The first two moves of both competitors were impressive, but Lee’s only thought was that everything the two did was apply diligently practiced and developed basics.
Without a doubt the moves were cool, but Lee knew that behind Li Hanchen’s attack was a directed flow of large amounts of his elental energy that affected opponents movent. The elental particles were expertly controlled, and as result the opponent was not only physically impeded, he also felt pain.
In return, to counter Li Hanchen’s frost attack, the opponent spread the fire elent from within not only through his body, but around it, like an aura. The defensive move turned out to be more flashier because of the innate characteristics of fire, but it was clear both used incredible amount of elental power.
It was all basics, though.
The clever na Ice Shackles referred to the slowing effect Li Hanchen’s elental energy had, but technically that was all to it. Of course, it was far beyond what Lee was capable of, but he didn’t try to compare himself with the two young experts.
His pleasant surprise ca from the fact that he recognized the technicalities of the process.
All of the sudden a realization struck Lee. He finally understood what Jian Wuji was doing during the last year’s competition. He was the outer disciple who was holding back from igniting the spark and advancing to elental master.
It finally made sense!
Jian Wuji was making sure he perfected all the basics he deed necessary, so that he never had to go back, and could build his future developnt on a flawless foundation.
No wonder he was considered a genius – any kid that had the mindset of a grownup would be thought to be such. And it didn’t matter whether he ca up with the idea himself or soone taught him that.
Unfortunately, even though Lee understood all of it, this was the limit of his abilities. The ongoing fight in the arena beca increasingly faster with every passing mont.
It didn’t take long for Lee to realize he was not much better than any other outer disciple who only saw bright flashes and the actual skills of duelists were recognized only by present elental masters and lords.
He wasn’t upset, though. His personal improvent, even if it was a slightly deeper comprehension and few revelations, ca as a pleasant surprise.
Li Hanchen won, but he was thrown out of the arena during the next stage by the sa wind cultivator who defeated Chi Yanzhen. In fact, after his loss, the whole competition beca a farce.
Neither Chi Yanzhen’s nor Li Hanchen’s losses were accidental, and only a blind person couldn’t recognize the disparity between the strength of the person who defeated them and the rest of the competitors. Every match ended the sa way – the loser getting blown off the stage in one move.
From what Lee guessed, most of the following participants didn’t even try to fight the guy. They braced for the impact and received the attack head on, losing without caring about the outco. Most spectators thought it was unfair, and audience was filled with discussions about why elders allowed such injustice to happen.
Even before Elder Wang congratulated the winner, Lee guessed the reason. It was the display of power. Soone was trying to make an impression, a strong one and one that was out of place.
The confusing part was that the guy was from the Sect Affairs Hall – basically the paper-pushers of the sect. It was the first ti in many years when soone other than the representative of the Hall of Justice won, and if anyone, it was expected for the disciples from the Hall of Ascension to have a chance.
"Congratulations!" Elder Wang appeared in the arena when the final match ended the similar fashion to the others – in an instant, "It was a great display how soone has worked hard and could dominate everyone else after being half step from becoming an elental lord!"
Not only loud murmurs followed, many disciples even began to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. Lee had to admit – no matter how pleasant Elder Wang seed to be, his words ridiculed the winner despite sounding like a praise.
But Lee was confused.
"How can one be a half step from fusing their consciousness with a spark?" Lee whispered his thoughts.
"They’re not." Xiao Lian replied, also whispering, "But even if you’re technically half way sowhere, you’re miles ahead of anyone who’s still at the start of the road. Our seniors who competed, even though they’re middle stage elental masters, they have a long way to go. In comparison, the winner has already began to comprehend the elental laws."
"Did you notice Elder Wang not ntioning the guy’s na or the fact that he ca from the Sect Affairs Hall?" Lee asked.
"Mhm." Xiao Lian nodded, "Sothing weird is going on. But I don’t understand why the other halls didn’t put their strongest guys against this dude."
"You think in the right direction." Lee said, "Every hall has a disciple who’s in closed door training on the top floors of the Ascension Tower, but they have no ti for this bullshit."
"Politics?" Xiao Lian asked, and seeing Lee nod, said, "Father warned to be careful. But I thought he spoke of the Mission Hall. Do you think the Sect Affairs Hall is also behind to what happened to you know whom?"
"Let’s not speak about it here." Lee said, throwing an alard look around, "No. Let’s not speak about it at all!"
While many spectators were booing and ridiculing the winner, there were so loud supporters as well. Disciples from the Sect Affairs Hall were thrilled by one of theirs getting the first place, but the glory was short lived.
"The Midsumr Festival is the most popular day of the year, and today we all have gathered here for a reason!" Elder Wang spoke, completely ignoring the winner of the competition standing next to him.
The guy did his best to continue to wave to the spectators and smile, but it was hard to hide how forced it was. But it turned out to be the least of his worries.
The guy knew why he was here and what his task was, but Elder Wang’s next words basically forced everyone to forget he existed.
"The day after tomorrow, all our outer sect’s disciples will depart on a special training. All from the youngest generation, of course!" Elder Wang said, "It will be a survival training mission that will last six months!"
To say that the crowd exploded in cheers, was to not say anything at all. There were people who had heard of similar events, but those were only tales from their seniors.
And while a half a year long training was an adventure in itself, it usually was an incredible opportunity to gain contribution points, and what was even more important – hang out with fellow disciples of the opposite sex. Six months was really a long ti and the perfect chance to start a romantic relationship.
Elder Wang was focused on the first aspect, though.
He said, "I’ll bring you to Thiraxis world, to Serrakar Plateau, to be more precise. It’s the second largest continent in Thiraxis and is inhabited solely by savage raptor species. We call them dreadtalons. They are cannibalistic creatures that live in packs ..."
While the elder shared the thrilling information on the hell-hole the youths were about to be thrown in, Lee was mostly curious about the fact that he accentuated that he’ll be the one that will bring everyone there.
Back in Ashland Lee witnessed how little effort it took for Elder Wang to open the rift and now the man openly hinted at his own incredible powers in front of everyone. It was obvious that people were playing political gas, but Lee’s problem was that he didn’t know who the parties were. And he hated to be in the dark.
Unfortunately, no matter how he wrecked his brains, Lee always ca to the sa conclusion. In the grand sche of things, he was rely a pawn.
Undoubtedly it was because of his own weakness, but knowing it didn’t make him feel better.
Nevertheless, Lee was excited about the upcoming event.
He couldn’t decide whether he wanted to continue to copy techniques in the library more, or for a while enjoy the air of freedom. And maybe hunt at the sa ti.
Elder Wang ntioned that all the dreadtalons who had ignited their sparks have been hunted by the senior disciples during their previous training, but clearly it didn’t an that a half year long survival training was going to be a walk in the park.
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