- Heavens forest sect - Crow dinasty
In a small arena of the outer court, two men were about to fight. One, a foundation realm cultivator, the other a Qi gathering cultivator. Both of them were standing at the opposite ends of the arena, while a crowd made of both inner and outer disciples looked at them.
Even if the disciples were mixed in the same crowd, an onlooker could recognize them just by looking at their emotions. Outer disciples wore somber faces, while silently rooting for the Qi gathering fighter. To them, it wasn't just a fight for a promotion to inner disciple. In the Qi gathering cultivator, they saw themselves; common men and women with no backing who had joined the sect in the hope of becoming stronger and making a name for themselves.
The inner disciples, however, watched with only mild interest. The outcome was already clear; the foundation cultivator was not only a realm stronger, but also the nephew of an elder. For them, the duel was little more than a formality; its only purpose was to measure the strength of their future rival within the inner court.
The elder in charge of the event, looked at them from his balcony, indifference clearly written in his eyes. As a referee it was his job to ensure that no external force or individual interfed with the event. He announce the fight, his Qi enhanced voice loudly booming in the arena.
"The finals for the outer court competition will start now!"
As he said this he wawed a staff made of branches. A barrier covered the arena, ensuring the safety of all onlooker.
The foundation realm cultivator spoke, his words filled with arrogance and hate.
"Haotian, surrender! You can't win! A trash like you will never enter the inner courtyard!"
Haotian, however, didn't respond to this provocation. He simply stood still, his hands tucked behind his back, like elders usually did when giving lectures.
"Tsk. Whatever, let's see if you can keep your calm after losing!"
The Foundation Realm cultivator gathered his Qi and launched a fist at Haotian. The fist was extremely fast and was surrounded by a brown layer of Qi. A commonly used technique in the Crow dynasty, called "Mountain fist."
When the fist was about to hit his target, Haotian moved out of the way; disappearing for a second before reappearing a few meters away, his movements abnormally fast for a Qi gathering cultivator.
The attack slammed into the ground, cracking it, sending a small dust cloud into the air.
A mocking smile bloomed on Haotian's face.
"Surrender, little Su, you will never hit me. You should just give me back what's mine while I'm still in a good mood."
Su responded instantly, his voice filled with even more rage. Nobody had dared call him 'Little Su' in years.
"You bastard!" The cloud suddenly dispersed. "I will kill you!"
Another fist came towards Haotian. This time, however, the faint spectre of a mountain could be seen behind Su's muscular body.
Haotian dodged again, this time faster than before, his legs leaving faint trails of electricity in his wake.
The strike hit the ground again, this time raising a dust cloud bigger than before.
Haotian spoke again. He still used a mocking tone; however, a hint of annoyance could be heard in it.
"I have to admit, reaching the second stage of the mountain fist is good, but you are too slow, you should focus more on the footwork," he paused for a second, "Give it back or I will get ser—"
Su cut him off. He couldn't respect someone that couldn't even face him on; besides, he didn't even know what Haotian wanted from him.
"Shut up, you can only dodge."
A green aura started surrounding him, slowly converging in the form of a boar. As the phantom formed, Su's body became taller and more muscular. The smell of wet earth and rotten wood filled the arena.
Haotian put on a fake surprise expression.
"Oh, an Earth boar bloodline? Don't tell me you actually think you earned Foundation Realm on your own. Everyone knows you reached Foundation Realm because of your grandfather. You are just a spoiled kid."
He purposefully emphasized the last part.
"Haotian!"
Su screamed while charging Haotian at full speed. Every step he took slightly cracked the stone ground, while the green boar phantom followed and imitated his every move.
This time Haotian didn't dodge; instead, he extracted his sword.
The crowd that surrounded them looked shocked. Was Haotian really confronting Su in a contest of pure strength? Some of the elders that were looking at the fight shook their heads in disappointment. Su had lost control. If Haotian continued dodging, he could have won by tiring Su out. But confronting him openly was a lost cause. Su was one major realm above Haotian while also having a special bloodline. There was no way Haotian could match his brute strength.
When Su's fist and Haotian's sword connected, the floor surrounding them cracked even more, raising a huge dust cloud that prevented the spectators from looking at them.
"No! Haotian!"
A female inner disciple screamed while trying to reach the arena. She didn't make it far before being stopped by the referee. Her cries and pleas were met only by the cold and unyielding gaze of her superior.
However, as the dust cloud cleared, the scene that unfolded left everyone speechless. Not only was Haotian still alive and well, but he seemed to have an advantage in strength over Su. In fact, while Su was bent forward, pushing with all of his strength against his enemy's sword, Haotian had his back straight, only using one hand to resist Su's strike.
"Well, you wanted to kill me?"
Su looked on in terror as Haotian easily moved his sword, completely deflecting his strike out of the way, leaving Su exposed. To Su, Haotian's calm and mocking smile seemed that of a demon ready to kill him at any moment.
"No, you can't, I'm —"
His words, however, got stuck in his throat, as Haotian smoothly cut his arm off.
"Ahhhhhhhhh"
Su's scream of pain filled the arena. Both outer and inner disciples looked on in fear. Most of them had never seen brutalities like this one.
Haotian spoke, his voice overpowering Su's screams.
"Give me the item that you stole from me, and I will spare your life."
Haotian's words carried no emotion, and his previous smile was now replaced with an uncaring expression as if he was looking at an ant.
Su looked at him in panic and confusion.
"What item? I didn't take anything from you!"
Haotian didn't care about Su's confusion and directly moved his sword, leaving a deep cut on his left leg.
"You deny it! Give me back the Thunder crystal!"
The crowd looked at them in surprise. What they previously thought was a standard duel to advance to the inner court now took on a different meaning. The Thunder crystal was an extremely precious item; it was no wonder Haotian was this fierce.
Su, however, seemed to disagree with Haotian's statement.
"I didn't take any—"
His words were cut short by Haotian's sword, which cut at his left leg again.
"Ahhhhh," Su tried to move away, but his movements were quickly stopped by Haotian's kick. He paused for a second before screaming at the top of his lungs:
"Haotian, do you dare to kill me? My grandfather will definitely get revenge!"
Haotian didn't respond with words but with actions as his weapon came down towards Su's head.
In that moment of desperation, Su looked at the balcony that the sect elder used to spectate the arena. He tried to look into his grandfather's eyes, silently begging him to intervene and save him. However, what he saw was only indifference; his grandfather wouldn't save him. He hurriedly screamed:
"Ok, I will!" He took out a light blue rock from his space ring. "Take it."
The sword stopped just before cutting his head. Haotian took the rock from the ground and looked at it. The azure rock had a perfectly cubical shape, and if one looked closely, they could see some faint trails of lightning coursing through it.
Haotian smiled, this was a real Thunder crystal. He put away his sword.
"Good. You can go away."
Su didn't make him say it twice and left the arena, leaving a red trail on the ground. A voice coming from the elder balcony finally announced:
"Haotian won the outer sect tournament. He will be promoted to inner disciple and be granted a foundation realm pill."
Haotian elegantly bowed towards the balcony while the outer disciples' crowd erupted into cheers. His indifferent and cold demonaur was completely gone, replaced by the elegant and polite manner that a gentleman should have.
Voss was fighting against another cultivator, his movements precise, his attacks relentless. His opponent took a few steps back. Voss used this occasion to throw a quick glance at the battlefield before launching himself into another series of attacks.
As he attacked, he used part of his mind to analyze the position of his team.
They are too divided, it's about to devolve into a series of duels. I need to end this fast.
He dodged a throwing knife before deflecting an incoming attack with his spear. He used this moment to close the distance and kick his enemy in the stomach. As his opponent was pushed backward, Voss extended himself into a lunge.
However, his opponent had predicted his move and moved to the side while launching four knives made of Qi at him. Voss didn't hesitate and used his spear to parry three of them while blocking the remaining one with a small shield made of Qi.
His face darkened.
This is going to be tricky.
He threw another look at the battlefield surrounding them. Yun Qiang's and Lee's fights had already devolved into duels, while the others were starting to break formation, following in their footsteps. Voss gritted his teeth.
I should have already ended it.
He screamed out an order.
"Maintain formation! Gank up on the isolated targets!"
He didn't like giving out orders like this since it could easily help the enemies, but he had to do it; his opponent focused on evasive maneuvers while attacking from a distance. He clearly wanted to drag this fight out and win by fatiguing him.
He took a long breath while planning his next attack. He couldn't allow himself to attack hastily and waste energy. He was about to launch a side swing when a small movement behind his enemy caught his eye. He smiled. Reinforcements had arrived.
Voss faked a side swing while paying attention to his reinforcements. He didn't recognize the soldiers, but he knew their leader. It was Lian; they had fought together for a while before Lian broke through and was promoted to team leader.
Lian formed an X with his hands, and Voss instantly understood. He retreated a few steps before faking a small lunge. His opponent didn't take the bait and quickly stepped back while creating Qi knives. Voss grinned and followed up with a side swing. His enemy was about to dodge when Lian appeared from behind, attacking with a strike moving in the opposite direction of Voss's swing. The enemy leader's pupils shrank in surprise as the two swings met at the center, forming an X and cutting his body into two clean halves.
When the enemy leader fell, Lian's soldiers emerged from the forest. Their movements were swift and precise. They charged the enemy soldiers from behind. Soon the entire battlefield became a slaughter fest of last stands and fleeing cultivators. However, it didn't matter if the enemies fought on, they couldn't resist the might of the combined attack of two teams. All of them died.
As Voss watched the enemy's last struggle, Bian picked up the enemy space ring. He paused briefly before letting out a low whistle.
"Anything good?" While asking, Voss didn't stop looking at his team. Their risk of dying was almost zero, but he was still ready to intervene if something unexpected happened.
"Yes, one golden core pill, and a few technique manuals."
"What!?" Voss's voice was filled with shock.
Bian explained further without hiding the excitement in his voice.
"Yes, to be precise, there are three manuals: 'Shadow Step,' 'Sacred Knife,' 'Dark Soul Cultivation.'"
Voss cut to the chase and directly asked the most important question.
"How do we divide this?"
The duo fell into silence. The loot was definitely one of the biggest they had found in their careers, but how to divide it equally in two was a complex problem. The golden core pill had a clear value to both of them since they could both use it to speed up their advancement to the golden core realm, while the techniques held a completely subjective value, since they held no value if they didn't fit the user's fighting style.
"Ah," the last enemy scream reached them. Their teams started grouping up to rest and heal any injuries they received.
Bian was the first to break the silence.
"What route will you take?"
"The bridge road, we are going back under the array."
Voss didn't hide this information, he knew Bian very well, he wouldn't try to set up an ambush to steal the loot.
"I'm taking the same road, we can continue together and decide during our patrol."
Voss swiftly agreed, he didn't really care about the extra time to think about the loot, but the protection that his soldiers would receive by traveling with another team wasn't something he could pass on easily.
Voss started walking toward the two teams; most of the members had already finished tending their injuries and were now resting or meditating.
"Bian, come, let's rest a bit before departing."
"Yes, I can't wait to be back at the Shard," Bian replied cheerfully, his eyes unconsciously drifting toward the direction of the Shard.
Voss shook his head, Bian was already daydreaming about the loot they had found. He reminded him.
"Don't lower your guard, we are still in danger."
Even if his tone was reprimanding, he was extremely relieved to have Bian with him. With their teams patrolling together, there would definitely be fewer casualties.
He looked at his inexperienced team.
Maybe they will learn a thing or two from Bian's team...
Yun Qiang was sitting on a small stone in a grassy plain. He looked at the soldiers that had helped them end the fight. He inwardly sighed.
I have a long way to go...
During the last fight, he had only received some small scratches, but he had only managed to get some superficial hits on his opponent before help had arrived, swiftly turning the fight into a one-sided victory.
He wanted to feel bad about winning this way, but he couldn't. The border was like this. An unfair place where people struggled to survive. It didn't matter if you were the strongest or smartest soldier, if you found yourself in a two versus one you could only bite the bullet and do your best to get out of there alive.
He closed his eyes and started meditating. After the small mental breakdown from the day before, he had come to three conclusions.
First, he couldn't survive if he continued to rely only on instinct when fighting. Today's fight had proven this point: some of the enemies had lost control just like him before and had tried to fight till the end, trying their best to survive, while the ones that had remained clear-headed ran away with various degrees of success.
The second conclusion he had reached was a simple one: he needed to get stronger, and fast. If this patrol was anything to go by, he could expect at least one fight per day. Since at his current level it was impossible to win without receiving any injuries, it meant becoming weaker and weaker as the patrol went on. If today they hadn't received another team's help, they would have won while receiving lots of casualties and injuries; that would make a hypothetical fourth day at the border a death sentence.
The last conclusion he had reached was even more simple than the second one and could be summarized into one phrase.
I don't want to stay in the border guard.
Yun Qiang had already decided that after his three years of forced service ended, he would leave the guard and start a new life. Maybe he would travel the continent as a wandering cultivator in search of opportunities, or perhaps he would simply return to his home village to cultivate in peace. He hadn't yet chosen between the two, but one thing was certain: he would never return to the Skyward Sect.
At first, he had almost forgiven them for forcing him into the guard. It seemed like a chance to train and get some resources for his cultivation. But this patrol had stripped all of the illusion away. What Wuji and the sect had given him wasn't mercy but a cruel and drawn-out death sentence.
But I will survive, you will see...
He looked at Voss and the other captain, who were amicably talking, before resuming his meditation.
As soon as he entered a meditative state, he was greeted by the familiar golden circles that indicated a cultivator's progress. It was the first time he had meditated since Voss told him he was about to pass a minor stage.
If Voss is correct, there should be another circle around here...
He slowly analyzed every inch of his meditation space, until he finally found a semi-transparent circle that silently rotated close to the others.
I guess Voss was right. I'm about to progress by a minor stage.
Even if the circle was semi-transparent, it was already complete and Yun Qiang could see that its rotation speed was the same as the others. This meant that the circle only had to fully materialize and join the others to count as a full minor stage.
It should be a minor stage in the Body element.
Yun Qiang ordered his mind to move closer to the circle. He didn't know how it worked, but here movement was as simple as thinking about a direction.
He proudly stared at the circle for a while. This would be his third circle. Once complete, he would step into Qi Gathering, third stage. He let out a sigh that strangely echoed in the void.
Already halfway to the Foundation Realm.
He moved his eyes away from it. He couldn't stare at it forever; he had to focus his mind on channeling his cultivation technique.
However, just as he was about to resume his cultivation, a small movement caught his eyes.
It was almost imperceptible, but in this space there were only his circles moving; anything unusual would stand out immediately. As he got closer to the source of the anomaly, shock hit Yun Qiang.
A fourth circle?!
Indeed, it was another circle. It was semi-transparent, but unlike the others, it didn't shine brightly, making it nearly invisible against the brilliance of the nearby rings.
Yun Qiang was surprised by this, but he quickly calmed down and started thinking about the fourth circle's nature.
I have one Qi circle and two Body circles, so my fourth one can't be of the Body element.
Since that was the case, it had to be related to either the Qi or Soul element.
But both of them don't make sense. I have the worst quality spiritual root; even with my improved cultivation method, I can't reach the second Qi stage this fast.
But Soul element makes even less sense. I have never trained my soul....
Yun Qiang spent some time thinking about it before giving up and continuing his meditation. The fourth circle was still transparent, and he decided that once he reached the third stage, he would ask Voss about it and go from there.
Sun's call interrupted his meditation.
"Qiang, it's time to go. You can meditate later."
Yun Qiang got up with a satisfied grin on his face. Sun was about to ask him if anything had happened, but Yun Qiang cut him off, moving toward the line of soldiers.
"Let's go. We are almost out of the border."
His voice sounded cheerful; this cultivation session had left him in a good mood. He was making progress. He was moving forward.