“What is happening? Who offended the Leader from the Silver Spear Sect, do they have a death wish?”
“Don’t they know that he is known to have quite the temper?”
“That young man is done for!”
“But isn’t that also a nascent soul master… but he looks so young!”
Random people started whispering while glancing at Zhang Dong who was standing in front of the hotel. A lot of the sects were gathering here now so this had turned into a big scene. Other sect masters and elders were arriving and recognized Chang Yongzheng who was floating above.
The big unknown was the person he was glaring at. The man was wearing a strange form-fitting robe and was really handsome. The ladies from the side were smitten by his good looks the moment they saw him. From the way he was presenting himself he looked to be someone important.
“Answer me, who are you to disregard my Silver Spear Sect and bully my sect disciples!”
Zhang Dong remained quiet while the people from the Silver Spear Sect started cheering. With their Patriarch here they had nothing to fear. They still didn’t dare to speak out though. The person there was still an unknown nascent soul cultivator. It would also be rude to speak while their Patriarch was talking.
Zhang Dong had his hands behind his back and eyed the nascent soul master with a side glance. He gave out a harrumph clearly indicating that he was dissatisfied with the man being there.
“I don’t care who you are or to what sect you belong to. I don’t need to explain myself to someone like you!”
The moment Zhang Dong replied the people in the peanut gallery showed shocked expressions. This was quite the jaw-dropper, they expected the young-looking cultivator to bow down and beg for forgiveness. He did the total opposite of it, he reacted in anger against someone that was in the late stage of a nascent soul.
Chang Yongzheng was flabbergasted. Rage flowed through him like lava and his face went red as he stared daggers at the young-looking cultivator. He, like the others, expected this man to bow his head and apologize. He would then leave the whole thing at that and both sides would go on their way. Now, on the other hand, he wasn’t able to do that anymore. This man was clearly disrespecting him, he couldn’t just take it lying down, no he wouldn’t!
“You dare! Do you have a death wish?“
The air around the two became cold and the tension could be cut with a sharp sword. Both the juniors from the Silver Spear Sect and Golden Saber Sect began to back away. No one expected the unfamiliar man to react in this way.
Zhang Dong’s aura pushed against Yongzheng’s and you could see Qi sparks flying around. Anyone below the nascent soul level that was in the close vicinity started getting weak in the knees. If a fight broke out now there would be a lot of collateral damage as even a simple punch from an expert of this level could flatten a large house.
The Patriarch from the Silver Spear Sect was shorter than Zhang Dong. He was an older looking man with a gray beard. He didn’t look like anything special but he was radiating power. He waved his hand and a beautifully crafted silvery spear appeared in his hand. The weapon radiated the might of a heavenly treasure and was pointed at Zhang Dong.
The United Element Sect Patriarch didn’t remain passive. He did a similar wave of the wrist and an intricate sword appeared in his hand.The blade was very straight and had an ethereal feel to it. It was a type of jian sword with a snow-white hilt. The blade crackled with lightning energy that switched between blue and gold.
But before the two men could launch their attacks a booming voice was heard.
“Halt, fighting in Rain Dragon City is forbidden!”
A group of cultivators appeared wearing Yinglong Pavilion robes, one of them was a master in the middle nascent stage realm. He looked at the two men with scorn in his eyes and pointed some kind of golden medallion at them. The moment he did a bubble of energy appeared around each one of the patriarchs.
Zhang Dong didn’t react as he expected something like this to happen. He knew that fighting in the city was frowned upon. There were other ways to go about things like this here. He placed his sword back into his spatial ring and looked at the new person that arrived. It was probably someone from the disciplinary hall of this city.
The Silver Spear Patriarch was less amused than Zhang Dong. He looked at the new arrival with spite and was still brandishing his spear.
“Don’t interfere, that young whelp insulted my sect!”
“It doesn’t matter what your grievances are, fighting in the city is strictly forbidden. If you wish to continue you will have to move to the Rain Tiger Arena!”
There it was, the arena. Things such as it existed in most of the developed cities here. It was a place where people could fight against each other. Killing and crippling were also allowed but fights between powerful nascent cultivators was something very rare. Most of them would avoid such an outcome unless there was a good reason for it.
Zhang Dong was doing this on purpose. This was still part of his plan. The first option went out of the window the moment this nascent soul master appeared. He would have just let it be and walked into the hotel if he didn’t show up. As someone strong he didn’t need to give face to other sect’s junior members. The Silver Spear Sect could have let it slide but this leader of theirs apparently had a short fuse.
The moment he saw his sect getting disrespected by a nascent soul cultivator he jumped out. Zhang Dong also felt that there was another master of similar power still hiding, he probably belonged to the Golden Saber Sect faction. That person was smart enough to not come out. This spared him from potential combat and loss of face.
Zhang Dong was now using the angry Chang Yongzheng as a pawn. Though he didn’t know how far the man would take this. His plan involved moving it towards the arena, to begin with. But if the nascent soul master just apologized he would leave it at that. Something as that would probably not happen though.
“Rain Tiger Arena?”
Yongzheng looked at the man in the white robe. The moment he did Zhang Dong raised his chin to look up to him. The corner of his lip tightened and slightly rose on one side of his face. The moment the powerful cultivator noticed that condescending look he lost it. He could clearly tell that the man was only a middle stage nascent realm cultivator. You could not fake something like this, there was a certain quality to your spiritual energy that gave things like that away.
“Fine, if he dares face me in that arena, I Chang Yongzheng will put my honor on the line and face this young whelp in combat! But does he dare to face me?”
You couldn’t force anyone to fight you in the arena. That was one of the rules that was in place in this city. Both parties had to agree and even sign a contract that would be overseen by the city officials.
Zhang Dong looked to the shouting man and then back to the disciplinary elders and gave a nod.
“Why wouldn’t I dare face someone weaker than me? But are you sure about this? I don’t like to bully old men, you can still save some face and reconsider it…”
He shrugged a bit while replying in a somewhat condescending tone. The people that were there were astonished. Was this young-looking man crazy or something? Why would he scrutinize a powerful sect leader like this? Was he really strong enough to beat him, or was he just putting on appearances to save face?
“You! I will slaughter you!”
The man almost popped a vein in his forehead after hearing what Zhang Dong had to say. He was a powerful nascent soul master from a formidable sect and he was getting disrespected like this.
When he appeared to help his juniors he intended to only reprimand the middle stage cultivator slightly. If he just apologized he would let him be without getting in his way. The man on the other hand didn’t budge and showed hostility towards him.
He had to give it to him, he was really strong for his age. He attributed his haughty attitude to gaining his power too fast and being inexperienced. He had no idea who this person was but he was probably just an elder from another middle sized sect. If he killed him in a sanctioned match no one could say anything against it. The middle sized sects were all very close to each other when strength was involved. Thus they didn’t fear arguing with each other or even doing battle.
“Silence!”
The bubbles radiated light while holding the two people in them, increasing their defensive capabilities as the Patriarch from the Silver Spear Sect was about to force it open with his rage.
“I can’t stop you if you both agree to face each other. This is a serious matter where death is a possibility so think about this hard fellow Daoists. Your belongings will be delivered to your next of kin if this happens.”
The man started explaining the rules of the arena to two angry-looking masters. He was slowly sweating and was nervous. Mostly the people that fought in the arena were core formation and below, the nascent soul masters mostly kept a clear head in such matters. Very rarely they would fight, most of the time it happened when the sects were already at war with each other.
Zhang Dong just nodded and his opponent did the same. He placed his spear back in his spatial ring. He had to show this upstart how the world really worked, depending on the situation he would deliver a crippling blow or kill him outright. He wasn’t that stupid and was already sending a transmission to his retainers. He needed to know who this man was, depending on the outcome he might need to leave him alive. If he was from a weaker sect, it would be fine to maim him and show that he was not to be trifled with.
The disciplinary elder gave out a sigh, he would get everything ready within the next couple hours. He explained where the arena was and that he would prepare everything for the two. They could now get ready by meditating or getting other weapons. Using treasures and weapons was allowed as that was considered part of your personal strength.
The word that two powerhouses were going to fight spread throughout the whole city. The names Zhang Dong and Chang Yongzheng were written on the board in all of the betting dens in the city. After a quick background check their identities were revealed.
The first one was the Patriarch from a new middle sized sect. The number of their nascent soul cultivators wasn’t fully known but it was rumored to be between three to six. The other one was a more renowned sect, their strength would be ranked below the previous Dark Palm sect but not by much.
The feats of Zhang Dong couldn’t be confirmed as other individuals interfered. Due to this, the stakes were against him 3 to 1. The Silver Spear sect’s Patriarch was an old monster that got to the top due to his famous spear arts. He was a renowned spear grandmaster, even seeing him in action would be worth the entrance fee to this event.
Everyone started clamoring to get a ticket, this would be quite the fight. One was an unknown new master while the other one was an old seasoned monster. It was a fight of the old against the young, who would come out on top, no one knew.