Contemplation Late At Night

After the incident with Sam the stadium suffered a large amount of damage. It was so extensive that Hu Wenxi decided it was better to move to another venue. Thankfully the imperial palace had a small but heavily fortified arena of its own that could be a stand in stage on demand. As such Hu Wenxi temporarily opened the imperial palace up to the many visiting guests into his home.

Truth be told, the palace was so large it could fit everyone no problem. Although the elders from the Azure Sky continent abstained to accompany their recovering fellows. In hindsight it was obvious Sam hypnotised those girls and young men to live out his anime fantasy. Their personalities just flipped so much it was unreal.

The confrontation and mind state of Sam left Hu Wenxi wondering. He came from planet earth as well, he knew not if the earth Sam came from was the same as his though it was likely, they shared many similarities after all. But Hu Wenxi wondered could he had become like Sam? Of course these were passing thoughts, although he was a fan of nerd culture he was never really as insane as Sam had seemed.

Honestly thinking back Hu Wenxi felt pity for Sam, he could also empathise. Real life sucked, they lived in a world of supernatural powers. What's more Hu Wenxi was reborn into a life of privilege. He was a part of a big clan with many resources that kick started his early cultivation. Of course many of his later achievements were due to him but he could never had started as good as he did without having been a member of the Hu clan.

5 days after the Sam incident it was decided to resume the final matches. Li Changseng much to the pleasure of everyone present defeated his opponent quickly. Though it was quick in comparison to his magnificent fight against Hu Jin Shen. He still expired quite a bit of energy.

During this period Hu Jin Shen retreated to continue practising, he no longer seemed concerned with the outcome of the finals. Since her son and one of the people of interest left Qiang Mei Hua also returned to her daily duties. To Hu Wenxi a lot of what made him watch was lost hence he too lost interest. However he was still forced to be here.

During this period Hu Wenxi also carefully studied the orb while recalling his fight with Sam. The boy showcased many abilities resembling abilities from many anime Wenxi had watched during his teens. With his high cultivation he was also able to recall these long memories with perfect clarity.

He did not know if Sam had even more tricks up his sleeve as when he transformed he lost all sense of reason. But during his close contact with Sam he was able to examine Sam's body and cultivation. At the time he engaged in a clash of ideologies with Sam but as an experienced Human Immortal he was able to multitask easily.

For Hu Wenxi he investigated Sam's meridians and interior body. What he found only confirmed his earlier thoughts and Qiang Mei Hua's own investigation. Sam didn't actually have any cultivation of his own. That is to say all of Sam's 12 heavenly meridians were fake. In fact Sam's organs and interior body did not posses any of the longevity Sam supposedly should have had.

Normally a 12 meridian Crossing Tribulation realm expert had an expected lifespan of 2000 years. This was not set and some could live a little over or under but it was generally around the 2000 years mark. For a cultivator their interior organs will show signs of rich spiritual energy that indicates their immense lifespan. Sam's interior was human, he was truely mortal.

This begs the question, where did Sam's absurd power come from? 'Unless you want to tell saiyans really do exist along with devil fruits and soul society' Hu Wenxi sat inside his office and leaned back on his swivel chair. It was one of the furniture Wenxi introduced when he became emperor. This swivel chair was also high grade Sacred Artefact suitable for Human Immortals for use.

Funnily enough many of the Hu clan's most powerful treasures were chairs. The imperial throne, this swivel chair, the patriarch's seat, the carriage seat, and the brown sofa were all magic treasures. The irony was not lost on Hu Wenxi. Although he could claim to be a swordsman he doesn't specialise in it, instead his main offensive magic weapon is a chair.

'I really should practice with my sword' thought Wenxi as he experienced the yin Qi emanating from the moon. Yin Qi was a relative of the water Heavenly Qi, the moon and water was intricately connected through the shared power over ice. It was useful for Hu Wenxi to cultivate as his primary Heavenly Qi was water.

"Shit, my water Qi is rising again" Hu Wenxi quickly suppressed the Qi in his body. Until his other self comes back he will not attempt the Immortal Tribulation. If he attempted it now he only had a 70% chance at most of surviving. Your chances with the Immortal Tribulation will never be 100 and you should never aim to be, that's just not realistic.

Taking a few breaths to calm down Hu Wenxi turned to look at the orb at the shelf. The safest place for any magic treasures in the empire was not in the imperial vault nor a pocket dimension. Instead it was actually his office shelf. That seemingly innocent shelf made of wood doesn't even look high quality yet it was in fact a True Immortal Artefact. Just like the imperial throne this Immortal Artefact was found by Hu Wenxi during his travels. It was one of the three he owned.

Of course aside from the imperial throne the other two was not known outside of his immediate family. In fact even then only Qiang Mei Hua and Hu Jin Shen knew. Non of his concubines, sons, nor daughters even knew that the power shelf in their father/husband's office was such a powerful magic artefact.

Since returning Hu Wenxi had used several different ways to discover the orb's secrets. He attempted to refine it, break it open, talk to it, feed it but no matter what he did it did not respond. The only thing he knew were mere theories.

From its surface description it seemed the orb was the source of a system a common trope found in his old world's media. Hu Wenxi theorised that this orb was the source of Sam's power and likely acted as an exchange system for Sam to gain power. It also passively gave of profound aura.

It was only after extensive meditation that Hu Wenxi was able to briefly detect this aura. However it was so profound that what little he did sensed sent Hu Wenxi's cultivation into chaos. If it was anyone else aside from maybe Long Chi Bai they would've gone mad and self destructed.

Hu Wenxi had come in contact with True Immortals before and had even seen distant Profound Immortals clash many years ago. He was nearly a True Immortal himself and could sense their energy. The aura of a Profound Immortal was also known to him. He could also somewhat see the power of a Primordial Immortal. But his orb was completely different.

Hu Wenxi was fully convinced that the orb came from the Heavenly realm. This though made him nervous, from what he knew the mighty figures from the 33 heavens hadn't bothered with the material universe in a long time. He did not know why it would show up in his universe but wanted it gone. Unfortunately he really had no way to get rid of it without the possibility of someone using it against him, he couldn't even scratch it.

Records on the 33 heavens and the even greater High Heavens were scarce in the material universe. The Heavenly realms themselves are conjointly referred to by ancient beings as the Trichiliocosm why the material universe was known as the Chiliocosm. In fact there were many material universes. They were simply separated by a space wall around them. These universes were all part of the Chiliocosm.

There was said to exist 3600 major worlds and untold trillions of minor worlds in the Chiliocosm. They were of course spread out throughout the many martial universes. Hu Wenxi actually knew the exact co-ordinates of 16 of these major worlds in his home universe. He could bring the orb to some acquaintances from the major worlds to check.

Then again he doesn't fully trust these acquaintances. In the end they were strangers he just happened to know. The greater Thousand Rays Dragon Clan could aid him due to their relatively great relationship.

While it may seem Hu Wenxi had too many connections especially since the Thousand Flames upper realm was for the most part very isolated he did still posses a second true body. That Hu Wenxi had been wondering space for hundreds of years and only seldom returned.

Suddenly a completely black figure appeared on his knees. It was Blade 1 who seemed a bit muffled. There was a tear on his black onesie on the left arm and signs of a healed wound. "What happened?" Questioned Hu Wenxi.

"This servant was caught off guard. Forgive me your majesty" Blade 1 bowed his head low. Very few beings were able to catch Blade 1 when he hid but many of them could easily kill him. The Blades were never trained for combat but for investigation and espionage. Blade 1 could fight but he was likely to lose to many many people at even lower cultivation.

"This servant was observing the Celestial Star kingdom royal family but was discovered" Blade 1 admitted ashamed. His concealment abilities were top notch with even Human Immortals unaware of his existence in they weren't paying attention. "This servant discovered the presence of several high level cultivators in their royal capital".

"The Celestial Star kingdom have 102 saints and 3 Human Immortal, was it any of them?"

"Several of them were saints of the kingdom, but there were several others who I did not recognise. They noticed me" this statement made Hu Wenxi weary. Blade 1 was intimately familiar of all important figures in the Thousand Flames upper realm. If Blade 1 didn't recognise them then they were either super low key experts or the more likely chance foreigners.

"I control the Zodiac formation, no one could get in without me knowing. Even True Immortals are halted" Hu Wenxi was confident in his abilities even when faced with the average True Immortal. His disregard of Ozaru Sam was indicative of this as the ape had the strength to qualify as a True Immortal.

"Perhaps they were snuck in?" Questioned Blade 1. Hu Wenxi cupped his chin in thought. 'Maybe it was then?' Hu Wenxi suddenly came to a realisation. Several years ago the Celestial Star king had welcomed his younger brother the Sun Star Saint and his servants back. Hu Wenxi did not give it too much thought as they were lesser maids and butlers with low cultivation.

'I was foolish', They could've disguised themselves with an artefact. "Blade 1, I want… ARGH" before Hu Wenxi could finish he suddenly gripped in chest and cried out in pain falling to his knees. "Your majesty, someone help" cried out Blade 1 as he rushed to Hu Wenxi's aid helping him up.

Several guards immediately arrived, "Your majesty, quickly get doctor Chu and doctor Nan". Various maids and guards immediately rushed around the palace. All the while Hu Wenxi groaned in pain. "You majesty let me treat you" said the arriving doctors.

Hu Wenxi raised his hand,"No, I'm not injured nor poisoned". No what caused Hu Wenxi pain was a sudden shock through his soul. Specifically the one that link him to his other self. Something big had happened and it was also affecting him.

Deep in the forest not far away from the imperial capital a deformed figure wondered around. "I have to find the system for master." It then stopped and its eyes appeared clear, "No I am Sam and I". Its eyes clouded over, "Must fulfil master's request". "No I am Sam". "Master's orders are absolute".

This lumbering monstrosity was a lumpy being of muscle, limps and eyes. It had 11 arms ranging from big fists to frail lengthy limbs. Its legs, all 5 of them were big and thick. It stood at least 30 metres tall and had a restrained dense amount of Qi.

"Must retrieve the system" the beast groaned and continued on. It was bound for the capital. Just then a patrolling guard came across it. "Hey you're not suppos…" before it could finish the beast grabbed the guard and ate him. "Must re… No I am Sam…Must retrieve the sys… I am Sam… retrieve system… damn you Villainous emperor".