Chapter 109: Better Than Expected

The crowd watching murmured in shock. Paike couldn't tell if it was the outcome of the fight or Father's reaction. Probably the latter.

He hoped that Taka's quick thinking had saved the observers from realizing his real combat level for at least one more moment, but he wasn't about to count on that.

Father jumped down from where he had been watching in the stands. He passed his hand over the young woman's back, and she was able to heave a breath and fell to her knees as she gasped for air. It was likely an instinctual reaction. Even though her physical cultivation wasn't at their realm, she shouldn't have needed to breathe that hard after only so long without air.

"Why don't you come watch the rest of the fights with me?" Father said as he helped her up. He turned to the twins. "And you two, quit slacking, kiddos. We don't have all day."

If that was condemnation for them taking a small break as he interrupted, or telling them to stop holding back, Paike couldn't tell. It didn't matter. He wasn't going to change their plan to let Father get out of here faster.

The next challenger approached. They had to take him a little more seriously, but he still thought that Paike was just clever and tricky rather than strong. Paike couldn't tell if he was just stupid or if Taka's performance had been enough to sell it. The boy went down much faster than the cultivator before. She had actually done something that wasn't within their expectations. Which was probably why Father had shown interest.

As they tore through the next ten cultivators, they had to reveal a bit more of Paike's strength; he was still far from draining a significant amount of qi. His dantian was far deeper than any cultivator had any right to expect. All the internal circulation had forced it to be larger, and he only used a minuscule amount for each of his techniques. That wasn't by choice, but because he had trouble pushing qi into his techniques because of its nature. Even with internal circulation, he couldn't use so much at a time. His drain was even negligible when he was trying to be subtle.

Beyond not using much qi, Paike was rapidly losing respect for the inner sect. Many of them he could have beaten by himself, and with Taka's assistance it was laughable.

It had been obvious that he had some advantages as a member of the Kong family, but he didn't understand how much they mattered until now. Li Feng and Guan Li had warped his view of how competent non-family members were.

"With these as your competition, how are you not ruling in the inner sect?' Paike asked Taka after one particularly embarrassing bout where the cultivator had been powerful, but she had neglected to learn anything from the fights before her. Instead, she tried to bludgeon her way through with raw power.

Paike could almost respect that if it had worked. She certainly was strong, and testing one's strength was not a bad thing. Just everything else had been absolutely moronic about her approach, even if she hadn't been paying attention to the fighter before.

"Who's to say I wasn't?" Taka challenged.

Paike raised an eyebrow, and Taka sighed. "It's complicated. Can we talk about it later?"

They turned to face the next challenger.

Things did start to pick up a bit after that. Part of it was that their tricks were being revealed one by one. As Paike pressed more and more of his true fighting power, he was starting to draw even more attention than Taka. They used that to their advantage, of course.

Even Taka was surprised at his recent advancements, and he had been fighting Paike regularly for the past month while they were training the battle trance.

Paike didn't let that get to him. There were only a few more fights left. Qi wouldn't be his limiting factor even if he burned at his maximum rate for the rest of the fights. The fights were getting harder, but he still didn't think anyone would get a free pass onto the expedition.

Turning, he checked on Taka. His twin also looked unbothered. Paike wasn't sure what Father had expected of them. Was this supposed to be a test or training? Maybe exercise? They had fought for a good part of the day already, back to back, with very little rest. Also, each opponent was learning more about them and increasing in power.

However, whatever advantage that had given them was totally eclipsed by their teamwork and the two-on-one advantage. Surprisingly, no one had complained that it was unfair. Everyone knew cultivation wasn't supposed to be fair, but that didn't stop some from thinking their family was important enough that the unfairness should always work in their favor.

What Father hoped to teach them with this was a mystery to Paike. It could also be that Father just found this funny and it was a whole joke to him. He was just focused on getting through the last few opponents without embarrassing himself in front of Father.

A swordman was next. Paike was acting as the primary combatant at this point, and he met the sword with a qi construct at the tip of his staff. They fell into a dance, and Paike couldn't help but compare his skills to Li Feng's. Despite being a more advanced cultivator, this young man wasn't anything compared to Li Feng. Truly, this year's new admissions to the sect were terrifying.

It was that comparison to Li Feng that almost did Paike in. He had fallen into the spar, trading blows and blocks in the rhythm of a sword fight. But this was not a sword fight.

The first technique almost laid him out, and only Taka's quick actions saved him. He darted forward and caught the swordsman's wrist in a lock. It wasn't very secure, but it gave Paike the chance he needed to recover from the blow that he had to block with his body and his art to prevent himself from being flung away.

He would chastise himself later. It was through his years of training that he managed to not only keep on his feet, but also to maintain good footing. These were very different things.

Paike launched himself and, with a frenzy of staff strikes that were all empowered with the full force of his qi, battered down the swordsman's guard before striking a decisive blow.

Despite how quickly they took care of that one, Father still called him to talk.

Paike realized that Father was probably just going to bring whoever gave them the most trouble. He would likely then make the fight until it was no longer a problem for them. Not that Paike thought that Father would let them work as a team anymore.

Paike looked at the last two cultivators in line. They had a different aura than all the ones that had come before. Because of the order in which they had self-sorted, no one was totally demoralized after watching the twins take apart tens of cultivators before them. After all, they knew they were better than the ones in front of them in line. It may have been a kind lie, but it was easy to swallow the idea that they would be different and could win, or at least get Father to notice them.

However, Paike could see that few actually believed it. These two did. There was a girl in front and a boy behind him; neither had anything but an air of confidence around them.

Paike prepared to play one of his final cards. Taka might need to as well. Neither had been pressed into using their battle trances, and it made sense to use them now. For at least one of them, if they were pressed.

He signaled to Taka that he should use his in their fight if they were in trouble, and then he would use his in the last one as a final surprise if necessary.

They readied themselves, but the tension broke as Father returned from his perch. "Kiddos, I need at least four candidates. You've done better than I expected, and you can play with these two on our trip. Let's get going."

This left all four of the soon-to-be combatants confused. As if a rug had been pulled from under their feet. Paike had actually been looking forward to a challenge. It was good to get back into sync with his twin, but he wanted to push himself. He didn't need it to advance, but it would have been nice to know where his limits were. Leaving it like this just felt so unsatisfying.

"But--" Taka started to protest, and the other two looked like they also wanted to say something but didn't dare.

"No buts, kiddo, we need to go," Father said as he turned to gather all six of his charges up. "Let me grab a core disciple real quick."

He vanished and reappeared, holding onto the shoulder of a very confused fourth-realm cultivator who was only just reacting with their qi to stop whatever Father had already done.

"Alright, let's go!" Father said as he did something, and their group lifted off into the air and sped away from the inner peak.