Zhang Dong found himself in a bit of a predicament. He had hoped to avoid confronting the other young testosterone-filled youths. They were all just done pumping their chests out and now ready to collect on the winnings.
The Thunderball Hall did not care about any old possessions that they brought here from their old clans. Thus a lot of the young lords here were still in possession of their spatial rings. He knew of a little technique that could mask the insides of the ring but only when it was close to his body.
If someone decided to take it away then they would see that he had quite the large pile of lower grade spirit stones in there. It didn’t seem that this youth was the type that backed down though but he would try to resolve it without too much fighting.
“Are you ignoring this Zhong Yahui? I saw you cower in fear while all of us sect brothers fought, a coward like you does not deserve any cultivation resources!”
The young man named Zhong Yahui reached out with his hand. He was clearly trying to grab Zhang Dong’s wrist to relinquish him of his ring.
Even before Zhang Dong could use his superior diplomacy skills it seemed that it was over. This young man had a certain shit-eating grin plastered all over his face. It was clear that he was itching to fight some more, he was probably one of those types.
Some youths that had been beaten up by this young master looked on from the side. It seemed to them that another one would succumb to this bullies' strength.
For some odd reason though they all felt a small gust of wind. A little bit later they saw the smirking Zhong Yahui falling down onto his face while Dai Rong moved to the side.
“Oh… he must have tired himself out during the fights… how regrettable…”
Zhang Dong whistled to himself while pushing the passed-out youth away with his foot. While Zhong Yahui was focusing on his spatial ring he delivered a strike to his neck. He was a cultivator of a big realm above these youths, doing so without being spotted was possible. His arm moved so fast that at most the others could see a blur and feel the wind pressure.
‘No one should have been able to see what I did…’
He thought to himself while trying to avoid the curious gazes. It did look suspicious that one of the stronger trial disciples had passed out just like that.
‘I don’t think they are buying it…’
The youths continued to stare at him and the passed out Zhong Yahui. They were probably not so dumb to believe that a cultivator like that would just go down without a fight. He knew what they were thinking but not like he could do anything about it now.
“What happened to brother Yahui…”
The number two from the group of victorious youths appeared out of the crowd. He was just in time to look at the passed out Yahui who he now called a brother. This was Bai Tu who along with Yahui and Wang Yating who was the strongest had taken over this group of disciples.
“Someone explain this!”
He was quick to grab someone from the peanut gallery. Now after showing his strength he was not afraid to enforce the rules around here.
“He just fell over… I don’t know”
“How does he just fall over, did you gang up on him? I guess we didn’t crush you lot thoroughly!”
The young man he was holding on was already covered in wounds. He and most of the people here had taken part in the fight for the top spot and were now covering before the might of the top cultivators here.
“Senior brother I’m not lying, he walked over to that brother there and just fell over.”
“Oh?”
The number two from the trio of young masters homed in on Zhang Dong. He had sat down on the bed now and was sitting on it with his legs crossed. Even though he just wanted everyone to go away and leave him alone, trouble was heading his way.
“You! Did you do this to my junior brother?”
For someone like Zhang Dong that was now used to being looked up to, it was hard to get used to getting talked down to. This young man showed no respect, luckily he was talking with someone that didn’t take such things to heart.
“Your junior brother? I don’t know who you are talking about, I’m just trying to meditate, the elders told us to sleep, we should listen to their wise words.”
“The elders? Now listen here you…”
This youth was apparently not having it either. While talking he reached his hand out towards the sitting Zhang Dong. Then, just like before the people in the room could feel a strange gust of wind. Bai Tu was then seen falling backward with his eyes rolling back into his eye sockets.
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“They really must be tired, all that fighting must have taken a toll on their spiritual energy…”
He smiled while talking to the rest of the people in this room. Even though he was trying to hide it, it didn’t seem like this group of youths believed any of his bullshit. They started inching away from the spot that he was sitting in. One might have been a coincidence but not two of the stronger trial disciples were down on the ground.
“Junior brother Tu? Junior brother Yahui?”
It was time for the third stooge to appear. Wang Yating was his name and he did not look like someone below the age of twenty. He already had a full-grown beard and was at least two meters in height. There was a certain scowl on his face as he looked at the two young masters that Zhang Dong had knocked out.
“What happened here, you better explain everything to this Wang Yating!”
The tall young man cracked his knuckles while looking at everyone gathered here. The people evaded his gaze but soon they started pointing out with their fingers. Even though their fear of Zhang Dong was growing they still found this brute to be the scarier one.
“So it was you? How did a scrawny-looking bastard like you manage to defeat my junior brothers? Do you dare face me?”
Zhang Dong started to wonder why his infiltration schemes always seemed to backfire. The less he tried to stand out, the more people looked his way. Now, this bear-looking person was trying to start a fight with him and he was slowly starting to lose his composure.
“You want to face me?”
“Who else is there, are you scared?”
“Hah…”
He knew that he should not let himself get yanked down to this person’s level. The young man was half his age, as a proper adult, he should refrain from being too violent. However, this didn’t mean that he wasn’t willing to show the rowdy youths a thing or two.
Slowly he stood up from his spot and took a step forward. Where his foot met was where he dropped one of the juniors of this senior brother. He just used him as a stepping stone to get closer to Wang Yating.
The large man at the sight of that became enraged. This was not due to Zhang Dong hurting his junior brothers in front of him, no. By stepping on them in front of their Senior Brother he was showing disrespect to him, it was a blatant hit to his face.
“You dare step on my brother?”
“Oh, I didn’t see him there, my apologies, Ya-bing was it?”
The large youth started getting red in the face, he was clearly not used to people making fun of him. Zhang Dong knew those types well, if someone stepped on his shoe he would have them beaten to an inch of their life.
“How brazen…”
“Do you think he stands a chance against senior brother Yating?”
“I don’t know… maybe those two really were just tired…”
The other trial sect members started whispering amongst each other while Zhang Dong and Wang Yating headed outside this shack. This time around he was not planning to end it with just a quick hit but there was no reason to destroy the barracks in the process.
‘Those elders could probably feel me do something anyway, I guess I can show them some of my strength …’
Zhang Dong was slowly abandoning the notion of leaving this place too quickly. From what he could tell there were protective formations as well as Martial Masters spread out everywhere.
The formation that was protecting this sect was at the core formation level, about the later stage. With his current cultivation, he would not be able to disable it even with the help of his knowledge. He would at least need to prepare some items beforehand and for that he needed something and that something was privacy.
His plans have shifted in attaining that, if he was seen as a genius he would probably be given his own private spot as an inner sect disciple. Even some of the outer sect disciples had their own cultivation caves or houses.
There were people watching from the outside and this guy he was facing was the strongest person here. This was not the only barracks with people in it, to get the spot he wanted he would need to eliminate all the other prospects by outperforming them. He could probably use some underhanded methods but those would probably not be needed.
“I’ll beat some respect into you!”
They were now outside and everyone was eager to see what Zhang Dong was capable of. The ones that lost previously were hoping that he would win, while also trying to see if they could witness some faults in Yating’s technique that they could later exploit.
Zhang Dong was wearing one of those flowy robes that he disliked. He didn’t reply to the taunts and Yating finally lost it and charged towards him with a mad rush. His muscles expanded and his fingers turned into blackened claws.
He was using some strange body refining technique that changed his hands into deadly weapons. He did a number on his previous opponents which were full of deep scratch wounds.
Regretfully he was fighting someone much more experienced than him. Zhang Dong was sure to drop his cultivation level to appear as someone at the late inner aura stage.
Yating went in like a savage beast but he was unable to connect with any of his attacks. For his size, he was quite nimble but each time he thought he would draw blood his opponent managed to slip away at the last second.
This was all a show, Zhang Dong was playing it up to the elders that were looking. He wanted to appear as someone versed in fighting by managing to evade each deadly blow after deadly blow.
“Stop running and fight like a man!”
“As you wish.”
Zhang Dong replied while stopping in his tracks. He swished his sleeve to the side and stuck out his hand towards his opponent.
“A battle of strength, would that satisfy you?”
“Damn conceited idiot!”
Yating went red in the face but quickly took Zhang Dong up on the offer. He grasped his opponent's smaller hand and began to squeeze while trying to break the fingers. To his surprise no matter how hard he tried, he could not hear any sound of bones cracking. Instead, he felt like he was stuck in some kind of vice, unable to pull his hand away.
“Did you really think you are the only one that studies body refining techniques?”
Zhang Dong's hand turned into a silvery color and everyone could see it appear metallic in nature. The bear-looking young man’s digits were promptly snapped and the crunching sounds could be heard by everyone here.
Yating started screaming while going down to his knees, then with a well-placed smack to the neck he was knocked out cold by Zhang Dong. The other young members looked on with horror at Yating’s demise. The monster that defeated them was easily dispatched by this unknown young man, putting him at the very top of their group.
“What is this, fighting between junior members is forbidden!”
Suddenly the Martial Masters that were hiding in the bushes appeared at the scene. There were three of them and they quickly dispersed everyone. The injured Yating was carried out into the infirmary while the rest were ordered to go to sleep. Finally, the first night at the new sect was over, what the next day would bring remained to be seen.