Lower Demon Plateau

How does cultivators gain "experience"?

"By defeating and surviving adversaries!"

It was so simple!

The idea alone made his blood boil from excitement.

Like a gale, Ace left for the one place he knew fighting was allowed. It was a place he had wanted to visit since arriving, where blood-boiling fights ensue every day without rest.

To the Lower Demon Plateau.

The Lower Demon Plateau was the gathering area of outer sect disciples to test their might against other disciples. They spar with one another to see how far they have gone in their cultivation and determine the strongest.

The top ten disciples listed on the Demon Rankings started their fights at the Lower Demon Plateau. Although they fight to determine who sits on the throne, the Immortal Demon Sect forbids any life or death battle between disciples.

To enforce this, observers were scattered all around the Lower Demon Plateau.

Unlike the observers from the servant's quarters, the observers in the Lower Demon Plateau act as a guide and a guard to ensure that no life is lost, and they are also the ones who confirm who enters the Demon Rankings.

There are one hundred total positions in the Demon Rankings, and those who can enter the Demon Rankings are considered the best in the whole outer sect.

The top one hundred to top seventy have cultivation base of first to third level Minor Saint and as for those who sit at the very top of the Rankings are all peak Minor Saints, some are even half-step Great Saint stage and as for those who have reached Great Saint stage they have already moved up to the inner circle of the sect and participates in the Devil Rankings.

Entering the Demon Rankings is considered a great honor, and the benefits of becoming a ranker were also immense, like a more significant number of Restoration Pills will receive every month, and some even say that the person at the number one sit receives Essence Condensation Pill.

Ace moved quickly, passing the Alchemist Association and the Martial Pavilion, before finally getting the chance to stand at the southern entrance of the Lower Demon Plateau.

People came in droves as they instinctively released the intent to fight. After all, this place was a battlefield where they could fight freely.

Some walked in with confidence; some were shaking from fear and anxiety. Those who left had tattered clothes, injuries, and blood all over them, but none of them were meek.

In the Immortal Demon Sect, an injury was a mark of bravery. To be injured in battle meant you were a warrior. Even those being carried on stretchers were fellow disciples worthy of respect.

Ace entered the Lower Demon Plateau, and the sound of explosions immediately entered his ears.

When Ace was outside, he didn't hear any sound of anyone fighting, but after entering the plateau, he heard many fights happening simultaneously.

"There's a barrier place around the plateau." Ace concurred as he was walking.

As Ace was walking, he saw two disciples fighting, and from their appearance, he could see that it was tough. Their cultivation base wasn't hidden, as both tried their best to get any advantage over the other.

The two disciples fighting were both at the third level of Core Formation. The one on the right used a sword while the other used a spear.

Ace stopped for a moment and started watching the two disciples. The one holding the spear made a powerful thrust mixed with his heavenly essence.

The spear thrust was intense, but the other disciple with a sword fended him off by desperately using the body of his sword as a shield, permitting the sword to grind against it, resulting in sparks flying all over the place.

The swordsman disciple then dropped his body and dashed forward, giving out consecutive slashes, but the spearman disciple dodged them all using movement technique.

With the appearance of the movement technique, the swordsman was clearly surprised as his movement became dull, and the spearman noticed the glaring flaw and immediately slashed horizontally.

BaM!

The pole of the spear smashed the swordsman sending him crashing to a nearby boulder.

Ace on the side, who acted as a bystander, was impressed by the fight, although no flashy skill was used. Only their sublime and refined martial arts were demonstrated. After watching the battle, he was about to leave and find an opponent when he saw the spearman disciple walking up to the swordsman disciple.

The spearman disciple walked up to the swordsman and took three Restoration Pill from his clothes. Seeing this, Ace thought it was daylight robbery. However, all around him, he saw this happen multiple times. Then, he remembered what his father had told him in the past.

He remembered one of the special rules in the Lower Demon Plateau... betting.

The fights in the Lower Demon Plateau begin when a bet is agreed upon. The winner would be able to take away anything from the loser, even if they were unconscious.

However, when this first appeared, many disciples took advantage of one another and started taking more than they should; some even took their opponents' clothes. But, after ten years of continuous unwanted misfortunes, most students stopped making bets, and some even stopped going to the Lower Demon Plateau.

The sect took note of this and gave the observers the right to bring down punishment to those who abused others, and their response was to put a bounty on the heads of the greedy bastards.

Those caught would be hanged on the Sect Plaza naked to be humiliated. After a week, the Sect regained its peace.

Ace walked away and went deeper into the Lower Demon Plateau to find an opponent to face him, but he could not find anyone on his level to his own bad luck.

'No one wants to test me.' being new meant he had unknown skills, 'This may take a while.'

Ace chose to sit on top of a boulder to watch the fights unfold from afar.

Even after walking deeper into the plateau, he received not a single challenge.

While he was watching, his face showed an uninterested look. He was not impressed, or rather, he stopped being impressed.

He wanted to fight himself, not just watch from the side like an onlooker.

He frowned as he just kept silent, fighting only in his head. He watched the fights, judging them one by one, formulating plans on how to beat them using everything he had.

One by one, he started winning, and one by one, he started sighing as he watched, disappointed he could not feel the pain on his knuckles.

'This is boring.' Ace thought to himself.

It was then that he started gathering unwanted hateful glares.

Ace's looks were actually on the good side; with his white skin and finely shaped countenance, coupled with his black hair and almond-shaped eyes that had a tinged of red, Ace was gathering unwanted attention while sitting on top of that boulder.

The young men of the sect saw Ace, and their anger was incense for some reason; it might have been sparked by the jealousy from his looks or simple irritation from Ace looking at them from above.

No one had seen him before, yet a newbie like him acted like he was the Alpha Lion amongst them.

'What an arrogant bastard.' many shared such a childish thought.

"Hey you, if you're in the Lower Demon Plateau, you must be looking for a match, right? I am also looking for an opponent; why don't you and I spar with one another? We can also bet something if you want to."

Then one young man could not help it and stepped forward to show Ace his place.

That young man who stepped up was a fourth-level Core Formation stage disciple. The smirk plastered on his face was irritating, but he knew he had the strength to show off around these parts of the plateau, and Ace being there must also mean that, at best, he's a fourth-level Core Formation just like him.

He was way past the fighting area of the third-level Core Formation Disciples. That meant one thing, 'This bastard wants to be noticed. He wants his first fight to be on the upper ranks.'

Such a junior had to be shown his place.

"What do you say, junior brother." The guy said while looking up to Ace.

Ace looked down and saw the guy speaking and saw those pair of eyes filled with malicious intent.

With a smile, Ace answered. "Senior, I am but a new guy in the sect; I only have five crystal essence with me. Can I bet with that?"

"Of course, you can; I will bet with you, but I don't have crystal essence, so I will give you one Restoration Pill as compensation."

That man was truly confident that he would not lose against Ace and the bet just now was actually favorable to himself. One Restoration Pill can be bought in exchange for three crystal essence, but Ace was well aware of everything.

'Crystal essence doesn't give out experience points like Restoration Pill; if he wins, I'll just think of the excess two as compensation for fighting with me.' Ace thought as he jumped off the boulder to face his opponent.

Ace took out five crystal essence to confirm he had what he promised, and his senior did the same and showed him a Restoration Pill.

A fight in the Lower Demon Plateau did not attract a crowd, but at this moment, Ace was circled by other disciples.

They wanted to see Ace's mug pummeled.

A fight like this one doesn't have a time limit. As long as you win, no matter what method you use, unless it's not life-threatening, the sect will not care about it, and the observers will just do their jobs.

"As a senior, I will let you make the first move." He boldly and confidently announces.

"Thank you very much, then I will give it my all." Ace answered.

The others were smiling and laughing as they enjoyed the incoming show of force presented to them. The disciple who challenged Ace had quite a bit of a reputation for beating up new disciples who he envies in some way, and when he did beat them up, he did it until they were battered and bruised.

"Koji, stop before you kill him, or else the observers will come for you." Someone laughingly said in the crowd.

"Don't worry, he's a professional with this kind of fight, the last guy he beat up turned out to be quite a masterpiece, so I wonder what will turn out of this fight." Another answered back.

Ace could hear everyone watching the fight, and from his estimation, the people surrounding him numbered thirty-five or more.

'I cannot disappoint such a large crowd, but I need to test how strong the <<Flame Serpent>> had become.' Ace said to himself, and with that thought, a fire started coiling on his feet, crawling up his body until it reached his right shoulder.

A flame snake fully materialized, its eyes showing a cold glare despite its radiated heat.

"What is that technique? Was he a top student from outside the sect?"

The people chatting happily all stopped as they looked at the bright red Serpent that appeared on Wang Xue's body. It cannot be seen just how big it indeed was because it was coiled over but from what they estimated, they can concur that the snake's body was not any smaller than one meter.

"T—that is not possible; for such a young man to reach peak mastery of the <<Flame Serpent>> martial skill is simply not possible. Who is that?"

From the crowd, a man who cultivated the same <<Flame Serpent>> technique as Ace suddenly started talking, letting everyone know that this big snake was just a simple Martial Technique from the Martial Pavilion.

"Peak mastery? Are you sure?"

"I also practice the <<Flame Serpent>>, but I can't make it any bigger than an arm's length, and that one-meter serpent is surely the result of mastering the <<Flame Serpent>> to the very peak."

'Oh yeah <<Flame Serpent>> only have so many levels.'

Everyone was in an uproar after seeing the <<Flame Serpent>> be mastered to the peak, but they didn't know that Ace could still upgrade this technique and make it stronger.

"Please take my attack." Ace said respectfully as he sent the serpent to devour his enemy!

Koji had long wanted to say something like giving up, but his clattering teeth stopped him. The one-meter-long snake made out of burning flames was coming for him, but he steeled his resolve and believed that he could take it, so he prepared himself and planted himself on the ground.

He threw a punch, and water blasted out from his fist, 'Have fate. Water is the antithesis of flames, and this is my strongest technique <<Water Cannon>> using this, I can even match up with a fifth-level Core Formation stage expert. I will beat you up, l....'

His thoughts were already running wild, but when his <<Water Cannon>> met with the <<Flame Serpent>>, steam suddenly scattered all over the place, creating a mist that blocked his view. But he didn't need his eyes to know that the <<Flame Serpent>> was already right in front of him.

He could feel its increasing intensity approach.

"Get away." He screamed, but the <<Flame Serpent>> still made its way through the steam and gobbled him up starting from his head.

Ace was able to control the <<Flame Serpent>> to an extent, and he knew how dangerous and powerful his skill was so to avoid killing Koji, he made sure to cancel the skill after two seconds.

[Ding… fourth level Core Formation defeated… experience + 500.]

[Ding… Flame Serpent +100]

Ace walked through the steam and made his way to Koji, who experienced burns all over his body.

Name: Ace (no surname)

Level: 4

Experience Points: (900/3000)

Stored Experience: 0 (Can level up character level, can level up martial skill level)

Martial Skills: <<Flame Serpent>> 4th level (100/1000)

<<Lightning Demon Body>> 3rd level (0/1000)

Cultivation: Core Formation (To be unlocked: Minor Saint)

Extra Career: Alchemist level one (0/10) (Apprentice)

With a gentle smile on his face, Ace retrieved his prize and then walked away, "Fighting is fun."

He unknowingly stated aloud as his fellow disciples parted to give him a path.