Chapter 271 271. SCOLDING

"That was weak," Elder Sarah muttered dispersing the flames on her arms. She barely moved from her position after the explosion, as not even her high-grade clothes were fluttered. Her flames had naturally destroyed Noah's spears, but the spears had done enough to damage the flames causing them to detonate.

Glancing at the barely standing Noah, she marveled at his rapidly healing face.

Feeling the blood that dripped out of his face come to a stop, Noah frowned deeply, he had honestly thought he'd die. Thankfully his body worked overdrive to not allow such an outcome.

"This is abuse," Noah complained. "You are far stronger than me, to begin with. How do you expect me to win," Noah added expressing his annoyance.

"Oh but isn't this how you dominate the others. You shouldn't complain about an act you utilize on others," she explained coldly.

"Young man, I have seen you in action and can't help but pity the poor humans that encountered you," added entering a stance.

"This is me humbling you. Only after that is complete can you bow to be trained," she declared vanishing from her spot to arrive next to an already dodging Noah.

Feeling surprised about her words, Noah could only sigh inwardly. He didn't like how quickly she had evaluated him, and he even felt the faint desire to rebel.

Unfortunately, he hadn't the time to think those thoughts since a foreign force struck his chest and his left knees.

His knee shattered disabling him, and his chest caved in sending great pain into his mind. He recalled dodging, but her elbow attack had reached him anyway.

'Her technique doesn't make sense,' Noah thought getting hurled away, as he puked blood for the nth time that hour.

His back smashed into the inscription-filled walls but it didn't get damaged.

Luckily for his body; Elder Sarah slowly walked towards his convulsing figure.

"Are you surprised? Well, you should be. You're fast Aiden, but you're too slow," she announced flickering from her position. However, rather than attacking him, her figure seemed to split into five shaking figures.

"Can you tell where I am," her voice resounded from all five flickering figures.

Needless to say, Noah stared in pure shock, nonetheless, he quickly focused on the issue at hand. His mental waves shot forward to inspect the flickering figures, but he couldn't tell the difference between the five figures.

"You're in all five of them.." he muttered straining his mind.

"Correct," She replied as all five figures merged to become one.

"In theory, you should be able to do the same, but you're too untrained and utilize your speed brutishly," she snorted appearing before his now standing figure.

"In truth, you had been fast enough to dodge my first attacks, but you didn't focus on my extra movement to cover the distance fast enough to reach you and pull back," she explained as Noah felt a force smash into his right arm, left knee, and left shoulder in the blink of an eye.

Shock filled Noah at the realization of her words. He had never used his rapid movements that way before. Simply running around whenever he wanted.

Speed essence flowed into his crushed bones to fix them, but he had started to run low on energy.

"You're so annoying I want to teach you something already," Elder Sarah clicked her tongue walking backward around twenty feet from his figure.

"I want you to block at least one of my attacks. Completely dodging them is good too," she announced entering a stance, her right leg stood around 2 feet in front of her slightly crouched figure, while her left leg bent into an almost kneeling position.

"If you think this is some sort of stance for the execution of my martial art, you're wrong," she snorted vanishing from her position.

Noah focused his gaze on the room at that point, he understood that he couldn't dream of following her movement without empowerment, so he utilized it, and he could somewhat see her movements, and what his eyes fell on left him taken aback.

The gorgeous-looking woman surprisingly jumped back and forth on the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room. Her movements were so quick that she almost appeared invisible to the naked eyes, thankfully her black attire gave away her position.

Nevertheless, Noah could only slump his shoulders in defeat. He was a cheat, without the speed force he would never be able to do anything against her. She stood on a different level than normal cultivators. Terming her monstrous wouldn't be enough.

Raising his arms in front of his face in a protective stance, Noah waited for her to begin her movement towards his position. And she eventually did, but not in a way that he expected.

Noah laid eyes on an incoming shower of tiny needles made from flames. Each one of them carried enough power to hurt a middle-stage cultivator and shot toward him from all areas.

The rain of orange needles blocked his view of the monstrous expert, and he feared what would happen if he focused on them.

Unfortunately, he had to make a decision, and he chose the deadly needles. His illusory armor encased his figure in its light and Noah created a wall of wind, even if he knew just like the spears they would be overpowered.

Creating an all-around shield out of his control on the lightning element, Noah braced himself for impact, unfortunately, nothing happened.

However, in the blink of an eye, a black shadow crashed through his defense to deliver several punches that Noah failed to count.

"You're stupid. An actual dummy. Do I have to repeat myself about you not staying in one position," her irritated voice rang in Noah's half-unconscious ears.

Her anger caused her to deliver more blows, and they quickly surpassed a hundred. However, Noah remained conscious. His body had started adapting to that healing speed.

"I'm sorry," he apologized coughing blood as he curled up into a ball.

She delivered a kick on his side, sending him flying. Thankfully she didn't make any other moves.

"I can't deal with this!" she exclaimed walking towards the door. "How have you even lived long enough to achieve that level of power," she turned towards his figure, marvel evident on her face.

"I guess you've never met someone able to match your strength. Well, there are a lot of individuals who wield far more experience than you."

"Power is nice, but real experience maximizes power. The important cultivators in this guild have both, you'd be dead in less than five exchanges if not for your healing," she yelled at him.

Noah could only sit on the ground while listening to her scolding. He felt bad beyond reason. His pride crashed before his face as words he knew were true were hurled at me, and this led to pain.

"I know," Noah muttered, his countenance having already fallen.

"What was that?" Elder Sarah asked sharpening her eyes.

"I know how inexperienced I am, that's why I'm here," Noah spoke, feeling the urge to yell at her, but the fear of death wouldn't allow him.

"Then why haven't you changed that in all the years you've spent grooming your power," she snorted.

'Because I've barely spent six months yes,' Noah replied to her in his mind but remained silent outside.

"I thought so. I've met brutes who only focused on their cultivation level, neglecting their battle experience. Yes, they won many battles but encounters with individuals equally as strong, who possessed expertly understanding of their power; techniques, and battle tactics honed after decades of pure work. They fell. Fast," she explained.

"On the playing field of monsters, you also need proper techniques and skill to win."

"You can leave. When you're ready to listen to instructions return, I'll train you." she ended, walking out of the room.

Disappointment reigned in his mind after that event, and he soon left her mansion to begin his journey back to the outer region.

However, he returned to request for something that would allow him back into the central region since he had utilized the letter already. Lady Sarah handed him a purple ring at that point, and Noah found that it could display the crest of the guild, only that her name stood beside it.

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Authors note: This was supposed to be for yesterday, but I've decided to change the release schedule to two every weekday, then one each for Saturdays and Sundays, since exhausting activities go on during them. I know it goes against my promise of two every day, but this is the best I can do to maintain a steady release schedule. A big Thank you for your understanding.