In a cave, a male was changing his robes and getting ready for the morning lecture.

“Wew, I fought the whole night and earned a lot of experience points. Who could have thought that there were a lot of those creatures deep below the pool? I will be able to level up if I go again tonight.”

“Dang… dang…”

A bell rang from some unknown spot.

“It’s time to go.”

When he walked out of the cave, he saw Isla waiting outside.

“Senior Sister, why are you here?”

“Junior Brother, today we are going to the Battleground of our sect. Just meditation doesn’t make you a qualified cultivator. You need to learn how to battle and protect yourself. I thought I told you about the Northern Sects Conference where the disciples have to battle against each other and this is already the third year since the last conference.”

Davion nodded and he asked, “Do body refining cultivators also need to battle out?”

“No, only us Qi Refining cultivators can fight. But for the next conference, you should be prepared.” Isla explained.

While they were talking with each other they reached the battleground. There was a circular platform in the middle and a weapon rack where only wooden weapons were kept. There were two wooden puppets in the corner. Since it was unused for a long time, it looked pretty old and worn out.

There was a big rock at the side from where you could see the whole platform and Sect Master Thaddeus was closing his eyes and sitting cross-legged on top of it. It looked like he was waiting for everyone.

After a while, everyone had gathered and Thaddeus finally opened his eyes. There were only five disciples remaining. Thinking about these disciples, sect, and the Northern Sects Conference, he became very tired. But he didn’t show his fatigue.

He slowly said, “There are two disciples in the Qi refining state and three disciples in the Body Tempering Stage. Let us first start the battle between the disciples in the Body Tempering Stage.”

“Davion, you have only just tempered your bones. They have already tempered their organs. So, you watch for a while and see how they fight. I will let you fight against the winner.”

“I understand,” Davion replied.

He looked at those two disciples and said, “You guys can start.”

The two disciples both came onto the platform and bowed to each other. They didn’t pick any weapons and started to fight.

The Body Tempering Cultivators can’t use any type of energy. They simply use their strong physical body to fight. So, there were no fancy moves and the battle only depended upon experience and luck.

“Boom boom boom!!”

The battle continued for a few minutes then suddenly one of the disciples got an advantage. After three consecutive kicks, one of the disciples spun round and finished with a roundhouse kick, his long leg shooting out like a viper and hitting straight at the heart. The other disciple couldn’t react in time and fell to the ground.

“Thanks for letting me win.” The winning disciple retracted his leg, looking at the other disciple.

Seeing the battle ended, Thaddeus said, “Well done you guys. Now, Davion, you can go.”

Davion nodded and jumped into the platform and thought, “It looks like the Northern Sects Conference is about to start, and looks like only the disciples in Qi refining state can battle. If I want to get the secret arts of this sect, then the only way is to earn the trust of the sect master. If I show him that I reached Qi refining state and be eligible to join the Conference, then that will be the easiest way to gain his trust.”

“So, I need to do some planning.”

He cupped his fists and said, “Please advise me.”

The other disciple also cupped his fists and got ready to fight. Seeing that he was ready, Davion said, “Careful” and immediately closed the distance with the disciple. He struck out with a punch directly straight to the face. The other disciple caught that hand easily and tried to kick him. But Davion narrowly managed to dodge it.

“It is really difficult to act.” Davion sighed.

The battle continued for a couple of minutes. During the battle Davion was really passive, he would narrowly dodge some attacks and sometimes he would block the attack and get pushed back. It looked like he was barely able to stand.

Seeing this Thaddeus thought, “This kid is really experienced and good at fighting. But he has only tempered his bones. If he had tempered his organs, then he would win easily.” He was about to stop the battle when suddenly something unexpected happened.

Davion shouted out loudly and exploded with amazing strength and managed to dodge the disciple’s kick and taking advantage of this momentum, he kicked straight to the knee of the disciple. The disciple got on his knees. Davion punched straight at the disciple’s face but when it was about to land, he stopped it a few centimeters near the face.

Seeing this, Thaddeus immediately stood up and asked, “Did you just break through?”

“Yes, Sect Master. I managed to break through during the battle due to pressure.” Davion bowed and replied respectfully.

Then he helped the other disciple to stand up and said, “Thank you, brother. Without you, I could not have tempered my muscles this easily.”

The other disciple cupped his fists and replied, “Welcome.”