Death... and me

Elder Zaia took a deep breath and quickly calmed down. To find the culprit between tens of thousands of disciples and elders would be almost impossible.

"Sorry, I just received some annoying information. However, there is no need to worry, it has nothing to do with you all."

Hulian sighed in relief. At least it wasn't something related to him.

Right after, Rean jumped over one of the arenas to challenge the disciple there.

Guliva had told him that this kid's name was Mialo Turan, a disciple of the Fire Faction led by an Inner Sect elder called Dierio Qasten. He joined the sect last year, has a Blue Color Aptitude, and cultivation at the Middle Stage of the Foundation Establishment. As one can expect, he has a Fire Elemental Affinity.

At the same time, in another arena. Roan challenged, lo and behold, a female disciple of the Blue Orchid Faction! Her name was Ria Zannue, a disciple at the Advanced Stage of the Foundation Establishment. Not only that, but she is also three years older than Roan. Well... only on paper since everyone believes Rean and Roan are twelve years old.

Seeing that, Rean couldn't help but sigh.

'Why must you go and find a problem with them right after we left their district?'

Roan didn't mind, though.

'It's because we were there that I'm challenging her. Have you ever heard that the best hiding place is right under the light? That's what I'm doing basically.'

Rean shrugged his shoulders and didn't say anything else.

All the arenas where the disciples showed their skills had a Judge at the Core Formation Realm. They were there to prevent the disciples from severely injuring or killing each other.

Seeing that both Rean and Roan were ready, the judges gave the signal to start the battle. As soon as that happened, the twins' hair color changed as they rushed forward.

Rean's opponent was a spear user. He gathered his Fire Element on his weapon and rushed at Rean as well. Just as the two weapons were about to hit each other, Rean acted. His Light Element gathered in his legs as he dodged to the side. Mialo was taken aback by that. He didn't expect that Rean would be able to dodge when they were so close to each other.

Still, he is a genius with cultivation higher than Rean, so he immediately adjusted his stance. The spear seemed to make a curve and struck like a viper, trying to hit Rean's abdomen.

However, Rean already expected that. He knew that Mialo would underestimate him because of their difference in cultivation, so his reaction was too slow. Using his sword, which was covered with Light and Dark Elements, Rean parried the Fire Spear and struck!

Mialo used all his strength to jump back, but Rean's Light Element on his legs made him much faster. Just as the sword was about to cut Mialo's throat, it stopped. The judge, who had a cultivation at the Advanced Stage of the Core Formation, blocked Rean's sword with his own.

Surprisingly though, there was no sound of metal hitting metal. Instead, if one looked closely, they would be able to see that there were a few millimeters between Rean's Sword and the Elder's one. They did not collide at all!

The Elder's eyebrow raised in surprise.

"Hahaha! So you were already going to stop to start with, uh? Kid, you are good."

He raised Rean's hand before announcing.

"Winner, Rean Larks."

Hulian was delighted to see that one of his disciples won. Especially since Rean is younger and has lower cultivation. It shows that his talent is better than Mialo. So far, his faction was giving quite an average show. But now things finally turned for the better.

"Hahaha! That kid isn't too bad, don't you think?"

Dierio Qasten's mouth twitched.

"Hmph! It was just luck."

Of course, he wasn't the least bit happy that one of the best disciples in his Fire Faction lost.

Back on Roan's side, the battle was still ongoing. Ria was definitely stronger than Mialo, and she was quite adept at speed with her Wind Affinity. Roan and Ria already exchanged quite a few clashes between each other.

But ultimately, she was challenging the master of all weapons. By using an opening that even Ria didn't know that was possible to be used, Roan sent her sword flying! She tried to jump back straight away, but Roan had Rean's Light Element support to strengthen his body, especially his legs. In the end, he stopped his own sword just before it pierced Ria's heart.

The judge nodded and raised Roan's hand, as well.

"Winner, Roan Larks!"

Ria seemed to be at a loss. She simply couldn't understand how he disarmed her. Looking at her face and considering what he did in the Blue Orchid District, Roan decided to send her a Spiritual Sense Message.

'It was your second step after the nearly diagonal slash. The Spiritual Energy accumulated on your right knee went out of control for a moment. I used this chance to dodge into a position where I could strike your weapon in the weakest part. At the same time, I used my spiritual energy to transfer some of my Dark Element into your hand. It made you lose the grip of your sword, which brought this result.'

'The reason it went out of control was the poor management of your Wind Element on your waist, which put extra pressure on the knees. Unfortunately, due to the meridians that you use and the way you control the Wind Element there, you won't ever be able to fix this issue. Also, most of the flaws I saw in your swordplay were pretty much related to the same problem. I only took this long to strike because of our difference in cultivation. Otherwise, this battle would have finished a lot earlier.'

'I recommend increasing the amount of Spiritual Energy on the joints of the knees instead of in your knees as a whole. At the moment, it has a 50/50 ratio, I would change to a 60/40. If you can't do that, you can also try to limit the number of steps during those strikes, which might also work. However, I strongly recommend the first solution since it is more practical in the long run. Although neither option will resolve the problem in your waist, it will be much harder to attack the flaws left behind because of it.'

Spiritual Sense messages are compiled of information that can be delivered in a second. So when Ria finally finished processing the whole message, Roan had already left the platform. She couldn't help but feel startled by what she heard, though.

'How did he see so much about me in just one quick fight?'

Ria came back from the arena without knowing whether she should try what Roan said or not. When her sisters saw her expression, they couldn't help but ask.

"Ria, are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

Rian immediately shook her head. She then turned to one of the girls of their group and asked.

"Senior Sister Amanda, can I ask something?"

Amanda nodded, not knowing why Ria had such an expression either.

Ria then told Amanda the entire message given by Roan. Amanda was also a sword and wind element user, so she was startled by what she heard as well.

"This! Isn't it exactly the problem that afflicts both our sword arts? It couldn't be that simple, right?"

It was at this moment that Amanda remembered one thing.

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