In the crowded street of Jianye city, capital of the Sun Wu Kingdom, two youthful men faced off against each other.
One wore a Daoist robe which was white on the right side and black on the left side. The other wore a yellow Confucian robe that was covered in writing. Their killing intent created a small world that separated them from the rest of the crowd.
A tall pedestrian was hurriedly rushing towards an important business event. He didn't realise there was a face off happening and ran within the killing intent circle.
"Gasp!" said the tall pedestrian as he died without even realising what had killed in.
A short pedestrian was in a similar hurry. He needed to deliver a letter to his brother and didn't notice the two men glaring at each other.
"My spleen!" squealed the short pedestrian as he immediately died on entering the death zone.
A skinny pedestrian was on his way to his wedding. Needless to say, walking too closely to the two youthful men, led to his death.
"I died a virgin," lamented the skinny pedestrian. "Damn my strict moral upbringing which told me to wait till I married!"
A fat pedestrian who had decided to start exercising on this day in order to live a healthier life and be with his children, jogged into the killing intent field.
"How ironic," the fat pedestrian lamented/ "My attempt at becoming healthy has ended in my death."
The two men didn't take notice of the pile of pedestrian bodies which was growing around them. They were genius cultivators and the corpses were merely nameless characters. Killing them was like stepping on ants.
"I am Shi Lin, inner disciple of the Supreme Polarity Eight Trigrams Sect," said the Daoist youth. "I have come here to randomly pick a fight in order to show off how powerful I am."
"What a coincidence," replied the Confusion youth. "I Fan Zemin, inner disciple of the Ethical Legalist Scholar Sect am also seeking random fights."
"Then we should fight," declared the Daoist youth. "How about we agree to the no hair pulling rule?"
"I agree," agreed the Confucian youth.
Like most young cultivators, both men had long silky hair. It was their pride and joy. So hairpulling was a no.
Shi Lin pulled out a dozen array flags and set up a protective barrier that would also boost his power levels. Mystical arrays were the specialty of Daoist sects. Much like landscape gardeners and interior home decorators, they excelled at subtly manipulating the natural world to their favour.
Meanwhile Fan Zemin took out a scroll and hastily wrote down a powerful attack spell. Magical spells were the specialty of Confucian sects. They excelled at uncovering the hidden meaning behind the written word, in the same way as lawyers and journalists did.
Both youthful men were at the Core Peaking stage. A mere one eighth step away from the Aura Realm. That was even closer than a half step or a quarter step. Which is why their killing intent was so powerful against unnamed bystanders.
However, since they were still in Core Realm, their innate techniques were limited to the physical. If they wanted to use super flashy attacks, then they needed to use other skills. Such as Mystical arrays and Magical spells.
"I'm ready!" declared Shi Lin.
"Me too!" replied Fan Zemin.
They unleashed their techniques. Because both were only minor characters whom this author couldn't be bothered tracking, their attacks went by generic names.
Zap!
"That's the Generic Lightning Spell," said a tall skinny spectator as the Confucian Fan Zemin unleashed an arc of lightning from his scroll.
Sparkle! Sparkle!
The electrical arc hit an unseen barrier. Some of the energy reached Daoist Shi Lin but most was harmlessly grounded into the surrounding soil.
"That's the Generic Elemental Defence Array," stated a short fat spectator in awe of the defensive array.
Shi Lin immediately counter attacked. He was a genius disciple. Thus, he had used the preparation time to construct two arrays instead of one.
The hidden array was Generic Earth Stabbing Array. It sent energy into the ground and summoned forth spikes from the Earth. Due to Shi Lin's low level, he was unable to fully control it. Spikes appeared everywhere and not just where his opponent was standing.
More bystanders were killed. This time by spikes coming out of the ground.
"My poor ruptured anus!" lamented a tall and skinny spectator as a spike thrust into his rectum. "Why do we spectators always stand around watching these fights!"
"It's so we can call out the names of the techniques the fighters are using," explained a short fat spectator, as a spike pierced through his testicles.
Fan Zemin was surprised at the sudden attack. However, he too was a genius disciple and was prepared. He jumped into the air, to dodge the rectum tearing and testicle impaling spikes. Then landed gracefully on the ground.
"It seems this match is a tie," said a young man who had joined the newly formed crowd of spectators.
"Yes," agree an old man spectator. "Shi Lin took some minor damage. But Fan Zemin was forced to retreat slightly."
The spectators all agreed and praised the young masters for their draw. All spectators but one.
"Whoever made me spill my Resplendent Hair Tea, with their stupid earth spikes, needs to buy me a new one," a small but proud voice announced.
"Who dares makes demand of this young master?" asked Daoist Shi Lin.
"I do," announced fetus Robert as he stepped forth.
"You're courting death!" Shi Lin screamed and created another Generic Earth Stabbing Array. More spectators were killed.
"Why do we never learn?" bemoaned the young spectator as his rectum was torn apart.
"Because we're un-named characters," explained the old spectator as his testicles were impaled.
Fetus Robert merely stood his ground. He stomped down and shattered the earth spike as it rose beneath him.
"Such strength!" observed a smart spectator who was using a pair of binoculars and watching from a safe distance.
This spectator's name was Sun Jun. In the future he would become a pillar of the Sun Wu Kingdom. Whether or not he would reappear in this story, is unknown.
"You blocked my Generic Earth Stabbing Array," stammered Shi Lin. "But can you survive my Generic Earth King Punch!"
With that, the Daoist cultivator launched a powerful punch at fetus Robert.
"Yawn," fetus Robert mocked his opponent by feigning boredom. "More like Generic Earth Princess Punch."
He easily deflected the other man's blow and then ripped out the attacker's heart. Although both were in the Core Peaking stage, fetus Robert had been born in the Celestial Divine Immortal Heaven World and had utilised an ultimate cultivation technique since conception. Thus, even a genius like Shi Lin was trash in his eyes.
"Apologies elder," apologised Fan Zemin.
He had noticed that fetus Robert was trailing an umbilical cord. Thus, he mistook fetus Robert as the projection of a Nascent Soul cultivator. This second highest Mortal realm, often projected their infant like nascent souls to wander the world, while they engaged in more important tasks. Like meditating and washing their long hair.
The fact that fetus Robert's umbilical cord had a physical existence, meant that he had probably just broken though into the Nascent Soul realm. But still, Fan Zemin was smart enough not to offend.
"Elder, may I know which sect you beling to?" asked Fan Zenim.
"I'm a rogue cultivator," declared fetus Robert.
"Please let me buy you some more Resplendent Hair Tea," offered Fan Zemin, who decided to suck up to this rogue cultivator. Maybe he could even recruit fetus Robert into his sect and earn lots of contribution points.
"That's fine," replied fetus Robert. "It wasn't your spike which poked me in the butt. I'll just take this dead trash's storage ring and use the money to buy my own tea."
"As you wish elder," Fan Zemin bowed.
A rogue cultivator who dared to refer to a genius inner disciple of Supreme Polarity Eight Trigrams Sect, as a piece of trash, probably had powerful backing. Fan Zemin didn't want to push his luck with such an eccentric cultivator. It was instead better to report his findings to his sect.
Fetus Robert picked up the dead cultivator's storage ring and headed home.
_________________________
At the outskirts of Jianye city, was a large manor, owned by a wealthy merchant. From the manor could be heard the sounds of celebration. A group of cultivators were celebrating the fortieth birthday of Shi Ning, a legacy disciple of the Supreme Polarity Eight Trigrams Sect
"Master Shi Ning is only forty years old, yet is already at the Aura Peak stage," said a tall celebrator.
"Master Shi Ning is truly fierce, having already killed tens of rival cultivators," declared a short celebrator.
"It's said the master Shi Ning is the strongest Aura Peak cultivator in Sun Wu kingdom," stated a skinny celebrator.
"More importantly, Master Shi Ning once fought a Nascent Soul elder to a draw," recounted a fat celebrator.
This and other praise, was said one after the other. This was to clarify how powerful Shi Ning was.
"My son Shi Lin has been killed!" Shi Ning suddenly declared. "I must get revenge!"