Cooperation

The 4 kings hovered in the sky atop each of their own flying treasures.

Mo Yuan Kai inched forward and cupped his hands in greeting, "Junior Brother Bai, I hope our visit wasn't too sudden"

Bai Hu hesitated for a second before waving his sleeve. A hole opened in the formation, allowing them to pass through. They looked around to find no one around.

Bai Hu's voice sounded in their heads, "Please walk along the path forward. My master had set up a few restrictions and it would be quite troublesome if they are triggered"

The kings involuntarily tensed up when they heard that there were restrictions around. Restrictions set up by a master is something they could not mess with so they did as they were told.

After walking for a few minutes along a gravel paved path, they stumbled across a roofed area with tables and chairs, suitable for serving guests.

A young man, no older than 14, with long black hair and dressed in the white outer court uniform could be seen reclining on a chair with a teacup in his hands. There was a table before him with 4 empty chairs and cups of tea set in place.

Bai Hu stood, "Never would I have imagined that the renowned 4 kings would visit my humble abode. Please sit"

They exchanged a few pleasantries with Bai Hu before sitting and taking a sip of the tea set on the table.

Yang Feng perked up when he tasted it, "This is high quality tea with calming effects! May I ask the name of this tea?"

Bai Hu smiled, "This is Azure Calming Tea that my master had given me. If you like it I can give the each of you several taels of the stuff"

"Then I'll have to thank you in advance"

They began talking about various topics as if they were all friends. They would jump from talking about their cultivation insights to their adventures. Bai Hu listened when they talked about their experiences with missions and realized that he never went on one before. He asked them about the benefits of completing a mission and what the mission usually entails.

It was Yang Feng who answered as he was the most talkative, "Missions can be tasks set by the sect, such as cleaning and guard or running errands for a senior. They can also be tasks the sect takes from the outside world. Occasionally, a clan or power or even another sect might ask for an individual or a small group to be sent out on a mission"

He took a deep breath and took another sip of the tea. It seems the calming effects of the tea is quite beneficial to him, most likely due to the yang attribute in his flames.

"Missions, when completed, will earn you contribution points that you can use in the sect regulated market. You might also earn extra rewards in the form of spirit stones, pills, or treasures. That's pretty much it"

Meanwhile, Mo Yuan Kai was getting increasingly impatient, "Enough of this. I want to talk about the real purpose of our visit today"

Bai Hu looked at the young man with gray skin, "Oh? And what might that be?"

The 4 kings shared a look and stated their proposition.

"We wish to team up with you in the final battle. When the time comes, we will all fight against Shui Bing so she can't get first place"

He smiled, "Shouldn't there be a few more battles before that? I don't know if I'm going to win my next battle, much less get to the final one"

"Hehe, you don't know this since you're new, but the top 10 have already been picked out by keen eyed elders. Your name is naturally on the list for the top 10"

"Picked out by elders? Won't anyone be able to buy a place in the top 10 then?"

Dong Wang replied, "You probably don't know, but elders are all virtuous people who are picked by merit, not bloodline. Their descendants will receive absolutely no support from their families and are sent to fend for themselves"

Bai Hu was thoroughly surprised by this information. This meant that Shui Bing reached her current level through her own efforts and would most definitely possess great combat power. Anyone who achieved what she had done will have a will much stronger than the average person.

"I'm not sure..."

The 4 of them seemed to anticipate his unease, "You don't have to give an answer now. So long as you help us in the battle, we will compensate you fully"

Bai Hu thought about this for a while, "Alright, give me a bit of time to think about this. At the end of the day, this is a risk for all of us including me if I agree. You'll see my answer when the battle comes"

They seemed a bit relieved and were satisfied by his answer as he didn't outright reject them. He bid each of them farewell after exchanging some more pleasantries and gave each 3 taels of Azure Calming Tea.

He kept waving with a smile while the group left. His smile slowly faded and was soon replaced by an irritated expression.

"Humph! They act friendly and all but most likely want me to act as fodder. Don't tell me they didn't realize I noticed their secret conversation"

Throughout their conversation, Bai Hu noticed the 4 kings giving each other hand signs behind their backs. They were clearly hiding some things from Bai Hu and wanted to use him to their benefits.

"Sigh, going against Shui Bing is a sure way to make a powerful enemy and get myself killed"

He shook his head and went back to his secret abode. He needed to prepare as the 4 kings most likely won't be happy that he chose not to accept their cooperation.

He entered the alchemy room with the cauldron as that room was reinforced with arrays and formations that can resist explosions. He moved the cauldron out of the way and cleared the room of anything flammable and valuable.

"This should be enough"

He sat down, legs crossed and held up a hand face-up. Blue lightning and red flames emerged from his palm. A strand of lightning and a wisp of fire rose and intertwined, slowly merging and changing color.

An ecstatic expression appeared on his face when he saw that the merging was successful and the color slowly changed to purple.

Of course, it wouldn't be so simple.

The mixture suddenly turned volatile and Bai Hu's expression changed.

"Shit!"

BOOM!

A massive explosion sounded as the fusion of fire and lightning blew up. The destructiveness of a single wisp of that energy is on par with an alchemist's cauldron blowing up, meaning that the room managed to hold the explosion in.

"Cough cough, cough!"

The dust settled to reveal an ash covered Bai Hu. He spat out a mouthful of dust and surveyed the room. No marks or cracks that might suggest that an explosion had happened. Bai Hu himself didn't suffer an injury as he managed to put up a barrier of qi at the last moment and thus he sat down again.

"Again!"

BOOM!

"Again!"

BOOM!

BOOM!

…

..

.

"Huff... huff... again..."

After a dozen tries, Bai Hu's figure had become so charred that he was unrecognizable. He opened his left fist and let a strand of lighting appear and then opened his right fist to let a wisp of fire appear.

Very carefully, he brought his hands closer to each other and controlled each element with an individual strand of divine sense. The strands of elemental qi swirled and merged together bit by bit.

Bai Hu watched the fusing process and decided to change his approach. He controlled the energies to move in a circular pattern similar to yin and yang. The marble sized explosive concoction slowly turned purple all the way and solidified.

"T-this..."

He stared at the purple marble that emitted a powerful aura.

"Success!"

Growl...

Bai Hu popped a fasting pill in his mouth and stowed the Thunderflame Bead in his spatial pouch. These attempts had drained him of most of his qi reserves and now he would have to rest to recover.

He had one week to make as many Thunderflame Beads as possible. According to Yang Feng, the top 10 had already been chosen and he was a part of the list. This means that any other battles are meaningless and should be taking place during their rest.

Bai Hu took out several spirit stones and began recovering his energy. Yang Feng is an easy target who can easily be defeated so long as he is alert. Fei Yuan Wei should also be easy to deal with as his body is weak and due to the fact that the spectral form can't be maintained for long. His spiritual attacks take a while to be prepared and he should be able to avoid them.

The one's he is wary of are Dong Wang and Mo Yuan Kai. Dong Wang's powerful physique and Mo Yuan Kai's speed are both something he needs to look out for.

He didn't know who else was chosen but so long as they are ordinary qi refinement cultivators, he is confident he won't be last.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed again.

He had felt another tremor in the formations.