The past two days had been exhausting.
From the outside, having a hundred followers looked like power. Influence. Control.
The truth?
It was a constant, relentless headache.
Alex barely had a moment to breathe. Every hour was spent organizing assigning roles, dividing responsibilities, deciding who did what, who answered to whom. Without structure, everything would copse into chaos.
Only by forcing order into the madness could they actually function... and maybe, just maybe, turn it into something profitable.
Alex sat atop arge boulder, the wind brushing lightly against his robes. Below him,
over a hundred disciples stood in silence, their eyes fixed on him.
“Remember this," Alex said carrying easily across the crowd. "Before I left, I prepared three manuals."
He raised a hand, counting them off.
"One for managing the herb garden."
"Two-for cultivation."
"Three-for basic martial arts."
A faint pause.
"If you study them properly... you''ll see results within a year."
The crowd stirred slightly, a ripple of anticipation moving through them.
"What they didn''t know-
Gaia had alreadypiled and rewritten everything.
Using knowledge drawn from Prussia and Estoria, the Al had taken the original teachings and refined them into something sharper. More efficient. More powerful.
These weren''t ordinary manuals anymore.
They were an evolution.
"I never expected you to be a teacher."
The voice was soft.
Beautiful.
And yet, it cut through the air like a de.
Every head snapped upward.
There-floating in the sky as if the heavens themselves held her-was a woman in flowing white.
Cold.
Untouchable.
Pure Snow Sword Maiden... Li Qingxue.
In an instant, all hundred disciples dropped to one knee.
"Outer disciples greet Core Disciple-Pure Snow Sword Maiden, Li Qingxue!"
Their voices echoed in unison.
She gave a small, indifferent nod.
Then, with a flick of her wrist-
Alex felt the air shift.
A force wrapped around him, lifting him effortlessly from the boulder. In the next breath, he was already at her side, standing in the open sky as if gravity had simply... forgotten him.
He let out a quiet sigh.
"I didn''t know I could teach either," Alex admitted, ncing at her. "But the peak leaders sent thirty people to ask for forgiveness. Then those thirty called their friends... and their families..."
He gestured downward at the crowd below.
"And now they''re all here."
Li Qingxue said nothing.
She simply turned-
And the world moved with her.
The two of them shot across the sky, wind roaring past as the Thousand Herbs
Peak rose beneath them.
At the summit, a massive arena awaited.
Already, hundreds of outer disciples had gathered.
Alex''s gaze swept across them.
More people.
More pressure.
"Remember," Li Qingxue said atst. "You need to rank within the top ten of the Thousand Peaks'' outer disciples."
"And only if you pass that... will you be an inner disciple."
"Can I choose to remain an outer disciple?" Alex asked.
He kept his tone neutral, but the meaning was clear.
He had no desire to step into the inner circle-where monsters walked in human
skin.
Li Qingxue didn''t even hesitate.
"You can choose death," she said coldly.
And then-
She waved her hand.
The world flipped.
Alex was hurled from the sky like a stone, wind screaming past his ears as the ground rushed up to meet him. At thest second, his body moved on instinct- lightness technique activating, energy surging through his limbs.
He twisted midair-
Landed hard-
Skidded across the ground beforeing to a stop.
Alive.
Barely.
Alex exhaled slowly, dust clinging to his clothes.
You damn woman... he sneered inwardly, eyes dark. Just wait. When I regain my
strength... when I reach my peak again... I''ll put you in your ce.
He said nothing out loud.
Instead, he turned and walked toward the registration area.
A long line had already formed.
Hundreds of outer disciples, all waiting for the same thing—
A chance to rise.
A chance to prove themselves.
A chance to be something more.
Alex stepped into line without a word.
This year, there were 1035 outer disciples from Thousand Herbs Peak alone
And that was just one peak.
Later, the top ten from each peak across the entire Wudang Sect would face off,
battling for the true ranking among all outer disciples.
A brutal system.
Efficient.
Alex nced down at the wooden te in his hand and let out a quiet sigh.
All he had ever wanted... was a peaceful life.
Instead
Fate... no.
Li Qingxue had dragged him straight into this mess.
A system designed to crush the weak and elevate only the absolute best.
Aplete waste of time.
To reach rank one, he would need to win ten consecutive fights.
Ten.
He rolled his shoulders slightly.
This is going to be long.
His eyes dropped to the number carved into his wooden te.
The moment he infused a thread of inner energy into it, the te vibrated softly—
then emitted a faint glow.
A mechanical voice echoed from within it:
"Please proceed to Arena Eleven."
Alex clicked his tongue and started walking.
The deeper he went, the louder it became.
Shouts.
Cheers.
shing energy.
The entire tournament grounds were in chaos-twenty arenas running
simultaneously, each filled with fighters and surrounded by spectators.
A storm of ambition and violence.
But finding Arena Eleven wasn''t difficult.
He arrived just as two disciples were still battling on the tform—energy colliding, movements sharp and ruthless.
Without hesitation, Alex stepped forward and ced his wooden te on the
registration table.
The staff member nced at it, checked the inscription, then nodded.
“You''ll be up after three matches,” he said quickly. “Stay nearby. When your number
is called-step in immediately."
Alex gave a slight nod and stepped aside.
His gaze lifted to the arena.
Two figures shed in the center-fists, des, techniques, everything unleashed
without restraint.
No hesitation.
No mercy.
Alex watched in silence.
Waiting.
He yawned.
Watching outer disciples at the fifth to ninth level of Qi Condensation held no
interest for him. Their movements were slow, their techniques predictable. To Alex, it
felt like watching children swing wooden swords.
Still... he didn''t look away.
Gaia, record everything, he instructed silently.
Even if it bored him, information was still valuable.
Fight after fight passed.
Bodies hit the ground. Blood stained the stone. Some fought desperately, wing
for victory. Others surrendered the moment they sensed the gap between them and
their opponent.
Then-
The referee''s voice rang out across Arena Eleven.
"Number 777... versus Number 650."
Alex stepped forward.
The moment he climbed onto the tform, the smell hit him-iron and sweat. The
stone beneath his feet was already streaked with blood, dark patches marking where others had fallen.
Across from him stood arge man-broad shoulders, thick arms, the kind of build
that relied on brute force.
The man cracked his neck and smirked.
"If you surrender now," he said, eyeing Alex, "I won''t hurt you."
The referee raised his hand.
"Begin."
Alex met the man''s gaze,pletely calm.
"If you kneel now," he said tly, "I won''t hurt you."
"You-!"
The man''s anger red-
And then-
His body moved.
Without warning, without control-
He dropped to his knees.
A dull thud echoed across the arena.
Silence.
The referee blinked, stunned.
The crowd froze.
"...What the hell?" someone muttered.
The big man himself looked down at his own hands, his own legs, confusion
flooding his face.
He hadn''t meant to kneel.
He couldn''t understand why he had.
The referee recovered quickly, raising his hand.
"Number 777 wins."
"Wait—I haven''t lost!" Number 650 shouted, still kneeling. "I didn''t—!”
"You knelt," the referee cut him off coldly. "That''s surrender. Get off the arena.
Others are waiting."
Number 650 remained there for a moment longer, stunned.
Why... did I kneel?
It made no sense.
None at all.
Alex didn''t even look back.
He had already turned, stepping down from the arena as if nothing had happened.
He retrieved his wooden te and infused it with a thread of energy.
It vibrated.
"Please proceed to Arena Ten."
He clicked his tongue softly and walked on.
Arena Ten.
He ced his wooden te on the table.
The staff member checked it, then slotted it into the winners'' bracket without
hesitation.
"You''ll be up after five matches," he said.
Alex nodded and stepped aside.
More waiting.
More watching.
More boredom.
Some fights didn''t evenst ten
?? ???
seconds. The weaker disciples
would take one took at ther
opponent, sense the difference in
strength-
And surrender immediately.
Not everyone was aiming for the top.
Some only wanted to survive long enough to secure a better ranking.
Top 500.
Top 400.
Each hundred ranks higher meant better monthly resources-more pills, more
herbs, more opportunities.
Ambition, here, came in different forms.
Not everyone wanted glory.
Some just wanted a slightly better life.
By the time Alex reached his ninth match—
He stepped forward, facing his next opponent.
And said the exact same words.
"If you kneel... I''ll let you surrender."
"The hell I''m kneeling to you," the disciple snapped, fury shing across his face.
A heartbeatter-
His legs gave out.
He dropped to his knees.
Silence crashed over the arena.
Third match.
“If·
you kneel, I''ll let you surrender."
Thud.
Fourth match.
Same words.
Same result.
It didn''t matter who stood across from him.
Strong. Weak. Confident. Arrogant.
Every single one of them—
Kneeled.
Whether they wanted to or not.
At first, it was confusion.
Then whispers.
Then-
Shock.
"What... what is this?" someone muttered from the crowd.
"No way... that was Senior Brother Yun Feng. How could he kneel to Number 777
without fight?"
"I heard everyone who fights him ends up kneeling."
"Did you find out what''s happening?"
"They asked the earlier opponents,"
anotice said, uneasy."
said
e same thing... their
suddenly lost strength tent
belongs to s?novels
130
all
A pause.
"Do you think he''s using some kind of ck magic?"
"I don''t know... but the elders and referees haven''t stopped it."
That made it worse.
If even the officials allowed it-
Then whatever this was... it wasn''t against the rules.
It was just... terrifying.
By the fifth round, the tournament had thinned down to around sixty participants.
Now, every match mattered.
Ranking sixty and ranking fifty weren''t the same.
The difference in monthly resources alone was enough to change someone''s future.
Arge man stepped forward, his jaw tight with determination.
one
"Referee," he said loudly, "even if I request permission to continue the
kneel that doesn''t mean surrepet fight." ng
He couldn''t afford to lose here.
Not at this stage.
Not when he was this close.
The referee frowned slightly... then nodded.
"...Fight."
Alex sighed.
Stubborn.
The man charged forward-
And instantly-
Dropped.
His knees mmed into the ground.
"I''m not surrendering!" he shouted, forcing the words out through gritted teeth.
But something was wrong.
His voice wavered.
His body trembled.
Then-
As if pulled by invisible strings—
He raised both hands.
And slowly... bowed.
Forehead lowering toward the ground in front of Alex.
Complete submission.
The arena went dead silent.
No one breathed.
No one moved.
Alex stepped forward calmly.
ced his foot on the man''s head.
Then looked at the referee.
"Does this count as surrender?"
No one answered.
Because no one had ever seen anything like this.
All around them, disciples stared in disbelief.
This wasn''t a fight.
This wasn''t even domination.
It was something else entirely.
One by one-
People weren''t just losing to Number 777.
They were kneeling to him.
Bowing to him.