"What's wrong?" James asked in confusion as they looked at the face of Blue Mask. It certainly was a rough face but not one bad enough for Patriarch Colton and the others to act in such a way.

"This man is from one of the surrounding sects. He is from the Steel Venom sect and I assume the rest of these men are as well. For many years we have had peace with the Steel Venom sect despite our past grievances. I don't really understand why they would be working with Fourth Elder and Second Elder." Patriarch Colton questioned aloud as everyone agreed not understanding why.

"The whole reason we were unable to bridge the gap for so long was due to Fourth and Second Elder disagreeing. They pushed against the idea of being friends with them for so long but now we find him trying to run away to their sect? I don't really understand what's happening here but it's a lot bigger than we think." First Elder said with a frown as he thought about the past scuffles with the Steel Venom sect.

Once this information was found out everyone began moving a lot quicker and eventually made it back to the top of the sect where they unmasked the other men revealing them to also be elders of the Steel Venom sect.

From what James heard from the others the man that he had killed was the Third Elder of the Steel Venom sect. In addition, the other two men they captured were the Fifth and Fourth Elder of the sec leaving only the First and Second Elder left in addition to any other higher or low ranking members.

"They have definitely done a number on us but we have also done one to them. If all things were normal then we would technically be the stronger sect but now with Second Elder on their side, I believe they might have more power. Third Elder missing his arm is of course not going to help the situation either." First Elder said as he addressed the rest of the people in the room on the situation.

It was definitely a depressing mood and it seemed everyone needed time to process so James decided to say goodbye to everyone and leave with Noel and Cara. While the higher-ups could figure out that situation he needed to figure out what he was going to do for the tournament the next day.

Despite all that happened James still assumed it was going to happen since some of the places chosen for the sect-wide tournaments were going to be chosen through this.

'I must be prepared for anything.' James thought to himself as he walked back to his home.

Once the trio arrived home, they were surprised to see a guest waiting at their door. When this guest saw them, their expression immediately lit up and they made their way over quickly.

However, before they could reach James Noel and Cara stepped in front of him putting their hands in between him and the guest before both saying angrily, ""What are you doing here, Zen?!""

The guest in question was Zen who had last been seen standing in front of Silvio's dead body. They had left her there previously and really didn't care what had become of her but now they found her standing here.

"Woah woah calm down royal guards I'm just here to have a chat with your boss!" Zen said jokingly clearly in higher spirits than she had been earlier on.

James chuckled at this joke but also appreciated Noel and Cara which he showed by stimulating the Qi between them as thanks, "Why do you need to talk to him? There's no need for that." Noel said turning down the offer entirely.

At this point, Zen started getting annoyed before looking at James in the eyes, "Are you just going to let them speak for you like this?! Aren't you supposed to be some sort of man and stick for yourself!" Zen yelled angrily much to the displeasure of the other two who were about to attack her.

At this, James just smiled before responding, "What does that have to do with anything? Noel and Cara are mine as I am theirs. If they believe I shouldn't talk to you then that's the end of it. If they want me to speak with you then I will it's not hard to understand. They mean more than anything else to me." James said with hearts forming in his eyes and his words dripping with pure obsession.

Zen had seen how obsessive the two ladies were over James but this was the first time she had seen James act this way toward them showing how much he cared for them. Truthfully it made all three people present shiver for different reasons. Noel and Cara shivered in pleasure while Zen shivered in shock at his words.

Even his eyes were unwavering as if everything he said was the absolute truth, 'I want that.' Zen suddenly thought to herself as she saw the way James looked at Cara and Noel. It was the unwavering desire and love for them that Zen had never seen in her life. She hadn't even received the normal kind of love from her family making her hunger for such a thing even greater than most.

Normally Cara and Noel would have caught a sudden change in expression like that but they were too entranced by the feeling of James' obsession to realize the way Zen was also looking at James.

However, they were finally taken out of their trance when Zen spoke up once more after James was finished, "I see now. It seems I have gone about this the completely wrong way. I'll find another way to speak to you properly next time, I apologize." Zen said with a smile before she disappeared from the scene completely.

"Good, now that she's gone we can finally spend some time at home~" Noel said with a happy expression on her face.