Book 4: Chapter 6 – It’s You?!

Over the next week, Ace spent a lot of his time catching up with his mother, who was ecstatic to see her son in one piece. The remainder of his time was spent with Aiden, who was helping to refine his use of 'Impose' and meditating in an attempt to further his comprehension of the laws of fire.

Early one morning, all the remaining disciples of the Pavilion were sat around a large table outside Milianna and Lance's cabin eating what could only be described as a feast prepared by Julius and Milianna.

"Fatty, you really outdid yourself," Faye exclaimed as she sat back in her seat, her belly puffed out in front of her, unable to eat another bite.

"I almost wish I went on the training exercise with your team if this is how you guys were eating every day," Yulana added.

"If you had gone with them, you would've died." Faye snorted disdainfully.

"I said almost, you wench!" Yulana snapped back.

Even though the relationship between all ten disciples was good, Yulana and Faye bickered non-stop whenever they were together. Fortunately, before their squabbling could ruin the mood of the others, Wukong's voice rang out from behind them.

"Oii brats, it's time to stop lazing around," the ape-like man voiced. "Lauriella has summoned you all."

"I thought after becoming inner disciples, we didn't have any more enforced lessons," Julius said as he reluctantly got up from his seat to go back to the Pavilion with the others.

"This isn't a lesson," Wukong replied. "It's to talk to you all about the future of the Pavilion."

"Future?" Joel asked. "Does that mean we're going to be accepting a new batch of disciples?"

"Why are you asking now? Won't you find out when you get there?" Wukong lazily asked back. "Ahh, right. Sixth sister. Aiden told me to bring you as well. Master apparently left you something for your training before she left."

"Ahh, okay. I guess we'll come too then," Milianna gently replied as she took Lance's hand, following after her fifth martial brother and the other kids.

As they neared the Yin-Yang mountain, Ace and Wukong's heads suddenly turned to the west.

"Looks like I'll get to enjoy a little show this morning," Wukong said with an amused smile as he turned to Ace, who merely rolled his eyes.

"How troublesome," Ace sighed as he came to a stop as if he was expecting company.

"What is it?" Killian asked as he and the others all turned their heads to search for whatever Ace and Wukong's senses had discovered.

However, before Ace could respond, the powerful presence of several individuals appeared in the distance.

Though their senses weren't as strong as Wukong or Ace's, they could guess who the newcomers were from Ace's reaction.

It wasn't long before they could see the 'visitors'. In the sky, flying towards them, was a giant Silver Tailed Hawk of the eighth rank.

From that distance, they weren't able to see if there was anyone sitting on the beast's back, but they could see two humanoid black dots flying leisurely beside it.

"Looks like we've attracted quite the welcoming committee," A middle-aged man with greying temples dressed in a long blue robe chuckled as he looked down at the group on the floor whilst calmly flying beside the hawk.

"It looks like you're gonna have quite the audience for your battle today after all, little Wharton," A burly man dressed in a simple and unadorned grey robe and an earth-coloured heavy sword strapped to his back said whilst also looking at the group below.

Wharton, the burly brown-haired youth wearing a pair of baggy white bottoms with no top, opened his eyes as a wicked smirk suffused his lips.

"Good," Wharton said coldly as the grip around the large war blade lying across his lap tightened. "If it weren't for the fact that I was worried he would've escaped, I would've invited all my peers to come and watch me humiliate that little rat."

"Son, remember to crush him in the most domineering way possible," The brown-haired woman said from behind him. "The pride of our Baruch Clan can't be allowed to be tarnished by the likes of him."

"Yes, Mother, I know," Wharton replied calmly.

"That arrogant brat won't stand a chance against you, young master Wharton," Brutus added fawningly from the back of the eagle as he looked down towards the ground, unable to hide his excitement.

Wharton glanced at the man behind him lightly before disregarding him entirely. There was a time when Wharton looked up at the representative behind him who had recruited him, but now, with his meteoric rise at the academy, he wouldn't usually pay a man like that a second glance.

The only reasons he was even allowed to come at all was firstly because he had promised him all those years ago that he could witness as he crushed Ace in the future, and secondly, Brutus was the one who had found where Ace had been 'hiding' after all this time.

The burly saint dressed in grey looked at Wharton helplessly. He was Haydson, the man acknowledged by the masses to be the most powerful saint on the Yulan plane.

He had taken the young Dragonblood warrior as his disciple almost three years ago now after being thoroughly impressed by the youngster's incredible talent and even more impressive work ethic. It was only after that that he learnt that the biggest factor behind his disciple's drive to improve was avenging the loss he had suffered a couple of years prior.

At first, he just assumed Wharton's need for revenge would dissipate over time as he improved and was introduced to a wider world, but the shadow this boy Ace cast over the heart of his disciple was too strong. It also didn't help that Lina would continuously whisper thoughts of revenge in Wharton's ears.

All things considered, Haydson couldn't really care less about Ace or this challenge; he just wanted to help his disciple overcome this shadow before it ate him alive.

"I finally found you," Wharton laughed evilly, glaring at Ace as his group landed on the ground before the group from the Pavilion. "You can't run or hide anymore. Today I'll finally avenge my loss from back then and show you the invincible might of the four supreme warriors."

"No thanks," Ace replied casually before turning his attention back to Haydson, thinking about the enigmatic steps the man took to move through the air.

It wasn't just him. Each of the students was staring at the man in shock and a hint of awe. To them, each step he took made it look as though he was teleporting, a feat that should have been impossible.

'That must be the effects of the profound mystery of World Walking.' Ace noted to himself.

Though he hadn't actually made any breakthroughs as a result of reading up on the profound mysteries of the various laws, it allowed him to widen his horizons, meaning he was better prepared to deal with anything that might come his way in the future.

Seeing the way he was still being looked down on after all this time did wonders in igniting Wharton's fury; it took all his willpower not to attack directly. Ace's arrogance was simply too infuriating.

"Hmm, I remember you," Kenyon, the middle-aged man on the left of the hawk, said lightly as his eyes fell on Wukong. "You're that brat who arrogantly camped outside the Academy a decade ago and challenged all the students."

"Challenged?" Wukong smirked. "You mean defeated. If it weren't for that Olivier, who had already graduated, returning to fight on behalf of his alma mater, no one would've been the match of this king.

The shamelessness of you idiots from the O'Brien Empire really knows no bounds."

If Ace was a professional when it came to infuriating people, then Wukong was a grandmaster.

Kenyon wasn't only a saint, he was also the disciple of one of the four deities on the continent. There was no mortal who didn't dare show him the utmost respect wherever he went. So being on the receiving end of Wukong's clear disdain angered him in ways not even he himself knew possible.

He had only come today out of boredom, having already been visiting Haydson when Wharton got the news of Ace's location. He never expected to be treated in such a manner.

If it weren't for the sound of Haydson's voice cutting through the rising tension, there was a good chance Kenyon would've made a move there and then.

"That's enough," Haydson said indifferently. "We're here to make a formal challenge. Do you accept or not?"

"If that little lizard wishes to challenge our top student, he'll have to beat me first," Killian announced as he stepped forward fearlessly, glaring at the brown-haired youth gritting his teeth in an attempt to suppress his anger.

"You? In what world are you qualified to even challenge me?" Wharton sneered.

"This so-called Yin-Yang Pavilion is full of arrogant fools who don't seem to know their place," Kenyon said indifferently. "One's a piece of trash who'll never reach the saint realm because of a soul defect, one's an arrogant mutant hybrid who doesn't know when to bow his head, and one foolishly decides to challenge a Dragonblood warrior who's obviously superior in every way."

Hearing his words, other than Ace, who saw this whole ordeal as nothing but a farce and Killian, who was glaring daggers at Wharton, all the other disciples were trying their best not to laugh after hearing Kenyon's 'assessment'.

Forget now; Wukong was able to defeat a beast of the Early saint rank back when he was at the eighth rank. They had no idea how much stronger he'd become after breaking through to the ninth rank, but no one doubted he was stronger than Kenyon.

As for Killian, other than Ace, Amira, and Julius, he was definitely the strongest student in their cohort after his recent breakthroughs. He was more than qualified to challenge Wharton, who was merely a warrior in the middle stages of the fourth rank.

But the comment that made them laugh the most was his assessment of Ace. As his classmates, they all knew what had happened to him after being captured by the Dark Alliance.

Won't reach the saint realm? His insights into the natural laws had already surpassed most saints!

Still, he couldn't be blamed for his ignorance. Last, the public had heard, Ace really had no affinities.

Although it was true that as a saint, he should've been more than capable of sensing Ace's mage-force, Aiden had taught Ace that one of the ingenious uses of 'Impose' he'd created, which allowed those who'd reached the impose realm to hide their cultivation levels.

According to Aiden, because of the power of Ace's soul and the level his comprehension of the laws of fire had reached, the only ones able to sense Ace's cultivation when he was hiding it were those at the prime saint levels and above, or those with souls as powerful as Aiden himself.

It wasn't a technique Ace had much interest in originally, but it came in handy in this situation. After hearing what Brutus had done to Joel, he wanted to teach the representative a lesson he would never forget.

"What are you brats laughing at?" Kenyon snapped as his eyes scanned the group coldly before falling on Milianna. "It's you!"

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Book 5: Chapter 22 - Ranking Competition (3): Joel's Breakthrough