The Urban Dao Child

Yang Dao entered the array to face the spirit phantom of his 'Master'. He looked around to find the said phantom. After a few seconds, the spirit energy inside the array gathered together and formed a figure of a young man. The man resembled Sun Eckhart but Yang Dao could tell that the person was very much younger than his current age.

The phantom materialized completely forming the figure of a person. Yang Dao could not differentiate if the person in front of him was a spirit phantom or real. The phantom spoke up, "Are you ready?"

Yang Dao was surprised by the sudden response of the phantom, and he realized that the opponent was not anything like the training puppets. This thing had intelligence, as for how much, it will be proven when they duel. The Dao Child raised his sword and said, "I am ready."

The phantom replied, "You have to stand against my blows for ten minutes before you can be considered as passing the test."

Yang Dao nodded, ten minutes was going to be a long time for him. Not because he was weak, but because the opponent gave him insurmountable pressure. He was not affected much, but this pressure made him doubt, whether he should defend or attack. As he was in the middle of making up his mind. Suddenly, Sun Eckhart moved to attack him from the left side.

Yang Dao caught a flicker in his peripheral vision, he gave up thinking and decided to go with the flow. He took half a step back and a fist moved past his face. He would have attacked in this was the usual encounter, but his instincts told him to move away, and he followed. He took a wide step sideways to his left, and a palm passed by. The attack was aimed at where his heart would have been.

This was followed by a series of attacks and after a full five minutes, Yang Dao had yet to make a move, or it could be said that he could not make any moves at all. Sun Eckhart was moving so fast that Yang Dao could not calculate the trajectory of the attacks and the pattern was unpredictable. He was in a mess.

Plume in his hand was trembling rigorously longing to attack, but Yang Dao could only use the blade to parry the incoming attacks. After five minutes, he realized how weak he was with his skills. The realm of cultivation did not mean anything when it is faced by someone with skills. Just when he was beginning to doubt his strength, he found a gap in the attack.

Yang Dao's sword moved quickly and his attack exploited the gap exposed by Sun Eckhart. He directly used his fire-style sword skills. The stab attacks were like sparks flying through the void. Despite the method used by the spirit phantom to defend his attack, Yang Dao managed to move his sword using different trajectories to aim at the exposed loopholes.

When he started to attack, he had one thought in mind. Do not let the phantom take the initiative again, he was following his pace and was unable to attack. Now he took the charge if he let go of this chance, he would not be able to last for ten minutes of trial time. His goal was not to only last inside the array but also to try and defeat this spirit phantom.

The sword flickered and the phantom was being pushed back, slowly yet steadily. Yang Dao was also improving his skills as he tried to catch up with the opponent. He realized that his skills were not too honed and a more skillful opponent can push him back to the point of helplessness.

As the battle continued, Yang Dao gave up on his intention to defeat the spirit phantom in front of him but focused to learn the skills and hone them to perfection. Who knows, when he will come across another entity that could possess a threat to his loved ones and himself? He was so deeply dedicated to the battle that this sense of time had gone null.

After ten minutes had passed, the spirit phantom retreated to a safe distance and said, "You have passed the trial. You can go back."

With that said, the phantom scattered into golden particles of the spiritual energy, just like the process of its creation. Yang Dao did not even had the time to react as it all happened. He could only sigh to the fact that the battle had come to an end. He sheathed his sword and walked outside the array.

The elder outside by now had received the news of a Daemon invasion in the sect. When he told Sun Eckhart that his disciple entered the Phantom Battle Array, to take the final trial, the latter told him to wait till the test is complete.

As the elder saw Yang Dao coming out of the battle array with upon trial completion, he said, "You have been summoned to the elder council."

Yang Dao gave him a glance and with a nod he made his way to the council hall. The elders were all sitting around the table with solemn faces. None of them uttered a word, making the hall filled with gloomy silence. They were waiting for Yang Dao to come in and explain what happened inside the valley.

Their wait did not last long and Yang Dao came to the council hall. He walked inside with his head held high. The stature of the boy had undergone a striking change ever since he had came here for the first time. The childishness had slowly vanished from his eyes, replaced by maturity and wits fit for a noble person, and he was slightly taller than before.

He came forward to stand in front of the table and bowed his head to greet the elders. He asked, "How may the disciple be of service."

Sun Eckhart asked, "Dao, can you explain to us what happened inside the valley?"

"Yes, Master. I was running through the black smoke when suddenly..."

He explained the activities inside the valley to them all in a calm and patient manner. He recognized everything completely. That was how much it effected his heart. When a few elders decided to cross investigate this, they all failed to find any fault with him. Yang Dao replied to them all in a same manner.

They could not find the traces of a space tunneling inside the sect, that led the Daemon sneak on Supremacy. Chime was still outside combing the valley to find any clue of a stray array. Sun Eckhart said, "Dao, go to your quarter. You need to rest."

Yang Dao nodded and after greeting the old people he came outside the council hall. Earlier he found that the other disciples who took the trial with him had all been standing outside the hall, they seemed to have been interrogated before him. Yang Dao walked over to their side and greeted them.

Shakti asked, "Dao, how are you feeling now?"

The youth replied, "I am feeling better now, Senior sister." his voice was calm and stable.

All the disciples chatted with each other about the happenings today, and Yang Dao asked, "I would recommend that you all go to your masters and ask them to let you take the third trial. Learn from fighting with the spirit phantoms. That will help you a lot."

The disciples all heard his suggestion and they all decided to go and talk to their masters later. Athena, Yue Jing and Yang Dao made there way to the cloud palace. They came to the backyard and they sat down under a pavilion. Alisha had prepared hot tea for them. She did not know what has occurred, but she did sense something odd in the air of her cheerful young master.

Athena asked, "What happened to you today?"

"I felt vexed when I saw that thing in front of me. I have never experienced such a strong repulsion." replied the Dao Child.

Athena wanted to say something when Yang Dao said, "Big sister, what made you delay?"

Yue Jing sighed and said, "Yue Ming withdrew from the sect, he is going to enrol in Prestige School. He is using our maternal family to get this done. Father paid half his wealth as a tribute to get him there. Yue Ming will get a seat at the candidates to represent the school for the pentagonal tournament. He entered the tutelage of the sect master there. Apparently, his physique is a variant one and his new master has the corresponding cultivation arts for it."

Yang Dao nodded and said, "It will pass when it comes to pass. Do not worry.The tournament is just around the corner, but since your father has paid such a hefty price then he will not be moving against us so much. This gives us a relief from the family's side."

Athena nodded and said, "What now, Dao?"

The boy fell into thought and said, "Prepare without resting till one day before the tournament. We need to be at the peak of our games. Whether it is Yue Ming, or anyone else. Do your best, for yourself."

With that said, he picked up the teacup and took a sip to enjoy it.