“That’s true.” Azure Dragon scratched his head. “Let’s wait until we break through to the Sovereign Realm before we talk about it!”
“The national fortune is coming. If there isn’t anything special, I’ll give each of you a month off to go home and visit your families.” Billy said after looking around at everyone.
The group of brothers and sisters followed him closely. They hardly had any proper rest time throughout the year and it was indeed very hard.
“Thank you, boss!” they all said in unison.
“But there’s a task!” Billy raised his eyebrows slightly as he spoke.
“Bring your significant other back home to meet your family. We’ll have a collective wedding in the capital city in the second half of this year!”
“Huh?” Everyone was stunned at once.
“Anyone have any objections?” Billy smiled faintly as he scanned everyone present.
Night Orchid, Frostblade, and Rakshasa all blushed simultaneously and lowered their heads without saying anything.
“Thank you, boss! We promise to complete the task!” Casey responded loudly with several big men exchanging glances with each other beforehand.
“Well done!” Billy nodded approvingly.
“Black Tortoise, Soul Chaser, Judge, have you three bosses decided who will be bringing along their backup partner?” Stout grinned at them teasingly.
“Screw off!” Soul Chaser glared at him.
Then he looked weakly towards Billy and asked, “Boss, do we really need to bring someone along?”
“What do you think?” Billy glanced over at him.
“Well then…” Soul Chaser pouted reluctantly.
“Boss, I’m different from Soul Chaser or Judge, I don’t have a girlfriend so there’s no one for me to bring.” Black Tortoise made a bitter face as he spoke up.
“Don’t pretend anymore Black Tortoise,” Stout smacked his lips together. “Boss already knows about what happened between you and that female doctor from West Region.”
“You’re full of crap! She and I are just pure friends.” Black Tortoise retorted back immediately.
“Tortoise, do you believe what you just said?” Azure Dragon shrugged beside him. “I don’t believe it anyway, Casey, do y’all believe it?”
“No way!” Casey and the others shook their heads decisively.
Black Tortoise choked on air. “It’s true! She’s just my friend, we haven’t even held hands…” he insisted.
Night Orchid covered her mouth with her hand while smiling lightly.
“Black Tortoise, are you really saying that? It’s been so long and you haven’t even held her hand. She probably hates you now!”
“Uh…” Black Tortoise’s mouth twitched.
“Bob, how far have things progressed with Violet?” Frostblade asked Bob with a smile.
The first time Bob saw Violet Frazier in the competition at the Ancient City, he felt a spark of attraction. Everyone joked that they were a perfect match. But no one knew if Bob had taken any further action after returning from the Ancient City.
“Frostblade, don’t worry about it. They fell in love at first sight and things are moving quickly!” Night Orchid smiled and said, “I feel like they’ll be walking down the red carpet next month!”
This time it was Bob who was choked up. He scratched his head and said, “Orchid, I don’t think we’re moving as fast as you say.”
Everyone laughed out loud.
“White Tiger, has there been any movement on the Aquilandia border these days?” After joking around for a while longer, Billy turned to White Tiger to ask this question.
“According to reports from people on their side of the border,” White Tiger replied, “their military hasn’t made any big moves recently.”
Billy nodded slightly.
“Boss, since last time’s incident, Aquilandia has been trying to make nice with us, do you think they might take advantage of our vulnerability?” Rakshasa asked Billy cautiously.
“Between nations there are no permanent friends or enemies, everything is driven by interests.” Casey chuckled lightly.
“Aquilandia is only being friendly because they’re under pressure from western powers right now; once that pressure is gone their attitude will do a 360-degree turn so we need to keep our eyes open.”
“I understand,” Rakshasa nodded in agreement.
“Apart from Aquilandia what about other countries in the North? Has anything happened recently?” Billy continued asking questions.
“General Wilson had someone check but nothing special came up.” White Tiger responded.
“What about the West Border?” Billy turned his attention towards Vermilion Bird.
“All other countries have been behaving themselves well lately except for Shadowrealm.” Vermilion Bird paused before continuing speaking again. “According to the news from Shadowrealm, they have been sending 300-400 thousand troops to the border in recent days, clearly with some sort of plan in mind.” Azure Dragon said, looking at Billy.
“It looks like that battle a year ago didn’t scare them after all!” Billy narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Boss, the situation in the South isn’t looking good either,” Azure Dragon continued. “Northfortia and Xidengia have each sent 200 thousand troops to Nanrania and Zenland. Respectively, all stationed on the border.”
“As expected!” A hint of fierceness flashed through Billy’s eyes. “Let’s make note of all these countries that are provoking us. We’ll settle accounts with them when our time comes!”
“Understood!” Casey and others nodded vigorously.
That night at ten o’clock, Billy sat cross-legged in a pavilion on the northeast side of SHADOW courtyard and began practicing his martial arts technique using Heart Sutra of the Azure Void.
Heart Sutra of the Azure Void was indeed an unparalleled martial arts technique; since he started practicing it, Billy’s spiritual power level had made a qualitative leap.
“Now that you’re here, show yourself!” About an hour later, Billy opened his eyes and spoke lightly.
With his current level of spiritual power he could cover the entire base courtyard; naturally he could sense any strong presence approaching him. Moreover, there would be someone coming for him tonight – something he had already anticipated – as tomorrow was Glavale’s auspicious day for welcoming their country luck. Those who did not want him to inherit this fortune from ancient martial world or Western countries were bound to arrange people ahead of time tonight.
He chose this place specifically tonight for cultivation because he was waiting for them!
“You truly are Glavale’s genius prodigy after all!” An old man’s voice came over from afar. “We deliberately concealed our martial arts aura but you still easily detected us first thing! Truly impressive!”
As soon as those words fell out six old men walked out one by one from around pavilion into view
Seeing these six people made up entirely by Sovereign realm experts ranging between first-rank Sovereign realm up till third-rank Sovereign realm experts including three Easterners’ faces among them while other three were Westerners’, made even Billy’s pupils shrink slightly upon seeing them together like this .
The speaker was an elderly man dressed in blue robes with an Eastern accent; judging by his accent it should be a person from Oriana or Veridiania.
“You guys really think highly of me, huh?” Billy squinted at the old man and spoke up. “What’s your name?”
“I’m just an unknown junior, no need to say it,” the old man replied with a faint smile.
They had ambushed Billy in the middle of the night – that was a huge deal. They were already bold enough to show up without disguises.
“Are you afraid that Glavale will come after you and hold your country accountable?” Billy chuckled lightly.
“But I have to say, I do admire you guys. You know the men in the capital of Glavale are different, yet you still dare to show yourselves. You’ve got some guts!”
“Commander Gardner,” the old man responded with a laugh. “We’re not here to challenge the capital of Glavale; our target is only you.”