บท 23: Against the Stars (3)

Somewhere in the outer court.

It had been days since Gareth and Qian had started accepting challenges. Most of the new disciples had given up challenging the two after the first few days. The older disciples that joined the sect before them were the ones challenging the two all this while.

In one of the many buildings in the outer court, a meeting was in progress. There were a few disciples dressed in white robes, all of them sitting around a large table. They were all senior disciples of the outer court. All of them were a step short of achieving initial completion, at the peak of the accumulation phase.

"When are we to start issuing our challenge." One person in the room asked.

"Don't tell me you really think that will be allowed?" Another person questioned the first speaker. The new voice had disdain laced in that question.

"I don't think the elders would be happy about that, too." Another person cautioned the first speaker.

"Just say the truth. All of you don't want Lunara knocking down your doors." The first person to speak said.

No one could argue with that.

"I think, " a person said, "we should give them a few months to catch up, before we start to issue our challenge."

"I agree."

There were other voices in agreement.

"What about that Gareth? I can agree with giving that Qian a few months. That guy however seems to be one monster no one else can defeat."

This was something everyone of them had seen with their eyes. That guy was throwing everyone around with ease. No matter how many came, they would all fall.

"We should send some of the weakest at our stage to fight him first. We don't have to give him a few months."

No one argued with that. Everyone was in agreement.

In the challenge arena Gareth was.

It had been a month after the meeting held by those senior outer court disciples. During the time after that meeting, the strength of the people who challenged Gareth had been increasing. Over time, many amongst the older disciples began to challenge him. Even though he still had the upper hand, he wasn't as relaxed as before.

At the moment he was having a respite from the continuous challenges. He was alone on the stage, and around him were numerous outer court disciples. There were not only new disciples, many of the older disciples were there as well. All of them spectating.

Jasmine was there as well. She had made sure not to miss a single day. Being there from the morning till the evening, standing at a place not far from the stage. She arrived here early everyday, and left with Gareth whenever he did. He had tried everything he could to dissuade her from coming here everyday, but she was adamant.

The spectators had been quite relaxed as many people conversed with each other. However, the conversations slowly quietened. The spectators parted to allow a group of people forward.

A group of people appeared before Gareth.

It was the group of brother Olive and his friends.

"Brother Olive."

Gareth was surprised to see him here.

Olive rolled his eyes.

"What is with that look, brother Gareth. I am not here to challenge you." He shook his head. "I am not qualified, after all."

That was a strange way to put it. But it was true, he was indeed not qualified.

Brother Olive and his friends were all in the initial completion of the Awakening Realm.

Gareth agreed within himself that he had been in a lot of fight these days.

"I didn't mean anything, brother Olive. I was just surprised."

"Well, well. I and my brothers are here to cheer you up." He looked around at the spectators surrounding the stage. "It has been a while since you started fighting, after all."

"I very much appreciate your goodwill, brother Olive." Gareth smiled.

"There is no need to say such words between us, brother." Olive waved his hand, as if telling him to stop thinking too much about it.

The other spectators were all surprised. The seniors like brother Olive were also interested in the event happening?

They however weren't too surprised by Gareth being acquainted with seniors like brother Olive.

Qian's challenge area.

While the young man was not under the same heat as Gareth was currently facing. Qian had also been fighting more powerful opponents as the days passed, finding it harder to defeat the increasingly powerful challengers.

His lackeys were also now aware of the fact that there were some mountains that were beyond them. While they never liked the fact that their boss was being challenged, always making sure to let his challengers know of this fact.

The opponents he was facing these days however were people they could do nothing about even if they were angry. All of them could only swallow their anger. They had no choice.

The young man had just beat some opponents off the stage. His body was sweaty, and his chest rose up and down. He was breathing very fast. He could not control his breathing. The opponents he had just defeated were very strong.

He glared at the other challengers that were waiting in line, but he could do no more than that. He could not refuse their challenge, even if he very much wanted to.

While he hated waiting up here everyday, using the time he could use in doing something better to answer the challenge of these people, there was nothing he could do. The dislike he had could do absolutely nothing, only his strength could.

So after all the glaring, he sat in a meditating position, and tried to recover his energy. World energy flowed into his body, and flowed into every corner. His energy was replenished as he continued to cultivate.

A short while later, he had recovered enough energy to continue.

He stood up. He had regained his bearing. There was no need to get angry over nothing. He would crush them all. This small inconvenience won't set him back.

He looked at the challengers waiting in line.

The next set of challengers were ready as they got on the stage.