Entry Battle

Indeed, during his journey in the wilderness Horo had grown tremendously. He had completed all his tasks, and even reached the peak of the core formation realm. He had just continued to condense his energy over and over in his dantian to 

Consolidate his realm while raising the density and purity of the spirit mana in his dantian. 

This was something all smart and talented cultivators did back in the Immortals world to maintain a firm foundation, and depending on the talent and strength of one's body they could continue the condensation until the core naturally rupture and expose a "True Golden core", instead of calling upon the core tribulation to condense and purify the core into a golden core. 

Most cultivators had to go the latter route because obtaining a "True Golden Core" was nearly impossible and only one in every billion cultivators could achieve this feat. The "True Golden Core" will still experience the tribulation, but the tribulation will only be a blessing to the strong, resilient core purifying and condensing it even more instead of possibly destroying it, like it does to most most cultivators who attempt to obtain the golden core realm through tribulation resulting in crippling or worse. 

The only reason he didn't advance his stage yet was because his trial is to comprehend and successfully practice a main technique of this world. 

....

After hearing Horo say he's willing to fight and someone the stage above him, caused a lot of people to snort because they thought he was being either arrogant, overconfident, or stupid. It didn't matter which because neither would help him in this situation. 

Of course Elder Bai jumped on the chance to easily get rid of him. The gap between stages was ridiculous, and special benefits came with each stage. Those who could cross stages in battle were true supreme geniuses, experts with unique or uncanny techniques, or those born with gifts like special physiques and bloodlines. 

She thought he would be immediately thrashed without a chance to prove anything so called worth he possessed whatsoever. 

Elder Bai was allowed to choose the disciple since she was who made the proposal, and lo and behold she chose one of her own personal disciples. Funny enough Horo could tell all of her disciples had the same disposition as her because he could see the disdain and complete rejection of men in this disciple, named Judy, with his Obsidian Eye.

The entire palace moved from the announcement hall to a battle stadium that was rarely used in the palace because it was meant for grudge and grievance battles, which is rare in the pure cloud. 

For sparring the disciples usually used a regular sparring stage, but they were in the massive battle stadium because everyone currently in the palace wanted to witness the prowess and talent of the one who may become the first male disciple. Even Elder May sent a clone. 

 As Horo and Judy slowly got onto the battle stage anticipation and suspense was building up. As they both reached the platform and locked eyes Horo held a soft smile on his face, while Judy had a stiff one as if she didn't even want to be bothered with the likes of his presence. 

And that was really the case, but her master instructed her not to underestimate him nor hold back and finish the battle as soon as possible to stop this whole "first male disciple" charade. 

Horo saw through it all, but still kept his curtesy up to par by bowing to her and saying, "Let's enjoy this little spar and hopefully become good acquaintances after. Oh and no need to hold back, I don't want others looking down on me if I were to perform well just because you didn't go all out."

Everything Horo just said made Judy want to puke, she didn't like anything about him even though she didn't know him. She didn't nod or even give a response to what he said, she only to a slight stance and said "Let's begin."

As soon as she was done speaking she attacked, she was upon Horo in a breath with a palm aiming for the right side of his chest. 

Her speed was expected, but her attack that seemed straight forward wasn't, it was like it was moving much slower then it should have been and Horo was already in the process of moving out of range, but it landed even though he knew he saw that it wouldn't reach him in time due to the slowness of the strike. 

The palm had decent power behind it, but not enough to penetrate the black light. As the force of it attempted to push him back slightly with his experience he easily used the force of it to perform a spinning back heel kick aimed at her side.

Horo's pure strength was already above average due to his special physique, body cultivation, and energy boost. Now with the force from her blow being utilized and added to his strike he rotated with outrageous accuracy and speed she didn't expect, landing a blow that should have crushed her ribs. 

Unexpectedly Horo had felt like something he had kicked a bunch of cushion or tough cotton before actually feeling the blow contact her rib cage. 

Still, the force the did connect with her body sent her flying across the stage like a rag doll. 

As she was rolling she immediately pushed a palm to the ground and perform a flip to land back into her stance quick. It took only half a breath for her to do this but Horo was directly in her face already.

So stunned by his figure being upon her so quick, she didn't even get the chance to process how he was so fast or react before he grabbed her head and smashed a knee right into her face with all his might. 

Anytime he used a martial art that has become a skill, it receive a passive boost due to energy being utilized, so the blow was devastating and probably could have did some critical damage if not for her protective skill.

He didn't hold back on the blow to her head because he knew she had some passive skill invisibly coating her body. 

He thought "Must have something to due with their cloud techniques." 

And it did, she was shrouded in her thick invisible [True Cloud].

He didn't know but she had must of the cloud packed densely around her vital areas like her head and heart, So he felt even more of that cushion like resistance to the point where it felt like trying to hit something at the bottom of the ocean when hitting her with the knee. 

To bad for her he had the skill double impact, which he allowed to take a take affect. 

The second impact sent her mind spinning resulting in her wobbling foolishly like a blind baby's first steps. Refusing to keel over her, she tried her best to find her bearings while her body refused to coordinate itself for some time.

Horo had already jumped back a couple of meters, and watched as she struggled to get herself in order.

He thought "Well she is very strong to have not been knocked unconscious by that." 

He could have easily ended the fight now, but he honestly wanted to show off just a little more, while also teaching Elder Bai and her little snob of a disciple a lesson.