C23 Ximen Village

A few months later...

Kyle had been following his daily training in these past few months. Kyle was getting ready to go home since there was only a month left before the Ximen Family Meet.

In these past few months, Kyle had been training to control and familiarize his new body.

He also tried practicing his new halberd. He only did some small training, like hacking, slicing, and stabbing. When he summoned his soul weapon, he felt a familiar sensation. He felt that he could use the halberd easily and proficiently. He wasn't some master, but he could be called above average when using it.

But still... Kyle felt that he had great talent on using halberd so it was kind of a waste to not master it. So he decided that he will find a master in using a halberd and learn from him in the future.

Kyle also tried to practice using his Space Nature Energy. He tried applying his nature element to his Gura Gura no mi and when the result came out, he was in glee. The power of his Gura Gura no mi multiplied by a lot, he felt that his Gura Gura no mi and his Space Nature Energy really complimented a lot. So he vowed to master his Space Nature so he could apply it in various ways.

Kyle also broke through to 8th stage in Qi. Kyle really wanted his Qi to breakthrough to Xiantian since he felt that he could use his space nature easily while using Xiantian Qi. And since he needed Xiantian Qi to use his Halberd to fly.

Kyle rushed to the village and he arrived after 10 days. Kyle arrived very fast since his body's speed was now very fast compared to when he left the village. After he arrived at the village, the villagers that knew him greeted him, and they mingled for a bit. Kyle then rushed to the village head's building.

When he arrived, he was only greeted by old man Tang. He wondered what he was doing here so he asks "what are you doing here old man? and where is the head?"

"The head and the others already left for the Ximen Family Meet a month ago" old man tang answered him.

Since the distance from Tang Village and Ximen Village was very far. So they left a month early since it would need a month to arrive at the Ximen Village. When Kyle heard this he just nodded and said "hmm, since they already left, I'll just catch up to them. Oh... And can you tell me where the Ximen Village is located?"

When old man Tang heard this, he only nodded and told Kyle what he needed. After talking to old man Tang, Kyle then left the village.

He only had a few more days, before the Ximen Family Meet. So he rushed towards the Ximen Village. Kyle could only see a very wide plain and bunches of tall grasses all over the place while traveling. Seeing the same unending plains for a couple of days was very tiresome and at the same time, very dull.

After 10 days of boringly traveling through the plains, he finally arrived. The Ximen Village was really large compared to the Tang Village. When Kyle saw the village. He felt he was looking at Konoha (Naruto).

The Ximen Village was also surrounded with walls in a circular way, but there weren't any stone faces. It was bustling with people and stores. Kyle went inside the village, luckily the village was open for everyone during this event. So the guards didn't question him much.

Kyle asks around and bought some of the food sold from the stores. The store owners told him that the Family Meet will be held at the training grounds since there was a lot of people this time around. So Kyle headed to the training grounds.

When he arrived at the grounds...

He saw the people all over the place, flocking all together. Thankfully the training grounds was very huge and wide. It could hold a couple of thousands of people so it wasn't very crowded. He tried to find the people from the village of Tang. While trying to find them Kyle heard some rumors.

"Whew! I heard that the top 3 at the tournament could choose one of the three middle earth-grade martial skills of the Ximen's Family and learn it." A random guy said.

"For real? Isn't the rewards of this competition to lavish? It should be known that even intermediates village only had one martial skill and it was a low earth-grade

martial skill." Another random dude said.

"Yah, I heard that too, but your info is lacking something. Not only could the top 3 learn the Family's middle earth-grade martial skill but the winner of the competition could learn a heaven-grade martial skill." Another random guy stepped in the conversation.

When the people surrounding him heard this, their eyes went wide, even Kyle stopped himself. He had not expected the Ximen's family rewards could be this lavish. He only came to join this event because he promised the head and he wanted to help the Tang village gain some face and reputation.

Since he was now a Xiantian, he wasn't afraid of the Ximen family's retaliation. He was confident of himself. He wasn't sure on how high is the cultivation of the strongest practitioner of the Ximen Family is, but since the Tang Village have a Xiantian Cultivator, they would gain some reputation and they would be promoted to an Intermediate Village.

The Ximen Village won't go all out against an Intermediate Village just because their younger generation got beaten. He wasn't gonna massacre the Ximen family, or kill their younger generations. He was only here to beat the living crap out of them so the Tang Village will gain some face.

The Ximen Village can't just wipe or massacre an Intermediate village just for the younger ones. True... They might bully them and cause some scruples, but if they went all out. The other villages under them wouldn't like it since an oppressive leader that would massacre villages just for losing some battle isn't a worthy leader and it could cause a revolt.

This tournament was a perfect chance to gain some faces and reputation for the Tang Village. So he accepted the head's imcitation to join the tournament. But he didn't expect that the reward of the tournament could be this grand. So he was quite happy since he... too wanted to learn some martial skills.

The people surrounding him doubted him at first but he then said.

"I don't care if you believe me or not, I'm just saying what I heard." The random dude said.

"Yup, I heard that too... They said that the genius of the Ximen Family, Ximen Tiaolong had discovered some treasures and legacies at the outskirts of the Forbidden ruins." Another random guy stepped in and confirmed the guys' speculation.

When they heard him, some people started to believe him. The people then started to praise Ximen Tiaolong. They were at awe at the genius since the Forbidden ruins are... well the name says it all. A forbidden ruin inside their beast plains.

It was said that in these ruins, lay an ancient civilization from the Ancient Era in the distant past. It was surrounded by a mist so the people in Beast Plains don't know what's inside of it.

A lot of cultivators from the sacred families went to the Forbidden Ruins, but only a few had returned. The people who returned even said that they only ventured the outskirts of the ruins. The loss of the Sacred Families was huge so they ultimately stopped sending their people inside, hence they called it Forbidden Ruins.

Only some brave cultivators or geniuses who seek strength and power dared to venture inside it. But only a few had lived to tell the tale. So when they heard that the genius of the Ximen Family, Ximen Tiaolong ventured towards the Forbidden Ruins and Gain some legacies and treasures, they were at awe.

"Really worthy to be called a genius, The Ximen Family is really lucky to have this genius. The rise of the Ximen Family will be unstoppable." Random guys in the background continue to praise.

When Kyle heard this, he was surprised again. He heard about the Forbidden Ruins a long time ago since it was like a legend in the Beast plains, but he decided to become stronger or at least become a Xiantian first before he ventures to these kinds of places. It was called Forbidden for a reason, and Kyle didn't wanna underestimate it.

When he heard that Ximen Tiaolong successfully returned and found some treasures his first thought wasn't envy, regret, or jealousy. He found something fishy and he thought

'Hmmm, this isn't right. If Tiaolong really did successfully returned from the ruins with such gainings. Shouldn't they be trying their best to hide or suppress this kind of information? And why the hell are they giving out such huge rewards? Did they really want to boost their reputation?' Kyle kept on thinking about the scenarios, he felt that something was off. He thought of something, but since he had no proof or he was just guessing from an unreliable source, he shrugged it off.

He then muttered. " It seems like this Tournament isn't as simple as I think."

He then continued on his way and tried to find the Tang Villagers.