39 Dominance

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"AHHHH!" The spiked hair guy screamed in terror. He looked around to see that they were practically surrounded. He suddenly felt his world crumble and despair filled his mind. The chubby guy pissed his pants due to fear and Gwen stood there like a statue.

The eight people that Sieg mentioned were surrounding them with greedy, lecherous and cunning smiles. For them, there was no greater satisfaction than to watch their target tremble before them.

Sieg on the other hand was as calm as he could be, he silently drew his blade and prepared for battle. He looked at his frozen 'teammates', there's nothing he could do but to sigh in disappointment.

"I got in the sect using the easy way they said, I don't deserve to be an Inner Disciple they said, and here they are, trembling in fear facing a couple of fraud bandits, what a joke." He said gently, but as this words couldn't be any louder for the ears of these three people. What a joke, they really being looked down by a newcomer. They felt their intestines turning out, and their faces paling. This is not the time to argue but they can't to not react from Sieg's words.

"Fancy meeting you here little brats. If I were you I wouldn't try anything funny, you don't want to see this Daddy mad hehehehe." The bandit's boss said maliciously. It wasn't until he felt weird stares from his 'minions' that he knew something was wrong.

"Oh yeah? Very interesting, try telling those words in hell okay?"

The bandit's boss shook visibly as he heard this words. He slowly turned his head around to see Sieg holding his unsheathed blade that is wedged deep in his chest. His eyes diluted and his body went cold, he could feel the life slowly slipping away from his grasp.

The whole forest went silent. The three companions of Sieg, stood there like dumb idiots, the same goes for the rest of the bandits.

'What the hell happened?' This is what they all thought in their head, but no matter how hard they think, they couldn't wrap the idea around their heads. All they could do is just stare at this scene.

The bandit's boss tried forcing the blade off from his chest, but he was losing his strength rapidly, he was gasping for air and were really trying to beg for mercy but the words eluded him, he felt hot tears coming out from his eyes as his whole life flashed before his very eyes. And after a few more seconds, his whole body went limp in front of Sieg, no signs of any life remained.

Sieg removed his blade from the chest of the bandit's boss. He sighed heavily and thought 'So this is what it feels like to kill a person, I wonder what Fey would say if she knew that I just killed someone? How about Master? What would he say?' He suddenly felt a little lost in his own worlds, but this didn't took very long before he recovered. He walked towards his companions and faced the remaining bandits.

Witnessing how this young man ended their boss right before their very eyes, made them terrified of this person. Their boss was half-step Foundation Realm expert yet they didn't even knew how he died, they even started to think that this is 'Karma' doing it's thing.

"Leave every single thing you have and I might let you go, try something funny and you will follow your boss to hell. I'll give you twenty seconds. One!" Sieg's voice echoed throughout the area making the bandits tremble. They shuddered in fear as they heard Sieg's countdown.

"D-don't push your l-luck you b-brat!" One of the taller bandits said. It was clear that he was trying to act tough and intimidate Sieg.

When he heard this, a sneer formed in Sieg's face and he said: "What if I DO want to push it? What can you do?"

The bandit's face flushed deep red, he wanted to say something back but can't, Sieg was right anyway. Even if he wanted to stop him, can he? Even if he wanted to escape, can he? Even if he wanted to kill him, the question is CAN HE? He couldn't even manifest strength to prevent himself from stuttering, let alone any strength of resistance.

This is what strength bright. Dominance.

As Sieg's countdown continued, the bandits moved in panic, they threw everything they had in front of Sieg and ran as quickly as possible. Some of them were even crying and swear that from now on, they wouldn't have anything to do with being a bandits, they decided to change their names, hide in deep recesses of the world and start a peaceful life.

"Three. Two. One. Well, that was effective." Sieg mused, he crouched down and looked at the things he got. He had a total of 128 gold from them which is very impressive, some high-quality weapons, some manuals, and some life-saving pills. He also got a map of High East City which made him elated, at least their journey would become easier now.

All in all, his gains were very impressive. He never knew that stealing from others is one of the few ways where he could get rich.

It was only a few hours until sunrise, the area around them is completely silent. Sieg's companions are still in state of disbelief.

They were totally useless in that previous fight.

All of them except Sieg shared one fact in common, and that is, they never killed anyone. Life inside the sect had been very peaceful for them. If they saw someone with a red snowflake badge, they would stay away or do their bidding. If they saw someone who had a higher status than them, then they would show extreme respect any even be their loyal servants just to try and curry favor for them. They would finish some easy missions and cultivate using the rewards, after that they will wait for a competition to raise their statuses and if they win, the same routine happens.

Most of the people cultivate to extended their lives, while other wanted to show off, and some had other reasons. In the end, who wants to die? If they could cultivate in peace and love for the longest of time, wouldn't that be amazing?

"Stop standing there like idiots and rest. The journey is far and if you don't want to die, then return to the sect, never step outside ever again." Sieg said these words and leaned against a tree to rest.

He never wanted to treat them like this, to be totally honest Sieg also wanted friends. He wanted to experience having a good laugh and share some moments with a friend as well but the people whom he hae met so far were all idiots. People who are filled with animosity to someone who's more successful than them and use people for their own good, people that disdains everyone around them and talked like they were emperors or something, he hated and would forever hate these people.

Sieg's companions were deeply embarrassed, they wanted to say something but they refrain from doing so. Right now, they already realized that they were severly outclassed, this guy in front of them is the real 'Inner Disciple', they are just frauds that climbed because of luck, nothing more.

They went into their specific tents and muddled over what happened today and proceeded on their journey, none of them uttered any words for a time being and just silently did their own tasks. Sieg didn't care, he knew that this would eventually happen anyway, but there's one person who's still trying to ease up the tension.

And that was Gwen.

"S-so, should I call you Senior Brother or something? Hehe..." Gwen laughed awkwardly as she tried to start a talk with Sieg.

"Call me however you like, it doesn't matter anyway." Sieg replied.

"I-I'll call you Brother Sieg then." She tried to bring back her natural cheerfulness but it was clear that there is a huge wall between her and Sieg. "S-so, um... how did you grew up... I mean, y-you know, I'm just curious, i-if you don't want to answer t-then um... yeah, don't..."

'What the hell me! This situation is just too awkward!' Gwen shouted in her mind.

"Why do you want to know?" Sieg stared at her, he was trying to guess the reason why she's doing this and if she have bad intentions, so far he sensed nothing.

"Y-you know, reasons..." Gwen replied awkwardly, even though she knew that she's pushing it far, she still can't tell the reason why to Sieg, not for now at least.

"If you want to find out how I become strong, then you don't have to hide your intentions. I killed a lot of things, that's it." Sieg said with indifference. Though he didn't sensed that she had any bad intentions yet, he discovered the real meaning behind her words.

Sieg can't just tell her that he had a strong teacher and the details about his training so he only said he killed a lot of things, it was true anyway.

"O-oh! T-that's good then. R-right, I'll feed the horses now. Have a nice rest." Gwen walked away awkwardly and she thought 'that's not helpful at all!'

Sieg didn't care and just rested in peace, he was also silently watching his surroundings while doing so. They would reach the city tomorrow so everyone is preparing to be at their best state, well Sieg was an exception.

After meditating for quite sometime, Sieg opened his eyes. His companions were sleeping inside their tents, the sound of crickets echoed throughout the forest that they're in.

*Drip* *Drip*

"Hmm?" Sieg frowned, he felt something wet hit his arms as he instinctively looked up, then he realized that it was raining.

*Tsss*

Sieg turned his attention towards the bonfire and saw smoke rising from it. This scenario is very normal since from the very beginning, fire and water doesn't have a good relationship.

This scenario however, was like a huge clap that rang beside Sieg's ears. He unconsciously blanked out and stared at the bonfire. Even if an earthquake happened at this very moment, Sieg wouldn't care nor he would notice it at all.

The reason is because he entered a state of Enlightenment again.

The first time he entered enlightenment was when he was learning the 'Walk of Innocence', there's also few times that it happened after that and every single time this state ended he would reap immense rewards.

After blanking out for quite sometime, Sieg awoke from his stupor, there was a clear look of understanding in his eyes as he did.

"So that's why I can't use it. Imperial Dancing Blade Art specializes in wind and metal element. Upon changing my Ki manual to Cold Moon Peak, my innate element specialty changed."

"Ice is born from the union of cold wind and water, no metal involved. That is why I could still use some of the moves in the blade art. I understand."

Sieg gently sighed. Gaining full understanding about why he can't execute some dances of the Imperial Dancing Blade Art greatly elated him, but he was also a bit sad about this.

He became a bit greedy after all. Knowing that he could train an Earth-Tier Ki Manual, he was filled with excitement and didn't really thought about everything through. Going to the Dao Repository Pagoda was even the first thing he did. While he made an impressive choice for a new Ki Manual, he payed the price of losing some the dances for his blade art.

This blade art was given to him by his master that's why he found this an incredible shame, but what's done cannot be undone. He already made the changes so he have to bear the responsibility. Although losing some of the dances weakened him, he had a rich battle experiences which could completely fill this gap.