Genius (2)
The dust cleared as everyone had their eyes glued to the arena.
Jian Ting was standing on one side, panting hard. His body had really hit its limit in this fight. He slowly raised his head to gaze at Jue Lin.
On the other side of the arena, Jue Lin was standing still, her breathing quickened, but not as bad as Jiang Ting's. Blood was flowing down her hand.
She stood there and bowed. "I admit defeat."
Silence fell upon the crowd.
Jiang Ting bowed back at her, before turning around and leaving the arena.
Jue Lin's eyes followed the departing figure, before she similarly turned back, walking off the arena, painting a desolate picture.
'It seems a genuine monster is about to rise up,' she thought to herself as she walked off.
All of a sudden, the spell of silence broke, and the crowd went into a frenzy. For a newbie to perform at such a level, nobody in their wildest imagination could conjure up such a scene.
Jue Li kept walking, and stopped only when a figure came to block her way. She looked up and was immediately stunned.
"Senior Huang Chen." She hurriedly bowed. The figure in front of her was someone everybody in the village knew about. After all, he had been the most stellar performer in the previous competition, dominating everybody else to come out as the strongest disciple. He had been accepted as the Headmaster's disciple after that, although he graduated the academy shortly after, he was still training under the Headmaster's tutelage.
"The technique he just used was a grade 5 martial art cultivated to the middle stage mastery. Hold your head high, your performance was nothing short of exemplary." Huang Chen smiled at her briefly, before walking off.
Jue Lin was shell shocked. To receive such a compliment from Huang Chen made her confidence skyrocket, and she was bursting with joy.
At the same time, Jiang Ting walked over to Lin Fan, who was with some girl all of a sudden. 'He sure wasted no time getting some company.' Jiang Ting thought to himself, as Lin Fan put his arm round Jiang Ting's shoulders and whistled.
"That really was something, brother. Tell me honestly, did you really start cultivating a month ago?"
"Yep."
"Amazing. By the way this is Xuan Li." He pointed to the cute girl beside him.
"Hello, junior brother Jiang, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Jiang Ting had already grasped what's going on here. "Senior sister Xuan, is it? As expected, a man as talented as brother Fan really knows some outstanding people. Why don't you come with him when we go out for drinks sometime in the future."
Xuan Li's face lit up, "That sounds wonderful."
Lin Fan smiled. 'As expected of brother Jiang. He's really a god.'
At this time, a giant, burly hand patted Jiang Ting's head. Jiang Ting's face fell. 'It's my time to look cool. Could you knock it off?'
"Junior brother, excellently done. Master was watching, and senior brother was probably watching as well. You really did master proud, and both of your senior brothers as well." Zhao Song was all cheers.
Sun Mei also came up to Jiang Ting. "So you're junior brother Jiang. Congratulations on your victory. You were a hundred times more impressive than this fellow was last time." She glared at Zhao Song. He shrunk back.
Jiang Ting looked at this familiar scene with a smile on his face. "Thank you for your praise, senior sister. I am sure senior brother will perform to your liking this time."
Sun Mei blushed, while Zhao Song, feeling something was wrong here, coughed. "I see you're with your friends, so I'll leave you be for now. Later, junior brother."
At this time, Yan Ping and Lu Fei approached him from afar.
"Congratulations, junior brother. I thought I had seen all the talents of the village, turns out you really stand out as peerless amongst them." Yan Ping smiled at him.
Jiang Ting didn't freak out this time. An intense battle like that helped him put the immature hormones of this body aside, and he regained a bit of the splendor of an elite cultivator. "Many thanks, senior sister." Yan Pei stood still. 'His demeanor has changed a lot. He's a lot more, proud? So, this is the true him."
"Little runt, be more grateful for the praise, would you?" Lu Fei was scowling at Jiang Ting. Noticing her, he thought back to the time he had thrashed her. Realizing this woman still held a grudge, he replied nonchalantly, "What was that? I seem to recall you having a lot less spunk when I gave you and your friends a beating all those years ago."
"Hmph." She blushed from the embarassment, feeling people's gazes around her.
"Ah, right. Some of the older kids got jealous of Jiang Ting's repute and went to beat up Jiang Ting a few years back. They had just started cultivation, and were several years older than him, and got thrashed by him alone. I remember senior sister Lu Fei got her nose broken."
Someone around them spoke up. The people around immediately started gossiping, and Lu Fei blushed even harder.
Yan Ping started giggling, "So that's how it is." She gave a provocative look to Lu Fei, who looked like she was about to cry. Lu Fei walked off with a humph, and Yan Ping looked at Jiang Ting, "Well, I better go calm her down. I hope you'll come see me fight later, junior brother."
"Of course, senior sister, best of luck."
As they parted ways, Jiang Ting, Lin Fan and Xuan Li started roaming around the arenas, looking at the ongoing fights. Soon, Xuan Li was called to another arena, so they headed there to spectate her battle and cheer her on.
Lin Fan whispered to Jiang Ting, "Thanks for the assist, brother Jiang."
"No worries. By the way, how long have you known her."
"Since the start of your match."
"..."
Jiang Ting suddenly recalled something, "I still haven't settled the score for you not telling me about the grade one technique Jue Lin cultivated."
Lin Fan's smile froze, "Ah, that's right, I forgot. Sorry about that, thankfully you won anyway."
"It's alright. Everyone makes mistakes."
The two turned their attention to the stage.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone