Shou Xin looked at him disdainfully and didn't reply.
'Attacking from behind, a man without honor doesn't deserve to know.'
The other swordsmen of the Tai Sword School attacked one by one, properly saying their names this time, and each of them lost, their techniques each similar but made different due to their individual laws.
From the moment Tai Li attacked and the rest of the Tai swordsmen were defeated, only a short time had passed.
Shou Xin silently returned back to his positon.
Many stared at him in shock.
His eyes were black, his pupils white with an extremely dark blueish hue hidden away unless the sun shined into them directly as it did now.
His eyebrows were normal and his features average, maybe even a bit below?
His hair was neither short nor long and carried the same deep sea hue as his eyes did despite being completely black otherwise.
His attire was neat, a long robe with some decorations but no special insignias or makings.
He looked exceedingly normal save for the odd little detail.
Many could not believe it.
"...I've seen many promising young geniuses but… this is not one. He is talentless." The woman above spoke coldly, "What is this thing?"
"Hahaha! Great, great!" An elder in another box clapped his hands, "Come back, disciples!"
That Tai Sword School retreated back into the stands and were promptly brought up to the box where an elder slowly began to descend.
"Your name?" The Elder asked.
"Shou Xin." He replied casually as he recovered some energy.
"I am Elder Tai Yu of the Tai School of Blades. Will you join the Tai Sword School?" Elder Tai Yu smiled beneignly.
Shou Xin paused for a moment and focused on him, his gaze not like those geniuses who were incomparably deep, instead it seemed incredibly simple only rivalled by his disposition.
"Are you afraid of Feng or Yan?"
What he said sparked the crowd.
Who did not know of the Feng Clan which controlled several Provinces through their overwhelming numbers and force, the resources within could easily create a Law Refinement Expert.
The Yan Clan too was famous, though not for their military strength but rather for their experts in business being able to control thousands of businesses throughout several provinces as well as their patriarch who is said to be an Unchained Expert.
The uniting of those two clans would create a powerhouse the likes of which would shake the Southern Direction.
All eyes turned to the elder from the Tai Sword School.
Elder Tai Yu simply smiled, "Who is not?"
It was not a disgrace to admit to fear when the odds were so heavily stacked.
"Do you seek to join one of them? You should know, my disciples are young and their foundations not too steady, but those from the Feng and Yan are different. They feed their children only the finest and purest pills creating very robust foundations and strong bodies." Elder Tai Yu said gently, "It is best not to aim at the sun, lest you be burned."
Shou Xin shook his head.
"I will not burn."
The crowd which held their breath roared!
Such arrogance, or was it confidence?
They wished to truly know!
The arena was set on fire!
Elder Tai Yu shook his head slightly, "To be young... "
He did not offer again, as it would lose face.
Shou Xin looked out to the arena.
His battles had just begun.
Once Elder Tai Yu had left, the challengers swarmed once again, many being nameless warriors without a clan.
"For the disrespect to the Tai School, I will defeat you." Many came with such aspirations, but those wanderers without a master or who had been exiled from their sects or clans could not hold a candle to Shou Xin.
It was not because they lacked talent, since they had far more than him despite not being geniuses.
It was not resources as Shou Xin had not been given any precious materials or pills.
The secret to his immense strength lay in his foundation.
"One's soul, their talent, is like a faucet from which Qi flows, a small soul cannot make use of much Qi at once." Vienna had once said, "So you must make it dense."
Shou Xin could only perhaps gather a strike once with a long period between to charge a second attack, this window being fatal if discovered.
However, unlike those other's who had created lofty foundations and had their soul free within the Inner Sea, Shou Xin hid his soul in his foundation for fear of it shattering and so when the Sanguine Sword Qi began to gather into a strike it was forcefully compressed by the foundation since it could not break it, it was forced to adapt thus creating an extremely dense strike.
The downside was that he could also not escape the foundation now, his soul stuck within that space in the center meaning that the stronger his foundation became, the longer it would take between his techniques.
However, among others of his near realm, whilst his foundation was still not tremendous, he could easily overpower them since while their power was spread out, his was extremely concentrated.
The day came to an end shortly.
There were no Second Chain Experts who had stepped forward this day.
Shou Xin looked around, feeling that his understanding of his own power, and the methods to use it had increased by leaps and bounds as he had ended up fighting through the day.
His Primeval Body Art getting ever closer to the first stage.
As soon as he had left the arena, Vienna appeared beside him.
"Trashcan."
"Master."
"Do you know your crimes?"
"...I'm not sorry."
"At least you're redeemable trash who doesn't lie to their master."
"Haha, so no punishment?"
"Haha, wrong."
Shou Xin felt as though, with his own two feet he was walking towards hell.
----
A youth stood alone beneath a waterfall, his body drenched and his teeth chattering.
His hair style came undone and he was stripped of any form of accessories.
As the raging waters crashed into his body, he lifted a blade which shone with an intense, visceral glow that drew one in.
Slowly, almost imperceivably so, the sword fell.
For hours the sword moved inch by bloody inch until the slash had been complete and the sword had been returned to it's sheath.
The youth let out a grand sigh and threw himself forward collapsing into the pond where the waterfall flowed into, floating and occasionally letting out groans of pain.
A young man with bright eyes watched with a smile.
"Doing something slowly, is far harder than doing it fast but will also make it so that every mistake is found, broken and fixed." The young man drank from a gourd some of some sort of fine wine, it escaping his lips as he did so.
"I-," The youth who floated in the water wanted to retort but upon sensing the changes in himself couldn't utter a word.
His techniques had risen considerably in their sharpness, precision and strength, though not because of a growth in overall power through his Inner Sea or body, but because of the removal of unnecessary movements turning a rough stream into a smooth river.
"It's time." The young man glanced at the sun.
The youth dragged himself from the water, regaining his physical strength quickly though his joints still aches and his muscles still screamed, the sensation of recover at visible speeds was something he could not get used to.
As they walked, the youth's pants had dried alongside his shoes, though during his training the rest of his clothing had all but been destroyed making it better to simply remove it all together.
In the end he kept a headband to keep the sweat, blood or anything else that may try to drip into his eyes from doing so.
His hair was worn in short short tail.
Wearing his sword on his back, as it had become easier to remove during combat, the youth soon arrived within a town, the guards not caring about him at all and simply letting him in.
The streets were made up of stone blocks and the houses, shops and business all followed a wooden front, stone interior design for aesthetic but also strength.
The stores fronts had their signs up and people calling out to the passerby's, but most ignored them instead heading to the Arena, where a spectacle was said to be set for this day.
Countless people gathered and even more people were outside trying to peek inside.
The youth and young man both passed through without meeting resistance, only strange gazes.
Soon enough, the young man in his luxurious robes alongside his gourd which seemed to never empty split away from the youth without a word, taking the ring on his finger with him.
The youth glanced at the retreating figure and felt the urge to sigh, but restrained it instead looking forward to where a large barred gate was.
It was a familiar sight to the youth, he'd been here before many times over the last month's time.
Each time he came, many challengers would come and the crowds grew as they wished to watch him, who had not lost a single match.