Tie Nse's eyes grazed past Jia Lin and moved to another stage. There, someone was lounging at the Edge of the stage, completely bothered. Many understood why. This was Di Wong. He completely looked down on the mass elimination stage of the meet.

"Why would he bother with the small fries? He is waiting till the strong remain," someone said.

"True,"

"But standing around like this, isn't this just showing arrogance?" another asked.

"When you are as strong as him, you too can show yours,"

"Someone who had done his spirit-picking at the age of seven and entered spirit-awakening at fifteen and spirit-merging before he struck eighteen. Entered spirit-awareness at twenty-five and I hear he just broke through to the mid-soul seeking before the meet, making him the strongest person participating in the meet. And he is only fifty-five. He is the youngest person at soul seeking at the moment," someone said.

"So what? If I had a father that was a council elder in the alliance, I too would have gotten that far," someone said.

"He is not even the strongest person in the meet. There is still Eh Nam. He just struck a hundred. He entered soul-seeking five years ago. His cultivation at that stage will be much more stable than Di Wong," another concurred.

"What does this matter? The young entering soul seeking is not new. Soul awakening is when true cultivation begins. One could stay in soul-awakening for more than a thousand years before one sees the Edge of soul realization. We will know who is great at that time." someone said.

"They are all treasures of their faction, up to soul seeking, a power should be able to drag their young up till that point. Only when in soul awakening will they truly be doing it on their own. after all, not everyone is Patriarch Tie Nse." another smiled slightly. Everyone thought the same.

Many people hearing this argument thought the same. It was said that Elder Di spared no effort to make his son another Tie Nse. Sure he could level up fast, but it was harder to cultivate the higher one went. And it showed. So what if he was the youngest soul seeker on the continent? Tie Nse reached that stage at twenty, becoming patriarch at mid-soul awakening at the age of forty. Even though it was because the old patriarch was dying and the alliance needed a leader fast, it did not go unnoticed that Tie Nse could fight far above his level. He reached soul realization at sixty, shaking the entire cultivation world. It is speculated that he would enter the legendary Heaven-seeking stage at the age of a hundred and thirty. How could a small Di Wong be compared to him?

Di Wong did not like how fast the conversation turned. First, he was too great to fight, then he could not be compared to the patriarch. Many knew that the patriarch was just a wild child from the mountain. The old patriarch met him when coming back from the mountain one day and picked up an orphan boy chewing sugar canes of twelve who was at late soul merging at the time.

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The patriarch forced the boy to come back and cultivate but the boy kept running away from the alliance to go relax. When caught, one would notice his cultivation had grown. His wild behaviour of wanting to relax instead of studying made the then-sick former patriarch so angry, that he would resort to tricks to get Tie Nse to do something. It was even said that the patriarch tricked Tie Nse to come for his own coronation.

When Tie Nse found out and wanted to escape, he was held down while the ceremony took place. The old man tricked Tie Nse by telling him that he could do anything he liked once he becomes patriarch, allowing Tie Nse to finally willing sit down on the patriarch's seat. Still, the old man did not trust him and went as far as tying him to the patriarch's chair till the guest left. His attitude today is allowed by the alliance because he is too strong and those old Heaven alliance protectors that could hold him down don't really mind his attitude. Tie Nse is still a child in cultivation years, as such, they keep saying that he will learn responsibility when he grows up. No one could dispute this fact.

Di Wong understood that with the patriarch's legendary figure, the only way he would be seen as anyone was to be recognized by the legend himself. Still, he could not bring himself to join the battle and fight these small fries. He looked at Eh Nam fighting away. True, Eh Nam was the only person he was weary of in this alliance meet. He could not disdain Eh Nam, this guy loved fighting. He was someone that was scouted by the Hell squad themselves. Even if an ant asked him for a fight, he would attack with full strength. Looking at how much he was enjoying the fight, he saw the number of contestants getting smaller.

The shout of awe caused him to look in that direction. The crowd seemed to be following closely the battle between two people. This was Jia Lin and his opponent. The girl had thought that her cultivation level was enough to crush Jia Lin, but did not expect such a ferocious fight.

He was too fast!

Jia Lin moved like the wind, his sword moved even faster. But that was not what bothered the girl. Even though she could barely keep up with him with her eyes, she could at least react in time. He was a much more experienced fighter and a better swordsman, so she was at a clear disadvantage. Still, with her cultivation, she should still be able to handle it. Many thought this way at first, and they were right. But they were not the ones who received those sword strikes.

He was strong!

Every strike felt as though she was being hit by a mighty hammer. As expected, her sword did not last long under his continuous attacks.

Clink! The sword broke into two. She did not have the time to worry about her master's sword as she hurriedly escaped for her life. But without a sword, what could she really do? Jia Lin's sword made to stab her chest and she swayed out of the way. But not in time to escape completely. She felt the cool metal stab through her shoulder and come out the other side. Pulling out his sword, Jia Lin kicked her off the stage. The world warped and he was back at the arena. He could not seem to calm his breath. This fight was too hard. If his strikes were not powerful and his opponent a novice at fighting, he would have long died. Many saw this too, but they were too impressed by the fact that he fought someone several levels above his cultivation.

Taking in deep breaths, he looked around. On his stage, the numbers had greatly dwindled. There were twenty-one people on his stage. They all looked at each other. He could tell that these people were powerful. He would be crazy to take on any one of them. They too looked at him and someone else behind him. They all felt that since he and that person were the weakest on the stage, they should decide for themselves who will be the final twenty.

Jia Lin turned to look at the person and his eyes met Heavenly Rain.