Threat of Battle

Having finished their mock battle, they heard the voice of Fresh Wood, summoning them to his room. Hearing the urgency in the voice, they proceeded immediately him.

"I see that Little Tiger has already delivered the sword to you. Train well with it for the next ten days.", the old man said with a grin in his face.

"I was planning to do so originally, though, if I may ask, for what reason do I have to do so?", Sword Child asked.

Fresh Wood's grin became even more pronounced, piquing Sword Child's curiosity. The old man looked at Little Tiger, seemingly talking with her through his eyes. After a while, Fresh Wood turned his head away from her and began to look at him.

"You need to strengthen yourself.", a voice in his mind said, a voice which he recognized to be owned by Fresh Wood who was in front of him. This was telepathy, a skill every cultivator could use, something used for talking discreetly. The skill basically enables people to talk stealthily to people of their choice and those that are not wanted to be in the conversation will not hear anything, well, unless the one who wants to hear is stronger than the ones in a conversation.

"Why?", Sword Child asked with telepathy, which he learned in the scrolls that were given to him.

"Now that the sword, Immortal Slayer, has accepted a master, many members of the Sword Clan will surely fight for it. The sword's strength is a temptation even someone of my level will find hard to resist.", Fresh wood answered with a sigh.

Little Tiger nodded and looked seriously at Sword Child, "Some of the Elders of the clan has already sent messages that they want an opportunity to see the sword in action, which is obviously means they want a fight to happen. Some even gave a warning of eradicating Grandfather Fresh Wood's family if we will not hand the sword over to them.".

The three of them looked at each other with serious expressions on their face. Sword Child felt pressurized from the threat of a group of cultivators ganging up on him. Even though he had successfully used a magic with the sword earlier, it sucked about 40% of his spiritual energy, leaving him with the ability to use just one more strike. Even if he will have 20% left of his spiritual energy, he won't be able to use the "Fireball" magic he did earlier or at least he will, but with lower potency.

Sword Child unsheathed the Immortal Slayer and felt pressurized from the burden it represented. He smiled wryly and asked, "Can't I just give it away?".

"No, the only way for the sword to accept a new master is for its previous master to die.", Fresh Wood said grimly. The air suddenly felt heavy around them. The three of them knew that chaos will surely ensue, but, the heaviness of the atmosphere was not due to fear or negativity but a pure and extreme will for combat being emitted by Little Tiger. Sword Child looked at her and felt his heart pound. He could not help but think that this girl was extremely pretty but too frightening. Her desire for battle overclouded her beautiful features, all Sword Child could see from her is a War Goddess or a Demon that seeks the battlefield.

Sword Child sighed and looked quietly at his new father, Fresh Wood. The both of them smiled wryly, fully knowing what the other was thinking. Fresh Wood knew, Sword Child was very weak-willed and was a coward, the only redeeming thing about him was his stubbornness. Even as he did all those vicious things to himself, Sword Child was only able to do those because of his desperation. He really did not like violence because he hated pain and yet Little Tiger seemed to be infatuated with the battlefield, the reason that though she was beautiful, Sword Child could not bring himself to like her completely.

"Let's go Elder Brother Sword Child! Spar with me!", Little Tiger said excitedly.

Sword Child felt his hair stand on end, the pain he felt from the matches he had with her was no laughing matter. If he was given a choice, he really would avoid pain, but, the circumstances forbid it. Resigning to his fate, he sighed deeply, but a question boggled his mind, 'Why does she call me Elder Brother? Her grandfather is my father so shouldn't I be her uncle?', he thought to himself.