Chapter 36: Dragon Steps

Tianshi swiftly copied him and two Golden Dragons burst out from their tokens, dancing freely in the sky. Under everyone's shocked gaze, Xuefeng embraced Tianshi by the waist and they both extended their arms upwards.

Swoosh!

The Golden Dragons created a cool loop in the sky and dove with a fabulous spin, returning back to the tokens. They kept them and Xuefeng grinned, announcing confidently.

"Sect Master Liu from the House of Dragons invited us today to be his Personal Disciples. I'm sure he is still roaming somewhere in the Water Land. If he were to hear that his new Disciples were attacked even after showing his token, I'm sure the Safe Zone barrier will not stop him from destroying this City."

"S-sect Master Liu token!" The black-clothed man who was ready to pounce on them almost choked, stuttering as his weapon dropped down. Who would be so mad to attack them after knowing their identity?

Sect Master Liu's Personal Disciples!

They weren't the only once who were stupefied. The crowd outside the barrier who waited to enter the City was also going crazy.

"Look! They are House of Dragons' disciples!" Someone cried out in the crowd. "Not only that, but they are also Personal Disciples of the Sect Master! It's his Golden Dragon!"

Although they couldn't hear what happened inside the barrier, they could see it all. Anyone who didn't live under the rock would recognize the Legendary Golden Dragon who was the glory and pride of the Sect Master Liu. He was the only one who tamed a real Celestial Dragon, making it his partner.

It was a hot topic years ago when it was revealed that Sect Master Liu was in a relationship with his female dragon. Many were critical of such practice but no one dared to say that to the Sect Master Liu's face. How could they say what was right and wrong to the strongest Cultivator of the Heaven Realm? After that day, it actually became a trend for high ranked cultivators to have relationships with their Celestial Beasts.

"I guess we could have guessed it. Who would be this ballsy to create a havoc in the Safe Zone other than the famous House of Dragons' disciples? I wonder what rank they are," another cultivator commented. "Definitely in the top one thousand!"

"I don't think so. They don't seem that strong. It should be lower. Around the top five thousand I would say," his buddy corrected. "Anyone in the top one thousand would destroy the Safe Zone barrier with one strike if they wanted to. Those two only left a crack in it."

"True, true! They still look like they stepped on the Dragon Steps already!"

The Dragon Steps, the most prestigious ranking in the whole Heaven Realm. It was the only ranking that really mattered, yet only House of Dragons' disciples were included on the list.

That was the main reason why everyone's end goal was to join the House of Dragons. If you wanted to be relevant, you had to appear on the Ranking.

But how difficult that was?

Not only was it hard to enter the House of Dragons as only the greatest geniuses were invited, but it was also even harder to take a spot on the Dragon Steps. It was the list of ten thousand disciples based on their fame, strength, and accomplishments. Looking at the number of disciples which was counted in a few million, ten thousand looked extremely small.

There was also another reason why everyone couldn't help but drop by House of Dragons on their Cultivation Path.

House of Dragons had the biggest collection of Arts and Spirit Artefacts gathered over thousands of years. Only those who stepped on the Dragon Steps were allowed to enter the main Sect Grounds for the chance of training using the strongest techniques in the world. The rest of the disciples were only disciples in name, only given a chance to prove themselves.

They roamed around the world in search of their fame and hoped to enter the top ten thousand steps one day.

And Personal Disciples? They were even more special, sometimes even hated for their luck. They could directly skip everything and enter the main Sect Grounds to train under their master without any requirements. They were like Heaven Favorites but unless they proved themselves by entering the top steps, they wouldn't really receive any respect.

Naturally, it was a special case for Sect Master Liu. Anyone who caught his eye had to be a peerless genius!

Inside the barrier, everyone was still in shock, not knowing what to do with that knowledge. To attack? To pardon all of his crimes? Even if Xuefeng and Tianshi were not on the Dragon Steps, they were still Personal Disciples.

Thankfully for them, there was one person who wasn't scared of questioning Xuefeng's bluff.

"Impossible!" The X-men leader cried out in disbelief. "I was in the Spirit Land Capital just a week ago and I know for the fact that Sect Master Liu is still in the closed-door cultivation! If he left, the whole world would know about it!"

Xuefeng didn't mind the argument, even thanking the man in his mind. The more time he stalled the better.

"How could we know that? We just Ascended to the Heaven Realm earlier today and stumbled upon some Old Man. He was fishing in one of the rivers and invited us to sit with him. He saw we are new to this realm so he explained how things work in the Heaven Realm. In exchange for information, he asked us to display our most powerful Arts," Xuefeng recounted slowly, taking his time.

"As we felt bad for him, we decided to entertain him by performing our best Arts as he asked. I will skip the details but basically, he liked us so much that he gave us two tokens which we just showed you all. He invited us to the Spirit Land and told us to visit his Sect, saying all the good things about it. As we had some matters to settle, we told him to leave first and that's when we went separate ways. I'm sure he is still fishing somewhere."

Hearing his story, people blinked dumbfounded, unable to comprehend.

Did he just send the Sect Master Liu on his way, because he was busy...?

Xuefeng couldn't know what everyone was thinking and continued, "Now that I see all of your reaction, I guess we need to check it out for sure. I initially thought it's some Beast Breeding Site or something. I even called him a scammer, but he only laughed."

"..."

The City Guards and the X-men were completely speechless.

Beast Breeding Site? Scammer? Are you tired of living?! If any House of Dragons' disciple heard you, they would immediately rip you to shreds!

Rumble!

Just as the X-men leader opened his mouth to speak, the ground began to shake.

'Xuefeng, I'm ready to wreak havoc!' Ming called out excitedly as the Judgment Vine began to spurt from the ground.

Xuefeng laughed, already expecting Ming not to let go of them.

"Haha, what do you all have in your brains? Did you really believe that Sect Master Liu went out for fishing? I was just stalling to prepare my Forbidden Art," Xuefeng called out amused, patting the vine that grew to his height in the blink of an eye. "Did you think we would plead to let us go? I told you already! It's the opposite! You are locked here with us!"

Tianshi finally left Xuefeng's embrace, standing on his side and he ordered coldly while holding her hand.

"Kneel or die!"