quite a few years older than Xue Wei, yet none of them dared fight him.

After a few days, the tournament came to a close. The top hundred had been found, and Xue Wei was ushered into the arena once more for the sake of receiving his prizes.

Although Xue Wei felt that something was odd, he did not question it, and it was impossible to hide the smile on his face when he received a storage ring from Wan Qiang, a ring which contained all the prizes that he had won.

Xue Wei was excited. This meant that both he and Hei Gou could have their own storage rings.

"You are the Champion of Black Iron Fortress," Wan Qiang said as he handed him the ring, not even once asking for his name. "Please call over your friend and then follow me back to the main keep. I need to discuss some things with you."

Xue Wei was not surprised that Wan Qiang knew that he had a friend. They had, after all, met at the restaurant before, so Xue Wei went to pick up Hei Gou and then headed straight for the main keep.

historical

When they arrived, they were met with a guard outside the gates of the keep. This guard was two meters tall. His face was square, and he had the eyes of a pig.

He was scowling, clearly unhappy with the task he had been given, and when he saw Xue Wei and Hei Gou, his face turned even more sour.

"Are you the homicidal maniac from the tournament?" he asked when he looked at Xue Wei with disdain, anger, and hatred.

Xue Wei, who had expected to be greeted politely, was stunned by such a reception, but he soon started laughing. "Yes that would be me," he confirmed merrily.

He did not mind being called a homicidal maniac. It would be a lie to claim he shied away from getting his hands bloody. A part of him even constantly urged him to kill and threatened to consume him in its sweet lull.

"Follow me," the guard said and looked at Xue Wei as if he was looking at a disgusting toad.

Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders and ignored the attitude, but Hei Gou’s face showed that he was anything but happy. Were it not because Xue Wei acted so carefreely, he would have straightaway killed the guard for insulting his friend.

The two friends were led into a large hall where Wan Qiang was sitting on a chair at the end, and five experts were seated on either side of him.

These ten experts were the Ordinary Knights who had been appointed as the judges of the tournament, and all of them looked at Xue Wei as if they had seen their mortal enemy, but none of them moved an inch.

Wan Qiang sneered when he saw their expressions, but his eyes glistened with excitement when he observed Xue Wei.

"My champion, I have a request of you," Wan Qiang said with a calm voice and a smile on his face. "We held this tournament because our Black Iron Fortress is in need of a specific herb. This herb is very rare to come by, but it has been found in a forbidden zone not far from here."

"There are just a few problems. It turns out that this forbidden zone was previously occupied by a supreme expert and he has placed some formations on the ground around the herb. Only one beneath the age of forty can enter the formation."

"Don’t worry though, although it is a forbidden zone, the location that attracts us is on the outskirts - and since there is a formation, it is impossible for beasts aged above forty to enter. The formation has the same parameters for every living creature regardless of their origins."

"We request of you, the champion of our tournament, to go and fetch the herb for us. It should take you a few months, and when it is done, you will be handsomely rewarded."

Xue Wei hesitated for a moment. He was not sure that he had the time to waste on finding a herb, but when he heard the words handsomely rewarded, he was swayed.

Considering their financial situation, he could not just forsake a good opportunity so casually. Although he had won the first place and the rewards were already outstanding, he was aware that it would only last them for so long. He truly needed all the support he could get for them to get stronger before they entered the center of the continent and met the real geniuses.

"Okay," Xue Wei decided to accept the request. He had a feeling he would not lose anything from going, rather he believed there to be profit in doing so.

If an apex cultivator would go as far as to put down such powerful formations in this place, then it was likely that he had left something behind. If he could find this something, and it proved to be a fortuitous encounter, then it was highly possible that his strength would leap a step beyond what it already was.

"Thank you," Wan Qiang said with a great smile on his face. He waved his hand, and a map appeared out of thin air. With a flick of Wan Qiang’s hand, the map shot towards Xue Wei, who caught it.

"This will guide you towards the forbidden zone. The herb we want is a Seven Star Nightflower. It is as black as the deepest night, but has specks of silver light on it, reminding you of the starry night."

Xue Wei nodded his head and made sure to remember the words said by Wan Qiang.

"Well then, set out when you are ready," he said with a smile. Xue Wei took this as his note of departure and excused himself. He bowed slightly and turned to leave together with Hei Gou.

When they left the room, the elders all broke into an uproar. "Are you sure you want to use this man to find the treasure for us?"

"What if he runs away with it?"

"He might murder more humans on the way – we should eradicate him as soon as possible!"

"Stop it!" Wan Qiang said loudly, his voice injected with anger. "He is our champion and by far the strongest of all the men we have gathered at the tournament. He has the biggest chance of success. Relying on him is our best chance."

The other elders were quiet again, none of them daring even to breathe loudly. They knew about Wan Qiang’s short temper, but they could not help but feel that he was especially protective of this young man with a questionable background.