The Martial Unity

There were plenty of Martial Squires, each wearing ostentatious Martial Art attire. Some of them were accompanied by Martial Artists of the Senior or the Master Realm.

"Deivon," One Martial Master addressed him the moment he arrived. "I'd heard that you actually chose to patron a contestant this year. It appears that that was not false."

She appeared to be even older than he was.

"Ria," Master Deivon replied back to her.

She turned her attention to Rui for a brief moment, before her eyebrows furrowed as she frowned.

"He…"

She turned to him with a concerned expression, Master Deivon in turn had a smug knowing smile.

This little interaction with Rui confirmed that Martial Masters had the ability to gain deeper insight into people. He was quite sure that it didn't operate on the same principles that he operated on when it came to gathering insights into people. A systematic way of gathering and processing data to gain even more data on them.

It appeared that they had some form of sixth sense that allowed them to peer deep into others. Based on her non-verbal communication, Rui could see that the two of them were able to gain insights into him that they shouldn't have been able to.

This was the same kind of thing he experienced with Headmaster Aronian as well.

He didn't think that they could explicitly gain information about his Martial Art or Path. It was quite clear that Master Deivon had been surprised by Rui's performance in the preliminary contest.

"Looks like you're serious this time," She mentioned with narrowed eyes.

Deivon grinned. "You better hope you've found the best contestant

wouldn't draw attention to them, but it would

honor if he

feel that each one of them was extremely powerful and could erase him with a simple gesture.

man was certainly quite comforting. He shot a sharp glare at all the other Martial

them," He grumbled. "They're just jealous because they realize that they can't beat me

"And here I thought my Mind Mask technique would

not bad," Master Deivon remarked. "But it ordinarily is only opaque to people in the same Realm. In your case, it can fool even Martial Seniors for some reason. Your imaginative power is so great that any mental image you conjure

to him with a look of interest in his eyes. "But it's not effective against me,

you all can sense how

than that," Master Deivon smiled with a half-smug,

powerful insight. It was a slight miscalculation, I shall be much more wary next time I

at that. "Fear not, you have me. I may not be the most powerful or

hear," Rui replied. However, he didn't miss the subtext in the man's words. It appeared that the man already considered his relationship with Rui not to be a temporary one once the Martial

of the outcome of the Martial Contest. Rui did not blame him for this at

his value, especially as he was

Deivon gestured, his expression growing severe, as a procession of guards

Suddenly, everything changed.

Rui could even fathom, but

air grew immensely thick. The atmosphere froze in its place. The

a cold sweat as he sensed a level of power

Excellency Honorable Cardinal

single figure descended from the