“Grandpa, what on earth are you trying to do?”James could not understand.He could never figure out what Thomas was trying to accomplish.Thomas had always been secretive.He has kept James in the dark about many matters.Where exactly was his family?Why had they not appeared after it has been so long?“Let’s talk while seated.”Thomas waved his hand casually, and the dust that coated a large rock on the ground was swept away instantly.He sat down, took out a cigarette, and lit it. Then, he threw it to James.James caught it and sat down opposite him.Thomas lit another cigarette and said, “I’m doing all this so our family can prosper till the end of time.”James looked at Thomas as he waited for an explanation.Thomas continued. “My Boy, have you heard of dragons?”James nodded lightly and said, “Yeah. Isn’t the dragon the overseer of the Twelve Zodiacs? It’s a mythical creature, right?”Thomas shook his head gently and said, “Dragons aren’t simply mythical creatures
Thomas left.James looked absentmindedly in the direction Thomas had left in.It was becoming harder for him to decipher his grandfather's intent.His behavior was incredibly bizarre as of late.“Haah.”After a while, James let out a feeble sigh.He did not have the energy to also deal with matters involving Thomas.There were still many things he needed to cross off his list.His first priority would be to find Thea as soon as possible.Thomas had kidnapped him and left a gory scene behind to force Thea to unleash the power of the Spirit Turtle’s blood in her body.He knew that upon seeing the scene, Thea would be enraged and go berserk.Half a month had already passed, so he was unsure of what had happened to her.He had to find her immediately.“How strong did I get?”James did not leave just yet.For the past half month, he had been constantly practicing the Nine Scriptures of Ordeals’ cultivation method, and right now, he had no idea of the extent of his strength.
James ascended the first few steps of the Skyward Stairway with relative ease.However, he started having a challenging time upon reaching the fourth step.It felt like a mountain was tied to his feet.“Move!!!” James shouted in defiance.He lifted his leg abruptly and went past the fourth step.After climbing the Fourth Stair, he was sweating profusely.Sweat had soaked his whole body and seeped into his clothes.After climbing the fourth step, he proceeded carefully. He collected himself and allowed his True Energy to spread throughout his body to resist the pressure brought on by the fourth step.While James was ascending the Skyward Stairway, anyone passing by would simply see him sitting in a lotus position on the ground like an unmoving statue.The Skyward Stairway was imaginary and did not exist in reality.The ascension of the Skyward Stairway happened within one’s mind.He was the only one that perceived himself ascending the stairway. Others could not see it at all
One day later…A man slowly walked out of Capital Airport. He was dressed in ordinary and humble clothes, looking no different from a typical farmer.That man’s appearance was completely different from those around him.The man was James.James rushed directly to the Capital after mastering the True Nine Ordeals Energy.Half a month had passed since the battle in Malgudi.Although he met his grandfather, Thomas had never mentioned anything about the aftermath at Malguldi.After he passed out, he had no idea what had taken place there while he was away.He was clueless about the current situation in the Capital.Since he was anxious, he rushed back to the Capital without a minute to spare after recovering his strength.He hailed a taxi outside the airport.“Sun Dragon District, please.”The driver gave James a once over and noticed that his attire did not suggest that he was well off.The Sun Dragon District was full of courtyard houses, and it was populated by the wealthy.
“You’ve wasted so much of my time, f*cker. I’m not going to let you leave without paying me three hundred dollars first.”The driver was getting impatient.At that moment, he started getting sick of arguing with James and was tempted to simply let him go.However, the thought of having wasted so much time dealing with James and not getting any money out of it vexed him.So, he decided to teach James a lesson.He pulled out his phone and made a call.After a few minutes, a dozen taxis came and surrounded the car. Dozens of people got out of their vehicles.“Hey, man. I’m giving you one last chance. Give me the f*ckin’ money right now, or else…”James did not take the driver’s threats seriously.He looked at the time. Henry should be arriving soon.Sure enough, military vehicles appeared from the distance at that moment and were driving closer to them.When the military vehicles got close to the airport entrance, a man wearing a Red Flame robe with three stars on his shoulder
James soon arrived at the gate of the Cadens’ mansion.The guards at the gate saw the military vehicles and immediately approached them.As they were walking over, James had already gotten out of the car.“J-James…”The guard addressed him nervously.James’ appearance caused both guards to lose their composure.James asked bluntly, “Is Maxine home?”“Y-yes, she's home…”Before the guard could finish speaking, James had already barged into the Cadens’ mansion.Right then, Maxine was speaking with Zaiden, the head of the Sullivans, in the living room.“Mr. Sullivan, I’ve spoken about this at length. You should reconsider.”As Maxine said that, James walked into the living room.Seeing James, Maxine immediately stood up and gasped, “J-James.”James glanced at Zaiden, who was sitting on the couch and spoke in a steely tone. “This doesn’t concern you. You can leave for now.”Zaiden looked quietly at James. Then, he simply stood up and left.“J-James. You’re back?”James look
He had suspected that it was either Thea or Thomas all along.However, he had no conclusive evidence.It never occurred to him that Celestial Sect’s leader would really be his wife, Thea, the woman who had endured so much suffering in the past.“By the way, you said that Thea sent a letter of challenge to Tobias?”“Yeah.”“News of it has already spread in the ancient martial world. What’s going on? Weren’t you with Thea?” said Maxine.“There were some unexpected circumstances.”James briefly explained what had happened while he was recovering.“Grandpa felt that the Spirit Turtle’s blood in Thea’s body showed great promise. He wanted to force Thea to experience an Energy Deviation so that she’d fully utilize the Spirit Turtle’s blood. Has anything major happened in the ancient martial world since then? Do you know if there has been any internal discord within Celestial Sect?”Before Maxine could explain, Bennett interrupted their conversation and said, “Nothing has happened. T
For half a month, Thea’s True Energy had been increasing as the days passed.She had already ascended the Skyward Stairway’s Fourth Stair.She managed to almost completely assimilate the power from the Spirit Turtle’s blood.However, she had not reached her full potential yet.There was still some remaining energy within the Spirit Turtle’s blood.Thea was in a closed-door meditation.During this period, a piece of information had become the new hot topic in the ancient martial world.“The latest news is that Celestial Sect’s leader is actually Thea.”“What?! Thea?”“Who’s Thea?”“She’s James’ wife. She used to be known as the ugliest woman in Cansington. The woman that saved James from the fire that claimed his family.”“No way. How could it be that same Thea? What kind of joke is this?”It was unknown who had spread the news.However, every martial artist within Sol now knew that Thea was the Celestial Sect’s leader.Meanwhile, James had arrived in the Southern Plains M