Hi readers, for many of you thinking that this isn't a normal cultivation novel, well it isn't! I just personalized it the way I envision a World of Cultivation. This is why you won't see too many of the things you see in other Cultivation novels. Even the way people train will be different, but I will try to keep a few similarities at least. So please don't compare this to stories like Dual Cultivation etc. This is very different...
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"I'm back!" Ryu shrieked slamming the door open with an exhausted expression.
He kneeled to the ground because of exhaustion and tried to catch his breath, "these guards, always tryna make me late, you won't believe what~"
Ryu felt a menacing and explosive amount of qi in front of him. He knew who it was, but he didn't dare lift his head in fear of her punching him right in the face.
"So, tell me what happened..." She said with cold eyes.
"W-W-Well I-I was walking a-and my~"
Before he could finish his sentence, Hina strangled him and gave him a cold and terrifying look.
"Do you realize that we are late for the Grand ceremony?"
"I-I'm sorry it's the last time I turn up late..."
Hina released his neck and her usual calm and humble face came back.
Hina had grown, and she was not the constant smiling young girl she was. She became a strong and serious woman mentally and physically. Ryu may prove to be irresponsible sometimes, however, in crucial situations, he could be a very mature person.
Ryu had grown as well, and he became a young man with an athletic body. He had short black spiky hair and brown eyes. He was not the most handsome man, but he was still good-looking physically.
"Ryu, get the movable shop stand," Hina said, "I'm going to get the tea"
Since Hina had taken part in the tea business during the Grand ceremony, sales were larger than the previous years. People came to admire her beauty as well as to drink their tea.
"You've grown even more beautiful than last year!" One of the customers said.
"Thank you Mr," Hina stayed smiling at the customer.
Meanwhile, Ryu left Hina alone to go gambling on pong once again.
"Who's next!?" Ryu exclaimed.
"This dude is unbeatable!" One of the spectators said.
"There is surely something that makes him this good..." Another stated.
'I can't believe these dumbasses can't see the magnets!'
A crowd had surrounded the game set, and everyone was spectating how Ryu was crushing each of his adversaries.
No one dared to challenge Ryu for fear of losing their money. Even if his cheating wouldn't work, Ryu was still very good at Pong and could easily beat Fu, and anyone he has faced so far even without cheating.
"I would like to verse you!"
In the crowd, was an old man with a white gown, an oval head, and a long style beard and mustache.
"This old man?"
"How is he going to win when everyone failed?"
"Get outta here old man this isn't a game of GO!"
The old man presented himself on one side of the game board while Ryu was on the other.
"Do you have money at least?" Ryu asked with assurance.
The old man brought up a small pouch of gold, "There are 200 gold coins in this sack,"
Ryu smiled at the old man with an expression that showed he was sure the game was already decided.
"Deal..."
Ryu had an amount of 200 gold coins, so they bet on everything.
"Youngsters first," The old man said trying to provoke Ryu.
"If you say so..."
'I won't need to cheat with this old man..." Ryu grinned and placed the ball in front of his disk and grabbed the top of the disk after removing the magnet from the ball. He flexed his arm to get momentum and with a swift strike hit the ball sideways with the disk.
The ball had momentum, and it was knocking one side of the board giving it more momentum. At a phenomenal speed, the ball entered the old man's goal without him being able to do anything to stop the ball.
"That was quite a powerful shot was it!" The old man smiled and clapped his hands.
"Are you taking this as a joke you old geezer, you gonna lose 200 gold coins!" One person in the crowd shouted.
This made people think of the old man as a fool. Even Ryu was confused about why the old man decided to bet 200 coins.
"Well then, I guess it's my turn to start with the ball," The old man said.
Just like Ryu, he placed the ball in front of his disk and flexed his muscles for more power on his strike.
'There's something off about this old man, I don't know why, but all my senses are telling me that I should have my guards up and not underestimate him,"
Indeed, Ryu's senses were correct, without wasting a second, the old man struck the ball with tremendous power. The hit was 10 times stronger than Ryu's hit, and the ball rushed into Ryu's net.
This happened so fast that Ryu didn't even have time to see the ball him. He was just glaring at the old man's disk with wide eyes and an open mouth.
"What the fuck just happened," Ryu mumbled.
He looked at the old man, and he looked back at Ryu with a smile on his face
"This bastard isn't a newbie," Ryu grinned, "Finally some competition!"
4 minutes went on, and both sides were not making any mistakes scoring every single one of their shots. The crowd was entertained and excited by such an appealing match. At one point, even the crowd started to bet on who would win.
Ten seconds before the end, it was an outstanding 13-13 draw, and the last ball was for Ryu
"Ten seconds left and the Ryu has the ball!"
"He hasn't missed a single time since the beginning of the match, the match is already decided!"
"That old man sure is a good player though!"
Ryu had the chance to close this match and win, obtaining 200 gold coins in addition.
'I mustn't underestimate the old man, he proved to be a really good opponent. He's the only one that managed to score more than 10 points against me, this is why I have to use qi...'
Ryu intended to use qi to increase the power of his strike.
He enveloped his hand in a red-colored qi and flexed his arm.
"Hmm... I see, you have a little control over your qi," The man murmured with a smile.
Ryu struck the ball as hard as he could straight toward the net without using any strategy.
"I don't need to think a lot here, all I need is to hit hard and it'll do the,"
To his surprise, when the ball reached close to the old man's disk, the man managed to detect the ball and deflect it with ease. This made the ball rush back toward Ryu who unlike the old man was not able to detect the ball thus, it rushed to Ryu's net without him being able to do anything.
Everyone was stunned and didn't say a word. The action went too quickly for anyone to realize.
After a few seconds of silence, the winner was announced.
"Look, the old man won!"