Chapter 880: The second day of the evaluation trial (part 33)

Aster’s direct answer and his "careless" attitude almost made the feather masked woman’s "gentle" front crumble, not because she felt anger as a fellow woman, due to the imaginary scenario that Aster had crafted to fish some trash, but because she and her teammates had obviously caught the "attention" of Aster.

’This low bastard, how dare you leer at us with those filthy eyes!’, she screamed to her insides, but still kept a calm front.

The reason as to why the brick pattern masked guy was wary of their group is simple, those women are not from a low upper ranked background, they are actually from a high upper ranked background, but are hiding their true selves.

Though it is also true that while coming from such a place, even the one leading them is not someone with an actual high position, but someone in the middle.

’Calm down, this is a heaven-sent opportunity, now that the group of that bitch is dead, a position as a dao disciple is free, if I play my cards right, I can take it over, after all only me and my subordinates are left from the sect, this fool will be my stepping stone just like how my "dear" senior sister was’, she thought, to which Aster inwardly chuckled.

’Well, our ally can’t blame me for being unable to control this unruly dragon instincts of mine, not like I needed any special innate ability to know that she is trash’, he thought.

Lies and deceit are useless in front of Aster, especially if the other party is a woman, since his dragon lineage joins hands with that dangerous mind of his, so at this point Aster had pretty much guessed to what kind of background did that feather masked woman belonged.

It was one of the two possible branches from the kind of force that terrified that guy who led the mercenary group to which James was a part of before, in other words a female exclusive force.

Just like in the heavenly quadrants, two ideologies dominate such kinds of places, first there are those who simply don’t wish or put any importance to find a companion, in such cases their standing towards men mostly depend in the fundamentals of their sect or force.

If the idea is abandoning such ties in order to focus in strength, or if they opt to not have intimate contact with the opposite gender because of the manuals they cultivate, then their attitude towards men is neutral, a bit negative at most since those with yin type constitutions or lineages do tend up to gather in these kinds of places, meaning that outstanding beauties are abundant.

They only take aggressive stances, if the fundamental of their sect or force is to create a safe place for those girls who... had suffered at the hands of others, in any way or whatsoever, whether they were related or not, so long as they are women, they will stand up for them.

But while their view of men might be negative since in most cases there is unrequited obsession as it can’t be called love, or simply disgusting lust is involved in a lot of tragedies, they still can tell right from wrong, it’s just that once you are considered an enemy, they will chase you to the depths of hell and make sure you pay for your deeds.

That’s why some of the mercenaries confused Vivian and the others as members of such a force, they are considered crazy and are not to be trifled with, in fact most prefer to avoid them, after all people who have nothing to hide are really not common in the cultivation world.

And then, just like in the four heavenly quadrants, there is the other ideology, which is to use beauty as a weapon to take advantage of others, this type doesn’t only belong to female exclusive forces though, you can find it in dual cultivation sects as well.

Their stance towards men has nothing to do with fundamentals or anything of the like, it’s just that they are easier to manipulate by them than fellow women, still they are masters at passing up as friends, feigning to be close to their target, tricking them out of till the last drop of their blood, without them noticing.

’Luckily, I had seen a couple of crown princesses even if from afar before, otherwise I would have been enthralled by those crazy bitches from the Divine Jade Feather sect, like those three fools’, thought the brick pattern masked guy.

His camp happened to be close to the one of those women, and since they didn’t fall for their "charm", and were from a sect only one notch below theirs, which means that castle’s group comes from a middle upper ranked background instead of a low upper ranked one as they should, given that they are sitting at this table, so they are also hiding their true strength, cooperation was possible.

They were to bring prey for those women from the divine jade feather sect, in this case Aster, as well as sucker 1 and sucker 2.

"I see, little brother golden sword is amazing, we had trouble understanding the beliefs so we hadn’t stablished ours yet, we are thankful for your kind guide", said swan as she looked at her team members in secret.

"Sister swan is right, thanks to brother golden sword we might be able to properly stablish our belief, please accept this little bow form us~", said those girls in unison, one had to give it to them, if their disgusting real nature wasn’t outright obvious for Aster, they would really be able to pass as good girls.

"Hahaha, no worries, meeting sister swan and you little sisters here must be fate, so if you have any other questions, feel free to ask me", said Aster which made sucker 1 and 2, grit their teeth to their insides, he changed from "miss swan" to "sister swan", as if he had gotten closer to them.

Of course, Aster did it on purpose, it was as if he was claiming a "reward" for having answered their questions when others would have hesitated to do so, and the reason for this was none other than inciting sucker 1 and 2, as well as others to start speaking about their respective beliefs, and it worked like a charm.

"Brother golden sword’s insights are quite "something", we had some trouble on our end thinking on how to get the better result, but ultimately I stablished that "resting is good for the body" and with that, my camp members can now do three times the activities they did before, this includes tasks or training of course, it’s a multipurpose belief that produces that strange energy to revitalize us whenever we take a break", said sucker number 1.

"Oh, I had a similar idea as brother deer, my belief was that "effort brings good results", it works in a similar put opposite way, because it’s not limited to anything in specific, so long as it involves "effort" then that energy comes to help us achieve a better result than what we would have had by ourselves, still brother golden sword is quite amazing having absolute authority within your camp is something that only those guys at the top and high grade tables might normally achieve", added sucker 2.

Those were actually decently thought beliefs with potential, and the reason of it is simple, that deer horn masked guy and his friend with the wood pattern one, alongside that girl with the flame patter mask, are the actual top three of the table, is we don’t count those girls from the divine jade feather sect and the brick pattern masked guy, who come from forces above the supposed level of this table.

In other words, they are from low upper grade backgrounds, so they are not weak, unfortunately those two’s brains became smooth once those girls from the divine jade feather sect were involved so they instead started thinking with their "lower heads", and just like that they gave away their exact beliefs and how they worked.

’It will be only 7 pm once we leave this place, so there is still time to stablish beliefs, those two fool’s ones are "generic" but their effect is quite decent, I wonder what will happen after they get copied by others’, thought Aster who kept a carefree attitude, even after his belief was outshone by those two, because they "flattered him".

"Your beliefs are quite good too, it’s a shame that we can’t make peaceful visits to other camps, I bet I would be able to have a lot of "fun" in a camp were resting and putting effort in anything, is specially rewarding", said Aster as he looked at a couple of female members from those two’s camps, his intentions were rather obvious for everyone, and because of that no one took offense, because in their minds he was just a useless second generation blinded by lust.

Even those girls who where hinted at, rather than getting angry, smiled to themselves, getting a sucker that they could wrap around their fingers without having to do anything in especial, in this place where it was way easier to die, was a relief.

"Who knows, perhaps we’ll be able to meet in the outside after the second match, if we happen to end up fighting against the other, look after us brother golden sword~", said one of the girls from deer’s group, which would have made a certain wild dragon princess snap on the spot, had her tail not been caressed under the table while all this conversation was taking place.

"Sure, how could I bear to harm such pretty junior sisters, if we happen to meet, I promise I won’t raise a single finger against you", happily said Aster as he smirked behind his mask, Mylene and the other girls who could see each other’s real appearances, all thought the same.

’For someone that is the absolute opposite of what his looks would suggest, he surely is really good at playing as a piece of scum dual cultivator...’, they thought, with the exception of Alice, since everything that was in her mind right now was "Aster, Aster, Aster~" as she nestled her head against his chest and wrapped her invisible to external people, tail, around his body.

The conversation at the table took off after Aster and those two openly talked about their beliefs, inspiring others to do the same, which was one of Aster’s goal, so far he had fulfilled two of his three initial goals, he had set the front of being a useless second generation surrounded by capable beauties and he had set the mood for the group in which he had mixed himself into, to ease up and loosen their guards to share information with others.

It didn’t matter if it was directly with him or in his specific table, his and Mira’s ears were abnormally sharp and once the mood was set at Aster’s table, those that belonged to the same category followed after their example, so, for the next twenty or so minutes he heard quite a few interesting things.

That’s why Aster choose this group to mix in, it was the only one that mixed middle and upper level backgrounds, it was a bit of a shame that he was missing on the low ranked background intel, but those guys were extremely wary of others, because they were at the bottom of the hierarchy, so making them talk was not as easy as it was for those who considered themselves to be "above" the average, it was normal and Aster didn’t bother with wasting the precious first meeting at the warrior hall to make them openly share intel.

After all, a lot of those at the bottom will probably rise up after the second match, because there are a lot of overconfident fools present here, of course a lot would also be eliminated or reduced even to an even worse state as well.

Then you might wonder what the third goal which was yet to be fulfilled is, and that’s the one for which he chose such an "arrogant" name, after all rejection is normal if you try to mingle with a much more "popular" group to the one you belong to, but the same doesn’t apply if they are the ones reaching out to you.

"You, the guy with the tacky extremely detailed mask, you said you are "golden sword" right?", said a slim guy leading a winning group that wore "strange" masks, as in besides a single letter each, their masks were just blank white.

The letters were s, w, o, r, d, and the order was decided by hierarchy, so the guy leading them who was the one that just approached Aster’s table, was the one with the "s" letter mask, they came from a middle and high upper background table.

"That’s me, I don’t seem to know you, though I wouldn’t mind getting acquainted with that pretty junior sister with the "d" mask", said Aster as he caressed Alice’s face, others saw him caressing the mask, but everyone knew that in reality the masks just like traits that would directly reveal one’s identity, were nonexistent for members of the same group, so that guy knew he was flirting with Alice while talking to them.

"You bastard, how dare you talk to junior sister sword five like that!", exclaimed the guy with the "w" mask, namely the second in command of the group.

Apparently, their nicknames were also in order, they were sword one, sword two, sword three and so on, also there was only one girl among them and it was the younger one who also ranked at the "bottom", namely the one with the "d" mask who was nicknamed sword five.

’Ah this is so easy, that if I didn’t know better, I would think it was a trap’, thought Aster.

These guys didn’t randomly come to find trouble with him, Aster "selected" them for it, with the help of Cassandra’s intel, she recognized them because they are from the third ranked sword cultivation sect of the Rainbow Divine Empire, they were from the Rainbow Arsenal firmament, the same place from which the middle aged man Andre from her team came, more accurately.

The first and second ranked have changed places countless times before, they bested each other in different generations when a peerless genius appeared in their sects respectively, but the third ranked has always been the same, and after a quick gaze Cassandra didn’t find anyone from the current second ranked.

What’s more, the one she recognized from the first ranked sword cultivation force wasn’t their peerless genius, but one of their companions and he had joined another group, one of the top table, which means that something must have happened, either they were defeated and those that survived joined the other group, or they simply joined hands, because no group from the top table send their actual leaders, only seconds in command and other members of their groups were there, something they might regret in a moment.

The point is that, those guys at the third rank were extremely sensitive to "provocation", which is normal, that happens to people that have something to prove, and they who are from the firmament of the rainbow divine empire, which focuses in weapon wielding, namely the arsenal firmament, should have been the first place in terms of sword cultivation, but have been bested by the other two who come from the rainbow elemental and rainbow toxic firmaments, which is a disgrace in the eyes of the people from the rainbow arsenal firmament.

And that combined with the fact that the second place is not present in any way, and Aster’s "arrogant" nickname, were sure to draw those guy’s attention since they have been waiting for a chance to surpass the second ranked.

"Calm down sword two, we can’t fight here so there is no reason to get too agitated...", before sword one could "smooth" things over, which was just provocation since he obviously wasn’t scolding his fellow, Aster’s casual voice made him also nearly lose it on the spot.

"Even if that wasn’t the case I’m not interested in you guys, I only like to train with pretty sisters, so my "golden sword" is not meant to be used on boring guys like you, of course if little sister five wants to, she can stay and we can have a little talk about the sword, I have a free seat after all", he said, now you know why there was a free spot, well it is also true that Alice was not going to sit anywhere but on Aster’s lap right now, but the idea was to have it free for that girl in their group.

’This bastard!’, inwardly exclaimed sword one, normally sword cultivators have no eyes for anything that isn’t the sword, but they are all disciples of the same master, which means that the four of them were raised alongside their junior sister, and she is also the most talented female sword cultivator of the sect, in other words she is the ideal dao companion in their eyes, and the four of them naturally wanted her attention, and here was Aster openly flirting with her, if they hadn’t seen the blue flaming board punish those that tried to broke the rules, the four would have charged at Aster at the same time.

[Introduction time is over, the "Glorious Training Duels", will be open for participants to compete with each other, instead of direct conflict, efforts in their respective paths will be evaluated to decide a winner, once every participant has participated in a duel at least once, all will be classified in a ranking and the top ten will receive a special reward]

[Duels can be rejected but those that don’t participate in at least one before the next thirty minute period finishes, will be randomly put against those in the top hundred (the evaluation’s result will adapt to advancement and prowess in relation to actual realm, environment of precedence, gate and other aspects for the sake of fairness)]

Blue Sky obviously expected conflict to erupt when all participant were gathered here, and since battle wasn’t allowed, there had to be a way to solve disputes, and this was it, Aster didn’t know the specifics but he knew that the blue flaming board had a reason to gather them here.

’Leaving aside the fact that the blue flaming board is showing all other supervisors that whether they like it or not, their authority was overwritten by it, the original purpose of this place must have been to filter and find participants for something in specific, so this makes sense’, thought Aster.

"Heh that sounds interesting, I want to see who wins between those at the top table", said some people from other tables, but that was not important right now, because Aster’s plan was bearing fruit right now.

"I challenge you to a duel, do you have the guts to accept!", said sword two, to which Aster shrugged.

"Fine by me, but like I said, I prefer to hang around with pretty sisters, so let’s do it like this, I’ll duel each of you in order, from the fourth to the first, and if I win against you all, little sister five will stay at our table", said Aster, which nearly made sword one lash out on the spot, but he swallowed his words when Aster added.

"Do you have the guts to accept it?", and that was the drop that broke the camel’s back, sword two had drawn attention by rising his voice and with that provocation, if they didn’t accept, they’ll become the laughingstock.

’Damn it... no, there is no need to worry, that useless guy might defeat three and four, but two is on another level and even if by some miracle he gets past two, there is still me’.

"We accept, let’s go to the duel stage right now", said sword one, all this time none of those guys even asked that girl’s opinion about it by the way.

"Hey, isn’t it bad that someone from our table is messing with those guys, they are from a middle and high upper ranked one?", asked someone from a losing group, of Aster’s table, to which the woman with the fire pattern mask directly said.

"Nonsense, they came to look for trouble with our table in the first place, that golden sword guy might be annoying but he wasn’t messing directly with anyone".

"Miss blue flames is right, and in any case everyone has to duel at least once", said the brick pattern masked guy.

"Let’s go "cheer on" little brother golden sword", added the feather masked woman, they weren’t going to lose anything just by observing, or so they thought.

’Fools’, thought Mylene as she alongside Mira, Cassandra and Alice, followed Aster and those sword cultivators towards one of the many gates that stood tall at the sides of the seemingly endless warrior hall, whose leaves had opened by themselves right after the blue flaming board made the previous announcement.

That gate led to a huge open place with a blue sky, at ground level there were white stone platforms with a blue line dividing them right in half, countless of them and that was seemingly all, apparently you just needed to go up a platform and stand on one side while the opponent stood on the other, then the "duel" will start, some people went ahead of Aster and those sword cultivators of course.

"Look that guy fell to the ground, apparently there is some "pressure" akin to the difference in effort that is radiated onto the opponent, the duel can end prematurely if the opponent falls to the ground before the evaluation process finishes", said some guys who were only watching for the time being.

A lot of people changed their attention at Aster’s group, because he looked at the sky to then say.

"Is there any problem if others accompany me up the stage, I don’t want to be separated from my pretty junior and senior sisters even for a second?", he asked, meaning that wanted Mira and the others to be with him while he was evaluated.

Aster did it to both draw attention to his duel and because Alice wasn’t letting go of him anyway, so he might as well use it for the sake of his plan, also he wanted to tease a certain ligress who was now glaring at him.

[No external assistance may be offered during a duel, but other members of the same group can go up the stage if they wish to do so]

To everyone’s surprise the blue flaming board directly allowed it, so under a lot of interested, envious, hateful and disdainful eyes, Aster went up the stage accompanied by Alice and the others.

"I don’t want to waste much time with you guys, since I only get to talk about "cultivation" with little sister five for less than an hour, hurry up and come up the stage", casually said Aster, which made sword four see red.

’This bastard, I’m going to cr...’, before sword four’s inner monologue could finish, he... fell to the ground.

"Aghhh!", or more accurately, he was smacked against the ground.