The battle quickly devolved into a flurry of blade techniques, with each pair well spread out so that they didn't have to risk "accidental" attacks from their allies or getting pulled into a larger four-person fight.
Their actual skills were mediocre at best, and everyone could see that the Elders from both sides were visibly embarrassed by the display, even through the open hostility that they were showing each other.
The match ended with two combatants from the same side remaining, and it was clear that they would much rather keep fighting with each other than accept the victory as a team, but the referee was not having any of that, already annoyed by their lack of professionalism.
"Enough. The Shard Rune Sect wins the fight. You can kill each other on your own time. Now get out of my ring." The announcer declared, bringing laughter to the stadium.
The next match was the ladies of the Lotus Blossom Sect against the ladies of the Strangling Vine Sect, an assassin sect that seemed to have a rather well-known reputation for brutality.
"Good luck, ladies. We have faith in you. Remember that the first strike is the most important for assassins, and I think you will do fine." Cain encouraged them.
"He is right. You have trained for this. Now, go make us all proud." Elder Ling told her team.
"You aren't on the main team? You seem to be both powerful and experienced." One of the Elders seated near them asked.
Elder Ling glared at Cain and the Elder from the Shadowed Blade Sect as they both pretended that they weren't laughing at her.
"This is Elder Ling of the Lotus Blossom Sect. Don't let the face fool you. She's a well-respected instructor and coach of their combat teams with Immortal Realm Cultivation." Tena offered when she noticed that everyone else was trying not to laugh and that Elder Ling's own Sect was not around to clarify for her.
"My apologies, Elder. Your appearance deceived me." The other woman stammered, embarrassed at having mistaken her counterpart for a young disciple.
"I told her already that playing the innocent young maiden would be much more entertaining, but she insists that her dignity as an Immortal doesn't allow it," Cain told the woman with a wink, breaking the tension in the air and turning Elder Ling's annoyance toward himself.
"Stop speaking nonsense and watch the match." Elder Ling told him, then began pointedly ignoring him.
"Is it really possible to reach immortality that young?" The other Elder asked Tena in a whisper that most cultivators would not be able to hear.
"Her appearance was returned to her youth through a Secret Technique wielded by Sect Master Cain, and he is enjoying it far more than she is," Tena whispered back, giving the Elder a look that said it was better not to mention it anymore.
The other Elder was giving Cain a look that said that she wasn't going to just forget about this news since she hadn't reached Immortality until her body was past middle age. Until that point, the body of a Cultivator still aged, though at a slower rate as their power increased.
The looks that Cain was getting from the women that had heard Tena's explanation promised that he was going to have a very busy day, and their greedy stares made Elder Ling feel a bit better. It was no more than he deserved, playing pranks on everyone and using their words against them.
She still loved this body, but the assumptions about her age were annoying, worse than the men flirting with her, which she had assumed would be the biggest issue, as it was when she was still an actual disciple.
It seemed that most of them weren't as dumb as they looked, though, and her Cultivation kept them from hitting on her, even if it didn't stop the looks.
The match in the ring began with a call from the referee, and all of the Lotus Blossom Disciples shifted their positions so that they were back to back, thwarting the initial attack plan of the assassins and throwing one of them off balance after her attack was blocked.
With the first strike unsuccessful, the Lotus Blossom Sect disciples split into three groups. Two pairs reinforced each other, with the team leader fighting alone against three assassins. Her energy attacks were doing an incredible job of forcing the black-robed women back, keeping them from assisting their team members, who were hard-pressed against the rest of the Lotus Blossom Team.
When the first of the assassins fell and the team fighting her split to reinforce both the Captain and the other team, it was obvious who was going to win. The Lotus Blossom Captain used a skill that sent flower petals flying all around the arena, carpeting the ground and making stealth and movement skills mostly irrelevant, as every movement disturbed the petals, which appeared to be incredibly slick, like small patches of ice.
Jen was intrigued by this technique. The team leader was taking the tank role that she usually did, and that area control method that stopped the enemy from hiding in the shadows to attack team members was just the sort of thing that she thought she would love to have.
"Can you teach me to do that?" The Crusader asked Cain, who contemplated it for a few seconds.
"I can think of a few ways to accomplish similar goals. Does it have to be flowers?" Cain replied, startling the Elders sitting near them.
"No, the fact that they are flower petals is pretty but not necessary. Ice slicks or even crunchy leaves would work as well, I think." Jen replied.
"That makes it easier. I know just the thing for you." Cain replied and took out his inscription desk, arranging it in the cramped space of the bleachers so that he could work while they watched the fight.
What he had in mind wasn't difficult. It was a Rank C skill called [Denial], a Holy power skill intended for Clerics, but as Paladins could use Cleric Skill books as well as Warrior books, it would work for Jen. The skill created a simple area of light with feathers floating in it. They weren't just on the ground, but they would be disturbed the same way as the flower petals if you tried to move through them while in stealth, as well as giving a minor slowing effect on enemies.
Being a Rank C skill, it was a short inscription, and Cain managed to finish it while the battle was still wrapping up.
The weakest of the Assassins had fallen, but the others were desperately trying to turn things around, despite being suppressed by the Lotus Blossom team. They almost had it for a moment when one of the Lotus Blossom ladies stumbled, but the Team leader was right on time, knocking the assassin away with a wave of blade energy, and directly eliminating the opportunistic opponent, making the match five on three.
"There, use that right away and let me know what you think of it. It should do just what you wanted." Cain told Jen as the fighters in the ring pressed their advantage.
The book disappeared from the Crusader's hands, startling everyone around them, who had expected her to need to begin studying it since perfect skill books that could be consumed in an instant were a rare magical item, not something you just handed out to disciples on a whim.
"You are going to end up locked in some Elder's room as a boy toy and skill teacher if you keep that up. You know that, right?" The Shadowed Blade Elder asked Cain when she realized what he had casually done while watching the fight.
"Never fear. I have [Transmogrify] to get myself out of tight spots." Cain explained.
"How does that get you out of tight spots?" The Elder asked, confused.
"Well, you can turn them into kittens, fluffy birds, toddlers, Pixies. No, not pixies. That would make things worse. Angry pixies are vicious." Cain told her, making the black-robed Elder laugh.
"You sound like you have experience. For creatures less than ten centimeters tall, the Pixies are incredible assassins. The small size doesn't affect the output of their energy abilities, so you would just be making her harder to catch when she attacked you."
"Bribe them with honey. It works pretty much every time. They lose their train of thought even faster than I do." Luna offered, while Tena shook her head, refusing to accept that dealing with the fae, whose presence was more of a myth than anything in this world, was so easy.
"You are a curious one, even knowing that you came here from another world. I don't suppose that you could make me a copy of that [Transmogrify] skill as a usable book could you?" The Shadowed Blade Elder asked.
"Sorry, Sect Secret," Cain told her with a wink.
"Fair enough. Nobody gives up Sect Secrets for free after all, and I am not sure that your disciples need anything that we have since none of them use a style that is very similar to our own." The Elder sighed.
"He's so stingy, though. You would think that he could be bribed to at least make some of us into lovely young ladies again." An Elder on the far side of the Shadowed Blade team pouted while Elder Ling and Tena both frantically waved their hands, trying to get her to stop mid-sentence.
"Done." Cain cheered since he now had permission, and [Modify] began to work on the Elder.
She was not a beauty, even in her youth. The default setting for twenty years old showed her as well beyond portly with a face that he wasn't sure even a mother could love. Age hadn't done her any favors except in the weight department, so Cain decided to tweak things a bit.
"Elder Ping, I don't know what you mean about again. You forget that I knew you as a disciple." Another Elder taunted the old woman, who was still in the middle stages of the Spirit Rank and likely wouldn't live long enough to make Immortal.
"I don't know. With the time rolled back and a few minor tweaks, I think we can make it perfect." Cain countered, while Elder Ling grabbed his collar and glared at him.
"Don't go playing jokes on other Sects and causing trouble. I heard what you did to poor Tena." She warned him.
"It's fine. I just tweaked things a little," Cain assured her and pointed at the Elder he was working on.
She was now a very average-looking woman in her early thirties, still recognizable as herself, with a more upright posture, as befit her reduced apparent age.
"Oh, that is excellent. I can finish my days in peace and beauty." The Elder mumbled happily, not having high standards for her own appearance.
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