"In the final battle, the previously unknown Asura, a disciple of the respected Gong Wei, has won!" the commentator proclaimed after a few minutes. "I ask the respected head of the Gong family, Gong Gui, to comment on this tournament and announce the prize the winner will receive."
I shifted my gaze to the VIP tribune. The head of the family had no face; he had been in some kind of stupor since my second fight. He probably thought I had spent all my strength fighting his son and that I would be easily eliminated afterward, and then he would come up with an excuse for why Gong Han lost. I, on the other hand, had won each time with a huge advantage. As for the prize, it was a rather pleasant surprise for me. It turned out I wasn't just doing a favor for my old teacher here, but I could also get something.
"Ahem, ahem..." Gong Gui cleared his throat, standing up from his seat and taking the microphone from a servant who approached him. "I will not hide that the results of today's tournament have greatly surprised me, as I think they have surprised all of you." His voice was heavy, as if he could erupt right now and start shouting with all his might, or something worse, but at the same time, there was sadness in his voice. He seemed quite detached, as if everything was happening not to him, but to someone else. "We all expected my son Gong Han to win; he was the strongest of the younger generation of our disciples. But my elder brother, Gong Wei, found a disciple from outside and managed to raise such a genius. Of course, it will be necessary to check if this violates the ancient covenants, but..." At this point, he paused for a long time, as if saying, "unfortunately." "For now, there is no reason to believe so, which means Asura is the rightful winner of our tournament."
"Esteemed head, elder brother Gong Gui, if I remember correctly, besides the standard prize, one of the items from the family's treasury, as bequeathed by our ancestors, this tournament also resolved our long-standing dispute, didn't it?" the old teacher said, standing up and speaking with a smug smile on his face after the head was silent for a minute. "The bet made many years ago, I finally won it. Will the first elder, Se Ki, remind us all what was the subject of the dispute back then?"
I followed the old teacher's gaze and recognized the old man I was looking at as the first old man who approached us right after the head. I didn't think he held such a high position in the family. However, I also noted the old teacher's excellent move; he perfectly used the head's hesitation to insert his two cents into the conversation. With this phrase, he accomplished several things. First, he definitively secured the prize for me; who would go against the ancestors' covenants? And the fact that it was announced to the entire arena would not allow him to refuse it. Second, he would seal his victory in the dispute, with his conditions being announced not by him, but by a third, disinterested party, which would prevent any doubt from the assembled crowd and solidify them.
"Very well, I clearly remember that dispute and all the conditions that were proclaimed then," Se Ki said, standing up. His voice was calm, slightly cheerful, but no more. "Then, in case of Gong Wei's victory, he would return to the main family, taking the position of second elder. His cultivation would be opened, his method recognized, and he would have the right to personally select those he would teach. In case of defeat, he would have no right to return to the family and would be permanently expelled from it, without the right to practice body tempering. The dispute was about the victory of Gong Wei's disciple over a disciple or descendant of Gong Gui. As you all have seen, Gong Wei won the dispute."
"Yes, brother, I remember all this, and we will discuss it in more detail later," Gong Gui began to say, slightly stunned and quite annoyed by his defeat. "Let's start, perhaps, by presenting the prize to our winner."
"Excuse me, Head," Se Ki said, raising his hand. "My grandson approached me today and asked me to take him as a disciple, or at least pass on some method of body tempering to him. He claims that they are very strong and worthy of our help. He takes full responsibility in case of any leakage." After these words, I remembered the quartet that had suddenly appeared here. Well, if they received a method of body tempering, it would make them much stronger, so I wasn't particularly against it.
"I see, but first, I would like to see their strength personally," Gong Gui said, after a moment of thought. "Brother Gong Wei, you don't mind if your disciple tests them, he's not too tired after the tournament?" he asked, looking at me.
This was slightly unexpected, but it was also a good chance to find out the difference between our strengths, so I didn't mind. And it wasn't that I wasn't too tired; I was quite tired, the fights had been too intense, but I had plenty of strength to fight that quartet.
"Teacher, I can test them. Please, give me your permission," I said, bowing slightly.
"Since Asura doesn't mind, then I also see no problems. I am also very interested in who Se Lei brought; they are definitely unusual people," the old teacher replied calmly, nodding his head.
"Then I'll ask Se Lei to bring them all to the arena. The four of them against Asura," Gong Gui said. The old teacher was slightly surprised by these words but didn't interfere. I, on the other hand, turned my gaze to Mo Fan and the others. They were in a slight shock that I would be fighting them alone, but they obediently followed Se Lei. They had already seen my four fights, so they understood that even so, it would be difficult for them to win.
"Can he handle all four of us alone?" Mo Fan asked in a disbelieving voice.
"You saw how he fought. Are you sure we won't lose to him?" Xu Zhaoting asked confidently.
"Hahaha! Now we'll show these younglings what real strength means!" Asura's voice boomed in my head.
"Oh, you're eager to raise heroes out of them, huh?" I sneered, watching the quartet's movements. "You probably want to teach them a lesson in strength yourself?"
"Ah, can I?" Asura asked, quite pleased, as if beaming with a smile. His words sent a shiver down my spine.
"Only then you'll return control of my body," I said confidently. I had never let him control my body before, but I knew it was possible.
"Naturally," Asura replied in the same eerie voice. But I was too curious about what he would do, so I stepped back, giving him full control.
"Remember that not everything can be shown," I gave him a final warning, already observing and only partially feeling my body.
"Don't worry, it will be very quick," he said. I felt my mouth stretch into a devilish grin, and I eagerly awaited the upcoming spectacle.
Meanwhile, Mo Fan, Xu Zhaoting, Zhang Xiaohou, and He Yu entered the arena. Asura casually drew his daggers from their sheaths. Xiao Hou did the same; it was clear he had mastered them well, even making new ones. Mo Fan immediately summoned his dark wolf. He Yu and Xu Zhaoting moved back a bit, which was logical; one only had defensive magic, and the other was a long-range fighter, not close-range. Soon, Se Ki's command rang out: "Begin."
Immediately after, the Wolf and Xiao Hou charged at me, while Mo Fan and Xu Zhaoting began to create mid-level magic. Asura also didn't stand still; using a gust of wind, he instantly collided with the wolf, tossed it into the air with the hilt of his dagger, and then sent it flying towards the edge of the arena with his foot. It clearly had internal bleeding. By my estimation, the wolf had almost reached the level of a high-ranking servant. Pretty good, Mo Fan, but weak for me.
Next was Xiao Hou, who, using successive earth and wind magic, achieved good speed. But alas, he was still many times slower than me. Asura launched a series of quick attacks and feints. He wasn't hitting with the intent to defeat the opponent; I felt that clearly. No, he was showing his superiority, mocking him. When he was done playing, he sent Xiao Hou flying towards the edge of the arena with a kick, hitting him precisely in the chest.
Meanwhile, a fiery fist was approaching us, a lightning strike was almost complete, and the wolf, despite its wounds, was flying in to attack again. I was curious how Asura would get out of this. It turned out to be very simple; using a gust of wind, he approached the wolf, evading the fiery fist. The wolf tried to bite Asura, but only received a punch to the jaw, amplified by space magic. So, it was knocked out and partially shattered. Mo Fan, seeing this situation, decided to hurry with the recall of his wolf.
The lightning strike almost touched Asura, but at the last moment, he evaded the attack with a gust of wind. He also created two "Lightning's Wrath" spells, which he sent to Mo Fan and Xu Zhaoting with a slight delay. The former was protected by He Yu's water shield, which shattered under the impact, and he still received a portion of the charge. The latter was saved by one of the shields I gave him, although it was smashed to pieces. He'll probably ask me to fix it when I get back, well, fine.
Xiao Hou suddenly jumped from the left, but Asura was ready for this and easily parried the attack, launching another rapid series of attacks and sending him flying. However, as he flew away, he managed to create a vortex of wind blades that surrounded Asura, but he easily escaped it with a gust of wind. His next target was He Yu. Developing maximum speed, he dodged a couple of spells from Mo Fan and Xu Zhaoting and appeared behind He Yu. Although she tried to defend herself with a water shield, it was easily torn apart, and a dagger was held to her throat. A well-known expression of horror and shock was frozen on her face.
Throwing her aside, Asura moved towards Mo Fan. The latter unleashed another fiery fist, but two wind blades weakened it, so Asura easily bypassed it. Xu Zhaoting, meanwhile, unleashed another lightning strike. Mo Fan tried to hide in the shadows, but Asura didn't falter and sharply changed direction as if he wasn't going to attack him. Due to this sharp change in direction, the lightning strike missed, and Xu Zhaoting barely managed to dodge the blow using a wind step.
However, he didn't manage to escape completely, receiving a blow to the stomach with the hilt of his dagger. Meanwhile, Mo Fan emerged from the shadows and was immediately thrown back by a weakened version of the wind blade, but I think he took quite a beating. Asura straightened up, returned his daggers to their sheaths, and surveyed the arena, which applauded so loudly that a powerful roar arose.
"Alright guys, you definitely have talent, but you're too weak for now," Asura said confidently, with a hint of contempt, turning to the VIP tribune, and then added to me. "I'm returning control; after all, I can't go against your will, you're the boss here."
"You scattered them quite well. Maybe I'll let you have some fun again sometime," I replied, gradually regaining full control of my body.
"Well, that was a good duel. Gong Wei's disciple showed himself in all his glory, once again proving that he rightfully took first place in today's tournament," Se Ki proclaimed, nodding with satisfaction. "But our guests also showed good talent, resisting an opponent who is many times stronger than them, and they all reached the intermediate level. So I think they can be helped, to support young talents, so to speak. I think the steel body tempering technique would suit them. What do you think, Head?"
"I still need to think a bit and analyze this battle, but your proposal is not without merit," Gong Gui replied, slightly bewildered, as if he were thinking about something else entirely. I, meanwhile, thought that I should find out what technique I was using from the teacher, as there was almost nothing about it in his notes.
"Brother, I think it's time to give my disciple the opportunity to receive the promised reward," the old teacher intervened in the conversation.
"Yes, perhaps," the head agreed, nodding his head and standing up again. "Se Lei, escort him to the treasury. I, along with all the elders, need to discuss a couple of matters. Our guests should wait in guest room number three. Se Lei, join them when you're done."