"Please give me some pointers senior Dong."
While the option to just deny the three young masters their fun was on the table, he decided to use this chance to test out this Long clan. Before he was blasted off to a different world he had sparred with the people of his own sect. He was somewhat curious if the people of his sect were on the level of the elites of this empire.
There was no better place to test this out than in the Long Clan. It was supposedly the strongest power in this empire. Depending on the results he would have a clear understanding of the power limit of regular cultivators.
The other empires would also be arriving, if he judged this by game standards he believed that the other empires would be a bit stronger than this one. Maybe not all but they needed enough strength to not make this fight too easy.
Of course, it couldn't be too hard either, as the person that created this world probably wouldn't want their player to just die at an advanced stage of the scenario. At least that was what he hoped, when he was dying the system apparently didn't offer him any life-saving measures. Instead, he was somehow able to live through it after it was hacked.
"I can give you some pointers, but are you sure about this? What if you get injured in the process?"
Zhang Dong replied to the man that was standing on the other side of this smaller battle arena. It was similar to the one back home and the ground was made of sturdy slabs made from high quality stone. It was a type of stone that could somewhat absorb Qi attacks which allowed it to last through a lot of damage.
The three young masters that were the Azure Emperor's children were trying to teach him a lesson. It was clear that they didn't think much of him. This could probably be attributed to his lower perceived cultivation level as he was still just at the core formation realm.
The opponent that was chosen to go against him was a somewhat young-looking man at the age of forty. Zhang Dong did have to give it to him though as he was already at the great circle level of core formation. It would be hard to find someone equal to this man in the lower or middle regions that was in the same age bracket.
The trio was high up in a VIP booth as their types liked to frequent. He knew that there was probably a better way to go around this issue. If he brought it up with the Azure Emperor he might even give his kids a good trashing in his name. That wouldn't fix the underlying problem of them thinking less of him, it would only fuel their pride and disdain.
"Don't worry 'senior', we from the Long clan are known for our vigor!"
Zhang Dong clearly caught the mocking tone of the voice when the man called him a senior. This was truly the main dysfunction of these young master types. They couldn't even fathom that he could be someone dangerous as they only looked at the surface level of who he was.
The only information given to them was that he was probably a core formation great circle cultivator from a small sect. They had the permission of the Emperor's children so they also felt confident of them not getting reprimanded even if they hurt him. They probably also wanted to get in the good graces of these three young lords.
"If that is your wish, please don't regret it later, you can come to me whenever you are ready."
Zhang Dong just gave out a sigh while beckoning the man over. He didn't hide his boredom and lack of interest which clearly made the man that he was up against somewhat mad. Before he charged out though he looked for confirmation to the three youngsters that were overlooking them. They just nodded without replying while probably hoping for a good show to unfold before them.
The man took a fighting stance with both fists closed. His body soon started glowing with blue flames that slowly encompassed his whole frame. It didn't seem that he was taking any damage from these flames but the stone slabs they were standing on were sizzling under his feet.
'Interesting, it's some kind of self-immolation skill, somewhat similar to what Huo Qiang uses but not as potent.'
The flames that were covering his opponent's body were giving out a certain unique radiance. It was clear to him that this was some kind of combined elemental dao. It combined divine energy with fire to produce this heavenly blue flame.
While it was interesting it was far below his own holy lightning energies that he could clad himself in. These flames would probably fare well against demonic cultivators. The evil energies would probably burn up before they reached the practitioner's body.
The man that he was going up against looked kind of smug the moment he activated this ability. This was followed by cheers from all the people around them.
"Senior brother is so good at controlling the Heavenly Azure flames, his bloodline must be very pure!"
Without asking for it he now realized that these blue flames were something akin to a linage ability. Things like this existed in this world as well, strange powers that could only be activated through the clan's origins.
If there was any particularly strong ancestor with some heaven-defying skill he could pass it over to his family members. This skill would always be a bit weaker than what the original ancestor's but it was something that was easily reproduced.
It was somewhat a free skill that each member of the family could easily use just by being related to the ancestor. The lineage varied by descendants and could be awakened by people that had little to no blood that was of the ancestor. It was somewhat random and also caused some stress in the clans as people that didn't possess a strong bloodline ability were looked down on.
This point made him a bit curious, if he really was a member of this Long clan, shouldn't he be able to utilize all of these linage techniques that the Azure Emperor had to offer. They would probably be all high tier manuals with the knowledge that could give him a chance to learn some new skills.
His opponent performed a somewhat flashy movement technique that made it look like his body turned to flames. It then reformed behind him while some of the flames kept rushing at him. The flames took the shape of a raging bull which reminded him of his hot-headed friend.
"I have you!"
The victory was assured as his opponent's punch descended to the back of his head. The three young masters leaned in close as they wanted to enjoy watching Zhang Dong's head get clobbered. But to their dismay, instead of connecting with the head of their uncle it passed right through it.
"What?"
The people that were watching from the outside were mostly unable to witness Zhang Dong's fast movement. He just simply countered one movement technique with another that left an afterimage of himself behind. The moment the fist clad with blue flames connected with this afterimage it discharged a burst of electrical energy that went right through the defenses of this cultivator.
"GUAHAAHHA"
The man stopped in his tracks while lighting up like a Christmas tree. A jolt of bright golden light shot out of his eye sockets before a small explosion rocked the small arena. Almost instantly the man dropped down to the ground while his long locks turned to quite the large afro.
"Oh, was that a bit too much? You must excuse me, I did lower my cultivation level to fit yours but maybe I miscalculated on juniors actual strength, it seemed to be below my expectations."
Zhang Dong chuckled while looking at his opponent that was turned to a smoking mess. The white robe that he was wearing turned black as the attack clearly penetrated through all of the defenses that he could muster.
"The Senior lost this easily…"
The people from the audience were shocked while the three young masters that were looking for afar were angry.
"This Zhang Dong isn't that simple…"
Long Shen muttered to his brother and sister that nodded. All of them were prominent cultivators of great strength and already at the nascent soul level. It was only the early stage but at the age they were it made him into the strongest at their age bracket if they ignored Zhang Dong that was actually younger.
"That rascal, he was hiding his cultivation level."
Said Long Yanyu while the other two nodded. They were not sure how strong Zhang Dong was now, but what he did was something above what a core formation cultivator should be able to do. It was at about the level of a half step nascent soul master.
"Is he hiding more? Maybe that's why father…"
Long Fengge started talking while contemplating another plan. If the man turned out to be a formidable master then he would make them look like fools.
"No, he is just a country bumpkin from the lower regions, his sect isn't even that known, we need to continue!"
The oldest interrupted as the discussion continued. Zhang Dong at this point in time was looking at the charred man before him. He could have just ignored him and let the Long Clan members tend to him but instead, he went with another approach. The stick was already given so why not give them the carrot now?
He leaned down to the passed-out person and gently poked his forehead with his index finger. The man's body gave out a radiant like which drew in the eyes of the people around here. All of them were somewhat inclined towards divine energies due to their bloodline skills thus they knew that this golden light was something similar.
"What is this divine radiance?"
They asked as the darkened body of the core formation junior was restored. The man instantly woke up and jumped up to his feet. He started to examine his body that was still filled up with this wonderful energy.
"M-my bottleneck... I can't feel it anymore... I... I must go cultivate!"
The young man quickly bowed his head before Zhang Dong and jumped to the side. There he went into the lotus position to quickly cultivate. This caused widespread curiosity from everyone around, they could feel that their brother had gained something as the radiance continued to enter his body and his cultivation level seemed to be expanding rapidly.
"..."
"I will be senior Long Dong's next opponent!"
"Wait... I should be the next one, please give me some pointers senior!"
"Get away, I'm going to be the first one!"
"Screw off, it's going to be me!"
Soon the people started to fight between themselves, Zhang Dong just smirked slightly as his plan had borne fruit even better than he had expected.