บท 9: Ascension Battle(I)
Asura Peak, Fighting Arena
After leaving his room along with his half-brother Ling Xiao, Ling Chen walked along the path toward the Asura Peak where the competition was taking place.
Like always, Ling Chen didn't utter a single word along the way. Even though they were brothers, Ling Chen didn't feel any kinship towards Ling Xiao. In fact, he didn't feel any kinship towards any members of his family, except for his father.
He was raised as a cursed child and everyone around him was afraid of him not only because he was different, but also because of his devilish power. Almost everyone wanted him dead, even his own family. Some because he posed a threat to their positions or because of jealousy while others think that his own existence was an abomination, an anomaly, or something that was not supposed to exist.
As such, he became a shut-in that spent all of his time within the wall of the Heavenly Demon palace without ever going outside. All these facts made him had antisocial behavior, and sometimes questioned his own existence, his purpose in life.
"Ohh yeah Brother, I heard that father has given you the cleaner mission." Suddenly asked Ling Xiao as though he was trying to make conversation to break the silence.
However, this was the main reason that he came to invite Ling Chen out. The cleaner mission seemed very simple. The cleaner just needed to go visit all the influences under the rule of the Heavenly Demon Sect and made sure that their allegiance was where it was supposed to be.
Furthermore, the cleaner has the power to act first and report later. It seemed just like a simple mission, but it was in fact very complicated as it could potentially break the balance of power between him and his older brother that was fighting for the sect master position when their father retired.
Even though Ling Chen was their brother, they never saw him as an opponent in the run for the sect master position. He didn't have any power behind him nor was he a sect master material. He was viewed as nothing but a secret weapon and the future of Asura by the elders.
While other sects have guardians, the Heavenly demon sect has a unique elder known as Asura or shura and their mission was to eliminate any threat faced by the sect from the outside.
The Asura was also one of the most powerful experts in the sect. For one to become an Asura of the Heavenly Demon Sect, not only that person has to be insanely powerful, that person also has to be expelled from the sect. As such, his actions won't have any direct impact or association to the sect as they were tasked with eliminating any potential threat to the sect. Sometimes that threat might be a powerful elder or a super genius from the other sects. In all, the Asura was like a secret assassin of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
" Yeah." Bluntly answered Ling Chen after listening to his brother's inquiry.
Long Xiao was silent at first, not knowing what to say. The way his brother answered him made it seemed like he didn't have any idea how his mission could impact and break the balance of power between his older brother and himself.
However, he was soon very happy and thrill. No matter how powerful his little brother was, he was still a ten years old kid after all. He didn't know anything about the intricacy of power within the sect or the state of the sect. He didn't know anything about schemes. Brute force and killing was his answer to everything. As such, he started to calculate ways to use his little brother's power to his advantage and weakened his older brother's power in the mortal world. He wanted to use his little brother as his own fangs in the mortal world.
"Brother, I know that you don't have any maids or servants. Also, you've never been to the mortal world. How about I lend you some of my people to help you complete this heavy task. The mortal world is more treacherous than you think little brother. As your elder brother, I couldn't help but worried about you going all alone in a treacherous place such as the mortal world by yourself."
" Even though you're strong, not everything in the mortal world can be solved with strength alone."
"Furthermore, you'll need a guide to show you around our vast territory as well as inform you about all the influences under the rule of our Heavenly Demon Sect." Ling Xiao said with a concerned look on his face.
At this moment, Ling Xiao looked like a responsible and concerned older brother looking out for his little brother. And his action didn't contain any ulterior motive. It was a pure act of selflessness.
"Ok." Answered Ling Chen with his childish and emotionless voice without even a second thought or doubted his brother's motive for helping him for the first time in his entire life.
Listening to his little brother's answered, an evil glint flickered through Ling Xiao's eyes as his mouth curved upward into a cunning smile.
As they were getting closer to the Asura Peak, they could see many disciples that came from all four of the cardinal points of the sect and were flowing or converging into one destination point.
The Fighting Arena of the Asura Peak!
Half an hour later, the two of them finally arrived at the Asura Peak. When they arrived at the scene, Ling Chen saw that there was quite literally a sea of disciples and was slightly taken aback.
Even though he had spent all of his life within the sect, he had never left the Heavenly Demon Palace. It was his first time seeing that many people in one location.
Some of them wore blue robe which was the uniform of the inner sect disciples while the others wore purple robe which signified that they were core disciples. There weren't many elite disciples as they spent most of their time in closed-door cultivation or seclusion. As for the outer sect disciples, there weren't any of them as they weren't allowed to venture that deep within the sect.
Amongst the disciples were two especially eye-catching groups. They were both close to the arena, facing one another as they stared daggers at each other. On one side of the arena were ten young disciples sitting on their high chairs like thrones while facing the group of blue robe disciples.
These ten people were the last ten on the core disciples ranking while the other ten blue robe disciples were the top ten disciples of the inner sect ranking.
As the top ten strongest disciples of the inner sect, they have the right to challenge the last ten of the core disciples' ranking. If any of the inner disciples were able to beat one of the core disciples, then that disciple would take the losers' place and so on.
As the top ten strongest disciples of the inner sect and the ten weakest disciples of the core sect, they were all Martial Lord realm experts. The weakest of them was a middle stage Martial Lord realm while the strongest was a peak Martial Lord.
" I heard Senior brother Gu has broken through the peak of Martial Lord two months ago. I am pretty sure he'll be able to win a spot to the core disciples rank this year." Said one of the inner disciples standing not too far from the stage behind the group of inner sect disciples.
" You can't underestimate the core disciples either. Though they are the weakest of the core disciples, they've been In the peak of Martial Lord for some time. As such, they've had more experience and some of them even have cultivated more powerful battle techniques than us the inner disciples." Said another inner sect disciple.
" It's true, also their cultivation is more stable than those inner sect disciples that just broke through the peak of Martial Lord."
"There's no need arguing whose stronger and weaker, we only have to wait and see. Last year we all thought the same thing, yet, seven of the top inner sect disciples made it to core disciples ranking and none of them are here today which proved they already moved in rank already."
" Indeed the annual ascension battle is the best way for the sect to stimulate both core disciples and the inner sect disciples. It also allowed the sect to weed out the weakest and the less motivated core disciples with new blood every year. None of the ranks are safe, not even the elites' disciples or the elders."
As everyone was discussing the contestants and the inner disciples most likely to ascend to core disciples rank this year, two streaks of light, one black and the other red whistled through the air south of the Asura peak and were approaching their locations in a high speed.
Soon, the two streaks of lights landed in the fighting arena. The black streak of light turned out to be an abnormally thin old man with white hair. This old man looked very weak, however, his body was emanating a dreadful aura.
As for the red steak of light, it was a young man around the age of twenty-five. The young man stood in the middle of the fighting arena like an immovable majestic mountain. The moment he descended upon the fighting arena, the crowds of disciples quieted down as no one dared to utter a single word. It was as though the world was standing still.
The young man wasn't overly handsome but his body was emanating a powerful imperial aura as though he was a natural-born ruler. His crimson red hair floated into the wind like strands of blood. In just one glance, one could see that this young man was very powerful.
The surrounding disciples were also completely shocked to find out this young man would be in attendance at such a little competition. They were completely flabbergasted to see that this young man would personally come to an event like this. Even though this competition was very big, but it was only in the eyes of the inner sect disciple who has the biggest to gain. It wasn't big enough to catch the attention of such a big shot.
Ling Xiao was also shocked and had a very serious expression on his face when he saw that young man.
The young man looked around benevolently, nodding. As he scanned the crowd of disciples, however, he frowned when his gaze landed on Ling Xiao and the white robe youth next to him. However, he quickly regained his bearing.
When the surrounding disciple saw the young man frowning, their hearts began to thump because they were unsure of why he was displeased. This young man had the special power to punish and report later and none of the disciples wanted to get on his bad side.
"Shall we begin, Young Lord?" asked The black robe old man, who stood next to the young man.
" Um."
" My name is Ling Jian, the chief disciple of the Heavenly Demon Sect, and I'm responsible for this year's ascension battle between the top ten inner sect disciples and the last ten of the core disciples." Said the young with a cold and chilly voice. His mighty voice boomed throughout the whole Asura Peak as he used his True Qi to enhance and magnify his voice.
" In our Heavenly Demon sects, nothing is given but taken. If you want to become a core disciple then you'll have to challenge and beat a core disciple in order take away his rank for yourself and the same is applied for core disciples to the elite disciples."
" Without wasting any more time, let's the ascension battle begins." Said the young man before he flew out of the arena leaving only the old man.
Not a minute has passed since he left the arena and:
"Reporting to the Elder, I would like to challenge the core disciple Fang Lan!" At this moment, a disciple among the top ten inner disciples yelled out loud as he stood up bravely and walked into the fighting arena.
When his voice rang out, all the surrounding disciples started getting wilder because the ascension battle had finally begun.
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