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'I didn't expect to get such a surprise. That little fellow had really hidden well, huh? Playing a pig to eat a tiger...'
It took a while for Elder Rover's expression to return to normal and he look on at the supporters of the Blood Sword Faction amongst the elders with an indifferent look in his eyes.
At this moment, Elder Lin harumphed coldly.
"Hmph! I know you are wise, so I will advise you to not board the tiny boat that is trying to go against the mighty waves of the sea and rather join the great ship that rides along the waves instead."
Elder Lin said no more after that which resulted in making the atmosphere tense as everyone here could understand the underlying meaning in his words.
Elder Rover did not respond to the not-so-undisguised threat but rather gave a small smile instead.
He decided to wait and watch what his disciple, Thomas would call a face-slapping scene, occur.
Elder Lin thought that he was conceding, and was about to say something he received a transmission that caused his expression to be one of shock.
At the same time, the expressions of the other elders changed too, and even the less expressive one amongst them could not hide the change in his expression.
One even spoke out loud, "How is this possible?!"
Only Elder Rover appeared indifferent as though this had nothing to do with him, but within him, he felt refreshed.
"What is it? What caused experts like you with great self-control to reveal such shocked expressions?" Elder Rover raised an eyebrow at them.
Elder Lin frowned at that question but choose not to respond.
"Hehehe, I believe we all know what this means?" One elder who was supporting Arthur spoke up at this time.
The supporters of the Blood Sword Faction were shocked about the turn of events.
Meanwhile, Elder stealthily sent a transmission to the Vice Sect Leader.
`````
*Bang!*
An innocent table got turned to dust with the angry tap of a finger.
The Vice Sect Leader was not happy at all. He had been scheming for the time long ago and now that his plans are about to bear fruit a stumbling block entered his originally smooth path to success.
"Crixus, do not disappoint me..."
`````
A few minutes earlier...
Arthur was led to an arena by Kira and the others and when he got there the place was already filled with excited spectators.
But his expression changed slightly the instant he got close to the arena because, with his extended soul power, he heard the comments of a lot of people.
"So who is challenging Gregor this time?" Someone asked among the core disciples present.
"I don't know, but I heard the person is not yet a Core Disciple."
"Really? Then it must be an inner court disciple that just advanced and still has not yet been exposed to the true strength of the Core Disciples."
"Agreed."
"I just can't think of which idiot would be dumb enough to challenge someone in the top ten amongst Core Disciples."
"Well, I heard a rumor..." Someone whispered, but even though his voice was low, it was captured by Arthur's Soul Power.
"I heard it was a male disciple who is enamored by Kira's beauty and wants to challenge Gregor so he can defeat him and prove he is not worthy of her."
"Hmm, I think I heard something like that too. Gregor has been courting after Kira but all his efforts were in vain."
"I heard it was Kira that proposed the match herself. She said if he can defeat the person whom she will bring then she will give him a chance. Gregor immediately went wild with joy and asked which Core Disciple he will be fighting to which Kira smiled and said that the one who will battle him had not yet been promoted to become a Core Disciple."
"Gregor immediately became displeased and announced that he will cripple that arrogant disciple in just ten moves!"
"Wow! That means this match is going to be very interesting. But wait a minute, isn't he afraid of being punished?"
The Heavenly Sword Sect does not permit their disciples to battle outside the arena. And no one is allowed to cripple or kill a fellow disciple outside the life and death arena.
The life and death arena is the arena where disciples who have an enmity where no one will rest until the other dies will go to.
Upon the life and death arena, only one will leave alive unless the winner is magnanimous and spares the other's life.
"Punishment? Don't you know who his elder brother is?" One of them sneered.
The one who asked the previous question immediately came to a realization.
"That's true, and besides that, he is a core member of the Blood Sword faction with immense influence in the sect. So much so that I heard even the decisions of some elders are manipulated to be in their favor."
"Shhh! Don't say such things out loud," the other berated.
Arthur stopped paying attention to their discussion and his expression became indifferent, but inside he was smiling coldly.
'Hehe, I knew things will be more lively here. The Outer Court was a bit boring.'
At this time they arrived at the entrance of the building when Kira who was in front stopped and said;
"Be careful..."
After that, she turned and walked in a direction that was close to the fighting ring along with Maria and the others.
As for Arthur, he knew what he had to do and he began to walk toward the ring.
At this time the noisy arena immediately became silent and over a thousand gazes landed on him with scrutiny.
If it were anyone else in his place who would be sweating with nervousness but Arthur's eyes had no ripples and he treated those gazes like air.
His gaze was focused on just one person.
It was a brown-haired young man who stood on the three-hundred-meter fighting ring with his arms folded.
He wore the robe of a core disciple and was looking down arrogantly at Arthur with a sinister smile on his face.
But when Arthur got closer and climbed the ring, that sinister smile turned into a pleased and mocking smile.
'An outer court disciple? Is Kira messing with me or does she really like me just as my elder brother suggests?' Gregor wondered.
He can't any other reason as to why he would be matched against a weak outer court disciple.
Gregor was not good with hiding his thoughts as Arthur could get what he was thinking with just the expression on his face.
Once Arthur stepped on the stage, everyone got a good look at him.
And then there was silence for a few seconds before mocking comments began to fly around and some began shouting at Arthur to not overestimate himself.
A few maidens even looked at him with pity, seeing him as just a young man who is stricken with love.
Arthur took all this in as though he was watching a show until a voice rang out that quieted the crowd.
"Silence!"
With only a few people noticing, an elder appeared on the stage and looked at Arthur with a certain intelligent glint in his eyes.
"So the Invincible of the Outer Court has arrived here to battle. Should I take this as you attempting to advance to become a Corr Disciple?" The elder said with an amicable tone.
"Hng." Arthur nodded.
The elder smiled and asked, "Are you sure about this?"
The reason he was asking was that he was one of those who look favorably upon Arthur.
He also believes Arthur might be acting on impulse to prove himself because of a girl. And although the origins of that girl are not simple, it is but a foolish thing to do in the elder's eyes.
But although he concealed his thoughts well, they could not escape Arthur's emotion-sensing abilities.
Arthur was about to reply when he was interrupted.
"Is there any need for this, he is already here and as a man, he should not let a beautiful maiden look down on him," Gregor said what was meant to be provocative words if only the rumors were true.
Arthur ignored him and so did the Elder, who saw the confident look in his eyes and understood that Arthur was not going to back down.
"Okay, just know where to stop in the battle. Remember, this is just an exchange of pointers and not a life-and-death battle," said the elder.
These words were directed at Gregor who only smiled mockingly and said, "Let's just start."
"Alright, you may begin!"
The elder disappeared from the stage after announcing the start of the battle and cheers erupted from the crowd with many of them shouting out for Arthur's defeat.
"So you are the arrogant boy that gave himself an even more arrogant name. The crowd here shouts for you to be put in your place, who do you have to say?"
Gregor still had his arms in front of him and began to release an overbearing aura from his body by stirring up his essence energy.
As he did that, his hair which fell at the sides of his face all stood on end, making Arthur reveal a look of surprise.
'Is that you?... The prideful prince?'
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------------End of Chapter------------
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Author: "Low on motivation...need power stones and gifts to revive my writing spirit..."
"...stay tuned... I am not giving this up!"
New novel chapt𝒆rs are published on free(w)ebnovel(.)com