Bruce was surprised at the exchange for he knew Zephyr had no need for the Crimson Fire.

“This is daylight robbery!” replied Zephyr unhappily.

“You’re not from around here, aren’t you? Everyone knows all the things I sell are of top-notch quality, hence the price.”

“Haha, it’s true what he said. This old geezer is infamous for his pricing, but I can assure you that the quality of the item would be worth it,” explained one of the customers to Zephyr. Then he turned to the old geezer and said, “Why don’t you give this fine young man a discount as a token of welcome?”

“Hmmph!” scoffed the old man as he ignored the customer.

“Fine, thirty thousand it is. Could you at least throw in some freebies for me?” asked Zephyr sweetly. He knew deep down that he could probably get this item for twenty thousand somewhere else. This old geezer was indeed an unscrupulous seller.

“What do you want?” asked the old geezer with knitted brows.

“I like things that are unusual and I can’t for the life of me identify the name of this plant so… Maybe I could have this?” replied Zephyr with a cheeky grin as he went straight to the point.

The old geezer returned his grin and said, “So this is what you were after all along. Fine, thirty thousand for the Crimson Fire and this dying plant!” The fact that he easily gave in to Zephyr was not due to his generosity or because he liked Zephyr. It was actually because he picked up the plant somewhere and could not sell it off at all. He might as well give it to Zephyr for free if it meant he could earn from the Crimson Fire’s sale.

Zephyr turned to leave after getting his hand on the wilted plant. Right as he was about to go to another area, he heard someone ask, “Did you hear about the Inter-city Tournament’s result?”

“How could we not? It’s all anyone could talk about these days,” replied someone else.

“You know that’s not what I meant. I heard that the first place winner would be accepted as an Academy apprentice into The Boundless Academy,” said the first man with a cocky smile on his face.

“What? You’re not pulling my leg right? This is really big news indeed!” The information caused a burst of uproar amongst the crowd.

“Haha, I bet now you’re dying to find out who the lucky winner is and where he’s from,” said the first man, his grin became wider as he scanned the excited faces turned towards him.

“Get on with it then! Tell us all about him!”

“The winner is from a city not far from here. Starlight is the name,” said the first man in a mysterious tone.

“No way! You’re lying. Starlight is more of a backwater town than Viridian!”

“Why would I lie about something like this? I swear on my mum’s grave that what I’m saying is one hundred percent the truth. I received the news from a brother of mine who participated in the Inter-city Tournament. It won’t be long before all the cities receive this news.” The man then thumped his chest as emphasis in the truthfulness of the message.

Upon hearing all that, Bruce could not help but throw his head back in laughter. “Thanks to you, Zephyr, Starlight is already becoming more powerful by the day.

“I got lucky,” Zephyr replied with a faint smile on his lips. He could not deny that Lady Luck had smiled down on him during the Inter-city Tournament. He would not have gotten so many points if he had not defeated the Winged Serpent and Dragon Lizard.

“Starlight is going to be even more lively now,” said one of the gossipers.

“Of course, Starlight will definitely rise now that one of their inhabitants has become an Academy apprentice of The Boundless Academy,” said another cockily.

“That’s not what I meant! I just came back from Starlight and it was a mess. Some skilled fighters were even attacking the city.”

“What?!” The gossipers' expression changed drastically as they stared raptly at the speaker.

“I’m not sure about the details but from what I gathered, someone from the Khan Clan offended some powerful figure and so the powerful figure sent his men to attack Starlight.”

As soon as the words left the gossiper’s lips, a terrifying aura exploded near the group. They were instantly blanketed by the aura that caused the air around them to solidify, cutting their discussion short. Slowly, they turned towards the direction of the source and saw a handsome young man that stood with a furious expression.

“Did you say someone is attacking the Khan Clan?” Zephyr asked coldly.

“Ye… yes. That’s right,” answered the man who had become as pale as a ghost.

Zephyr thanked the man. He ignited Lightfoot and shot away like lightning.

It took a long while for the gossipers to recover from the shock.

“What a powerful aura!”

“I can’t believe someone as young as him possesses this kind of power.”

“Doesn’t he seem a little agitated?”

“Maybe it’s him, Zephyr Khan! The winner of the Inter-city Tournament,” cried out the first man who started the whole discussion. The group of gossipers let out a collective gasp and turned to look at Zephyr’s retreating figure.

Zephyr finally got his answer to why he had been feeling so anxious ever since the Inter-city Tournament ended. “How dare they come after my clan!” he muttered under his breath threateningly. It took him no time at all to reach the Dragonboat with his Lightfoot.