Kapitel 78: Relentless Ignition, Garen's choice
In this one week, Ace would spend some time watching the disciples who woke up in the early morning when the first ray of sunlight pierced through the curtains of cover in the sky.
The disciples weren't awake in order to catch the attention of their sect master, but because they understood how important it was to keep up with the pace of those who were working harder than them.
Especially when they witnessed the strength of their sect master with their very own eyes, when they were as young as their sect master, they were just cultivators who would get all hyped up over a minor breakthrough in the early stages of cultivation, seizing the opportunity to celebrate every time which ended up wasting their talent.
Their sect master has not uttered a single word of encouragement to them up till now, neither has he looked at them straight in the eye, they weren't worth his attention. That was the only impression Ace left them as a sect master.
He was cold. Distant. Out of their reach.
All of the disciples also understood that for the upcoming annual sect competition, those of them who specialised in combat would stand no chance in securing a spot against those seniors. In terms of raw combat strength, those seniors were more than one tier above them in the ladder.
The differences between their capabilities were too vast to be compared. There was no room for competition because the disparity between their cultivation talents were incomparable.
If it was just a difference in cultivation talent, maybe the disciples might find it unfair that they were born to have lower cultivation talent. But they have seen with their very own eyes just how much effort those demon-like seniors of them had put into their daily cultivation sessions.
Before the break of dawn, their seniors would have already started their training. By the time everyone has ended their morning session or even their evening cultivation session to take a rest, their seniors training would have only just started.
They aspired to work as diligently as their seniors, but even so, their body wasn't able to keep up with the strong conviction within their heart.
When they asked their seniors where their motivation to cultivate came from, their seniors would always give them the same answer.
"When you find a reason to grow stronger one day, then you'll understand the desperate need we have and the reason why the sect master is able to grow this quickly."
While the disciples who were still motivated were cultivating, Ace returned to his dwellings and started the cultivation process again.
By the sixth day which was one day ahead of his initial plans, Ace managed to breakthrough to the middle stage Martial Master realm and by the time he managed to stabilize his cultivation, it was already late afternoon.
Ace had everything he needed right now, be it reflexes, mental energy, cultivation base, or even his comprehension of the slaughter laws and nascent flames while the frost law was a useful tool at times. Yet, there was one thing he was lacking, a stronger sword skill.
Back in the past, he has always failed to comprehend the second layer of the Scarlet Frenzy Sword Arts, but considering his current strength and improved talent, Ace knew that he stood a chance of cultivating the second layer of the Scarlet Frenzy successfully.
Again and again without fail.
Devour from the life of beings.
Ignite and ignite without fail.
Rise from the depths of ashes.
Never rest, never stop.
Never conclude, never end.
Push and strike again.
Fall and rise again.
Those were the contents of the second layer of the Scarlet Frenzy. (Above is a poem I created)
But now Ace understood what it means, in order to devour from the life of beings, what he needed was the slaughter law which carved and devoured blood from life essence.
Rise from the depths of the ashes, it was referring to his Nascent flames which had undergone a rebirth, which was why it can also be known as the Nirvana flames.
Energy gathered around his sword as he called for Jay to meet him outside his dwelling right now.
"Bring it on." Judging from Ace's current behaviour, Jay understood the entire situation even without Ace explaining himself.
Ace slashed forward, from above his head to the ground as a sword wave imbued with slaughter law and surrounded by scorching flames threatened to rip the air apart as it dashed towards Jay who easily crushed it.
"Rebirth!"
What? Before Jay could fully understand the situation, the sword wave he crushed suddenly manifested before his eyes again before heading straight for him once again as he crushed it again.
"Rebirth!"
It was already the third time. But the attack showed no signs of weakening against Jay's merciless destruction as the same attack, manifested before Jay's eyes without any sign of being weakened.
*Crush*
Jay destroyed it again, right when he was curious as to when the fourth attack would manifest again, the sound of Ace gasping caught his attention.
"Are you alright?" Jay laughed before checking on Ace whose face was ashen white, his chest heaving up and down, gasping for air.
"How was it?"
"How was what?"
"My trump card." Ace smirked as a sly smile formed on his face.
*Valor Kingdom*
In the court hall right now, the king was seated on his throne. The young princes and loyal officials who have remained in the Valor kingdom until now, chose their respective seats according to what others believe they deserve.
But for the first time in the Valor Kingdom's history, the person seated on the highest seat excluding the king wasn't the crown prince, but Garen who was the youngest among the king's sons.
But even though Garen was seated there without the slightest intention of changing seats, everyone still found another seat while the crown prince sighed before taking his new seat as well.
The crown prince understood that in terms of contribution in this war, even this youngest brother of his has already done much more than him.
Garen had led a thousand soldiers into ambushing a three thousand count of demon beasts before they arrived with only minor casualties and no deaths.
Garen had stalled for enough time for reinforcements to arrive when the demon beasts played dirty and tried to invade the kingdom with only the personal army which was with him.
Garen had also created strategies to counter the demon beasts, even baiting one of the major commanders of the demon beasts and slaying it on the spot with assistance from two major generals of the Valor Kingdom.
As the crown prince, all he had done until now was join the soldiers in war and provide a morale boost, maybe killing a few hundred or thousand until now while his brother had already done impactful damage that was tilting the odds of this war to them.
Princes in the Valor Kingdom are divided into four grades. The first grade was the True Prince. The second grade was the Honoured Prince. The third grade was the Inheritance prince and the fourth grade was the minor Prince.
The crown prince was the only True prince, but he understood that all this was going to change soon enough. Even until today, this fact that he had already come to terms with still felt unbelievable to him.
Since when has this younger brother of his become so outstanding?
"I called for this meeting today because the demon beasts seemed to have retreated for now. Our scouts have brought back intel that the demon beasts have returned to the oceans and judging from their actions, they have left no marks of making a return anytime soon.
Based on contributions alone, prince Garen definitely deserves a promotion and considering all that he has done, I have the intentions to promote him to become the second True Prince in the kingdom under my rule. Any objections with this?"
"My king, you have made a wise decision this time."
"I agree with Official Qing, the young prince has done well this time."
"My king, I believe that the young prince, Garen, deserves the title of a True Prince."
"My king, I believe that the young prince, Garen, deserves the title."
The officials weren't speaking up just to make the king recognise them, but because they truly admire this young prince. Even the current crown prince was lacking compared to this prince.
Though he has his other reasons for being respected as well. Even though he might not be the strongest among his brothers, he was respected by the citizens of the kingdom for his kind actions which provided countless youths the opportunity to cultivate and mortal families to sustain without starving.
The crown prince was also the reason why the Valor Kingdom has been increasing exponentially in strength every year through his management techniques and economic foresightedness.
"Garen, I would like to hear your opinion on this matter."
Garen who was still seated from his chair stood up with confidence, determination flashing in his eyes.
Everyone expected him to accept the promotion willingly, but his next words poured a bucket of water on everyone's head,
"Father, please forgive this son of yours for rejecting the promotion. I have already made up my mind to stay in the Nirvana sect for a long time, from there, I can build up my own force and form a collaboration relationship with my elder brother when the time comes."
Garen said so as he looked towards the crown prince who was studying his younger brother as well. Even though he still feels a sense of superiority considering his capabilities to lead the Valor Kingdom to greater heights, he also understood that this younger brother of his would soar higher than him one day. Such, is the cultivation world.
"Are you sure about this decision?" The king didn't flare up to everyone's expectations, instead, he gave Garen the chance.
"Yes."
"You are dismissed."
"Garen thanks the king for granting this request of mine."
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Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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