4. An Injury, Explanation, and Artifacts

With the comment made by Orval just now, Iris had a surprised look on her face. The arrogant Abel next to the princess had a look of anger on his face, he could hardly contain his killing intent. He began to gather his power.

"You lowly bastard! How dare you say something like that to the princess!" yelled Abel. He then moved his hand forward to use his technique, but before he could attack, he was hit hard. Blood burst out of his mouth and he could feel his nascent soul was heavily damaged, to the point that he would need several years to fully heal.

"Ppppprincess! Why would you attack me!" stuttered Abel in bewilderment.

"I told you before to stop acting like this!" Iris exclaimed angrily. "You are already lucky enough that he did not kill you before. If you wanted to kill you, I can tell that even I could not stop him, not that I would since it would be fully justified. Now fall to the back of the group and do not make a sound, you will be receiving your punishment when we return."

Abel slowly walk to the back of the group with an angry expression. 'Orval Emerald! I will kill you if its the last thing I do!' Abel thought gripping his wound tightly.

Honestly, Orval was truly surprised by the actions of the princess just now. He was fully ready to kill the boy just now and had even activated a technique. He and Iris locked eyes.

"Is there anything else you need Princess Iris?" asked Orval.

"No, we have already said what we needed. I cannot wait to see you again at the competition. I will do my best to fully entertain you. And also from now on you can call me Iris, and I hope you will allow me to call you Orval." Iris spoke elegantly.

"Sure you can call me Orval. I look forward to the competition, Iris" Orval said with a smile.

With a nod Iris and her group left in a flash, leaving only the members of Emerald Gem Sect at the gate. Orval turned and walked back into the sect. Everyone followed suit. No one spoke the entire walk. When they arrived at the Sect Hall. The elders and sect leaders took their seats.

Orval began the discussion. "Now, we have established several new buildings, but we will keep expanding. Burlesque will continue to build and destroy as necessary. The new layout of our sect will be as follows. The inner portion that has already been developed will be for sect leaders, elders, and core disciples. The next area that will be developed is the inner sect for the inner sect disciples. Then he will work on the outer sect area for outer sect disciples. After that will be the city area. We will let mortals, who do and do not want to become cultivators, live there."

"This is a good plan" everyone agreed in unison.

"I think we should allow Orval to hold the title of First Disciple. This way he has even more power and authority, not only from a birth standpoint, but also fitting when he is amongst other sects." stated the Alchemy Elder.

Everyone agreed. With this, Orval's status is now the First Disciple of the Emerald Gem Sect.

"I will be going back to my palace to cultivate. I will have Susie be the first to go into the Pagoda. After that disciples will be able to apply, with Burlesque, to go in. Of course you all can go in whenever you would like, just beware the grottos can be dangerous and you can die." explained Orval. He then vanished, returning to his palace.

At his palace Orval went into his workshop. He planned to make an artifact for Susie. First he had to select the best materials for her. So he concentrated. Then he could see Susie as she was entering the Foundation Grotto.

Infinite Legacy Pagoda Foundation Grotto

As Susie walked into the grotto she suddenly was in the middle of a dense forest. She thought it was odd that the forest was so dark, yet had a brightness to it that she could still see very far. Even though there is no path, she walked forward. Almost as if something was compelling her moved towards the source. The path seemed never ending. After what felt like an eternity she came upon a circle of statues. There were 12 statues and a platform in the center. Susie moved to the center platform, looking out at the statues she saw, a wolf, a tiger, an elephant, a snake, a monkey, a leopard, a horse, a bear, a fox, a panda, a rabbit, and a coi fish. While standing on the platform Susie somehow knew exactly what to do.

She sat down on the platform and began to cultivate. As she circulated her qi, it began to cause the statues to glow. As time passed one by one the statue's glow began to dim, starting with the tiger. Now, all that is left is the fox and coi fish. Susie continued to cultivate. Then, the fox statues light went out, leaving only the coi fish statue to be lit. The light began to get brighter and brighter, when suddenly, the coi fish began to move. It looked like a mass of qi in the shape of a fish moving through the air. It began circling around Susie as if it was helping her cultivate.

As Orval watched the scene, he understood what was happening and what the best artifact for her would be. He went into his resource storage and grabbed the appropriate materials for the artifact, as well as enough for another since watching the situation in the pagoda gave him an idea. He went back into his workshop and began to forge the artifacts.

Tempest Continent, Royal Capital Tempest Void City

Iris was kneeling in front of the throne, where her father the emperor sat. All the other nobles and leaders were situated on the sides of the isle.

"Father, Emerald Gem Sect will be participating in the competition. And only one person will be participating." explained Iris. "And due to a series of issues I will be removing Abel von Glacier from the ranks of my group."

Suddenly, a mass of power from the sides with the nobles erupted along with a shout "WHAT! Princess Iris, we of the Glacier family have stood by the royal family's side since the founding of the kingdom! What would cause you to remove my son from your ranks. Not only that, I heard you are the one who injured him causing him to need many years of recovery." The older man that stood up was bursting with power and anger as he looked at the princess.

"Hmmm, Iris we do need an explanation in regards to this situation." stated the Emperor calmly. He normally would never ask for further explanations from his daughter as she always handles things calmly and rationally, but this time it involved a very loyal subordinate family who holds the title of Duke. He wanted to ensure this was handled appropriately, so there would be no conflicts moving forward.

"Yes" said Iris calmly. She then began to explain the situation in detail from the moment they arrived at the Emerald Gem Sect. As she explained, Duke Glacier looked more and more angry, but at this time it was not directed towards the princess like it was originally, now it was directed to the back of the princesses' group at his useless son. Abel could feel his fathers murderous gaze, drilling into his head, while looking at the ground and began to sweat profusely.

Duke Glacier then looked at the princess and the emperor and said "I am truly sorry for my sudden outburst. Now that I know the situation, if you would allow me to deal out the punishment of the useless boy from my family. I will also accept any punishment you wish to give me as the family leader." After he bowed to the royal family members present he sat down, still not releasing the pressure he was applying to his son.

"There is no need to give you a punishment as well, Lyle." said the Emperor. "Iris, this boy Orval, do you know the realm he is in?" He was curious as to how a young boy no older than his own daughter, who was not only talented but also nurtured in an environment that had everything she needed, was able to suppress the entire group at ease. Especially since Emerald Gem Sect is known to be very weak and poor.

"While, I never asked him, from what I can tell, he should just be in the Soul Creation Realm." explained Iris. " Also, compared to the last time I had been there, it seems that they have a new array guarding over the sect. It was profound and mysterious to the point that it may be equal to or stronger than the one here at the royal capital."

"Interesting. I am looking forward to this next competition." The Emperor said with a smile. "From now on every member who will be participating in the competition will be staying in seclusion to train. We can't disappoint such an interesting fellow now can we." With those final words everyone left to go prepare for the competition.

Unknown Location in the Universe

The God was still busily throwing colors around the space. What was just a giant ball of color, began to take form. It was obviously a giant planet that was being created. Suddenly, the figure stopped throwing colors and just looked at the planet.

"Good, now it's time for phase 2" said the God. He held his hands up as if he was holding the world like a crystal ball. "Infinite Art: Universal God of All Chapter: Life Creation Technique" As he began to use the technique, the planet began to glow a multitude of colors. The power surging from the planet was astonishing, it was enough to alert all the other gods of the universe.

Emerald Gem Sect

Susie was now finishing up in the foundation grotto, after being in there for a month. The coi fish had just finished up entering her meridians and was constantly circulating. She could tell now that this was extremely beneficial to her. She could constantly cultivate without having to personally sit down and meditate. Then, with a thought she vanished and reappeared at the entrance of the Pagoda. Next she went back to her room in the palace to stabilize her new ability.

Orval noticed Susie return. It was perfect timing since he just finished up the artifacts. Looking at his work he was satisfied by these artifacts that were no less impressive than the Infinite Legacy Scripture. The only difference was these did not have artifact spirits yet. But, that was only a matter of time.