"Shu Ru? Why is she applying to join our sect? I thought she's the top disciple of the Mirage Era Hall."

Arthur appeared genuinely confused as the description about her before tilting his head.

"I should be asking that. Hmpf! Didn't you spend quite a bit of time with her?"

"Sure but we are not particularly close."

Lucy deeply stared at him before turning her head back to the list and muttering.

"I'll have to 'personally' ask her."

"Hm? Did you say something?"

Lucy sweetly smiled, shook her head and went back to her seat.

******

Currently, the MoonStar sect has a bit more than 15,000 disciples with 10% of them being inner disciples, who are more privileged than the outer disciples. To become an inner disciple, two factors are needed; one, you have to be at least at the Immortal Realm or higher, and second, you have to swear your loyalty to the MoonStar and sign and exclusive contract, which is quite restrictive of your freedom but it grants you countless benefits, such as the myriad of techniques present at the sect's library.

One week before the tournament, the city welcomed a staggering amount of cultivators, both famous and powerful ones.

As the tournament was going to happen in a newly-built area right beside the city, even the king of Green-leaf personally came.

Kang Amidel and his two children also arrived, but they were accompanied by an esteemed elder of the main branch of the Kang Family. Due to being extremely busy with the preparation of the tournament grounds, Arthur couldn't meet the elder, however, Lucy did but she didn't show the needed respect.

Nonetheless, the elder, who looked very old and coughed once every three seconds, was always smiling and treated the White Specter with politeness. He even brought a couple of priceless treasures, meant to be offered to the winners of the tournament, to which Lucy nonchalantly accepted.

It was also today that those who applied to join the sect will get their results. Out of the 20,000, only 200 were approved. Those youngsters hailing from rich families or powerful clans weren't pleased but one look at the parasite, whose aura alone gave them the shivers, made them shrink back and swallow their frustration.

As he faced the two hundred new disciples, Arthur, who wore a simple green t-shirt and black pants, appraised every single one of them before nodding his head and saying,

"Welcome to the MoonStar sect. I'm sure you've been warned but I'll say it again, once you join, you cannot just leave the sect whenever you want, especially you guys and girls."

The youngsters remained calm and quiet as they stared at the parasite, who was so infamous that almost all the sects in Cloud Sea heard of him. His attack against the White Specter Clan or his battle in the Red Tower, all of it was spread far and wide.

Although he wields a dangerous power called Dark Magic, many people admired him and wanted to follow in his footsteps, just like Zodiak in the past.

"The information you wrote was all basic and does not determine your real prowess. I came here solely to see what you're capable of and if I'm disappointed, you won't become an Inner disciple."

Arthur clapped his hands, suddenly causing the space to shake and before they could react, the new disciples found themselves standing in a wide green plane. The plane stretched as far as the eye could see and, apart from one lonesome silhouette standing a couple of hundred meters away from them, there was nothing else.

This place was actually an illusion created by Arthur. It isn't unbreakable but Arthur was able to strengthen it using his eyes and a couple of formations. Since he had a bit of time today and the tournament grounds were completed, at last, he wanted to test those newcomers and determine who's qualified.

He took his duties as the co-sect master very seriously and truly wanted to nurture strong people so they could help him in the future. Even if he's not here and a disaster befalls the sect, he won't be worried.

Of course, the MoonStar sect, currently, is protected by many strong individuals. Although Jackob disappeared along with his son, Ragnar, Sonia managed to break through the Mortal Realm a long time ago and even reached the Deity Realm.

Rey was as strong as an Immortal Cultivator and the undead dragons, if together, can equally fight a God. There's also the undead army and its general, Edward, who swept through the wasteland and conquered all of it in a short period of time, allowing Arthur to rest assured about the safety of his and Lucy's sect.

There were other powerful people missing, such as Delia and her friend, which departed a while ago to take care of personal problems. Saly, who's presumably with Arthur's clone in Astria, and, last but not least, Astrith, who's also accompanying the clone to defend against the invaders.

Arthur pointed at the Death Knight standing three hundred meters away from the group, and explained,

"Each one of you has 3 minutes to attack that undead. Just give it your best and I'll be the judge."

He left them with no time to think or question about this sudden trial, he just snapped his fingers, teleporting a startled youth closer to the undead.

The threatening Death Knight was at least 3 meters tall, wore a thick set of black armor and wielded a thin rusty sword and a huge spiky shield with a skull on its center.

The Death Knight was an undead he summoned just earlier. It was incredibly strong, so strong, in fact, that it could face a peak Sovereign. It cost him a considerable amount of Mental Power and, so far, it's the strongest undead he summoned.

Obviously, he ordered it to not go all-out and only counter-attack with light and 'harmless attacks'.

So, like that, each of the two hundred disciples were given three minutes but, in the end, Arthur was very disappointed. Apart from a few distinguishable ones, the rest couldn't even reach the undead and were blasted by its sword, which unleashed a weak wind blast.

Though Arthur regarded it as 'weak', for those youngsters, who were in the Divine and God Realm, the undead was monstrously powerful and resembled a moving fortress with its big size, heavy armoy, and absurdly massive shield.

"You, you, you, you…"

Arthur pointed at six people and ordered them to move to the side before he sighed and waved his hand, teleporting the rest back to where they were previously.

There was one more reason Arthur was doing this. He wanted the MoonStar sect to win the tournament. Amidel told him that this up-coming tournament has caught the attention of not only the sects of Green-leaf but of all of Cloud Sea.

Isadore did a fantastic job in advertising the tournament, which became known universe-wide. The rewards haven't been disclosed yet but many suspected that they originate from the Red Tower.

So far, three sects originating from the Divine Planet already sent their respective disciples and planned to participate.

There was also something that astonished Arthur. The Holy Dominion sent two youngsters and also wanted to join the tournament. They were hell-bent on killing Arthur so this move was confusing, to say the least.

The two youths were brought by a middle-aged man wearing a long white robe, he was a High Cardinal and had the cultivation of a peak Overgod. This cardinal, named Patrick, brought a 'non-enmity seal' from the pope himself.

This seal was like an oath made by the dominion, swearing not to attack the MoonStar sect during the tournament.

…

Lucy stood atop the eye-catching tower raised by Arthur and gazed at the flourishing city. With the influx of visitors, Arthur spent most of his days expanding the city, which became even bigger than the one in Astria. Even the mountain right next to the city wasn't spared as hundreds of buildings were built on it, as well as cement roads and magical lights put on the side of the main roads.

The population of the city already exceeded 1 million and it didn't seem to be stopping. The only downside was the wasteland surrounding it but even that was being subjected to great change.

Arthur's nature magic was powerful enough to force the dead earth to regenerate. Grass started growing again and flowers were ready to bloom, though the range of his nature magic wasn't big enough to encompass the whole wasteland.