The Core Disciple Exhibition

"Ugh! I can't believe he's making us have to wake him up!" Kate complained.

It was the day of the Core Disciple Exhibition, where the six who had completed their missions within the time limit had the chance to show off their combat abilities and impress their fellow disciples and potential masters. Despite the fact that there was still an hour before the opening ceremony, the inner section was almost equivalent to a ghost town, as everyone had gathered around the main sparring area to watch the tournament. However, there were four core disciples and two inner section disciples walking through the empty inner section.

Less than a month after Shui returned, all of his friends had also come back from their missions and tried to see him but were stopped by the protection array around his house. They all assumed that he was cultivating and didn't bother him again, but they had no choice now. If Shui missed the tournament, then even if he beat up the other fresh core disciples after the day, the stubborn elders wouldn't recognise him as the champion of the tournament and grant him the right to stay in the Spirit Nest for the full term. A messenger had been sent to the house to inform him about the tournament, but even the elders weren't able to get past his array without using force, so he hadn't been disturbed even once during his seclusion.

"I'm more curious about what caused him to enter seclusion. Though he could make a breakthrough, it looked like he was suppressing his cultivation."

Luke was more light-hearted about the matter compared to Kate, and his comment inspired similar curiosity in the other five.

"True. I don't think Boss would take so long to make a simple breakthrough. I can't imagine how strong he is now."

"Wasn't it already hard to imagine how strong Shui was?" 

"Certainly. If he's gotten even stronger since we last saw him, I'll honestly feel sorry for the other new core disciples."

Fatty, Serina, and Reinhart also gave their comments, but Cassandra and Kate remained silent. Cassandra hoped that Shui had died during his seclusion, but the oath was still active, so she knew that that wasn't the case. Still, it would make her happy if he was at least weakened. As for Kate, she hadn't rested on her laurels since their last battle, but she was both anticipating and worried about how much a true genius like Shui could grow in that time.

When they reached Shui's residence, they tried to check on him using spiritual sense, but they couldn't get past the arrays set up around the house. 

"It looks like he's still in seclusion. Should we really wake him up?"

All of them understood how risky it was to wake someone during seclusion, so they hesitated to make a move. 

"Let me try something. Don't let anyone near here."

"Very well."

After speaking, Kate went closer to the house until she was blocked by the protection array. She then closed her eyes and focused on grasping the flow of the nature energy around her. She hadn't noticed it before, but as the world of nature energy emerged in her mind's eye, Kate saw that Shui's energy was all over the city in traces so small that they were imperceptible to anyone who wasn't as sensitive as she was in this state.

'What in the heavens and earth has he been doing?'

Kate was almost frightened by what she noticed, but she quickly reined herself in to maintain her synchronisation with nature energy.

'This helps, actually. Since his attention is spread everywhere, I just need to focus it on me.'

Kate deepened her connection with the surrounding nature energy and then urged it to gather around her. Nature energy had the property of congregating in regions of high concentration, so once Kate started the trend, the rest was inevitable. 

As they detected the great surge of nature energy rushing into the area, Reinhart made a grim face. 

"I don't think stopping people from coming is going to help much."

The others agreed with Reinhart's exasperated comment. This was his second time witnessing her in this state, but Reinhart's understanding wasn't much better than the first-time spectators.

There are many ways for cultivators to gather nature energy, but generally no one at their level would intentionally gather enough energy to cause an energy vortex because their bodies simply wouldn't be able to withstand it. Even other core disciples like Cassandra and Reinhart had to step away from the vortex lest they fall into mental collapse, yet Kate was perfectly fine despite being at its center.

"Wow! These two sure know how to give surprises."

While Luke exclaimed in awe, the commotion caused by Kate finally caused a reaction in Shui.

"This is...?"

His consciousness had dived so deep into the ground that even time felt irrelevant, but the turbulence Kate was causing at his doorstep was significant enough to wake him from his trance. He carefully took his time when spreading his spiritual sense, but recalling it only took a few minutes. Kate was the first to notice Shui's awakening, but she couldn't spare a moment to be glad because her situation had taken a turn for the worse.

She was still able to keep the energy vortex stable, but she could sense that her control wasn't good enough to cancel the vortex without it causing any unnecessary damage. If she went ahead and released it regardless, though Shui's house might be fine thanks to the arrays, the immediate surroundings would likely be destroyed, and there would be cases of forced mutation outside the destroyed area. She could warn the others so there wouldn't be any casualties, but it would still be necessary to take responsibility for the property damage. However, Shui had no intention of letting her shoulder such a burden.

He left his house through the front door and immediately used 'Gather' to attract some of the nature energy stuck to Kate. This reduced the attractive power of the vortex enough to ensure that it couldn't get stronger. He then used his divine energy to suppress the surrounding nature energy. Due to the suppression of divine energy, the vortex quickly weakened to a level where Kate could take over and handle the rest.

Once the vortex disappeared and the nature energy it attracted scattered, Kate stopped her nature energy synchronization. As she appeared unsteady on her feet, Shui quickly lent her his shoulder, and she leaned on it without reservation.

"Are you okay? It was impressive, but that was a really reckless thing you did."

"Hmph, I don't want to hear that from you. One wrong move and your body would have become an empty husk."

"Uh, fair point. If you hadn't awakened me, I'm not sure how much longer I would have been stuck in that state. I can't thank you enough."

"You owe me for this. I'll be looking forward to having you pay me back."

"Sure. As long as it's within my power."

Shui and Kate understood and could appreciate each other's outrageous feats, but to those watching both of them, it was hard to believe what they had just seen. Kate's ability to maintain a nature energy vortex was extraordinary enough, but Shui's ability to somehow weaken it was also terrifying.

"I really do feel sorry for his upcoming opponents."

This time, Reinhart's comment echoed in their hearts.