By the end of the first stage, Desper felt tired. For an hour, he had to fight again and again with no rest at all. But he was delighted, when he looked at the number on his pendant.
'Haha, I wonder what Eland would say about that.' Desper laughed inwardly.
Suddenly, his pendant glowed with gold light.
He was surprised.
He stood up and realized that not only was his pendant glowing, but his entire body had also started to radiate a faint gold light.
Desper was confused, but when he looked around, he found out that he wasn't the only one experiencing that.
On the same platform, Soren was emitting a gold light as well.
He was angry, Looking at Desper. The number on his pendant was 19, and to everyone surprise, one of indentations glowed with red light.
'I think someone defeated him, while he was still stunned by my escape' Desper chuckled inwardly.
On each of the other platforms, two disciples were shining with gold light.
Desper guessed that they were the winners of the first stage with the largest number on their neck.
Sure enough, one of them was Alric Teryn the third elder's son.
The crowd was full of excitement.
"As expected, Alric has passed the first stage easily." One of the spectators said.
"Look at his pendant! 25 wins with no losses!"
"That is amazing and sad in the same time. He needed two more wins to reach Darek's record, and if he had won three more fights, he would have set a new sect record."
"I guessed no one will beat Darek's record."
"Wait! Look there!" one of them screamed as he pointed at the third platform.
"What is there?" someone asked, following his finger.
When he Looked at where the man was pointing, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"3- 35?!! Is that real? I'm not dreaming, am I?" he pinched himself to wake himself up, but it didn't work.
"Who is this guy? He didn't seem like a half-disciple."
"There must be an error in the formation."
"Yes, you are right. How could he win 35 fights in only one hour, without even being a half-disciple."
The spectators were between confusion, amazement, anger and excitement.
On the first platform stood a short teenager with blue hair and brown eyes.
He clenched his spear tightly; it Looked like as if he wanted to break it. he Looked at Desper with burning eyes, the veins were visible on his forehead from anger.
He was Alric Teryn.
'How dare you ruin my day.' Alric growled, clenching his teeth.
It was his day to shine. Since the day he awakened his Origin when he was 11 years old, he was dreaming of this day.
Despite not breaking Darek's record, he still achieved an amazing score.
When he saw the number on his neck by the end of the first stage, he thought that the sect would talk about his amazing score for days, but out of nowhere, this unknown person came and stole all the spotlight.
Outside the platform, the third elder Looked at his son with a worried expression.
He didn't care about his son showing up, but the fact that his son's body had started to show strong resistance.
That meant his son's cultivation was coming to halt. If he didn't take the Purifying Pill, he might not even be able to become an organ cultivator.
He مooked at Desper with angry face. No one knew what he was thinking of.
The sect leader was observing the situation, he sighed and shook his head in silence.
"PoHahaah.., Look at this, he didn't juts break your record, he destroyed it. tell me how you feel after that, Darek?" Eland was overjoyed as he talked to Darek.
"He really did surprise me. But he still did it with fake power" Darek sighed as he spoke.
"Who cares? He still did it" Eland was still happy.
"Yea, he did it. now you have to complete your promise with him." Darek Looked at Eland.
Eland stopped celebrating and frowned.
"What do you think of it?" Eland asked
"He seems more stable than he was a month ago. But you still must be careful" Darek warned.
Eland didn't say anything and looked back at the arena.
…
"Other than the two who are glowing, everyone else is eliminated. Step out of the platform." The Fifth Elder declared as he got on the third platform.
He walked toward Desper and stood in front of him.
"What is your name, kid?" he asked with a firm face.
"Desper." Desper looked him in the eyes and replied.
"Desper, hmm… I will remember that" the Fifth Elder nodded at him.
After that, the Fifth Elder waited until the eliminated disciples left the platform.
"Now, we will start the second stage. The two winners of the first stage will fight each other. The winner will be rewarded with the Concentrated Red Stones Liquid." The Fifth Elder declared.
Desper felt vibration came from the necklace, followed by the appearance of blue circle on the floor underneath him. It was larger than that of the first stage.
Soren was also within the circle.
"Same rules: you will lose if you got killed or stepped out of the circle" the Fifth Elder added "Now, fight."
Soren Looked at Desper with fierce eyes.
"Won't you run again?" Soren asked with angry smile on his face.
"Hah? Why would I?" Desper sneered.
"I will expose your cheating right now." Soren said as he lunged at Desper with his gantlets.
"I hope you won't cry after this fight." Desper smiled at him.
On the stands, the spectators could hear their conversation.
"Did he say cheating?"
"He must be cheating, or how could he get that huge score?"
"You might be right, but how could he possibly cheat under the eyes of the three Elders and the Sect Leader?"
"I don't know, we might know during this fight."
…
Desper observed the teenager who was rushing at him. Soren's weapon was a pair of gauntlets. Desper didn't have any experience against them.
'I guess if I try to block them with the sword, they might slip past and still hit me.'
Above all of that, Soren was a low-muscle cultivator, so he was faster and stronger than anyone Desper fight in the first stage.
'but I can beat him now'
Desper wasn't afraid. With a smile, he looked at the sweat soaking Soren's clothes, and looked at his shaking hands, and the rise and fall of his chest.
He was exhausted. He was fighting for an entire hour without any rest.
Of course, Desper was also tired, but the tiny Channels in his organs, especially in his heart and lungs, made his recovery faster than any muscle cultivator.
That was his plan against the muscle cultivators: waiting them until they become exhausted.
That was why he had escaped from Soren during the first stage, because he wasn't tired enough yet.
As Desper was thinking, Soren closed the distance between them. He threw a punch with his right hand toward Desper's head.
Desper was ready, and he just tilted his head to the left, letting the punch miss his head.
Desper thought it was easier than he had expected. All he had to do was raise his sword and end the fight, since Soren was so close to him.
But he didn't expect to see another punch coming from the second hand, while the first was still beside head.
Desper was surprised, he raised his sword to block it. as he expected, it slipped and continued toward Desper's head.
But the sword slowed it down, giving Desper enough time to lean backward, preventing the punch from reaching his head by a few centimeters.
Desper didn't think anymore and stepped backward.
'That was close.' Desper thought.
"Why did you dodge it? aren't you so strong?" Soren grinned at him.
'It was my mistake to consider the gauntlets as a single weapon. I reckon that he even might use his legs as well, I must be careful' Desper thought.
"That was a nice attack, but you need to be faster than that to hit me" Desper provoked.
"Just don't run again." Soren charged at Desper.
Desper didn't run. He was focused on Soren's shoulders, anticipating the direction of his attacks, so he could evade them.
He saw a gap in his defense.
Desper raised his sword was about to strike with it, when he suddenly noticed something happening on the first platform.
Above it, Alric was facing his opponent with a spear in his hand.
Once the Third Elder gave the signal to start the fight, Alric charged at his opponent with astonishing speed.
His opponent raised sword to block Alric's slash, but it was in vain.
Once their weapons clashed, as if the sword wasn't there at all, the spear didn't stop. It proceeded toward his opponent.
The opponent was stunned. The spear struck him, sending him flying five meters away.
The blue circle beneath them faded.
Desper was shocked by his speed. 'That is going to be a problem.'
Soren didn't stop attacking Desper, but Desper could avoid all of his punches.
"Stop…run…ning" Soren was gasping for his breath.
Desper didn't hear as he was thinking about something else.
Desper suddenly retreated a few steps, observing Soren.
'He is so exhausted. I can end the fight now, but …'
Suddenly, Desper raised his sword and slashed downward, but the strike wasn't aimed at Soren.
The jaws of everyone watching dropped, and their eyes widened in absolute shock.
Even the elders weren't exception. Only the Sect Leader narrowed his eyes.
"Wh- what is he doing?" Eland stuttered.
Darek's lips curled into a growing smile.
"HahaHahaha…. Desper, you really didn't disappoint me"
On the platform, Soren was stunned that he forgot to attack.
"Arghhhh….." Desper screamed in agony, holding his left arm, the arm he had struck with his sword.