Death… And Me

Chapter 1623 Ouch

”Alright, next!” Rean called out with a smile as a disciple fell to the ground. All the elders who wanted to fight Rean already did so before the first day was even over. After that, the disciples fought between themselves to see who would come up next. Fortunately, by the time Rean finished with someone, the next one was ready to go to the arena.

Well, the next one couldnʼt help but make Rean feel a little surprised. He knew that girl since she was one of the very first people to be recruited to the sect, a kid called Ophilia. She was one of the kids that Luan found in the city where the first recruitment happened. By now, she was already seven years old. Itʼs just that with the sectʼs cultivation environment, her cultivation at the Initial Stage of Foundation Establishment had already increased to the Initial Stage of Core Formation. It wasnʼt that bad since she was a kid, but nothing that impressive either. Hage also went an entire realm up in the same time while his cultivation was much higher, after all.

”Thatʼs weird. How come the others let you come up to the arena, Ophilia? You shouldnʼt have the strength to do that,” Rean could not help but ask.

Rean then looked around and could see several unsatisfied expressions. Only then did he understand and laugh out loud. ”Hahaha! While you were all fighting to see who would come to the arena, this kid slipped here while you held each other back.”

”Thatʼs not funny!” Someone immediately complained.

”Yeah, look at me! Iʼm all injured, and I still havenʼt got a chance to fight you, Sect Master.” Another one wasnʼt happy either.

”You should tell her to come down!”

”Yeah, this isnʼt fair.”

”She simply used the fact no one would pay attention to a kid to get there.”

Rean shrugged his shoulders, saying, ”How someone got into the arena doesnʼt matter. All I said was that you had to decide for yourselves. Since she got here, sheʼs obviously worth taking this test.”

Rean then looked at the girl, who held a wooden sword, just like himself. ”Donʼt you have an iron sword or something better, Ophilia? Uncle Rean wonʼt mind if you use them against me.”

Ophilia quickly shook her head with a determined expression. ”Thatʼs not fair to uncle Rean. Ophilia will never take advantage of others. Uncle Rean is also restraining his own cultivation in order to be on equal terms with the disciples.”

Rean just smiled and didnʼt complain. In any case, he would talk to Hage later about her personality. As mentioned before, the sect wasnʼt a place for goody-two-shoes. She had to take any advantage when it was presented. Thatʼs why Rean and Roan also recruited a lot of cunning people. ”Alright, then. However, do you understand why Iʼm fighting in the arena against everyone?”

Ophilia nodded, saying, ”To help everyone understand sword intent.”

”Thatʼs correct,” Rean agreed with her. ”Since it seems like you understand, I wonʼt wait anymore. Uncle Rean will reduce his cultivation to match yours now, and then weʼll start. If you have been following Archdevil Roanʼs training schedule, you should be able to exchange a few good moves with me.”

Reanʼs cultivation was then restrained in output to match Ophilia. After that, he pointed his wooden sword at her and summoned his sword intent before attacking. Well, although he was attacking, he wasnʼt putting much strength behind it. After all, sword intent alone would already be very dangerous if not controlled well.

Just like Roanʼs sword, Reanʼs sword also changed into an ethereal form of sorts. Itʼs just that it was a lot fainter since he was holding back as much as he could to not injure Ophilia too much.

However, just as his sword was about to connect with Ophiliaʼs, the little girlʼs eyes lit up as her own wooden sword shone with the same energy as Reanʼs. Her wooden swordʼs ethereal form was even fainter than Reanʼs, not reaching even a tenth of Reanʼs power. Not to mention that Rean could see it flickering. Plus, that was already considering that Rean was holding back everything he could. Nevertheless, one thing was sure...

ʼSword intent!ʼ

Rean was shocked to see Ophiliaʼs sword showing the power of sword intent... or a kind of it. ʼNo, this is just the first step. She canʼt understand it very well, so her sword is flickering between sword intent form and its own normal form.ʼ

Rean was deeply moved to see a kid understanding sword intent. Ophilia didnʼt have any special talent at all. Yellow Color Talent, Water Element Affinity with just five small orbs lit, and slightly above average cultivation speed. But even with that, she was the first one in the entire sect other than the twins to start understanding sword intent. ʼThis is fine. Once you reach this level of sword intent, thereʼs no holding back anymore. The hardest hurdle is to reach this first stage, which Roan called the Sword Intent Seed.ʼ

Roan had explained to everyone in the main field before. When trying to understand weapon intent, the first step is to give birth to its seed. A kind of initial power that will grow into the real deal. According to Roan, there were several levels of Sword Intent, and he believed himself to be at the third level, the same as Rean. What Ophilia had just touched upon was the Sword Intent Seed.

The second stage of sword intent or any other weapon intent was called Stable Ethereality. That was the level Rean was using at the moment since he couldnʼt reduce his sword intentʼs power to the seed level anymore.

Then, the third level of sword intent was the Call of the Weapons. It was the level Roan used in his fight against Luan. It could influence all the other swords in the vicinity and even take some of their powers to oneself. It could even make it difficult for the opponent to control their own weapon if it was the same type.

*Clang!*

Rean and Ophiliaʼs sword collided before Ophiliaʼs sword was forced to the ground. Nevertheless, the girl refused to let it go until...

*Tud*

Rean used one finger to knock Ophiliaʼs forehead.

*Ouch!*

Only then did Ophilia let her wooden sword go.