Dark Horse? Part 1

"The Blue Phoenix Sect's Lin Mei.. Interesting."

Two hours later..

While Guang Wu struggles to get up from the backlash of sealing his cultivation, he goes outside of the tent and notices that he wasn't near any crowd but he was actually where the disciples were to get ready for the competition.

In surprise, Guang Wu thought "Why would they let me in here? Was it just because i fell on that girl by chance?"

Although the competition was mainly for the three major sects, it was still open to the public seeing how the Azure Immortals Staircase wasn't owned by any sect currently.

Looking around Guang Wu noticed disciples with many different colored robes such as gray, yellow, orange and red but with different patterns and insignia's to go with them. The only similarity between the robes was that they had engraving that wrote "Inner Court Disciple".

Since Guang Wu didn't wear a robe, it drew a lot of attention towards him since he looked like a rogue cultivator which was rarely seen especially in competitions such as this one.

Seeing how Guang Wu looked like he was about to leave, many of the disciples who were looking at him, made mocking faces which pissed him off. "Damn it I didn't even sign up for this competition but i'm still getting mocked at for leaving? Did that girl do this on purpose?"

Guang Wu was a being of unprecedented power and nobility. He just couldn't bear the shame of having people who were pampered by their sect and ate pills to get to where they are now looking down on him. After all, although Guang Wu was 18 in mentality, he was still new to the experience leaving him unused to the gazes and unable to keep a calm demeanor.

Looking for where the girl ran off too, he remembered that he only caught a glimpse of her cute facial features, her name and her sects name. Since her sects name was Blue Phoenix, he started to look around the waiting area for a Blue Phoenix insignia but when he did find it, she wasn't among them leaving him confused. "Are there two Blue Phoenix Sects? Why isn't she among them?"

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Giving up on his search, Guang Wu decided to sign up for the competition obviously still ticked off about what happened earlier. After many odd looks and stares that were being tossed towards his direction, he was finally able to get a proper entry ticket and be officially apart of the competition.

"Look at that, a petty rogue cultivator actually thinks he has what it takes to climb the Azure Immortal Stairway."

"Tch, he's just a 3rd stage origin cultivator, the weakest here is at least a 3rd stage profound cultivator, does he really think he stands a chance?"

In all honesty, what these elders and disciples call "3rd stage origin realm" is what Guang Wu would call "Void's Quarter Step" which would equivalent to a "Sky Emperor cultivator". It was just that since he did technically 'gather' such a little amount of Qi, it was pitiful to all those who could see it. But to no avail, they just couldn't tell the difference and thickness between Void Qi and Mortal Qi.

[ Sky Emperor's Realm is one realm above Emperor's Realm ]

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"Okay! All other participants may enter the Azure Immortal Stairway!" said an elder.

"All other participants?" thought Guang Wu.

Since Guang Wu was practically limb in bed for two hours, he didn't know what was happening outside of his tent. Although the girl did leave him, she also didn't explain where they were and what was happening. When hearing that 'all other participants' can go into the Azure Immortal Stairway, Guang Wu thought "Did someone get a head start? Why?"

Seeing that hundreds of disciples were rushing towards the staircase and got stuck, Guang Wu couldn't help but shake his head. "Why are they so dumb? In the end it's about how much you can actually resist the pressure of the staircases right? So would it matter when you go in?"

"Hmph, I guess I can teach these people a thing or two." saying this, Guang Wu took a small leap above the stuck disciples leaving them all shocked. How could a mere 3rd stage Origin cultivator jump above hundreds of elite disciples at once? Thinking about this, they couldn't help but get mad and in return they started to push each other even more aggressively.

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"Hmm maybe I hurt there pride a bit to much?" seeing how many of the disciples were looking at him as if they wanted to eat him alive.

Clearly Guang Wu forgot he was in his worst condition possible because after he took that leap, he fell back 10 steps making him a bit embarrassed.

While going up the stairs, Guang Wu remembered that there were other people who went up the stairs before he did. Thinking about how that girl may be up there, he started to pick up his pace. He didn't know why, but something about her attracted Guang Wu. He didn't have a long encounter but maybe it was because she was the first person he actually talked to face to face unlike the strangers he was asking for information.

"F-friendship?" thought Guang Wu. He still didn't know where to place these feeling since hes never had any proper contact with any other being in his life excluding that moody elder.

Roughly quarter way into his journey, Guang Wu noticed 4 people in front of him struggling to advance. Out of the four people two had white robes with a White Dragon insignia on there shoulders, one had a cloud of mist seemingly the Nine Tailed Illusions Sects insignia, and finally the girl he met before, the Blue Phoenix Sects insignia on her shoulder.

Instead of immediately letting his presence known, he decided to quietly follow behind them closely. If they were to turn around even for a split second, any one of them would notice him but to their efforts, they were too focused on climbing the stairs to even talk let along turn their head around.