Are you challenging me?

After I had received my items, I made sure to notify elder Xuan about such a detail, since I wanted some extra insurance for my life.

"By the way." Was how I began with my conversation. " I believe there are two Phoenix-bloods on the mountain of Challenge and Choice at this very moment... If I'm not wrong, they're trying to find and kill me through a challenge..."

"Don't worry about that." The old man gave me his word. "Killing is prohibited in the mountain of Challenge and Choice. If they do kill you, we will make sure to give them a cruel punishment. You have the trinket, so, technically, you have two lives. Don't worry about it then."

"If it's like that, the trinket that I just got would just go to waste. Perhaps... will I be able to get another trinket if I die inside the sect?" I begged as I looked at the elder with sparkling eyes. "I mean like… It is inside the sect, and protecting the disciples from outsiders is basically the basic requirement of an elder, isn't it?" I gave the old man a perfect reason as to why he should spoil me, as I hoped that he'd do exactly what I hoped he would.

*Sigh* "Fine." With a bit of effort, the old man reluctantly agreed to my request.

After agreeing, he went back to cultivate, and didn't even bother to say another word to me. He was as rude as ever…

Alright! Now that the problem of mine was partly solved, I only needed to know how I could benefit from my troubling situation. I had no need to know how to survive, and I was glad that it had been easy for me to find a way to survive.

'Now… Let us see if this system can milk out some opportunities from this war between me and the Phoenix race.'

'Display Skill points!'

=====

Available Skill points missions:

-Walk two hundred miles\Current progress: 143/200

-Get a 5 percent mastery for the skill [PP grow spurt]\ Current progress: 2%

-Get a 5 percent mastery for the skill [True dual cultivation]\Current progress: 3%

-Gather more than 1600 Exp\Current progress: 1264/1600

-Defeat 4 different opponents using martial arts alone\ Current progress: 0

-Kill 1 phoenix-blood

-Discover your darkside

Available Skill points: 9 SP

=====

'Oh! It seems there are a few extra missions…'

'Kill… I guess I can really benefit from eliminating my enemies…'

*Sigh* "I sure hope it won't be too difficult for me to kill someone..." I muttered after thinking about the difficulty of such a mission.

With that said, I continued my way towards the mountain of Challenge and Choice while swimming inside the thoughts of having to kill a human being. The problem wasn't killing a person... It was the after effects that I was afraid for. I was afraid that I would feel guilty if I came to know that the person that I killed has loved ones. After all, it is often difficult to say goodbye to someone, and I knew that.

In the end, sympathy was the real problem...

'Will I be sympathetic? Will I feel sorry if one of their loved ones came to me for revenge? If that were to happen, it would mean my death... But would I even feel sympathetic for a person that wants to kill me? Wouldn't I know that I should protect myself?'

'I see… Although sympathy might be a part of humanity, the attempt to survive is an instinct.'

'That's right… I will be able to do it. If not, I can only hope for the system to help me. There is no other way after all. In this world, it's to kill or to be killed…'

…

It wasn't long before I had arrived at the mountain of Challenge and Choice. When I came close to an arena, a bunch of people suddenly started shouting to indicate my presence. Sure it is normal for people to yell out loud in the mountain of Challenge and Choice, however, the words that I heard was definitely not one of people that were enthusiastically spectating a fight.

"There he is! The talented martial newbie!"

Hearing what the crowd of people said, I let out a slight smile because I was kind of feeling proud of myself. I mean, it was quite a nice title, and quite the pleasant one for my ears to hear...

"It seems like I already have a nickname, huh…" I muttered before I walked further into where I expected the crowd wanted me to go to.

When I was close to the arena, a man stepped right in front me, and looked me right dead to the eye. That man was the same cultivator that I had followed back to my sect. Bulky, brown, and quite the short hair. He looked like a brute honestly, and he sure also smelled like one.

Seeing the figure of the man in front of me really made me wonder… Isn't a phoenix made entirely out of flames. How can there even be a Phoenix-blood kind? Oh, right… It must have something to do with them containing some magical powers and traits of a Phoenix, right? Hmm…

"I challenge you to a battle of death! Do you accept?!" The brute spoke all of a sudden while staring at my beautiful eyes. How romantic~ Cough Cough.

Not going to lie though. He was was quite one heck of a loud guy. Suddenly wanting to fight me to the death as well?! Seriously! Does he not care for his prestige? I thought the Phoenix kind are supposed to be proud and arrogant! Well, asking for a death battle is kind of arrogant, I guess…

"Huh?! What did I do to you for you to want me to have a death battle with you?! Do you really find life that worthless?! Your life especially?!" Was my reply to the brute's loud words. I had quite the sharp tongue. didn't I? Kekeke…

"You!" The brute became furious because of my words, as he found my statement simply too outrageous.

*Bam* The noise of collision could be heard right after the brute's raging roar.