The tower 4

Trying to find his sword from the ground wasn't proving to be too fruitful or at least his hand looking for it wasn't finding the Rising Ruler that he must have dropped somewhere close during the impact. Xiao Fan had felt how his grip on the sword had been lost during that impact so it should be near, but as mentioned before it seemed that it wasn't.

After a few more frames of a second had gone by like this, he took his eyes off the axeman now almost upon him, changing his focus to the sword he wanted to find; moreover, to look at the axeman wasn't anyway helping him in while this might help.

To his luck it indeed helped, for when he turned his head to look for the sword he immediately spotted the sword in a spot that he must have gone through with his hand since it was right next to him. Nevertheless, having now found the sword was what mattered to him, nothing else, and so taking a grip of the sword, he moved his arms into a block.

A desperate block seeing as the axeman he needed to block was a Body Strengthening Realm cultivator, and the last time he had tried to defend himself hadn't come out too well, so he wasn't expecting much, but then again, he had killed two of this guy's companions, so he wasn't expecting mercy. Only his own actions could save him.

Or the actions of Wang Geming. That was fine for him too.

There was nothing wrong to Xiao Fan in the idea that suddenly Wang Geming would come to his aid from the side. Furthermore, the aid he could give him was massive, as in getting rid of the problem in one fast swing.

A swing that Xiao Fan hadn't even seen coming, for it had been too fast for him to register, after all this was his first time seeing someone on the cultivation level of Wang Geming to strike. So it was kind of expected that his eyes couldn't make much out of the event happening before him other than that, one second the opponent was there, very much so coming at him, and the next second he was sliced in half by the sword the Prince would use.

And of course, the sword he had was a Body Weapon made for a Body Shattering Realm expert, so it moved through the axeman like a knife would move through hot butter. There was nothing stopping the swing going through, it simply moved in and out.

The axeman now sliced in half didn't really even get off a new facial expression as the top side of him came crashing onto the sitting Xiao Fan while the lower part fell in front of his feet.

¨Ugh!¨ Was Xiao Fan's first response, not a thank you to the Prince saving him, but instead a random noise while he pushed the top part of the body away from himself. He didn't want a hug nor was the axe that had cut into his body nice either.

Kinda lucky him was the fact that the Prince wasn't waiting for a thank you since following the helping of his new ally the Prince had focussed on the few cultivators still behind him, though they didn't last long either, Xiao Fan wasn't even up by the time those had also been dealt with by him.

The fact that Xiao Fan was up by the time Wang Geming was done with them might have some correlation to the fact that he had been occupied with watching how his saviour fought the two men below his cultivation. It wasn't pretty; it was very crude, the Prince basically rammed his sword towards his opponent any moment he got, forcing them into a contest of strength where he would either win it by destroying their weapon and then the wielder or by retreating and trying the same thing again...

'Yikes' Was the comment Xiao Fan could say regarding this to himself since to the outside his message was different ¨A few less opponents to deal with in the future¨

¨All thanks to you¨ Wang Geming said as he was cleaning his sword.

¨You gave me the tools to do so¨ Xiao Fan would flatter this Prince much as he possibly could.

Wang Geming nodded ¨Hide these bodies somewhere¨

¨Will do¨ Xiao Fan didn't argue and got to mopping up this place. If they would be setting shop here having these bodies lying around wasn't the best idea, it might make other people anxious after all.

Also, on the note of having these bodies lying around here, Xiao Fan had a great idea in his mind concerning the disposal of the bigger parts of these bodies 'Could those light pillars accept dead bodies?' He thought it would be very convenient to throw these bodies into the light pillars inside here, for if that worked the problem would be eternally solved.

Getting to testing this, he took the upper body part he had just thrown away and brought it to the light pillars in the middle of this room, and then simply threw the upper body in. It wasn't like it was some precise science.

To Xiao Fan's delight, it seemed that his idea was correct. The body part he had thrown into the light pillar started to fade away slowly, and while it was slow, it still disappeared into the system, or whatever this pillar was. He didn't have the time to think as he began to dump the bodies that Wang Geming had created into the light pillars.

'Last one' He thought as he threw the last body into the light pillar that had been freed up. The light pillars did take in and move dead bodies, but the moving of those took them more time than an alive person, yet again, he didn't care. If it worked, he wouldn't question.

¨What next?¨ Having completed his task, he came over to Wang Geming, who was talking to a new group by the door.

'!' Yet when he came there, some alarms were set off inside his head, for the person Wang Geming had been talking to by the door was a person who talked to him in an equal manner, and he had the same set of clothes as his ally had.

¨Second Brother have you seen my men?¨ The person outside asked Wang Geming whose body was blocking anyone's entrance inside this tower that they had claimed.

¨No, no I haven't seen anyone, the only person so far who has come inside this tower has been... Mask here¨ Wang Geming, at the end of his sentence took hold of Xiao Fan and pushed him forward.

¨Mask? Your name is Mask?¨ The person looked at Xiao Fan, his eyes making him feel like he was under some investigation for murdering someone.

¨That is the nickname his Highness the Second Prince has given me. Mask¨ Xiao Fan had no idea what was happening currently, so he decided to stick to the plan Wang Geming had made up just now, calling him Mask and all.

Thought at the very least he could have given him a cooler nickname...

¨You don't even have a mask on you Mask¨ The person who seemed to be another Prince, most likely the Third Prince questioned the obvious.

¨That is because it is working. If you think this is my face, then you are being fooled by the Mask¨ He made up some complete bullshit.

¨Hmm¨ The Third Prince seemed to be a little sceptical of his wording and almost everything else, but then again, having been brought up in the Imperial Palace, the sucker ate it.

On the other side before him speaking more, Xiao Fan felt how a drop of sweat was forming on his forehead, yet thanks to being a Body Activation cultivator he could keep it from happening.

Then shortly after that, the Third Prince spoke ¨Whatever, I'm not here to meet your new friend anyway. I'm here to look for my men. They had come here moments ago, but now I can't find them¨ The Third Prince spoke, yet in his tone or looks there was nothing that suspected them.

So it was easy for Wang Geming to continue from here ¨No we haven't seen them, but if Third Brother wants a tour of the tower I'll be glad to give you one¨

¨Well, if Second Brother is so kind I will not refuse this opportunity¨ The Third Prince seemed to get back his mood as he stepped inside.

Xiao Fan and the retinue of this Third Prince dropped behind while the two Princes went in front and spoke.

¨On the notion of troops, have you seen any of mine? I have Mask here, but he isn't the combat type¨ Xiao Fan heard Wang Geming ask.

He could also hear the response ¨Your men? I did see a few of them grouping up some eight hours ago, but after that, I haven't seen any nor heard of any¨

¨Thank you for the information, now brother if you follow me...¨ Wang Geming showed his brother or most likely stepbrother around his claim, in a way that any brother would do. Xiao Fan and the retinue behind him not speaking a word behind them the whole time.

'Well, this is boring' Xiao Fan walking next to the soldiers who walked the whole time in a neat formation thought to himself, he already hoped Wang Geming would get into action, it wasn't like he hadn't by now seen all the signals he had been given.

Still, it took a ten or so more minutes after that thought before Wang Geming would do it.

The thing he had been telling was of course betrayal, or could it be said to be such? There were no rules in here? All was fair game, so killing one's brother to be the next Emperor was fair game, in Xiao Fan's mind, and so he didn't bat an eye when Wang Geming showed his true intentions.

The unlucky Third Prince was just coming out from the trials, his form could be seen forming in the light pillar, yet before it was completely formed Wang Geming had swung his own sword, cutting open the stomach of the Third Prince.

The incomplete face of the Third Prince looked weird as it twisted and warped maybe for the reason that the light pillar couldn't handle so many emotions at once; nevertheless, the reality was that the Third Prince would die here.

¨What did you do?¨ The Third Prince was still at the same level as Wang Geming so he wouldn't die too fast, as in he was alive, but in the books of the dead by now.

Xiao Fan on the side saw how the Second Prince seemed to struggle a little with this ¨I want to be the next Emperor, no hard feelings?¨ Did he just hear Wang Geming ask his brother to forgive him?

¨No hard feelings?¨ The Third Prince repeated that part and then laughed some until continuing to talk ¨No hard feelings? You killed your kind to be the Emperor? If this gets out do you think anyone will want you to be the next Emperor?¨ He then turned to face his men ¨My men, be sure to tell of this. Run!¨ He commanded.

However, the line of soldiers which had been shocked did not move nor speak, not talking about running the thing the Third Prince had commanded them.

¨Your men? The Emperor's men! The Bald Eagle Dynasty's men!¨ Xiao Fan loudly stated.

¨Excatly! Men who do you serve?¨ Wang Geming then took the lead in this play by turning himself to face the men and asking them this.