"I hope that I haven't kept you waiting too long?" Elder Lo smiled at the prince. After the quarter match, every disciple noticed that the typically stern and conservative Elder Lo had begun to smile more frequently.

Ezra responded with a smile and a shake of his head. He was appreciative and grateful towards Elder Lo. After all, it was always comforting to be so valued and trusted by another.

Even when the crowd had turned against him, Elder Lo had continued to stand up for him, an act that benefited Ezra a lot 

Elder Lo seated himself on a stone stool and fished out a diamond token from his sleeves.

"This is the token for that diamond quarter. From today onwards, that quarter shall belong to you." Said Elder Lo with a smile.

There was joy in his eyes as the prince received the token. After all, he knew that the diamond quarter was an extremely important martial prowess resource, and would be hugely beneficial to his training.

Moreover, this was also why he had wracked his brains so hard in order to join the quarter match.

"Thank you, Elder Lo." Said Ezra as he cupped his fists together.

Elder Lo waved his hands and said, "You were the one who won this. I believe that there will no longer be any objections from any of the other disciples."

Even though the Elder had originally prepared this diamond quarter for the prince, there had been a huge backlash from the other disciples in the beginning. After all, in their eyes, the prince was merely a gold belt disciple who did not deserve to own a diamond belt.

However, there were no longer any disciples who objected after the quarter match. In fact, even James Endoro and his crew remained silent on this topic, evidently already acknowledging it.

After all, nobody expected the prince to perform so spectacularly during the quarter match. He had completely turned the tables and earned back all the respect their faction was about to lose.

Elder Lo smiled warmly at his disciple, a gratified look in his eyes. With a wave of his sleeve, several jade boxes appeared on the table.

"Young fellow, it's all thanks to you that I didn't lose face. Take these as your additional rewards." Said Elder Lo with a jolly face.

The prince was not surprised, he was sure that Elder Lo would reward him for sure. He casually opened one of the jade boxes, immediately feeling a heatwave being released from within it.

"These are… the Nine Suns Crystal, Heavenly Flames Rock Essence, Cube of Hot Ice and Polar Sparrow's Heart?" The prince stared at the objects inside the box as joy filled his heart. These were the items required to practise the Sun God Memoir.

He was unable to practise the Sun God Memoir because he lacked these very items. It never occurred to him that Elder Lo had actually managed to gather all of them for him.

"Haha, these were quite hard to find. This old man had to look up a few old friends and pull out a couple of favours to obtain them. I know that they should be the things you want most now." Said Elder Lo.

The prince was exhilarated. In the duel against Kimba, the prince had realised how powerful a peak Gamma layer Skill was. Moreover, it was not hard to guess that Kimba's Don Dark Devil skill was incomplete, hence why he had only managed to bring out less than a fifth of its true power.

After witnessing its might, Ezra's desire towards his Sun God Memoir began to grow and had been trying his best to find the required items for the past few days but to no avail. Hence, he was naturally ecstatic that Elder Lo had gathered all the items for him, saving him a boatload of trouble.

"Thank you, Elder!" The prince cupped his fists with sincerity.

The satisfaction on Ezra's face made Elder Lo chuckle. He looked at the prince, and slowly said, "Ezra, you came to Spirit Devouring Mountain to train with the goal of eventually returning home to deal with one of the 5 great empires, The Brownmane Empires, am I right?"

The prince was slightly shocked, even an outer elder got his hands on his past, but soon he nodded his head. Elder Lo was after all an elder of this giant sect, and though he often ended up getting the short end of the stick in his struggles with Elder Song, he was still an extremely powerful individual wherever he was put. This plus Spirit Devouring Mountain's resources made it a simple task to find out about Ezra's background. Of course, he couldn't find everything.

"Emperor Bruce of that empire is a Nascent Soul expert, but he is nothing much in the eyes of elders here. If they wish, they can easily suppress him with a flip of their hand. The only reason I can't suppress him is because I am an Alchemist, not a Martial Master" Said Elder Lo. Though his tone appeared nonchalant, it gave off a domineering aura.

"In the month since you became my disciple, I've managed to find out all about the conflict between your Bloodfang Kingdom and the Brown Mane Empire. I did this in hopes that you'll be able to focus on your training. In fact, I asked the sect to intervene and finish off the Brown Mane Empire."

Ezra stared at Elder Lo in shock.

Elder Lo frowned as he continued, "However, the sect ultimately rejected my request. I suspect this had something to do with the Holy Law Sect. When you killed the 2nd prince of Brown Mane Empire in the Spirity Bailiwick, his elder brother was already a disciple of the Holy Law Sect."

"According to the latest intel I've received, for some unknown reason, the Hall Master of Holy Law Sect seems to highly value Benedict Brown Mane. The former has even personally accepted him as his disciple, and helped him obtain an armament-like body.

As such, the Brown Mane Empire can be said to have the backing of the Holy Law Sect, and the reason why Peak Master and the rest did not agree to my proposal is likely because they knew that not only Guardians of Continent would become our enemies, the Holy Law Sect would also be opposed to it."

Ezra's pupils shrunk slightly. Is Benedict different from his cockroach-like younger brother? The former never expected that the latter would still be able to grab the attention of a Hall Master, a Hall Master in the Holy Law Sect is the same as Peak Master in Spirit Devouring Mountain.

Ezra's eyes glimmered for a moment before they gradually returned to calmness. Back then, the Brown Mane Empire had seemed impossibly far ahead, but in the end, Bloodfang Kingdom caught up and even slayed the two traitors who created their kingdoms on Bloodfang's land. The Bloodfang Kingdom had not been destroyed then, why would it be afraid now?

Since he was able to kill Emperor Bruce's younger child, he can slaughter the elder one too.

Ezra slowly asked, "Elder Lo, since the Holy Law Sect is backing Benedict Brown Man, will that be a problem for the Bloodfang Kingdom?"

He did not fear the Brown Mane Empire at all. However, he was wary of the powerful and mysterious Holy Law Sect.

It was a massive organisation that stood highest amongst the 7 1st degree sects.

Elder Lo waved his hand, before he solemnly said, "There is no need to worry. We do not wish to break the rules, and I believe the Holy Law Sect would not dare to do so as well. However, if they try anything funny, I assure you that our Spirit Devouring Mountai is no pushover.

When all is said and done, the conflict between your Bloodfang Kingdom and the Brown Mane Empire will have to be resolved amongst yourselves." Elder Lo was a little apologetic as he looked at the prince.

He had initially hoped to get rid of this problem for the prince. However, his hands were tied in the end.

The prince solemnly bowed to Elder Lo. He was fairly awed by what the latter had done for him.

"Elder Lo, there is no need for you to be this way. The Brown Mane Empire is a thorn in my heart that I must pluck out myself. If someone else did it for me, it would only hurt my personal feelings."

The prince slowly said, "Not too long, I will personally resolve this grudge!"

Though his voice was low, it was filled with confidence.

The strong confidence and killing intent in Ezra's words made Elder Lo even more pleased. Regardless of attitude or talent, this disciple truly belonged to the cream of the crop.

"If there is anything else I can help you with, just say the word. I will do all I can to support you." Declared Elder Lo.

The prince fell silent for a moment. Following this, he smiled as he said, "There is indeed a favour I would like to ask from Elder Lo."

"Oh?" Elder Lo smiled as he said, "Go on, tell me what it is."

The prince smiled a bit as he looked at Elder Lo and earnestly said, "I would like to join the diamond belt selection test to be promoted to a diamond belt disciple."

His main reason for coming to the Spirit Devouring Mountain was to learn and see the outside world, spread the tales of his notoriety and search for suitable subordinates in order to conquer this lower realm. However, according to the sect rules, there are steps of promotion. 

A disciple must have the diamond belt to compete for the chief disciple position. Be that as it may, the diamond belt disciples also possess the right to challenge the rankers and snatch their ranking.

This meant that Ezra needed to become a diamond belt disciple.