Apotheosis

Throughout the Eastern Region, no one at the Illuminating Soul Realm would subject themselves to taking direction from anyone who was not an influential master.

There was a rich merchant of G County, and he could afford to employ several nature creatures as his personal bodyguards, which was rare for a man of his station. However, it was pure fantasy to think he could hire any of the masters in the Illuminating Soul Realm.

Still, the members of the Zhang Clan could.

The Zhang Clan employed multiple Illuminating Soul Realm masters.

These masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm willingly remained in the employ of the Zhang Clan to assist with the clan at critical times because they valued the connections along with the resources that the Zhang Clan possessed.

More importantly though, since the Zhang Clan financially supported those same masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm while they were growing up, they served loyally.

This was the biggest reason the masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm remained with the clan.

As the third son in the Zhang Clan, Wurth was raised in the environment which gave him a natural sensitivity to this aspect of how things were.

In Wurth's opinion, if Zen managed to defy the odds and gain entry into the Illuminating Soul Realm someday, his strength would rival any official at the Zhang Clan.

Therefore, Wurth wanted to invest in Zen.

He didn't invest money though because Zen wasn't lacking in that department, even going so far as to commission Wurth in the auctioning of heavenly essence which would in turn earn Wurth some money.

No, Zen had no need of Wurth's money, so, instead, Wurth invested his time, companionship in the form of building a friendship with Zen.

He knew how much Zen valued sentiment, friendship and respect above all other things, and although sometimes Zen would react emotionally, it was evident that he cared about his friends and brothers around him more than others.

For this reason alone Wurth was willing

anking one within the Cloud Sect? Logically speaking, the outer disciples from Drizzle Peak can be the least powerful of all the disciples at the Cloud Sect. At least, in my opinion. It is better not to enter the Cloud Sect than to remain at Drizzle Peak since it's where losers are cultivated."

"Yates, what the hell is that supposed to mean?" shouted Nory as he jumped to his feet angrily.

Only half of the guests had arrived, and the feast hadn't started yet. When other guests heard Nory shouting loudly, one after another turned to see what was going on, and even the actors up on stage stopped singing to see what was happening.

Yates concentrated on rising from his seat slowly, smirking, and having a tough time restraining the laughter he felt welling up in him. Nory was always such a weak target who Yates thought was easy to bully, until today. Odd that today Nory had been found to have a backbone. Yates wondered why Nory suddenly had the courage to stand up to him. Was Nory relying on these guys to stand against Yates?

Earlier when Yates entered, he had examined Nory's friends.

All the disciples from noble clans had keen vision.

First, he took in the fact that Zen, Wurth, and Sean were attired in white robes, then he scrutinized them to ensure they all came from lower class families without noble ties.