Chapter 72 - Third Reward And The Next Challenge
"Ting~"
Ifrit made a sound as if the sword was excited after hearing its new name.
Zhao Luo was still barely holding ifrit in his hand when ifrit started glowing.
There was a red glow over the fiery blade in Zhao Luo's hand.
"What?"
Zhao Luo was shocked as ifrit was heating up rapidly.
'Is ifrit going to explode?'
Zhao Luo named his sword ifrit following the demon of fire from hell because of the fiery temperament of the sword.
But that didn't mean that his sword could start cooking up his hand.
"Don't worry. It's just getting ready to customize itself for you."
Bellum interrupted before Zhao Luo could drop ifrit in confusion.
'Hmm.'
Zhao Luo wondered about the change that will appear in his sword.
After a moment ifrit started cooling down while also reducing its size following the best proportion which would help Zhao Luo in handling it.
Ifrit was now just a little shorter than half of Zhao Luo's height.
The blade had also shortened which looked even sharper than before.
The color of the sword was even brighter as it had changed to crimson red from fiery color.
While Zhao Luo held ifrit in his hand, he looked like a King.
Zhao Luo's handsome face and unparalleled persona equipped with the crimson sword 'ifrit' looked like General of some Heavenly army.
"Good match."
Bellum said as he looked at the pair.
His sword ended up in a very well place.
The sword was the sword of Bellum that had accompanied Bellum in almost all of his battles.
But his reign over it was now over so how could he not tell Zhao Luo to give it a new name?
Bellum was very satisfied with Zhao Luo who had completed his challenge.
The others from the Xin Sect who had completed this challenge were only rewarded with the Technique of the Sovereign. Yet Zhao Luo was given a weapon too.
'Slash.'
'Slash.'
"Zhao Luo."
Bellum said as Zhao Luo was swinging Ifrit around in the weirdest poses possible.
Zhao Luo's swordplay was so hideous that even Bellum had never seen such bad slashes before.
It was because Zhao Luo was copying the moves of the best swordsman that he knew of, even though that swordsman wasn't real. Zhao Luo was biting Ifrit between his teeth and jumping around.
Bellum couldn't stand watching his precious sword be abused in such a way thus Bellum decided to stop him by calling out his name.
Zhao Luo took 'Ifrit' in his hand again as he glanced at Bellum.
"Senior this is the first time you called me by my name."
Zhao Luo said as such an amazing senior knew of his name. He thought that 'young man' would be his name from now on but his thought process was wrong.
"Yes, after watching your 'sword play' i want to help you."
Bellum told Zhao Luo with an awkward smile.
Bellum had it hard to call that abomination of sword style displayed by Zhao Luo, a swordplay.
In the world of cultivation, if you learn something from a master then that master can be considered as your teacher.
Bellum, as a partial teacher to Zhao Luo, couldn't let Zhao Luo go just yet. That is why he decided to give another reward to Zhao Luo that would help him improve his swordplay.
"This scroll contains a Master Class sword style. 'The Random Sword' is the name. It was used by one of the top sword masters of my era. But open the scroll only after you learn to use your internal energy."
Bellum gave Zhao Luo the scroll and also advised him.
Zhao Luo nodded as he stored the two scrolls and Ifrit in the storage space of his robe.
"Thank you, Senior."
Zhao Luo bowed his head in front of Bellum while clasping his hands.
As much as Zhao Luo had endured for the 'Drums of Bellum', he got way more rewards than he was hoping for.
'A super sound technique.'
'A peerless sword.'
'And now even a sword manual.'
Zhao Luo thought.
After comparing his rewards with the training he had to do for clearing the challenge, the balance was already too much on the side of rewards thus he wanted to give his utmost gratitude to Bellum.
"It's not a big deal, young man. Don't forget to work hard and one day you will be even stronger than me."
Bellum said some encouraging words to Zhao Luo as he looked a little sad.
"I's time to send you back."
Bellum said these words as he approached Zhao Luo and touched Zhao Luo's chest with his palm.
Zhao Luo could feel a burning pain as something entered his body from his chest through Bellum's hand. But Zhao Luo didn't try to fight back as he let Bellum do what he was doing.
"Goodbye, Zhao Luo."
Bellum said as he waved his hand which caused a blue whirlpool to appear behind Zhao Luo which sucked his consciousness.
"Goodbye Senior~"
Zhao Luo's last words were left inside the World of Bellum as his consciousness disappeared after being sucked into the whirlpool.
Bellum smiled as he ascended back to the azure sky.
On the Ring Platform with the Drums of Bellum.
Zhao Luo had been standing straight without moving an inch for the last five minutes.
The last drum was still glowing.
Nobody among the spectators could guess that only Zhao Luo's body was there without a hint of his senses as his consciousness was inside the glowing Drum of Bellum.
'Fwoosh.'
The glow dimmed and soon vanished as Zhao Luo blinked his eyes.
Zhao Luo hurriedly looked around and realized that he back in his body. He couldn't understand what had happened to him but he did know that the three rewards in his storage space were still there.
The burning sensation was still present in his chest but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. Instead, it was making his body warm.
"I am back."
Zhao Luo said as he jumped down from the ring.
Zhao Luo had cleared an impossible challenge for almost all the disciples in the trainee hall.
"Zhao Luo~"
"Zhao Luo~"
"Zhao Luo~"
Waves after waves of chants were now resounding around the training area as the disciples started their cheering.
Zhao Luo raised his arms as he closed both of his hands tightly to make a fist which were directed towards the skies of the Xin Sect.
'I did it.'
Zhao Luo thought.
Everyone was enjoying the moment.
Except for Mite.
Mite looked as someone had thrown a dump on him and he couldn't even fight back.
Under the thundering 'Zhao Luo' chants by the disciples, Mite felt suffocation and embarrassment that he had never felt before.
Even the treatment by Zi Fei couldn't come close to this.
Zhao Luo who was feeling happy right now was walking towards Feng Mei and Yan.
Before he could reach them, Feng Mei rushed towards him and hugged Zhao Luo.
"What's wrong little sister?"
Zhao Luo asked nicely with a smile on his face.
"Brother I was scared for you."
Feng Mei answered as she started crying.
'Sniff, Sniff.'
Zhao Luo's smile grew even bigger because now he had people who cared so much for him.
Zhao Luo saw the cute Feng Mei crying like a silly girl. He patted Feng Mei.
"Aren't I fine now? Let's go, I have so many things to tell you guys about."
Zhao Luo told Feng Mei as he glanced between her and Yan.
But as someone famous once said,
'There are no joyous moments without someone trying to ruin them.'
Mite approached Zhao Luo with his twisted face which under all the anger riding on his nose.
"Zhao Luo."
Mite shouted which caused all the disciples to go silent.
"What do you want Mite?"
Zhao Luo said to Mite without giving any face to Mite.
Why should he even respect a person who wanted to see him fail?
"You..."
Mite got even angrier.
"Ah, I meant to say Thank you, Senior Brother."
Zhao Luo interrupted Mite before Mite could even say anything.
Zhao Luo clasped his fist and thanked Mite which was Zhao Luo taunting Mite.
"Thanks to you I got some amazing 'things' as the reward for clearing the Drums of Bellum."
Zhao Luo said as his smile grew bigger while looking at the devastated face of Mite.
"You...you wanted to fight me right. Let's fight now."
Mite aggressively said to Zhao Luo.
Mite then jumped up on one of the empty training platforms.
"Are you SCARED? Just tell me if you are SCARED."
Mite said to Zhao Luo while emphasizing the word 'scared' just to get everyone's attention on him and Zhao Luo's answer.
"HAHAHAHA."
Zhao Luo started laughing evilly even though he wasn't such a person.
'He wants to fight then I will give him a fight.'
Zhao Luo thought while laughing as everything was going even better than how he had planned.
Zhao Luo jumped on the ring standing right in front of Mite.
Beating Mite was already on his To-Do List.
This was one of the challenges that Zhao Luo would have aimed for even if Mite didn't challenge him first.
"Don't regret it."
Zhao Luo smiled while standing with his back straight looking directly at Mite.