Chapter 138: Hard Against Soft.

"What kind of treasure is that?" Yu Bai asked, though he didn't expect an answer, I answered still.

"It's just a random rock, so why don't you chill for a bit, you seem to have a lot of anger in you," I said.

"You lowly outer disciple think that just because I let down my guard have the right to speak down to me?" Yu Bai said as he flicked his already mangled and broken hand.

His fists immediately snapped back in position, even though the swelling and blood were still obvious, it was nothing a healing pill couldn't make quick work of.

'He's tough. This is going to be a hassle.'

I took a step forward as I pulled Creeping Demise.

"Oh, what a fragile-looking sword, if it comes in contact with my sword, it'll snap in two," Yu Bai said as he pulled his own massive sword out.

"It's not about the size bro," I grinned as I moved forward.

The few spectators looked dumbfounded, after all, I'm a Core Cultivator that's going up against a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Yu Bai's face distorted into a haughty and ugly devilish laugh as he pulled his sword with one hand and was planning to split me in two as I charged at him.

His sword came down on me only to meet Creeping Demise that was angled down.

Now, for a quick crash course on Newton's laws of motion. Here, two laws apply, the first is that an object that is in acceleration will remain in acceleration until another force is applied to it. The object in motion here is Yu Bai's sword, and the second object is mine. But if I were to directly try and block Lu Bai's sword, even if Creeping Demise wouldn't break, the force will be transferred to me, and I'm far less durable than Creeping Demise. Yet, when I apply the second law of Newton… For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction…

So, if I were to use his own strength. I grinned as I further angled creeping demise and used every bit of strength in my body, not to block, but to parry.

Yu Bai's sword made contact, but instead of splatting me to the ground, the force that Yu Bai had applied to his sword was still too much for him to control and when parried, he couldn't help but be forced to follow his sword as it slammed into the ground a few feet away from me.

The blow caused a great gash in the ground as his sword dug itself into the hard ground, and while at that moment he was stuck, I pivoted away from him and gently placed the tip of my sword at Yu Bai's neck.

There was no end as anti-climactic as this, all of that power, all of that force, and all of that haughty attitude were beating with the application of one of the most simple and fundamental laws of physics.

Sadly, I couldn't cut down Yu Bai, not because I couldn't or was afraid of him. But while we fought there was actually a divine sense watching us. I already won but if I were to push my luck, I'll probably end up in more trouble than crippling three outer disciples. This was an Inner Disciple and I still didn't have the 'right' to kill him.

"Admit defeat," I said to the stunned Yu Bai.

"NEVER!" he roared as he swung his fist at me. 

I grumbled at him as I jumped back, "You really don't know when to give up do you, you've been defeated and I've spared you, yet you still act like this."

"Go to hell, I? lose to a core cultivator! You must be mad!" he said and disappeared from where he stood.

'teleporting again, damn this is getting bothersome.' I sighed as I twisted around and slashed behind me.

A loud cry sounded as a hand fell down to the ground.

Stupid people, I swear, with the ability to teleport, why do you always attack from the back?

Yu Bai dropped his sword and grabbed the lump on his arm as he cried, "You dare cut my hand! Do you know who I am?" he shouted.

"You are an idiot who didn't know when to give up. Wait what was the idiom, ah, Yes, I offered you a toast, only to be forced and drink a forfeit."

I said as I stabbed through the hand on the ground, "And now this is mine." I said as I placed his hand in my pouch.

Yu Bai, seemingly enraged with having his 'face' slapped in front of so many spectators, howled until the whites of his eyes were all one could see, a dark baleful aura gathered around him as his muscles rippled with strength.

He was diving into insanity, but an elder immediately came over and struck Yu Bai on the back of the neck, rendering him unconscious.

"Elder! You have to get justice for brother Yu Bai!" one of the kids, and probably followers of Yu Bai said the moment he saw the elder.

The elder looked at the kid, and in one gaze the kid immediately fell to his knees, shaking in fright.

"Xiao Meng, I have to admit, you treated this incident well, you didn't act against an inner disciple even if he was wronging you, and you offered him to give up. You are in all your right to keep that hand of his as a reminder to not be so conceited," the elder said, "This incident here is over. Also, Xiao Meng," he said as he threw me a token, "You've just entered the sect, but it would be a huge waste of talent to keep you in the outer sect. report to the inner sect. I'll allow you entry once you successfully clear the inner sect trial." The elder said.

The rest of the disciples immediately clamored together, and their topic was that a core level cultivator was going to become an Inner Disciple.

I ignored the group and hastily withdrew to my lodging.

Though today's events ended well, I suffered slightly here. My right hand was still trembling from the impact of Yu Bai's sword, even if I had parried his sword, I still received a portion of his attack and that hurts like a motherfucker.

Also, I don't think that the elder's invitation was honest. It might have looked like a generous promotion, but that was definitely to keep face in front of the disciples. He had come only when he saw Yu Bai was in a tough spot and didn't act when I was about to be killed.

Either he is affiliated to Yu Bai, perhaps acquaintance or maybe a patronage relationship, or he simply is greedy and wants to know how I managed to defeat a disciple an entire realm above me.

But all is good, thanks to brother Zhang Tian's insights into cultivation and battle, I'm, able to apply more of my strengths in battle. I can't wait to see him again, but that will probably take a long time, especially since I haven't released his divine sense yet. But I can only do that once I'm in the inner sect. Otherwise, my plan won't work.

Once I was back in my lodging, I began making a few more poison pills, and while I wasn't worried about any of the disciples trying to do anything to me, since I already proved that I'm more than they can handle, the elders were a whole other story.

So I had to re-enable my Sky Pearl eye. Though Zhang Tian rendered it useless as his divine sense was so agonizing and so powerful that the use of the Sky Pearl only hurt me while it wasn't even to the level of a nuisance to him, it would be a whole different story to the elders here.

I've had enough with the annoying scrying divine senses that have been inspecting me every now and then, it's a breach of privacy and that's just rude.

Soon, I heard the agonized howl of a few disciples and even an elder, and immediately the divine sense disappeared.

"Good, this should keep troublemakers away from me.3 Now, I'll need to actively increase my cultivation level.

My strengths are hidden, and they're mostly my puppets, the Heart Flame, and my poison. Well, basically everything, all I could show is nothing but formation and the Sanguine Blade arts, in addition to the Star Cultivation technique, though it offers no combat prows, it's enough to fake my identity to the Three-Legged Crow sect. the last I want is for them to know that I'm one of the very sects they're actively trying to break the formation of.

I began by consuming a lot of pills and channeling my Qi, rotating it, and slowly increasing the speed. Once I reach the sixth layer of the Core Formation realm, I'll be able to have a better chance at clearing the inner sect challenge. Any amount of strength is useful for me right now, and I can't skimp on any upgrades I could get, no matter how small.