“Liu Chen don’t you dare lose or I’ll kill you myself!”

Shouted the young master whose servant Zhang Dong was impersonating. He wanted to do nothing more than go and slap all of these kids in the face. They were all teenagers and apparently already corrupt down to their bones. He could see the glee in some of their eyes that would probably be hard to correct even if they switched factions at this very moment. Yet before he could contend with that problem he needed to first get out of here.

“Kill him.”

Young master Haoyu was a bit more composed but even he was part of the group. Zhang Dong could clearly see through the system what the youth said to the burly servant. Even though none of them needed to die here it was often the case. In the demonic sects not many masters tolerated failures and depending on the occasion they would not accept it.

In this case, Liu Chen and the other servant would be fighting for their own survival. The young masters on both sides hated each other and they made a spectacle of it. There were far too many people gathered here, it would be a hit to their face if they lost which was still the main reason anyone existed in this world.

‘I wonder if I can ever get people to realize that fame and prestige aren’t all that great…’

He wanted to do nothing more and to explain how a simple life might be a lot better than one filled with wealth. Yet at this very moment, the large servant was already charging his way while surrounding himself with some strange red energy. This energy was filled with negative emotions which allowed the man to boost his power even higher.

There was a small problem here, Zhang Dong didn’t really know what this Liu Chen was good at. The man didn’t have many personal belongings on him, these were probably kept at a safer location where the other inner disciples couldn’t get them. He was probably wary of carrying too much money or resources that were meant for his own progress.

Thus Zhang Dong wasn’t really sure what this servant was good at. The only clue that was in his possession was Liu Chen himself that was still knocked out in his spatial treasure. A quick examination revealed some of his proficiencies and that he preferred palm attacks to other means.

‘His dao of shadows is the most proficient as well… but this doesn’t always mean anything…’

He was unsure how to react, should he just go for it and knock the big guy out in one hit? Yet that could draw unwanted attention from the elders and teachers that were watching the scene play out. At this point in time, he couldn’t just reveal himself as his escape route was not clear. Wang Long could have already arrived on the scene and might also have a way to block any teleportation attempts.

For this reason, he needed to make it look authentic. People in the training areas had been performing some basic techniques that he could copy. The only problem would be his position, as a servant he would probably not be allowed to learn high level techniques that others were using. For this reason, he needed to go with something more basic but refined to make up for the discrepancy in tiers.

“Hah, look at him just standing there! Did he just give up and accepted his fate?”

“That might be true, maybe the servant is tired of working for someone like Yichen.”

The group that was on Haoyu’s side started cackling while looking at the fight. Zhang Dong was still processing the situation and thinking about a good strategy. His hands were lowered as if he had given up on the bout. The large man didn’t stop though, he was ordered to kill and that’s what he would do. His large fist which was covered by crimson energy quickly descended at his opponent's head.

Suddenly there was a change, as the fist was only a few centimeters away from Zhang Dong’s face he stepped to the side. It was as if the path of the blow had been read and he used the least amount of effort to evade it. This was his answer to his problem, instead of going for flashy techniques he would win with the basics.

The cultivators in this world were enhanced, martial artists. When they started out they focused a lot of their time on perfecting their basic martial skills. Yet as they progressed to new heights they tended to forget about the foundations of their power. Regular techniques like reading the flow of combat, and searching for cues a body made were forgotten. Instead, they trained in performing large-scale attacks with the help of their Qi.

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To win this battle he didn’t really need to be stronger than his opponent. It would be fine if he could just read him and counter effectively. Just like that after dodging the large blow he surrounded himself with a thin layer of fake demonic Qi. This was to boost his power while also protecting his own body from the red energy that would try to invade his body and harm it.

Soon the large man felt a palm strike his side. Even though there wasn’t a lot of power behind it he felt like vomiting. But he would not be defeated this easily, the muscles that he was so proud of were like armor and he was also hiding his true power. This amount of damage he could still contend with.

“You…”

His first opened up as he spread his fingers into the shape of a claw. His fingernails expanded in both length and thickness as he attempted to shred his enemy. Yet even when performing these strikes at an alarming pace Zhang Dong was able to see through every faint and small movement and react accordingly.

To not make it too obvious he showed a concerned face as if he was barely managing himself. The exchange of blows continued and both parties were receiving damage but one of them was clearly losing.

“Young master Haoyu’s servant is losing?”

“How is that Liu Chen this lucky? Was he hiding his martial skills all this time?”

“Did he just stumble over a rock to dodge that flying kick?”

Zhang Dong didn’t think that he was the best actor but he tried to remember any actions that might help him in this situation. He wanted to appear as being lucky but also with enough skill to win this fight. If he could sell his victory as just being lucky then it was fine. The other servant couldn’t really reveal his true power for long as the whole bet would be forfeit and that was also what he was aiming for.

‘He tried a few times but hasn’t made it too obvious…’

The large man had been boosting himself with that half-step core formation power from time to time. It was clear that Haoyu had instructed him not to make it too obvious. If Zhang Dong played his cards right then he wouldn’t even need to deliver the final blow to this meat head. What he needed to do was to make him angry enough to reveal his true potential.

“Did Liu Chen hit his head and get enlightened or something?”

The young lords that were watching the fight started watching the fight without blinking. They were still only Qi condensation practitioners that could learn a lot. To them the way Liu Chen dodged every attack was quite intriguing. The footwork in itself was something not many masters were capable of. Yet it would probably be impossible to copy as both of the fighters were already high ranked foundation establishment adepts.

‘Common, I know that you want to do it…’

For his next attempt, Zhang Dong performed a bicycle kick to the face after getting his other foot grasped. It was a nice hit to his opponent's chin that was unable to defend himself. His mouth became filled with blood and one of the teeth inside his mouth had been snapped in half. The man could not believe it, how was he losing to someone he should be able to kill with one hit.

“Y-you…BASTARD!”

‘There we go! Give me that rage mode!”

Finally, his tactic of annoying the other servant with smacks to the face had borne fruit. He could see all sorts of veins popping up on his body as he transformed into his true form. It was clear that the man was only a half-step core formation practitioner for a reason. The form he was taking on was incomplete and hard to control. The demonic arts he was using swayed towards the emotions garnering rage and anger. In short, he was a berserker that had a short fuse.

‘Here he comes… hope someone will jump in before it gets out of hand…’

“H-hey, that’s not something a servant should be capable of doing… he is above the foundation realm…”

Zhang Dong made sure to shout out what was going on to make the others act quicker. The young masters that were looking at him were pushed back by the spike in cultivation. To people of the lowest realm, a half-step core formation master was enough to make them faint.

“Haoyu I know that you were a cheating bastard!”

“I don’t know what you are insinuating, I had no idea about this either!”

“Shut up you liar and admit your loss!”

“Never!”

‘Those two fuckers…’

While the two were arguing with each other he was still getting assaulted by the enraged muscle head. Evading these savage attacks wasn’t as easy now. With him hiding his true power there was a limited assortment of options thus the only reasonable thing to do was, to make a run for it.

“H-help!”

“Hey shouldn’t we stop the fight, Liu Chen looks pathetic…”

“Yeah…”

The other kids from the group started laughing as he burst forth from the group and made a run for it. While this might have not been the best way out of this situation it gave him a chance of running.

‘The teachers aren’t interfering either… this really is a hellhole for learning…’

It didn’t seem there was anyone to punish the young masters. They would probably work it out between each other and no one cared about the runaway servant that was now only an amusing sight to behold.

‘I guess this is as good a time as any…’

With the fight now being a big farce, he decided to bolt it for the main gate. There the guards would probably help him out with this situation and perhaps even allow him to escape to the other side. When outside he would finally be able to move past this debacle and join in with his army…