The crowd went into an uproar when they heard what level cultivation Akata was at. Akata’s cultivation wasn’t amazing, but his speed of progression was. Some of them have been cultivating for years and were still at the level of a Mortal Rank Grade 1 cultivator. Yet Akata merely spent a month stepping through into the Mortal Rank and then breaking through into Grade 2. This was absurd for most of them, and unacceptable for the rest.

“It must be because Demoness Ming Lu is his master. If I had her as my master then I could be that strong too. Heck I could be stronger than this guy.”

“Exactly he doesn’t deserve a teacher like Demoness Ming Lu. Why would she choose such a weakling to mentor?”

“If he advanced two levels under her guidance then I could’ve probably broken through to Grade 3 by now.”

Outbursts and the like instantly surfaced from the surrounding crowd. They were in an uproar and didn’t try to calm their emotions.

Akata didn’t plan on this to happen. He just wanted others to admire his strength and how fast he got it. He wasn’t expecting them to think that it was all Ming Lu’s doing that brought him here. In truth it really was just himself that got him here. Ming Lu just taught him a technique that could’ve killed him, and told him to train in Misty Forest. Akata did all the rest of the work. He was at a loss but then put the matter to the back of his head as he focused on the incoming Fang Zuwa.

Fang Zuwa and Akata were closing in on each other. Fang Zuwa flashed an incantation gesture and pointed towards Akata. Time seemed to slow down as a gray light covered his finger. “Corrosive Will.” Fang Zuwa spoke two words and then the gray light shot towards Akata. The light transformed into a needle-like beam as it headed straight for Akata with an amazing speed.

Akata was astonished by the speed of the beam of light. He barely had time to dodge to the side but even then the needle beam scraped his left arm, causing blood to drip down. Akata didn’t stop though as he headed straight for Fang Zuwa. He pulled his arm back and formed a fist which he unleashed towards Fang Zuwa’s chest. Fang Zuwa put his arms up to block the punch and was sent flying back about ten meters.

“Woah his body strength is so tough.”

“Since when did Akata train his body to this level? He’s like a monster.”

Akata felt pleased with this strike of his. In truth this was Akata’s first actual evenly matched fight with another person. All his other fights have been with people much stronger than himself. The feeling of finally fighting someone who he was actually on level with caused his blood to burn and a fierce fighting will erupted. His red eyes showed with a desire to fight this match.

Fang Zuwa eventually regained his balance. A streak of blood dripped out the corner of his mouth as he stopped himself. His eyes were calm as he looked toward Akata but inside he was greatly surprised. “The strength of his body is too great! I can’t fight him in a head-on confrontation otherwise it’ll be my defeat. Looks like I have to wait for my daoist magic to take effect and fight from a longer range.” Fang Zuwa eyed Akata with calm eyes that didn’t give away his thoughts to anybody. Suddenly he saw the intense fighting will of Akata erupt, nobody could see it but under his covered face a slight smile surfaced. “It’s time.” With that he rushed towards Akata.

Akata’s fighting will burst out with even more ferocity when Fang Zuwa started rushing towards him. Akata didn’t wait for Fang Zuwa to close in on him, as he took a step forward and struck out with a fist. But then the next thing that happened caught him slightly off guard. “Wait, is he actually going to strike with his own fist? I’m sure he realized that my body strength is way greater than his, why would he choose to fight me head on?” Akata mused to himself as he saw Fang Zuwa approaching not with an incantation gesture, but a fist of his own.

Akata gave it no more thought as he was determined to show his strength not to the other disciples but to himself. To prove that he could become strong if he put his mind to it.

The two figures quickly closed in on each other and both of them struck out with a fist.

“What is Fang Zuwa thinking? He should have realized it’s dangerous to go against Akata with just body strength.”

“Even I wouldn’t go head-on against that fist strike of Akata.”

“It looks like Fang Zuwa is planning on getting kicked back out of the Cabins.”

The crowd was just as confused as Akata. Only a few disciples kept quiet and watched on with full focus. These disciples weren’t ordinary; each one was qualified to hold a spot in the Cabins. They all each had something in common too, and that was that each one of them had gone against Fang Zuwa in a spar. That wasn’t the only thing, they each also had experienced the power of his Corrosive Will daoist magic.

Akata’s will to fight surged as he put his power into his punch. The two fists collided and astonishingly, both figures were pushed back. The scene caused the disciples eyes to go wide. They couldn’t believe that Fang Zuwa’s body strength was evenly matched with Akata’s.

Akata was even more astonished than them. He could tell that Fang Zuwa’s strength was still the same as it had been before, yet he was still able to push him back. Akata felt very confused on the matter. “His strength is still the same yet he was able to match me? Could it be that my strength was reduced? But it doesn’t feel like my strength went down even a bit.” Akata thought and thought but he couldn’t come up with a reason for what just happened. He charged towards Fang Zuwa albeit this time a bit more cautious.

As soon as Fang Zuwa steadied himself he charged towards Akata. The two clashed again and they exchanged a series of blows. As the blows were exchanged Akata’s fighting will rose higher and higher, but he could also feel that Fang Zuwa was starting to pressure him a little more. All the while they were fighting, Akata kept on thinking of what could make Fang Zuwa stronger. It was then that he remembered their first exchange.

“It must have been when he unleashed that weird daoist magic. Even though it barely hit me, it must’ve still had an effect that caused it to reduce my strength without me knowing it. For some reason I’m not able to let loose my full power and I need to find out why.” Akata instantly came up with an idea to get the information he needed.

Akata shot back and began to study the inside of his body with his sense. He didn’t know why but ever since he obtained his red rune he was able to sense his body on a closer level and that enabled him to enhance it at a faster and more efficient rate than others. He immediately sensed a gray aura flowing through his body. He focused on it for a moment and then came to an understanding of it.

“So it is a daoist magic that causes my fighting will to decrease. Without the desire to fight your power will thus be greatly reduced. It would also be hard to detect given that when you’re fighting the will to fight is always present on a mental level so you won’t notice it changing on a physical level. Interesting.”

Akata was instantly able to deduce what was happening inside of his own body with the help of the red rune. Still retreating backwards he couldn’t think of a way to combat this technique.

“This is a perfect ability with little flaws. If it hits you then, given enough time, you’ll succumb to the effects of it. But even if he has this kind of power, nothing will stop me from winning this fight and proving to myself that I am the strongest.”

As Akata thought these words he suddenly stopped retreating. Fang Zuwa was actually getting really annoyed by Akata’s retreating figure. When he saw that Akata stopped retreating he immediately increased his speed and rushed in, not wanting to give Akata the time to think of backing out again. He flashed an incantation gesture and pointed towards Akata where he said “Cloudy Binding.” This was actually a technique from the Red Cloud Sect. The sect didn’t have many techniques since it wasn’t a normal sect. Most people received their magic from their clan, or their enlightenment, or even luck.

Cloudy Binding was a low level technique that anyone with a cultivation base of Mortal Rank Grade 1 can learn. It trapped the opponent in an illusory cloud that wasn’t difficult to break out of at all. Although it was good for trapping not many people took the effort to learn it. That was because it could only trap a person for the space of about a single breath at most. And at their level, they couldn’t do much with a single breaths worth of time.

A red mist rose up around Akata’s figure and he felt like his blood was locked down. “This must be the Cloudy Binding technique that traps an opponent for a single breath. It stops the blood for a moment, causing the person to suddenly become still. But, I won’t allow anything to happen to me if I don’t want it to! Even if this lasts only a single breath, I won’t let it stop me for that long.” A powerful force sprung up around Akata as his red eyes glowed and a small wind swirled around his body. A fierce fighting will surged up and it was powerful enough to even cause Fang Zuwa’s face to change.

The Cloudy Binding didn’t even have time to restrict him as it was broken apart and demolished. Not only did that happen but what happened next caused Fang Zuwa to stop in his tracks. That was because Akata’s fighting will even caused his Corrosive Will to retreat.

“This is impossible. The more fighting will my opponent builds the more effective my Corrosive Will is. So how is he breaking my ability with his will to fight?!” Fang Zuwa was so astonished that he actually yelled his last sentence out. When they heard this, the faces of the disciples that had faced Fang Zuwa before changed greatly. They were even more astounded than Fang Zuwa was himself. That was because they had witnessed his ability first hand and felt the helplessness of it. They knew that it was virtually impossible to break free of Corrosive Will once it made contact with you. Some of their faces showed disbelief, others showed admiration, and the others were envious.

Akata could be said to be the first and only person on Fang Zuwa’s level to break free from his technique the way he did. Back in his clan Fang Zuwa obviously knew some clanmates that could break this technique, but never had anyone decided to do it by causing the magic to overload.

“It can’t be. It just can’t be! How is his fighting will so great that it can even overcome my clan’s magic?!” Fang Zuwa’s mind started to fill with madness, anger, and disbelief. As of this moment he couldn’t stand Akata. He took pride in his clan’s magic, and to have it broken by someone who was the weakest in the sect a month ago, he couldn’t allow it. Right now he just wanted to demolish Akata. Killing intent even started to form in his eyes and aura.

The red rune in Akata’s body was spinning rapidly and was blazing radiantly. Akata didn’t notice that though as he was solely focused on fighting Fang Zuwa. He was finally going to take this seriously.

“I can sense killing intent coming from him. I guess he didn’t like the fact that I broke through his magic. Well if he’s out to kill me then I obviously won’t stand by letting him do as he pleases.” As Akata mused to himself his crimson red eyes flashed for a second, they seemed to be resonating with the red rune inside of him. Surprisingly his fighting will surged even higher, building an invisible pressure around him.

“If he’s going to go all out, then there is no reason for me to hold back anymore either.” Akata took a step forward and the pressure intensified greatly. This time he consciously controlled the red rune inside of him. His eyes were now flashing faster and the glow in them didn’t fade. He pulled his arm back and then he… struck out.