180 - Battle at the Immortal Sect

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A woman in a red dress floated to the ground. The tip of her small feet gently touched the stone flooring of the arena, stopping her retreat. Her black and blue hair fluttered in the rising heat, and flames lingered around her for a moment longer before disappearing. Yet, not a single burn was visible on her garments.

Her hands were empty despite the sword attached to her hips, and she looked forward, gazing at her opponent. She hadn't expected to be met with such opposition by a man so much younger than her.

The boy—she couldn't consider him a man—was barely sixteen, yet looked no older than fourteen. His features were prepubescent, almost androgynous, yet there was no denying his good looks. She only had to glance at the surrounding audience—looking down on them from her elevated stage—to know that he had already conquered the hearts of the many young women who came to see them spar.

She wasn't to be defeated, for she, too, possessed her own admirers. Many came from all recesses of the sect—from the outer sect to even some of the core elders—just to gaze upon the young woman who had only recently returned after being sold to an outsider by her clan.

It was indeed Yun Jingfei standing on that stage, embroiled in a sparring match she had had no interest in until now yet was forced into at the insistence of her master—something about her words already being given.

However, Jingfei knew the true reason for this. The audience's gaze as they looked upon them both said much more than any words could. By now, her story was common knowledge among the upper ranks of the sect, and many of the less desirable details had already made their way to the outer sect.

There was derision in their eyes while some sported looks of pity.

She couldn't care less what they thought, for they were but strangers. Yet the sight of Feng Xia standing alongside her master, looking as if she expected her to lose, couldn't help but rub Jingfei the wrong way.

She had to admit that the boy was stronger than he seemed at first glance, but she had no intention of losing. She couldn't care less about impressing the many elders who came to watch, but she wouldn't allow her younger sister to dare to look down on her.

She wrapped flames around her sleeve and leapt forward, striking toward the man with the palm of her hand. Her movement was simple and direct, yet it was much too fast. The ground—reinforced through the use of a protection formation—could only barely contain the strength of her step. The ground fractured, leaving a shallow imprint into the stone, yet it quickly healed itself as if it were alive, returning to its former pristine appearance less than a second later.

As for Jingfei, she had travelled the length of the stage instantly. She was so fast that most of the audience couldn't even see a blur. Even some of the senior disciples couldn't follow her with their eyes despite already having reached the Void Core realm.

As for those above that realm and the few elders in attendance, she may as well be moving in slow motion. Her actions were clear for them to see, yet they couldn't help but be astonished at what she unleashed with pure physical force.

Indeed, Jingfei had only used her leg strength to propel herself forward. She hadn't made use of any mystic arts nor of any spell. She had only infused qi into her legs and expelled it all at once as she pushed against the ground. It was a very crude technique—if it could be called a technique at all—yet it could be done so swiftly and without any preparation that most everyone couldn't react.

That also included the boy before her. He merely looked at her, eyes wide open as her palm struck him straight in the chest. Flames burst from that palm, engulfing the boy in the raging blaze. He disappeared amidst the rising inferno, looking as if a fire tornado had been spawned into the middle of the stage and rose high into the air.

The audience gasped as some tried to shield themselves from the heat using their sleeves.

Despite being disciples of the Immortal Phoenix Sect, not all possessed a fire spiritual root. In fact, most of the Outer Sect didn't. They were merely cultivator lucky enough to pass the entrance test yet didn't meet the requirements to be accepted into the Inner Sect.

They were by no means untalented. In fact, most were a cut above some lesser sects' Inner Sect requirements. After all, many hailed from those sects and left, seeking to join the Four Great Sects in search of a better environment where resources were more abundant.

However, life within the Immortal Phoenix Sect was harsh for those who didn’t possess sufficient strength or connections. As outer sect disciples, they were forced to toil for their resources, completing tasks for the sect, whether it was seeking treasures or spiritual plants or dealing with rogue cultivators and bandits at the request of the various human kingdoms or the lower sects.

If they didn't work, they would gain nothing from the sect, not even a single spiritual stone to aid in their cultivation, unlike the Inner Sect, where most of their resource demands were almost too easily granted. The difference between the outer and inner sect was like heaven and hell for those disciples, yet the opportunity—although small—was worth the risk for many to leave their former sect for a chance to be able to aim higher.

Unfortunately, for a single individual to rise, many others must be crushed underfoot. Such was the reality of cultivation sects. Nothing differed much in this aspect between those lower sects and the Four Great Ones.

Those individuals were fully aware of it when leaving their former sect behind. They were arrogant, believing themselves the chosen ones as they had risen to the top of their respective former sects. Still, when pitted against their peers in the Outer Sect, the harsh reality came crashing down on them, giving rise to resentment—resentment against the sect and those who profited from it, namely the Core Disciples.

As one of them, Jingfei was all too aware of what the rest of the sect thought of her. Not only did she have to deal with her fellow Core Disciples' contempt—for not even the Inner Sect was free of competition—but also from those of the Outer Sect who believed her unworthy of her position, thinking she retained it solely due to her master's prestige.

The worst was that they weren't wrong.

Jingfei's position had indeed been safeguarded due to her master alone. As far as she knew, many elders had petitioned the Sect Master for her to be removed as one of the few Core Disciples, but the Sect Master had remained silent on the matter, most likely due to the mysterious relationship between him and her master.

Either way, her current situation was precarious.

The Outer Sect disciples may think that if they were lucky enough to be admitted to the Inner Sect, their lives would become smooth sailing, and they would be able to cultivate with the best of resources, but it couldn't be anything but. It was even harsher than in the Outer Sect.

While the sect prohibited killing other disciples or crippling them, pretty much anything else was fair game. Only when one reached the ranks of Core Disciples—being chosen as one of the few Core Elders' disciples—could one finally be free from the unending competition rampant within the sect.

Still, even those at the Core Disciple Level weren't untouchable. Each Core Elder could only designate a single disciple as their Core Disciple, and for Feng Yanmei, that was Yun Jingfei.

As such, each Core Disciple slot was limited and highly coveted. Only when a disciple was deemed unfit by their master or two-thirds of the Core Elders could a Core Disciple be repudiated, and the change needed to be ratified by the Sect Master himself. Obviously, such a thing was a rarity as each Core Disciple was the face of the sect, and repudiating one of them would be seen as a blemish on the sect's reputation.

Still, some believed Jingfei’s current situation warranted such drastic measures.

They believed her to be unfit, wishing for someone else to take her place, but fortunately, only less than half supported this. This was why they sought to bypass the proper procedure and petitioned the Sect Master in the first place, but they had brought her master's wrath upon them for doing so.

While Feng Yanmei wanted nothing more than to burn those elders to a crisp, she restrained herself from doing so as the Core Elders were prohibited from participating in any conflict among each other. If they wanted to settle a grudge between them, they could only do so through their own disciples, leading us back to this moment.

Jingfei was currently participating in a sparring match she had no interest in, only to show her might to the various opposing Core Elders to shut them up for good. This had been proposed by another elder and had been accepted by her master without bothering to hear her out, which couldn’t help but give her a headache.

Her opponent was a rising star within the sect, a young boy of no more than sixteen, but already at the fourth stage of the Foundation Building Realm, while she had recovered only up to the third. He possessed the advantage in cultivation, but she had more experience in battle, making the two almost even—too even.

The battle had already raged for half an hour, with neither going all-out. Jingfei saw no reason to disclose her trump card in front of all these spectators, knowing it may be used against her. She doubted these opposing elders would be inclined to relent even if she were to triumph decisively against this young boy.

Besides, she suspected the boy was also holding back. Even now, engulfed in a massive firestorm, the boy showed no signs of wanting to escape it. This was the problem with fighting someone with the same elemental spiritual root as oneself. No matter how much flame she threw at him or how much she raised the heat, nothing seemed to affect him, almost as if he was immune.

Still, the same applied to her. Even now, she had yet to receive a single injury. Even her clothes had yet to be charred by the unending flames, but a crucial detail weighed on her mind: her qi was slowly running out.

While she was more efficient in using qi than her opponent, his realm was higher, meaning he had more qi at his disposal, making a battle of attrition unlikely to be won. At best, all she could hope for was a draw, and she had been aiming for it all this time. This was the best method to avoid unnecessary conflicts in the future.

As she watched the flames recede, only to uncover the young boy within, still uninjured, Jingfei's eyes narrowed. She leapt back out of range, weighing her options, but just as she prepped herself for another strike, the young man raised his right hand to the sky.

“I forfeit,” he exclaimed, stunning all those in the audience as well as Jingfei herself. “I thank Senior Sister Jingfei for the learning experience, but with my qi being almost depleted, I do not believe I can win against you. Please allow me to cede you victory."

Jingfei remained silent, her eyes as cold as the northern glaciers, as she couldn't reconcile her own thoughts. The boy may have said so, but anyone with a modicum of cultivation could clearly see that he still possessed ample qi, more than enough to battle for another half an hour.

What was he playing at?

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