17 1st Place

Tomorrow the finals will commence and Raven just quickly wanted to earn the prizes because money is power . Unlike others who desperately save sect points for resources , Raven's focus was much more inclined on learning and great food . He wanted to learn formations , alchemy and forging. He had gathered information and knew that points are needed to borrow specialized books and one has to first pass a test to join the ranks of Formation masters , Alchemists and Blacksmiths . To his dismay the points required are too much so winning the first prize will solve this problem beautifully .

Raven had given the impression of having an unapproachable temperament to everybody so unlike other popular disciples , he had it nice as nobody disturbed him like fan girls etc. He leisurely came back to his shabby room and started strengthening his qi .

Completing qi cycles while suppressing the advancement is only one way to strengthen qi . Practicing weapon arts , Martial Skills , consuming natural treasures etc . There were many ways to strengthen qi but Raven prefers to break his limits by hard work as the concept of pain accompanying it is pretty much nonexistent to him . Others would have to endure pain while suppressing cultivation and forcefully circulating qi but Raven had no such such problem and can smoothly circulate his qi which is gradually becoming golden in colour for some reason .

The night passed in meditation and the sun rose once again . The days of finals arrived and audience was already gathering at the platform number 1 despite the fact that there was still time before the battle starts . Maybe they found it hard to suppress their excitement but this had nothing to do with Raven who was aware of the time but still lost in meditation .

...

In the afternoon the sun was blazing hot but the disciples in Outer Court had gathered to watch the final match disregarding the heat .

Claus wore light armor which was blue in colour and his beautiful saber was resting in its scabbard waiting to be drawn. He had a handsome face which completed his natural charm making him a lady killer. He was standing alone on the platform number 1 alone waiting for his opponent .

Raven slowly emerged from the back of crowd wearing only the Outer Court Robes and an old heavy sword resting on his back . Step by Step he approached the platform and the crowd subconsciously made way for him .

He leaped on the platform and stood 20 meters away from Claus . He ignored the solemn look of Claus and just took a relaxed stance . Claus was starting to feel annoyed because Raven had the nerve to come late on the day of finals and even blantaly ignored him on the stage . He felt that Raven had slapped on his face and his prestige will be lost if he did nothing to redeem it .

" Junior Raven , Its not nice to come late and even ignore your opponent . It's extremely disrespectful! " Claus purposely raised the volume of his voice and succeeded because he managed to gain the attention of crowd.

Still his efforts were for naught as from Raven's reply , his pride suffered a good blow.

" I'm not your junior and you are weaker than me . So stop spouting nonsense as you are getting annoying . " Raven replied with a straight face and the crowd gasped .

Everybody knew that the nice guy Claus was only a fake personality and in truth he was a prideful and vicious person . He had crippled many disciples in the past for smallest grievances and the Sect ignored his actions because they valued his strenght . This sparked his vicious side and he became more and more arrogant with time .

" I will kill you Bastard !! " Claus easily lost it and coincidently the drum sounded at the same time . He rushed at Raven with his now bare Saber fast and wanted to finish his life in one blow .

Raven did not put this easily provoked child in his eyes but the vicious intent behind his strike provoked Raven . Did Claus think that Raven could be easily killed ? The answer was obviously no and Claus would feel it with his body now .

In response to the bare aura of Claus , Raven responded with unleashing his own aura but this time at full power .

From his small body, golden light shout towards the sky and extreme pressure assaulted every disciple including Claus .

They felt that invisible mountain was on top of them and their efforts to resist the pressure was of no avail . Even 9th level Disciples were feeling suffocated and they were forced to kneel on the ground .

The whispers from the crowd had long since dissapeared as they were even having trouble to breathe right now . Claus was having even more difficult than them because he was closest to Raven and Raven especially focused his aura on him . Claus had long since stopped in his tracks and was kneeling in front of Raven while struggling to breathe .

Raven had long since discarded his plans to act low key and Claus had provoked him by actually trying to act cool in front of him and even kill him . Raven could kill him like crushing an ant right now but he refrained from doing so because he wanted the prize for first place and could not afford to become disqualified for such an insignificant matter.

Raven took a small step forward and chopped the back neck of Claus lightly . Claus was saved from further pain as he instantly fell unconscious . Raven too retracted back his aura feeling satisfied because aura was a magical thing and he did not exhaust any sort of power while displaying it unlike qi . It was the sheer might of his presence combining the might of qi , soul , strength etc and unleashing it all at once .

" Thanks for sparing his life Master Raven . The Vermillion Family will always remember this favour ! " Suddenly a man wearing red armor appeared on the stage and said to Raven with a respectful bow .

" Hm! Teach him humility and self control as not everyone is patient as me . " Raven lightly replied and leaped off the stage ignoring the stupefied crowd who were still recovering from the previous pressure which lasted for only some seconds .

One thing was for sure that all of them will remember today's match for a long time and Raven's name became famous all over the sect because of the presence of many big shots from Inner Court and even Core Court who came to spectate the match after hearing nice things about strenght of Raven .

Raven became the undisputed first place holder in the tournament and now no one would doubt his strenght . His aura was even stronger than many of those of Martial Master Realm despite him currently being only a peak level Martial Disciple .

Many Inner Court representatives started to make plans and rope Raven in their factions but they did not know that all those were for naught as Head Elder Mark had already prepared a nice surprise for them .

Raven himself immediately returned to his shabby room because he could feel that if he suppressed his cultivation for more time then his foundation could be damaged instead of strengthening. In fact he was late for the match because his qi was becoming erratic and he had to spend some time to just forcefully calm it . He could not participate in the finals if he advanced to Martial Master Realm after all .