'The real challenge in this trick is to keep his tiny Channels from collapsing. I can guess that if he stops cultivating for around four hours, his Channels will collapse, and all the hard work will be in vain.' The Sect Leader was impressed
'Above all that, he has to be really careful while cultivating. If he pushes a large amount of energy into his tiny Channels, they will explode, and he may die in the worst-case scenario.'
'He also has to train every day to familiarize himself with his new power.'
'A a genius, talented, and a scammer in the same time' he muttered inwardly and closed his eyes 'He is giving me headache again'
….
Desper was roaming the platform, searching for his next prey. On his pendant, the number 10 was visible, and the three indentations weren't glowing, meaning he had defeated ten disciples without any losses.
he spotted a disciple who seemed to be about his age. There was no circle underneath him, meaning he was a free target.
"You are the next." Desper charged toward him.
But, before he reached him, a blue circle appeared below him.
Desper turned his body. He saw a young disciple with gold hair and blue eyes, holding a spear in his hand. His pendant showed the number 5 with no losses.
Desper guessed that he was half-disciple.
"Hi, Uncle. sorry, but I'm here to take a point" the half-disciple said, waving his hand toward Desper.
"Uncle?" Desper looked around, thinking that the young disciple was talking to someone else.
"I'm talking to you, Uncle" the boy said with a smirk on his face.
He looked at Desper's pendant.
"What is this?! Ten wins with no losses." The young disciple was astonished by Desper's score.
"Were you so lucky that you met the weakest ten disciples?" he asked in disbelief.
"Why do you think I was lucky not too strong?" Desper sighed in disappointment.
"Wake up old man, you have just awakened your Origin, it is impossible for you to be that strong" he scoffed.
"You are just too blind to see that the one in front of you is an organ cultivator" Desper shook his head.
"Stop talking nonsense, it is the end of your luck"
The young disciple held his spear in both hands and rushed toward Desper.
"Sighhhhh.. you should have just believed me." Desper sighed.
the teenager seemed he didn't hear Desper. He thrust his spear toward Desper's stomach.
Desper trained with Eland on how to fight a spear fighter, preparing for the fight with the Alric Teryn, the Third Elder's son and the only mid-muscle cultivator in this competition.
Most of the half-disciples were at the late stages of bone cultivation, so Desper wasn't afraid of them. He had avoided them at first just to earn points by defeating the older disciples before they reached three losses and were disqualified from fighting.
There were still 15 older disciples Desper didn't defeat yet. But this boy cut his path.
Desper was faster than him, so he could evade the incoming spear easily.
The boy was surprised that it didn't hit.
Desper closed the distance until there was only half a meter between both of them. He could push his sword toward the teenager's throat and end the fight, but he didn't. instead, with his index, he tapped the teenager's forehead.
"Let me teach you a lesson: you should respect the people older than you" Desper said with a smile.
The boy's body trembled with anger.
"I will kill you" he stepped back to create a distance between himself and Desper. Then, he tried to strike again with his spear.
This time, Desper didn't let him do what he wanted. He closed the distance again, slashing his sword across the boy's neck.
The the blue circle faded as the fight ended.
Desper left without giving the boy another look.
…
After half an hour from the start of the competition, third of the disciples had been eliminated, most of them were from the older disciples.
The number on Desper's pendant was 21 with no glowing indentations.
He was hunting every disciple with one attack, depending on his fast muscles.
Unfortunately, he couldn't fight the same person again, otherwise, the number would be larger.
The disciples started to avoid Desper after seeing the number on his pendant.
Desper found it annoying, his pace became slower.
He exhaled a long breath, raising his head to look for a new opponent.
Outside the platform the three Elders could see Desper's performance.
"Who is this kid?! And how can he be that strong?" The Fifth Elder was astonished.
"To have such power despite awakening his Origin recently, his body must be special like Darek, or…." The Fifth Elder murmured.
"Or he hasn't awakened his Origin recently, but a long time ago, and pretend to be a new disciple to get the Purifying Pill. We must investigate that." The Third Elder completed the Fourth Elder's words with a frown.
"If he is the first, that means our sect has obtained another super prodigy. but if he is the second, he must be eliminated from the competition and punished." The last Elder spoke. He was the Ninth Elder of the sect.
"You don't need to waste your time on investigation"
Suddenly, the Sect Leader voice came out.
"What do you mean, Sect Leader?" the Third Elder said nervously.
"I can guarantee that he awakened his Origin recently" the Leader sighed.
"What?! Do you know him?" the Third Elder asked with a trembling voice.
He was afraid that his so might lose the competition.
The Sect Leader gave Desper a deep look and didn't answer the Third Elder's question.
…
"Ahahahaah… look at this. I knew he wouldn't disappoint me" Eland was full of excitement, watching Desper's performance.
"Look at this number, 21 wins only in half an hour, and without any losses. He will break you record after 7 more wins. How do feel about that, Darek?" Eland looked in joy at the man sitting next to him.
"Haaaah.., do you really think that I will get upset from something childish like that?" Darek didn't seem bothered with Eland's teasing, but he seemed disappointed.
"He even wouldn't do that with his own power, but with a coward trick" Darek sneered.
Then his eyes narrowed as he was looking at the arena.
"Hmm, it appears that his speed will drop." Darek said and smiled.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Eland asked, following his gaze.
On the Third platform, blue circles were scattered everywhere.
Desper was above one of these blue circles.
"I tried to avoid you in this stage and meet you in the next. Why do you insist on coming after me?" he asked while looking at his opponent.
A teenager with messy green hair and green eyes was looking angrily at Desper.
His face was covered in sweat. He was wearing a pair of wooden gauntlets. The pendant on his neck showed the number 13.
He was Soren, the only muscle cultivator in Desper's group.
He was a low-muscle cultivator, but he was still stronger and faster than Desper.
"How do you have that large number on you pendant. You must be cheating." Soren cried at Desper.
His face was red, and veins could be seen on his forehead from anger.
"Cheating? There are three Elders supervising the competition, even the Sect Leader is here. Do you think I can cheat under their eyes?" Desper laughed at him.
"I don't know how you did that, but I will expose you." Soren shouted. "I'm the strongest one in this group, and I must be the one with the largest number in the first stage."
He didn't understand how Desper got this number.
He didn't know that Desper had cultivated his organs, which helped him a lot to get this high number in addition to his muscles.
'What a headache.' Desper murmured inwardly. 'I still can't win against the muscle cultivators'
"Be ready, I'm coming now" Soren screamed and lunged toward Desper.
Desper smiled at him.
"I'm sorry, but I will meet you in the next stage."
Desper turned his body and ran out of the blue circle.
One of the indentations on his pendant glowed red.
"How shameless!" there was a frown on Darek's face.
"Pohahaahahahah… he is a genius, he is a genius" Eland roared of laughter.
Soren was left stunned in his place, seeing that Desper was on a new blue circle. The number on his pendant turned to 14.
He couldn't fight Desper again during the first stage.
Soren clenched his teeth. He was tired after half an hour of fight. He knew he would never catch Desper.
"I will make you regret it." he screamed.
Desper couldn't hear him. He was busy fighting another disciple.
Desper didn't know how much time he had left, so he did his best to end every fight as quickly as possible to beat Darek's record, just as he had promised Eland.
Finally, an hour had passed since the start of the competition.
"The first stage has ended." The Fifth Elder declared with a loud voice.
Desper dropped to the ground gasping for breath. His clothes were drenched in sweat, and his hand trembled with exhaustion.
There was a grin on his face. The number on his pendant was 35.