Chapter 55 - Sect Under Attack Part 2

All disciples were taken in at the age of ten, usually orphans or youths who were given to the sect in hopes that their family gains a Practitioner. You had no freedom until you became a core sect disciple. The new Kingdom of Jakkom was too dangerous. Many nations tried to stop the conquest of the kingdom and many martial artists wanted to establish themselves in the growing nation.

"I finally found you, Senior Yao," Han bowed as he cupped his hands. "Outer sect disciple Han Kong has finally entered the inner sect of The Great Lion Turtle Sect of the Rokkam Kingdom. A little over a dozen have passed the inner sect disciple exam."

"Ha. Congratulations, Han. When is the congratulatory feast scheduled?" Yao asked.

"Tomorrow night. I can't wait. I can finally confess to the girl I like. She passed too!" Han grinned. "I can finally cultivate and train at my leisure. That is, after the one year mandatory service of teaching the basics to the outer sect disciple recruits," Han sighed. "They are just little kids crying and moaning."

"We're both seventeen. Of course they are crying. We were like them too, seven years ago. As I recall, I was an orphan and you were left here by your rich parents," Yao laughed. "I was crying out of happiness for a place to sleep and decent meals while you were crying for your own reasons."

"Still sucks. Still, I can learn that spirit technique while teaching those kids. I might even be able to evolve the technique and make it my own," Han smiled and then paused. "Actually, I might not be able to. I'm not a genius like you."

"There are tons of geniuses," Yao shrugged. I know a girl whose a year younger but even evolved the techniques of the outer and the sole inner sect technique she learned. The elders all say how talented she is. She has already reached the eighth stage of Spirit Shaman cultivation. She might even be promoted to become a core sect disciple before the age of twenty, when she becomes a Spirit Knight. Now that's a genius. Still, it does not explain why you were in such a rush to get here."

"Members of the Black Mantis Sect are here. You know, that rogue sect that's been conquering sects from outside the kingdom. They heard about how sect is number one in the Jokkam Kingdom and came to challenge us. They claim that their sect is the number one martial arts sect in the world. That their Practitioners bow to, and suffer, no one," Han said grimly.

"Right. Let's go," Yao said as he picked up his sword that lay against the trunk of the tree.

They headed down a hill and passed a few inner sect disciples who were charged with barring the outer sect disciples from heading further into the sect. Han looked around as Yao led him inside. Han had already passed into the inner sect. Thus, he was allowed in for the first time. Yao led Han straight to the main hall. Han stayed close to Yao as they stared at the black robed visitors. Each of them had foreign weapons that were unknown to them. One of their swords looked strangely similar to Yao's own.

Yao's Practitioner weapon was a double-edged sword with a silver cross guard. Along the sides of the blade was a large, triangle from the guard to a third of the blade. On the sides of the blade, within the triangle, was a tiger wearing armor on its limbs and face. However, the tail of the tiger was that of a snake with dragon's teeth and scales. The armored tiger and snake glowed vermillionThe blade was made of a white metal with thousands of white and light blue mystical energy within . When he wished it, celestial aura spread from the sword. It looked similar to traditional swords of the Chinese, but for that weird cross guard about two inches long. His sword was unusually sharp and only magical weapons, armor, and Practitioner weapons could block his strikes without damage. Yao had named his sword Freezing Tail as the sword was cold to the touch. and he liked dragons.

"Hey, Yao, their swords look strange, like yours. One wields dual hook swords with crescent moon guards over the grip, as if to protect the fingers. Another had a weird two-handed sword and giant cross guard while one more wields a farmer's scythe. What kind of Practitioner uses those?" Han whispered.

"They must have traveled all over the world and recruited while they did," Yao answered. "It seems they really do wish to challenge the core of our sect, but they have to defeat our masters within the inner sect first."

Placements in the sect depended on the cultivation stage of the Practitioner. Members of the outer sect ranged from the first stage to the fourth stage. Members of the inner sect ranged from the fifth to the ninth stage of Spirit Shaman cultivation with Spirit Knights eligible for promotion to the core of the sect. Naturally, masters of the inner sect were all at the ninth stage and the final threshold to the Spirit Knight tier All the elders of the sect were late stage Spirit Knights, even the headmaster. The lone Spirit Master was a magical beast lion turtle. As it was at the Spirit Master stage, it was capable of human speech.

Most thought it was unorthodox to learn from a magical beast, but power spoke for itself. It was also very wise and taught much to the headmaster who founded the sect so that others could learn from its wisdom. The greatest minds are not those with narrow-mindedness. Their trail of thought has no bounds and accepted the world outside of their imagination. Yao's Freezing Tail had celestial aura and was capable of healing, but could also emit fear and paralyze his opponent. It was similar to a demon attaining a holy power. It was strange, just like the existence of his sect.

"So few people," Han observed as he gazed around, trying to find more inner sect disciples.

"It is hard to advance in cultivation without foreign factors, insight, hard work, dedication, and innate talent. There are even fewer core sect disciples. Still, I thought Black Mantis Sect would bring more people," Yao said.

"They brought a small army of disciples. They followed our rules and those within the regulated cultivation stages were distributed. These two hundred or so are the ones who stayed behind while those at Spirit Knight tier moved ahead," Han answered.

"That's a lot of outsiders," Yao frowned as all the inner sect disciples came out of their training and surrounded the sides of the large square outside the main hall of the inner sect. The masters sat on chairs in front of the building while the outsiders stood at the opposite side of the square, observing their surroundings. Many inner sect disciples were outraged that a sect from another country would challenge them.

"Are we going to fight?" Han asked.

"You just entered the sect and barely at the beginning phase of the fifth stage of Spirit Shaman cultivation," Yao shook his head. "If a fight breaks out, we head to the escape route."

"So we position ourselves in front of that direction as we watch the fight?" Han asked while Yao nodded in agreement.

"These people have strange weapons. Their numbers are also too many for a friendly match. No doubt, they believe in duels to the death only. Sooner or later, they will make their move. Why else would they bring so many people?" Yao growled quietly.

"Not good. I need to find Ling," Han gasped and began searching for his crush while Yao observed the square, waiting for each side's preparation to be complete. Right before the two sides were about to begin, Han and a girl quickly ran through the crowd to him. They were both a little sweaty as it seemed they were afraid Yao's prediction might be true.

"I assume this girl is Ling?" Yao grinned, seeing a girl with long black hair and hazel eyes holding hands with Han. "You already confessed?"

"Yeah," Han grinned while Ling blushed.

"Hello, Senior Yao. I heard a lot about you from Han," Ling bowed.

"So, where's the exit?" Han asked.

"See the building next to the peach blossom tree next to the bench behind me?" Yao asked as they looked back. "There is a basement, but everyone knows about the secret tunnel there. We can't go there in case the enemy interrogates and follows them. We will head to the third floor. That's where I go to cultivate. I already have a teleportation array set up. You can only use it if you have the corresponding jade talisman. I paid a guy a lot of demonic cores to set it up. He died about a year ago. No one but us will know. I have five talismans. I'll give you each one."

"Thanks Yao," the two nodded and quickly put it in their storage bags.

"If you want to leave, do so right when the two sides begin their matches. Once the slaughter starts, you might be separated during the chaos as people will run in all directions. Like the basement where the tunnel is," Yao warned.

"I'm going now. What about you?" Han asked as he and Ling looked at him.

"People know my face and will expect me to be here. You guys are not significant of note. I'll escape. Don't worry. I have my methods," Yao smiled. "See you on the outside. Be sure to change clothes and burn all clothing of the sect. Some villagers might talk if they are paid the right price. We don't know if they have men in the nearby towns and villages."

"I seriously owe you! I'm heading out first," Han said, shaking Yao's hand before stealthily walking toward the building.

"Thank you," Ling said, giving Yao a quick hug before following Han.

Yao watched as the two sides began to stir. The Black Mantis Sect made the first move. Sending someone at the fifth stage forward. He was about sixteen years old with an extremely muscular build. What really made him stand out was that his Practitioner weapons were two gauntlets. It was a segregated type of Practitioner weapon: a weapon with two separate forms. It was rare to see a Practitioner weapon to be dual-swords, but this was two gauntlets. Naturally, both the fist and palm techniques of the Practitioner would be powerful.

"HAHAHA! We will send our weakest up first. A disciples learning the Black Mantis Fist technique of our sect. Come and test his might!" the leader laughed.

"Send him forward," the thirty two-year old master said. He was a Spirit Knight of the third stage and responsible for overseeing and regulating the inner sect. His word was law and the inner sect masters of the ninth stage of Spirit Shaman cultivation dare not refuse.

"Why him?" Yao thought as a twenty year old at the peak of the fifth stage stepped forward. This young man was Ryan Mein, an orphan who had the same lineage as the nobles who migrated and formed the majority in the Jakkom Kingdom. The boy had a Practitioner weapon the form of a double-bladed spear, spear heads on both ends of the shaft. Sure, the spear served well in medium-range, but Ryan is sure to lose once the outsider stepped within range.

"My name is Ryan Mein, fifth stage Spirit Shaman of The Great Lion Turtle Sect," Ryan bowed.

"If you defeat me, you'll learn my name," the outsider mocked.

"Insolence," the overseer cursed. "Let the match begin!"

To Yao's surprise, the outsider did not make the first move. Everyone was also surprised. It was quite obvious the outsider had to get in range as fast as he could before Ryan took advantage of his superior range. Ryan spat at the ground and leapt forward, using his momentum to empower his thrust at the outsider's throat. The outsider narrowed his eyes and also rushed forward, crippling the power of Ryan's thrust as he could not fully extend his arm.

Ryan spun his spear, the bottom spear head slashing upward. It seemed as if the outsider would run into the spear head, but he actually grabbed the spear head by tilting his body forward and grabbing the bottom of the spear head while doing a dive. Grabbing the spear head tightly, the outsider slammed his feet down at Ryan's head, using gravity and momentum to augment the strike. Ryan shouted in pain, letting go of his spear to hold his head.

"Fool," Yao thought, his eyes narrowing as the outsider spun the spear and killed Ryan with his own weapon.

"Like I said: you're not worthy to hear my name unless you beat me," the outsider laughed.

"What is the meaning of this? This is just a friendly match!" the overseer roared.

"I think you're misunderstanding something. This is a duel. People win and the losers die," the leader of the outsiders laughed.

"This trash!" an inner sect disciple roared.

"Get out!" another yelled.

Many disciples cursed until the overseer said, "Bring out your next disciple."

"We tested our fists. Now we test our swords," the leader laughed and a young man with two scimitars stepped forward.

"There's no need for me to wield my Practitioner weapon. These mortal trinkets will suffice. Bring someone of the sixth stage. I don't want you to blame my cultivation if you bring anyone weaker," the new representative laughed as the other one smirked and laughed as he rejoined the members of Black Mantis Sect.

"Let Yao Wu handle this scum," the overseer spat, all eyes turning to Yao.