Austin arrived at the square at noon the next day.
By the time he neared the square, more than thirty disciples had gathered already.
Over twenty of them were at the level of Emperor Realm, while the rest were at the level of Semi-emperor Realm.
He scanned the crowd and saw Rahul among them. Rahul nodded at Austin when he saw him.
Austin greeted the man back with a smile on his face.
Most of the disciples had gone to the Wild Herb Valley for the mission with Austin before, so they recognized Austin as well. They walked to him and talked fervently with him as soon as they saw him approach.
Those who did not know Austin felt surprised at their peers' attitude toward the young lad. They all wondered why such a disciple at the level of Semi-emperor Realm was so popular among the others.
Soon the crowd silenced as they saw a ray of black lightning fleeting across the sky. It landed at the center of the square. All the disciples rushed towards it without delay.
The black lightning turned out to be Elder Damian of the Flame Holy Land.
Elder Damian had the responsibility of escorting and picking up disciples of the Flame Holy Land to carry out missions in the outside world.
"Is everybody here?" asked Damian after settling his eyes on Rahul.
He then checked around to scan the gathered disciples.
"All disciples are here, Elder Damian," replied Rahul with a slight bow of acknowledgment for the elder.
He had already started the headcount before the elder arrived.
Damian nodded as a reply. While searching the crowd, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure from the corner of his eyes. He turned to look towards the figure's direction and found Austin in the crowd.
"I didn't expect to see you here Austin! So you've achieved another breakthrough in your martial arts?" Austin's appearance in the square surprised Damian so much that he could not help but blurt out a greeting in front of all the disciples.
The astonished expression on his face was indescribable as he stared at the young man. He had not seen any disciple with such an amazing martial arts talent before.
He remembered Austin clearly as he had led a team to the Wild Herb Valley for a trial of the disciples' martial arts skills as well as the search of precious herbs. Austin was one of the disciples sent for that mission there. However, he was at the level of Semi-holy Realm at that time.
Austin made sure his cultivation base had reached the level of the preliminary stage of Semi-emperor Realm after their mission in the Wild Herb Valley was over.
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