The Core Disciple Exhibition (6)

At this point, it was obvious to the spectators who the victor was. With his hands empty and behind his back, Shui watched as Clyde and Lionel slept next to each other. Although the audience had seen the process of how this happened, they didn't fully understand it either. After the Shuis had surrounded the two and started attacking, the Shuis at the edges turned into mist that silently gathered beneath Clyde and Lionel. By the time all the extra Shuis had vanished, the two were asleep, trapped in the illusion that Shui made for them. 

"Did he just create illusions of himself and then use those illusions to put those two to sleep?" Luke asked.

"You'll have to ask him about that. It seems overly complicated to me."

Kate felt that if she was in this battle, she would have just kept pummeling them until their artifacts couldn't stop the damage anymore, and Shui was more than capable of doing the same.

"He was probably trying to hide his true ability. Still, I didn't expect an approach like this. What do you think, Cassandra?"

"If he wanted to, he could have trapped the two in an illusion from the start, but while troublesome, this method would allow someone to catch a stronger opponent off guard. He might have been showing off with the number of copies, though."

As infuriating as it was, Cassandra could see parts of Shui's plot that would be useful for her as well. Despite her hatred for him, his soul cultivation and spiritual techniques were worth admiring.

With Clyde and Lionel both unconscious on the ground, Shui smirked and looked up at the referees.

"Surely, there's no room for doubt now."

A few referees were hesitant, but none moved to object. 

"The final victor of the Core Disciple Exhibition is, Shui."

The conclusion was just as Shui and his friends imagined. With Shui officially the strongest new core disciple and a friend of Kate, Mater's faction would surely see him as a thorn to get rid of, but there was no need to worry about them. As Kate wanted to defeat Mater herself, Shui didn't plan to attack them unless they touched his bottom line. Recent discoveries made him consider staying in the five cities region, but he would still leave Silver City once he had his fun inside the Spirit Nest. 

As planned, Fatty and Serina won big thanks to Shui's victory. They weren't able to get triple their bets thanks to others switching their lots to Shui after seeing their massive deposits, but it was still over twice the original. Even after returning the principal to Shui, there were still more spirit gems than Serina had ever seen before in her possession.

"Are you sure I'm allowed to keep this?"

"Of course. Cultivation is a very expensive journey. Look at Fatty; he might waste some of his winnings trying to impress vain women, but I'm certain most of it will go into improving his cultivation."

"Thanks for your trust, Boss."

"So you're not denying that you'll waste some?" Serina asked Fatty.

"Well, what can I say? Boss knows me too well."

Since Fatty wasn't the best example, Shui gave Serina some encouragement.

"I'm allowing you to keep those resources because I'm sure you'll use them well. You won't disappoint me, right?"

"I, understood. I won't let down your trust."

"Good. No one should touch you while I'm here, but be careful since you might be targeted for your wealth."

With the staggering winnings of the two, it wouldn't have been odd if the bookmaker tried to 'recoup' their investment, but the two's relationship with Shui was well-known, so few would touch them unless they were willing to face Shui's wrath. 

"Okay."

"I'll be careful."

After they wrapped up their talk, the three met with Kate's group that lowered to the ground. 

"You've gotten more mean-spirited than I remember, Shui," Kate commented.

"I wasn't being mean. I just determined that that was the best way to win without revealing too much."

"Then what about your first fight against that hothead? Don't tell me that you couldn't have finished that fight without toying with him."

"Uh, well that... I saw something interesting in him, so I was a little curious about it."

With a sigh, Kate responded, "Just as I thought. It seems I'll have to beat that playful side out of you."

"Fufu. Maybe one day."

"I can't really say I was on the edge of my seat, but those were good fights," said Luke.

"Thank you. I had a harder time holding back than I expected."

"You really say some outrageous stuff, don't you?"

"Before you wake up those two with your infuriating words, let's move this over to Luke's place."

"Actually, I was thinking that we hold our next gathering at my residence once I move over to the core section at the end of the week."

Although he was fully qualified to be a core disciple, the official robe awarding wasn't until the end of the week. It was at this ceremony that the fresh core disciples would receive their new 'coats' and other items given to all core disciples. After the ceremony, a core elder would escort the group over to the core section and send them to their new dwellings.

"Hmm, I can work with that, but you're not planning on diving back under, are you?"

The others didn't know the truth of the situation, so only Shui realised that Kate was talking about the morning's incident. 

"No, I'm not that reckless. I just want to organise my thoughts on it."

"I hope so, because I won't be coming to wake you up again."

"I'll keep that in mind."

They talked a little more after that before parting ways. While they tried to hide it, Shui's domineering performance lit a fire in the hearts of Kate's group. Serina and Fatty found it hard to compare themselves to Shui, but after seeing those fights, they also wished to put their winnings to use. 

When he returned to his residence, Shui reactivated the protection array and went into meditation. However, true to his word, he wouldn't attempt to re-enter the state Kate found him in. Instead he wanted to ponder the great secret he came across: the giant underground seal centered on Malirin Forest.

'I found small hints that mentioned it in the Primordial Library, but not enough to guess that it would be right beneath my feet.'

The Primordial Library seemingly held all knowledge since the beginning of the world, but it was actually limited to all that was recorded. Whether it be on parchment or a slab, as long as there was some attempt to record something, its existence would be discovered by the Library, but anything not written would remain undetected. This matter seemed to be a closely guarded secret, so the only thing Shui found out was that a group of four disciples of the same master had combined their powers to seal an ancient battlefield that could travel through space. It was a well-known fact that the founders of Cyrus, Reich, Pemacreba, and Rinto City were taught by the same master despite their differing distinct techniques, but even after visiting the secret world in Malirin Forest, he wasn't able to connect the dots until he found the seal.

He wasn't sure why there was a gap in the seal and how the crown panther beast lord found it, but as his family and friends resided in the region, he had to investigate in case of a potential calamity. Of course, if asked if he had absolutely no curiosity, he certainly wouldn't be able to honestly deny it, but he didn't think it was wrong to be both concerned and intrigued.