Kill The Old Ones!

Chapter 176: Returning Home

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The city lord didn’t tell them everything, Ren knew that much.

Of course, he was aware that this was going to happen. The canon was still following the timeline he knew as best as it could, even with the alterations.

The City vs. City Tournament is where the real party starts.

260 geniuses participating in a grand brawl to see who’s the best? Sounds like a party, alright. One that’s right up to Ren’s alley.

That’s a lot of people with something to prove. And just like what the City Lord said, everybody will be representing not only their respective families but also their home cities, so the stakes are definitely higher.

What the city lord didn’t tell them was that the royal court and the imperial court will be closely watching this too. Of course, the GMU will also be there.

The material rewards will come from them. As for the mysterious and conceptual rewards, because yes, there will be some, those will come from the World System.

Yes, the World System will be watching too. And it will reward those who performed exceptionally well.

This kind of event doesn’t happen often. So, whenever it does, it becomes a spectacle for the whole world to see.

Ren could still remember the faces of his fellow finalists as they left the City Lord’s office.

Even Adrian was dazed about what had just been revealed to him.

They all thought that the fight was over. That this was just some event that Central City came up with for some reason, and it ends there. But unexpectedly, they discovered that there’s more to it.

The fight was far from over, and they were only given six months to prepare for the next stage.

Ren could feel their doubts. Will six months even be enough for them to break their mortal shackles and enter the Inhuman Realm?

He didn’t concern himself with their plight. None of what the City Lord revealed surprised him. In fact, Ren was looking forward to it.

Ren had been preparing for this since he had been taken to the Sky Archon Trial Grounds.

He could’ve reached the Inhuman Realm by now, to be completely honest. The 6× training speed in the place was no joke. If Ren went all out, he truly could’ve gone above and beyond.

But Ren didn’t. Instead, he limited his realm to the peak of Pulse Awakening exactly so that he could participate in this event.

Now that he had won the city-wide tournament, he could release his accumulation and have another perfect breakthrough to the Inhuman Realm.

While his fellow participants are still having their minds blown by the next part of the challenge and are starting to make plans, Ren is already going way ahead of them.

He didn’t waste time. He returned to the clan and entered a period of seclusion.

One of the rewards he received from winning the city-wide tournament is something called the "Territory Expansion Pack."

It’s an item that could only be bought from the World System, something that the City Lord’s Mansion bought and gave to him as a reward.

This thing does exactly as it’s called—it expands the territory of the person who uses it.

An area was required to be marked first. One that’s preferrably owned by the user, or at least someone close to him. When used, it expands the territory through spatial folding.

This thing will double the size of the clan compound. And he had Mikel use it immediately.

In addition, Ren also bought formations on the World System store. Anti-spying, anti-corruption, infiltration, spatial lockdown, spirit gathering, and strong protection formations had been installed in the whole compound.

Ren said that he bought it using the merit point rewards he received from winning the first place. But that’s a lie. Ren spent at least 10,000 merit points from his own pockets to buy these.

Mikel scolded him for spending too much for the clan and not on himself. Ren doesn’t owe the clan anything. But Ren insisted that this is what he wanted, so Mikel could only take them.

Because of this, the atmosphere within the clan improved. And with his martial cousins being heavily inspired by his invincibility during the tournament, the overall strength of the clan was rising.

It’s a blessing, really. That’s why Ren didn’t hesitate to spend this much for his clan.

He did promise that he would bring them the glory of a true ancient martial clan. This was him fulfilling part of that promise, and he’s far from done.

Because of the new formations, Mikel’s unease about the clan’s situation dissipated. He could no longer feel the prying eyes on the clan once the formations were up. The spies have also begun to vacate the area.

This was a massive burden off his shoulders; because of this, peace and quiet returned to the clan. Now, everybody’s seizing the time to become stronger.

That includes Ren, of course.

He told Mikel of what the City Lord told them, and Mikel wasn’t surprised. He knew. He was unable to participate in the previous one, but he remembered it. He knew that this was just a repeat of that event, just slightly more special because of the trial grounds incident.

Ren also told him that he will be focusing on reaching the Inhuman Realm soon.

Mikel shouldn’t be surprised. Ren was at the peak of the Pulse Awakening Stage when he returned from the Sky Archon Trial Grounds. And he knew that Ren had been suppressing his progress to participate in the tournament.

He knew that Ren had his own goals, ones that his nephew hadn’t told him yet. But still...Ren was growing a little too fast.

It’s shocking, really. 19 years of age but in the Inhuman Realm already. Ren had his own fortunate encounters, but still, this was mind-blowing.

With his common grade 1 talent, his original hope was for Ren to reach the Inhuman Realm by 25 years old. Even if he couldn’t go through all nine transformations, that’s fine. Mikel would die in peace knowing that his son will have Ren’s counsel and strength to continue the clan’s endurance.

But look at this. Ren was now recognized as a city-wide genius and a tyrant. He sits above the four heavenly kinds, suppressing them completely.

And Ren isn’t even at the peak of his golden years of martial practice. He’s so young and already this strong.

Alex reached the Inhuman Realm, too, but heaven knows how difficult it was for him.

The Inhuman Realm is where martial artists cease becoming mere mortals. This is where they shatter their mortal shackles and become something more, something way beyond.

This realm has a total of 9 stages called the Nine Transformations of the Inhuman Realm. But truth to be told, they could be condensed into three major stages.

Stages 1 to 3, pertaining to the 1st inhuman transformation to the 3rd, are called the ’Fleshly Rebirth’—this is where martial artists shatter their physical limits, breaking down their physical bodies to mere atoms to refine them with the energy of heaven and earth to facilitate their physical rebirth.

It sounds awesome, but in truth, this was incredibly dangerous and painful. Martial artists are basically committing suicide by doing this and leaving their fates up to whatever heavenly forces there are in this world to preserve their souls and consciousness while they reform their bodies.

They will monitor every single thing they do to their bodies in real time. They have to, essentially, ground every single inch of their bodies into dust, into atoms. The more thorough they are, the better.

This is to eliminate the limitations imposed upon their flesh, turning it sanctified in a sense. If they succeed with this, then any mortal illness and limitations will no longer be able to touch them.

It also brings them closer to the profound forces of the world, thereby widening their road to strength and power.

Many martial artists die in this process. In fact, it’s fairly common for people, especially the less gifted ones, to fail in this endeavor. It’s either because the pain was too much or because they haven’t accumulated enough.

It’s no wonder why a lot of people remain stuck at the Pulse Awakening Stage. The older one was, the worse this process feels, which further increases the risk of death.

This has to happen three times in total, by the way. The first three transformations of the Inhuman Realm are aimed at the physical body. The next three are aimed at the chakra, and the last three are for the spirit.

In total, that’s nine, corresponding to the Nine Transformations of the Inhuman Realm.

Mikel could remember his own experience very clearly. Although it happened long ago, he still shudders whenever he remembers it.

It was far from a pleasant experience. It was a nightmare that still haunts him to this day. He could even feel the phantom pains whenever he recalled it.

And this is exactly why he’s pacing nervously outside of Ren’s seclusion area.

Because Ren told him that he’d break through today, and he felt the signs happening, yet so far, he has yet to hear a grunt of pain from Ren, which was highly unusual.