"You really lost there, what happened?" Alaric asked Tiara as the pair of fighters returned from the arena.
"I don't know," she replied, clearly bothered herself. Although they agreed on letting Henry win eventually, she believed they'd at least draw like she always did with Alaric. To her dismay, she genuinely lost.
'Hmm, her movements seemed very inefficient, but she is clearly not one to reduce her own prowess for aesthetic reasons. Does it have anything to do with her luck?' Ken pondered while he watched the beautiful woman sit by his side.
Thinking about it, she was one of the two most beautiful women he had ever seen, and the other was Vivienne. And it wasn't that the rest of the women in the cultivation world were not beauties, those two were just on a par with Ken himself.
"Next fight, Ken Sue vs. Alaric Sonora!"
The announcer's voice brought Ken out of his reveries, making him get up and go to the arena for his fight.
"Team Leader, good luck!"
"Good luck."
The two bowed to each other and the fight started. Ken moved swiftly without wasting any time before attacking.
'One Step.'
He crossed the distance between them instantly, but when he was about to slash with his sword, he found out that Alaric was already aware of his usual style and prepared for it.
'Clank!' Alaric knew that Ken might appear anywhere around him with One Step, aside from a small space behind him that was blocked by his own body. He already decided beforehand to begin the fight with an attack that affected a wide area, gambling that Ken would open with his dashing technique.
When the butt of the spear hit the ground, shockwaves were sent everywhere around it, pushing Ken away from his opponent.
Alaric did not bother worrying about Ken's safety and went all out as if he were aiming to kill his opponent. Not because he had ill intentions, but because his trust in Ken's might was absolute.
'Supersonic Throw.'
Boosted with lightning, the man threw his spear at a speed that surpassed the speed of sound. The spear created multiple sonic booms as it pierced through the air, each boom causing a shockwave that would cause a mess in a person's body even before the spear connected.
'Slash, 81 in 1,'
Ken waved his sword and the power that came out of it was overbearing. It cut through the very air, stopping the sonic booms and meeting with the flying spear.
The ground underneath Ken's feet shook from the impact, and Ken stood firmly in his place as he sent the spear back the other way.
'Those shockwaves are annoying,' Ken mused as he activated Cloud Running and rushed to engage his opponent again. The technique was helpful in negating impacts, and he planned to use it to reduce the effects of the shockwaves.
"Haha, Team Leader, you will have to take this fight more seriously if you want to win!"
Alaric laughed out loud, enjoying the fierce battle and the exciting sensations from the adrenaline rush in his body. Fighting a stronger opponent was not something he did every day, and he cherished the moment.
'Thrust of Lightning and Thunder.'
Alaric's spear flew right back into his hand, and he used it to thrust in Ken's direction. The lightning reached Ken first, and the shockwave followed right after.
'Flash Unwind,' Ken's sword drew an arc in the air as it cut through everything around him, but it was enough to slow him down. Alaric's goal was to keep Ken away, allowing him to enjoy the benefit of a longer weapon.
'Mind Poisoning – Paralysis.'
Ken turned more serious and activated his technique in the single target variant. Alaric froze a moment as fear gripped his heart and he hallucinated Ken as an apex predator, the one that could put an end to him whenever he wished. He saw visions of Ken with an unsheathed sword, blood dripping from it.
Ken knew Alaric's problematic personality and did not use the extra effect of the Big Success mastery realm of the technique. He did not know how the man would react to visions of Ken killing him repeatedly with his strong fetish to kill backstabbers.
Even using only up to the Small Success effects, it was still much stronger than before with his heightened mastery over the technique.
Ken came face to face with Alaric and struck with his sword, trying to leave a gash on his opponent's body. Alaric was terrified, but his body instinctively reacted to the threat and blocked with his spear. The immediate threat managed to shake him into action again.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
'Snake Thrust,' Ken thrust his flexible sword and it moved like a slithering snake. Alaric could see the trajectory, yet somehow his spear still missed the mark and two small wounds appeared on his chest. If Ken did not hold back, two holes would be there.
"Thank you for going easy on me, Team Leader. I surrender," Alaric sent his spear back into his ring.
"Winner, Ken Sue!"
The two headed back together to their waiting friends after the fight. Since Ken said they would train together afterward, they did not leave after their fight. Besides, they were quite curious about the fight itself.
"I see you still use a spear. Are you slacking in your training?" Ken asked.
"No, that's not it. It's just a very complicated inheritance, so right now I'm only as strong using it as I already am while using the spear. It's better to keep it a secret since it wouldn't give me any real edge in a fight."
"I see," Ken nodded in understanding. He remembered the inheritance he perfected for his companion, and it was indeed complicated and required a lot of training.
"What are we doing?" Alaric asked once the four got together, and all the three looked at Ken in anticipation.
"Let's get to my courtyard first."
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The four sat down in Ken's courtyard, their privacy somewhat protected by the formations Ken inscribed himself on the ground and the walls. Unless a seventh-stage cultivator acted immorally and peeked inside as Fernando did back in the Phoenix Feather Sect, nobody would see their activities.
Ken looked into Tiara's eyes, and felt again a weak attraction to her, just like the crush he had back in the secret realm.
"Henry, purify my mind," Ken said.
"Peace comes from within, don't seek it without," Henry said, and Ken felt as if water washed away all worries and negative thoughts from his brain.
Suddenly, Ken delivered a kick to Tiara's head, but the woman seemed prepared for it from the moment Ken asked for mind purification. She blocked it with her shoulder and disengaged quickly, looking at Ken wearily.
"Wait! I can explain!" She shouted hurriedly, clearly stressed by the situation. She was well aware of Ken's ruthless personality and was not sure how he was going to react now that he found out.
"I don't like being manipulated. Do you think your explanation can save your life?" Ken asked indifferently.
Henry remained seated peacefully, almost like he did not care about the infighting. Alaric, however, quickly got up and summoned his spear. Despite somewhat getting along with Tiara in the past few months, he assumed she had done something wrong if Ken attacked her.
"Yes, I had no ill intentions. I just wanted to be more favored and enjoy a bit more resources. I never planned to cause any trouble with it or harm your interests!" She quickly explained as much as she could.
"Hmm, that ability is interesting. How did you do it?"
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(A/N: Tiara's past is described in chapters 171-172).
Around 15 years ago:
Tiara was taken by her grandmother, Naomie, to one of the coldest places in the Verdant Qi continent, Frostplain. It was a place where the eye could only meet ice wherever it looked, and it was placed in the north of the central zone.
It was so cold that only cultivators aiming to control relevant types of Qi entered, and the humans did not even fight the residing beasts for control over it. It was one of the few areas in the central zone that was partly under beasts' control.
"You can't enter further than that, or you won't survive long. I will be here to watch over you."
Naomi placed her granddaughter on the outskirts of Frostplain. Tiara was meant to cultivate her soul and train in ice techniques there. The Ice Qi in the air was plenty, and the environment was great to improve in this area.
"Yes, Grandmother," Tiara said obediently. She had already put her mind into becoming as strong as possible and freeing herself from her clan's control. She believed that only strength could bring forth freedom.
She spent the days cultivating diligently, while she slept during the nights under her grandmother's Qi protection. Despite the harsh training, Naomi did not want to hinder the proper growth process of the child, so she did not force her to skip sleep.
The session was meant to be three months long, yet one day, trouble found them.
"ROAR!"
A loud roar reverberated in the plain of ice, a result of a fight between two beasts. A beast advanced to eighth rank and decided to use this chance to chase a competitor away from the pack. The two ice apes were both interested in the same female, but she kept playing with them both as if she was indecisive about which one to choose.
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