From a raised earthen foundation that had been created by one of his close confidants, Wu Qing watched keenly as the match began. Standing on the edge of the platform with his hands behind his back, his red eyes glistened in the light. He clutched the wrist of one arm while the other softly clasped a brown, shell-like object.

Out of the corner of his eye he spied a piece of trash that should have never been.

Even a piece of trash can be useful if one is smart and talented.

To tell the truth, Wu Qing originally thought that man’s disciple was also a useless piece of trash too. But in the end she ended up having something as useful as Yivok in her disposal. He was grateful that he was smart enough to foresee creating a good relationship between himself and Elder Jin. Not only would a single swing of that man’s blade kill him, but he was also a very smart man. Just like him.

“Attention, disciples! This is the final match of the Golden Blood Assembly! These two young disciples will fight to decide who will receive the Red Jin Chan Pill and an High Earth-Grade armament of their choosing from the Bloody Path Sect’s treasury.”

The Golden Blood Assembly consisted of three stages. The first was to weed out the weak. It was a test conducted by the senior-most elders- that being Elder Kun and Elder Hui. Each disciple was required to have a bout with either elder, the depth and strength of their cultivation would be tested, and they would undergo three fights over the course of three days.

Based on their overall performance, the two elders would convene and come to a final judgement. Those who failed, would take a working position in the sect, doomed to never progress past foundation establishment and made a slave of the sect.

Fortunately, those who passed would live to cultivate another day. From there, they would fight against their fellow brothers and what few sisters they had to determine who would become eligible to fight on stage for the grand prize.

But it wasn’t all a one-sided matter where only the sole winner of the assembly came out with something to show. All disciples who reached the third and final stage of the assembly would be granted with a Falling Sky Pill that would assist them when making a breakthrough to the coveted foundation establishment stage.

It was said to increase one’s chances by over twenty percent! It may not sound like a great difference, but when speaking of a cultivator’s chances of a breakthrough, it was no small matter. Say a cultivator was alone in the jungle with a stranger and the other person knew that they possessed a Falling Sky Pill. If they were of similar strength, conflict would only be inevitable.

And as for the earth-grade armament of the winner’s choosing. That would be for when the winner broke through to foundation establishment. From Vessel Cleansing to Foundation Establishment, the cost of weapons steeply increased and for a while most cultivators would usually be left without a suitable weapon for many months. They would be forced to use the weapon they had used when they were at Vessel Cleansing until they finally found an earth-grade weapon that could replace it.

But the gifted earth-grade armament wasn’t any old thing. It was high-grade! Only inferior to peak-grade armaments, it would be powerful enough to bridge the gap between an entire minor stage.

With the champion’s prize at stake, Lou Zhou stared at his opponent with his sword at the ready. His sky-blue eyes calmly rippled in the light, a few red tendrils from his past attack still visible.

…

Four months ago.

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Lou Zhou stood alone in his courtyard, only a few dim lights in the distance to illuminate his surroundings. Sweat dripping down his body, his chest heaving for air, and a silver blade in his left hand, he once again steeled himself to perform the twelfth form just one more time.

“Hagh!” Lou Zhou groaned as he made a slow, sluggish lunge forward and twisted his blade mid-air.

Moving across the training square, he went through the motions in a familiar but strained manner. His movements were unnatural and stiff.

Forward! Back. Twist. Up. Back again. Exhale. Focus!

Lou Zhou repeated these commands within his mind as he went through the motions, drilling the twelfth form into his very bones. As he continued, he grew slower, and his body seemed to not want to respond.

It wanted to rest. But-

Never give up! Don’t stop moving until you collapse of exhaustion! And then when that happens, tap into your blood cultivation technique to keep on going!

His eyes were bloodshot.

He never rested for water. Not for water. And not for himself.

He resisted against his urges as his body warned him of his parched throat, rumbling stomach, and aching muscles. Finally, after two minutes of sporadically dragging his body across places, he finished the twelfth form.

But this wasn’t the end.

Breathing deeply, he began once again.

Up! Back!

Not good enough.

Again damnit!

Twist. Back. Back. Back!! Listen to me body!

Again.

Move for me!

Again.

Again!

AGAIN!

AAAGH!

His body uncontrollably shaking and not able to stand, he reached to his blade that he had dropped not too far away.

He grabbed it and despite his shaking, he made sure he didn’t let go of it again.

But when he tried to stand, he couldn’t. No matter how much he screamed to his limbs to move, they just wouldn’t. So, he did the only thing he could that would make them.

“Blood Realm. First layer!” Lou Zhou groaned.

Releasing the qi from his first vessel, it spread throughout his body and gave him life once again. He wasn’t completely fresh but he could keep on going.

And as he stood back up, he exhaled red fog. He was on borrowed time using his first layer. But he still had seven more he could use.

Again!

No longer were his moves sluggish but held within were a silent ferocity that refused to never give up. His focused eyes contained an unwilling resolve that shined brightly in the darkness.

But soon, his movements quickly deteriorated, and he found himself growing sluggish. It was only a short while later that he ended up on the ground, his body not only quivering in the cold night air but in incredible pain.

His body was not supposed to do this.

However, Lou Zhou did not show any care for this fact.

“Second layer!” Lou Zhou groaned deeply, his determination growing.

Raging across the training square in a silent frenzy, Lou Zhou kept tapping into his cultivation to keep going.

“Third Layer!”

“Fourth layer!”

“Fifth Layer!”

Everyone thought that he was a sword prodigy.

But, If Lou Zhou had a say in what others called him, he wouldn’t include the sword part. Yes, he was gifted with a once-in-a-hundred-year talent that allowed him to blitz through vessel cleansing like he was strolling through a little garden.

But the sword part…

Not so much. He was below the natural ability of even a common disciple.

When he was three, he picked up the sword for the very first time. He wanted to make his parents proud so that they could have a higher standing the sects. As the child of mortal parents, he was mistreated by all the other children his age and had to train harder than others if he wanted to make sure his parents weren’t bullied.

So that they could live comfortably and didn’t have to work in the fields anymore. He wanted a better life for them. It was natural for any child to want the best for their parents.

But he was below the average. Far below. What took someone else an hour to get the hang of would take him the entire day.

And thus, he found the toil of his existence.

Yet, sometimes, he would remember why he kept training the sword, even if he could’ve just walked a different path.

“I would rather die than give up!”

Oh boy, the look on his mother’s face when she had heard what he said.

He may be talented but without strength he wouldn’t be able to defeat even a trifling outer court disciple. He may progress fast but that didn’t mean he could walk around with his head high and without worry.

So, he compensated. And because of that determination, he was not only praised as just a prodigy, but a sword prodigy.

If, and only if, does he win the Golden Blood Assembly, will he be able to break through to Foundation Establishment.

Because, if he loses, he would be afraid to admit that the shame and impact of his failure would cause his dao heart to falter and he wouldn’t be able to breakthrough to foundation establishment.

Only by breaking through to foundation establishment will he gain the strength to retire his parents by wrestling against the proud and snot-nosed elders of his clan.

Completing the twelfth form one last time, Lou Zhou collapsed to his knees, his final layer completely drained, and his body wasted. Toned, lean muscles heaved with each breathe that he took in. His dishevelled, shoulder length black hair covered his oily, sweat-covered face.

Noticing bright rays of light from over his courtyard walls, he squinted his eyes in pain. After a few moments, his eyes adjusted, and he realised something.

It was sunrise.