"Don't be proud too soon, Gate master Ma." the person who spoke was seated beside the G.o.dhand gate master, his eyes filled with scorn. He was the Earthbound gate master.

"Speak when you can lift you little head with pride as well, Gate master Nti" he replied to the words easily. Even though they were all the heaven alliance, everyone knew that the G.o.dhand gate and the Earthbound gate always competed against each other. This started a long time ago, when the last heaven alliance patriarch was at his prime of five hundred years of age. He was an odd old man with an odd sense of humour. He believed that the earth and the heavens don't mix, one was always trying to show his superiority, so he replicated this with the G.o.dhand gate and the Earthbound gate by making two enemies gate masters of the two gates. Since then, the two had never seen eye to eye.

Instead of replying to Gate master Ma's words, Gate master Nti smirked and nodded at the first stage. Just that moment, silence took over the arena.

Gate master Ma looked in that direction and his face froze.

"Impossible!" he exclaimed.

At this time, a young boy hovered in mid air. There was a buzz in the air that made ones hair stand in the wrong direction. Not only hairs were moving in the wrong direction, everything else too. Drinks spilling from cups flowed the wrong way; up instead of down.

Crack!

The stages started to descend slowly, cracking as though trying to resit the power causing it's descent.

"Magic?" someone said.

"Idiot! Magic are things of little children in villages." another countered.

"Then what? This is not cultivation."

"Yes," another said, " I have seen many cultivators, what he is doing can not be it!"

Despite the whispering and confusion, the more experienced eyes had a better explanation. One they never thought they would have the opportunity to see in their life.

"Energy manipulator!" one said.

"Impossible, they are said to be extinct!" another exclaimed.

Since long known, cultivators used the energy around them by absorbing it into their cores but never using them directly from the atmosphere. The higher the cultivation level, the higher the martial skill one could execute. Of course, with high enough cultivation, the body could break limitations like that of flight. But like the legends of G.o.deaters, energy manipulators were believed to be myth, until a few centuries ago when an extensive doc.u.ment about them emerged. People finally understood that it was not that they were myths, they had just gone extinct.

The other eight powers were amazed at first, but the meaning of this finally sank into their brains. The heaven alliance has another monster to add to it's collection. As though having Tie Nse was not enough, Toe Nse went out and got a monster disciple. Now, before their eyes another had emerged. This was bad!

Those that felt the pressure most, were the Jade Phoenix alliance. Many without understanding may think that both alliances were on the same level, but Lady Mi knew that others knew that they could not compare to the Heaven alliance. She knew that Tie Nse's appearance in the cultivation world as the successor of the heaven alliance had pushed the Jade phoenix alliance back a step.

This man that had reached soul realization before striking hundred was the first to do it in all known history. As if that was not enough, they were blind-sided by his monster of a disciple, putting a lot of pressure on them to produce a young genius of their own. But now, could they keep up with the level at which the Heaven alliance was acquiring geniuses?

The contestants saw the stages descend and hurried to jump down before it touched the ground. Many thought that as long as they descended on their own, they had pa.s.sed this test.

One incense stick of time was officially done. The Judges tried to calm their excited minds and pick out those who were entering the meet. They whispered and glanced at Tie Nse, hoping to see his reaction. They did not understand that Tie Nse was already a lazy man who had picked up a disciple to expensive to train. He pretended to not see how special the boy was, keeping a blank face and looking ahead. One troublesome disciple is enough for his life time. He officially swore within him, that he had retired being a master after taking up his disciple. Other people can train him.

If the elders knew what he was thinking at this moment, they would have fainted. They would have wondered how they got such a lazy Patriarch.

Elder Di felt threatened by this new development. He had agreed to allowing those of the younger generation join the meet because he wanted the patriarch to see that his son was the true dragon even amongst the wealth of talents. He was happy his son was not here. He was afraid that such a person appearing before him would cause to much damage to his mental state.

The Judges made their decision and handed a list to the officiating elder. The elder handed the list to an attendant who read out the names. The list revealed that the boy was called Nti Anem, when he stepped out from the crowd to join the winners. Many eyes followed him as he moved, looking at him as though he was a strange animal. There were some who were unhappy that their names had not been called.

"We reached the ground too. Why were we not called. Those who reach the ground pa.s.s, is what was said." one of them asked.

When those words were said, many sighed and shook their heads at this. Even his master in the crowd felt ashamed to have such a student.

"I never said that reaching the ground means you have pa.s.sed. I said, the winners will be picked from those who reached the ground. How you reach the ground is important." the officiating elder said, his cold eyes piercing into the boy's being, causing him to tremble.

"Are there any other who wish to lay their complaints?" he asked, scanning the contestants.

"Yes. I wish to withdraw from this compet.i.tion." Nti Anem said the silence in the arena, couldn't be more loud.

...Guys, I forgot to add before, one incense sticks of time is fifteen minutes. A full incense stick burns for roughly fifteen minutes. Just a little fact to add to your reading experience.