Page 61: Taking back some things
Days before the sect's martial and alchemy competition: 109 days
That morning was bright as the other days that have passed except this time, an old man who gained his confidence have decided to walk out and get ready to paint the town red. With the brand new strength he possesses, there's only a few who can break that new level of confidence he is now wearing.
Walking towards the clan hall, his stature has become firm and bright. Anyone who would see him will doubt their eyes and question if that was the previous person they have known. Just when they were by the entrance of the hall, the two heard the yells coming from inside. One particular phrase that stood out was old man Jun being labeled as a cripple. Yang Jun has thought of the past and if he was called as such before, he would not deny it but now that he isn't, he can't let this go past him. Pushing the doors forcefully and with a loud creak, the entrance welcomed them with nothing but stares from the elders standing beside their seats.
"Good morning clan leader, and elders. I have come today to request a challenge for an elder's seat and present also my contribution for our household."
His words were like bomb dropped in the middle of the hall. Everyone from the elder seats was about to start laughing when they noticed that Old Jun's essence was actually being consolidated inside him.
"Hahaha! What a surprise! Old friend Jun, when did you recover?"
Only the laughter that came from the clan leader was heard from inside the hall. The rest was silenced by the news that just came in. Learning that a person was able to fix a broken essence core, they must have come in contact with a grade 5 alchemist. However thinking about it, there are no such alchemist in the city. The only suspicious thing present was a youth who looks so normal. Even his cultivation was just on the flesh tempering stage.
"Old friend Kai, I didn't tell you first hand since I want to surprise you. I have recovered but my cultivation was reset from the bottom. Now, I'm just at the third of the flesh tempering."
The elders who were hearing this reacted negatively since they felt that old man Jun was too amiable with the clan head. However, they were reprimanded by the clan head themselves instead.
"Council of elders, this is the person whom you question. Even I was surprised by his proposition. Now that the issue is clear, now that he regained the ability to cultivate, it seems that there's no problem anymore for his installment as another elder of this council."
The clan head sounded deep and resolute as he spoke those words but even with such disposition, there were still some few among the elders who disliked the idea of adding another seat to the council.
"Clan leader, with all due respect but an elder seat is a prestigious spot in our household. If cultivator Yang Jun would be installed as an elder this abruptly, the customs of our household might be in jeopardy. Since an elder seat is earned with merits and one must be capable for the position, cultivator Jun must prove himself worthy."
Everyone's eyes turned towards the clan head waiting for his response. From the elders who are against the new installment, they thought that this method was the best way for them to stop Yang Jun from being successful. Thinking that he might have just recovered, his skills must have been all in the elementary levels. From Yang Jun's perspective, this was what he expected since no one will dare to contradict him when he would be able to show his capabilities. Of course for the clan head, he doesn't know Yang Jun's thought but looking him coming with confidence, then he should trust that vibe.
"As the clan head, I need to consider both sides since this is for the clan's benefit. What are your thought, Yang Jun?",
"Clan head, there is no better way than to prove one's capabilities. I would like to propose a game of tag on the arena. We will follow the rules we impose to the youths. Since I am the challenger, I will be the chaser. The challenge can be held anytime, anywhere. I am ready."
With the household head's confirmation, the challenge was announced to be held at the Yang residence's arena this afternoon. Everyone from the Yang residence, young and old were informed of such event and were anticipating the event with excitement. This is the first time in 20 years that an elder will be challenged for a seat.
By the afternoon, almost everyone from the household showed up and waited around the platform. All of them have gathered here with the same reasons; to witness the strength of the new elder prospect and to have a good time. Since it will be some elder who would be taking the platform, it is bound to be more fierce than the youths.
Upon reaching the designated time of the challenge, a group of elders just arrived; one side were six elders of the council while on the other side, were just three individuals. On the lead is Yang Jun followed by the clan head on the right side while Long Bai was on the left. Everyone recognizes everyone but when they remembered Long Bai's previous fight on at the north arena, gossips started to spread. Some has concluded that Long Bai was the head's child while others speculated that the child was yang Jun's. Seeing that they were walking on same side, those two hypotheses were their best guess.
Before the match was started, the clan head did first gave an introduction on what would transpire and the consequences of the results. Hearing the specifics, people did not question the head since they are here to witness the person's qualifications personally. After clearing things out, Yang Jun stepped up on the platform first. As it was explained by the clan head, this will be a 1 vs 6 tag game where the challenger must be able to catch all of them one at a time within a minute.
When the first elder stepped up on the stage, the gong was struck as a signal of the fight. The first elder was planning to just waste time by enticing Yang Jun to argue with him but it was a mistake. Upon hearing the sound of the gong, Yang Jun immediately dashed forward towards the elder without reserve. With the full capacity of the <flash steps> that he once mastered was again displayed to the audience. The first elder was caught within a flash since he was too lax about it.
Before the match, Yang Jun discussed with Long Bai some ways on how he should approach the challenge and they both came up with the same manner. Use the original <flash steps> in full blast even from the beginning and only use the thunder steps initial success during the last moments. Although it would cause the succeeding ones to be wary but in this way, people will be convinced that he was still using the same skill when he switches to <thunder steps>. Since they have no major differences at the initial success of <thunder steps>, this will not be a big deal. In addition, Yang Jun is just at the flesh tempering while most of the elders are already at the soul tempering stage so using the new skill is a must during the last moment to compensate the difference in cultivation.
After the first match, the 5 elders was alarmed about the circumstances. With their skills, they knew that Yang Jun was able to fully master the <flash steps> just like them. Since it was like this, all of them decided to use their cultivation as an advantage.
Not all of the elders were really that old but they just became one since they were qualified. That is why there 2 out of the 6 who were still at the middle layer of the soul tempering stage. The second elder was the other one who was still at the middle levels so during the match, although he was prepared, he was still caught by Yang Jun by surprise even just by using the flash step.
With the third elder, this is when the real tag game has started. Using the same tactics, Yang Jun wasn't able to catch him since there was a huge difference in cultivation. Every time Yang Jun has almost touched the body, the opponent reflexively put more strength to his movement to further speed up. It was good but this manner of using the skill is the same as enhancing the martial skills with more essence, it easily exhausts the user but in this challenge where he just needs to stay untouched for a minute, it was enough.
...52, 53, 54 secs...
With the remaining time in Yang Jun's counting, he manually switched using the skill <thunder steps> during a side step while chasing the elder when he changed direction. When the elder stopped to check Yang Jun behind, he felt a hand resting on his left shoulder while Yang Jun was standing on his right side. That moment, the place became silent. They were not sure how it happened. Many has thought that the elder was just exhausted that Yang Jun was able to make it. On the other hand, the clan leader who was watching kept on blinking. It seemed that he saw something but was not quite sure himself.
With the 4th and 5th elder, the same happened. They were caught within the last minute just like the previous. This time, with the clan leader's observant eyes, he was able to notice the slight differences in the motion of the body when Yang Jun does try to catch the opponent during the last seconds. There were more muscle movement during the last seconds even though the amount of essence used was the same and the body was moving differently to reduce the drag cause by air friction.
The last opponent has just stepped on the platform. Just like the saying, "save the best for last", the elder was on the early levels of the spirit tempering stage. Since there was a huge difference in cultivation, Yang Jun decided to use the <thunder steps> from the beginning. This time, Yang Jun needs to maximize the skill and add some techniques to corner the opponent.
DONG!!!
The sound of the gong sounded loudly. Yang Jun dashed straight to the opponent with the <thunder steps> initial success passive form. No one saw it coming, even the clan leader who was watching was startled with what happened. It was the first time that everyone saw the real strength of Yang Jun. His speed was twice the original and the form was even more fluid. The opponent was supposed to move however, due to fascination and surprise from the situation, his body was not able to react accordingly. The match ended too fast to be true.