Withdrawal

A bright and sunny day, perfect for an important event to be held. That was exactly what happened. An annual event took place in Blackcloud City, determining the fates of many youths on that day.

By now, it was early in the evening thanks to the many matches that had been held already, and the final match of the semifinals would now begin. It was an exciting match for those watching since the number one genius of Blackcloud city would be battling against a genius that came from a poor family.

The number one genius was Yan Lenglei, while the opponent was a young man who was only seventeen years old and hid his true cultivation base.

On the stage, Yan Lenglei stood with his eyes opened, as he faced his opponent. This opponent would be the greatest human opponent he would face. The true greatest opponent was obviously the Grade Two Spirit Beast that he had defeated together with Mo Jidong.

Facing his opponent, Yan Lenglei's expression didn't change at all. He seemed as calm as the sea, whether rain or wind would come.

As the match began, Yan Lenglei's opponent didn't move. Instead, his cultivation base suddenly soared to the Sixth stage of the Awakening realm, shocking everyone watching.

"What?! Young Master Yan's cultivation is at the Sixth stage already?! His Divine Rune must be at least a Spirit Grade Divine Rune! Truly worthy of being Blackcloud City's number one genius!" the citizens exclaimed.

Naturally, everyone was shocked, especially so for Jing Mengyi and her father. "How?! We clearly stripped him of his Divine Rune which was of the Human Grade, even if it revived, how can it be even stronger?" that was the only thought running through their mind.

His Concept of Ice was already superior to that of Jing Mengyi's, now his cultivation base was actually at the same level! There was indeed a huge chasm between their talents.

Yan Lenglei took a step forward, as he prepared to take his opponent's attack. As his opponent held his wooden staff and pointed forward. His opponent was the young man who had a powerful Concept of Water that had fought earlier in the day.

The young man gripped his staff tightly, as he pointed it at Yan Lenglei. Suddenly, his figure started looking fuzzy, as two clones of water suddenly appeared beside him! The clones looked exactly the same and processed an equal amount of strength and technique that wasn't any weaker than the original.

It was as if Yan Lenglei had suddenly needed to fight three opponents at once. His opponent released his cultivation base at the Six stage of the Awakening Realm, the same stage as himself.

As the three figures stood side-by-side, a huge surge of Water Qi erupted like a tsunami. A huge wave appeared beneath his feet, slowly rising in height as though a true tsunami had struck.

Yan Lenglei's opponent moved forward, as his clones did so. The three figures moved as one, making it extremely hard to tell which was the original. After all, each of them was as powerful and could think just as the original would in any situation.

Hiding inside the tsunami, the three figures all struck at out with their staff at once.

"Lei, be careful!" his grandfather shouted. However, it was too late. An extremely powerful attack came down upon Yan Lenglei who stood moving all of a sudden.

Boom!

A loud explosion occurred, as a huge storm of dust and smoke arose from the powerful attack. "Good, Yan Lenglei is dead right? Now only to finish off Mo Jidong." Jing Mengyi thought.

As the smoke cleared up, Yan Lenglei's family as well as the citizens were agitated.

A few moments later, the smoke cleared up, leaving behind the shadow of a handsome young man covered in white from head to toe. As the smoke cleared up, Yan Lenglei was seen totally unscathed from the previous attack.

Rather, a few strands of purple lightning were being emitted from his very body. Instantly, everybody could see that Yan Lenglei had comprehended the Concept of Thunder. What was the Concept of Thunder? It was an extremely powerful Concept thanks to its aggressive and destructive nature.

It was harder to comprehend compared to other kinds of Concepts, which was truly surprising. Yan Lenglei was not only at the Sixth stage, he also comprehended both the Concepts of Ice and Thunder!

While the crowd was shocked, Yan Lenglei's opponent didn't care. His staff struck out along with his clones in which each moved separately.

One figure struck downward, when Yan Lenglei dodged, the second figure attacked in the direction he dodged. Immediately, the third one struck out as well, not allowing any space for Yan Lenglei to avoid.

Not only that, but the tsunami-like Qi also struck from behind his opponent, covering the entire stage and preventing others from watching. Inside the tsunami, Yan Lenglei who had avoided the first strike moved his arm and grabbed the second and third strikes.

Suddenly, another strike was unleashed within a matter of a second. As the staff came close, Yan Lenglei released the other two staffs, rotating his entire body and smashed forward, sending the young man flying.

Whoosh!

Two staves came from two directions at once, one from behind, and one from above. The figure whether it was the original or a clone that had been sent back instantly dashed through the water as if it wasn't even there.

With three staves coming from three directions at the same time, Yan Lenglei's body floated within the water as a powerful burst of thunder was released from his body.

Boom!

The three figures, as well as the tsunami, were blown away in an instant. Surrounding Yan Lenglei, was a thick and terrible storm of thunder, leaving him looking like a god of thunder.

As the tsunami cleared up, all the water dripped down like rain upon him, as well as his opponent, who was sent flying towards the very end of the stage. His two clones had disappeared with that blow, leaving behind only the original.

"What happened in there? All we saw were three of him and a tsunami, then within a few seconds, Young Master Yan sent him flying!" the crowd was truly shocked. Of course, most of them were still at a low realm, with the strongest only at the Noble realm.

Only the powerful cultivators such as the two envoys, at the leaders of the Four Great families, could peer through the thick tsunami and see everything that had taken place.

The battle ended in an instant, Yan Lenglei's opponent was no match for the latter. Of course, this didn't mean that he was weak, it was just that Yan Lenglei was too strong. If he had fought Jing Mengyi instead, he would've won.

With this, only the final match between Yan Lenglei and Mo Jidong was left. "Young Master Yan, please rest before the finals." the judge persuaded.

"No need." Yan Lenglei replied.

"This…" the judge was speechless. By saying this, it made the latter seem very arrogant. But at the same time, it was true. In the blink of an eye, the match was over, with Yan Lenglei as the winner. Hardly anyone had even known what had occurred within that short timeframe.

From within the crowd, Mo Jidong leaped onto the stage. Yan Lenglei retrieved his aura, as the judge began to announce the final match.

"Begin!" the judge shouted. Everyone was extremely excited, after all, the final match was between Blackcloud City's number one and number two geniuses. They were best friends and called the Golden Duo within the city.

Unfortunately for them, neither side made a move. They didn't even reveal an ounce of their strength. Mo Jidong faced the judge and bowed politely, "I am withdrawing from this battle." he said.

His one short sentence ended everything. The citizens were disappointed, as well as the Four Great families. But nobody blamed them. The two of them were even closer than blood-related brothers. Where Yan Lenglei was, Mo Jidong would be there, and vice-versa.

At the same time, both Yan Lenglei and Mo Jidong leaped off the stage. With this, the annual Four Great family gathering ended on a simple finish.

The crowd all clapped for them. Only Jing Mengyi and her father's expression darkened. They didn't expect that Yan Lenglei was so powerful after they had deceived him for years and stole his Divine Rune.

It made their years of deception seem like a complete joke. Of course, they didn't know that their plan had actually benefitted Yan Lenglei instead. Without them, Yan Lenglei had no way of cultivating his current technique.

It could actually be said that they were his benefactors. As he returned to his seat, the two envoys of the Divine Dao Mountain both stood up in unison. "Young Master Yan, please take this token!" they both said in sync.

A bright golden token that represented the Divine Dao Mountain turned into a bright light and landed in Yan Lenglei's hand. Obviously, it was an invitation for Yan Lenglei to join the sect. Not only that, but it was also the highest grade possible, a token that represented the Core disciple.

As envoys, they wouldn't normally be able to give out such a token. However, one of the two envoys held a special position within the sect, allowing him to do whatever he wanted.

Holding onto the token, Yan Lenglei didn't say anything. He nodded and sat in his seat, while the two envoys walked over to Yan Lenglei's previous opponent, and handed him an Inner disciple's token.

The young man accepted the token and returned to his parent's side. They were happy and shed tears for him. After all, they were from a poor family and could barely afford three meals a day. Only after Yan Lenglei had been involved throughout the city, did they have a slightly better living condition.

Their son had relied on his own talent and hard work to reach this point. His parents were regretful that they couldn't help him in any way. Of course, their son was extremely filial, he never blamed them and only worked hard, while doing minor jobs to help his parents.

As Yan Lenglei sat in his seat, the gathering finally ended. The two envoys leaped into the air and immediately returned to the Divine Dao Mountain after giving out instructions. For those with a token, they were to head out to Snowberry city which was a month's journey away by feet.

Lin Hao and the middle-aged man left in the carriage, while the Four Great families headed home separately. The citizens slowly headed home after all the excitement, while preparing to cook up a feast.

Why? Every time the Four Great family gathering ended, the Four Great families would have already sent a large amount of food to every household in the entire city. Only through this, would the Blackcloud city prosper, after all, the citizens were what made up a kingdom, rather than the Emperor himself.

Inside his house, Yan Lenglei was brought up as a huge topic within his family. Knowing that he disliked crowded and noisy places, the celebration was short, allowing him to return to his room.

******

Inside his room, Yan Lenglei sat crossed-legged in a lotus position to cultivate. He had shown his cultivation base earlier, but nobody besides himself and Mo Jidong knew that he had actually hidden his true cultivation base.

Yan Lenglei was not at the Sixth stage of the Awakening Realm, but rather, the Seventh stage! As for Mo Jidong, he only revealed the Four stage, but was also at the Seventh stage!

In the few months of cultivation, both of them had practiced to this point at an extremely great speed, while maintaining a perfect foundation. If they had neglected this, the would have already stepped foot into the Noble Realm!

Of course, they didn't do this, the foundation was extremely important. If it was extremely unstable and flimsy, their future progress would be extremely hard, and they would also be much weaker than they would have been at the stage.