Evil Samurai In Cultivation World

"Next match; Claude Rayforth vs Ian Jefferson!"

Claude's eyes widened with surprise for a split second, before a wide grin appeared on his face. "Well, well, well… I guess it's time for the idiot senior to learn his lesson!" He said as he turned to look at the arena. Claude knew that he was about to have a good time. He was going to enjoy this very much.

At the same time, Ian Jefferson, who was watching the matches suddenly felt a chill run up his spine. He couldn't help but turn his gaze in the direction where Claude was standing for a brief second before turning away. "What the hell am I doing?" Ian muttered to himself. "No, no, no… Get a hold of yourself, Ian. You're going to win this fight." Ian slapped himself on his cheek to get a hold of himself. He then pulled out a medicine bottle from his pocket, and gripped it tightly.

Back amongst the crowds stood the underlings of Ian, who were staring at the arena as the announcements were being made. 

"What do you think?" Brenden turned his gaze towards Link, who tilted his head at him. "I'm talking about the discussion we had with Claude Rayforth. I'm asking for your opinion."

The rest of the lackeys shifted their gazes to Link, who placed his hand under his chin and began to think. "It's certainly a hard decision to make. I thought that it would be a bit more favourable and a clearer decision making process for us, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore."

He glanced over to the rest of the lackeys for a few seconds, before looking back at Brenden and said, "And plus, I don't think most of our 'pals' over here aren't too comfortable going along with Rayforth's requests so easily!"

Brenden turned his head and scanned the rest of the lackeys as Link spoke, and everyone turned their heads away in order to avoid his gaze.

"Ugh.. This shouldn't be that hard of a decision to make!" Jason, who seemed as though he couldn't take it anymore, yelled out, and everyone turned their attention towards him. He looked at Brenden and Link and pointed his hands at him as he said, "It's simple! If we stay under Ian, he'll use us to make his life easier. But if we stay under Claude Rayforth, he'll humiliate us because he hates us!" He stretched out both of his hands and spoke as though the decision should be obvious. "Are we seriously having this discussion right now? Do you want to be paid for working or do you want to get humiliated for free? It's an easy decision. Why is this even a question?"

"I think you're oversimplifying this, Jason!" Brenden narrowed his eyes. "It was never about whether we get paid or not. It was never about whether we are humiliated or not. The discussion was based on whether we get out of this mess alive or not."

Link nodded his head, agreeing with Brenden's words. "That's right. You're saying that staying under Ian is better because he would not humiliate us like Claude would do. However, what you're not thinking is that by refusing to join Claude Rayforth, we're essentially making him our lifelong enemy. And I don't know about you, but I for one am not comfortable with having a genius cultivator who can climb to positions that I couldn't even imagine as my enemy."

"Don't try to make it sound like I'm an idiot for suggesting that we should continue under Ian, alright?" Jason rolled his eyes as he spoke. "Sure, I know that declining Claude Rayforth's offer means that we're most probably signing our death warrants. I can understand that. I am not dumb. But what I don't understand is how you all aren't even considering what we have to give up in order for Claude to remove the target from our backs."

He turned around to look at the rest of the lackeys and said, "Don't you get it? He's asking us to give up our dignity in order to live. Even if you decide to agree to his request in order to not lose your life, ask yourself this question; is it going to be a life worth living for? You'll most probably be humiliated, worked to death, and there's still going to be a chance for you to get killed if he does have a grudge against us. I understand you people cherish your lives, but is this really worth the risk?"

The group began murmuring to themselves as Jason finished his words. Brenden turned to look at Jason and sighed. "Why are you doing this?" He said. "Staying under Claude Rayforth is the best shot we have right now. We have already made the mistake of offending him, and now we must pay the price!"

"You're making it sound like Claude Rayforth is going to end your life the very next day if you don't agree to his requests!" Jason snorted and shook his head in response to Brenden's words. "He still needs our Headmaster's support, and he would lose that once he starts murdering his disciples. And I doubt he's going to carry a grudge for a bunch of nobodies until his academy life ends."

He then looked at Link and said, "And would you stop it with the fake bullsh*t about Claude being a one of a kind genius? He might be strong but that's it. He's not even the strongest member in our faction. And I'm sure that if he continues moving forward with the same arrogance he has right now, he's bound to get killed by someone who's far more powerful than him. So I don't know about you, but I'd prefer a safer bet than an unstable arrogant brat."

"You! Do you really want to get us all kill-" Link was about to yell at Jason when a hand stopped him in his tracks. Brenden pushed Link back and pointed his finger at the arena, where Claude was standing opposite Ian. He then looked at both Link and Jason and said, "We'll continue this after the match!"

Link glared at Jason before reluctantly nodding his head. Jason snorted, but didn't say anything either and turned his gaze towards the arena.

Claude walked towards the centre of the arena with a calm expression on his face. Ian, who was walking opposite to him, glared at him, his eyes burning with fury as he stared at Claude, but Claude simply waved his hands at him and smiled in response, which only made Ian even more mad.

"Warriors, bow!" As soon as the Elder Kenneth finished speaking, both Claude and Ian bowed their heads in unison.

"You ready to get your a** whopped, son of a b*tch?" The enraged voice of Ian Jefferson entered the ears of Claude as he bowed his head down, and a smile appeared on his face. 

He was wondering why Ian was being so quiet. Claude thought that he was finally coming to terms with reality, and had become afraid of what's to come, but seeing that he was still talking out of his a**, Claude knew that he would have a lot of fun beating this idiot up.

"Oh, I'm hoping for it! Please do!" Claude said with an innocent smile as he bowed and Ian gritted his teeth.

I'll show him, Ian thought to himself. He would show them all who's really the genius in the Grand Astral Faction.

After bowing to each other and the Elder, both Claude and Ian began walking away from the centre of the arena to their respective positions.

This is going to be easy, Claude thought to himself. After all, it was just a few days ago when Claude beat Ian's a** in front of all the inner disciples. And back then, he was still only at the third rank of the Sky realm!

Both of the young cultivators had now created quite a bit of distance between the two of them. Elder Kenneth looked at the two, nodded his head and yelled out, "Contestants! Assume your battle stance!"

BZZZ!

Claude immediately summoned his katana, while Ian clicked his tongue and summoned his saber, which began trembling violently in his hands.

"Hm?" Far away, at the spectator's stand, the Headmaster's eyes were fixated on Ian's saber, and his eyebrows were raised. 

"What is it? What may be the matter, Headmaster?" One of the Elders, who were standing next to the Headmaster asked, and the Headmaster simply shook his head. "No, no. It's nothing. I just made a mistake," he said.

But in reality, he was intrigued. Interesting, he thought. Even though he could sense something was off, the Headmaster didn't wish to interfere. He wanted to see how Claude was going to overcome this obstacle himself.

Elder Kenneth looked at both of the contestants and yelled out, "Start!"

BOOM!

Ian shot forward and swung his saber. He was so fast that even Claude waz surprised. However, he still maintained his calmness and turned his katana over to his side in order to block the attack.

However…

"Hmm?" As the attack got closer to Claude, he could sense that something was terribly off about Ian.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and he gripped hard on the katana, which collided with Ian's saber!

BOOM!