After James and crew got home they spent a surprising amount of time just laying in their bed cuddling not worrying about anything else in the world. One thing that Noel and Cara had surprisingly agreed on was the way that their cuddle time worked.

The rule was that Cara would be the little spoon to James while James would be the little spoon to Noel. The two had a similar obsession for him but also had their own ways of wanting to be pampered or pampering others.

For James, this was the perfect opportunity since he could experience the best of both worlds. He felt as if he was in some kind of love sandwich that he never wanted to escape. That was both a happy thing and a scary thing that he reflected on later in the night.

Ever since James had met Noel and Cara he felt like the void in his heart left by his dead family was slightly filled. However, what James also realized was that he could never be separated from these two. Just the thought of them leaving for a long period of time nearly broke his mind despite it not even being a reality.

The test in the forest almost broke him despite him knowing that they were both close by and watching over him as he took his test. James wondered how he would react if they were truly unreachable and far away. The thought alone made him shiver and his black Qi was disturbed within his body.

Noel and Cara immediately took notice of this despite it being pitch black dark in the middle of the night. They both were roused from their sleep due to the fluctuation.

James had his eyes closed while in his thoughts so he didn't realize they had both woken up due to his thoughts. While he was still thinking Noel and Cara looked at each other worriedly before they both nodded and snuggled closer to him letting him feel their love and warmth.

When James felt this he was surprised but also thankful letting his bad thoughts wash away as he fell into the sweet release of sleep.

The next morning James got ready for the tournament and felt prepared for the day even more after experiencing the battle from the day prior. Now that he had experienced the auras of so many powerful people and seen them in action he felt like he could take on people at his own level. He also knew that the only reason he had been able to kill Blue Mask was due to the fact he had a powerful sword and the other man had fallen into a false sense of security.

"Are you ready for today?" Cara asked curiously as the trio made their way back to the original platform.

"Yeah, I think so. Ever since I've started training with the both of you I feel like I've gotten a lot stronger." James said with a smile as he squeezed his fists feeling the power in his grasp.

"Haha, it's to be expected when you're getting trained by someone of my caliber. I'm sure you haven't even noticed how many times you have broken through since the beginning of that exam." Noel laughed as she seemed to be scanning the Qi in his body.

Cara also nodded her head in agreement as James began scanning his body himself. He had noticed that the black Qi within him physically spread to his many other organs not just within his dantian. Some of it had even entered his veins following the bloodstream of his body.

The increase in strength had been so gradual for him that he hadn't taken the time to realize or much less analyze the strength he had, "Well if you really want to know you're now at Stage 4 of the Dao Forming realm. Last night in your sleep you suddenly broke through." Cara said with a smile referencing in her mind that the time he broke through was when she and Noel hugged him tighter making him fall deeper into sleep.

James' jaw dropped slightly at the information. He had no idea he had been gaining strength so quickly from a mixture of honing his black Qi with Cara and Noel to fighting people many levels above himself even killing two of them with some luck. It was clear that the path he was on now was destined to be a great one and he was more than excited to follow it with those he loved.

Once James had recovered from the shock of his current level the group continued on their way to the platform for the tournament but when they arrived they were surprised to see everyone present for the tournament surrounding Patriarch Colton.

"What's going on?" James questioned Noel as she was the most knowledgeable person in their group when it came to higher-up dealings.

"I have no clue, I thought the Patriarch wasn't even going to be here today after what happened." Noel said with a frown as they arrived on the scene listening to what Patriarch Colton had to say.

"Attention everyone! It seems you are all here. As I'm sure some of you are aware we had a terrible situation befall our sect yesterday. Many of our own Elders are injured and some of them are even gone at this point. Due to this and the fact that we found some of the people in the competition in collusion with the people I just mentioned we will be canceling the event." Patriarch Colton said loudly much to the shock of many present.

"Well, then how will we choose who goes to the sect-wide tournament?!" Someone in the crowd shouted clearly not ok with this result.

"Ah, for that we have already chosen a person. This person has already demonstrated enough skill to surpass every one of you that I've watched so far. This is by no means putting you down or saying that you are not strong Disciples it just means you weren't the strongest this time. If you want to make the next competition you better all keep working hard to be the best you can be." Patriarch Colton shouted rousing some pumped Disciples in the crowd of people.