To Shock Them
“I see… That's… interesting.” The old man caressed his chin after Heian Ciemnosc answered him. Then, as a silence permeated the air for 2 seconds, a female bright Demon with yellow skin stood up and asked, having finished her drink. She lightly clasped her hands and intertwined her fingers before voicing in a tranquil tone, “Sect Master, dear Darkness. Although your words carry truth, it is also true you have never before exchanged vital communications with our organizations.”
“If there was a reason for us to trust you, we wouldn’t have this meeting. Right?” The female Demon said, tilting her head to the right at the end of her words. Heian Ciemnosc looked at her as she spoke and nodded after she was done, “What do the territories suppose can be done?”
“It’s simple, Esteemed Darkness,” the yellow Demon friendly spread her arms a little, with her hands facing the sky. “A show of power is always the bigger fist and most efficient method to clarify our positions in the world. As long as you can show us your Sect’s capabilities, would we still dare say no without conditions?”
“And what do you suggest for this method?” Heian Ciemnosc said, staring at everyone in the meeting, who were now enjoying his drinks and chairs. The old man spoke again as the female Demon sat back down. The former didn’t stand up.
“It’s even simpler. Haha.” But the old man’s tone wasn’t as friendly and candid as the Demon’s, “A pitch battle of sorts. Why not? We’ve never really seen what your disciples can do, but you have almost a million soldier units now, no?”
Finally, the old man stood up and walked 2 steps forward. He flung his sleeves sideways, then slightly backwards, and placed his hands on his hips. “That’s fine. We’ll form up a million troops as well. Let them meet each other in a decisive battle. For your Sect’s reputation.”
“…” Heian Ciemnosc immediately smirked from the right corner of his mouth, and a little from the left. All of these thoughts, they were simply abusive and humiliating. Yet, they didn’t hesitate to show them before him, looking at him as if he had no other choice but to bring himself to obey their natural disposition towards him. But Heian Ciemnosc slightly shook his head and let them see his eyelids for half a second.
“Huh? Do you have something else in mind?” The old man asked, appearing hostile, which he was. Heian Ciemnosc lightly gazed at this person and said in a soft tone, as if he didn’t wish to incur any further hostility from these 14 figures. “You have your elite members from the younger generation. Unfortunately, I only have 2 such people in my Sect…”
Heian Ciemnosc threw a white lie, unbeknownst to them, before resuming. His tone remained soft but became quite calm, “it is also unfortunate that I don’t have anyone directly under me, as my Sect has strict and even isolating systems. Thus, I can only propose a method that will keep things simple, yet will show what I believe you will see as enough to respect me and my Sect.”
“… …” Although they didn’t say it, especially because of their group being here together to put pressure on the ‘vivacious’ Forbloffende Traes Sect, they were intrigued by Darkness’s words. Heian Ciemnosc noticed this and continued, as even the old man crossed his arms and waited.
“Let our younger generation decide it. It’s been happening since times of yore to avoid our forces seeking conflict where there’s none…” Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes suddenly changed, becoming infinitely calm, serene, lifeless, and ultimately cold, but they didn’t notice or care. “… And it had brought new pages to situations we might’ve not witnessed if it wasn’t because of the younger generation’s efforts.”
“I have only 2 Core Disciples. I wish to let them spar with your obscure gray clothed. However, mine are at the Spirit Birth realm, but we can figure that out. I can promise my Core Disciples will limit their cultivation base, and they can also face some of the obscure purple clothed of your organization with the same cultivation base.” Heian Ciemnosc didn’t finish and walked to the center, where he faced everyone as he circled his body on the spot.
“Naturally, it cannot be as simple as that. We’ll go by bets. Decided by duels,” Heian Ciemnosc said as he slightly shrugged and clasped and released his hands. “Since my Sect is being righteously judged here, it’ll be everyone testing my Core Disciples. They’ll have to defeat every one of your people one by one, of which I propose are ten per organization. There’ll only be 1 chance for my Core Disciples to face your members. If they are defeated instead, you can take 1,000 square kilometers from my Sect’s territory and all its resources however you wish and for however long per win. You’ll also decide which areas first, before me.”
“But the rest of the territory and south that isn’t taken by you will be completely my Forbloffende Traes Sect’s belongings for those 100 years.” Heian Ciemnosc finished, staring at everyone as they didn’t waste time voicing their thoughts. A feline Beast stood up and expressed his opinion.
“As one of the 2 organizations in the southern territory, I can accept this deal. However, we’d like to select 10,000 square kilometers of unoccupied territory otherwise. Would that be acceptable?” The Beast looked at the others, not just Heian Ciemnosc. The old man nodded after seeing the others not denying this. “That must be so for everyone else. Not just the south.”
“I can agree with that,” the feline said before sitting back down. Then, all attention returned to Heian Ciemnosc. He was a little surprised that things went out well, and the bait was wolfed up without even the hook left behind. He snapped his fingers and calmly declared, “Let this take place on the last day of the month. I invite everyone to the Forbloffende Traes Sect. Please, only bring a couple of others with you. Let us not put too much work into creating strife with our organizations. It’ll start in the early morning and finish when the skies grow dark.”
“Very well.” - “I have no objection to this.” - “That seems pleasant enough.” - “We’ll abide by the rules and hope to see an equal treatment there like here. Hmhm.” - “We’ll meet again in a week. Good luck, everyone.” - “Let us prepare. This will be a good ‘beginning’, hahaha!”
“The Forbloffende Traes Sect will welcome you at any time, but not forever,” Heian Ciemnosc said those slightly confusing words with a slight, courteous bow before turning around to sit on his dark chair. Then, as the others were already preparing to set off, he voiced again. “For anyone interested in my Sect, and making connection with this Sect Master, please take your seat and remain here. We can talk if you wish to.”
“We’ll be going first, then.” - “Good luck to you too, Sect Master Darkness.” - “Farewell.” - “Until the end of the month.” - “Have a nice trip back home, Esteemed Darkness.” - “We must prepare our younger generation now, we can’t waste more time…”
Heian Ciemnosc remained in his seat as the others left. Only some who adopted a slightly kind and seemingly considerate attitude towards Darkness and his Sect remained there for 2 more seconds, offered some words, and left like the others. Heian Ciemnosc was the only one left behind. Out of 15 seats, 14 were empty with finished liquor jars and jugs at the sides, on the ground.
Looking at this image, Heian Ciemnosc placed his hands behind his back and slightly inclined his head backwards. His right foot atop his left knee, he sighed as noon arrived and made the Vrida Region a little warmer. ‘Can’t it be colder? It’s getting annoying. Sigh…’
. . .
7 days later, at the Forbloffende Traes Sect’s northern entrance. Before early morning.
The Forbloffende Traes Sect didn’t have a network, so to speak. Not even in the south, let alone the north. The only way for them to know what happened in the meeting everyone discussed in the morning that it happened was by going to their missions in the north and center. However, their Sect Master offered this news himself.
In a week, they would face the other organizations’ best younger generations off. This was no joke, even if the Vrida Region was a 1* Region, it was so in a Divine Kingdom of the Neutral Existences. Even a 1* Region could be dominated by a Third Step organization, and that would be considered the regular.
It is obviously a ‘small’ setback that it has remained a First Step organizations’ dominion for this long, but who asked them to be born in an isolated, extremely faraway place from the core’s mainland? Either way, the Sect’s Core Disciples were the only ones who could participate, as only they were soldier units, which the Sect understood but didn’t know the fundamentals.
Even as the Sect’s Craftsmaking wall to promotion was well-accepted, and every new member became acclimatized to it after entering the Sect, mostly because of their seniors, who have more experience. They were not capable enough to achieve the peak of the First Step at just 10 years old, especially because of their low Craftsmaking, walling their way to receive more resources per month.
As for reaching the peak of a Craftsmaking profession to attain the [Chronicles of Life & Death], the overall Sect was still far from achieving that level where even the Core Disciples were barely near it. Even Pretieta had troubles advancing in her Craftsmaking without ample practice every few months, only achieving a slight improvement. At this rhythm, it’ll take her another couple of years to reach the peak of the First Step Craftsmaking.
One had to consider the knowledge the Sect gives by charging the Servants with time. Let alone the Disciples who had access to more knowledgeable books in the Book Instruction, who would receive guidance from Seniors in the slightly far future.
That knowledge was what Masters only gave to their disciples, not something the organizations freely gave to their members. Maybe not even the purple clothed ones. But in the Forbloffende Traes Sect, all this static yet natural expertise was described and granted in the Book Instruction. The Core Disciple section had the most detailed and boundless books, with the smallest as thick as a baby’s torso and as long as half a meter. Of course, those were only directed for Core Disciples to read.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Despite all of this, the time for the ‘dumbest’ average person in the Sect as a Servant or not still needed approximately 15 years before achieving the desired result. The Sect has been popularly opened for about 12 years. So if Heian Ciemnosc wanted to have soldier units sprouting everywhere, he had to wait.
The guidance he offered was enough, and it only shortened the amount for those who were more and more brighter than the former.
If he had started these guidance classes earlier, Heian Ciemnosc would’ve had helped Pretieta achieve the peak of First Step Craftsmaking by now. Even Todoro might have reached there in a couple of years from today, but Heian Ciemnosc needed to wait before an even larger number of members joined the Sect.
Thus, for now, only 2 soldier units existed within the Sect. This would be an interesting premise for the future, as the requirements could only increase as the Sect transitioned to further Steps…
For this mini tournament, the Sect didn’t pause the daily recruitment, which pained the hearts of those Outer and Inner Disciples and the few Servants working there. They seemed slightly off mood, but the new examinees seemed to know the reason and understood them. They also wanted to see the ‘15’ organizations’ mini tournament, but they weren’t even Servants.
The Sect had prepared for this event, as Heian Ciemnosc was generous to spread the Sect’s remaining riches under the Darkened Treasury, although this left the Sect with half a year less left of silver coins. Regardless, the Servants worked their asses off from morning to night, preparing the festivities in 6 days, finishing them in the early afternoon of the 6th day.
When the day came, all organization’s parties waited at the northern entrance, even the southern territory’s people. When it was still some hours before early morning, the gates opened with several Inner Disciples wearing lavish and well-defined black clothing, from robes to uniforms and even capes and long sleeves with fabric covering their limbs, chest, and back.
They respectfully welcomed the leaders of the 14 organizations, their 10 elite younger generation members, and 2 or 3 purple clothed. Even then, they were subservient. The organizations’ leaders were taken aback, seeing these Inner disciples’ somewhat indomitable attitude. But they were more astonished when they entered through the barrier and saw the inner territory.
They saw the black buildings everywhere, and those of seemingly ‘blank’ colors, with some civilians living there, either from the disciples and Servants’ families. And people who had nowhere to go and swore fealty to the Sect and Sect Master without joining the Sect, whereas even their future generations would share the vow when they needed to repeat it.
These were far too little, and only about a hundred thousand civilians lived in the residential districts, which was little to no percentage in the inner territory.
The guests asked and became interested in the things they saw, with the Inner Disciples not shying away from answering their doubts and intrigue. The transparency gave the organizations’ people clarity, but they still saw this Sect as ‘unfinished’ despite having the qualities any full-fledged organization had to keep its members’ progress steady.
2 hours later, as the early morning approached, they arrived at the arenas. This section in the inner territory amazed the organizations’ people. It was about 60 km long, with streets and parcels set between 3 arenas, extending over the section’s length. They were tall, but not that much, but there were many.
When they were guided to the first row of 3 arenas at the center, they were welcomed by the sight of tens of thousands of Outer Disciples and a couple of hundred thousand Servants formed on the sidewalks. When the organizations’ people stepped down from the transporting vehicles, they watch the Outer Disciples and Servants before asking an Inner Disciple nearby.
“Are all these some of your Sect’s soldier units? Their discipline… something tells me they weren’t tasked with this. Am I right?” A middle-aged man said, half Human and half Beast.
“Mister.” A female Inner Disciple walked forth and slightly bowed her head before further elaborating. “These are some of our Outer Disciples and Servants. They weren’t brought here. The Sect’s teachings are only one of the cornerstones for us, disciples and Servants, but they are valued highly wherever we go. This is our Sect’s representation, misters and misses.”
“Grunt,” the middle-aged man nodded, lowly exclaimed, and gestured to guide them inside. Although there was a bit of a situation earlier, with some male and females from their groups wanting to bring some young lasses and beauties to their laps, and boys, where the latter adamantly yet politely refused. They did a good, honorable job guiding them.
Although some purple clothed and even the younger generation felt dissatisfied, the leaders of the organizations felt slightly different, complicated expressions. That was left behind, as the seniors behaved as such, and the juniors acted accordingly.
When they arrived inside the arena, they were further guided to their VIP seats, coincidentally around Heian Ciemnosc, who was all alone. Their younger generation were guided elsewhere, also knowing not to push their ‘luck’ with these Inner Disciples, and soon arrived at a tunnel leading to the arenas below the bleachers.
The floor everywhere was smooth, black coal, with the stages’ floor colored with a bright platinum. As everyone got ready, and Heian Ciemnosc received not much about formal greetings from the organizations’ leaders, with only the purple clothed recognizing him, he didn’t mind. The introductions echoed throughout the arena, with mostly civilians and young Servants around the bleachers.
The organizations’ people were somewhat startled to see this, but the arena wasn’t even half-filled, with those Outer Disciples and Servants they saw before not entering the arena. They were probably going to watch from the devices they saw before entering the arena. Or so they thought.
Nevertheless, as the introductions finished, and the ecstatic civilians cheered, Heian Ciemnosc faced the other organization leaders and lightly commented. “With all of us here, I believe there is no need to speak of rules, am I right? My Core Disciples won’t rise their limited cultivation base, I promise you.”
“Hmph. That is all right. But one of your ‘Core Disciples’ is at the Ashes Soul realm!” An organization leader said, grumpy after reading Todoro’s cultivation base. Heian Ciemnosc shrugged and calmly commented, “Your people can duel whoever they want, but the maximum of younger generation people they face must be 70 each. Let them pick.”
“Very well.” An old woman nodded before extending her right arm towards her younger generation. Her actions and eagerness stopped any further delays. “Select your opponent! Don’t embarrass our Pavilion’s name, and fight with the honor you’ve been raised to hold in its name!”
“We will! Madam!” - “Understood, ma’am!” - “We will honor our organization among the others!” - “For the honor of our pavilion, I choose miss Pretieta Gori as my opponent!”
After hearing the first adversary of the Forbloffende Traes Sect, the Inner Disciple in charge of announcing nodded and used an array formation as a microphone, with only a light blue color around his feet glowing. “Core Disciple Pretieta Gori will defend the Forbloffende Traes Sect territory against the Cranium Split Pavilion’s Inner Member Plagox at the Obsidiafying realm 10th stage!”
CHEEEEEEERS!
Tens of thousands of civilians erupted in the crowd. Although they were slightly low, their numbers made the difference in the arena. Pretieta nodded to her fellow Core Disciple and walked forth, while Todoro stepped down the stage. She faced her Human, first opponent.
This was a slightly low move, but it was necessary. Since Pretieta was weaker and whose cultivation base was genuinely at the peak of the Spirit Birth realm, she limited her cultivation base by 2 realms, until the Obsidiafying realm 10th stage, before taking a stance. Her arms were projected half-forwards, with her fingers slightly crooked, and her back was slightly lowered.
A regularly sized, 1.2 meters long saber hung at her right waist, shining with a Mortal grade sheen that equalled her opponent’s knives between his fingers. It was a set of knives from a Mortal blade, not actually several Mortal knives. Only when they were used together by their owner would they be utilized correctly.
“Fight!” The Inner Disciple declared, flinging his right sleeve downwards before dashing backwards. The moment his shout went out was also the moment Pretieta casually stepped forwards without breaking her stance. Her expression was calm but a little serious, too. On the other hand, Plagox rushed forth, swinging his shoulders and knees back and forth as his Power energy covered every fiber of his body under his clothes.
“Blasting Flash!” He shouted before sending out 3 knives from his right hand, rotating after impulsing his body forwards in the air with a decent, confusing set of motions. The knives pierced through air as they arrived before Pretieta in under a second, infused with Power Energy.
Clink… But Pretieta reunited her 3 power sources, only lacking Soul, and additionally using bodily strength, which most cultivators didn’t even bother to think of. Her left hand was like a cat’s paw striking once towards a snake’s head. Her index, middle, and ring fingertips collided with the 3 knives despite their traveling route, starting from the latter to the former.
Anyone else would’ve had to draw their Mortal weapon, giving their opponent time to close in. But she stopped them with her bare fingers, only using Power Energy to defend her skin, although a blackish smoke trailed off into the air upwards after a slight blast outward after the collision happened.
“What…?!” Her opponent was flabbergasted as Pretieta passed her thumb over her fingertips, slightly bleeding a couple of bloody droplets before more or less cauterizing the superficial wounds. Her clear, breathtaking blue eyes never left her opponent. ‘Not a bad Art, but it was too easy to neutralize without any follow-up. A beginner’s use of Arts, hmph!’
She compared this move with Todoro, who would always force her to use her whole bodily strength just to catch up to him in speed, agility, and attacking and defending sets on equal grounds. Meanwhile, Todoro nodded with his arms crossed. That Plagox was only 3 moves away from eating dust and becoming the Sect’s first stepping stone.
Sure enough. A second later, Pretieta rushed forth, placing her right hand over her saber sheath, alarming Plagox. But this was only to tempt herself to use it yet not use it, to test her resolve. The thirst for killing appeared in her heart, as the [Chronicles of Life & Death] dictated, but her determination and will were above it!
She arrived before Plagox, who executed a full-on forwards blast of Power Energy, sending his 3 of his knives immediately forth, mixed within, targeting the chest and sternum. Yet, Pretieta stomped the ground 3 meters before reaching him, slid on the floor with only her soles, and narrowly passed the knives’ tips above her fluttering, ponytail blonde hair.
Before Plagox realized, as his Spirit Sense caught this development, he felt a kick on his back, nearly breaking his spine, before feeling his neck grappled by someone’s left arm. Without being left the choice to at least breathe, his right eye received a right punch before the weight on his shoulders and upper back fell on him, and he faced the ground first with a sudden momentum.
The momentum rapidly dissipated, as did the dust slightly shadowing their two figures. When it settled up, revealing Pretieta and Plagox, Pretieta maintained her body in the air with legs spread like a resting frog’s legs slightly inclined upwards. Meanwhile, her left-handed fingers pressed on the back of Plagox’s head, whose face couldn’t even crack the stage’s floor.
Tap, tap.
When Pretieta landed her feet on the floor, the Inner Disciple far away at the side declared with a trembling voice, “Core Disciple Pretieta successfully defends the southern territories!”
CHEEEEEEEERS~~!
…