Chapter 327 Chapter 327 – Facing the Challengers
"We are telling you that we don't need to separate the fights."
"Separate the fights? This isn't a five-versus-five challenge," the disciple, Edmund, did not understand the situation yet.
"She means that we won't take you in turns, each one of us will take the two challenging them together. We want to make an example out of you for the rest of the challengers," Ken explained.
"An example? Do you think we are the same as your friends from the Phoenix Feather Sect?" A vein popped above the man's temple and his lips twitched in annoyance.
"Yes, I do," Ken shrugged. "Let's begin then, I will go first. The two who challenged me can enter the arena with me."
He tapped on the ground with his feet and jumped, letting himself slide to the ground gracefully. He did not wear his mask today, a good omen for his enemies. He usually avoided killing fellow sect members, understanding it would paint him in a negative light within the sect.
"Fine, we will check if your skills can keep up with your mouth," two women jumped to the stage, their green robes fluttering behind them. "But, Little Brother, since you are so confident, why not make a bet with us?"
"Can you offer me something that I want and lack?" He asked them. He was one of the richest people in the Nurturing Phase in the whole continent, interesting him with a bet was not an easy thing to achieve.
"I could offer you my body for the night," one of the women, Sheela, said with a finger on her lower lip. Her eyes scrutinized Ken from head to toe.
"If I wanted your body, I wouldn't need a bet for it. Cut to the chase and tell me what you have to offer," Ken rejected without a hint of a smile. He could already guess what they wanted in case they won; women in the sect wooed him almost as aggressively as men wooed Tiara.
Vivienne, however, managed to escape this fate. At first, she had plenty of admirers looking for a chance with her, but her approach was slightly different than her friends' constant refusals.
She smiled at her admirers and accepted their offers happily, using them as human labor and piggy banks. When those admirers saw how blatantly she took advantage of them, even dating a few of them one after the other, they started leaving one by one until nobody bothered her anymore, and she turned infamous in the sect.
"You are right, you don't need to win a bet to have it. Do you want it then?" The woman pushed harder.
"No."
"Are you really a man?" She squinted her eyes in suspicion, "Whatever, we do have something else that will catch your eye. Look what this is, I spent quite a lot of time and treasures to get it," she took out from her storage ring a huge carcass.
"A wolf?" Ken looked at it carefully before a spark of greed shone in his eyes. "A carcass of an eighth-rank Moonwolf, that's not bad. What do you want in return?"
"Oh? Little Brother, you have a good eye for merchandise. I hope you don't mind me calling you 'Little Brother', I'm a huge fan of yours," Sheela said smugly when she noticed a slight movement in his eyebrows every time she referred to him that way.
"So you want me if you win, but I must warn you, I don't think it would work between us, I dislike long-winded women. Your friend there has a better chance than you."
"Fine, we will do it your way then. Since you are aware that you are the prize, let's fight." She spat it out in anger as her teammate smiled happily. "Judge, start the fight."
"Ready? Fight!"
Ken did not move from his place. There were 50 meters between them, which was considered the minimal distance for cultivators in their stage. For them, that distance amounted to nothing; they could cross it in the blink of an eye.
"Fight!" The judge said again when he realized all the three of them just stood there.
"I…" Ella, the lady who did not speak the whole exchange between Ken and Sheela, stuttered and moved her hand to her neck. She rubbed her neck and looked at her palm, seeing it stained with a few drops of blood. "I surrender."
"Me- me too," Sheela joined.
The two hurriedly left the stage under the confused eyes of the crowd. Only the elders of the Supremacy Phase understood what happened. It was beyond the scope of the Nurturing Phase as they knew it.
"Winner, Ken Sue!"
Ken left the stage and Henry took his place, waiting for the next opponents. However, they did not jump on right away, they were too worried about what happened to their friends.
"Hey, hey, Ella, Sheela! Come here, what the hell happened? Why did you forfeit without a fight?" One of Henry's opponents ran to the girls and blocked their way, demanding an explanation.
"He is too strong. If his companions are that strong, you shouldn't try to challenge them," Ella said without explaining anything.
"What do you mean 'too strong'? Aren't we all in the top ten of the inner sect? Aren't we as strong as core disciples?!"
"No, look at that," Ella stretched her neck and showed him a shallow, thin cut on it. She already used her Qi to make it stop bleeding, and Ken did not inject his Sword Qi into it either.
"What is that?"
"I just felt a caress of a sword on my neck, and I saw myself from a bystander's point of view. My head was separated from my body, I was headless. Now that I think about it, maybe it wasn't a bystander's point of view, but from where my head was. I just knew that he could kill me if he wanted to."
Arthur looked at her, doubtful. "It's an illusion, how can you just surrender to it?" he said in disdain.
"It wasn't an illusion, it was reality. Whatever, go to your fight and see for yourself."
"Fine."
Arthur and his partner both jumped onto the stage and faced Henry. This time, nobody had the mood for useless talking. Henry rarely talked, and the two were too nervous to talk.
"Ready? Fight!"
Henry thrust his hand forward with his palm open and his fingers together. An ethereal golden hand was projected from his palm, huge enough to make dodging it impossible. The two men cleaved their weapons at the technique, working together to resist the pressure.
However, two explosions resounded and their techniques crumbled, only leaving small cracks in Henry's attack. The palm crashed into them like a train, and the two were sent at high speed into the arena's barrier. They both remained where they landed, unable to get up.
"Winner, Henry Karras!"
The judge announced the winner, and a team of healers hurriedly transported the losers away and gave them first aid. Henry did not kill them, but he did cause too many fractures in their bones.
"Is it my turn?" Vivienne asked.
"No, you joined last, so you go last. I will go now," Alaric teased her.
"Then I will go now since you joined fourth," Tiara smiled and hopped onto the ring, leaving Alaric to open and close his mouth in frustration as he tried to come up with a retort.
Two hairless men came forth to oppose her. At the beginning of the ordeal, those two believed to have the best chance at winning, yet now they weren't so confident anymore.
"You guys…" Tiara frowned, her face distorting in disgust, "You are mutilated, aren't you?"
"We knew it, your charm wouldn't work as well against us. We sacrificed those parts for the sake of power, and today, we will be your natural enemies." The two took their stances, clearly encouraged by Tiara's response.
Behind the arena, Ken, Alaric, and Vivienne turned their heads to Henry by instinct.
"Gossip is poisonous to the heart," the monk said in dissatisfaction, "Look for the inner you inside yourself, what others do does not matter."
"Ready? Fight!"
Tiara waved her hand and millions of tiny ice shards appeared around the arena, making a spectacular scene. Nearly everyone diverted their concentration from the fight in favor of the sight, hence, when they looked again, they had no idea what happened or why the two men had large ice spears stuck in their four limbs.
"Winner, Tiara Glacier!"
The icy princess left the stage after a swift victory, letting the healers take care of the injured. Unlike Ken, she also injected Ice Qi into their bodies with that attack.
"I guess it's my turn now," Alaric declared.
"Good luck, I hope you can play your music before they pluck the strings," Tiara bullied him.
"Hmph. Do you think I don't notice how you tap your foot against the floor with the rhythm every time I play?"
Alaric faced a man and a woman. Ken, who has read their information before, saw through their plan to counter Alaric. Ironically, it was exactly what Tiara said.
"One of them is a Wind Qi user while the other is a Mental Qi practitioner. I assume the latter will try to slow down Alaric while the former uses her speed to tackle him head-on and prevent him from playing his music," Ken analyzed the situation.
"This plan is as good as sending castrated men against me," Tiara shrugged. Despite her teases, she knew how strong Alaric was.
"Ready? Fight!"
Just like Ken predicted, techniques of illusions and mind penetrations assaulted Alaric within a second, and the Wind Qi user sprinted at an inconceivable speed. However, they were not fast enough to prevent Alaric from caressing the strings at least once.
*Ting* *Ting* *Ting*
The sound sent forth large waves of Qi that bombed the incoming mental attacks and kept the woman at bay. With another strum of the guqin, the two became too busy defending, and with every second the notes turned into a melody. The two only managed to resist for twenty seconds before failing to keep up.
"Winner, Alaric Sonora!"
Alaric left the stage and joined his friends, but he was visibly unhappy about how things turned out. The reason was that he knew Tiara's next words.
"Nearly half a minute for winning. Aren't you worried everyone will know you're the weakest link in our team?"
"Shut it, it's a very short time to overpower two top disciples," he snapped.
"She knows how strong you are, Alaric, your inheritance just isn't built for quick solo fights," Ken calmed him down. "Vivienne, it's you now," he jabbed at the absent-minded sloth.
"Oh, right," she came back to reality and entered the arena. The last two did not have a shred of confidence left after seeing the last four battles. None of them could be considered a battle; everything was too one-sided.
"Ready? Fight!"
Two explosions happened, and the two's very techniques burned into nothingness. The shockwaves sent them blasting into the wall, losing their consciousness right away.
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