Once Lin Fan came out of the banquet hall, he couldn’t help breaking out in a cold sweat.
That old man…he was an expert from one of the Five Great Sects, there was no denying that.
And when he held up two fingers, that was his way of saying that there were two different sects that were involved in this matter. If the old man was from one of the Five Great Sects, that means that there was someone who was just as strong as him who was also here.
Two experts from the Five Great Sects, that was a lot of pressure on Lin Fan and the Love Sect.
Judging by the pressure that he felt from the old man, Lin Fan was certain that this old man was at least in the Nascent Soul Realm, if not the Soul Formation Realm.
That meant that there were two experts that should be in the Soul Formation Realm that were here in the Martial Might Sect to watch over them…
It was no wonder everyone at the banquet had been terrified.
Even the Martial Might Sect at most only had a single Soul Formation Realm Cultivator and that would be their strongest expert, but the Five Great Sects could easily send Soul Formation Realm Cultivators to perform a task like this.
It made it very clear just what the difference between the Martial Might Sect and the Five Great Sects was.
Lin Fan had promised that he would talk to Mu Bao Bao about this, but he knew that he would never do anything like that. The only thing that he was worried about now was how they would get back to the Mu Empire after this tournament was over.
The old man and the one that was hidden certainly wouldn’t let them leave that easily…
Perhaps he really should contact the Demon Palm Sect to see if they would help.
If they were connected to the Heavenly Demon Sect, then they should help them escape since the Heavenly Demon Sect was currently backing the Mu Empire.
So they should know how important the Love Sect was to the Mu Empire.
But Lin Fan didn’t completely panic since he still had an ace up his sleeve.
The only problem was that this was the nuclear option. The moment that this was used, there was no doubt that the Five Great Sects would send powerful experts after them.
It would just make the Five Great Sects take this matter more seriously.
That was naturally the Mimic Slime that Lin Fan kept by his side at all times.
This was his final trump card in the Rebirth Realm and the one last thing that he had to keep his life.
Unless he was truly in danger, he wouldn’t use this.
Lin Fan could feel the headache developing as he thought about all of this.
It seemed that the situation with the Martial Might Sect was even more complicated than he thought. He had never expected actual members from the Five Great Sects to be here…
But it was only members of the Five Great Sects that could explain everything that had happened recently.
Only members of the Five Great Sects could pressure the Martial Might Sect into doing everything that they had done.
This was their way of showing sincerity to their Love Sect so they could talk to Lin Fan alone like this.
After thinking about this for a while, Lin Fan just shook his head and said, “Let’s wait and see how this develops. There’s nothing that I can do about it right now.”
…
Three more days passed and it was finally time for the tournament to begin.
Everyone had arrived, so there was no delaying it any more.
Early that morning, the Love Sect disciples had gathered and were waiting for Lin Fan to say something to them.
Lin Fan had been in discussions with the elders during this time.
When he came back, he told them everything about who he had met and who he thought the other side were.
There was a bit of panic from the elders and the generals, but they quickly accepted this matter. After all, there was nothing that they could gain from continuing to panic over this matter.
The only thing that they could do was discuss how they would handle this matter, which was what had been happening during this time.
Lin Fan had no choice but to stay with them as the sect master, but he was really getting tired of those discussions. Especially since they were nothing more than excuses for them to complain about this matter in the first place.
There really wasn’t anything that they could do against the Five Great Sects and these powerful experts that had been sent.
So he was relieved that the tournament was finally starting so he would be free of the elders.
Or that was what he thought until they surrounded him and didn’t let him out of their sights.
It seemed that they were completely focused on protecting him if anything went wrong.
Lin Fan couldn’t help shaking his head with a bitter smile when he saw this.
If things really went wrong, would they even be able to do anything to help him against an enemy that was much more powerful?
Perhaps the Golden Core Realm Elders might be able to stall for a second, but that was their limit.
As he stood there in front of the disciples, Lin Fan said one simple word, “Win.”
They all had excited and determined looks when they heard this.
As the leader, Xiao Ming came forward to say, “We will.”
With that, they headed out.
Lin Fan had seen that they were already filled with excitement and determination, so there was no need for him to say anything extra. Rather, saying anything extra might have distracted them from their goal.
When they came out of their courtyard, they found that there was a Martial Might Sect disciple waiting to guide them.
Since that last time, Elder Qian hadn’t come to see them again.
Whether that was on purpose or if it was because he was simply busy, it didn’t really matter.
What was important was that every time that he did come, he would always bring some kind of new mess to them. So for Elder Qian to not come during this time, it was actually quite peaceful and relaxing.
The Martial Might Sect disciple was actually quite polite, but Lin Fan could see the small subtleties in his movements.
Fear.
That was what he was feeling.
He had most likely been told to treat us with respect on the threat of death.
This really put into perspective what kind of behaviour the Five Great Sects acted with.
It was clear that they only cared about their own benefits and no one else.
But then again, that was the kind of world this was.
When the Love Sect group arrived at the gathering grounds for the tournament, they couldn’t help being surprised.
That was because…there were just too many people!
They had already met some of the other sects during the other events, but now there were more than three times that amount that were gathered.
Just with a rough count, it seemed like there were over ten thousand people that were gathered here.
Were they all here to participate in the tournament?
Even if the elders were ignored, there were still at least five thousand of them that were here.
This really didn’t seem like a small deal anymore…
When they arrived, there were many groups that turned to look in the direction of the Love Sect.
These were gazes that were filled with curiosity, but there were also gazes that were filled with hostility. There didn’t seem to be a single gaze that had kindness in them as they looked over.
It seemed that the rumours about the Love Sect group had spread and everyone was wary of them. So even if they had never met the Love Sect group, they already had a prejudice towards them,
Lin Fan looked at Xiao Ming and the others and he found that they weren’t bothered by this at all.
They were just chatting amongst themselves without a single care that they were being ignored by everyone else.
Lin Fan gave a satisfied nod before scanning the surrounding area again.
With his Appraisal Eyes, he was able to gain much more information than others were and he quickly identified the ones that seemed stronger than the others.
But he didn’t have the chance to tell Xiao Ming’s group since there was someone who suddenly stepped up.
There was no such thing as mics in this world, but even then, this person’s voice was loud enough that it could spread to everyone here.
“Welcome to our Martial Might Sect’s tournament. We are honoured to have the talented next generation gather in our Martial Might Sect to compete for the title of the strongest. Though we have to say that we will do our best not to let that title get away.”
After that was just some pleasantries that had to be said as the host of this event.
It didn’t really seem like anyone was really paying attention to what this person said as they scoped out their competition.
But after the pleasantries were over, the host said, “I’m sure that all of you have been wondering what this tournament will entail. Well, let me tell you now that this tournament will have a total of three rounds and the first round will be gathering herbs.”