142 First Round of the Group Category

'How is this possible...? I was sure that I had seen his cultivation only at the peak of the Master Realm. I knew it was that cultivation base...' The young man had thought as he had himself drowned from the pressure Lucas was exuding.

'But why can't I move?! This is too absurd... He should not be able to overpower me, as I am already near the General Spirit Realm!'

Lucas, on the other hand, had chuckled, looking at the young man. As this young man had lowered his level, almost kneeling from the pressure, Lucas also lowered his body to his level.

"What? Can't believe it? I am just letting everyone go with their mouths since it is not much bothering. But playing like a damaged picture-motion treasure, on and on, repeating it endlessly, how should I remain unbothered?"

Everyone was still under the pressure. However, it all ended as, in the next second, someone arrived.

"Lucas, stop that."

Lucas grinned as he heard a familiar voice. Then suddenly, all the heavy air in the surrounding disappeared, giving them the time to breathe.

Lucas turned his back to the young man and faced the person that had arrived.

"I greet the Patriarch." Lucas lowered his head to make the gesture.

Everyone followed, but they were restless; they were only able to lower their heads a little.

"I am sorry if I had put them in this state, Patriarch. But I think they only deserve it." Lucas uttered like it was nothing for him, which made the young man insulted and pushed himself to speak.

"D-Deserve?! You d-don't even deserve our respect!" The young man exclaimed.

With that, Lucas took a pause then turned only his head to the young man.

"What was his name, Patriarch?"

Wilford was only silent as he eyed the young man as well. Then, afterward, he let out a sigh, revealing the name of this young man.

"He is Nathan Yue. Grandson of Sect Elder Yue." Wilford said.

Lucas's eyes widened in intrigue as he had an idea pop into his mind.

"That sect elder who also dared to question me? How? How did he raise this maggot? I mean, not being offensive, but how come he didn't warn him about me?" Lucas said.

'Warn? Why would my grandfather warn me about him?' Nathan Yue thought, trying to remember what his grandfather's words had left on him.

'That?' As soon as he remembered something, his body began to numb again as fear completely overwhelmed his system.

'Grandfather had told me to not provoke someone, but he had no chance to tell me who it was, as at the time he was about to say it, I suddenly shut him off.'

Because of a small argument they had, Nathan had no chance to listen completely to what his grandfather was about to mention. Because of that, he had put himself in this situation and even brought others.

It was his guilt telling him to completely kneel and ask for forgiveness. If it was something like this, it would be easy to think reasonably as fear would rush through your mind. However, truth be told, human nature is such a complex structure that no one can easily play it. Unless they are psychopaths.

"Ah... Then, he must be thinking that he had a chance of defeating my authority." Lucas muttered that surprised Nathan.

"Nevermind, it is nothing. I just have to prove myself, then." Lucas continued and glanced back at the participants of their sect.

"You all will listen to me. Whether you like it or not, so... to prove my power, I had already done it. Now we'll get to my leadership...Okay?" Lucas grinned and disappeared from their sight.

Wilford could only shake his head as he began to find the situation rather funny. It is not as devastating as it seems. To be considered, it is a lesson for the disciples to let their minds be reasonable and block their egos and pride.

Even with how the sect teaches them about being humble, real situations would still be useful as a lesson for them. To completely immerse them in the depths of their minds

"I apologize for the actions of Lucas. Just let him be, he isn't that bad. After all, he didn't meet you because of his seclusion training." Wilford said to the other participants and left them.

As Wilford finally left, everyone breathed out. Different sentiments surfaced as they felt that Wilford and Lucas were as close as they could be, close enough to consider Lucas as the second patriarch of the sect.

Was it absurd to think of it? It is, but for them to have witnessed how Lucas handled things, they should learn from him.

Lucas let them spout their mouths but made them realize that he was also a human that had patience. If reduced to a smaller scale, they would tend to snap off. However, Lucas was different. Instead of enjoying himself with the power of disciplining them, he would become reasonable and teach them an important lesson.

Important lesson? What is it? Well, it is just to be practical and don't let your ego run over your reasoning. Lucas always does that as well. That is why, instead of acting aggressively, he would observe them first before thinking about how to act about it.

***

Pearl had been r*ped. Unwillingly, her virginity was lost to some elder in their sect. She could not fight; she couldn't even tell anyone, as fear had already swallowed all of her confidence.

For plenty of hours, she's been frozen in one place. Even though she persuaded herself to move, she was still lifeless and would just think to let go of the idea of it. However, it was hard.

That is why, the following days, Pearl was only silent and didn't communicate with anyone. She wanted to tell others, but fear of being doubted swallowed her.

How can she fight for her rights if she can't even prove that one? And as for her mental health, it was also damaged.

"Disciple Pearl, Sect Elder Long was looking for you."

Just as she heard it, she screamed in panic. The one who called her was surprised and dumbfounded about what to do. She acted like that out of nowhere.

"What's wrong with her?" asked the disciple who called her.

After that, no one tried to talk to Pearl. She isolated herself from others. Even though she followed them, she was only doing it to do what she thought was better for her—moving on.

The competition had started, and she was part of the group category. She was also one of the promising participants. Even though she wasn't talking well, she was still included to add prowess to their team.

It will be a team fight. A brawl, to be precise, with 100 sects divided into three categories: lower, middle, and upper sects. They were the sects that had passed through the preliminaries.

With 15 participants in every sect, their goal is to defeat another by putting all of them down. However, as it may be possible that two sects would target one sect, only the higher number of participants put down among the two would get the point.

After an hour of preparation, the fight began. They were in some open field, as wide as a flattened mountain. Crowds were cheering just before the screen.

There were also plenty of participants, as it is to be expected, but for Pearl, they were nothing... She was as if she had been totally isolated and the moment the fight started, she attacked anyone she could see, even her teammates.

They tried to make Pearl calm, but it ended up with them hurting themselves, so they let Pearl go and used it as another opportunity for their team.

As she continued rampaging, Pearl's teammates would also clean up the other members of the sect she attacked. And using the opportunity, they made a good score.

Meanwhile, in Lucas's team, he was observing things from afar. He made his group hide in some areas of the wide field to have a proper plan.

"We are all 15, and it is a huge number to put down. However, I must say that I won't let that happen. I would let you enjoy it, so..." st as Lucas said, he cast some spell that they thought were an array formation.

Their bodies were coated with light particles, and as they looked at them, they couldn't help but be fascinated.

"What is this, Senior Brother Wei?" one asked.

"That is a protective coating. That would at least protect you from being hurt, so you won't be put down no matter how strong their techniques are."

The whole field has a grand array formation that negates any lethal attacks, that is why the techniques used are limited. Their powers are weakened so they won't kill any participant accidentally.

And just as after Lucas explained the coating to them, he started talking about the plan.

"We scatter, target the lower sects, and score. That is the plan. As you don't have to worry about your defense because of the coating, we must have the highest score in this round. Did you get it?"

"Yes, Senior Brother."

Thankfully, they seem to be cooperative with him.