47 Opening the battle ground

Ed had spent the entire month practising the sword techniques he had learned with the yhenxia sword. He had no intention of ever using this sword, but he still wanted this sword to be an extension of his body. He could pass forty percent of his energy through it. It was a wondrous object. He had hoped it would be able to take more, but this was still enough.

The end of the month had arrived and he must participate in the battles. He prepared his swords, and walked out of his cave. When he walked out, he noticed that there were a lot of people coming out of theirs too. He followed their general direction till he was now moving within a crowd.

The crowd moved in one direction towards a clear field. It did not take long before they arrived. Ed noticed that there were quite a lot of people band together in a group. Those that stood alone, started to feel nervous. They wondered whether they should have joined a faction. When the fight begins, they will be the first to be killed.

Ed was standing by himself, making him a target for a lot of factions. Many had already gone round and gotten enough information about their target. Those from Ed's section of caves were in a way, safe. News that the caves no more emitted astral energy was common news. But those who where known to possess a lot of wealth like Ed, were still in their radar.

Ed glanced passed several killing intents without care. He was taking note of the factions around him. Most newcomers had formed their own factions, but Ed was more interested in the veteran factions. Then his eyes moved to the top ten. These were cultivators who stood alone, yet were still top ten on the slate. This only meant that they were powerful.

Ed noticed were they stood. They were not in one position, but it was easy to spot who they were. The other faction leaders were wary of them, and this was a good indication of who they are. Ed glanced passed them, trying not to stare too long, yet trying to gauge their level of power. He could easily see through their cultivation, even to the kind of energy they absorbed.

As his eyes glanced around, he felt the hair at the back of his neck rise. This feeling, this was not killing intent. This felt like being stared down by a wild predator. Ed turned to the direction of the stare and met very calm eyes.

This boy, no older than eighteen looked back at him. His outer appearance looked sophisticated and calm, like a noble gentleman. But Ed trusted his senses. This boy was a wild animal disguised as a gentleman. He could tell that he worked hard to be perceived as gentle and almost relate-able. He noticed as many others tried to strike a conversation with him and how he answered with a soft gentle smile.

Ed wondered why he was this boy's target. Ed understood that his appearance was could confuse people. Ed himself had stepped into this world and spent fifteen years in the valley and ten years in the Baju valley. In this world he could be classified as twenty five years old. But he was twenty eight back in his world and entered this world looking exactly the same. He could be considered a fifty three year old man. But he looked the same since the day he came.

His appearance was a good thing. One would look down on a fifty three year old man at spirit picking stage. This boy did not seem to be looking down on his cultivation, he saw Ed as food. Why? Then Ed remembered he had spent a lot of spirit tokens on the swords in that shop. Was he the boss the attendant went to report to?

Ed could not bother about this. This battle field is a good training ground for his fighting skills. He did not care if others had lost interest in his cave because it had lost it's energy, nor did he care about those that saw him as food. No matter their position, they were all his target. His goal was to kill as many people as possible, to fight as many battles as possible and get better at fighting in this world.

"The battle field will soon open. The rules are simple, there are no rules." the instructor said and the space around them warped.