"Is it related to the new 'Gate' you found?" Lord Izak asked with a raised eyebrow.
The already silent room became even more soundless. The three senior representatives, including the Shadow Regent who was quietly sipping tea while minding his own business, all became interested.
There were many unknown planes and some known worlds in the universe that were usually not reachable through normal means. They required special gates and keys to open a relatively safe path towards them but even then they held significant risks.
Since there was no way to know for sure what was on the other side, it could either bring great fortune to the gate's owner or their demise. Yet they were always in great demand and held a lot of value, for both scientific and financial reasons.
So, of course, hearing about such a thing piqued the interests of everyone present.
Shen raised his head for the first time.
And as his light blue eyes fell on the people in front, the temperature fell even more, or rather that's what it felt like to everyone present. With a single gaze he was able to instill a soul-piercing cold into everyone unprepared enough to meet his gaze.
The three junior representatives who were all Elders and in the Saint realms themselves felt a chill go down their spines. All of them looked away at once while circulating their Qi's and Laws at full force.
Shen's face was still expressionless.
"No, Lord Izak. My visit has nothing to do with the gate. It is entirely my own. I hope you can understand and give Junior some leeway," he said looking Lord Izak right in the eyes.
Lord Izak's smile still hadn't changed from beginning, neither had his nonchalant attitude.
He chuckled, "Treat my vessel as yours. You have complete freedom here," he said with a wink.
Shen bowed slightly, "Thank you, Lord."
Izak asked a few questions about the tournament before sending everyone off. It was obvious no one wanted to continue the conversations as long as Shen was there so he didn't bother forcing them to stay.
Shen left first, followed by the others.
Shadow Regent and Elder Wushing disappeared from the space which was created by Lord Izak himself and reappeared back on the ship in their private area like everyone else.
It looked like a dimly lit laboratory of some kind with different types of equipment and apparatus cluttering the place.
To the left was a dome that shone with a golden light. It covered some 12 or so young men and women that were laying there with their eyes closed.
Elder Wushing let out a deep breath as soon as he appeared back here.
The Shadow Regent, on the other hand, appeared in his usual spot at the back with barely any light. His shadow melded with the darkness and disappeared instantly.
Elder Wushing came over not a few seconds later with a bubbling pot of tea that gave off a wretched smell.
He filled up a cup like he had done so many other times before and passed it to the fragile-looking old man before standing beside him obediently.
The old man took a sip on the murky and gave a satisfying nod.
"Ask. What bothers you?"
Even though he was sitting right in front of Elder Wushing, his voice came from the other side of the room while his lips never even moved.
Elder Wushing bowed from the waist, "About the man named 'Shen' Shadow Regent, do you think he will be a hindrance to our plans?"
The old man continued to sip the 'tea' like normal and made no other movements as if he had not even heard anything.
"Don't worry about him. He has his own leash, whatever he came here to do, it should have nothing to do with us. But if something changes, I will rearrange things from the shadows. You should only focus on the task at hand."
Elder Wushing bowed once again, "Yes, Shadow Regent."
The old man glanced over at the dome where the unconscious participants were.
"Are the samples ready for transport?" his voice came from a different place once again.
"Yes. I will take them back myself," Elder Wushing replied while fixing his spectacles that were about to fall off.
"Good. Make sure they don't wake up on the way back."
"Yes. What do we do about the tournament?"
"Let the Academy and Hall fight it out. Support both of them where you can but make sure the Hall succeeds in the end. That would be most suitable for the future."
"As you command, Shadow Regent."
***
Back in the observation room, Ryfon received a message on his spirit band. It was only three words long but that was enough to ruin his mood.
"Shen is here."
