As Dyon was wondering what bad deeds Virvor had committed in his last life to deserve such poor karma, he also analyzed the situation.

He couldn't help but frown when he realized that all five of the geniuses surrounding Virvor were all Dukes.

'This Virvor has a lot of secrets Firstly, he's hiding his cultivation level. Secondly, he had the capital to buy a master level treasure despite being a commoner. And now he actually has the ability to enter the inner valley. He doesn't even seem scared facing five dukes. Is he confident? Or is he stupid?'

If others heard Dyon's thoughts, they would roll their eyes. This was the man willing to offend any and everything regardless of strength, wondering about the stupidity of someone else when challenging a warrior above their strength. Truly hypocritical.

Being of his guesses, Dyon decided to silently watch for now. If Virvor's life was in any actual danger, he would jump in. But, he wanted to see what limits this mystery commoner had. Dyon's intuition was telling him that Virvor's secrets might link back to the 98th quadrant as a whole.

Virvor's eyes glanced around. There was a steady crowd growing by now, but no one seemed intent on helping him out. He could only sneer inwardly, he was truly disgusted by the ways of the world.

"The mighty 74th quadrant, hm?" Virvor laughed uproariously. "Do you hear how ridiculous that sounds? There are 73 quadrants ranked ahead of you, why don't you go and pick a fight with them?"

The five Dukes of the 74th quadrant blushed with shame before steeling their hearts. No matter how righteous Virvor's words sounded, this was the way of the martial world. Who asked Virvor to covet a treasure he couldn't protect? He should have simply handed it over to them obediently just like they would have to do if someone of higher standing than them found trouble with them.

"I've always wondered," Virvor continued. "When shameless bastards like you gang up on a single person for a single treasure, do you really think before you act? How could you possibly split a single weapon five ways? Is it really about the money? Is the mighty 74th quadrant so poor?"

Listening to the constant jeering of Virvor, the five Dukes began to get agitated. These were the exact words that they to themselves when higher ranked quadrants wanted to bully them, but none of them had the courage to say it to the faces of their enemies like Virvor did. This feeling of inferiority was eating them up on the inside, but at the same time, it was only fueling their anger to new heights.

Rand's chest heaved, but he soon calmed himself, revealing a smirk. "Let me beat this fool to a pulp, lest he continue to think that we're bullying him." Taking a step forward, he brandished his sword. Clearly, this was of much lower quality than his last one, but there was nothing he could do about it. It wasn't as though he could go and ask Clara for a new one.

The four Dukes sneered. They fanned outward, encircling Virvor so that he had no chance to escape.

Rand's hands tightened around his double-edged sword, holding it perfectly parallel to himself. "There's no little girl to save you now," Rand sneered. "It's too bad that that fool who saved you last time isn't here for me to cut him down too."

Virvor snorted. "If she was here, I wonder if you'd dare to call her a little girl."

When Rand heard this, he couldn't hold his anger in any longer. He had spoken without thinking much because compared to his age, Clara really was a little girl. But now Virvor was using that to ridicule him. How could he continue to stand for it?

His foot slammed into the ground, propelling him forward at blinding speeds. This time, he couldn't bother to use technique. Before, Virvor had gotten a group's support, so Rand had insensitive to defeat him as quickly as possible to avoid problems. But, now? He would play with him to death!

What could a mere 10th stage essence gatherer do to him? He had long since stepped into the saint realms!

Virvor sneered with disdain. In the next moment, a saber appeared in his hand. Anyone seeing it would automatically realize that it was a mere common level weapon, in fact, it was the lowest of the low, standing at the mere first stage. However, those with sharp senses felt a keen sense of dread of and fear.

When Dyon saw this saber, his eyes contracted into pin holes. Virvor hadn't taken this weapon out during the assessments and it was clear why.

Virvor was a true saber master. He only brought out his weapon with intent to kill, but he couldn't afford to offend the nobles of Planet Cathedral because he had no backer. But, here? Where it was nothing but these young geniuses? Virvor had nothing to fear!

The path that Virvor followed was a unique one. It was known as the Monk Path.

When weapons reached a high enough level, they would form a spirit. As this spirit grew, the weapon would also grow along with it. However, there were two types of spirits. The first kind was the transplanted spirit. This kind of spirit was artificially added to the weapon by the weapon's master either during production or some time after the fact.

However, the second kind of spirit was much more mystical. This kind of spirit was called a birthed spirit. It was spawned into existence by the love and care a master put into their first ever weapon.

There was no need to compare the two. The birthed spirit was the much rarer kind by far However, those of the Monk Path had a higher chance of birthing this spirit than those of most other paths.

In the next moment, a blazing red, illusory saber appeared behind Virvor.

'Manifestation!' Dyon thought immediately.

"In your next life," Virvor spoke slowly, raising his saber. "You should learn who you can and can't offend."

SHHHUU

A blade of saber qi blotted out the skies, seemingly becoming the only thing in existence. When it finally disappeared, all that was left was Rand's corpse. Sliced in two.

The four remaining Dukes of the 74th quadrant stood, completely stunned. How many centuries had they spent bullying the 98th quadrant geniuses? Not once had anything like this happened. Even if Rand wasn't the strongest among their youth, his level wasn't so far below that of their best that he would so easily lose This meant only one thing: Virvor was even stronger than their Legatee!

They didn't want to believe their eyes at all. Wasn't that a manifestation? Didn't those 98th quadrant fools cripple their own souls? How could he possibly have a manifestation? And such a powerful one at that?

Virvor's saber manifestation raised his saber intent by two levels! That was completely unheard of in their circle of geniuses!

To go from the one with mind level, directly to the one with body That leap wasn't something that could be ignored, especially considering the difficulty in comprehending weapon wills.

By this point, Dyon was silently chuckling to himself. This Virvor character didn't need his help at all. But, what was curious was that he had manifested his soul

Manifesting one's soul wasn't like manifesting your bloodline. For example, Dyon doesn't need a special technique to invoke his martial uncle's demon qilin spirit, he only needs to be angry which would result in him resonating with the bloodline. It happened very rarely, but it did happen, like when Ulu tried to take away Ri's ability to ever have children.

However, soul manifestations required a specialized technique. Of course, this technique meant next to nothing to Dyon considering he had several copies of his own, but in a quadrant like the 98th? Where could Virvor have possibly gotten it?

At this point, Dyon still had no idea that Virvor wasn't from Planet Cathedral. In fact, Virvor wasn't from the Cathedral Universe at all. The only thing that was certain about him was that he came from the 98th quadrant, everything else was a mystery.

Virvor lightly held his saber, his grip was so loose, in fact, that it seemed like the blade could fall from his hands at any time. "Who's next?"

The four dukes stood frozen. Should they run? Should the fight? Did their face mean anything when confronting their own death?

They glanced at each other before bolting in four separate directions, clearly leaving whoever lived or died up to chance. However, what they didn't know was that Virvor disdained to chase after them. With his way of the saber, he saw no benefit in it. It was better if they went to find a more powerful backer so that he could continue to temper himself.