Chapter 35

Lya's Shine

It was Lya's moment to step up to the large arena, the echo of his name still resonating.

She'd been watching others fight for two days now--mostly just kids her age and younger at the Foundation Realm, something that she would have been part of had she never met the Senior in the forest.

Deep down, she felt a sense of trepidation; even if she was a Core Formation cultivator, she'd only been one for a short amount of time. She hadn't even fully grasped any of the arts that her Master tried passing on, and was struggling to incorporate the new cultivation method into her daily routine. There was fear that she would disappoint, that her showing would be miserable. But there was nothing to be done.

Her opponent was a young man from Iron Mountain Sect--he looked to be close to his mid-twenties, garbed in dark-gray robes with a pair of axes strapped to the sides of his belt. Standing rather tall--as did seemingly all Disciples of the Iron Mountain Sect--he was quite intimidating, but there was a somewhat warm smile on his face that she couldn't see past.

She stepped up to the stage and took a deep breath.

"Relax," the man suddenly spoke to her. She was so nervous that she didn't even hear his name when it was called out. "Even if I somehow manage to win, you are far more talented than me. Everyone here knows it. So, just fight with everything you got. Okay?"

"..." she looked at him oddly for a moment, wondering why he was trying to calm down his opponent. Perhaps he was trying to get inside of her head that way? It didn't seem so, however. Nonetheless, she had no time to think--for the Elder overseeing their fight had signaled its beginning.

The man immediately broke out into sprint--flutters of Qi danced visibly around his ankles, and he flew across the forty yards of distance or so between the two in a flash. Lya let go of her reservations the best she could and decided to do precisely what the man advised her to do--give it her all.

Her feet flashed with lightning as she stepped to the side, a ringing echo of thunder eclipsing the sounds of the man's arrival. Both his axes were already out and swung, digging into the arena in a cross shape. While dodging, she'd already conjured several bolts of lightning and arced them toward the man. The latter, seeming somewhat stumped that she dodged, elected to not take them head on.

His footwork was simple but fast--even if he couldn't quite make the corners as well as she could, in straight dash, he was far quicker than her. It was also quickly evident that he was much better at controlling Qi than her--while she'd have to violently splurge on all her actions as she was unaccustomed to it, he was far more refined in the usage.

It swiftly turned into a chase--Lya had never fancied melee combat, and grew tear-eyed happy when she learned she had affinity with thunder. Since then, nearly all of her training was about learning how to maintain a distance from her opponent and wear them down, which was exactly what she was trying to do.

Her feet moved in rapid flashes, leaving behind thundering booms, while her arms never stopped conjuring bolts of lighting; at the same time, the man danced between her strikes, his eyebrows slowly knotting into a furrow. She wasn't really precise with her attacks--she would send them out like a salvo, but because she'd always conjure up at least ten bolts before firing, he had no choice but to stop his straight-line dash and dodge instead, slowing him down and allowing her to create distance between the two.

The issue was rather simple: she was expending far, far, *far* more Qi than he did in doing these actions, and was essentially delaying the inevitable... at least, that was how everyone watching the battle saw it.

Lya, however, felt different.

While it was true that the reason she was splurging Qi in every action was her lack of ability to control it, there was also a rather simple fact that the purity and quantity of her Qi after the forest expedition had exploded. Both Song and her far outmatched everyone at their realm, and their Masters confirmed that the purity of their Qi rivaled someone an entire realm above theirs--Spirit Creation Realm.

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That wasn't to say that the two could fight cross-realm, naturally, but that, against their peers, they'd have reserves others couldn't even fathom.

As such, once minutes began to pass and the battle hadn't changed at all, queries began. The man's brows furrowed even further, and even beads of sweat began to show up. Though he was almost immaculate at controlling Qi, he still had finite reserves, ones she was forcing him to tap into deeply.

Seemingly tired of the boring chase, and worried that he might actually lose the battle of attrition, for the first time since the battle's start, the man didn't stop and try and dodge her attacks--instead, he coated his axes with a thick sheen of Qi and slashed outward, ripping through the bolts as though they were made of paper.

Lya panicked a bit, coating her feet in Qi once again and throwing herself backward like a bolt, but the man persisted in his pursuit--his entire body began to faintly glow in a metallic sheen, and he quickly closed the distance between the two, swinging the pair of axes from over the top. She executed her footwork once again, dashing sideways and, in a desperate bid to create more distance, did something out of instinct--rather than creating a bolt of lightning, which involved carefully tethering elementally-suffused Qi to her own sea and controlling the bolts with her mind, she formed a spherical bundle of lightning in front of her and let it loose towards the man.

The latter, wholly unprepared, took the full brunt of the attack--however, the explosion never went fully off, as just before it did, a flash of lightning intervened and cut her connection to it. The Elder overseeing their battle appeared by the man's side and easily blocked the after-effects, dismissing Lya's attack as though it were nothing.

"I have lost," the man suddenly bowed toward her as the Elder stepped away soundlessly. Still fraught with adrenaline, she wasn't quite yet certain what was happening. "That was very smart. Only using one type of attack the entire battle to force my body into a specific pattern of movement."

"T-thank... you?" she replied in confusion.

"But, you know," the man looked at her strangely. "You... you *are* just at the early stage of the Core Formation Realm, right?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Hm. You seem to have just as much Qi as some of my Seniors at Peak Core Formation Realm. Probably even more, to be honest."

"Ah. He he..." she didn't know how to react--it was true, after all, but being praised directly to her face (by who now in her eyes became quite a handsome young man) was rather embarrassing.

Luckily, she didn't have to participate it in any longer as the world around he erupted into rowing applause--she glanced up to the nearby balcony where she saw her Master nod toward her with a smile.

Feeling fluttery in her chest, she stepped off the stage where she was quickly besieged by her fellow Disciples who flooded her with questions. Though averse to popularity, she had to admit: deep down... it felt nice to be the center of attention, and to spot the looks of envy in the eyes of those who'd dismissed her existence entirely just a few weeks ago. And that was all thanks to the Senior's kindness, the man who gave her the future without asking anything in return.

**

"She must have re-forged her roots to some degree in a Heavenly Pond," a cloaked figure mumbled toward another sitting by their side. Though the two spoke despite being surrounded by quite a few others, nobody seemed to notice them, just as though there was a membrane disallowing any sounds from escaping.

"Hm. The purity and quantity could rival someone who created an Earthly Spirit," the other figure said. "I'm not quite sure that even the Heavenly Pavilion's pond is that pure these days."

"Does that mean that the Holy Blade found a way to upgrade the Sect's pond?"

"No, that's impossible. Besides, it's only her and another kid, both of whom were beyond unremarkable. If they had that kind of ability, they would have first given it to their most talented Disciples. Additionally, have you noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

"Try to check her Spirit Roots."

"Hm?" there was a brief moment of silent before gasping exclamation. "Peak Sky?"

"Yes, but not just that. They're still... evolving," the cloaked figure said, their tone grave. "By my estimates, in about a year, they'll evolve into Low Heaven. In about ten years, Mid Heaven. And in about a century, she'll have Peak Heaven Roots. All this if she does absolutely nothing for the rest of her life."

"... how is that possible?"

"I only know of one place with the ability. My Master mentioned it once, citing that the first writs specify that the First Demon only became as strong as he did because he took a bath there, in the Immortal Pond, one of the converging points where the purest of Qi is formed."

"Isn't that just a myth? Every historical record says that the First Demon was beyond talented from birth."

"That's just the Ashlands' version of the story. But, you're right. It's probably a myth. Still, if she did, in fact, partake in the waters of the Immortal Pond, there's a chance she might have a link with the First Demon, however faint. During the confusion, see if you can grab her as well as that bald boy. Relay it to others. If it's impossible or if it might interfere with the original goal, just ignore it. It's still just a passing curiosity, after all."

"Okay. Ah, it's the boy's turn to fight. Should we stay and watch?"

"No. We have too many preparations to go through. Let's go, Four."

"Yes, One."