Chapter 12 - The Principal and the Grand Elder

Chapter 12: 12 - The Principal and the Grand Elder

Adrian’s sitting posture was straight and imposing. Even though he wasn’t deliberately putting on airs, he naturally gave off an invisible pressure that immediately made anyone looking at him know that he had an extremely high status.

Even though he was old, his body was very tall and muscular, like a young martial artist. His silver hair was slicked back, and his bright blue-gray eyes combined with his stern expression made him look extremely authoritative. His beard was also trimmed extremely neatly.

He wore a robe with a style that blended Eastern classical design with modern technology. The collar was high, and blue glowing circuits ran across the outfit. Part of the robe was designed with modern technology that could transform into light armor when necessary.

At his waist hung a black sword with a very eye-catching appearance. In particular, the sword sheath looked just like futuristic technology, but in reality, it didn’t have any special function at all.

There was a reason Adrian had this sword sheath custom-made before, rather than simply making it look good. He wanted to remind himself, as well as those who saw it, that although cultivators all used cold weapons because firearms couldn’t be brought into the tower, they couldn’t forget that developing new technology was humanity’s true future.

Compared to Adrian, Kenji, despite having an X-shaped scar on his left cheek, looked much more ordinary. If he didn’t say he was the grand elder, those who didn’t know him would probably only think he was a swordsman.

A white-and-black futuristic kimono-style combat jacket, with short sleeves revealing both arms completely covered in tight-fitting high-tech light armor.

The outer outfit was based on his preference, while the light armor Kenji was wearing was currently the highest standard that a cultivator could wear.

His hair was jet black, slightly long, and tied low. His dark brown eyes were calm, but the longer one looked at them, the sharper they felt. He was no longer young, but it seemed he didn’t like having a beard, so he shaved very cleanly

At his waist hung a katana with an extremely modern appearance. Perhaps he had learned from Adrian’s style, or perhaps the two of them simply had the same way of thinking.

Kenji’s sitting posture made King slightly furrow his brows. Clearly, he looked rather calm, but King had the feeling that he was always ready to swing out a few slashes at any moment.

"Do you see the scar on Kenji’s left cheek? He’s so strong that he can easily stomp you flat without even using his katana. But how could someone that strong have a scar? Do you know why that ’X’ is so perfectly even?"

Iris pointed at Kenji’s face and grinned. This series of actions made even Kenji’s calm expression twitch slightly.

His hand rested on the hilt of his katana as if he would immediately draw his sword if she continued spouting nonsense for even one more sentence.

Iris’s smug expression was extremely obvious. Just looking at her face made King feel like he was hearing her bragging about something along the lines of: ’See that? I can carve an ’X’ onto the face of the esteemed grand elder of the Cultivation Academy. Don’t you think I’m amazing?’.

"Hmph, I don’t know."

King snorted. He obviously understood, but he still pretended not to know so he could give Iris a chance to show off.

The relationship between the two of them wasn’t good enough for him to think for her sake yet. He just saw that Kenji was about to lose his patience, so he gave him an opportunity to make a move.

Whatever the case, he also wanted to see a battle between the two strongest cultivators of humanity right now. Even if it was only a friendly spar, it was still extremely worth watching.

"Hehe, I don’t mind telling you this earth-shattering secret. Actually, I’m the one who made that scar. Don’t listen to all the bullshit Kenji said in the media about it being an injury caused by a monster."

Iris puffed out her chest smugly. Clearly, it was an act of hurting an ally, but why did it sound like a glorious achievement coming from her mouth?

Just now, it was like the transitive property. Iris told King that he was nothing before Kenji, but at the same time, she was also implying that Kenji was nothing compared to her. In this way, she wanted to make King feel annoyed.

But if King was annoyed by one point, Kenji had to be annoyed by at least two. No matter what, the two of them could still be considered allies, yet she didn’t give him any face at all. This was truly unacceptable.

"You..."

King frowned and was just about to question her when a click rang out like the sound of a katana leaving its sheath. Immediately afterward, Kenji flashed past King at a speed he couldn’t possibly keep up with.

Iris immediately understood Kenji’s intentions and flew straight outside and up into the sky to avoid destroying the palace.

Kenji immediately chased after her and closed the distance before swinging his arm as fast as lightning. Even though they were allies, he didn’t hold back at all when slashing at Iris.

The katana’s blade carried terrifying spiritual power, causing even the air along its path to distort.

In that brief moment, the corner of Iris’s mouth curved up. King was too weak, so she couldn’t show anything at all. With an opponent like Kenji, she could show King what true strength really looked like.

The red-hot sword in her hand turned even redder, and as she swung the sword, it suddenly burst into fierce flames. The terrifying spiritual power surrounding it also twisted the air no less than Kenji’s.

Kenji probably wasn’t truly using his full strength because he was worried his attack might accidentally hit the palace, while Iris was clearly holding back. The gap between rank VI and rank V was huge, so it was completely unreasonable for her spiritual power to be only on par with Kenji’s.

King chased the two of them outside to watch and saw a bizarre scene that made his eyes widen. Iris’s sword blade and Kenji’s katana blade hadn’t even touched each other yet when a loud explosion rang out.

The space between them suddenly became distorted as the two powerful streams of spiritual power collided, creating a terrifying explosion.

The energy explosion released a terrifying shockwave that completely scattered all the surrounding clouds.

"King! See that? This is how truly strong people greet each other."

Iris’s mouth opened so wide that all her teeth were exposed as she laughed heartily. Her eyes were filled with fighting spirit and were truly burning at this moment.

"Hmph, a true swordsman doesn’t use flashy things like fire."

The more Iris increased her strength, the uglier Kenji’s expression became. Back when she was rank V, he had already been unable to defeat her. Now that she had reached rank VI, things had become even more difficult.