Kent placed the sword down with care, as if placing a sleeping child to bed.
Kent stood slowly, dusting his robes, and walked toward the edge of the cave mouth. His eyes scanned the horizon, where distant lights flickered from the Immortal Pool Sect. A breeze tugged at his hair.
“Lee…”
He wasn’t just a peak Earth Immortal Magus.
He was the son of the Pool Master. Raised with divine elixirs. Trained in thousand-fold gravity fields. Bathed in soul energy every full moon. Wielding artifacts from realms that Kent could barely pronounce.
A direct-path to fight him meant one thing—annihilation.
Kent looked down at his own hands—rough, calloused, powerful—but unrefined. Then he summoned the Storm God’s Throne, the symbol of his chaotic domain. It appeared in the cave, elegant and jagged, its back carved in thunder glyphs, its base floating on a spark of heaven’s will.
He didn’t sit.
He just stared at it.
“Even you… can’t stop his peak spells.”
Then came the Invisibility-Clock, gifted by the Wind God—a cloak that bent light and thought, capable of hiding presence even from half-step Saints. And last…
The beasts.
One by one, within his mental sea, he reached out—The Flame Panther, Ghost Vulture, Lava Tusked Boar, Sky Howler Eagle, and Finally SPARKY. Each responded with warmth, loyalty… but also limitation.
They, too, were creatures of the lower world. Of Bhu Loka—the realm of nine mortal heavens.
And now… he stood in the Apex-Realm, the Immortal-World, where even the grass held lineage, and stones whispered cultivation chants.
He suddenly felt…
Alone.
Not in presence.
But in power.
He sat down again, cross-legged. Closed his eyes.
No weapons. No beasts. No games.
Just thought.
“I can’t win with what I have,” he admitted silently. “So I must win with what I am.”
His thoughts began spinning like a cyclone—strategies, traps, feints, delays, misdirection.
If Lee was a mountain—then Kent would be a storm. Not clashing, but dancing around. Not confronting, but cutting from shadow to light.
He would bait.
He would hide.
He would strike where it hurts most—not the body. But intent.
He would shake Lee’s belief in victory.
“Straight fight is suicide,” Kent whispered aloud.
“But a story… a play… a trap that walks like a duel? That… might just be art.”
He pulled a small notebook from his robe and began to write, tongue stuck out slightly in focus.
Plan A: Using Rain shadow movement and beating enemy with physical strength.
Plan B: Ambushing enemy with Mace and storm god’s Chakra.
Plan C: Head on fight with Dragon-Lion Bow.
Plan D: Poison Arrows and divine Ashthra arrows
Plan E: Nagastra given by Naga ancestor for healing him and using all last means to fight with blood and sweat.
The scribbles grew more frantic.
By the time the moon shifted, Kent’s face was lit by a smile—not arrogant, not mocking.
But hungry.
Determined.
A storm waiting to be born.
And the Immortal World… would soon hear it roar.
–
Jade Castle of the Immortal Living Pool Master…
The scent of plum wine lingered in the hall. Inside the Thousand Jade Pavilion, lit by faintly glowing spirit lanterns, the atmosphere pulsed with quiet tension. The ornate room was carved into the roots of the Immortal Living Pool itself, where only the highest of elders and cultivators were allowed to sit.
Tonight, it hosted a conversation not meant for the ears of gods or ghosts.
Immortal Pool Master Bu Dong sat in a long-backed crystal chair, the veins of celestial jade behind him glowing faintly. His robes shimmered with aqua light, embroidered with the sigil of the Water Saint. Across from him, lazily leaning with a wine cup in hand, was his son — the illustrious Lee Dong, the sect’s prodigal son and the Peak Earth Immortal Magus.
Lee’s eyes were sharp but carried a playful glint, like a fox wrapped in silk. His long silver-black hair flowed freely down his back, and a faint smile played on his lips.
Bu Dong took a sip of the plum wine and narrowed his eyes. “You’ve been smiling since I announced the duel. Speak. What’s truly brewing in that mind of yours?”
Lee Dong smirked, raising his cup. “Father, you always taught me—never waste a stage unless it serves more than one purpose.”
Bu Dong sighed. “So… it is not just a duel to test worthiness?”
Lee Dong swirled the wine, the crimson liquid reflecting flickers of soul flame. “No, Father. This one is a hunt in daylight.”
As if summoned by fate, the doors parted with a whisper of wind. A regal figure entered, clad in deep red robes embroidered with phoenix flames.
It was Patriarch Hua Daxin of the Hua Family, the silent ruler of Kulu Capital’s eastern half. His face was handsome and stern, touched by age but not weakened. His eyes were like polished obsidian, hiding storm after storm behind their still surface.
Bu Dong gave a courteous nod, though his lips twitched. “You walk into the heart of my sect uninvited, Patriarch Hua?”
Hua Daxin bowed slightly, his tone respectful but firm. “This conversation was arranged by your son. I bring no disrespect to your domain, Master Bu Dong… only gratitude.”
Bu Dong looked at Lee.
Lee raised his cup again, almost mockingly. “Father, I took a mission recently.”
Bu Dong’s face darkened. “You took… a mission? From a mortal family?”
Lee smiled wider. “Not just any mortal family. The Hua family—rich in resources, deep in ties. Their offer was generous. I merely requested the duel be… arranged.”
Bu Dong’s voice grew heavy, like clouds before a flood. “You dare treat my disciple trials as a market stall?”
But Hua Daxin stepped forward, hands clenched behind his back.
“Master Bu Dong,” he said coldly. “Kent is a ticking disaster. A storm rooted in soil too thin to hold him. He came to my estate and threatened me. Me—within my own palace. Who does that boy think he is?”
Bu Dong raised a brow. “And you came all this way to complain to me?”
Hua’s voice turned colder. “No. I came to ensure that your son finishes what he agreed to.”
Lee chuckled. “Father, don’t be so grim. You yourself said Kent lacks ‘intent’. That he is powerful but unanchored. Do you really think he’s worthy of the Prime Disciple title?”
Bu Dong leaned back in his chair, his mind racing. “His strength is beyond his rank. His control is lacking. But his will… it’s dangerous. If it matures…”
“That’s exactly why I must strike now,” Lee said, eyes sharp as knives. “Before the Immortal World adopts him. Before he becomes too valuable to eliminate.”
Hua Daxin nodded. “If he becomes Golden Heir and returns to Kulu, the first thing he’ll do is bring war to the Hua family. He’ll have your sect’s protection, and my entire bloodline will be butchered in the name of past grievances.”
Bu Dong set his wine cup down with a soft clink. “You both seem very sure that I’ll allow my son to kill a disciple under my roof.”
Lee stood and walked to the open balcony. The moonlight bathed his face in silver. “I’m not asking permission, Father. I’m asking for a stage. You always taught me—if one must eliminate a threat, do so with elegance. With witnesses. With applause.”
Bu Dong’s eyes darkened. “You wish to murder a boy under the guise of justice?”
“No,” Lee said softly. “I wish to kill a future king before he learns he can rule.”
Hua Daxin smiled for the first time. “Spoken like a true cultivator.”
Bu Dong stood slowly, robes rippling with immortal essence. “You forget something, both of you.”
The room suddenly grew cold.
“I am not a puppet of any family,” Bu Dong said. “And I will not allow my son to stain this sect’s foundation with blood done in secrecy.”
Lee turned, bowing lightly. “Then give it light. Let the heavens witness it. A fair fight—on the Grand Arena. Three days.”
Bu Dong studied his son for a long time. The boy he raised had become a storm he could no longer anchor.
Then, finally, he sighed.
“So be it. But remember this—if you kill Kent, you must bear all that comes after. If you fail…”
Lee’s grin widened. “Then I was never worthy of the Pool Master’s name.”
Hua Daxin turned, robes trailing embers as he left. “I expect results, Lee Dong. The Hua family pays well. But they remember debts even better.”
As the door shut behind him, silence reigned.
Bu Dong walked to his desk, lifting a jade slip and pressing his finger into it. The entire array of the Grand Arena lit up across the Immortal Pool Sect.
–
Tq 😉
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