Pressured by their parents and trainers to watch out and test the foreigner’s skill level, many of the younger experts felt at a loss. They had no idea what his physical features were. The only hint they had was the fact that he often carried with him a ma.s.sive sword on his back.

The city swarmed with many of these younger generation experts who were on the lookout for a single expert with a large sword. A week pa.s.sed by without finding him, no one had seen him. It was like he was only a rumor, not a reality.

In actuality, Xu Min had not gone to town these days. He had been staying at the Bu family compound and focused on his training. He understood that this ranking was serious. Since experts came from all across the Ruins of the Immortals,  he would be in a bad position if he didn’t focus on training.  He did have his devouring sword and Cao Cao to a.s.sist him, but they could only do so much.

Xu Min had to focus on his own strength. He knew he needed to train as much as he could. He even went so far as to use some of his medicinal pills and then get rid of the surplus of energy. This energy was getting used by training with the sword time and time again.

After the first day he trained in his room, Xu Min made sure to close the door whenever he was training. His days in Bu Huang’s mansion were lived in leisurely peace. He could not ask for anything more. Already,  he felt the rapid improvement he was undergoing.

Every time he took a medicinal pill, his dantian would swell up. So much so, it was close to bursting, but Xu Min would use strand after strand of Qi to ensure that his dantian would not explode and cripple him.

It was a painful and rather a tedious way of training. Nonetheless, once Xu Min looked at his dantian, he smiled in satisfaction. In just a week his dantian had increased to the point he felt the threshold of the third-star level. His goal was to break into a third-star Warrior rank before the compet.i.tion began. To do this, he stayed in his room, working hard to accomplish this.

Shui Wu would come by once a day, ensuring that he ate some food. After accomplis.h.i.+ng her a.s.signed task,  she would leave. She too was spending all waking hours, apart from the ones taking care of Xu Min, on training. As the best disciple of Bu Huang, her pride had been challenged unintentionally by Xu Min easy defeat of Bu Wei. Asking herself, she was certain that she could not defeat him with just one slash of a sword.

"Are external experts really that strong?" Shui Wu asked herself for the umpteenth time. Doubt was apparent in her eyes. She had always been taught that external practice was for poor cultivators and commoners who did not have access to the internal expert’s stances.  External experts mainly became guards for major families or perhaps mercenaries hunting down demonic beasts in the wilderness.

High ranked families would never let their younger generation become external experts. Meeting Xu Min, Shui Wu could not help but wonder if she, and everyone else, had been mistaken.

Losing her a.s.surance and foundation, Shui Wu found herself often going to her master's office; she stood in front of the door, hesitating slightly.

"Come in!" A loud voice boomed out. The girl dared not stay outside any longer and rushed inside.

"Why have you come to see me, my dear disciple?" Bu Huang asked as he leaned back in his chair behind his desk. His eyes observed his disciple with a fondness one only found in parent's looking at their children.

"Master, please excuse this disciple of yours, but I am unable to understand this honorary guest of yours. He is an external expert and only a two-star Warrior, but he was able to defeat Bu Wei who is a three-star Warrior and internal expert. How could this be?"

"Xu Min is an extraordinary youth. His talent is far stronger than what you guys can comprehend." Bu Huang laughed, "he is not only limited externally, but he also has access to internal stances as well.I a.s.sume, though, he prefers not to use them."

"Moreover, he has had some fortunate encounters. His master is my martial brother, and my martial brother always said that he would never take a disciple. Here he is, the disciple of that old man. To change my brother’s mind, he must be incredibly skilled, but also possess something which emotionally  moved w.a.n.g Li."

"I don't mind why he has been taken in by my brother, but the fact that he has makes him important. Because he has a connection with my brother, I will do what I can to protect or a.s.sist him. That is why it is important that you look after him and ensure that he has what he needs."

Shui Wu was shocked listening to her master. She never knew her master had a martial brother until now. She was even more surprised that he would tell her about it now.

"Don't worry about it too much. I am certain that you will not tell anyone about him. Even if you did, I doubt that anyone would be able to harm him. He is far stronger than I am, so I pity anyone who targets him."

"Overall Shui Wu, I need you to understand why Xu Minis important to me; To me, he is like my brother's son and someone I consider my own son too. You need to make sure that he is ready for the Immortal Valley Ranking. He will not only be a great benefit for our family, but he will also benefit greatly from entering the Valley."

"When you enter the Valley, you don't need to follow him around, just make sure that before the compet.i.tion no one disturbs him. If we a.s.sist him too much in the Valley, then he will never improve on his own."

"I understand master," she affirmed while bowing deeply in front of the older man.

The door opened at the wave of Bu Huang’s hand. Shui Wu instantly understood that she was dismissed. With one more bow, she turned and left, thinking about all the information Bu Huang told her.

"I better check up on the guest," she mumbled to herself. When she reached Xu Min’s room and knowing a few times she suddenly had a bad feeling.  The young man was not present.

"Miss, the young guest, has gone to town," a maid said, seeing Shui Wu standing still in front of the door.  Shui Wu's face color vanished as she heard this news. The usually calm and collected young woman could not help but emit some foul words, words which caused the maid to believe a devil had possessed her.

Xu Min was unaware about the information Bu Huang gave Shui Wu. Even more so, he was oblivious to city’s intentions on using every young member to test his strength. None of them dared to cause any damage to this young man since he was under the protection of Bu Huang, the strongest expert in town. If he proved to be far stronger than any of the city’s young expert, now, then they would plot on getting rid of him.

Xu Min had gone to town because he needed to purchase some things to prepare for the Immortal Valley Rankings. He wanted to buy some medicinal pills which caused injuries to heal faster. Additionally,he needed to obtain an extra set of clothes and food and drink provisions.

Though it would be hard to find the right shops, since he was new to the area, he would rather spend extra time finding what he needed than to trouble his hosts. He already felt that the Bu family was doing a lot for him, asking them to be his guides would be too disrespectful.

The moment Xu Min left the Bu mansion the city’s messenger boys who had been guarding the entrance started running towards their masters with the news that a young man with a large sword had appeared.

Ironically, as soon as they saw Xu Min, the messenger boy ran with all their speed to alert their masters. Nonetheless, they were but commoners, with no ability to cultivate and thus they were incapable of keeping up with Xu Min's speed. By the time they reached their master's locations, Xu Min had already arrived at the first marketplace where he had entered calmly and looked around.

This place had everything from rich merchants selling expensive, coveted objects to homeless people selling what few items they had left. Walking past the rich merchants, everyone called out to him. "Look at this necklace! It will be beautiful on the neck of your beloved!"

"Ignore that scammer and come look at my wares, the finest silk in the entire world."

"Who needs to buy presents for women? Look at my armor and weapons. I am sure I have the perfect item for an expert such as yourself!"

Xu Min looked at the items.  While examining the beautiful green necklace, he was instantly reminded of Yong Meilin. A sharp pain ached in his chest, but he quickly shook his head. He had not said goodbye to her forever; he just swore he would become immortal and get revenge from the Zhong family. When he achieved his revenge, he would return to Yong Meilin's side and enjoy life once more.

Tearing his eyes from the necklace, Xu Min knew the price would be extravagant. Even though he had some wealth, he was not willing to waste it especially, since he was on a mission, a mission to prepare himself for the important Immortal Valley Rankings.

Moving from stall to stall, Hui Yue finally reached a stall which sold dried food. He spent quite some coin here but was satisfied. During the trip to the Valley who knew if there was anything which could be eaten or if it was poisonous; as a result, possessing his own food was important The same went for the water, so purchasing drinks was also a necessity.

Purchasing drinks was no real issue, and soon all he needed was the medicines to help him heal quickly and some clothes.

Clothes were easily purchased as well, but the medicinal pills seemed to acquire. It took him an hour before he finally found a shop selling medicinal pills. He did not notice when he entered the shop that behind him was one group after another waiting for him to come out.

The pill purchase was simple; Xu Min handed over almost all the remainder of his coins while he in return was given twenty l.u.s.trous purple pills. These pills were what he sought, and he was excited to have gotten as many as he had. Although he had almost exhausted his jade card, he had obtained all he needed.

Walking out from the shop, Xu Min came to a stop as he looked in front of him. Three groups were blocking his way. Each group were ten men strong and in front of them were three young men, all around twenty years of age. They looked at Xu Min with curiosity and slight hostility within their eyes.

"What can I do for you guys?" Xu Min asked with a smile on his face, a smile which did not resemble his hostile, cold eyes.