Chapter 565: Invitation

It was the first time for Pearl and the other women to visit the market in the Holy Realm. Although it was just a small town’s market, it was still enough to amaze them.
They didn’t have to worry about currency in the Holy Realm—Ye Feng had already obtained a large amount of Holy Crystals for free from the Void Realm, enough to buy an entire town.
Though the women hadn’t felt tired after browsing all day, the darkening sky and the many closed shops made them lose interest in continuing.
“Let’s head back to the tavern,” Pearl suggested. “We haven’t seen enough, but this small town seems to lack any nightlife. I really miss the bars on Earth…”
“I’ve never been to a bar, but I do miss the street stalls, barbecue shops, and snacks outside the university back when I was in college…” Zhuge Ling’er also looked up, reminiscing.
“Yes, I miss being at the top of the class list after every exam…” Long Yue was clearly the typical goddess back in school—beautiful, fit, from a good family, and academically outstanding.
“I miss those days when I worked on missions with William, Kristine, and Yi Fan. Though we were in constant danger, every day was happy and free.” Kelly could only speak in front of people she knew well. Although she wasn’t autistic anymore, she simply preferred not to talk to strangers.
“Do you all come from the same place as the Lord? Is it interesting there?” Bai Yiyi asked curiously. Her cultivation level was even higher than Ye Feng’s by now, as she had reached the ninth level earlier and focused mainly on her soul, making progress slightly easier for her. It wasn’t until she reached the tenth level that she hit a bottleneck, prompting her to leave the Martial Arts Hall voluntarily. Long Tian also reached the tenth level but chose to leave just before advancing to the eleventh, as he lacked the necessary pills to make a breakthrough quickly.
Of course, Long Tian only revealed the new cultivation levels after everyone else surpassed the Holy Realm: Starlight Level, Star Level, Nebula Level, Star Sea Level, Star Domain Level, Star Realm Level, and Star Universe Level—corresponding to levels 9 through 15 in the Martial Arts Hall. Each level was further divided into four stages: early, middle, late, and peak.
As the women were engrossed in discussion, three figures suddenly appeared before them.

Upon seeing Pearl and the other four, the three men’s expressions changed slightly.
“Hello, ladies. I’m Berent from the Fifth Holy Land. It’s a pleasure to meet you!” Among the three, Berent, the tallest, was the first to introduce himself with a smile.
“Three Starlight-level experts?” Pearl stepped forward, taking on a leadership stance. “It seems the Fifth Holy Land has quite a few strong people.”
With their cultivation levels exposed, the three men’s expressions shifted again. They could easily tell that these five women were no weaker than themselves. Though it seemed strange, it was a fact right before their eyes. In fact, among the seven holy lands, only two rulers were women, and there was only one holy land ruler in total—namely, the ruler of the Seventh Holy Land. It wasn’t that this ruler was weak; rather, she had little desire to compete, which was why she ranked lowest.
Seeing the men’s awkward expressions, Pearl continued, “Just say what you want to say directly. There’s no need to beat around the bush.”
“Actually, it’s quite simple. We’re here to investigate an incident,” Berent forced out a seemingly friendly smile.
“You’re referring to the incident at Black Dragon Valley, right?” Zhuge Ling’er immediately guessed what Berent was talking about. “It was me who did it. Those people deserve to die!”
“Heh, I’m not sure how to address you…” Berent’s smile became even more awkward. He had planned to phrase things more tactfully, but she admitted it right away, which he hadn’t expected. Normally, people wouldn’t admit such things so easily—just knowing it in their hearts would be enough. But then he thought, these people numbered nearly twenty, and these five women were at least at the Starlight level. The others must be equally strong. In the Holy Realm, this group certainly posed no threat.
“I’m Zhuge Ling’er,” she said coldly, suspecting they might be looking for trouble. But whether in terms of strength or logic, it seemed they had no chance of winning, so she had nothing to fear.
“Miss Zhuge, you really don’t need to be nervous. We’re not here because of Black Dragon, but for you,” Berent thought for a moment before coming up with an excuse. “Let me explain it this way: Black Dragon is a Holy Lord-level expert with mutated dragon bloodline. His strength is comparable to that of an early-stage Supreme Saint. That’s why we’ve allowed him to act freely and turned a blind eye to his misdeeds—because he has great potential for growth.”

“But killing the Black Dragon is clearly something that even those at the peak of the Supreme Saint level find extremely difficult to accomplish. Therefore, we suspect the perpetrator is a powerhouse beyond the Saint realm. Within a sacred land, there are very few such powerful beings, which is why we take this matter very seriously. The Lord Sovereign even sent us three here specifically to convey a friendly message: our sacred city maintains an open and inclusive attitude toward those who have surpassed the Saint realm. In fact, if you wish, we can even invite you to take part in the trials to become a ruler.”

“I’m not interested. Can we go now?” Zhuge Ling’er had no fondness whatsoever for the rulers of the Fifth Sacred Land. Their belief in the supremacy of the strong had led to the emergence of people like the Black Dragon, so she naturally had no interest in becoming one of them.

“Ling’er, don’t rush to give an answer,” Pearl said, frowning slightly before turning to Berent. “How about this? Give us some time to go back and discuss it. We’ll get back to you once we have a decision.”

“No problem. We originally planned to give you some time to think. There’s no need to rush,” Berent replied, his previously disappointed expression instantly brightening upon hearing Pearl’s words.

“If there’s nothing else, we’ll be leaving first,” Pearl said, nodding slightly at the three of them before leading the women away.

“Will they agree?” someone behind Berent asked with a displeased expression.

“I don’t know. We can only wait for news!” Berent shook his head helplessly. “Even though the ranking matches are approaching, we can only rely on this unexpected advantage.”

“Sis Pearl, why not just reject them? None of those who play politics are good people. Anyway, even if they refuse, they can’t do anything to us,” Zhuge Ling’er asked angrily.

“We girls naturally disdain participating, but Ye Feng and the others might have different ideas. Let’s go back and discuss it with them first; it’s not too late to give an answer,” Pearl said. Having been in society for many years, she saw further ahead. She also guessed that if Ye Feng and Long Tian learned of this news, they would likely accept the invitation.