Chapter 73 - Pretending

Five minutes later, both parties stepped down from the platform.

Despite the faint redness on Moses's muscles, he looked rejuvenated like he had just released some stress. He accepted the clothes Cassius handed him and put them on.

On the other side, four elite disciples from the martial arts hall walked away on wobbly legs. They were drenched in sweat as if they had just been pulled out of water.

The four of them couldn't land a single attack on Moses in that five-minute fight, resulting in an impenetrable defense and broken disciple spirits. The little bit of resentment in their hearts had completely vanished.

Seeing the dejected looks of the few, Lucas, who had been watching from a distance, stroked his beard with a satisfied look. As a Wind Elephant Sect elder, how could he not understand the standards for selecting core disciples at the headquarters? They would, at the very least, need to be on the verge of breaking through the Wind Elephant Covert Martial Arts.

In the Wind Elephant Martial Arts Hall in Beiliu City, at 80% completion, Reed had made the most progress in the Covert Martial Arts. He still had a long way to go if he was going to be on the same competitive level as the core disciples. The moment the elite disciples requested sparring with the main sect's core disciples, Lucas knew they were aggrieved and proud.

These disciples had too easy of a martial arts path due to the lack of strong opponents in Beiliu City. Since the core disciples' visit came at such an opportune time all he had to do was sit back and watch as they crushed the youngsters' arrogant spirits. Only by humbling themselves could they see their shortcomings. People with an attitude like that were the ones who would eventually achieve great things.

For the next five days, Cassius and his group trained and prepared themselves in the Wind Elephant Martial Arts Hall while they waited for the exchange tournament to begin. Reed would come up to challenge them from time to time and would get beaten up two to three times a day, usually by Cassius, Moses, and Lance in rotation. Since each fight usually lasted less than a minute, the three very generously accepted Reed's challenge requests.

Reed was sensible enough to not challenge the First Senior Brother and Second Senior Sister who had obviously reached the pugilist stage. Battles with such a big gap had very little reference value. That was Reed's mindset even though Cassius and Moses had also reached the pugilist stage. Unbeknownst to Reed, what he thought was a smaller gap was actually a chasm.

Despite him losing every single fight, he still kept coming and still kept challenging. Cassius couldn't help admiring him a little as he watched. A person's mindset and attitude often determined how far they could go, and it was clear that Reed had a good mindset.

Two days passed quickly.

The Wind Elephant Martial Arts Hall received a black and gold invitation with a very thick cover. Hykal opened it in front of everyone to reveal a pale yellow sheet that had unique wax edges, and filled with aesthetic writing in black ink.

After the opening ceremony in the morning the next day, the competition would be held in the afternoon at the Verdes Manor in the eastern suburbs of Beiliu City. Below the text was the list of the disciples that would represent the Wind Elephant Sect.

"Sleep early tonight, everyone. The exchange tournament starts tomorrow."

The next morning, Cassius woke up at the crack of dawn and he went to wash up. He opened the door and walked along the corridor. When he reached the courtyard, he came to a halt.

Senior Brother Lance was practicing in the courtyard, flitting around. His long hands resembled steel knives that shot out like springs. The air in front of him whistled for a split second, and suddenly, there were afterimages of his hand blades around him.

The burst in that instance was clearly indicative of someone at the pugilist stage!

Cassius's eyes widened, his thoughts instantly jumping to Moses and Lance's bet. Wow, birds of a feather really do flock together. They had all been faking it, even though they had clearly already broken through!

He originally thought that the honest Brother Lance would be fooled by the cunning Moses. Who would've expected that with age, came wisdom? The more handsome the man, the better he was at deception.

"Li Wei?" Lance noticed Cassius at the arched gate, his delicate eyebrows raised. He glared murderously.

Cassius raised his hands, playing dumb. "Senior Brother, I didn't see anything. I don't know anything. I'm just going to go eat."

He started walking away. Lance squinted and his beautiful lips curved into a charming smile. With a perfect smile on his face, he dragged Cassius over.

Cassius, who stood at 1.90 meters, dared not resist so he bent slightly, lowering his head. He let Senior Brother Lance jump up and drape an arm around his shoulder. His amber eyes bored into him.

"Senior Brother, I really didn't see anything..." Cassius complained.

"Come, let’s go to the canteen!" Lance's voice pitched up.

"I definitely can't."

"Let's chat. Let's get closer with each other~"

"Let's not..."

Half an hour later, Lance delicately wiped away the leftover cream at the corner of his thin lips. A dejected Cassius trailed behind, slapping his outer thigh. His wallet was empty.

Naturally, the Wind Elephant Martial Arts Hall provided food for free but delicacies like cream cakes were usually in limited supply. Since Lance really liked sweets, Cassius had no choice but to buy four.

Under the warning of his senior brother, he was forced to promise Lance that he would not say a word to Moses about his breakthrough. Cassius was also too principled to do such a thing. A few days ago, Lance had taught him a special agile step and Cassius wasn't going to backstab him after that. This was simply just some brothers being rough with brothers.

As the sun rose into the sky, all the competing disciples gathered at the main road in front of the Wind Elephant Martial Arts Hall to wait for the carriage.

"I’m here, I’m here." In the distance, a tall, burly figure jogged over, holding two pieces of bread. Moses bit into one of them and tossed the other. "Catch."

Cassius raised his hand and caught the white bread.

"The bread here is really good, much finer than in Oak City. Try it." Moses walked up to Cassius.

"I'm not going to eat it now. I'll save it for later when I get hungry since I ate quite a bit in the canteen this morning." Cassius said, feeling slightly guilty.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

But then it struck him that he hadn't revealed Moses's breakthrough to pugilist. Why should he feel guilty? Lance and Moses just need him not to tell the other party about their respective breakthroughs. Wasn’t he doing exactly that?

With that in mind, he felt cheerful. Cassius glanced at Lance on his left and then at Moses on his right. He was suddenly hit with an indescribable feeling. The two thought their breakthroughs would absolutely crush the other, but instead, they were evenly matched. What a sight it would be if these two, who had been doing their utmost to keep their strengths under wraps, ended up drawing lots against each other in the exchange tournament.

A few minutes later, three black carriages drove up the road from the distance. Everyone jostled into the carriages, and soon they started picking up speed along the road. The carriages formed a black line toward the Verdes Manor.