Seeing the girls from the sect be amazed at every thing the Lord of the Twin Sword Valley did, one of the two guys who were indirectly related to Iris, snorted from afar.
"Of course, it’s easy to show off when you only have to deal with enemies below the Transcending realms", he said to then clench his right fist before punching the right shoulder of the rock golem that was charging at him.
As a direct descendant from a though collateral, still main branch, he naturally has tempered his body with expensive resources, so when dealing with an opponent of the sa realm, he had confidence in his physical strength.
"Crack!", and as he expected, his fist broke through the shoulder of the rock golem, which made its farm fall to the ground, turning into a pile of debris the next second, he then turned to see Aster with a defiant triumphant smile on his face.
However, his triumphant smile didn’t last for even a second, as the pile of debris which had fell from the golem before, trembled to then be absorbed back into the golem’s body, resulting in not only its arm growing back, but also the golem’s size to increase, the thing went from being at the early stage of the Mortal Transcending realm like its opponent, to the middle stage of it.
"What... aghhh!", the red-haired guy who was in shock for a fraction of a second, couldn’t react on ti and was punched into the distance by the golem, the area around his shoulder ended up bruised and he lost mobility of his arm, but that’s not what hurt him the most, but Aster who casually said.
"I’ll repeat is as many tis as needed until you engrave it in your minds, never get distracted in the battlefield, don’t lose sight of your enemy until you have made sure that life has abandoned their eyes".
"Mm!", the young disciples nodded in unison, this is the most basic lesson and the one in which Aster puts the most focus in, of course there are advanced usages for it, for example right now he was talking to those curious girls, which appeared to be an opening for the golem that was attacking him, as the large rock fist which was coming at his left shoulder from behind, suggested.
"Once you have masted that, it’s easy to do things like this", said Aster as he slightly tilted his body sidewards, to then turn around and tap the remaining arm of the golem.
"Boooom!", the thing instantly lit up in a dim golden light to then crumble apart, but Aster wasn’t finished, he jumped and then kicked the golem’s side, around the area where the kidney would be if it was a human.
The result was that the thing lit up in golden light, to then turn into dust that was absorbed by the road, that was the first golem that was defeated, which made Wade grit his teeth, he was fighting three of them at the sa ti and hasn’t been able to destroy even an arm.
But right now, that’s not what he should be focusing on, but the fact that he noticed Aster using spirit energy, that was the origin of that golden glow.
’It was barely noticeable, but when they attacked the ghosts at the previous trial, I could sowhat tell they were benefitting from it, though I was unable to realize in what aspect, until the rewards were issued at the end but now, there was nothing, is it because that guy used spirit energy?’, wondered Wade.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense for him, since Aster dealt with the enemy way too easily, which for him ant that he wasn’t fulfilling the conditions for the trial, but only dealing with the enemies.
’Yeah, that must be it, they only repelled the ghosts and were rewarded for it, but we actually damaged their clothes when attacking them the wrong way’, concluded Wade.
His reasoning was completely understandable and that was a logical outco... because Aster made it so it looked that way for the enemies.
Though it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that the young disciples would have sparks in their eyes, just by being greeted by Aster, as he is their idol, earlier, let alone the senior disciples but even the elders reacted that way.
Because for them, it wasn’t Aster just clashing fists with the golem, he made it so they could feel the flow of his spirit energy which moved through his arm and made contact with the golem’s hand at the exact mont the fists collided.
The result was that the impact from the golem’s punch was instantly cancelled, but that wasn’t all, Aster’s spirit energy then invaded the arm of the golem and forced its way through the rock until it reached the shoulder, the spirit energy had no offensive power, it just travelled through the arm of the golem.
And just by doing that, the arm crumbled apart for the good, Aster didn’t really attack the golem, it just seed that way for others, what he did was an exquisite example of spirit energy manipulation and he did it in a fraction of a second, making it look as if he simply physically brawled with the golem.
’I’m pretty sure so of you have noticed it already, this trial is the energy one and it consists in four aspects, timing, mobilization, detection and application’, said Aster, which made the eyes of the girls from the sect glow for a second.
’So long as they land as intended, the attacks from the golem will overpower you physically regardless of your realm; to prevent being sent flying, you need to ti your spirit energy to make contact with the golem’s attack at the exact sa mont as you clash with it’.
’Mobilization consists in injecting spirit energy through the part of the body with which the golem attacked you attacked you, you’ll be able to tell the route to take after either getting punched by the golem once or if you nullified the attack like I explained before, however be aware that the first thod will make you lose mobility of one of your limbs for the ti being, and it will also increase the resistance your spirit energy will face’.
’For detection, if you focus on the mont the golems attack, you’ll be able to feel three rice sized particles of spirit energy within its body, they are constantly moving so you have to detect them and then touch the area where they reside in that mont with your spirit energy’.
’Application is basically a "test" in which you have to use the three aspects in the order I ntioned them at the sa ti, which will result in the golem being defeated, of course the difficulty will increase according to the realm of the one facing the golem’, said Aster to then add.
’Application it’s the "perfect" solution for the trial, but you can get a passing grade by fulfilling just one of the four aspects of the trial, the easiest is detecting those rice sized particles of spirit energy, they first appear around the areas were the golem attacks you and then start moving’.
’The golems will only disappear if you get the perfect solution, otherwise you’ll have to fight them for fifteen minutes if you solve one of the basic aspects, or half an hour if you don’t’, he concluded.
It’s worth ntioning that Aster learned all this only right now, it was a "privilege" he gained because he fulfilled all the conditions for the trial, thus getting a perfect score, as to how he knew he had to match his spirit energy with the impact of the golem’s attack, he didn’t, Aster felt the spirit energy travelling through the arm of the golem as he punched in his direction, so he did the sa.
Because the spirit energy wasn’t moving in a way to be used for a technique, the golem was simply circulating it, similar to what happens when one ditates, in other words it wasn’t being used as an attack, so Aster thought that was the condition for this trial and it turned out to be correct.
In other words, he took the duty to dig in for intel about the trial, for the sake of his team, despite not knowing anything about it, unlike the soul trial and that worked as motivation for the girls of the sect.
Seeing those girls who were all fired up after his explanation, Aster chuckled to then say.
’Just to remind you, but there will be no special reward this ti around, it’s just a normal trial’, naturally that made a few of the girls who had cultivated energy and body, pout, but that was solved by Aster adding.
’However it’s a good way to train your mastery over spirit energy, so I will reward the first ten that succeed in at least two of the three basic aspects, rember to only use spirit energ...’, he hadn’t finished speaking, when the senior disciples pounced onto the golems like fierce predators.
"That’s not fair, senior sisters!", exclaid the younger disciples as they followed right away, and since they wanted to follow the order Aster ntioned, they kept dodging the punches of the golems, as they got used to the speed at which they moved spirit energy through their arms in order to achieve the timing condition.
Aster then looked at the remaining people, who were the ones that weren’t going to participate, and the small group to whom he didn’t explain things earlier, which was basically Cayden’s group.
"I wondered why you asked to not include you in the conversation earlier, but it seems like you really had no need for assistance this ti", he said as he gazed at Cayden’s girlfriend for a second.
"Brother Aster has quite the eye for people, Sandra has the sharpest spirit sense in our range of age at the Wanderer sect, so we’ll give it a try on our own this ti", said Cayden as he nodded.
His group followed up Aster’s instructions at the soul trial without complaining, because Cayden told them to do so, which led to the soul cultivators among them to enjoy the special reward.
But this ti they wanted to try and do it by themselves, there was no special reward so they had nothing to lose, and apparently Sandra, in other words Cayden’s girlfriend was quite talented in terms of the energy path, so it’s not like they had no one to guide them.
It’s worth ntioning that everyone in Aster’s close group was taking part in the trial, since even the only two that didn’t cultivate in the energy path among them, naly Felicia and Tiana, could manipulate spirit energy thanks to their constitutions, so they could participate as well.
Well, everyone but the little wyrm who was complaining about having to remain hidden even as of current.
’Hissss’, she hissed with a downcast expression and teary eyes, which made Aster bitterly smile, to then say.
’Ahem, if you remain camouflaged and in contact with at all tis, you can participate without others seeing you, so don’t look at like that’.
’Hissss~’, the little wyrm imdiately changed her expression to one of happiness as she ca out of the beast space, to then cutely coil around Aster’s arm, in her smallest form she could perfectly hide herself within Aster’s sleeve, and since the trial only required energy to clash, Aster could make contact with the golem and the little wyrm only had to sent her spirit energy the way she needed to fulfill the conditions of the trial.
Of course, if she failed to do so, the one that will receive the penalty will be Aster, which is why the little wyrm had a rare serious expression on her face as of current.
Speaking of cute spirit beasts, to no one from Aster close one’s surprise, there was one girl that imdiately defeated a golem, like he did, the grumpy ligress girl Mira, just after entering the battlefield she charged at five golems at the sa ti, and perfectly defended against the attacks of all them at the sa ti.
"Humph!", Mira’s pretty right hand ford a fist with which she countered the punches of all the golems with fractions of a second of difference, she then went for the first golem that attacked her, resulting in the right arm of the golem freezing on the spot before it crumbled apart.
The ligress girl then flashed from where she was standing and punched the golem three tis, making it completely crumble into a pile of debris that was then absorbed into the ground.
Aster did it separately for the sake of explaining the girls about it, but the detection aspect and the final test which is application can be done at the sa ti, if one is skilled enough in terms of energy manipulation.
And the absolute number one in Aster’s group when it cos to that is of course the ligress girl, after all she is a hybrid between a spirit elent and a spirit beast, a miraculous kind of existence with a limitless talent for the energy path.
So, it wasn’t long before Mira has made more than ten golems crumble apart, all on her own, but then she had to deal with an even more troubleso "enemy", a black-haired dragon youth who defeated three golems while flying towards her, one which only lost an arm, which might lead most to think that even Aster can deal with many golems at once.
But Mira whose spirit beast part is in an unofficial contract with Aster, could tell that golem which only lost an arm, was the result of a certain little wyrm which was hidden in Aster’s sleeve.
"Even if I was the one that told you to interact with that little girl for the sake of the contract, I think this is a bit too much", said the ligress girl, since Aster had the little wyrm who is counted as an energy path cultivators, more golems were bound to be drawn towards him, to which Aster shrugged in response.
"She wanted to co out and this is the only trial she can participate without having to openly appear, so I couldn’t bring myself to deny her request, but enough of that, I actually wanted to ask you if these guys are not a race "native" from your place of origin", he said, making the ligress girl frown for a second.
She also had her doubts, because though they were being openly considered "golems", their true identity was a mass of spirit energy which was possessing those rocks, in other words, they weren’t dolls with pre-set instructions engraved into them through runes, but living beings.
Though they seed to lack proper wisdom, as they couldn’t communicate, both Aster and Mira had seen the aggloration of earth spirit energy which abandoned the piles of debris that resulted after one of them crumbled apart.
"I... don’t think so, they don’t feel like that green haired woman that lives within that little girl, nor are they hybrids like , if you were to ask , I would say they are not like us but more like a minor race that shares so similarities with us", said the ligress girl to then add.
"The problem is that such a thing shouldn’t be impossible, though spirit elents can produce offspring without any trouble, first generation elents are manifestations of nature, they are born thanks to the intervention of the heavenly law and that is a territory outside of anyone’s possibility".
"And these guys only have one single energy firm which is the exact sa for all of them, which if they were first generation spirit elents, it would an that hundreds if not thousands of them were created at the sa ti, I have heard of twin elents or even triplets even but more than that is highly unlikely to have happened naturally", she concluded.
"Those two also said they didn’t recognize the ghosts that attacked us before, and now a race that resembles spirit elents on a lower grade, this mission keeps getting more interesting with each second", jokingly said Aster, which made the ligress girl unconsciously laugh, a "mistake" she realized she committed a second later.
"Grrrr!", seeing Aster giving her a teasing smile, the ligress girl softly growled to then rush into the distance to vent her anger on the golems, making Aster chuckle at her.
Leaving the cute ligress aside, Aster who was supervising the battlefield, felt Wade’s bloodthirsty gaze on his back, at this mont, his side had taken out a total of zero golems.
Though a couple of people had managed to destroy one of their arms for the good, they didn’t know how it happened, they simply bombarded the golem with punches, kicks and energy attacks as well, and so succeeded at making an arm or a leg crumble apart.
But the golems kept fighting them even after that, which caused Wade a headache, as he realized this wasn’t the body trial, but the energy one.
’How, how did that bastard know this wasn’t the body trial when those things are only attacking us with punches and kicks, and how the hell did he and that white haired woman completely defeat the golems with such ease, damn it!’, he cursed to his insides.
After one of the participants on his side, destroyed the arm of a golem with a rain of energy attacks, it beca obvious that this wasn’t the body trial, which made quite a few people complain, since it was Wade the one that affird the contrary.
And then, they saw Aster completely defeating a golem, which might still be excused by saying that he was dealing with a golem below the Transcending realms, but then followed Mira who casually dealt with a dozen of them at the sa ti, and she is a Sea of Knowledge realm cultivator.
In fact, even the Genesis Manifestation elders from the Myriad Occupation sect that were participating, were in perfect conditions, a few had managed to destroy an arm from the golems, while around half of the Genesis Manifestation cultivators from Wade’s side had already lost mobility of one of their arms due to the golems.
So now, there were groups that were unconvinced with Wade’s lead, saying that he took the wrong decision, of course they only dared to show their displease with glares and so rambling here and there, but that was enough for Wade to have a headache.
’Useless bastards, they complain as if they had contributed in so way to the group, when they don’t dare to take decisions by themselves out of fear for critique’, thought the Cascade young Lord.
In his anger, he unconsciously punched in the direction of a golem which was attacking him, resulting in their fists clashing, which made Wade return to the real world as he thought he had screwed up, but then, he wasn’t sent flying on the spot.
He wanted to laugh out loud for a second, in a mont of sheer luck he actually learned how to pass this trial, but then his happiness was replaced with indignation followed by anger as he realized that... he gained nothing from it.
Though he couldn’t confirm it, Wade was sure that the girls from the sect who participated in the soul trial, were being benefitted in so way during the trial, it was really hard to notice it, but he is also a soul cultivator, so he could sowhat tell that they were changing during the trial.
He didn’t know in which aspect since his soul sense was blocked by trial, so that he couldn’t spy on them, hence why he didn’t know that they were basically progressing in their soul energy condensation ability more than three tis faster than even those considered "geniuses" would, but he still knew they gained sothing.
So now, when he accidentally succeeded in properly clearing the conditions of the trial, in the way he should have, but still didn’t gain anything, he couldn’t help but think that this was a non-rewarding effort and if that was the case, well, let’s say he and the other two forces that acted as leaders, will be in for a rain of trash.
Because they even made it so that so had to "voluntarily" stay out of the trial, which created friction within the vast majority of groups, as their leaders showed who they favored in the open, there was no room for misinterpretation, as the reward for the participants of the trial was proven to be an increase in cultivation.
And at this exact mont, Wade felt a mocking gaze on him, so he turned out in the direction from which it ca, and was welcod with the sight of Aster smirking at him.
’That fucking bastard!!!’, the result was that Wade saw red, he had to force himself to calm down three tis in a row, before his anger subsided, he was a second away from ordering an all-out attack on Aster, but managed to return from there to "calmness".
He turned away and saw the wounded increasing, since the golems were beating them up, and directly shouted.
"Blast those damn things away with wide area energy attacks!".
Naturally the order caused confusion on his side, since they were told this was the body trial, but then Wade’s next words convinced them instantly.
"There is no damn reward for this trial, we’ll only tire ourselves out for nothing".
"What!!!", incensed screams followed by various energy explosions, followed right after Wade’s words, all this under Aster’s amused eyes.
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