Death... and me

Roan then left the gathering at the end of the day with Luan, leaving everyone behind to discuss among themselves. Even though he couldn’t help that much with weapon intent, perhaps the disciples themselves could help each other regarding that.

Luan then took the opportunity to ask more questions to Roan once they got more time for themselves. The end results weren’t much different, though. Roan still couldn’t put most of the answers into words. Instead, he decided to train with Luan for a while.

In fact, Rean did the same thing. However, not with Luan but with the disciples of the sect. “I only know how to use sword intent, so I will fight everyone who can use swords. Naturally, those who use other weapons can stay and see if they can learn anything. So, who wants to fight me first?”

Hage was the very first one to jump in the arena in the middle of the field. “This one man has a flawed foundation with only three pillars. I need to find something that can make up for that and my low yellow talent. I hope you don’t mind me going first.”

This previous year of cultivation did wonders to Hage. He knew that his foundation was much worse than anyone else and that his cultivation talent couldn’t help much either. With that being said, he put in more effort than most while still working as the younger generation’s sect elder. When he joined the sect, he was a Middle Stage Core and Soul Fusion Realm cultivator. Now, he had broken through into the Nascent Soul Realm, finally dispelling the shadow of his ending life span. He even looked a lot younger now after his improvement. By now, he had already reached the Middle Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. He couldn’t compare to Luan’s cultivation speed, but he definitely wasn’t the slowest.

”Hehe! Of course not! I’ve seen how much you helped the sect so far, Hage. It was to the point that you were one of the people who got the biggest number of Divine Stones as payment. I’m looking forward to your improvement.” Rean praised Hage.

Hage then didn’t waste time as everyone was waiting for the battle to start. Well, the end result was pretty obvious, though. Rean easily defeated Hage even though he restricted his cultivation to match Hage’s. Rean was using sword intent for everyone to see, and he would still easily win even if he wasn’t. Nevertheless, that was a huge help for everyone watching, even if they didn’t develop sword intent in the future.

Hage sighed as he shook his head. His sword wasn’t even in his hand anymore. Instead, it was thrown away after the impact with Rean’s wooden sword. In fact, Rean’s wooden sword didn’t even suffer a dent from it. Though, that wasn’t all. Hage understood just how hard it was to even hold his own sword when sword intent was being used. He felt like his own sword wanted to flee as far as it could from Rean’s sword.

In Luan’s case, he used his spatial powers to reduce that effect, but how many people here could even use spatial powers? Other than the twins and Luan, no one below the Void Tempering Realm could. In the end, Hage forcefully held it with his own element and Divine Energy. “Sigh… it’s my loss. I didn’t think it would be such a one-sided fight. Weapon intents are truly terrifying.”

Hage was just about to get down from the arena when Rean called his attention. “Where are you going?”

Hage looked back, slightly confused. “I lost, so I have to give way for the next person to try, right?”

Rean smiled in response, telling him, “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere for the time being. Come and fight me again until you run out of Divine Energy. Let’s say this is an advantage of being an elder.”

Hearing that, everyone who used swords and wanted to go up felt extremely jealous. Then again, the position of elders was up for grabs every six months. The fact that none of them were elders meant they lost in the average knowledge and judgment test. Hage, on the other hand, made sure that he would score very high in those two tests, so he always kept his elder position with quite a sizeable margin. “Is that so? Then, please don’t mind me if I accept the offer.”

With that, Rean and Hage fought seven more times. Rean purposely held back while still using his sword intent to make the battle last longer. That would help both Hage and all the sword users watching it. But eventually, Hage couldn’t keep with it anymore.

*Puff, puff, puff…*

Hage heavily breathed as he could barely stand. “A-Alright… I’m done here. Holy shit, I can’t keep up with this.”

”Hahaha!” Rean laughed when he heard that. “That’s kind of obvious, you know? I’m a Middle Stage Transition Realm cultivator. Although I’m restraining my Divine Energy output so it can match your realm, my reserves of Divine Energy are countless times higher. Even my natural recovery is outmatching my expenditure.”

Hage was still satisfied, though. He didn’t really see how he would give birth to sword intent. However, it was truly a great learning chance. “Alright, I’m out then.”

Rean nodded as he looked at the field where all the cultivators were still watching. “Alright, who’s next? If you’re an elder, you have priority. Also, you guys better decide by yourselves who’s going to come to fight me since I definitely won’t fight every single one of you.”

”Me!”

”No, me!”

”Shut up. I’m next!”

In the end, a new disciple who became an elder in the last test was the next one. And just like that, the fights continued for several days in a row.