Chapter 38

As the fist was heading directly towards Timothy, the speed of it rose as his arm began to shorten and expand like a mole sticking its head in and out of a hole in the ground. This caused many after images to appear, making it nearly impossible for someone of Timothy's experience to figure out where the real first was.

Instead of a face full of fear and dread seeing that his opponent had yet another trump card which would be very difficult for him to deal with, Timothy's face was full of excitement as a smile appeared on his face. "Oh no, that youngster is doomed!" Master Sei thought to himself as he shook his head.

Timothy simply crouched down showing no signs of even wanting to block his opponent's attack. This confused his opponent, but not enough to think that he should halt the attack as he landed a clear blow onto Timothy. In a moment, even the elders who were spectating all began to shake their heads in disappointment as Timothy launched his body using his movement technique to land in front of his opponent.

From receiving so many attacks, Timothy was able to realize that it took more time for his opponent to retract whichever part of his body once each blow landed compared to how long it would take him to close the distance. He also noticed that his opponent's other weakness, was that while expanding and retracting his body parts, that he could not move the rest of his body very much, which meant he was wide open to be attacked!

"Ha!'' Instead of using the chance to beat his opponent to a pulp as he was, Timothy decided to just end the match right away so that he could start recovering and preparing for the next fight. And so, Timothy landed a very deadly punch on his opponent's chest as he flew back and landed off of the stage. It was Timothy's win and even the other contestants who were eliminated or still in faces all changed.

Once the judge named him the winner, Timothy quickly exited the stage as he sat down next to Jacob cross legged and began circulating the energy within his body to heal his injuries and to get back to his full power. Jacob seeing this, felt that now was not the time to give his brother a pep talk, and instead focused on who his opponent would be for his match in the next round.

Cultivation level did play a big part when two cultivators fought head on, but that was only a very basic way of looking at things. Techniques and other aspects like combat experience also played a big role in determining who the clear winner would be. In Timothy's case, he overwhelmed his opponent with his cultivation level, but due to not being used to facing someone with such a unique technique, caused him to be put in a very bad position to almost lose.

This was a very rough lesson, but it seemed like Timothy was constantly in not so great positions when facing others or even in his general life. He continued questioning why the heavens were giving him so many difficulties, when he had only begun cultivating. Through the books he had read since he was younger, he did not say anything about someone having such bad luck and such a hard time.

As he began first by healing his internal injuries, Timothy continued to ponder over this thought until he finally decided to consult with Master Sei on the matter. Little did he know, there was a reason for all of this that his master had been keeping from him!

"Master, I understand that when facing the heavens and walking the path of immortality which not everyone born could do, that there would come with it many difficulties. But, is it not abnormal for me to go through so many things like this?" Timothy asked Master Sei mentally since he was finally at a point of healing his injuries where he could multitask.

"If you truly want to know, I can tell you. You will not like my answer so think very carefully whether or not you want to understand what exactly is happening to you." Master Sei told Timothy as he appeared before him. Looking up at his master, Timothy felt that the usual playful yet stern master of his now had a facial expression which was nearly impossible for him to read.

It was if he had truly picked up a knife and stabbed his master in the chest simply by asking such a question. However, Timothy felt that whether for the best or the worst, it would be better for him to understand his current situation so that at least he could be aware and possibly even prevent some nasty things from happening in the future or at the very least delay things properly.

"You see Timothy, would you not agree that the ability you were able to receive from me, is very much considered to be equivalent to or itself a heaven defying treasure which was indeed priceless for at the very least a handful of different reasons?" Master Sei asked Timothy before continuing on with his explanation.

"When a cultivator receives such treasures, the heavens choose to do one of two things. First, the heavens simply could simply do all that it could to prevent said individual from reaching immortality. There are many ways in which this could be done, and they all involve advancing to the next stage in cultivation, but at a particular cultivation stage that you have yet to hear of."

"Secondly, what the heavens could do is slowly make things more and more difficult for said cultivator in a way to prolong the process of achieving immortality and other smaller aspects of life. Whether it is having the cultivator in a mistaking fashion, make a young master of a powerful clan or organization which would turn into losing a family member of their own or something like never being good at directions."