Being a pauper was rather disheartening. Leo already knew that the quickest way to travel around the city was using the local teleportation platforms and judging by the attitude of the nine youths, the amount of spirit stones they payed was rather small. The problem, of course, was that he didn’t have a single one.

In the Combat division Leo was greatly surprised by the number of people still practicing under the light provided by multitude lighting formations.

Seeing his look, Kevin grinned and said, “I told you – everyone’s goal is to become an immortal. One can not reach that stage without practicing hard.”

Yes, Leo had been here before and witnessed an amazing immortal giving pointers to the crowd, but seeing so many youths working hard late at night gave a completely different impression.

“Arena number eighteen!” Fabien’s voice returned him to reality.

While Leo was gawking around, one of the twin brothers ran off and organized an elder to look after them. The group proceeded there and saw a man in his thirties already waiting for them. Since the rest of the group greeted him as ‘elder Timro’, Leo followed the suit and afterwards slanted the Cleaver near the spectator seats. Then he walked over to the brightly lit arena where Harold was already impatiently waiting and forcefully smiled.

If this had happen two years ago, he really would’ve been a clueless country bumpkin, but after months and months of training under Dalina’s watchful eye, Leo was rather confident in himself. The problem was – his opponent was at the Foundation establishment stage and the difference in realm was not surpassable, at least not in the Sacred order.

“Weapons?” Elder Timro asked and both opponents shook their heads.

While Leo had no usable weapon nor he knew how to handle one, Harold was itching to show ‘what’s what’ the good old fashioned way.

“Is he going to be ok?” Fan Lia asked in a worried voice, observing how the opponents began to rain punches and kicks at one another.

The two lovebirds, of course, followed the group up to the Combat division’s floating island and now sat in spectator seats of a nearby arena, their faces covered with large hoods.

“What’s the worse that can happen? They have a false immortal watching over them. Even if either of us tried to do anything funny it would be futile.” George replied, but slightly flinched when Harold’s fist once again landed on Leo’s cheek.

The boy did fall down, but after an evasive roll jumped up and hit the opponent’s thigh, then evaded another punch and hit Harold in the chest.

“His aim seems to be off.” Lia commented and there was no hiding the annoyance in her voice.

She really wished Leo didn’t embarrass himself, but for now he was more on the receiving end.

“I’m not so sure about it.” George said, “Neither you nor I have a clue how to properly fight, but look at young master Shaw – he’s smiling. There is no way he’s some kind of a sadist, is there?”

“I guess …” Lia unconvincingly said with a nod, but right at that moment everyone gasped seeing the unexpected roundhouse kick from Harold.

Leo was not caught by surprise though. His opponent was solely using fists from the start and it was only a matter of time till a foot flew in his face, thus when the time came, Leo rotated along the incoming heel at the same time crouching down and sending a beautiful sweeping kick at Harold’s ankle, inevitably knocking him off the feet.

Seeing the beautiful move, Alice loudly cheered, but her cheer immediately died down. While Harold was still falling, Leo already jumped back up and took a step forward, but then seeing his opponent was on the ground helpless, moved a couple steps back allowing Harold to get back up. The opponent got even more annoyed by this ‘charity’, but a heartbeat later Leo fell down, face first in the dirt, and passed out.

None of the onlookers, including the elder expected this, but the latter quickly checked the boy’s condition and said, “Congratulations, Harold Stevenson wins! Now everyone get out of here and don’t step in the arena.”

“You, bullies!” A furious shout reverberated through the arena and a hooded person charged towards the unconscious Leo only to find elder Timro standing in her way as a brick wall.

“Mis, I’m sorry …” Elder wanted to say something, but Fan Lia didn’t care he was a false immortal.

“Sorry my *ss! I’m missis!” But she still found it impossible to get past him.

Fortunately her husband was more civil.

“How is he?” George Cilin asked and only now Fan Yun recognized the angry person below the hood.

“Aunt Lia?” She ran over to her, “What are you doing here?”

But Fan Lia dismissed her with a wave of her hand and took off the hood.

Seeing her questioning gaze, elder Timro immediately answered George’s question, shocking everyone, “Sigh, he’s advancing. It’s better to not disturb him now.”

“Well, how is it?” Kevin came over and asked Harold.

“The worst win of my life!” The latter was even more upset than before the fight.

“I wouldn’t say so.” Elder shook his head, “Didn’t you come here for this reason? You guys could’ve warned me – we would’ve picked a more remote arena.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“… for this reason?” Harold was confused.

“Ye, to help your friend to advance.” Elder smiled back. He kind of enjoyed such camaraderie, “And I must say he’s rather good. To purposefully miss every hit that could’ve instantly ended the spar, this guy has had a remarkable close combat trainer. Which family is he from?”

“He’s just visiting.” George said with a sigh while Harold’s face kept turning increasingly ugly, “He’s a friend from a mortal realm.”

“In that case I’d love to meet his teacher even more!” Elder Timro heartily laughed. It was hard to imagine this thirty-something regular looking person was an actual false immortal.

“From the looks of it, spending two years in a realm without Qi and then arriving here and absorbing the abundant Qi of the immortal realm triggered something within the boy. Let’s hope he’s fine.” George said.

“He should be. This actually is something father prescribed him.” Kevin added, but a moment later his expression turned serious.

“Elder, could you please inform my father … I’m also about to advance.” He said.

“How long do you have?” Elder asked.

“Maybe twenty breaths?” Kevin said helplessly spreading hands, “With him lying there it’s getting increasingly difficult to hold back.”

Hearing it, elder Timro nodded, vanished for a moment and then arrived back a heartbeat later along with four elderly in black robes.

“Young master Shaw, please follow me. Your friend should be fine here, I’ll let one of …” Elder Timro said, but Kevin interrupted him.

“Thank you, but there is no need. I feel like I need to advance here.” He said, glancing at the unconscious Leo and the rest, including Fan Lia and George Cilin, who suddenly found themselves over hundred fifty yards from the arena they just stood at. Neither had a clue which immortal moved them, to not speak about those people below the Nascent soul stage.

Meanwhile Elder Timro attentively watched the crowd, while in the distance Kevin sat down and the four elderly in back robes positioned themselves around him facing the cardinal directions.

“How does it feel to know there was actually another guy at the Qi gathering stage who could kick your ass?” Obviously Alice overheard the earlier conversation and came over to pester Harold.

“It’s not so easy, sis.” Claude said, “I similarly had this feeling Leo held back, but Harold also just wanted to went and, truth to be said, he did punch the kid on the nose a few times. But in a real fight everything is different – imagine they would’ve fought with weapons! Leo himself told us he had no clue how to use a sword – he had been only swinging that huge thing.”

“Still, he purposefully took the beating while sparing me … I think I’ll die …” Harold weakly mumbled. What Kevin said about him in the restaurant was actually true and behaving arrogantly was simply a more convenient way of expressing emotions and not his true attitude.

“You misunderstood me.” Elder Timro moved closer to them and spoke while still watching the crowd, “Your friend didn’t take the beating purposefully – he simply couldn’t evade your punches therefore decided to not bother. The ravine between the Qi gathering stage and the Foundation establishment is too wide and he is not young master Shaw to overcome it. Your problem was that you didn’t take the opponent seriously from the start and when he supposedly missed the punches and kicks, you began to play with him. But now imagine – every punch that landed on your shoulder would’ve hit your neck, every hit or kick on your thighs would’ve landed on your groin and … well, you get the idea.”

Hearing the elder’s analysis Harold grew increasingly serious. If it was like the elder Timro said, what exactly did the kid go through in that realm without Qi? He clearly didn’t tell them even a quarter of what happened!

“There is no need to worry.” Elder Timro spoke again noticing Harold’s expression, “It’s possible this was your weakness neither you nor your master knew about. It’s great you came here! Tomorrow I’ll go over to the Stevenson family and we can chat with your old man. Alright, everyone! From now on I don’t want to hear anyone breathing! Watch!”

While they were discussing, a young man, looking around twenty five years of age, arrived at the Kevin’s side. After exchanging few words, he flew over to Leo, floated for a moment above him and then returned to his son. Indeed, this was the legendary master Shaw who rushed over to oversee his son’s advancement. Surprisingly he didn’t have his regular attire – shirt, shorts and sandals, but wore a nice robe. His hair was disheveled though, clearly indicating this was the immortal everyone in the Golden city knew and loved.

At first nothing happened. The onlookers actually did hold their breaths, but not because of elder Timro’s order. It was because not every day one can witness the advancement of the most talented youth from the Golden city.

Strangely enough the two youths who were currently advancing were the only ones here at the Qi gathering stage and the rest could only reminisce about the time they advanced.

‘Alright! Here it goes!’ most of the present thought at the same time feeling a strong breeze passing by.

In fact, that breeze came from every direction and created a slight whirlwind at the center of the arena. A small cloud of dust indicated it happened so, but a second later master Shaw suddenly appeared next to elder Timro and said, “Make everyone leave the island. Quickly!”

Few heartbeats later to their great shock onlookers realized they were actually back on the solid ground of the Golden city.

It was a common sense that one shouldn’t interfere with the advancement of others, but the distance of hundred yards from a cultivator who advanced to the Foundation establishment stage was more than enough. It would’ve been a whole different situation if someone was trying to become an immortal, but no one was insane enough to do that in a city full of people.

The crowd began a heated discussion while the elders of the Combat division returned and positioned themselves around the island. Everyone was curious of what was going on there, but it was fine – the results of master Shaw’s research were usually shared with the rest of the Golden city. In fact, the man lived to spread the knowledge.

Actually master Shaw ordered everyone to leave because he had no clue what was going on himself. The so called ‘Qi wind’ didn’t gather around one of the youths, but formed an invisible tornado around both. And for some reason it was multiple times stronger than normal, therefore to make sure no one interfered with the process the easiest method was to evacuate the island fully.

The four elderly guardians were already floating outside the tornado, but since it continued to expand, they also had to constantly move. The two boys, on the other hand, greedily absorbed Qi as if they never could get enough of it – one lying face down unconscious and the second right according to what he had practiced for many years.

Kevin knew something was off, but the process felt right and natural, therefore he didn’t dare to raise an eyelid in order to not break the concentration. On the other hand Leo was in a dreamland, floating in clouds and washing his four knew acquaintances.

Almost as if ignoring the fact that the ones who were advancing were only at the Qi gathering stage, the incoming Qi wind became stronger and stronger and kept fueling the whirlwind around the arena, continuously expanding it. Master Shaw floated outside the whirlwind area and watched the proceedings with a smile. This was something new even to him, but similarly to Kevin he felt the things were going fine.

Unfortunately his good mood was spoiled a moment later. In the clear, starry sky one after another small clouds began to appear and soon formed a whirlpool high up mimicking the on in the arena. It all would’ve been fine if the clouds didn’t start to slowly change in color – first turning dark, then pitch black and then purple.

This phenomenon was witnessed by practically everyone in the Golden city. The news of young master Kevin Shaw advancing spread faster than a wildfire and every single person wanted to witness the historical moment, but the tribulation clouds above the city caused some serious mass anxiety though.

Luckily this didn’t last for too long. Thirty odd breaths after the first cloud appeared they began to slowly dissipate and soon the event was over.

It was unthinkable even one tribulation lightning bolt would’ve struck a Foundation establishment stage cultivator. Heavens are just and the weak were never punished for no reason. But the phenomenon that disappeared as quickly as it appeared was still unexpected and impressive, and gave people something to gossip about for months and years to come.