“Where the hell did this monster come from?” Elder Payne, the head of the Sacred Order’s Combat division, murmured to himself after Leo put down another opponent.
He was similarly at the Core formation stage and even more, he had properly formed the golden core fusing his soul and blood essence within the dantian using the solidified Qi as the base. He had cultivated his *ss off and trained disciples for decades, but what Leo was currently displaying was anything but normal even for elder Payne’s level.
Objectively speaking, it would be highly unlikely for the elder to hold out that long and, more importantly, he would’ve bled to death long time ago even if he had half the wounds Leo suffered since the whole ordeal began.
It would be one thing if the youth would continuously take some heavenly ranked pills to replenish the lost blood, but all he did was eat and drink something that most likely was plain water during the time his opponents were switching or replacing their broken weapons.
Elder Payne could swear on one occasion he even noticed Leo quickly having a mouthful of water during an evasive roll while his opponent tried to smack him with a longsword. It all would make sense if this was a training session and not a fight to the death – the youth understood as much, right? But the last part was also questionable. Leo almost never seriously wounded his opponents, well – ‘almost’ because there were a few casualties, but they all seemed to be accidental. In addition, the youth kept to awkwardly apologize every time.
“Well, I guess it does not matter anymore.” Elder Cooper, the head of the Artisan division, answered in a hoarse voice, “We can only be thankful to elder Cross for his brilliant idea.”
Elder Cross looked back at his old colleague and friend, slightly annoyed at his sarcasm, but it was obvious elder Cooper was right. If not for the clearly laughable superstition, probably a third of the Sacred Order’s disciples would be dead by now and the rest surrendered, becoming newly accepted disciples of the Seven peaks sect.
“Elder Cross, may I trouble you to get few dozens bottles of water, cooked beast meat, as high ranked as possible, of course, and a pile of bandages?” With the elders conversing lady Etessa woke up from the stupor of watching Leo fight and finally managed to say something after a long period of silence, “It seems … I hope … this might go on for a while and we don’t know how many supplies does he have.”
Just like the rest she also had no clue how Leo managed to hold on, but clearly it had something to do with him constantly eating and drinking. In addition, after a careful observation some of his wounds, probably the ones he acquired in the beginning, began to scab. She never heard of anyone having a technique or ability that allowed them to regenerate at this rate, at least not at the Core formation stage.
In addition, even though Leo never used flashy Qi skills, him leaving burnt marks on opponent bodies and using movement technique that closely resembled the Angelic wind clearly pointed at an enormous Qi consumption, making it look like his Qi reserves were endless.
The young lady involuntarily began to compare herself to the youth and unwillingly had to admit a similar thing to what elder Payne thought – she was only one step away from forming a Nascent soul, but even she would be unable to repeat his feat. It was hard to explain how his eyes were still burning with excitement whenever a new opponent stepped forth and not once he flinched after getting injured. Elder Payne was right – this guy was a monster.
Unsurprisingly when elder Cross returned, Leo was still going. No matter what others thought or did, he was fully concentrating at the task at hand – to use every moment of the presented opportunity and practice as much as he could, because from his experience in the Dryad mountain city he knew that pretty soon the challenges would stop. He thought of a possibility that at some point the enemy army will start deploying multiple opponents at once and to not provoke them too much held back on using the Lightning punch and kick skills. Lightning palm and touch were not as damaging and usually didn’t break opponent’s bones, although he himself currently had a few cracked ribs that made the breathing rather painful.
Obviously most of that he thought subconsciously, because after the third or fourth opponent he went into some kind of a trance. He couldn’t explain it to himself, but it felt natural and pleasant and in this state his reflexes were sharper and coordination more precise. Sometimes it even felt as if opponents were moving in slow motion, as if purposefully slowing down for Leo to hone his skills.
Because of the strange battle trance he was in, Leo didn’t think too much about he fact he was using supplies from the amulet and when elder Cross with few assistants brought water, food and fresh bandages, he helped himself out without a second thought.
Obviously the attacking side didn’t like Leo replenishing his strength one bit as well as the fact he could finally treat his wounds more or less properly. Co-sect master Milos even asked the two Mercenary guild’s representatives to step in, but the answer was that the law doesn’t forbid it and thus it’s allowed.
One had to give it to the Seven peaks co-sect masters. After witnessing how few of their best disciples were defeated, they quickly thought of a way to fight this one man army effectively. Obviously he would run out of strength or bleed out eventually, thus all they had to do was to deliver as much damage as possible. The solution was simple – they began to send out every ‘new disciple’ who joined the Seven peaks after their arrival here, in the other words – all the deserters.
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It didn’t matter if they were only at the Qi gathering or Formation establishment stage – the only way to not get expelled right away was to fight the blood covered monster on the grass field between the two armies. The people who earlier decided to switch sides didn’t have any choice but to risk their lives, but after twenty or so were knocked out in a quick succession, the rest realized they were up only for a regular spar. When the next four directly dived in to receive Leo’s palm strike and got immediately knocked out, it was clear that to continue this way meant only wasting time which the Seven peaks side couldn’t afford.
After pondering for a moment, Milos changed the tactics again. He gathered the Core formation stage disciples who originated from the Sacred order and simply explained, that anyone who didn’t do their best will be charged as a traitor and executed on the spot. And whether they did their best or not would be solely decided by him.
The deserters paled realizing they had actually escaped into a den of wolves, but it was too late for regrets. In addition, the Sacred Order that now seemed like a large, chaotic, but friendly family was about to be destroyed anyway.
Till the sunset Leo was schooling the former Sacred Order’s elders and junior elders most of which were just recently working in the Administrative department. Obviously it meant their combat prowess was rather low and they didn’t pose too much threat, but them getting beaten up was accompanied by loud cheers from the Sacred Order’s side. Milos, of course, didn’t care for that – he was ready to pay the price in order to weaken the inhuman youth who for some reason was still standing.
When the sun hid behind the treetops, neither Milos nor Goran insisted the challenges should continue. Besides the weaklings at the Foundation establishment stage and lower, Leo single-handedly had defeated close to fifty opponents most of which originated from the Sacred Order. It did allow the Seven peaks sect to preserve the strength of their strongest fighters, but the mood in their own ranks was rather peculiar.
In comparison, it took a lot of effort for the Sacred Order’s elders to hold back their crowd of disciples who wished to storm forth and carry Leo back to the sect. It would've been one thing if this was a friendly competition, but everyone knew that tomorrow morning the challenges will resume and surely the two devious co-sect masters will think of a ways to defeat the tenacious youth.
When suddenly the opponents stopped coming, Leo got confused. He stood there between the two armies, covered in bloody bandages, slightly swaying and only after lady Etessa called his name several times, he began to realize where he was and why.
In the next instant he felt excruciating pain assaulting his senses. It was almost as if thousands of knives were cutting him at the same time, but instead of falling unconscious, he suddenly felt so empty and weak he simply didn’t have any strength to pass out.
Strangely enough the junior sect master sensed something was amiss and together with elder Payne assisted Leo back to the sect. On the half way there he finally did loose consciousness, but no one witnessed it thus for now his myth of invincibility remained.
They brought him to the Spirit tower, to the spot where lady Etessa usually cultivated where elder Cooper was already preparing medicinal bath and concocting fresh healing paste at the same time. He expertly began the treatment by feeding the youth a couple of heavenly ranked Qi replenishment pills that allowed Leo to regain consciousness, but he only sent an empty look towards lady Etessa, murmured something about washing someone and then passed out again.
To the other three present it was clear he was either hallucinating or actually tried to give instructions to wash him, but they already were on it. Leo’s body was in a complete mess and elder Payne together with the junior sect master carefully cleaned him up, applied the healing paste elder Cooper prepared from the best ingredients the sect had and then wrapped in bandages.
Pretty soon Leo looked like a mummy, but the treatment was far from over. Without saying a world the trio took care of the person who postponed the destruction of the Sacred Order at least for a day. It was clear the trouble was far from over and all of them knew that the next day lady Etessa was the one who will face a similar tribulation. Of course, it didn’t prevent them from showing the proper respect and gratitude to the youth they all owed.
When Leo opened his eyes he saw nothing but darkness. It was hard to tell if he felt weak or tired, because the stench of the thick and warm liquid he was lying in sobered him in an instant. It almost felt like he was thrown in a large barrel of slurry, except one could discern medicinal aroma in surroundings. Clearly someone was trying to patch him up and the whole body itching was another sign of him healing. Apparently the people from the Sacred Order finally realized he had spent a long time in Greenland and badly needed a detox bath.
Of course, Leo had no clue that from the moment he was brought to the Spirit tower till the midnight when he regained consciousness, elder Cooper spent on him more resources than the whole sect had during the previous year. To call the mixture he was lying in, that elder would’ve considered a work of art, ‘a detox bath’ was beyond insulting, but since Leo didn’t voice his thoughts no one knew of his ignorance.
Besides the bath ingredients, he had been constantly fed Qi and blood recovery pills, most of which were heavenly rank and were meant for the personal use of the sect master and junior sect master. Most of those would be considered priceless in a mortal world, but even in the Golden city they would cost a rather hefty sum.
Leo’s three doctors were currently resting nearby, meditating and enjoying the rich Qi from the many formations of the Spirit tower, and it since they didn’t make any sound, he thought he was actually left alone somewhere.
His body did hurt and itch at the same time, but now that he finally had a clear head, his physical condition was the last problem that bugged him.
‘Just how f*cking stupid am I?!’ Leo was angry at himself.
Yes, he did enjoy the ‘training’ and, yes, he did learn a lot, but in the process he showed all the cards he had. How in the world he got the idea that it was ok to publicly use the amulet? Now every Dick and Harry will try to steal it or even assassinate him for it! And that was if the greedy sect master didn’t take it away after she returned! And to earn another one after he got to the Golden city? What in the world was wrong with him – didn’t he first have to get there and find a way to earn means to live? To think of casually buying a spatial treasure just because someone got him one before could only those guys from the aristocratic families, not a pauper like him!
And how was it ok to knock out a bunch of people in front of thousands of others? He already witnessed that even the kind and friendly inhabitants of Greenland could become vindictive and hateful, but the ‘regular’ people from the Aurora mortal realm would definitely not let the fact him hurting their friends go. In a day he probably made thousands of enemies! And for what? Just to practice a bit? This was not being simply careless – if his brain could be weighted on scales of stupidity, they would simply break! He had acted beyond moronic! This was not cool!