The dragon disappeared right when it touched the earth qi barrier Silas had put up. In a flash of purple that nobody noticed, the lightning dragon returned to Maxwell. The qi shield shattered instantly from the touch.
Silas stood there, shaking in fear. He was unable to move despite his desire to flee. The dragon had only disappeared 3 centimeters in front of his eyes. He fell to his knees.
"Please, don't kill me. I beg you." His voice shook with fear after nearly getting killed by the dragon.
"I surrender, I surrender." He cried.
The audience was shaken. What did he see in the moments before it disappeared? The attack wasn't scary and the aura it has wasn't anything great.
"Maxwell Windsor wins against Silas. He is now a Core Disciple."
Cheers erupted through the audience. Their sect now had an unprecedented genius who could humiliate an opponent 8 stages stronger in the next Realm. The few that bet on Maxwell won a lot and everyone else who bet against him lost tremendously.
Hamilton was enraged at the failure of Silas.
"Such trash, he got humiliated by him. I'll be sure to increase his punishment."
"Disciplinary hall members, take Silas away for punishment. He used an artifact to perform a sneak attack." The announcer commanded and 3 disciples with a badge pinned on their uniform escorted him away.
The announcer then approached Maxwell.
"Congratulations on becoming a Core Disciple. You have set a new record for the stage of the winner. You will be summoned soon to meet every Core Elder not in seclusion. You get to choose from the elders who want you as their disciple."
Maxwell received adoration from many people, and they all congratulated him for his victory. They were amazed at Maxwell's behavior. Normally a genius like him would be filled with arrogance and pride and they wouldn't interact with regular disciples like them. Maxwell was invited by many people to celebrate the occasion, but he politely declined to not give anyone preferential treatment.
Shortly after the crowd cleared, he was summoned to choose a master. There were 6 elders, the Supreme Elder and the Sect Leader all sitting in the room on lavish chairs. Maxwell recognized one of them as the elder who recruited him to the Roaring Dragon Sect.
"Greetings elders, I'm Maxwell Windsor."
Most of the elders looked to be middle aged but in reality they were a few hundred years old. Maxwell could feel their intense gazes with his head bent down.
"You can lift your head." The sect leader spoke.
"I won't take him as my disciple because of personal reasons, but you 7 are free to do so."
"Sect Leader, you're missing out on a talented disciple."
"I don't want to make my son hate me."
"Your loss sect leader."
"I will take him as my disciple if he agrees. I have lightning affinity so I can teach him how to use it properly." A familiar voice said as promised.
"No, I will take him as my disciple, he is much more talented at the spear. He has his own spear intent." The supreme elder cut him off.
"You have enough disciples, I haven't accepted any yet. He can flourish under my teachings."
"Do you even know how to teach?" The supreme elder retorted angrily.
"Stop fighting, do you have no shame? None of you are taking him as your disciples." The sect leader intervened, putting a stop to their squabble.
"Then who?"
"The ancestor."
"He's back!?" All the elders said at once.
"Yes, he told me to keep quiet about it."
"Then why did you assemble us here?"
"The ancestor spoke to me right now with his divine sense."
"Maxwell Windsor, you are now officially the disciple of the ancestor of the Roaring Dragon Sect."
"Thank you." Maxwell gave a short bow.
"There will be no ceremony since we can't reveal the return of our ancestor. It will be publicly announced that none of us are able to train you individually, so we are all training you together in our own fortes."
"Sect leader, isn't that humiliating to us?" one of the elders asked in dismay.
"Is it humiliating to get to brag that you trained such a talented genius? He will grow very fast."
"Well if you put it that way, we can't complain."
All the elders gave their assent, and it was announced officially the next day. This put a larger target on Maxwell and more forces were attempting to stop him before he grew at a monstrous rate and toppled their reign.
In the shadows, many assassins were arriving to the Roaring Dragon Sect, but most of them were exterminated by the guards of the sect and the people sent to guard Maxwell. Overexaggerated tales of Maxwell were already being spread. Tales that Maxwell could summon dragons and that he could make a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator kneel in one move as a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.
Stories reached his sister Lily, who was filled with emotions she couldn't comprehend or show. All she said on hearing the news was, "Excellent."
It also reached Orphelia who was delighted at the news.
"Finally, his name is spreading. I can't wait to see how well known he gets."
Many shrugged off these tall tales as rumors and just fiction, but his name was heard by almost everyone living in the continent, including some shady figures.
"Oh? A 14-year-old with such power? There must be some sort of truth behind these stories. Go my children, find out the truth."
A monstrous humanoid figured with 2 black horns with a red spiral around both, covered in ancient chains ordered his subordinates that lined the halls around him.
"Maybe I can free myself from these infuriating chains a few decades earlier with space qi."
***
Maxwell was currently suffering from all the rumors. He was given all sorts of terrible names like Dragon Piercer. He locked himself up to try to breakthrough to Stage 16 with the help of a seed of the Lightning Gourd.
Arion was still away from the sect, cultivating and he would probably return in another 3 months. He had moved to a grander residence, fit for a Core Disciple like him. It had 3 floors and a grand yard with well cared for Spiritual Herbs. He was also granted the choice of a caretaker whom he hadn't yet decided upon.
The lightning gourd seed was quickly getting refined and it grew smaller and smaller. The lightning dragon in Maxwell's dantian grew violent and soon Maxwell was unable to control it. It ravaged his body, destroying his muscles, tendons and bones. Maxwell couldn't move at all, and he nearly went blank with the roaring pain. Soon his body got numb from the excruciating pain. No blood flowed at all as his skin was perfectly intact. His body crumpled to the ground with nothing holding him up.
'Arghhhhh, I need to hold on, I can't stop now or I'll die. Hold on. Hold on.'
He repeated the words to himself in his head and held on with sheer will. Once the pain ceased, he lay there motionless with no control over his body. After 10 minutes, his body started healing, extremely painfully, but much stronger than before. His bones has a gold sheen and he felt his body grow out of control. He looked at himself in the mirror and realized his face had become much more handsome and chiseled. His hair had reached his shoulder length and he remained lean as he always was with an extra half foot added to his height. He was now 5 foot 10 inches tall. He was sure to reach 6 foot in height soon. He had also achieved an eight-pack abs and he couldn't control his strength anymore.
He stumbled every time he walked, and he overshot his steps. He trimmed his hair roughly with his spear intent. His uniform was okay for his height, but all the clothes Orphelia had bought him were short in length and unusable.
'What a pity, I couldn't wear them much. I need to get some new clothes then. Ugh, I don't know what to get.'
Maxwell also broke through to the 16th Stage and he didn't feel that he could use any new abilities. His spiritual sea had been upgraded further. After asking around, he realized he was in there for a month.
'That was quite long, I thought it had been a week at most.'
He went to meet with his master to show him his progress. His master's solution to his out-of-control body was sparring. After a lot of fumbling and getting struck everywhere, he managed to bring a normal sense of control. He still couldn't do anything requiring extreme accuracy.
Very few people recognized his new looks and they couldn't get around his drastic change. Since he was free, he went to surprise Jonathan. He brought some ingredients and herbs for Jonathan to make pills with.