Weapon seller in the world of magic

Soon, both of them stepped into the world portal and teleported to the Null Point before stepping through one of the teleportation portals and entering the Immortal Plane of Existence's teleportation hall under the control of the Sky Pavilion Sect.

The place was quite bustling compared to before. Warriors from a 7-circle to even a God realm 13-circle realm expert could be seen around.

Around them, disciples from different sects moved in orderly formations. Others in foreign-style armor, clearly otherworlders, were sparring, trading, or tending to wounds. The air felt tense, like a war is about to break out very soon.

As they made their way toward the nearest outpost checkpoint, a voice called out behind them.

"Excuse me…"

A young man jogged up to them, wearing a white and blue tunic stamped with the Sky Pavilion Sect insignia. He looked winded but grinned as he stopped a few steps away, looking between Mark and Lan Xia with a mixture of curiosity and awe.

Mark raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

The young man cupped his fists and bowed. "Greetings. You are here to join the subjugation force, right?"

Mark frowned. "Subjugation force?"

The disciple blinked. "Wait, you didn't know?"

"We just got here," Lan Xia replied flatly. "Explain."

"Oh, right. So basically, the Sky Pavilion Sect has issued a recruitment call to all otherworlders and cultivators in the outer planes of existence. They're forming an allied strike force to invade and bring down the Feline Empire. It's a full-on war effort—commanders, squads, scouts, supply routes, the whole deal."

Mark glanced at Lan Xia. She just arched an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed.

The disciple kept talking. "You don't even have to prove yourself if you're an Ascendant or higher. Direct enlistment. They're giving away Earth-grade divine weapons just for joining at the Ascendant or Transcendant level. If you're a First or Second-Stage Transcendant, you get a Sky-grade divine weapon, and if you're Third-Stage, you even get a Heaven-grade one."

Mark blinked. "They're giving away Heaven-grade weapons just like that?"

"Yep. You show your cultivation, you get your gear. Supply incentive to make sure the strong don't sit this one out." The disciple chuckled. "Heard some big shots already enlisted. Apparently, one guy from the Thunder Valley Sect showed up with a dragon corpse and asked if he could trade it for two. I apologize, I don't know what your levels are. Just that they are way stronger than mine."

Lan Xia sighed. "We don't need any of that."

The disciple tilted his head. "Oh? You already have Heaven-grade gear?"

Mark gave a faint smile and let his hand rest casually on the hilt of his anti-matter gun, which currently appeared as a sleek, dark pistol holstered at his side, bound to his soul. "Something like that."

"Well then," the disciple said, clearly a bit rattled now. "Still, it wouldn't hurt to talk to the command post. Even if you don't want weapons, you might demand other treasures. Everything can be arranged as long as you prove yourselves. And what's more, you can even join the sect as…"

"Where do we go to get tested?" Mark asked suddenly, cutting the disciple off mid-sentence.

The disciple blinked. "Huh? Aren't you both ascendants? You don't have to take a test."

"I don't have to," Mark said with a shrug. "But I'd like to take a look anyway. Might be fun."

Lan Xia raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. She could tell from the gleam in his eyes that his gears were turning.

The disciple nodded enthusiastically. "Sure, the testing arena is over that ridge—see the pillars with lightning carvings? That's where they check your combat power. You just have to damage the stone dummy."

"We'll take the trial," Mark said, turning away already.

Lan Xia gave him a sideways look as they walked. "You sure you want to bother with this?"

"I've got an idea," he replied. "We suppress our realms. No one asks questions. No one gets suspicious.

Lan Xia blinked. "Why?"

"No questions, if you are coming with me." Mark flatly said to her.

Lan Xia stared at him for a couple of seconds and nodded. "Alright."

They walked around the slope until the trial field came into view—a flat, circular stone platform nestled between cliffs, surrounded by floating viewing stands and training disciples. Around a dozen candidates were lined up, their auras flickering at varying intensities—some powerful, some just passable. But none of them had stepped into divine territory. They were all stuck somewhere between 7-circle and 9-circle.

"Perfect," Mark whispered. "Let's keep it low-key."

He tapped into his AI's interface, and a faint flicker passed through his body as he adjusted his spiritual output. Next to him, Lan Xia did the same, suppressing her cultivation. From the outside, the two of them now looked like peak Ninth-Circle cultivators, extraordinary in mortal realms or other elemental planes of existence in some kind of primitive worlds, but here, they are nothing but cannon fodder. Based on the ages and the elegant attire they wore, Mark and Lan Xia looked like they were some nobles who came here to experience the world.

A few onlookers looked up as they approached. Someone muttered, "Another pair of last-minute challengers."

A brawny cultivator in a dark blue robe scoffed as he cracked his knuckles. "Let me guess. Lovers who train together, die together?"

Mark gave him a disarming smile. "Only if you're offering to be the training dummy."

That got a few snickers from the crowd. The blue-robed man bristled but looked away, pretending not to care.

The test proctor, a sharp-eyed woman with silver-threaded armor and a command token on her waist, glanced at them. "Names?" Mark scanned her data and saw that she is a peak stage 12-circle.

"Lu Zhen," Mark said, and then pointed at Lan Xia with a straight face. "And this is Shang Xia." Lan Xia couldn't help but cast a sidelong glance at Mark. She didn't know that she was supposed to give false names. Perhaps it is because Mark wanted to keep the Lan Clan out of this matter. At the same time, Lan Xia also found the name Shang Xia to her liking.

Meanwhile, the proctor looked over a spirit jade that recorded their registration. "You're both Nascent Soul realm (peak-9-circle). Alright.

She pointed to the 9-circle man who was already walking onto the platform.

Mark leaned over and whispered to Lan Xia, "You go second. Let me go first and shake the room."

She smirked faintly. "Don't blow up the arena."

"I'll try not to."

Mark stepped forward just as the 9-circle man on stage finished a solid, if unimpressive, performance, slicing a stone dummy in half with a flashy wind blade and flexing for the crowd like he'd just defeated a sect elder.

"Next!" the proctor called.

Mark walked onto the platform with casual steps, spinning his gun once before clicking it into place in his grip. The moment he stepped onto the arena, murmurs started.

"What is that thing?"

"Is that an artifact?"

The proctor narrowed her eyes and muttered. "I can feel the connection of the soul. It's a soul weapon, but it looks quite odd in shape. Never seen such a weird soul weapon."

Meanwhile, Mark stood on the platform and raised the anti-matter gun and pointed it at the newly replaced stone dummy, which was stronger than the last. This one had a defensive spell, making it capable of taking damage from even a demigod's attack.

Without another word, he squeezed the trigger.

A soundless pulse cracked the air. There was no blinding flash, no energy surge, just a single shimmering dark bullet that struck the stone dummy.

*Boom*

A heavy explosion sounded at the impact, attracting the attention of everyone around.

As it was about to engulf the surroundings, the proctor raised her hand and conjured a barrier around the stone platform, controlling its radius.

Along with the stone dummy, except for the part where Mark was standing, the rest of the platform was gone in the explosion, and everything disintegrated into nothing.

The crowd went silent.

Even the brawny cultivator's smirk turned into a dumbfounded gape. "What the…"

The proctor blinked. "That's the power of a transcendant. Why are you here at the test site?"

Mark just smiled. "More like the power of my soul weapon." He raised the gun.

The proctor cleared her throat. "Uh… impressive. Very… unorthodox. You pass. I… uh, I'll report this to command."

Mark nodded and stepped down without fanfare, twirling the gun once and holstering it on his side. As he walked back, all eyes stayed glued to him.

Lan Xia shook her head, exasperated but a little amused. "You're a menace. Look at the mess you have made. And you say we should stay low-key and not want attention. Is this what you mean?"

Mark scratched his cheek in a bit of embarrassment. "I didn't take its explosion into account. I treated it as a human. Oops…"

Meanwhile, far away from them, a blonde haired girl, who look like a kid and had her hands in the hands of a woman in maid clothes, mumbled with a frown, her eyes have these glowing runes circling around. "That's Anti-magic. I thought it is a myth, but it looks reality. how stranger to meet the wielder in a place like this. I expected someone from a celestial race would have hold that power."