Van's voice was soft and yet filled the hearts of everyone around him with ice. They had laughed at him when he said that Viggo would need the five-move head start and yet here they were and Viggo was nearly kneeling on the ground from the recoil of his finis.h.i.+ng move and Van was perfectly fine.

Whether they wore orange robes or green robes, the crowd was extremely disturbed. What would happen now that Van could fight back?

A deep cobalt colour appeared in Van's palm.  

"Tide Swallows the Earth!"

A ma.s.sive tidal wave filled with cold qi blacked out the sky.

The crowd backed away quickly; Viggo couldn't dodge in time.

The Boulder Sect disciple's movement skill was not skilful enough for him to dodge such a large areof-effect move and the tidal wave engulfed him. Immediately, he felt the cold qi try slide through his skin and enter his system.

[Not good! The qi in this move is not very damaging, but it is so cold it has a slowing effect!]

Viggo felt his movements become sluggish. The spiritual energy within him seemed to be attacked by the freezing qi in the move, causing his reactions to slow down. 

"River Splitting the Rocks!"

An angry lash of water knocked Viggo backwards. It hit his chest so forcefully that blood appeared at the corner of his mouth. 

Viggo's face became more solemn. 

[Thousand Saint's Sacrifice - Copper Buddha!]

Van changed up his attacking style and moved into the close range while his opponent was still affected by the coldness of the qi. This time he didn't use any fancy spiritual art, he just used his most basic attack - his tyrannical body cultivation!

When you wanted to catch someone off guard, the simplest and fastest attack was the best attack. Van's fists were the most used attack from his villager days.

But Viggo's renown from being a demon beast slayer was well-earned; his senses picked up the slight movement in wind. The instant Van was upon him, Viggo crossed his cutla.s.ses in front of him.

TENG!

Van's glowing copper fist collided with the metal cutla.s.ses with a ringing metal noise and knocked Viggo backwards - Viggo could block all he wanted but the sheer force behind Van's youth's attacks was too extreme!

The Boulder Sect top outer disciple's back hit the ground painfully and coughed up more blood. The impact worsened his internal injury.

Van was immediately upon his opponent, materialising out of thin air like a ghost. He pressed his advantage. 

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BANG!

Replacing any flashy moves, Van directly kicked Viggo in the stomach and sent him flying backwards before his opponent could react.

The crowd gasped.

Van did not let up.

He attacked.

Again.

Again.

Viggo was fighting back doggedly but it was clear who was controlling the flow of the fight!

The thrill of battle sent Van's bloodl.u.s.t soaring. With Blood Vision, he could clearly sense Viggo's internal injury, so he unmercifully gave his opponent no rest.  A dark whip formed from his qi shot through the air and cut a deep wound in Viggo's arm. 

Viggo gritted his teeth and forced down his groan of pain. The blood dripping down his chin was still flowing.

"Are you ready to admit defeat?" Van asked calmly. The wound Viggo gave him on his arm had healed to pink line.

The contrast between the two of them was startling: one was bruised and bleeding, the other perfectly fine except for a rip in his robes.

Viggo did not reply, his eyes were full of unwillingness.

Van respected his choice but lifted his palm, once more a cobalt blue light appeared

The Boulder Sect disciples couldn't stand it any longer; they could not bear defeat, but if their top outer disciple was crippled by the Cedar Sect that would be an even greater humiliation. Adding to that, they also had immense respect for Viggo and couldn't watch him suffer.

"...Viggo...!" They said quietly, eyes burning. 

Viggo's shoulders slumped.

"I admit defeat."

The cheers from the Cedar Sect were deafening. The Boulder Sect disciples went white. Some of them looked like they might empty the contents of their stomaches.

Van's lips lifted into a smile.

Viggo looked up through the blood in his eyes and saw a red-haired G.o.d of war behind his eyelids.

Then, he blacked out.

The Cedar Sect disciples rushed forwards and hoisted Van onto their shoulders. The red-haired disciple had not expected this and wobbled unsteadily on his shoulders, debating whether he should just rotate Scattering Smoke Steps and remove himself from this precarious situation.

"Van! Van! Van!" They chanted giddily, high on their victory over the bullying Boulder Sect.

The bewildered Van tried to ignore the girl enthusiastically groping his b.u.t.t.

After a while, the crowd let him down.

Van gamely spent around an hour explaining his adventures in the Blizzard Plains and how he had trained his Dark Seas Palm to a high level. He skilfully ignored questions about his body cultivation by simply responding to whoever he wished – if they were asking about something else.

Eventually the satisfied crowd dispersed.

Happy but a bit tired from talking, Van decided to return to his dorm room for some quiet.

______

Far in the distance was a lone figure partially hidden behind a wall. It was Klaus, who's robes were still filled with the sand and debris he had picked up in the Sambara Desert. He looked upon with an unreadable look in his icy blue eyes.

A few months ago, the red-haired youth was utter trash compared to him. Van proceeded to get stronger and stronger, showing himself to be a martial genius at the Martial Field and stealing away some of Klaus' spotlight. The silver-haired n.o.ble had pushed himself to the utmost limit at the Sambara Desert and exulted in being able to achieve the 7th level of Qi Distillation in such a short amount of time…!

And yet!

Klaus felt red tinge his vision. His pearly white teeth clenched together; a muscle in his jaw ticked.

And yet… it wasn't enough!

Klaus suddenly shook; as if he had briefly lost control. The silver-haired youth leaned heavily against the side of the wall he was next to. If he wasn't careful; Van may just well become a knot in his heart.

Scaring himself with that train of thought, the icy aristocrat wiped any sign of anger from his face and regained a deadly calm.

Klaus watched the far-away scene for one more, long moment, before lifting his sleeves and walking away.

______

The news spread quickly through the sect; elevating Van's name to new levels of fame. He gained a new nickname – the 'Sentinel' of the Cedar Sect's Outer Court. The news reached w.a.n.g Hao, Mystra and Mad Horse quickly.

w.a.n.g Hao's expression didn't even twitch, but Mystra had a shocked expression on her face. Mad Horse glowered darkly and shot a pointed look at w.a.n.g Hao, which was ignored in favour of the game of mah-jong they were playing.

"ah poong!" Mystra shouted, distracted from the news quickly by the ivory pieces in front of them.

"Too slow!" w.a.n.g Hao chuckled.

______

[Within the Boulder Sect.]

Viggo fell to his knees heavily. Swiftly, Rhogar followed. The duo banged their heads onto the marble floor and cried out.

"Sect Head, we have failed you!"

The Master of the Boulder Sect's long wispy eyebrows drew up as he eyed the first and second-ranked outer disciples, Viggo and his brother, Rhogar. 

After a moment, he cleared his throat and spoke.

"You mean to say, that you two were unable to draw w.a.n.g Hao out from his seclusion? Even if we could achieve that objective, the fact that you defeated their top outer disciples and won the challenge is still good. After, all what we really want is to lower their morale in the Mausoleum," Old Man Boulder said.

The two brothers' heads dipped even lower.

Sect Master Boulder gripped the arm of his seat tightly, "You mean to say…?"

Viggo suddenly thumped his head onto the marble floor.

"We did not win!" he cried out, face-red, "Both of us were beaten by an outer disciple we had never heard of before?"

Sect Master Boulder was surprised, but he did not show it.

"The Cedar Sect has gained a top-ranked outer disciple that is at least on par with w.a.n.g Hao?"

Rhogar nodded vigorously, "Yes. The strength of his cultivation and his understanding of martial technique was extremely good! He defeated me in only a few rounds – I'm afraid even w.a.n.g Hao might not beat him!"

Old Man Boulder turned to Viggo.

Viggo stepped forward, "It is as Rhogar says. In addition, I felt like I couldn't sense the depth of his strength. I had a distinct feeling that he did not take me seriously!"

Old Man Boulder rubbed his temples.

[It seems that the Cedar Sect is not the soft persimmon we thought it would be…]

The Sect Head raised his head, "And this genius outer disciple, what did he look like?"

Rhogar replied first.

"Sir! The disciple who defeated me was a young lad named Van who looked thirteen years of age. He had flame-red hair that reached his shoulders and defeated me based on his movement skill and body cultivation alone! I did not see him use a single spiritual martial art at all!"

 "Sect Master… I… the youth told me to take five moves!" Viggo said.

Old Man Boulder sharpened his gaze, "And did you?"

Viggo shut his eyes, "I did. And I still lost."

There was a tense silence as the three people in the room processed the news.

"It is clear, I think," Sect Master Boulder said heavily, "That the Cedar Sect's outer court has gained a new genius – one that surpa.s.ses the both of you, adding to their chances in the Monster Mausoleum."