Continent of Pride[9]

The mountain that housed the entire Divine Dragon Sect literally pierced through the heavens, its peak faintly pulsated with a green light filled with lifeforce, as Khan's eyes enjoyed its glory, he couldn't help but feel sentimental.

Back then, the three of them personally carved the three peaks that housed the Outer, Inner, and the Elders of the Sect, Khan's eyes darted to the Inner Disciple Peak, of whom, he carved himself.

If he claimed to be the most knowledgeable about the peak, no one would dare to take his seat as the number one.

Khan's eyes turned towards Lily and found that the latter's expression became icy cold, because she left the sect for about ten years, no one recognized her as the princess of the Divine Dragon Sect.

Her cold gaze scanned the stream of young men and women walking around and enjoying the street foods lined up around the stairs, some of them even tried to overcome their limits and walk towards the peak.

But before they could walk halfway, a mysterious force would repel their bodies, sending them back down towards the foot of the mountain, thankfully, the formation installed in the stairs gave them sufficient protection to land, or else, falling from such a great height, all of their bones would be broken.

Khan smiled, seeing that the formation was activated, it could only mean one thing, the Divine Dragon Sect's Entrance Examination was ongoing.

He glanced at the young men that lined up to challenge the stairs and found that they really were participants, for they didn't have the Divine Dragon's bloodline in their body.

The Divine Dragon, specifically the Nature Dragon was one of the Divine Beasts capable of reaching the realm beyond the Divine Emperor, however, it could only be inherited hereditarily.

if a person became an Inner Disciple, they would be granted a drop of blood essence, of which, would transform their bloodline into that of a Divine Beast, however, its strength would be much lower than those who obtained their bloodline from their parents.

That's the reason why Khan didn't see a sea of dragons floating around, but instead, he saw several green-robed disciples with the insignia of the Divine Dragon on their left chest.

They stood there and shouted orders towards those who attempted the challenge, the Sect Master stood there with a smile on his face, murmuring in the air, "It looks like we have some pretty good suitor candidates..."

Lily's figure startled, her eyes turned solemn as she stared at the Sect Master, asking about what he's talking about.

the Sect Master sighed, 'It looks like I won't be able to keep this matter, hidden anymore.'

"When you disappeared, ten years ago, your father, didn't inform the outside world about your disappearance, instead, he announced that he would betroth you to the strongest young man among the current generation, using that tactic, he's trying to evade the matter of you being engaged to the Lion Race's prince."

the Sect Master continued, "and as you can see, droves of young men would arrive in the Divine Dragon Sect and challenge the Entrance Examination to have a chance of being engaged with you."

"What was the Lion Race's response?" Khan inquired, the Sect Master glanced at him with a complicated light in his eyes, he sighed once more before saying, "The Lion Race really was prideful, instead of taking that matter as an insult, they declared that they would certainly win the challenge, and as you can see, members of their sects are here, every year, intent of ascending the steps towards the peak."

Khan clenched his fist, he didn't understand the mindset of the current patriarch of the Divine Dragon Sect, 'why are they so afraid of those sick cats?' Khan glanced at Lily who stared at him with mixed emotions in her eyes.

He grasped her hand, reassuring her that everything was fine.

The three of them started to walk towards a nearby forest, arriving there, the Sect Master withdrew a small jadestone from his Spatial Ring, of which, he crushed.

"Prepare yourselves, a spatial transfer is quite taxing to the mind." the Sect Master smiled as a crack in the space materialized in the air before them, the Sect Master went first, followed by Lily and Khan.

Once inside, the scenery around them distorted into a kaleidoscope of colors before stabilizing and arriving inside a huge hall.

There, they saw a golden armored figure with his back facing towards them, the Sect Master wore a small smile on his face, Khan suffused an indifferent look while Lily looked fidgety, for she felt that the figure before them was really her father.

The figure slowly turned around and revealed his appearance towards the three of them, the figure who donned the armor had a face affected by the passing of time, however, the contour of his stature and the way that his body subconsciously emanates an aura of deterrence, one could deduce that he was once a mighty figure in his youth.

His jet-black eyes shone with a light that could devour everything, and his aquamarine hair mysteriously glistened in the dim room, his eyes scanned the group, and when it landed on Lily, it widened in disbelief.

The figure clad in gold visibly trembled, his footsteps that normally would conform with nature, looked to be disarrayed as he slowly walked towards Lily's figure.

Lily resolved herself and stared back at the figure, their gazes met halfway, and complicated emotions rose within their hearts.

Lily's eyes moistened as the golden figure brought her into an embrace, inside this dim hallway, and accompanied by two smiling figures, the family once again reunited.

It took them five whole minutes before they separated, Lily's face became dotted with tears and snot which in contrary, made her even more adorable.

The golden figure chuckled and wiped her face with a handkerchief, Lily's eyes stared at him with mixed emotions, although she hated this man before her, he was still her father, and so, she didn't understand what to do, or what to feel.

The golden figure turned towards the Sect Master and found that the latter gave a weird smile, "What are you weirdly smiling for, you old pervert!" the golden figure berated, sending a slap towards the latter.

the Sect Master merely moved his head to the side and dodged the incoming slap.

the light in their eyes intensified and they stared at each other in a standstill. Lily's expression froze, she grabbed Khan's hand and ran towards the exit.

"What's wrong?" Khan frowned, asking Lily in curiosity.

"They'll go at it again..." Lily grimly said, however, the words that she chose caused him to misunderstand and thought, "Go at it... Does that mean..."

Hearing his words, Lily realized her mistake and pinched Khan's waist, "What are you imagining for?! They're straight men!"

"I know, I know, you didn't need to pinch me..." Khan rubbed his aching waist and complained.

"Hrmmph! Serves you right for being so perverted..." Lily crossed her arms together and leaned on the walls just outside the room where the Sect Master was.

BANG!

A deafening roar echoed through the room, Khan's expression froze, for he felt two formidable powers clashing in the room, he glanced at Lily and found that the latter facepalmed and murmured, "Back then, every time my father and the Sect Master meets, they would measure each other's power by brawling..."

Khan's eyes repeatedly blinked, "So that's the reason, why..."

Several consecutive banging sounds rang out, one could even faintly hear a dragon and phoenix roar, evidently, the fight was at the scale where they're using everything that they had.

The walls that surrounded the room where the battle was located at shone in a green light, but even though it was fully protected, their might still caused several cracks on the wall.

This farce continued on for an hour before the Sect Master opened the door and revealed the unsightly appearance of the room.

The room looked like a storm had just passed through it for no brick was left unturned, some parts of the wall even threatened to crumble down.

"Damn, old bastard, how did you become so powerful..." A figure clad in golden armor appeared behind the Sect Master. He held his waist and groaned in pain, "Bastard, I think you even broke my waist..."

the Sect Master shrugged, "Well, it's partly your fault for overestimating yourself..."

"What did you say?! Let's have a rematch, let's have a goddamned rematch, right now!"

the Sect Master smiled, 'So this old geezer didn't even change for the past ten years, he's still so easy to rile up' He pondered for a moment before saying, "As much as I wanted to continue pummeling you down on the ground, I still haven't introduced you, my Direct Disciple."

the golden figure's eyes blinked in disbelief, "This eccentric bastard actually took a disciple?"

Khan moved forward and clasped his hands towards the Sect Master of the Divine Dragon Sect.

"Nice to meet you, I am Khan Liverto, the Sect Master's direct disciple."

However, his next actions shocked, not only the two but the patriarch of the Divine Dragon Sect himself.

Khan held Lily's hand, suffused a smiling face and proudly said,

"I am also, Lily's husband!"