A disciple with deep blood-red hair and a giant weapon strapped to his back calmly walked through the Outer Court. The hunt for the stones were over and he’s gained enough to be satisfied for a long time. Now it was time for him to do what he was asked of by the Masked Merchant. But first, he had to know exactly who in the world Huan Bingwen even was. The family name Huan rang a bell but Tang Wuying didn’t know exactly why this was. He never leaves Teacher Mo’s house unless required to which meant he didn’t know much of what happens in the Outer Court. That annoying Jun was the opposite. He always knew what was going on and it was because of him that he even figured out that spirit stones were buried around the sect.
Something he had to thank him for as his progress would be far slower without the spirit stones, he’s gained these past few days. Teacher Mo might be his master but that did not mean he gave his disciples everything they required and more. They had to earn valuable and rare resources from him by doing the most dangerous of training and sect tasks. Jun spent every day attempting to get a sky-ranked sword from Elder Mo ever since he gained his boomerang. It was basically suicide trying to accomplish what Teacher Mo asked of him but he never gave up. No matter how much blood he spilled, no matter how many bones he broke, and no matter how many hundreds of stellar and mortal swords broke in trying to finish it.
Tang may not have liked Jun but he was someone worth respecting as his rival. It was because of his deranged obsession in pursuit of completely surpassing him, that Tang also trained to the point of insanity. He could feel himself growing closer and closer to finally awakening his bloodline the tougher he made his body. Considering his bloodline, Titanic Tortoise, had legends of those who managed to awaken it acquire undying immortal bodies. It makes sense that the holder of the bloodline needs a body far stronger than the normal cultivators to awaken even 1% of it.
Tang Wuying was talented and rich enough to advance down the path of a body and qi cultivator. His dormant bloodline required him to go down the path of a body cultivator while Lord Tyanir needed him to have unparallel qi control to control the forces of acceleration unless he wanted his body to rip itself apart attempting to use the God’s qi. So, heading down the path of a balanced cultivator would be the correct choice if he wants to make it far on his journey as a cultivator. And accepting anything less than the top, was something Tang Wuying would not accept.
“You. Tell me where Huan Bingwen is.” Tang focused his attention on a passing disciple.
“How am I supposed to know where one of the top cultivators in the Outer Court is at? I’m not in the Huan Clan!” The disciple berated before walking past Tang.
His attitude was something Tang would not accept. Before the young man could make his way past Tang, the prideful 14-year-old casually struck his fist out. Imprinting itself onto the chest of the disciple before launching him far away. Tang was surprised at how tough the disciple was as he meant to kill him in a single blow. But seeing how he was unable to get up from the ground with his chest pushed in with a fist mark, Tang considered it good enough. He walked past his fellow peer on the verge of life and death to continue to search for Huan Bingwen.
“Do you know where Huan Bingwen is?” He asked another.
“No.” This continued for a while.
“Hey, did you hear Wuying Tang was looking for Huan Bingwen!?”
“No. Why is a genius like that looking for someone like Bingwen? They are in two totally different worlds!”
“I heard he plans to cripple him!”
“I heard he wants to kill him!”
Soon, a crowd began following behind one of the newest rising prodigies within the Golden Serpent Sect. Giddy at the possibility of a fight between someone as rarely seen like Tang and a well-known top contender within the Outer Court. None of them knew where Bingwen was but they were sure to find him as long as they kept following Tang. Who seemed like he was on a mission to fight one of the Huan Clan’s important members no matter what!
How would the leader of the Huan Clan take this news?! What about the other 2 major factions in the Outer Court? Would they try and recruit Tang Wuying into their factions? What if he was aiming for all of the major factions!? Who would be able to stop him and his powerful background as a disciple under one of the three Head Elders!? These were the hundreds of questions and rumors going around after the disciples following behind the tattooed youth found out he was searching for Huan Bingwen.
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“I’ve heard you were looking for Bingwen.” A disciple stood in front of Tang Wuying.
His crossed arms, confident smile, and purple sword made him look quite imposing. This sudden appearance along with his natural beauty and charisma made many wonder just who he was. Tang just hoped it was this Bingwen guy. He was pretty tired of looking around for this mysterious disciple and annoyed of the trash following behind him like a pack of barking dogs without making themselves useful in any way.
“Isn’t that the newest replacement for Chun who died in the Treasured Plains?”
“I heard he was quite talented but I don’t think he stands a chance against someone like Tang. He’s one of the Head Elder’s student, you know?”
“He might be able to put up a good fight against him. Isn’t he ranked highly on the rankings?”
“You might be right. I don’t think Tang ever fought in a ranking match.”
“There was that duel he had against Prince Jun some months ago. It was a very high-level battle. I broke through that night and advanced in my sword arts.”
“Shut up.” Tang ordered the whispering pieces of trash behind him.
Everyone immediately closed their mouths. Tang Wuying was a 9th stage Qi Gatherer. That meant he was one of the strongest disciples in the Outer Court without even bringing his background into it. All of those watching were either below the 9th stage or at the stage. For those at the 9th stage and watching, they were obviously those apart of the top factions of the Outer Court. A fight like this was something that they couldn’t ignore, especially when they had no information to go off of. Just one day, out of the blue, Wuying Tang decided he wanted to fight Huan Bingwen.
“Are you Huan Bingwen?” He asked.
“And if I say I was?” The swordsman responded with his own question.
“Try and stop me from killing you.” Tang calmly told him.
“Heh! And I thought you just wanted to say hello. To think that I somehow caught the eye of the shy famed genius picked up by the powerful Elder Mo.” He sneered.
“Talk all you want.” Tang didn’t even bother grabbing his boomerang.
He slowly walked up to the disciple as if he was taking a casual stroll. In the next second, everyone watching was shocked beyond belief. Bingwen was sent sliding all the way back with his sword raised. Sweat flowed from his pores as he somehow managed to react in time to Tang’s attack. But speaking of Tang’s attack, from the perspective of most of those watching it looked like Tang only stared at Bingwen and he suddenly went sliding back! Did he throw a punch or something?! What happened?!
“Oh, you’re not complete trash if you could react to that. Since you have a sword, I'll entertain you for a bit.” Tang grabbed the sword sheathe on his waist.
Ever since he gained the First Apostle’s weapon, he never used his sword anymore. He still kept it around but it was more of an accessory at this point. Perhaps it could be used for situations like this. Tang didn’t even unsheathe the sword within and just held the sheathe towards his opponent. The infuriated look on his opponent’s face was understandable. It was as if he was saying that he wasn’t even worth using his blade on. But in truth, he wasn’t even worth fighting with his true weapon!
“Don’t you dare look down on me!” Bingwen dashed towards him, ready to go all out.
“Just try and make me take you seriously.” Tang sneered.
Their weapons clashed and Bingwen’s sword almost flew out of his hand from Tang’s simple slash. He clutched his sword’s handle with all of his strength as he brought it down on Tang’s head. Tang didn’t bother avoiding the attack as he rose his sword sheathe and easily blocked the chop. A normal sword sheathe would’ve been sliced in half from Bingwen’s sword but for some reason Tang’s wasn’t! He unleashed slash after slash after slash but none of them managed to put a chip on the damn thing!
“This can’t be your all, can it? There’s no way that man would have me take you out if you’re this weak.” Things weren’t adding up.
Tang infused his sheathe with his qi every time Bingwen attacked. With this infusion, its durability soared to something that Bingwen’s sword couldn’t easily deal with. This amount of control over his qi was impressive but it was nowhere near enough for him to be satisfied. That trash from inside the Treasured Plains was talented enough to shape his qi into the any form he wanted despite being weaker than him! Tang promised himself that he would be able to do the same before leaving the Qi Gathering realm.
“Die!” Bingwen’s purple blade started to shine brightly.
Bingwen’s single attack split off into 5 different slashes coming directly towards Tang! Each one capable of easily slicing through flesh. A normal cultivator when faced up against such an attack could only be split into 5 or less different pieces! Regardless of which slash they wanted to block. Once Tang saw the attack coming, he only sneered in response.