Banquet in Paraj

Soon after Astar left, Emily appeared from the amphitheater with a plain veil over her face. She was glad for all the support she was getting, but when she imagined being bombarded by her fans after leaving the amphitheater, this seemed like her only choice. While in this state, she looked around to find Shui, but he found her first.

"How did it go, Little Puzzle Princess?"

"Not you too. Isn't there a way to ban that title?"

She didn't mind that her veil had no effect on him, but she couldn't brush off what he said.

"I think you'll just have to get used to it."

"Ugh. You don't think this has spread to other cities, right?"

"It probably already has. You caused quite the commotion after all."

"As I thought..."

Emily frowned as she imagined how long she would have to endure that embarrassing title, but Shui thought there was a good look on her face. She had faced life-threatening danger, emotional turmoil, betrayal, the weight of expectations, and yet she was still able to overcome everything. She said that there was little that she could do alone, but he didn't think many could accomplish as much as she had if they were in her position.

"So, are you moving on to the main evaluation?"

"I'm, not sure. I still have to take revenge on Adler and the people who abandoned my master, but that's all. I used to dream about getting my name on the Minor Ranking so that Master could be proud of me, but it doesn't look like I have to be bound to that anymore."

"In that case, shall we get rid of the main target of your revenge tonight?"

"You have a plan?"

Although Shui was definitely strong enough to kill Adler, he had a fairly sensitive status in the city so they had to be careful.

"Of course. As long as you desire it, I have a plan to eliminate him without leaving any strong evidence. So, what do you say?"

As the sun fell below the horizon, one section of Paraj saw a large number of distinguished guests. The land owned by the Array Association, which was normally rather exclusive, was now open to all array masters and invited guests. The grounds were decorated with various special visual effects caused by arrays, giving it a mystical appeal. However, besides a couple tables of food, there wasn't much else for the guests that stayed outside.

Some of these guests felt offended, but there was a very simple way to enter the more lavish venue inside the tall pagoda of the Array Association. All they had to do was solve the puzzle that was placed on the door, just like at Myriad Flower Pavilion. Even so, if any of them were skilled enough to do so, then they would have been among those qualified to be inside.

The guests that were invited to the large banquet hall on the first floor of the pagoda, consisted of array grandmasters and those with cultivations of peak Sky Realm at the minimum, the array masters on the current Minor Ranking and the winners of the preliminaries, excluding the young duke. As there were only nine members left on the current Minor Ranking, at least one of the preliminaries' winners was guaranteed to join the list. Normally, this would boost the morale of the challengers, but the majority of them couldn't feel glad about this fact since that spot was already reserved for the Little Puzzle Princess. Not only did Emily come first in the preliminaries, she was also the deceased ninth ranker's disciple, so it seemed fated for her to join the Minor Ranking.

Many of those uninvolved in the Minor Ranking, went to greet her despite all of them being her seniors because they knew that she would continue to succeed, so they wanted to create a connection from early on. Although some cultivators with extremist ideologies denounced all those with secondary professions as weak, array masters were generally well-respected because arrays played a key role in ensuring a sect's survival. 'A sect without arrays is like a soldier with armaments', or so they say.

Emily was in a brightly coloured, luxurious robe that better expressed her exquisite charm, but the initial anxiety and anticipation she felt was long gone At first, Emily managed to keep a polite smile as she responded to those who came to greet her, but she lacked experience so it gradually became harder for her to care about these people who repeated the same thing. Unfortunately, she also didn't have the ability to properly respond without paying attention to the conversation. She knew that even if they were only approaching to satisfy their own self-interests, they weren't trying to cause her trouble, but over time she couldn't help but wish she could ignore them and walk away.

"You see, my sect has quite a long history..."

"Oh, I see."

As her expression began to show visible cracks, a new voice interrupted.

"My apologies, but I have something to discuss with her. Would you sirs mind pardoning us?"

Emily didn't take kindly to this interloper, until she saw who it was. Alex, dressed in a long coat that made him look a little sharper than usual, stood next to Emily and greeted the three men who were talking to her. Unlike what she was used to, Alex had a thin smile on his face, one that silently pressured the men facing them.

They were his seniors, but the young master of the Sphere clan was worth showing face to, they said, so they politely withdrew. Once they had turned their backs, Emily sighed in relief.

"Thanks, I don't think I could have lasted much longer."

"It's no problem, but you'll have to get used to this since your popularity will only grow going forward."

"I thought I was fine with the attention, but it's such a bother when I have to be considerate of the other side. Maybe I should ask Shui to teach me that trick he uses to stay hidden."

"That's an interesting idea, but even though he would probably be glad to teach you, do you think one of his techniques would he that easy to learn?"

"Good point."

Shui had not revealed the full extent of his power to Emily, but especially after seeing how he used a sword formation to defeat those assassins, she knew that he was the type of genius that only appeared in legends. She might be a historic prodigy, but just thinking about him made her feel humble.

"By the way, congratulations on your victory. That was a nice speech."

"Thanks, but after all the help you and everyone gave me, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I couldn't at least win."

"Heh, I'm glad you understood that."

This was the first time Emily and Alex had talked with neither Alicia nor Shui around, but as two talented array masters, they had no problem hanging around each other. However, there came someone daring enough to interrupt the two.