Chapter 632: Kei
Meanwhile, Lana watched him leave before taking a deep breath of relief.
’I was almost finished today. My cover was nearly blown.’
She silently wondered whether Lucian would receive an earful from Axel.
Judging from the look on Axel’s face, she suspected that he certainly would.
Sure enough, later that day, when Lana was preparing to leave, she spotted Lucian standing nearby.
There was a slight bump on his forehead.
The moment Lana noticed it, her eyes widened before she slowly turned toward Axel and glared at him.
Axel, however, maintained an innocent and completely composed expression, as though he had nothing to do with Lucian’s injury.
Lana narrowed her eyes.
However, they did not dwell on it for long. Soon, Lana departed for the International Mystery Competition.
When she arrived at the airport, she was surprised to see almost all of her friends waiting for her. Betty, Layla, Quinn, and Richard were there, along with Naina, who was looking at her with a deeply emotional gaze.
Even Monica had come to see her off, accompanied by Luke and many of the other people Lana had helped over the months, including Jenny, James, and Sean.
When Lana saw the crowd gathered around her, she sighed helplessly. "Was it really necessary to create such a huge fanfare?"
Luke immediately walked up to her with a serious expression. "Sister, wait for us. We will definitely come to cheer you on."
Hearing those words, Lana smiled and was about to respond, but Luciam quickly stepped between them and deliberately created some distance between Luke and Lana.
When Lana noticed this, she pouted and looked at Lucy. Luciam sighed helplessly. "You should maintain a little distance."
Lana pointed toward Luke. "He is just a little child."
Lucian shook his head and glanced at Luke. The look in the boy’s eyes was far deeper than it should have been. It was becoming increasingly obvious that his intentions toward Lana were not entirely innocent.
’This boy really is becoming troublesome.’
With that thought, Lucian looked at Lana and said, "It is time for us to leave."
Hearing that, Lana sighed. "All right. I suppose I should leave now."
She waved toward everyone gathered at the airport. "I will definitely bring the trophy back."
After saying those words, she turned around and boarded the plane. Betty watched her disappear through the boarding gate before sighing softly.
"It has been such a long time. When Lana first arrived, she was only at the Yellow Stage of Mystic Cultivation. Now, she has even reached the Celestial Rank."
A faint smile appeared on Betty’s face. "Honestly, she deserves to be where she is now. She has put in far too much dedication and effort for anyone to say otherwise."
Hearing those words, everyone else nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Axel was travelling alongside Lana.
He noticed that she was carrying a small box and repeatedly glancing at him with a mysterious expression. After watching her for a while, Axel finally sighed.
"What are you doing now?"
Lana shook her head innocently. "Nothing. I am just planning a little surprise."
She paused before looking at him curiously. "Uncle, why don’t you tell me about your days in the Mystic Cultivation Competition? I heard that you even won a prize."
Hearing that, Axel closed his eyes and leaned back against his seat. "It was nothing amazing."
Lana frowned. "Uncle, if you do not tell me, I am seriously going to be furious with you."
She pouted and wrapped her arms around herself. Axel looked at her current appearance and sighed. He felt that she was far too cute to ignore, and eventually, he surrendered.
He turned toward the window and watched the clouds drifting beneath the plane. "Honestly, I was a little too rebellious back then."
As he remembered his defeat, Axel felt a faint sting of humiliation even after all these years. He sighed. "At that time, I was so arrogant that I actually declared on the stage that I would win first place."
Lana’s eyes immediately brightened. "So, did you?"
Axel lowered his gaze. "You could say that I won, but at the same time, you could also say that I lost."
Lana tilted her head. "Was it because of your girlfriend?"
Axel shook his head.
"No, it was not because of that. At that time, I had entered the final round, but before I could even properly begin dealing with all the dangerous challenges, one of the contestants, a man named Kei, went ahead and cleared almost the entire course."
Axel’s expression became complicated.
"He was practically invincible. If he had not run out of stamina and fainted before he could submit his final results, I would never have become the winner, because he had actually earned the most points."
Lana nodded thoughtfully. "Then what happened?"
Axel looked outside the window again. "I won, but I felt like a half-winner. The real winner was Kei."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"Even after he saw me standing at the top of the rankings, he simply smiled, clapped his hands, and said, ’Be happy with the first rank that I have given you out of charity.’"
Lana clenched her fists. "He was so arrogant."
Axel chuckled. "Well, he had the capital to act that way. His cultivation was much stronger than mine, so I could not surpass him."
Lana nodded silently.
Axel continued, "He challenged me after that, but I did not participate the following year. I was busy trying to find my girlfriend, and by the time everything was settled, I had already missed the competition."
Lana understood immediately. "All right, I understand."
Axel turned his gaze toward the clouds outside the window.
"Even so, I truly wanted to have a duel with him again. I wanted to prove that I was not as useless as he thought I was."
His voice became slightly heavier. "In fact, I wanted to tell him that I was not the one who had sabotaged him."