Apotheosis

Many outer disciples learned more by watching a battle and could take what they saw into their refinement process which allowed them to make breakthroughs of their own.

Plus, with how mundane the daily practices were, a fight for revenge was in itself quite entertaining to watch.

What made it more exciting was the considerable gap in the strengths between the two fighters competing with one at the organ refining level and the other half-step into the nature level!

If Leo, half-step into the nature level, was comparable to a lion, then Zen at the organ refining level was akin to a rat. They were not on the same level at all.

Most people were certain that the competition would be finished fast and that it was a given that the outcome would be an overwhelming victory by Leo.

Leo got to the battle ring early accompanied by his companions.

Today there was also a middle-aged man with Leo.

The clothing the middle-aged man wore denoted he was a servant. He was wearing a gray cloth and a bandanna on his head.

When the outer disciples noticed the pattern with the Eight Diagrams* embroidered on his gray cloth, no one dared to look down upon him.

(*TN: the Eight Diagrams were eight trigrams used to represent the fundamental principles of reality in the Taoist beliefs, and seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts.)

The emblem belonged to one of the seven top noble clans, the Zhuge family.

The top seven noble clans were the most powerful and influential families in the entire empire. Although the middle-aged man was a servant, no outer disciple at the Cloud Sect could afford to offend him, since he was a servant of the Zhuge family.

"My master said this man must die today,

or not as well.

Drizzle Peak had quite a few members, and the credibility of each disciple was essential. If Zen were to back out, his credibility would be shot.

"Zen apparently is wussing out! Shame, after all his big talk, he has cold feet. If this is the kind of person he is, Zen definitely has no future!"

"Come on, let's go. There's nothing to see here. We might as well spend our time refining while waiting. I knew our Drizzle Peak had another loser!"

After waiting two hours, most of the spectators had lost patience and were about to leave.

Having to wait so long for Zen, Leo was restless and losing his already short temper.

"Leo, you said Zen was going to fight you today. Why isn't he here then?" demanded the Zhuge family man-servant.

Leo smiled humbly and responded, "Don't worry, Thomas. That guy wouldn't dare back out!"

Thomas Zhu sneered, "Good." His voice dripped sarcastically, "I hope you aren't wasting my time and that you don't fail the master."

"I wouldn't dare do that!" as Leo spoke, he glanced Zen out of the corner of his eye as he strode through the doorway and walked up to the battle.