Rebelling

I lost all my interest in her... him. I had no intention of dealing with this transgender bullshit. I conjured a pair of powerful sword qi and a soul attack. Her spiritual artifact was vaporized in an instant by one sword qi, and the other one sent her flying. She (he?) landed outside of the arena, as far away from the healing elder as possible. I also took special care to shatter her dantian and kill off her inner spirit with the soul attack. With this she should be completely crippled, only as strong as somebody who completed their Foundation Establishment. She no longer had the ability to reform her dantian, or congeal another spiritual armament or a spirit for it, as these could be done only one time in a cultivator's life. I had no intention of ever meeting her again. I even let the sword qi wreak havoc inside her body, destroying most of her muscles and blood, and even weakening her heart. She was half dead, and would only barely survive this.

-Yup, just as I thought. You always act rashly when you find out that you can't fuck a girl that you fancied. Hehe.

-Eve, I really hate your stupid pranks. You actually knew about this, just decided not to tell me right? You also knew that I wouldn't ask about it, and that actually served your purpose well.

-Well, mostly, yeah. It was fun to see your reaction. But it was also necessary. If I told you about it in advance, you probably wouldn't have taken such drastic measures to deal with her. Or him. It. Yeah, that works. So it was necessary to take it out of the picture, since if it was chosen by the heavens and the reincarnator beings, you would have to face her as an opponent in the future. And it would have become a "hero" of this world by then, with you becoming a villain. I'm sure you know, that the hero always wins in a xianxia, if not in the first fight, then later on. So you had to take care of it. I just don't get why you became this upset after finding out that it has the mind of a man. You were a woman in many of your previous incarnations too, after all.

-It's one thing to be reborn as a new person with all the memories of previous reincarnations, and another to be reborn with the same mind as you previously had. This is practically a man's mind stuck in a woman's body, that fancies women, because he's a straight guy. I, on the other hand, have a male body, with a genderless mind due to all my memories, and fancy women, purely because boobs are awesome and long red hair is sexy. I am as incompatible with this guy as possible. I was interested in... it... because it would have the assistance of the heavens, and could help me with my goals, but it would be creepy to keep it around me, so I decided to take over the role of the protagonist in its story.

-Sooo... You're just mad that you can't fuck her, because even if she lets it happen, you'd be fucking a dude?

-That's not what I'm saying! Oh, to hell with it, why am I even arguing about it with you? Just give me the data on it and its weird luck thingy.

Eve laughed and I knew she would make fun of me because of this later on, but it didn't matter right now. If I wanted to prevent Crescent Moon from ever recovering, I needed to unlock some abilities that could completely cancel out the ones it has. The data started to pour into my head, and I saw that my theories were severely underestimating it. It was both favored by the heavens and had a probability manipulation skill. The heavenly favor manifested in it having a different power level according to the moon cycles, and even the perception of the people around it would change accordingly, with it being called Full Moon and New Moon automatically at those times. It was the work of the heavenly will, and combined with its probability manipulation technique, practically a cheat-like existence. Not that I can complain with Eve inside my head.

It also meant that there were much more possibilities outside of cultivation, than I previously realised. I only conducted a low level analysis of these powers at the Spirit Gathering stage, so I'd probably have to make Eve do a thorough evaluation. I didn't have the time for that right now though, since the elder in charge flew in front of me, his face twisted with fury.

-You! Why did you have to be so overbearing? With your ability there was no need to cripple that lass! Couldn't you have knocked her out just like you did all the others? You nearly crippled her, a person who was qualified to join the Heavenly Fate Sect!

-Elder, forgive me for this matter, but she was a threat to me that I simply couldn't tolerate. I already consider it being merciful enough that I didn't outright kill her, and I only did this in consideration of the rules of the trials. Or is there some hidden rule, that doesn't allow me to cripple my opponents, that I didn't know of? Surely the elder would have mentioned it, if there was such a rule.

-Bah! It's not against the rules, but I don't see any point in being so domineering, especially in the finals, out of all fights! It will be hard to explain the matter to the Heavenly Fate Sect, and there will be heavy consequences for both you and our True Fate Sect.

-Elder, with all do respect, I know about the consequences of my actions, and I'm prepared to face them. It's just that there is truly nobody able to threaten me, so I'm not afraid to be overbearing. Well, she could have been a threat, but that's also taken care of now, so I'm not worried. I'm even willing to offer an explanation to the Heavenly Fate Sect elders, if needed, to alleviate the negative effects on the True Fate Sect, so I ask for the elder to not take the matter much to heart.

-Not take the matter much to heart? You... truly are brazen. Very well then, I'll write you a letter of recommendation to the True Fate Sect, and we'll see just how you explain this matter to them. As for your prizes for winning all ten matches, they will be reserved to be used as compensation to the Heavenly Fate Sect.

Oh, I see how it's going to be. This elder is also going to learn a heavy lesson.

-Elder, I'm afraid that won't do. I ask elder to write the letter on the spot, and hand over my prizes immediately, lest I be forced to make a move.

-Brat, are you threatening me?

He was so furious, that he was about to explode from anger. He also probably thought it a good idea to provoke me and give me a good beating as a lesson about being overbearing. The problem with all this, that he didn't know about, was that he didn't have the ability to do so. With a thought I opened a spacial tear between his right hand and left leg, effectively swapping them. They obviously wouldn't connect to his body automatically though, so they fell down on the platform. I spoke before his mind fully registered what just happened.

-Elder, I am indeed threatening you. I don't mind showing off a bit more of my power, if I'm being cheated like this. Believe me when I say this: I could make this whole sect crumble to dust in mere minutes, if I wanted to, and there's nothing anybody could do about it. I could have also easily chosen to swap your heart with your brain instead of just your limbs. Imagine how you would have died without even knowing how you were killed. Yet, I'm willing to give you and the True Fate Sect one last chance. Hand over the letter of recommendation and my prizes, and this whole matter will be over, on my part. I will not take any more actions against the sect, and leave for the Heavenly Fate Sect immediately.

The elder was shocked, and scarred pissless. He quickly stopped his bleeding and looked at me, bewildered by my words and actions. Then he sighed.

-It's probably for the best. If you will truly leave after receiving the letter and your prizes, I will have them prepared right now.

-Thank you, elder, for being considerate. I will wait right here, for one hour.

With that, I sat down in the middle of the arena and asked Eve to gather information about 'luck' and 'powers unrelated to cultivation'. She was in a very good mood after all the amusement of the last few minutes, so she started researching earnestly. As for the elder, I couldn't care less about what he did. He flew off quickly, probably to discuss the matter with the other elders, report to the sect master and try to solve this problem. If they wouldn't find any solutions, they'd give me what I wanted, but their best outcome would be to kill me somehow, lest I become a threat. The only problem with this that if even the elder at the Peak of the Saint realm was helpless when facing me, they didn't really have the ability to do so. This was also shameful to the sect, as I was a mere Beginner Soul Severing realm disciple, that dared to rebel against the sect and its elders, and they weren't able to deter me at all. Crescent Moon was also being treated for its injuries, its health no longer being in danger, but it was now a mortal, without any chance of recovering. Well, the heavens are mysterious, and could eventually find a way, but I'm not stupid enough to let that happen.