“Is something wrong Rong’er, you look a bit pale…”

“Ah no… I’m fine.”

“That’s good, I’m counting on you to win the position at the Thunderball Hall. With that, your old man’s position as the next Clan Patriarch will be secured!”

Zhang Dong in his young master disguise was about to jump out of the window while this man approached him. His true son was out cold in one of the away rooms. From what he knew, this man that was Dai Rong’s father was close to becoming the next Patriarch.

“Also, have you seen that treacherous Zhuao? He has betrayed us!”

“Elder Zhuao? No… he vanished from my side when the seniors from the Thunderball Hall arrived.”

“Don’t worry, we will find him, for now return to the central courtyard, we can’t have the seniors wait!”

“Yes, father…”

While looking for an escape route he saw more people coming. His ‘father’ ordered them to escort him to the place the test was taking place. There were two of them, all at the lower end of the Martial Master level.

Without being able to make his escape he was forced back into the large space where the ‘test’ was taking place. There he saw two youths fighting against each other, they were both holding swords that were giving out small sparks into the air. Their robes were all cut up and it seemed that everyone was taking things very seriously.

At center stage were the two Thunderball Hall elders. They seemed bored out of their mind while looking at the youths fumbling around. Zhang Dong could tell that these prospects would have not made it into his own sect even if they tried. Their form was bad and they were slow at reacting, it looked like two kids with sticks were just randomly hitting each other.

‘It would be better to just lose instantly and then run away…or should I...’

Getting involved any further than this was problematic. His disguising technique had been upgraded to an immortal level technique back when he had the points to spend for it. It would allow a person to hide their appearance even from elders two large realms above them. Only someone at the nascent soul realm would be able to see that something was off.

From what he could tell this Thunderball Hall was a sect that was similar to the old Huo Clan. Their strongest member would be someone at the Supreme Saint realm. These masters were slightly above the core formation great circle realm but not quite in the nascent soul level. If that sect even had someone at this realm was also up to debate.

‘No, I have enough items… can’t be too greedy.’

This sect probably had lightning element resources as well. If he wasn’t strapped for time he could very well pretend to be a young disciple. After gaining some trust and cultivating more he could ‘borrow’ some resources and finally head home when he gained the ability to fly on a sword.

‘I’ll just lose on purpose, can’t keep pushing my luck.’

Zhang Dong had already taken a lot from this clan. That treasury was probably not everything that they had but it probably amounted to a big chunk of their savings. The rest would probably be some trashy techniques that the Patriarch’s attained which he didn’t need.

“I...yield…”

The fight was over and one of the young masters was victorious over the other. The fight lasted for a while and was kind of a slogfest.

“Good… with this only sixteen candidates remain, continue.”

The Thunderball Hall elder waved his hand while still looking bored. He was not giving the youths any time to take a break. It was obvious to Zhang Dong that he just wanted to get this over with.

“Of course seniors… start the next match! Dai Rong, Dai Reng!”

He would be the first to begin this round, his opponent was the young master that Dai Rong was previously complaining about. By the naming sense, this was either a brother or some close cousin.

“Finally, I will be able to crush you while all of the elders watch!”

His opponent was also quite handsome with similar facial features to this Dai Rong. The biggest difference was the lack of long hair which was just at neck length. His opponent was holding a two-edged sword, similar to what he found in Elder Zhuao’s spatial ring. He had replaced it for Dai Rong’s ring for now but he did not intend to use a weapon.

“You’ve been awfully quiet, already shaking in your boots before your tragic loss?”

Zhang Dong didn’t reply much as he was trying to lower his cultivation level. If his fist connected with this kid at full strength he would just explode into chunks of meat paste. With his silver body, he could not be harmed by this youth at all, even the elders from his clan would have a hard time even giving him a scratch.

“Don’t listen to him Rong’er, show him what I taught you!”

“Be victorious Reng’er!”

His father cheered him on from the side while another man did the same for the other youth. He could feel that the two old men had similar strengths and were close in age. They might have been brothers by the similar appearance, maybe even fighting for the position of Patriarch.

“Take out your sword!”

“I don’t need it for someone like you…”

Zhang Dong replied while in Dai Rong’s form. He feared that his superior swordsmanship would be a dead giveaway. There was also the problem of containing it as he feared killing the youth by mistake.

“You dare?”

It seemed that his reply was taken as a taunt instead. His opponent’s face went red and he charged forward while Zhang Dong waited in one spot. After absorbing some of the technique books here he knew what these youths would mostly be using.

He took on a battle stance, his hands in front of him in the form of flaws. This was one of the more basic techniques that was called ‘White Tiger Palm’. It had a few forms that would not give him trouble when being performed.

“White Tiger Palm?”

Some of the elders rubbed their beards at the strange approach that Dai Rong was taking. This technique was quite rudimentary and mostly just a set of clawing and palm techniques with nothing much to them. It wasn’t very flashy nor was it good or bad in any way shape or form. It seemed to them that Dai Rong was not taking his opponent seriously.

‘I need to make it believable… I’ll dodge his charge and hit him a few times to not look totally incompetent…’

This was a good chance to lose, his opponent was some kind of rival. This meant that it would not be seen as strange if he lost to him. It was also one of the beginning matches so he could pretend to be injured and then escape.

“Take this Thunder sword!”

Dai Reng’s sword started giving off faint sparks of electricity while he performed a vertical slash towards him. He wanted to laugh at the technique's name, as the sword was far removed from being coated in lightning energy.

First, he needed to show off his own skills so at the right moment he dodged the blade’s attack. Then his palm descended towards Dai Reng’s chest. He added the minimal amount of Qi into it as the people here would be able to tell if he didn’t try at all.

‘Just a little tap should be enough…’

Regretfully the technique that he was performing was created with this Empire’s cultivators in mind. Even the slightest infusion of his superior lightning Qi into it produced a different result than he expected.

What the elders saw was a bright flash of light followed by a loud thunderous roar that mimicked that of a tiger’s. The palm connected with Dai Reng’s chest, sending him flying. The robes on his back exploded while showing some burns in the form of a tiger claw on the youth’s back.

“Reng’er… NO!”

The young master’s father quickly jumped in to save his son. He grabbed him mid-flight and started doing his utmost to remove the invading electric energy from his body. Even he, someone that was a lower level Martial Grandmaster was having trouble in doing so.

‘What the hell…’

Zhang Dong stood shocked while looking at his palm. He didn’t think that this low-level technique would react in this kind of way. His aim was to have his opponent retreat slightly before the fight continued in Dai Reng’s favor.

“Was that really our White Tiger Palm?... could it be… the Secret Thunderous White Tiger Palm?... how did the boy learn it… The technique has been lost to us for centuries now…”

The elders mumbled with each other while the people from the Thunderbolt Hall’s finally showed some life in those bored eyes.

“Rong’er… how… you didn’t even tell your old man that you mastered the Secret Thunderous White Tiger Palm! Well done!”

His ‘father’ looked quite pleased by the turn of events. Everyone was looking at his son as if he was some kind of prodigy. It looked like he had figured out the proper way of restoring an old lost technique.

‘Shit…’

Zhang Dong started to sweat and also remember that time when Beatrice was going through her tests. It seemed that unless he played dead without even grazing his opponent he could risk winning. Due to this, he decided to play it up, they thought he performed some kind of secret art so he would stick to it and retire early.

He clutched his chest as if he was in pain and went down to his knees. His face started to go pale, sweat dripping from his chin onto the ground while everyone watched in fright.

“Rong’er? What’s wrong?”

The father was quick to appear to support his collapsed son that was in the moment of faking to pass out. The plan was to now make it seem that he used too much Qi for that one attack and would not be able to continue on with the tests.

“F-father, I’ve used up all of my spiritual energy… I… I don’t think I’ll be able to continue…”

It was easy for him to fool these low-level cultivators. He was able to lower his own cultivation and his father after examining would see his son’s cultivation be minuscule.

“I’m sorry, I think someone else will go with the Seniors…”

He started to close his eyes and pretend to pass out. If he wasn’t able to continue then the Thunderball Hall would not take him.

“Rong’er?”

He could feel his ‘father’ picking him up from the ground. Now he only needed to be carried away to a more secluded room to make his escape.

“Wait!”

“Senior?”

‘Hm?’

With eyes closed, he could hear one of the Seniors from the sect approach Dai Rong’s father.

“This trial is over, we will take this youth with us!”

‘Eh???’

He wanted to open his eyes and ask what was going on. Luckily for him, the Senior from the Thunderball hall continued with an explanation.

“We have seen all of your juniors fight, none of them have the talent of this youth, it doesn’t matter that he can’t continue with the test, he is clearly the most promising of them all!”

With that, he had earned the prestigious position of Thunderball Hall disciple, his escape plans were put on hold for now...