After Zayne's match, they had to wait a very long time for Alice's match. On the outside she seemed calm and nonchalant, but inside she felt very nervous. After watching the rest of her team-mates perform spectacularly in their own matches, she was starting to feel small. She knew her fighting capabilities weren't to match with theirs. But she didn't let her confidence waver.

The moment she let her confidence waver, the match is already lost. So after waiting for an unknown number of time, she was called up to the stage. With her token number in hand, she took a glance at her opponent; a scrawny teenage boy with a mischievous grin to match. Other than his mischievous grin, she also saw a cold glint in his eyes. Knowing not to underestimate her opponent, she grew focused.

The moment her opponent made a move, she dashed out! As she breath in and out, a faint misty breath came out from her mouth.

Grey's eyebrows rose when he saw that mist. He was very familiar with it because it was a sign that one practices the Sky Mist Art. But at the same time he was a little worried for Alice. After using the Sky Mist art for some time, he noted that it didn't really give the user any boost. He was not sure if that was because he was still in a very low level. Alice was in the eigth level, so if the Sky Mist art had something specail, she could use it.

Her opponent let out a mischievous laugh. His body swayed and flickered, seemingly disappearing and his eyes turned into slits. When he reappeared again, he was some distance away from Alice. He let out a roar as he exhaled black fog.

After exhaling black fog, his body bulged and he instantly grew bigger. Veins popped out all over his body. His eyes turned bloodshot, but that was not all. The black fog he released turned into a malicious ghost with an extremely sinister expression. Alice felt the temperature drop by several degrees the moment the ghost showed up. Malicious sinister intent filled the air but she didn't say anything, instead she didn't and instead stopped and began circulating her cultivation base.

After half a breath of time of time, mist started to flow out of her body and pores. The mist spread to all the areas of the stage and engulfed the scrawny teenager and the malicious ghost. After that, Alice's presence seemed to have disappeared.

The teenage boy let out a mischievous smile but with the way he looked, it was scary instead. He then commanded his ghost to spread out it's malicious aura to find Alice but the fog acted as a repellent.

After some time, the fog grew colder by several degrees. But Alice was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

***

'Weird! Is this all the Sky Mist art can do?' Grey asked himself inwardly. He was also using the Sky Mist art so knowing it's capabilities was a good thing. It could give him enough time to prepare himself. But he was also as dazed as the audience even though he was also a practitioner of the Sky Mist art. He felt ashamed a little.

'Other arts at this level could summon strange powers but the Sky Mist art could only summon Mist! How pathetic!' He said inwardly.

Suddenly, something rushed at the scrawny teenager and his malicious ghost. He sent his ghost out while being prepared but be didn't see anyone. As a body refiner, he felt absolute confidence in himself when it came to strength. After reaching the eigth level of Qi accumulation, he has even strength to defeat a ninth level Qi accumulation expert, and even the tenth level was not too off.

A short while later, he spat out a mouthful of blood in disbelief. His face instantly turned a little pale but he regained his composure. Black fog slowly drifted back to his body. His malicious ghost had been destroyed!

'How did she...'

But he could not finish his sentence because Alice suddenly appeared behind him with a ghost like dagger in her hands. Her expression was cold and nonchalant as the blade came close to the teenagers neck.

But he reacted in time and punched at her. She smoothly dodge while thrusting her dagger at him again. With a groan, he managed to dodge her quick thrust but the blade still cut at his stomach.

Seeing an opportunity, he punched at Alice with his full power. The air distorted and the sound of air breaking could be heard. But Alice still dodge efficiently.

In the misty stage, she was like a dancer as her body moved like it was really water. Because of the misty haze, not everyone could see the seen of Alice skillfully attacking her opponent. But because he comprehended one hundred percent of Dragon eyes, he could catch all the action.

After an unknown number of time had passed, the scrawny youth suddenly shouted.

"ENOUGH!!!!"

The misty haze cleared and Alice retreated back by several meters. The scrawny youth had his entire body cut by her Dagger and his skin was looking mangled. Even his blood red eyes got even redder. With a loud yell, he erupted and ran towards Alice.

Since the mist was not prohibiting his sight, he used his full speed while punching at Alice. The air seemed to distort and loud sounds of air breaking and creating a vacuum could be heard.

In the face of danger, Alice was still calm as the ghost-like dagger in her hand turned into a great sword. With a little difficulty and awkwardness, she swung the sword sharply at the running bulk.

The scrawny youth punched once more and deflected the Great sword. His his was cut a little, but it was not too deep. Only a flesh wound. Alice was directly in front of him with no where to hide. But she suddenly willed the great sword to change into a long sword which she swung horizontally.

At the same time, her eyes turned blue and the long sword seemed to have blue flames wrapping around it. The scrawny youth suddenly felt an intense life and death crisis and felt that if this sword touched him...

At the same time, standing and watching this match, Grey suddenly had an epiphany! His gaze seemed to brighten in enlightenment.

Somewhere in his mind, he felt like something was being unlocked. It was like his thoughts grew calmer and his perception grew as well. He felt his comprehension of the sword art he learned in the corroded zone seemed to have undergone a change.

He suddenly felt that he had understood something that was previously obscure to him. Something that was close at the same time miles far from him.

'Is this... enlightenment?' He said inwardly with shock. He was not even focusing on the match anymore. He suddenly recalled something that the captain said to him while they were flying to Sky Mist city.

***

"When you feel a certain part of your brain unlocking for a knowledge and understanding you didn't know before, that's called enlightenment! It is always accompanied by an epiphany. As a cultivator, enlightenment is a blessing and a way to grow. If you don't feel an enlightenment or epiphany even once then you will have a hard time cultivating.

In this cruel world where cultivation is hard, we have to constantly fight to survive! Before God descended, cultivating was an act of defiance against the heavens. It was going against your fate! But now, we are not just going against the heavens, we are going against God himself..."

***

"Cultivation is not just about going against heaven and your fate, now it's about going against God..." Grey's blood seemed to run cold as he uttered that sentence.

He now felt what the Captain was talking about previously. Along with this enlightenment came a suppressive feeling. He felt like he was being unchained, like the shackles that previously bound him were starting to loosen up.

"Cultivation is the casting away of the mortal shell, turning into something you're not and ascending towards the path of the Divine..." He muttered silently while his heart was in turmoil.

He felt that his understanding of the Shadow sect secret art deepen as well. His eyes held a faint purple glow, but at the same time he looked mysterious in that moment.

When Ange glanced at him, she get as if he was covered in purple fog and mysticism. When she blinked, it was back to normal.

It at that moment that Grey felt his cultivation base increase a little. From now on, he no longer felt like he was cultivating at a snail's pace.

'I understand!'

At that moment, a loud roar could be heard coming from the stage. The scrawny youth was now covered in his blood due to his injuries. He let out a loud battle cry as his body grew bigger and taller.

Alice's expression paled for the first time. She was also not in a good condition. Although he speed was fast and she had been able to dodge most of his attacks, the residue power was still terrifying. But she refused to cough up a mouthful of blood.

Her opponent rather, was taking things a bit too far. In his eyes, Alice could see a tinge of childishness. In the end he was still a kid of about twelve years old.

At the same time he rushed towards Alice, the bell also rung. But the youth did not stop running, as if he did not hear the bell.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.