"F*ck!"
*Smash*
Inside the main headquarters of the sect, a vase was launched at high speeds past the head of a frightened messenger where it would smash against the wall.
"Are you serious!?"
The voice repeated. The voice was feminine and under different circumstances, might have been pleasant, but now it was pulsing with rage.
The messenger cowered beneath the tone. Under different circumstances he might have been happy to be here. The Sect Master who seethed before him was legendary for her beauty and power and all the people that surrounded her were all renowned for their power as well. As this meeting was limited to the Sect Master, her closest confidants, the Supreme Elders and honorary representatives, it goes without saying that all held considerable power in the world of the First Heaven, especially since this sect was in the top ten.
However, the messenger had no time to acknowledge beauty or power. Why? Because he was currently on the verge of pissing himself from fear. The Sect Master was not holding back her aura as she was seriously pissed. The messenger prostrated himself and nodded his head voraciously.
"Y-Yes, Sect Master. This is the message I have been given."
The messenger glanced at the scroll that now lay unraveled on the table in front of the Sect Master. It had not been too long ago when he had been ordered by one of his superiors to deliver this scroll to the sect master of the Heavenly sect. The messenger was part of a rather unknown information guild located in a small city near the Illusory sect. Normally for delivering messages between sect masters one would use Express, a well known and widely used information guild that operated across the heavens and was known for it's secrecy and efficiency. However, the scroll possessed the seal of the Illusory academy which could not be replicated so he did as he was told.
*Huff*
The Sect Master turned around and sat back down with her hand on her head. She retracted her aura, calmed down, and waved the messenger away.
"Leave, boy. What happens next is not for your ears."
The messenger quickly rose from his prostrated position, bowed and scurried away.
The Sect Master rubbed her face with her hands and looked around.
"So... what do we do?"
"..."
The occupants turned to one another with questioning looks, hoping that one of their compatriots would have the answer, but one by one they remained silent and turned their eyes to the ground.
The Sect Master sighed.
"So... I take it we have no choice, but to accept this time around?"
"..."
Again, there was silence.
"Arghhhh! Those bastards. Is their petty jealousy really the reason that we have to be challenged every single time?!"
The Sect Master picked up the scroll on the table and scowled. She threw it back down where the contents spilled on the table for all eyes to see. The contents of the scroll was a challenge issued from the Illusory sect to the Heavenly sect in a battle between their top disciples. Normally, sects would wait for competitions to compete, but the Illusory sect had a particular problem and rivalry with the Heavenly sect. The dispute being that the Illusory sect wanted to have their name be Heavenly Illusion rather than Illusory and the Heavenly sect stole the word Heavenly. (It is considered bad manners to have similar sect names). Thus, an enmity was developed between the two dating back to their respective creations.
"If it was some years ago, I would have accepted in a heartbeat, but now is not the time. Do we really have to accept this humiliation for the sake of our pride?"
"But Sect Master Xia, we have already declined twice in recent years, declining a third time would be acknowledging our weakness and an even greater humiliation."
One of the Supreme Elders to her right spoke up
Xia sighed. Challenges were allowed to be issued between sects once a year and it was perfectly fine to decline the first and second time, but declining a third was acknowledging weakness. The first challenge was basically a precursor saying get your sh*t together and the time between the next two challenges was time to prepare and get stronger. If you couldn't do that in those two years then you might as well be viewed as incompetent and bow out of the top ten.
"But we can't do it." Xia sighed again, "the only reason we are still in the top ten is because it has been a number of years since the last Heaven's Tournament and even that is coming up pretty soon."
The Heavenly Sect was in a dry spell. Most of their talents were not available at the moment. At best they would have barely enough core disciples to face off against them and even then they won't be enough to face their talents. They would win a few rounds, and perhaps give a good fight if their disciples worked their a*ses off, but, unfortunately, most of the core disciples were being very lazy as of late. They felt they had already made it and could stop putting in as much work as they did to get to this point.
'Fools' Xia thought
Cultivation never ended. It was part of the curse of being a cultivator. They were only in the First Heaven, the amount of monsters that were known to the world were few and far between. The real monsters hid in the shadows and preyed on people like them so that they would not surpass them or use cultivation resources that could otherwise be useful.
"We have no choice. F*ck. The fact that they deigned to use an unknown messaging system and not Express shows their lack of respect for us. Everyone call your disciples we will decide the line up and the date of competition at a later time. This is a good wake up call at least. Send back our approval."
At these words, everyone in the room sighed. This concluded the meeting and the dreary eyes of the elders were enough to show just how little hope they had in convincing the core disciples to give it their all. They had the talent and skill already to win, but they wouldn't care until after they were beaten and they realized that they were humiliated. Everyone moved to leave except for one person who just stared thoughtfully.
In the corner of the room, a sect elder stood. Her name was sect elder Kay. She wasn't particularly powerful and was simply an honorary representative of the outer court. She was responsible for reporting any talents that would show up in the outer court test, which was actually fast approaching and would, in all likelihood, occur before this competition reared it's head. However, this held no relevance to the current conversation and she had no place in this conversation. But she appreciated being informed nonetheless.
She thought back to a certain disciple who always had his eyes closed. He had been in the outer court for about a year and never really did much. He often disappeared and very few knew of his presence anymore. The only reason she knew of him was a certain incident that occurred about a week in to his stay in the outer court. She had secretly come across a perfect place to cultivate a week before around the time of the outer court test. A little grassy valley and pond, picturesque and filled with energy. However, it was located a distance into the depths and was often surrounded and occupied by more powerful spirit beasts than her so she gave up on it. She deemed it not worth risking her life.
A week passed and she returned, hoping there was a chance that the spirit beasts had vacated the area, but to no avail. However, lo and behold, she found that disciple seemingly dozing in the grass of that valley. She would go on to return their numerous times only to be frightened by the spirit beasts, but she would still see him there, just minding his own business. For the following months she would keep an eye on him to see if he was dead yet, but nothing ever happened. In fact, he rarely returned to the sect. She didn't know why she thought of him at that moment as he was only in the outer court, but somehow she felt he would be useful. Then she shook her head.
'If he was strong, why would he still be in the outer court? Besides, all you've ever seen him do is sleep. Not cultivate'
Kay only hesitated for a second before leaving the room with the rest.