Chapter 56 - The Scum Is Heavy-handed

Lei Ling, Lei Qing and You Rou went home tonight to spend their time with their family and inform them of the competition. Feng Mo also went home with them, chattering non-stop with the three. He is happy since there will be many of them going to compete. After all, starting tomorrow, they will start to train and by the eighth day, they will be leaving Xinfaxian.

The ones left are Fei Yin – whose home is in Shanliang, Cheng Sheng – whose home is in Xiwang, and Li Tian – an orphan. "Xiao Sheng." Xie Lan called.

"Yes, founder." Cheng Sheng answered.

Xie Lan stared at him. "You can still compete even if you won't use your golden core." he said.

They fell silent. Of course, they saw Cheng Sheng grow up. Fei Yin and Li Tian also grew up with Cheng Sheng. They can see how Cheng Sheng fight. Li Tian and Feng Mo know that Cheng Sheng can defeat them if they will seriously fight. As to Fei Yin… they looked at Fei Yin. Fei Yin's hand trembled.

Fan Wen spoke. "The seven of you. Since the time is short, you train while you travel." He said.

They nodded. "We understand, shifu." They said.

"Xiao Sheng. You conceal your power." Xie Lan said. "In the registration, you cannot lie. However, there's no rule that you cannot conceal your level against your opponent." He told Cheng Sheng. "If not needed, do not use your golden core. We still do not know its effect. Maybe, if you'd use it, your level – " he said, then stopped. " – just put your level in the registration paper as low-level Golden Core Stage." He said, then looked at Li Tian, then Fei Yin. "Xiao Yin…" he said. "If you're that worried, you can try provoking Xiao Sheng." He grinned. "See how will he surprise you." He added.

Fei Yin froze. He looked at Xie Lan, then Cheng Sheng. "Hm?" Cheng Sheng said and smiled, confused.

Fei Yin turned to Xie Lan and Fan Wen. "I will." He answered.

Li Tian choked while Cheng Sheng shrugged. He isn't afraid of Fei Yin.

The next morning, the seven of them trained. They were done preparing for their travel. Li Tian, You Rou and Lei Ling trained on the west mountain, just below the Meditation Hall. In the alchemy test, they will be fighting against the others within the specialized test they're in. For example, in Pill Refining, the quality of the pill determines the winner. This is the same with Potion Brewing. However, for Spell Casting the participants will be tested in terms of practicality by making the participants fight against each other using their spells. This is the same with Talisman Making and Array Drawing.

On the other hand, the remaining four – Cheng Sheng, Fei Yin, Feng Mo and Lei Qing trained in the Training Hall on the east mountain. Feng Mo, who was itching since Cheng Sheng gained a golden core, challenged Cheng Sheng for a fight. Fei Yin and Lei Qing took their jade pendants and watched on the sidelines as the two fought.

Since Feng Mo is a martial arts idiot, and all his time was spent on fighting, he is still powerful even if his sword spirit that awakened is away from him. He has always been aggressive, thus, he took the momentum first when the fight started. He has always been sparring with Cheng Sheng the most since that's their bonding time, and also to make Cheng Sheng more powerful since only in martial arts can he help Cheng Sheng. Thus, he is familiar with Cheng Sheng's moves. Cheng Sheng, when they started, had been on the defensive side.

However, Cheng Sheng is no pushover. Even when the time he still didn't have a golden core, he has always been strong. Feng Mo may be second in the rank of martial arts in their sect, but Cheng Sheng's strength is not worse than him. Instead, Feng Mo is ranked higher than Cheng Sheng since Feng Mo's attacks are more aggressive than Cheng Sheng. But, Cheng Sheng's attacks are meticulous. As others said, Cheng Sheng is sinister. But, Cheng Sheng is just calculative, so he always had seen his opponent's weak points. Thus, he started to counterattack.

Since both of them cannot use qi and only their fists, the fight came to a stalemate. None of them are stepping back. Instead, their fists don't leave each other for a second nor separate for more than an inch. The weapon stand on the side shook and the weapons rattled. Fei Yin and Lei Ling was pushed a step back, and their hair flew with the wind coming from the two.

"Feng-shidi is really aggressive." Lei Qing muttered in awe as she watched Feng Mo's serious expression while he threw strong punches on Cheng Sheng. Feng Mo looked like he became a different person when he fights.

"Cheng-shidi is in control." Fei Yin said and looked at Cheng Sheng's calm face. "He's overwhelming Feng-shidi." He added. Feng Mo's serious expression speaks for it. When Feng Mo fights, he is confident but not to the point of being careless. However, as the fight continues, Feng Mo's expression would change.

Right now, Cheng Sheng was controlling their fight. Lei Qing who finally saw it was surprised. "Cheng-shidi is now stronger than Feng-shidi. It's because of his golden core?" she said. Of course, who would waste time when they finally have their golden core? Thus, Cheng Sheng, who had long waiting for a golden core, cultivated when he finally gained a golden core. His strength right now shows the result of his cultivation.

He finally started to push back Feng Mo, whose expression turned grave and losing his momentum. "This decides it." Fei Yin said. His eyes had a trace of pride when he saw Cheng Sheng made a turn in the air and kicked Feng Mo. It was too fast and Feng Mo could only block the kick with both his hands.

"OW!" Feng Mo cried when he fell on the floor. Fortunately, the bamboos are all fortified or else there'll be cracks.

"Shidi!" Lei Qing called and ran towards Feng Mo to help him up.

Fei Yin walked towards Cheng Sheng who landed on the floor. His sleeves fluttered but there are no creases on it. "Shidi." He called.

Cheng Sheng turned, not a trace of sweat on his handsome face. "Da shixiong." He called.

"Hey, hey!" Lei Qing called when she saw Fei Yin and Cheng Sheng standing on the side. "It'll be me who will fight next!" she said. "Against Cheng-shidi!" she added and dropped Feng Mo.

"Ow…" Feng Mo cried when he fell face first on the floor. He felt his nose stung.

Lei Qing walked towards Cheng Sheng and smiled. "No mercy, shidi, got it?" she told Cheng Sheng.

Cheng Sheng nodded. "Yes, shijie." He answered.

Fei Yin could only leave after taking Lei Qing's jade pendant and drag Feng Mo along. Feng Mo tiredly leaned on the wall as they watched Cheng Sheng and Lei Qing started to fight. "Cheng-shidi became ruthless. I hope shijie will be fine." He muttered and looked at the faint bruise on his hands. It came from Cheng Sheng's last kick he blocked.

Fei Yin also saw Feng Mo's red palm. Too strong. He thought. "AH!" Lei Qing screamed when her back was almost hit by Cheng Sheng. She immediately ducked and roll on the floor. However, when she turned, she was greeted by Cheng Sheng's fist. Her pupils shrank as she immediately dropped her body on the floor, avoiding Cheng Sheng's attack with a hair's breadth. She raised her leg to kick Cheng Sheng, and Cheng Sheng stepped back to dodge, giving her a moment to breathe.

"Shijie's faster than me!" Feng Mo exclaimed when he saw the exchange of blows by the two who were currently fighting. If he was on Lei Qing's shoes earlier, he would have his nose broken.

Fei Yin nodded as they continued to watch the two fought. "A woman's body would always be lighter than a man's, thus they are faster than them, so male cultivators use light foot skills to become faster." He explained as he watched Lei Qing turned, her feet crisscrossing very fast while she circled Cheng Sheng. Then, she raised her fist to attack Cheng Sheng, who immediately dodged and raised his feet to counterattack, which made Lei Qing stop turning on her feet and jump back.

"Too fast!" Feng Mo exclaimed. "Is Cheng-shidi using his light foot?" he asked.

"No." Fei Yin answered. "Because of the strange cultivation skill that mysterious man did to Cheng-shidi, the foundation of Cheng-shidi's body changed." He said, then his fist balled.

Feng Mo fell silent. He also remembered Cheng Shidi's heart-clenching scream that night. "So, Cheng-shidi is comparable to woman?" he joked. Which made Cheng Sheng stop momentarily, and Lei Qing used the chance to hit him on his back.

"OW!" Cheng Sheng cried and fell on the floor. He glared at Feng Mo, who immediately grimaced. "Feng-shixiong is more vengeful than a ghost!" he said. Feng Mo caused him to lose.

Lei Qing laughed and helped Cheng Sheng up. "A lose is lose, shidi!" she said and patted Cheng Sheng on the back, which Cheng Sheng winced in pain.

Lei Qing's hand is surprisingly heavy. Cheng Sheng swears he'll see a handprint on his back later. Since Cheng Sheng lost, Lei Qing faced Fei Yin. Lei Qing would sure lose, so Fei Yin will be facing Feng Mo – who finished resting, next.

Across the east mountain is the west mountain where Li Tian, You Rou and Lei Ling are training for the alchemy test in the preliminary stage. They are too focused on their training that they didn't notice Fan Wen was sitting on the roof of the Meditation Hall and was watching them. Meanwhile, after Xie Lan sent Fan Wen, he flew across the Xinfaxian and reached the east mountain. He's on his way to the Training Hall to watch over their disciples' training.

The goal of the Intersect Competition is to display the prowess of each cultivator in the competition. Those who can impress the sect elders from all over the continent that came to watch the competition will have the chance to be invited by the said elder's sect. However, it will be up to the cultivator if he will join the sect. Even if the cultivator already belonged to a sect, but if he will accept the invitation from another sect, his original sect cannot complain.