"Senior Brother Long, I would like to request a spar with you."
Upon hearing the request, not only was the crowd surprised, but even Aotian couldn't help being taken aback.
Narrowing his eyes, he stared at the young man who was, in truth, the reincarnation of a powerful cultivator from the past.
'Why would he ask for this?' Looking into the young man's steady and clear eyes, Aotian dismissed a few possibilities. 'It doesn't seem like envy, jealousy, nor doubt about my abilities…'
Analyzing the youth—calm and without the slightest fluctuation under his scrutiny or the murmurs of the crowd—only one word surfaced in his mind.
'It seems to be… curiosity?'
And indeed, Aotian was right.
Lei Yun, after almost being defeated in the "extreme" difficulty puppet challenge, judged, based on the disciples' reports, that the "Hard" difficulty was countless times easier than the "Extreme" one.
And, for each level below, the difficulty dropped considerably, making it logical to conclude that the levels above were several times more challenging.
Lei Yun didn't attempt the "saint" or "immortal" difficulties precisely because he knew, from the very first challenge, that "Extreme" was already not something he could face lightly.
And after nearly failing every time he tried, he concluded he still wasn't ready.
The way the puppet fought made it clear to him—an ex-Mahayana—that the puppet wasn't using any power beyond their realm. No, it simply pushed its own realm to the absolute limit through an inhuman degree of skill and control.
And Lei Yun didn't even know that this represented only 10% of Aotian's ability.
It's worth remembering that he hadn't defeated the puppet; all he needed to do was hit it ten times, without dealing any real damage, and even then he almost died.
And Long Aotian, the strongest disciple, had even passed the immortal difficulty, leaving him extremely curious and confused.
How could an ordinary human achieve such mastery and skill?
He wanted to see it with his own eyes. He wanted to judge for himself. And maybe… learn something.
Aotian, who had begun flying with Rihai to leave before being called, landed immediately. He let go of his wife's hand as he nodded to her, then took a few steps forward, standing face-to-face with Lei Yun.
"Are you sure? I don't usually hold back." Aotian smiled, without malice or provocation in his voice—just pure confidence.
"I wouldn't want you to," Lei Yun replied firmly, without a single fluctuation in his eyes.
"Well, then let's head to one of the duel arenas. I remember there's one nearby." Aotian shrugged and flew toward the right side of the tower where, at a short distance, a stone platform rose.
Arriving there, Aotian calmly landed on one side of the platform and crossed his arms.
Lei Yun and the excited crowd followed him. He also stepped onto the platform, positioning himself on the opposite side with his hands behind his back, while the spectators surrounded the ring.
Everyone was excited to see a battle between the two strongest disciples, but none doubted that Aotian would win easily. After all, the tower's results didn't lie.
Perhaps the only person still hoping for a miracle was Lei Yun's Dao companion, Mu Luyin.
The moment both took their positions on the stage, various array patterns activated across the platform, enveloping it in a transparent shield.
These platforms had long existed in the sect, used to allow disciples to duel without letting fights break out anywhere and disrupt the sect and its Feng Shui if something were destroyed.
Now, they had also been updated to prevent disciples from dying inside, just like in the Hundred Thousand Beasts Tower.
Seeing everything ready, Aotian looked at Lei Yun with a relaxed smile.
"Attack, or you won't stand a chance later. You may try to strike me three times, and I won't fight back. If you manage to touch me, you win," he said playfully, silencing the crowd with his words as they stared at him, stunned.
Yes, Aotian's poor taste was acting up again. He was deliberately playing the antagonist.
Rihai, in the audience, placed her hand on her forehead with a helpless expression. She knew her husband better than anyone and knew he was causing trouble on purpose.
Lei Yun narrowed his eyes slightly at being underestimated, but he didn't let the provocation sway him.
"Well, then I thank Senior Brother in advance," he spoke in a low tone.
Immediately after his words fell, without holding anything back, countless sparks flickered around his legs and, in a flash of light, he shot forward like thunder.
His black spear appeared in his hand, wrapped in an electrical intent that made it faintly shine white as it was thrust forward with ferocity.
The disciples outside could only widen their mouths and eyes, seeing nothing but a flash of light cross their vision.
But Aotian smiled casually, and thunder also burst around his legs, making Lei Yun freeze for an instant.
After six months of obtaining the thunder inheritance, he had discovered a way to use it. Thunder was a mutation of the fire element, and he had figured out how to make such a conversion.
But it wasn't practical, since it was four times weaker than using a normal element, as his roots weren't adapted for it. Even so, it was enough.
Lei Yun's spear pierced straight through Aotian's stomach without mercy, but all it hit was an afterimage left behind by Aotian's terrifying movement speed.
"One…"
The clear voice of the man who should have been skewered echoed through the arena.
Ignoring the shock of seeing his opponent use the same element and spell as him with such mastery, Lei Yun twisted his spear backward, toward where he felt Aotian's presence, only to hit another afterimage.
"Two…"
Lei Yun furrowed his brows.
He then spun the spear at high speed and swung it to the side with all his strength, turning in a full circle and sending a powerful wave of electricity blasting out in all directions.
But while he was still spinning, his eyes widened as he saw Aotian right behind the spear's movement from the very beginning, like a ghost, avoiding the shockwave by literally hiding behind its source.
'How is this possible?!' Lei Yun's eyes widened.
The speed of his spear strike was far superior to his own movement speed, yet that so-called Senior Brother Long still kept up with the spear's speed, showing that he was far faster than Lei Yun had imagined.
And judging by the spiritual energy fluctuations, he was using the same movement spell, except he was only at the 3rd stage of the Golden Core, which was four stages below Lei Yun, who was at the 7th.
Unable to halt his own attack so abruptly, Lei Yun kept his eyes locked on his opponent even as he spun with the spear.
'Three…' Because of that, he saw Long Aotian's mouth—who was following right behind his spear—move as he said that word, looking at him with a smile.
And with that word spoken, it meant their agreement was fulfilled, and now it was his turn.
Aotian suddenly clenched his fist and, without waiting for Lei Yun—who had just finished his spear attack—to recover, he mercilessly punched his ribs at an angle he couldn't defend in time, without using a single trace of spiritual energy, relying solely on physical strength.
Boom!
A loud sound echoed across the arena as Lei Yun was sent flying, coughing blood, until he crashed into the energy barrier and fell to the ground.
If he hadn't managed to raise a half-formed defensive spell at the last moment, he would have been even more injured by the punch.
A common cultivator, despite having a stronger body, was highly dependent on defensive and offensive spells, but it was very difficult to maintain both at the same time.
Although it only took the blink of an eye to shift from offense to defense or vice-versa—since spiritual energy moved very quickly—there were still occasional openings that, if well exploited by the enemy, could be fatal.
And this was one of the greatest advantages of being a body-refiner. For a body-refiner, such a thing didn't exist. Their offense was their muscles, their defense their flesh, and both were active at all times.
Lei Yun had only recently started refining his body under the guidance of an inner elder from the Spear Pavilion who had taken him as a direct disciple, so he hadn't progressed far down that path yet. Because of that, he was utterly helpless before Aotian's skilled punch.
Fallen on the ground, he prepared to get up, but felt a chill on his neck.
Looking to the side, he saw the reflection of his own face mirrored on the cold surface of a blade.
Raising his head, he saw his opponent, Long Aotian, staring at him expressionlessly with a sword in hand, its tip aimed at his neck.
"You lost," he said simply.
"It seems so…" Lei Yun sighed and stood up as the blade was withdrawn from his neck by his opponent, who accepted his surrender easily, just as the challenger calmly accepted defeat.
But Lei Yun's gaze toward Aotian carried a hint of complexity.
'Who exactly are you, Long Aotian? A common cultivator can't possess such mastery of spells, nor such control over body or spiritual energy, nor that level of combat experience, nor even such precise timing and sense of openings.'
Many thoughts swirled in the mind of the poor former Mahayana.
Although the fight might have seemed simple, countless small details revealed the extraordinary nature of the man before him.
In a way, he was even more frightening than the puppet in the tower, which made Lei Yun feel unsettled.
And all that mastery and experience led him to a single conclusion.
'Could you be… the reincarnation of an immortal?!'
Just reaching that conclusion made his heart speed up.
Becoming an immortal was what he had always aimed for, and perhaps standing before him at that moment was someone who had already passed through the gates of that realm in the past.
Unfortunately, Aotian had no idea what he was thinking, otherwise he would've simply said: "Combat experience? Sorry, I stole that from you and several disciples and combined it with my own knowledge. Technique mastery, energy control? Sorry, I have thousands of minds and various skills and bonuses that help me progress at light speed."
Either way, after Rihai, now there was a second disciple in the sect who believed Aotian was the reincarnation of an immortal.
The crowd was also perplexed by the abrupt end of the fight.
"This… already… ended?!"
"I barely saw anything! They were too fast!"
"Yeah, I'm starting to doubt we're even in the same realm."
"I thought that we, who had no talent, had become geniuses when we joined the sect, but now I see what happens when a true genius joins—their talent turns them into monsters!"
"Well, to the outside world, we're already not just geniuses, but monsters. And geniuses have entered the sect before, like Senior Sister Xiao Ling, with her perfect-quality single-element root, which is considered genius level. But even she didn't reach the level of those two."
"I think Senior Brother Long and Senior Brother Lei would've already been considered monsters even before entering the sect, and now that they've joined, they've become kings among kings of monsters."
While the crowd discussed heatedly, full of admiration and doubt, the arena scene appeared much calmer.
"Are you alright?" Aotian asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy, who had been standing silently, stunned.
"Huh?!" Lei Yun quickly snapped out of his thoughts and clasped his fists toward him, bowing slightly. "Sorry, Senior Brother Aotian, I just got lost in thought for a moment. Anyway, thank you for the spar, it was enlightening, and I realized I still have much room to grow," he thanked sincerely, without a hint of the superiority that had unconsciously existed in his heart before.
Aotian smiled calmly and waved his hand.
"No need to thank me, I had fun as well. You fight very well, but you should focus more on mastering your spells. Although we can progress quickly through the realms with the sect techniques, mastering spells to perfection greatly increases combat power, technique experience, spiritual energy control, and understanding of our elemental affinities."
"These things will only become more important in the future, so don't consider it a waste of time, but an investment."
He advised aloud, and his advice wasn't only for Lei Yun, but for all the disciples gathered there.
Lei Yun nodded thoughtfully upon hearing that, then soon took his leave, departing with Mu Luyin, who seemed a bit regretful over his loss, though it wasn't a big deal.
Aotian also stepped down from the stage and reunited with Rihai, who was waiting for him.
"Did you enjoy showing off?" she asked playfully, knowing her husband had a certain passion for it.
"Well, it was nice." He shrugged while smiling at the crowd, who watched him in awe and admiration.
Thus, without further delay, they headed back to their cave.