The Xiao Sect was the primary sect in the Xiao Kingdom, and both Asura and Xie Ling were members of the Xiao Sect.
The Royal College opened its doors one day every month for the Xiao Kingdom's noble heirs. In the morning, they would practice poetry and etiquette, and in the afternoon, the palace's martial arts depository would be available to everyone free of charge.
Asura's family was a Middle Noble class family so He was eligible to go there.
His goal in going to the Royal College this time was to enter the martial arts depository. With his temper realm cultivation, his body's potential had risen, and he could already begin to train the martial Battle Skills.
These so-called Battle Skills were all created by extremely powerful seniors. They were powerful fighting techniques that used a person's Martial energy, qi, and meridians.
Battle Skills were extremely terrifying. They could allow a martial artist to release an extremely formidable power that was several times stronger than their ordinary strength. It was impossible to be courageous in front of them.
Therefore, each Battle Skill was extremely important to a martial artist. Now that Asura had required cultivation capable of training the Battle Skills, he was itching to obtain one.
The Royal College was located on the north side of the Xiao Kingdom. It spanned tens of kilometers and other than the Royal Palace, it was the grandest and most imposing building in the entire Xiao kingdom.
After Asura showed off his identification plate, he entered the Royal College and went straight to the literature hall. That was where the morning lecture took place and where the noble heirs would listen to the studies of the Dao from lecturers talking about everything and anything, from etiquette to poetry, and even to ancient theories of literature.
Entering the literature hall, he saw that due to how early he was, the extremely large literature hall only had several dozen people.
"Haha, brother Asura, you came."
Just as Asura entered, several youths came over and cordially greeted him.
These youths were similar to Asura's age; for various reasons, they became friends with Asura. Although they couldn't be considered best friends, they were still fellow sufferers who empathized with each other.
In the golden age of martial arts in the Xiao Kingdom, these youths might not have been bullied or targeted in such a miserable way as Asura, but they were also frequently sneered at and suffered from the cold and indifferent treatment of high Nobles.
Thus, these people who suffered from similar torments ended up becoming closer to Asura. They were especially glad to see how Asura treated the high nobles like nothing and always ended up beating those who tried to bully him.
"Haha, you guys came here pretty early," Asura laughingly greeted.
"I heard a few days ago that Brother Asura put up a huge display of his awesome power, defeating Li Cao and his subordinates { Li Cao a high noble who tried to bully Asura's sister and ended up beaten by Asura}. Ah, you really make us admire you. Don't tell me that brother Asura actually broke through again?" one skinny teen extremely enviously asked.
Asura replied politely but firmly, "While I'm grateful for your kind words, there is no need to exaggerate. I did defeat Li Cao in a fight, but his subordinates did not participate. Had they joined in, I likely would have been the one defeated."
The teen responded excitedly, "Don't be so modest, Brother Asura! We all know of your mediocre cultivation talent and amazing battle prowess. Defeating Li Cao, a high noble, is no small feat."
Asura clarified, "Li Cao tried to bully my sister, which is why I fought him. But I did not actually break through to a higher realm as a result of the battle. I already broke through when I was training in the Dark Forest. That fight just made me stabilize my cultivation level which became unstable due to rapid breakthroughs in my cultivation in the Dark forest."
The teen looked slightly crestfallen but replied understandingly, "I see. I apologize for making assumptions, Brother Asura. I meant no disrespect."
Asura smiled and put a hand on the teen's shoulder. "No apologies needed. Just keep focusing on your own cultivation with diligence and persistence. That is the true measure of progress."
Originally, When they first meet they were all on the same level as Asura. But Asura became stronger than them due to his hard training. it wasn't like they were not training hard enough but they couldn't go as far as Asura with their training, Asura could be said a lunatic when it came to training.
Hearing that Asura could defeat Li Cao, who was at the late stage of the Temper Realm, they were all extremely shocked and slightly jealous because Li Cao was stronger than the ordinary cultivators and quite famous among high nobles.
"So, you guys selected your battle skill?" Asura didn't want to continue on this subject, so he brought up a new topic.
"Battle Skill?" Sure enough, everyone immediately became distracted by this new change in subject. Their group found a table in the corner to sit at, and the table even had some refreshments for them and they started discussing which Battle Skill would they choose.
But other people were discussing the battle between Asura and Li Cao. The details of Asura and Li Cao's battle were known to everyone, but there were many people who felt that Li Cao's defeat was quite a deep mystery. Nowadays, there was a great deal of discussion over Asura.
Asura pointed towards the table's desserts and laughingly told everyone, "Let's all eat a piece."
"Okay," the other people didn't stand on courtesy and all took a piece. But just as they were discussing and eating, they suddenly saw two bitter eyes staring at them, causing everyone's eating to break off.
Asura had long since noticed that person. Turning around, they all saw Li Cao glaring daggers at them.
"Senior Li Cao, are your wounds better now? Congratulations! Your outer wounds are all healed, but what about your inner wounds?" Asura asked, seeming deeply concerned.
Li Cao's face twitched. That day, his face had been smashed flat by Asura, and he had needed to be carried home. The Li family had hurriedly asked for the help of an alchemist from the alchemist guild and paid an extremely large sum of gold coins to let Li Cao recover.
Having money was truly good; in such a short time, Li Cao had already returned to a point where he looked the same as a normal person.
But after Asura brought the subject back up, Li Cao's groin started to hurt as if he was remembering that one kick from Asura.
At that time, Asura's kick had been very vicious, just a little bit off from turning him into a cripple. The thing that pissed him off the most was that one of his balls had been damaged permanently.
When Li Cao had woken up and heard this news, he almost died from his anger. But now there was no way to fix it, and no matter how amazing an alchemist was, there was no way for them to fix what he had lost.
What had been two was now only one. Although the loss of one family jewel wouldn't tilt him while walking, the loss of the originally symmetric pair was hard on him.
And now that Asura had brought it back up, his face became exceedingly ugly. He glared daggers at Asura, his teeth grinding in fury. "Asura, you son of a b*tch. I challenge you to a life-and-death duel! Do you dare to accept? Also, how is your hindbrain, I doubt if you even remember about your mother's face after receiving that injury."
Asura's originally amused expression tensed immediately. Being called in such a way was exceedingly insulting, especially since it also insulted his mother.
It really was the case of not knowing to value one's life. "Fine, if you want to be free from the mortal world's worries, then I'll help you." that was what Asura thought.
Asura stared back at Li Hao. Although they came from the same Kingdom, he didn't care about Li Cao, and his death would be trifling to him.
Asura said, "I want to add stakes."
"Fine! No matter how high you make the stakes, I, Li Cao, will accept." Sneering in his mind, he thought to himself that no matter how high the stakes were, once Long Chen was dead, there was no way he could spend it. Li Cao was under the impression that last time he had simply been careless, and Asura had grabbed onto that opening and thus he had lost. Now he would definitely not make the same mistake, so this fight would definitely not go the same way as the last fight.
In addition, this time was different in that he had declared a life-or-death duel; in last time's duel, although you would not be held responsible for killing your opponent with a blow, as long as the opponent conceded, it was not permitted to continue attacking them in town.
But in the life-or-death duel, once the two people went onto the stage, it was equivalent to putting their lives on the line. Even if someone admitted defeat, it would be useless. The victor could do as he pleased. The loser's life would be in their hands.
"I want an Orchid spirit Plant," Asura said.
Li Cao hesitated but agreed to it and asked "What can you stake?"
Asura said " My whole property will be yours if I lose"
"Okay, tomorrow, three-quarters afternoon, we will meet on the life and death stage." Li Cao coldly laughed, and when he looked at Asura, it was like he was staring at a dead person.
Asura coldly sneered inside. Now was the time for him to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys. Seeing Li Cao leave, he slyly laughed, "Careful to stay balanced while walking; don't trip."
Hearing Asura's words, Li Cao, who had already turned to leave, stiffened, and his face became contorted as he inferred the hidden meaning behind Asura's words.
Taking a deep breath, he acted like he hadn't heard anything as he slowly walked to a different part of the literature hall.
But Asura's words seemed to be like a steel needle piercing through his sensitive parts, and every time he lifted his leg, it would trigger memories of that bone-chilling attack.
He continued to act as if nothing had happened, but the more he tried to do so, the more unnatural his gait became, which caused everyone to stare strangely over at him. In the end, Li Cao waddled away similarly to a duck.
One person turned to Asura and reminded him to be careful, "Brother Asura, why did you accept his challenge? This is a life-and-death battle you're going into; one of you will end up dying!"
"No problem. Today's morning I met a fortune teller and he said someone would die with my hand within two days, I think that person is Li Cao, he's doomed to die. so, let's go to select Battle Skills.," whispered Asura.