The sun shined high in the sky, as the youngsters fought with each other for a place in the Imperial Academy. The first match was already awesome to watch, as everyone tried to imagine how it could have ended. The people who were too close to the arena were blown away by the shock wave generated by the clash of Arslan's Wave of Darkness and Walter's Supernova. The others observed the situation with bated breath.
Both Arslan and Walter were full of wounds and scratches as they were the closest to the explosion.
'Damn, it was even stronger than I thought. I got lucky because he still didn't master that move,' Arslan was on his knees at that moment, 'I don't have much QI left, and being only at the Human level is becoming a problem in this battle. I must end it with the next move.'
"How... HOW CAN YOU BE SO STRONG???" Walter said as he lost his reason. For a prodigy like him, it was unacceptable to be on pair with a Human level cultivator. He had always been praised by everyone and never faced someone more talented than him, thus, he couldn't believe that he was inferior to someone defined as trash by everyone,
"I can't believe it... I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! AAAAAHHH!" He gathered all of his power left and jumped in Arslan's direction, "HEAT BOMB!" Once again, a huge quantity of heat gathered around his right punch, but this time it was different. The hot air was compressed and ready to explode at any moment.
'Holy sh*t, he still has so much QI left?! I must use that technique!' Arslan prepared to receive Walter's attack.
"What is Arslan doing? Shouldn't he try to avoid Walter's attack?" Someone wondered.
"It seems that, instead, he is preparing to attack too." Another one said as the crowd didn't know anymore what to think.
"Ten Punches of Destruction..." Arslan gathered his remaining QI in his left hand and clenched his fist, "First Punch!"
Arslan hit Walter directly on his right fist, as once again their moves clashed. The shock wave generated was of unbelievable strength, as this time everyone around the Arena went flying for meters,
"AAAHH, what kind of match is this???" Someone said as they were blown away.
"Is this the strength of a Human level??"
"In front of these two, I am nothing!" The people continued talking as they tried to stand up.
After a moment of silence,
"AAAAARRGGGGHHHH, MY ARMMMM, MY ARMMM, MY GOD IT HURTS, PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!!!"
"Who is screaming like that? Is it Arslan?" A disciple said.
"No! Look at Walter!" Another one said.
"Oh God, his right arm is completely shattered." The disciples saw Walter crawling on the ground as he writhed from the pain felt on his right arm.
Arslan took a huge hit too, as he was sitting breathless on the ground, at a few meters from Walter,
'Sh*t, my left arm hurts a lot. I'm lucky it is not broken. The difference between a Human level and an Earth level truly is big. I need to become stronger.' Arslan thought as he watched Walter.
"Walter is clearly unable to continue the fight, thus I declare Arslan the winner of this examination. He shall be allowed to continue to cultivate in the Academy as an outer disciple. As for Walter, he will be rejected after having his wounds healed and he will be able to retry on the next entrance exam three months later." Elder Song said, 'I don't know if Walter's arm can come back as it was before... From what I can see from here, its bones are shattered into a thousand pieces. From what I know, Elder Oak never gave Arslan strong techniques... Then where did he learn those?' He wondered as he looked at Arslan's scratched face.
'This guy... I must destroy him... before he gets too powerful.' Troy thought as he stared threateningly at Arslan, with gritted teeth. Arslan looked back at him with a fierce glare, as this was only the beginning of their conflicts.
After the fierce battle, no one dared to say anything, they just watched Arslan getting down of the arena. He left without saying a word, heading to his room, to get ready for evening cultivation.
'This is just the beginning. Today I challenged Troy, so, he will probably retaliate in the next days, sending his friends to beat me down. Unfortunately, I'm still not strong enough to face a Late-stage Earth level such as Troy. I must improve faster!' Arslan thought.
He spent the rest of the post dusk time cultivating,
"...Arslan, remember well what I'm going to say. The Power of Darkness is the strongest collection of techniques of the whole Celestial Empire and it contains the most effective cultivation technique. It was invented by your great grandfather and no one was ever able to use it at its maximum power, neither me. You must be confident and never lose your objective. This will be my biggest gift for you. I hope you will be able to use it in its finest form, in order to face what is about to come. Protect your sister and the power inside her. I love you, my child." As Argo finished talking, he connected his forehead with Arslan's forehead. Suddenly, all the lights in the room went out and a whirlwind of darkness formed around Arslan's body. "Now, this power is yours and I'm sure that you will reach heights I just could only dream of... but remember... every rose has its thorns." At that moment, all the knowledge about the Power of Darkness was passed down to Arslan.
"Father, why are you saying all these things now?" Arslan asked worried about what Argo was saying.
"You will understand it tomorrow, Arslan. Now you can go to sleep. Your mother and I will always love you..." This was the last thing Arslan remembered from the day before the great massacre.
He could never forget his father's words...
"Darkness is the power of the sky, the sky represents the universe, the universe contains everything. Thus, it contains the biggest power... and that power... I OWN IT ALL!" As Arslan finished the sentence, an enormous amount of raw Qi gathered inside him. Saying that it was like a river would be reductive. It was as if a whole sea of Qi was flowing inside his body. This cultivation method allowed Qi gathering only at night. Only complete darkness could give the biggest power.
He continued like this for 4 hours, then he ate something and prepared to go to sleep.
"What a long day this was..." He said as he laid on the bed while thinking about all the events that happened on that day,
'Sis Elma will be quite happy to know that I passed the examination. I can't wait to see her expression when I will tell her on the upcoming weekend,' He continued thinking happily as he imagined his sister's proud face, 'But more importantly, today was the last day of Qi gathering... after 10 years, tomorrow I will finally start the Qi refining. The book in my head says that, by the time my body fully grows, I should be able to completely refine all the Qi I accumulated inside my body in all these years, so in 4 years, we will see how many will look down on me!'
In the meantime, Troy was pretty shaken,
'How did he learn those techniques?! I've never seen him reading a strange techniques book in all these years. I'll have to look for it in his room when he will go out tomorrow morning. I will tell Robert and the others to keep him busy, in order to have the time to search in his dwelling thoroughly.'
A lot of people this night would have had a lot to think about... Walter, whose right arm would have never come back as it was before, 'I will make him pay for what he did to me today, mark my words Arslan, I will erase you from the face of this world!' He thought as his eyes were bloody in anger, Elder Song, who intended to find the truth behind Arslan's power, and the other outer disciples who witnessed a fight where a Human level could beat an Earth level, as none of them could believe what they saw that day. They all felt as if they were nothing in front of such strength and, surely, they were worried about Arslan's growth, seeing him more as an opponent to defeat, instead of a person to befriend.