Chapter 15: A.P.P.A, the Adorable Phantom Protection Association

"NO, FEN!" Teng jumped in before anyone had a chance to reply to this disciple named 'Fen'. "The rules shall not be bent. The new disciples are not permitted to fight during their first tier assessment. They already have their own tiers that will be assigned to them when you're all finished. Your time would be better spent trying to challenge the fifth tier again instead of trying to challenge people I won't ever allow you to fight." Teng was firm and refused to budge.

Ares opened his eyes and looked over at this loud disciple as he recognised the name. In fact, he even knew his full name. 

Chen Fen. 

Chen Fen is the grandson of the current patriarch of the Chen clan. He's also Chen Farro's brother. 

Or, well, he would be if Farro hadn't been murdered by Ares six years ago. 

It seemed the Chen clan really were unrivalled when it came to producing top-grade assholes.

"It doesn't have to be a part of the tier assessment; I'm just challenging them to a fight is all. It's perfectly fine if they really don't want to. If I were them, I would be scared too. I mean look at them, one of them is a piece of cloth for fuck's sake."

All seven people on the bench that weren't Appa immediately let off killing intent straight at Fen. Even Teng momentarily, accidentally, let some out, as well as some unknown expert who was watching the proceedings. If any of the people on the bench felt it, they would have recognised it as Slick's aura.

Fen panicked and immediately regretted going after the cloth. 

Why did they care so much about it!? 

Unbeknownst to Fen, Appa became something of a neighbourhood mascot. While Ares was cultivating yesterday, Appa went around to everyone's houses and demanded cuddles. Appa was someone that everyone adored. Long story short, don't mess with the shade.

"You'll mind your language and sit back down, I don't want to hear another word from you about the new disciples," Teng was calm on the outside, but a tinge of anger had seeped into his voice.

"Are you saying we can't even complain about those two," a random girl from the crowd shouted.

"Yeah, do you have any idea how much stardust we've lost to those two over the years?" someone else chimed in.

"Why did you put out a mission to capture the bandit brothers if you were just going to accept them into the sect anyway?" another voice cried.

"Hmm? Bandit brothers?" Fen took a second to rack his brains around this piece of information. "ARESSSSSSSSS! YOU SON OF A BITCH, GET DOWN HERE AND LET ME KILL YOU," Fen roared at the top of his lungs.

Ares was unaware that Fen and Farro had been close, but that certainly seemed to be the case based on Fen's reaction. He honestly thought Fen would secretly be elated with Farro's death as it had put him one step closer to becoming the head of the clan. Not that any of it really mattered in the long run. They were all going to die long before they had to concern themselves with the patriarch's position. Ares would make sure of it.

Ares smiled mockingly at Fen. "Why on Earth would I 'let' you, or anyone for that matter, kill me? You're as much of a dumb-fuck as your brother was." 

"Do you know each other?" Teng was curious.

"I don't really know him specifically, but the Chen clan is pretty obsessed with me." Ares shrugged. The Chen clan had flown into a fit of rage when they found Farro's dead body. Even now, they were still searching the streets regularly to try to find Ares and make him pay. Ares nudged Aejaz and winked at him. 

It took a moment for Aejaz to catch on but he eventually caught Ares' meaning. Aejaz took out the Concealed Serpent amulet and pompously dangled it in Fen's direction.

"YOU PIECE OF SHIT, GIVE IT BACK!" Fen was outraged at this display. "WHEN THE PATRIARCH HEARS OF THIS, HE'LL COME STRAIGHT OVER AND MAKE YOU PAY."

"Ok, seriously, what did you two do?" Teng could feel a headache coming on. Dealing with the Chen clan's patriarch wasn't an issue and there was no way in hell he was going to be allowed to do anything to Ares and Aejaz while they were in the sect. That didn't mean it wasn't still a colossal hassle though, and relations may end up being severed if the patriarch decided to be unreasonable.

Ares pointed at Fen. "I killed his brother." Ares then pointed at Aejaz. "And he stole the clan's signature treasure and made it his own personal treasure." 

Teng slapped his head in frustration. They couldn't have done much worse! What else could they have possibly done other than sleep with the patriarch's wife or rob the treasury blind? Killing a direct descendant of the family's main branch and stealing a signature treasure was brutal. The patriarch was absolutely not going to let this go. Teng sighed. "Can I ask… Why?" Teng could already somewhat guess Aejaz's response at least.

"Dunno, didn't really have a reason. I saw some old fogey carrying around something that looked shiny and valuable and did what I always do, stole it," Aejaz said while tilting his head.

"Yeah, I thought so," Teng affirmed bleakly.

Since when did Aejaz ever need a reason to steal? That was like asking someone if they had a reason to breathe. He was going to do it. You could only pray he wasn't going to do it to you.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL THE PATRIARCH AN OLD FOGEY!"

Everyone just ignored Fen. He was loud and obnoxious and, quite frankly, no one cared about his problems. If the Chen clan really did kill the bandit brothers, then how was everyone else going to get their stardust back from them?

"And what about you? If you're going to say you were in the mood to blow someone up, I would rather you just don't respond." Teng had little faith in these two, but he was still hoping that Ares' reasoning was at least somewhat understandable.

"The Chen clan found me on the streets when I was a baby. They raised me into a slave and forced me to fight other slaves for their amusement. As a slave, I worked directly under Farro, Fen's brother, and had to put up with him on a daily basis which, let me tell you, is more than enough of a reason to want to kill him. Turns out I wasn't really cut out for that kind of lifestyle so, on my way out, I decided to repay a few favours. That's all," Ares spoke about his past as if he were remembering a crappy job he used to work at.

Teng just sighed again. At least his reason was fair. He really couldn't fault Ares for his actions.

"YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL WE EVEN TOOK YOU IN!" Fen was spitting as he screeched, causing everyone else to move away from him.

"Quiet you. You're the one that should be grateful I haven't come down there yet and sent you to the afterlife in a sarcophagus so you can meet your brother." Ares flipped Fen the bird. Ares was going to kill them all eventually, he was in no rush to do it now. Teng would probably stop him anyway. He knew the sect favoured him because of what he could offer them, but they were impartial in their dealings for the most part. They wouldn't let the Chen clan kill Ares, but they wouldn't let Ares kill the Chen clan. Not within these walls anyway. In a way, Ares preferred this kind of neutrality to obvious favouritism. It meant he had somewhere safe to stay while he was busy getting strong enough to take revenge. That day wasn't actually that far off as he'd already done a lot of the important 'groundwork'. For now, he just needed to raise his cultivation to sensory enhancement as he estimated that ought to be enough to start rampantly slaughtering them in the streets whenever he found them.

"No one's going anywhere or killing anyone. And yes, we're allowing the bandit brothers into our sect as disciples. If any of you have an issue with that, you can leave the sect." Teng was beyond confident not a single person would leave. 

There weren't any other options around so everyone had to get over their grievances. Not a single person made a fuss, barring Fen of course who kept trying to challenge Ares and Aejaz. 

As the assessment continued, Teng had to tell the two brothers who were practically laughing their heads off to stop provoking Fen after Aejaz stole all of his stardust. 

This came as quite a shock to everyone on the bench as Aejaz had somehow managed to breach the barrier on Fen's spatial ring. For the most part, in order to interact with the storage dimension inside a space ring, you had to be touching it directly. Of course, everyone was somewhat familiar with Aejaz' stealing habit, but even through different dimensions? That was simply ludicrous! It was literally impossible to stop him. The only thing you could do was pay attention at all times for strands of his mana or just not have anything of value on you. What an absolute menace! Of course, none of the other disciples knew how Aejaz did it, but they were all familiar with this series of events. Some snickered at Fen and some felt pity. He was annoying, but they had all been in his shoes at some point. It really did suck to be robbed blind and to not even know how it happened or be able to respond. Eventually the assessment came to an end and Fen had been unable to make it into the fifth tier despite his numerous attempts.

The eight people sitting on the bench could care less about everything that had happened. There wasn't a single person among them that wouldn't be able to make it into the fifth tier if they'd been allowed to compete. They would just have to wait until the next assessment which Teng informed them was in a month's time. They only paid attention when the top three of the fifth tier had fought to defend their position. The fights had ended quickly though and were quite disappointing due to the obvious gap in strength. Still though, the top three looked strong enough to justify their position and were likely close to becoming inner court disciples.

All the outer court disciples gathered into their new tiers and stood behind their tier leaders. The tier leaders would handle various issues pertaining to the disciples they were in charge of. They would give lectures and hand out cultivation resources as well as settle disputes and give general life guidance if needed.

The second-tier leader was an old man that looked hollow and completely dried out. It wouldn't be a surprise if a strong gale blew and knocked him over. Hell, it wouldn't even be too shocking if it outright killed him. He had his eyes closed at all times and was constantly stroking a long white beard, kind of like how a lot of the other Elders in this sect seemed to have a habit of doing.

The third-tier leader was an incredibly tiny individual, coming in at around only 4.5ft. He wore a robe and glasses that were far too big for his eyes, to the point he had to keep readjusting them to stop them from falling off. He held a fairly large book in his hand and kept a stern look on his face at all times that, when combined with his short stature, made him look rather comical.

The fifth-tier leader was a completely unremarkable woman in every sense of the word. She was like the female equivalent of Lightning and Water Guy. Average height, average looks, average everything. It seemed as though she were in her early to mid 30's and it was practically impossible to tell she was a cultivator just by appearance alone. She appeared younger than she actually was as that was one of the benefits of cultivation. Unlike the other two though, it made her look far more approachable and she definitely seemed nice enough. 

Teng stood in front of the eight who were lined up side by side. "You'll now each be assigned to a tier, if you want to move up then work hard. Onno, third tier."

The disciples were startled for two reasons. First off, there was already a third tier! Second, everyone knew the name Onno. He was the kind of person you would definitely want to suck up to for the sake of your future prospects. 

"Water Guy, third tier." Teng had long since given up on trying to remember the names of the Duo and he, alongside everyone else, simply embraced things as they currently were. It's what everyone else was calling them so why couldn't he?

"Umm, actually, I'm Lightning Guy…"

Teng was staring at the wrong person! 

Goddammit! 

He made a mental note to give those two some kind of badge to avoid making the same mistake again in the future. "Well, whatever. Lightning Guy your third tier too. You might as well go together as a duo anyway." Teng just gave up and decided to send them off and leave them to their leader to deal with.

Again, the disciples were taken aback, but this time it was because they couldn't understand what was happening. Were these two twins? What the hell kind of name was 'Water Guy' or 'Lightning Guy'? Why did even Teng seem mentally defeated by these two? And most importantly, how could two people as boring and forgettable as that become third tiers instantly? There was fuckery afoot!

"Li Li, third tier."

Another third tier! This one wasn't quite as surprising though. The Li clan were well known in Red Sun City as the 'birthplace of all brawlers'. A lot of strong and well renowned bare-fisted aspect experts came from the Li clan. It seemed Li Li was no different. The Li clan was actually rather well received by the public as they often got into street brawls for the sake of their practice, but they only ever involved thieves, murderers, and drunkards. They knew how to put on a good show if nothing else. It was always quite the spectacle and, sometimes, if the spectators were lucky, the drunkards they beat up were other members of the Li clan!

"Wait a minute, that's not a guy!" A disciple in the crowd spoke up but remained hidden so as not to be the target of revenge later. Some people just wanted to watch the world burn.

Li Li was furious but had nowhere to direct that anger. She was incredibly close to beating up the morons directly in front of her that were just staring at her with empty eyes but decided it wasn't worth her time.

"Dirk, third tier."

The second-tier leader opened a single eye. Was he really not going to get a single new disciple? It seemed there were a handful of geniuses this year. There was still hope for him though as he eyed up the remaining three.

The disciples were speechless. 

Third tier again? 

Only a few people even recognised Dirk, or, to be more specific, the naming convention of the Nick clan. The Nick clan were a small clan full of haemomancers that were only ever named after the first blade they chose to make their own. When the nameless children came of age, they would cut themselves in some unusual ritual using whichever blade they felt a connection to. They didn't have to carry around that specific weapon forever, but they would always have to have that type of weapon on their person at all times as a sign of respect. These were the weapons that allowed them to revel in their own blood after all. 

"Appa, third tier."

The second-tier leader's heart sank. Surely he would get at least one!

"What even is that thing?" A disciple at the front of the group accidentally muttered aloud. The disciple quickly shrieked when he simultaneously received seven different death stares and promptly shut his mouth.

Appa cutely tilted its head to the side before turning around to Ares. "Why did that human make a funny noise?"

"Because it made a mistake," Ares spoke with serious agitation in his voice

"Humans squeak when they make mistakes? Hehehe, humans are silly!" Appa floated over to the people it was familiar with and snuggled up besides anyone who was willing to pet it, which happened to be literally everyone. 

The five who were already there all smiled warmly at Appa, and jointly patted it, before turning their gaze outward at everyone else and collectively made the throat slitting gesture.

Point taken.

"Aejaz, third tier… Aejaz, third tier… Aejaz?" Teng thought Aejaz wasn't listening but he quickly realised Aejaz was hiding behind Ares. "Stop clinging to Ares and get over there dammit! Stop relying on him to save your ass all the damn time. Your cultivation is the highest of everyone in that group so what are you even worried about?" Teng was seriously not having it.

Aejaz was no pushover in a fight and he had a high cultivation base. Quit being a coward! Fight man, FIGHT! Teng leapt behind Aejaz and kicked him in the ass, straight over Ares' head, right into the middle of the third-tier group.

When Aejaz looked up, he saw the displeased looks on everyone's faces who had already surrounded him in a circle. 

"Eep." Aejaz found he could only make a single noise as he braced for pain.

"Haha, Aejaz made a mistake." Appa completely misunderstood the situation, but had somehow also gotten it completely right.

Dirk and Li Li just sighed as they separated the crowd and dragged Aejaz's sorry self out of the encirclement.

"You're good people," Aejaz sniffled and spoke with a tear in his eye. "UNLIKE SOMEONE!" Aejaz wildly waved his fist back at Ares who simply snorted, smiled, and looked away.

"Ares, fifth tier."

"WHAT!" the second-tier leader, who had yet to get anyone, didn't even process his response, it just blurted out as he heard Teng's words. "You can't be serious, Teng. Weren't you prattling on about rules less than an hour ago? Isn't that your thing? Why is he fifth tier anyway? What did he do to warrant you breaking your own rules?"

The disciples were just standing still and repeatedly blinking. A few of them pinched themselves and more than once at that. Jaws had been lowered and eyes had been widened. This was unheard of. Since the sect's inception, this had never happened once. It's not like he was even put in the fourth tier, he just skipped it and went directly to the fifth. Some of these disciples who joined when they were much younger had been stuck at the lower tiers for upwards of five whole years. Just how monstrous was this guy? Fuck the stardust. No-one wanted anything to do with Ares anymore. Better yet, some people were wondering if they could give him stardust to leave them alone.

"I agree with second tier leader Gao. This makes no sense, especially coming from you, Teng," the third-tier leader spoke out in agreement with Gao.

"Loopo, I understand your concerns, but this is simply how it's going to be. This order comes directly from Rud so, if you want your pay check slashed, cough cough, I mean, if you want to argue with him, then go ahead. Ares is going into the fifth tier and that's final," Teng responded to Loopo with a not-so thinly veiled warning. Teng got along with the tier leaders and was trying to help them avoid a pay slash in their monthly salaries. Rud was truly ruthless, but he was also the sect's accountant, so who could really argue with him?

"Not that I mind having another disciple, but I must say his cultivation is a bit... Surprising." The fifth-tier lady seemed unbothered by a new addition or the blatantly broken rules, but she was definitely curious how Ares managed to get in Teng and Rud's good books.

Gao was astonished when he finally checked Ares cultivation. "3rd realm, 10th stage? At his age? What the fuck Teng? That's second-tier, if not first-tier, level of cultivation." 

"Huh?"

"Seriously?"

"Why is he fifth tier?

"Isn't this a joke?" Numerous voices rang out from the disciples who were now confused as to what was happening and why someone like Ares was being put in the fifth tier.

"Elaine, Gao, this really isn't a simple matter and you'll have to ignore his cultivation, but I promise you it will be worth it," Teng paid no attention to the disciples and responded to the fifth and second tier leaders.

"Teng, we won't be satisfied unless you tell us why this is happening," Loopo voiced what the five leaders were thinking.

The other two leaders hadn't gotten involved as they knew it wasn't their place. Ares had to be some kind of genius to be placed into the fifth tier. Teng didn't seem like he was going to budge and lower it to the fourth tier. Teng would also never put a genius in the first tier even if his cultivation was low, thus those two leaders were out of the running anyway.

"Fine. Slick proposed a bet during the trial with Ares that Rud and myself both agreed to. Slick lost the bet and now this is the result."

"Slick proposed a bet himself? What kind of bet?" Elaine wanted details as she was the curious type that wanted to know everyone's secrets at all times.

"Slick lost a bet to this kid? Seriously?" Loopo was mostly just concerned with the fact that their guardian had somehow lost a bet to some random teenager with a low cultivation base.

"That useless idiot. It's not surprising he lost a bet with that carefree attitude of his." Gao was annoyed, which wasn't all that surprising as there was little that didn't annoy him. The moments he wasn't actively in a state of vexation were few and far between.

"Yes, he lost the bet. The bet came about after a long series of events that started with Ares asking what would happen if he forced Slick to use mana during the trial."

"Arrogant brat." Gao was instantly displeased with the nerves of this new disciple.

"As I was saying, Slick was aware of this and decided to make a bet with him. If Ares could force Slick to use mana in the trial, he would be placed directly into the fifth tier."

"Wait, you're saying he actually made Slick use mana? He didn't cheat, did he?" Loopo was shocked, that feat was certainly impressive.

"No, he didn't cheat, Ares actually managed to cut off one of Slick's arms too. He would have cut off Slick's head if he hadn't used any mana."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The tier leaders were dead silent and so were the disciples. Most people here were familiar with the new test that had come around in the last six years and knew exactly what the third trial was. Most of the people here struggled to cling to their tokens and run away for a minute whilst taking one hell of a beating, but this guy had cut off Slick's arm? It wasn't that he fought evenly, that would be impressive enough alone, but to be so strong that he nearly took off his head? Monster. Absolute monster. No wonder his cultivation meant nothing. With strength like that, he was practically invincible in whichever cultivation realm he was in.

"He really cut off an arm?" Elaine was double checking; this was simply too far-fetched to just blindly accept.

"Yes. In fact, even after Slick started using mana, he managed to take off his pinky finger too." Teng gave everyone time to let the information sink in, it's not like his reaction to it was any different.

Loopo dropped his book and even his glasses fell off his face. Gao had gone deathly pale and truly looked like he was just about to keel over. Elaine had raised her hand to her mouth which was now wide open.

"If you still have any qualms with his placement, then as I mentioned before, you can go talk to Rud."

"N… No. That won't be necessary," Gao acknowledged the decision meekly.

"What did Slick want? Ares must have had to bet something too, and it must not have been a small thing either if Slick was the one who brought up the bet." Elaine just had to know; she wouldn't stop thinking about it if she couldn't get an answer.

"I won't go over what Ares would have had to do if he lost because that's a complex matter that I'm going to have to discuss with you all later. On that note, I truly don't know what to do with Ares' cultivation, and I don't think anyone can help him either, so it doesn't matter who gets him as all of your lectures will mean basically nothing. He's been placed based not on who can offer him the most guidance, but on his prowess, and also because of the bet and what he can offer the sect. There really is a lot to talk about, and it's all really important so don't go slacking off or I'll find you and drag you to the meeting if I have to!"

The leaders all looked at Ares who was just minding his own business as though none of this concerned him. Was he seriously that influential? Why was this kid so important? They all decided to attend the meeting and find out just what made Ares so special, not that they had any choice in the matter anyway, lest their wallets suffer a pay-slash.

"I DISAGREE WITH THIS; HOW CAN HE BE ALLOWED INTO THE FIFTH TIER OVER A BET?" Fen was, unsurprisingly, very much not happy.