Chapter 103: Dilemma
After this dark horse burst into the scene, Little Fatty turned from a down and nameless outer court disciple to the new star of the Mystical Sky Yard overnight. To be able to defeat one of the so-called four geniuses Mu Zi Rong, was already more than enough to prove his valiant might. Even more shocking was that though his opponent pulled out all the stops by consuming the Vitality Unleashing Pill, she still was not able to even harm a single hair on Little Fatty’s body. This spoke volumes about how wide the gap in strength was between the two of them. There were even people who treated him as the same level as Miss Shui Jing.
At the same time, his big iron bell with that battered and tatty appearance, finally caught the notice of the public, which led to many a person guessing about its origins as well as usage; but no matter how hard they racked their brains, they were unable to find out how a material as low-class as black iron could form into an artifact capable of blocking the attacks from a high-grade magical artifact.
The good news was that cultivators had their unspoken rules, and it was considered taboo for any others to specifically make the effort to worm them out. Thus, even though Little Fatty’s actions created many waves in the Sect, it was unexpectedly peaceful, without anyone coming to probe.
Of course, as the saying goes, “Some will win, some will lose”; while it was serene and peaceful at Little Fatty’s place, Daoist Huo Yun’s faction was on the verge of exploding.
After all, Mu Zi Rong was a rare genius from their faction, which explained why she was bestowed such a rare magical artefact,the Azure Shadow Divine Sword. In fact, they originally wished that Mu Zi Rong would be able to take this competition by storm and obtain the top few positions! But unfortunately nothing goes as expected; this was only the second round of the group knockouts, yet she was already eliminated. As if losing the right to obtain the Mystical Spiritual Fruit was not enough, she was even riddled with injuries. It would take a good ten years before she could recover back to her prime. In this ten years, if her cultivation did not drop, that would already be a blessing. There would not even be a sliver of a chance for her to improve. That essentially mean that she would have wasted ten years of possible cultivation time.
One must know that a cultivator’s progress was the most significant while they were still young. It was a completely different concept to be 30 years old versus being 40 years old when entering the Foundational stage. This was what separated the geniuses from the ordinary like gold from the silt. Mu Zi Rong was considered a genius simply because she had the potential to make a breakthrough to the foundational stage before age thirty. But now, she would be delayed and could only enter into the Foundational stage when she reached 40. This would only put her on par with the disciples that were above average, and would not be considered the level of a genius at all.
This event played a major role in shaping her future cultivation progress. Initially, she was someone with the hope to even advance into the YuanYing stage. But with her injury delaying her progress, the probability of her advancing to the YuanYing stage would be reduced by about 30 to 50 percent! One could see how disastrous this was to her. It would not be considered harsh to say that her entire life was destroyed because of this defeat alone.
In a cultivator’s family, no matter how much they focused on the upbringing of the future generation, it was impossible to create too many geniuses. Someone with the talents of Mu Zi Rong could be counted with a single hand in Daoist Huo Yun bloodline. Now, she was ruined in an unimportant sect competition. This really infuriated the people in Daoist Huo Yun’s faction to no end.
However, this sect competition was completely impartial. Mu Zi Rong only had herself to blame for being injured from taking the Vitality Unleashing Pill. Although Little Fatty could also be said to have intentionally provoked her, but it was not exactly an infringement of the rule. Besides, Mu Zi Rong was indeed the one who was at fault. Taking the Vitality Unleashing Pill was nothing to be proud off. Thus, Daoist Huo Yun’s camp was unable to find any faults with reason.
Because these high-level cultivators were extremely concerned about their face, they would not purposefully make the life of a junior difficult if they were not able to find a reason. That was something that was far too embarrassing. It would only be a joke if word were to get out and the other high-level cultivators would not be able to accept it. With the Sect master and his wife present, they also knew that they cannot bully Little Fatty openly. Thus, they wisely chose to restrain themselves. Not only did they restrain themselves, they also instructed their followers to not find trouble with Little Fatty.
However, even though they abstained from making a move towards him now, it did not mean that they were prepared to let bygones be bygones. This simply showed that those people are all wily old foxes. Little Fatty could already vaguely sense that a storm was coming his way. Even though the people from Daoist Huo Yun side was currently silent, the moment they made a move, he would be in trouble.
At least Little Fatty also made his preparations. Anyway, it wasn’t possible for them to touch him openly. They would also not dare to send experts to kill him openly in the presence of the Sect master. At most, they would only use some underhanded means. As long as he was careful enough, he would not give them any advantage to strike.
Indeed, after a peaceful 4 days, Little Fatty received the retaliation from Daoist Huo Yun’s people!
After the third round of competitions yesterday, the competition of all the 10 groups were concluded. Apart from Little Fatty, all the other 9 who advanced were the elites of the inner court.
After the top 10 was decided, they were immediately assigned into groups. In the end, the surprise Little Fatty had was the first person he would face was the one crowned first in Mystical Sky Yard, Miss Shui Jing.
After hearing this news, Little fatty could not help but laugh bitterly and curse, “They’re really a bunch of a**holes. This was obviously arranged on purpose! They want me to fight Miss Shui Jing to the death!”
If Little Fatty gave it his all and relied on the giant bell, Wing Piercing Tiger, and his various means, he would still have the chance to win. The problem lay in the fact that if he won, he would also offend the people from another camp. In the Mystical Sky Yard, Little Fatty had already offended the people in Daoist Huo Yun’s camp and was in a predicament. If Celestial Mei Hua who had an even greater influence were to see Little Fatty as an enemy, then he would not have an easy life in future. Even the sect master might not be able to protect him.
Even though Celestial Mei Hua’s camp was not big, she was still the strongest person in the sect. Together with the people from Daoist Huo Yun’s camp, it was more than enough to gain the upper hand against the sect master.
However, if Little Fatty were to lose to Miss Shui Jing, then he would be at the bottom rung. If Daoist Huo Yun were to manipulate things and change the original 10 slots to 9 slots, then Little Fatty who was only at the 10th XianTian stage would definitely be the scapegoat.
Thus, in this competition, Little Fatty could not win, but he also could not lose and was hence greatly troubled.
Helpless, he thought of finding the Sect Master-Wife duo to get their opinion. But, because of his stubborn character, he was a little embarrassed to go up and ask them directly. Coincidentally, Hong Ying came to find him to play today, thus giving him an opportunity.
Thus, Little Fatty took Hong Ying to a lake with a beautiful scenery. He then opened a mat and placed various delicacies out on it. Then, he raised a small fire. Seizing this opportunity, Little Fatty roasted the eyeless fish with other ingredients while probing, “Junior sister, do you think that it is better for me to lose or win when I fight with Miss Shui Jing?”