The middle-aged man nodded with a good-natured smile, "It is good to see that you all still haven't slowed down in your cultivation."

All six of the individuals sitting in front of him lowered their heads at once with expressions of reverence, respect, and awe, "Juniors thank Lord Emperor for his kind words," they spoke in complete unison, almost as if practiced a hundred times before.

The 'Lord Emperor' chuckled and waved his hand, "Don't stand on ceremony so much. It has been centuries since I last got to see your faces, let's not let formality ruin it, relax."

"Yes, Lord Emperor!" all of them replied once again like programmed robots, making the Lord Emperor let out a helpless sigh.

"You people are too tight. I told you to just call me Izak," he grumbled and laid back down on his chair.

Even at his level, he was not like all those old fogeys that would lose their temper at the slightest sign of 'disrespect'. But he was the exact opposite in the sense that he wanted to converse and be treated normally, but that probably wasn't an option with these six who knew who he really was.

One of the six, a lady who seemed to be in her 50s with greying hair was the first one to speak up.

"Lord Em- Uhm, Lord Izak, the tournament is going according to plan. There have been a few hiccups but nothing we can't handle," she said in a respectful tone as if talking to a senior even though she looked like she'd be older than his mother.

She patted her chest proudly, "My academy was the first one to reach the site and discover the existence of the artifacts. I hope Lord Izak keeps that in mind during the final ranking session."

Lord Izak reached out and grabbed a small cup from his table. it was empty when he picked it up but by the time it reached his lips, a clear purple liquid flowed out. He drank the entire cup before looked at the lady with a bored expression.

"Adeline, why are you so concerned about such things? I told you all everything will be done as it has always been. Master has assigned me your protector so be at ease."

'Adeline' bowed her head, "I thank Lord Izak for his honesty," and also laid back in her chair.

Of the remaining five, four were men in their 30s to 60s and one other lady who seemed to be in her late thirties. They all looked like interesting characters with powerful auras surrounding them. These people were the current representatives of their respective powers out here, belonging to the Academy, the Hall, and the Temple.

The expressions of the representatives of the Hall and Academy changed to a small degree upon hearing what Lord Izak had to say.

One of the men who looked more like a random hooligan than a cultivator slowly picked up his cup, "To Lord Izak, may your friends be many and your enemies dead! I, Dusa have always been a great admirer of yours, lord," he guffawed and threw the entire cup into his mouth.

'Dusa' had thick eyebrows, almost like caterpillars which moved up and down every time his expression changed. He had a stubble covering most of his face and a tail behind him which made him look more like a monkey than a human. And the beastly aura he gave off didn't help either. He smirked towards 'Adeline' before looking away.

All the other picked up their cups begrudgingly, so as not to seem rude and emptied them.

Lord Izak asked them a few random questions about the beast world and the current events, even going as far as making a few jokes which everyone 'enjoyed'.

The atmosphere had just loosened up a little when all of a sudden the air became cold. The temperature fell several degrees.

"Hmm?" Lord Izak felt the changes in the surroundings and looked towards the entrance of the pagoda where a person had appeared at some point.

"Oh, little Shen. It has been too long. Come come," he said with a surprised expression while gesturing for the person to come in.

Even though they tried their best to hide it, but the expressions of most of the other representatives turned ugly to some extent. They even looked away, refusing to even acknowledge the newcomer's existence.

Only Adeline looked indifferent. Dusa on the other hand suddenly stood up straight. His eyes turned a color of golden purple and a small burst of Qi leaked out. It was in the shape of beasts mouth.

"Bogdan Shen!" Dusa muttered with gritted teeth as the person walked in.

The man referred to as Shen walked in with steps lighter than air. He had fair white skin, as fair as a young maiden, and basic masculine characteristics of an Elf, well, as masculine as they could be.

He looked no older than 20 and even 'prettier' than Henrik.

The lights in the pagoda flickering with his every step.

"My Lord," he said with a slight bow.. His voice sounding so cold that it could it turn the oceans to ice in a second.

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