Chapter 123: Mài Stone & Strength

"You seem to have a very good future ahead of you. Why don't you join us?"

The prideful feminine voice disrupted the excitement shared by the trio. An looked over her shoulder and saw a woman in her early forties with an arrogant smug plastered on her face. The immense repulsion An felt from that face made her remember many painful memories. Contrary to what the woman had expected, An ignored the woman like she was nothing. The woman began to rage up, but instantly calmed down as she remembered that she is the person in want, and the fake smile came back upon her face.

"My name is Chu Hua, the current sect leader of Moon Water Sect. We stand as a beacon for the betterment of women's lives. Join us and grow stronger. Make others be afraid of you. Let yourself be aware of-"

"Stop!"

*hushed gasps*

The enticing speech of the Moon Water Sect Leader had brought many prodigious women to their side. Those that went with her had later turned into a sleeper cell for their doctrines to spread vast and wide. While indoctrinating the superiority of women, they passively stamped on masculinity. Their higher rate of realm advancement after joining the sect attracted many women. A few men also joined them after abiding to their conditions. If it is about achieving strength, some would sacrifice their testicles!

"I do not know you, and we have never met before. Please leave me alone."

An gave a firm statement and politely declined her. The crowd around her was astonished. They inwardly felt pity for the genius girl who declined, and talked firm to the Moon Water Sect leader. Lee saw this, but he could not intervene, as it was his chance to go up the stage and test strength. As Lee walked to the stage, An smiled at him and gave a warm smile. Mia and Tera were also excited. Chu Hua saw this and made a rude remark.

"Don't tell me that this puny man is your friend. He is a pathetic weakling, and is evidently visible from his being!"

Several Moon Water Sect disciples were standing behind Chu Hua, and they agreed and laughed out loud. The crowd and those who came to test, also underestimated Lee from his attire. He did not mind what happened till now, and ascended the stairs.

"Ladies, see how a pathetic young man wet behind his ears, is going to embarrass himself!"

Chu Hua raised her voice and spoke to the disciples. A proud and arrogant smug appeared on their faces. They stared at Lee, just like how the Long Sect disciples were staring at him from a distance.

[Don't mind that jealous bitch, and I have some interesting facts to tell. Did I not mention the pulsating behaviour of the Mài Stone? I think that EsGen might be able to extract Essence from it!]

'What? Really?!'

[It is a guess I arrived at, after considering and comparing the behaviours of both EsGen and Mài Stone. According to my calculations, it should work! But you will have to acquire quite a mass of Mài Stone for successful experimenting.]

'Will a fistful be enough?'

[Dream on, boy. It's Mài Stone we are talking about. But, I won't discourage. Try your best.]

'Then let's get some stone!'

Lee slowly walked to the stone so as to adjust his conversation with D. Chu Hua continuously spewed out mocking and discouraging words and tried to dishearten An's belief in Lee, so that the prodigy would feel helpless and join the sect. For a leader, she was as cunning as a fox, and as lethal as poison.

Many pairs of eyes judged Lee, who felt their piercing stares. He stood before the stone, an arm length from it. He was about to take out his blade from the Inventory, when he saw the Iron Shadow Clan elders approaching An. The ill intent stares of surrounding men at Mia, An and Tera made him realise that he needs to do something to make them aware of his presence.

*CRACK*

Unexpected noise was unfolded on the stage, and everyone paused their actions and turned their heads. Chu Hua went pale and took a step back at the sight. The cultivators who underestimated Lee as a novice were wonderstruck. Those standing in the queue rubbed their eyes in awe. Tera and Mia were assured by An, that Lee would be able to score higher. But they never expected Lee to punch a hole in it. The stone at close range had his hand embedded into the stone to the elbow!

Standing a foot away, Lee punched the stone with all his strength. An insane amount of 19000 Mana was used to cover his right arm as it went into the stone like butter. This feat was due to the immense amount of Mana he used, and the purity of the Mana produced by the system. Yet it gave his hand numbness so intense that Lee felt his right forearm frozen and immovable. After a dozen seconds, Lee pulled his hand out. The unscathed hand slowly got exposed to the daylight as it slowly came out. As soon as he pulled his clenched fist out, slight cracks spreaded around the hole. Lee raised his fist and brought it in front of his chest and opened it. His palm opened up towards his face, and crumbled Mài Stone dust fell from his grip.

[Congratulations Lee. It's a win-win situation. I carved out a 3x3 metres of Mài Stone from the inside of it and placed it inside the storage. EsGen produced 12 Essence in the first second. So I estimate that about 43200 Essence to be produced from this stone alone!]

A grin crept up Lee's face as he was still staring at the palm. The crowd went pin-drop silence and witnessed this anomaly. Lee glanced at the spectators through the corners of his eyes and then turned his torso towards them. His eyes scanned over the presumptuous clan heads and sect leaders that wanted to rope An into their establishment. His eyes gave a glare that unconsciously made them take a step back.

"Score 143!"

'Damn! It is indeed a win-win!'

Lee descended the steps with a proud smirk plastered on his face. The crowd automatically gave way to pass and he reached near his companions unhindered. Mia couldn't believe her ears and repeatedly glanced at him and the display. The man who shouted out the score had already fled the spot, and was running towards the Cultivator's Guild. The crowd temporarily, and completely forgot about the strength testing, and peered at Lee with utter amazement.

"This is my wife, this is my sister, and this is the sister of someone you should never mess with!"

Lee said as he pointed at An, Mia and Tera respectively. The crowd immediately moved away from the trio with a tinge of fear. As the ladies saw this, Lee walked towards Gauthama and Ruella. The trio promptly followed him and approached them.

"You are full of surprises, brother."

Gauthama commented on the unbelievable strength exhibition. He smiled at Lee and congratulated the trio next to him with joy.

"Since you all got your strength tested, let us go to the sect arena. Lee might not get an appropriate opponent, because I saw the man who stood next to the meter running out through the gate. So let us not stand here."

Ruella nodded in response and others agreed in response. Together, they walked towards the sect arena.

The Typhoon Sect stood in a vast amount of land. The path to the sect from the gate was almost three hundred metres long and a complex of buildings waited at the other end. The disciples quarters were beginning to be visible on both sides of the path, after they covered half of its length. Male and female disciples had their rooms separated by the wide and long path running to the main complex.

The sect's main building had two partitions, the core and the inner. The inner disciples are only admitted till the inner part, while the core disciples can have limited access even till the elder's assembly room. The strict hierarchy made many fall out in their journey, while many took it as a challenge. Those who strived and worked hard earnestly became core disciples and got many privileges.

At the front of the main building, a large elevated platform can be seen. At the first glance, they saw and understood that it was the arena. Two sides of the arena had seats arranged, which were meant to be seated by the contestants. The pre-registered contestants had their names written on the seats, while the unnamed ones were for those arriving on the day of the match. Lee, An, Mia and Tera took seats in the last row. Gauthama and Ruella went to the area which was specially dedicated for the spectators and found front row seats there. Lee asked D to scan the entire sect and to sketch out the it's blueprint. For the next 20 minutes, Lee observed his surroundings, as the contestants, both registered and unregistered, came walking in and found seats.

=====

10 A.M.

50365 Essence harvested.

=====

The notification came up and Lee unconsciously glanced at the gate. The crowd was squeezing inside after paying the fee. As time went by, the crowd increased to a great amount, as well as the count of seated contestants. Long Sect, Moon Water Sect and Iron Shadow Clan took seats at the respective positions, but their eyes regularly glanced at Lee. The disciples glanced at him and the trio next to him. The ladies did feel the stares, and Mia almost unsheathed her sword in annoyance, but Tera restricted her. She gave advice not to do anything reckless, or they will be thrown out of the sect, without refund!

*Gonggg...*

A sonancy followed by a long hum originated from the sect building and the host of the tournament descended on the arena. He solidified his footing and turned around as he skimmed over the faces of the contestants and the spectators.

"We thank you for joining us today in this Tri-annual Tournament. The Cultivator's Guild president has not arrived yet, and I thank you all on his and the Guild's behalf. Without any further ado, the preliminary rounds will be started. Bets can be placed, and no kinds of cheating are allowed in the matches. The contestant wins when the opponent is knocked out or admits defeat. Any weapon of choice is allowed, except those which can cause trouble to the spectators. Excessive use of affinity will also be restricted if those beyond the arena are affected by it. I will personally referee the matches. Hope I have made the rules clear."

Turning around, the Typhoon Clan head descended the arena using the steps. He went to the host seat, near to which the Cultivator's Guild president seat was situated. It was vacant, but the matches were scheduled to start by 10, and so it would start. Without any delay, the first pair of contestants were called on the stage.

"Tera, Park Minzhe."

The contestants were called for the match from the weakest to the strongest. Thus it became clear that she may or may not be the least powerful person among the contestants. Mia and An assured her and wished her luck, while Lee gave a confident smile. She rose up from her seat and walked towards the arena. As she reached on stage, a relatively larger frame rose up from the contestants. Tera literally heard her heart increasing the pace as she caught the sight of her opponent!