The First Battle

The Discipline hall elder announced loudly, "Han Cai challenging Ma Yanlin" and allowed Han Cai to get on the platform.

As Han Cai stepped onto the platform, everyone's eyes were drawn to the white-robed, magical-looking boy. Han Cai stood in the center of the platform, and the opponent who was occupying the platform moved forward to stand opposite him. The Discipline hall elder, who was acting as the referee, gave them the signal to begin. Neither Han Cai nor his opponent spoke.

As soon as the referee gave the signal, Han Cai pulled out his sword and slashed toward his opponent. A sword qi in the form of four cranes moved toward his opponent and crashed into him. Before the opponent could react, he had cuts all over his body, and blood was pouring out of him. He fell to the ground, injured badly. Han Cai knew the opponent would not die, but he would need weeks to recover.

Everything happened in a matter of seconds. The crane sword technique was simple yet unique, and the level of the sword technique could be determined by the number of cranes formed by the sword qi in each strike. The four cranes in the first slash were Han Cai's announcement to everyone that he was at level 4 in sword technique. That was also why he injured his opponent so badly, not to show off but to avoid further hassle.

Lazy Han Cai just wanted to avoid nuisance, so he tried to give challengers a scare of their life, and At the same time, he also wanted to Impress the sect master to catch his eye. Han Cai expected soon some outer sect elder would come rushing saying, "Junior, You Dare!" He was ready to use the 4th-level sword technique as he was certain no outer sect elder had practiced the sword technique to level 4, and He was sure elder Zhou would fight for him, if that happened. But Just like before, his expectations were not met; this sect was different.

As Han Cai slashed, the whole arena grew silent. All the outer sect elders stood up from their seats, but not because of the reason that Han Cai expected. The elders were more mature. They understood talent. They were shocked even elder Zhou was shocked as Han Cai had only shown him the power of a level 2 sword technique. The Discipline hall elder, who was the referee, had his mouth hung open too. He forgot to speak up for a while. When the Elder did not announce the winner for some time, Han Cai turned and looked at the Elder who was standing as the referee, and bowed. Finally, the Elder realized he was standing there. He came out of his stupor and announced, "Challenge for platform one, Han Cai wins."

Many outer sect disciples did not even see how Han Cai won so fast, but the 98 other contestants saw it clearly, as well as the outer sect elders, inner sect disciples, and inner sect elders.

The Elder beside the sect master spoke, "You did not speak wrong. That is indeed a good talent."

The sect master shook his head and spoke with a glow in his eyes, "Elder, you do not understand. He might look the age of an inner sect disciple, but he is just 12. He joined the sect two years ago, and he had never practiced cultivation before. In 2 years, he reached level 2 of qi condensation and level 4 of the crane sword technique. He did not receive guidance in cultivation from any elder. One of the elders finally noticed this kid's talent, and he tried to guide him in technique, but this kid already had better knowledge of the technique than that Elder had."

Both elders were shocked, "Leveling sword technique twice in a year without any guidance from anyone. Is he Dao child of some sword deity?"

The sect master shook his head, "When we heard of his talent, we got some outer sect families to do a check on his background. His father is a small merchant in a remote town called Eagle Trail Town. Before coming here, he was just an ordinary child in the family."

The second Elder by the side of the sect master responded, "Such a good talent in cultivation and a heavenly talent in the sword. Our ancestors haven't forsaken us yet."