"My name is Wang Ting! 6th layer of body reinforcement and future core disciple! let's fight!"

Like the audience, Nathan was startled. Not because of the challenge, but because another cultivator in this sect meets the requirements to be a core disciple. He didn't know Wang Ting, but he clearly remembered that on the journey to the Thundercloud Sect, there were only three core disciples, and Wang Ting was not one of them.

'History is already changing...' He thought.

As soon as Wang Ting had finished shouting, the disciples who were watching were shocked.

"You... Brother Wang you broke!?" A disciple shouted in surprise as he faced Wang Ting.

For the first time, silence filled the crowd until Wang Ting nodded. The murmurs that were about Li Dao disappeared, giving way to the admiration and respect directed towards Wang Ting.

"Congratulations big brother Wang!"

"Talent! if that's not talent I don't know what is."

"Wait! How long has it been since there's been a fight between core disciples?"

"Oh! Really, I'm looking forward to it."

Everyone's eyes went from Li Dao to Wang Ting as they both could feel the disciples' anticipation for this fight. Nathan looked at his new sword and then at Wang Ting.

"Anyway, it's a good opportunity to test this sword." He took out his sword and swung it a little. "Alright, then let's go to the arena."

As he walked towards the arena, Nathan felt the weight of his sword in his hands and couldn't help but swallow in nervousness. His 'Transmigration' wasn't the type where two souls merge into one body and the new owner gets the old one's experiences as well.

He had Li Dao's memories, but it was just that, memories, he clearly remembered the effort it took to act like the original Li Dao to not get in trouble.

Once they arrived at the arena and both were positioned, Nathan ignored the crowd that had stopped to watch the fight and faced Wang Ting who was holding a saber in his hands and smiled at him.

"Just for clarification. You can't spar using real swords, but as you challenged me, this fight doesn't qualify for a spar, so be careful."

Once he was on guard, Nathan focused his attention on his carefree opponent as he moved to defense. Despite it being his first fight, his muscle memory was high as he held his sword and his heart rate increased considerably.

"I'm ready." He said.

Wang Ting who was filled with anger and jealousy, just held his saber as he said, "Then let's get started. You also be careful senior brother, swords have no eyes."

As soon as Wang Ting smiled, he got into position ready to attack Li Dao.

Even though it didn't show, Nathan was a little afraid to fight, but he knew that if he was going to try his first battle, it should be at the beginning where the cultivation level is low and the chances of death are minimal. Aside from the fact that Wang Ting carried a saber and from Li Dao's memories, in the Scorching Sword technique he was the best in the entire sect.

'Li Dao has something related to the Dao of the sword, the first step to find out what he has is using it, there's also another theory I want to test...'

Raising his sword and making a simple swing, Wang Ting attacked Li Dao.

Nathan stood there, not moving, waiting for the attack to reach him. And when he did, he moved!

When Wang Ting's sword fell, he swung his body to the side dodging at an impressive speed.

Giving no time to counterattack, Wang Ting continued to attack. Because the sword technique taught to the disciples was only one, Nathan using his knowledge, moved with precision and speed anticipating Wang Ting's attacks.

Demonstrating great precision in terms of control, speed and power, Nathan felt the excitement of battle as with each deflected blow, a spontaneous smile spread across his lips making Wang Ting angrier.

And so, more than 30 bids have passed. The crowd that was focused on the battle in the first few minutes, realized that only one side was attacking non-stop, which made their interest drop by the minute.

"Isn't Li Dao the sword genius? why does he just run!?" A disciple asked no one showing his disgust for Li Dao's actions.

"I don't see any talent, even I can keep dodging." A disciple turned to her friend and scoffed.

As the complaints mounted, one of the strongest inner disciples snorted and said, "Wang Ting doesn't stand a chance. If you think Li Dao is just straying, you can't recognize mount tai."

Although the latter is famous, the disciples did not listen to his opinion and continued to argue until an elder who was standing where the battle arenas were stood up and walked towards them.

"That's why you're inferior to Li Dao." He snorted as he put his hand on his sword and watched the fight with mild interest. "Relying only on footwork and knowledge, he was able to easily dodge their attacks. That kind of terrifying footwork..."

The disciples came to a sudden realization. Even though he was on guard, Li Dao didn't use his sword even once to defend himself from Wang Ting's attacks, this meant that what he was doing was not simple, according to his knowledge of the Burning Sword technique, he was calculating the attack trajectory and dodging.

""I thank the elder for his teachings." "They said gratefully.

As they discussed and analyzed the battle, Wang Ting and Li Dao were more than 80 moves away. Wang Ting who was already filled with hate, his thoughts clouded with anger, he looked at Li Dao as he let his guard down.

"Stop running like a coward!" Panting, he screamed.

Even after the 80th move, there was no sign of fatigue in Li Dao, unlike Wang Ting who was already tired.

"As I haven't taught anyone in a long time..." He shifted position and raised his sword with the intention of attacking. "I'll give you a lesson for free."

Squeezing the hilt of his sword, Wang Ting shifted his guard to defense as he faced Li Dao.

"You know that even though you can't use Metaphysical Qi or as they say expel Qi, the Scorching Sword is a great sword technique for cultivators who haven't reached foundation establishment." Lifting his black blade, Nathan closed his eyes as he calmed his heart and moved his Qi into his hands. "Does anyone know why?"

The elder smiled as he understood what Nathan was going to do, even though he knew, he didn't respond as he watched the disciples fall silent.

"It's quite simple. Even if you can't embed your sword with Qi, when you reach the final stage of the Scorching Sword you unlock the concept of fire..." His sword began to heat up at an impressive speed as the color of its blade changed. "And with the concept of fire, you can heat your blade!"

Li Dao slowly walked up to Wang Ting.

In an instant, Li Dao and Wang Ting clashed. Sword and Saber collided as Wang Ting's expression closed. Increasing the speed of his attacks more and more, Li Dao attacked again not giving Wang Ting a chance to think about counterattacking.

"I-this..."

"So fast."

Wang Ting was shocked. Li Dao's sword was so fast it made his heart tremble.

As the air heated up due to the temperature of the sword, it began to expand as everyone felt the temperature rise.

Nathan took a step forward each time his fierce attack descended on Wang Ting's sword.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His sword hit Wang Ting's saber three times as his saber was forced back.

Stepping back, Nathan lowered his sword as he faced Wang Ting's saber that had a part of the blade broken.

"You're quite talented, but you're very impulsive. You were so full of rage that you didn't use any of the Scorching Sword correctly." He said.

"Shut up...shut up...I'll...win..." Wang Ting replied wearily.

"In addition to underestimating your opponent, you attacked relentlessly, became clouded with rage and did not notice my purposeful mistakes. If it was in a real battle, you would die." He continued.

The disciples who were watching the fight listened attentively.

"This is my final blow. I recommend that you use all your knowledge to block it or you will die."

Nathan felt the disciples' eyes judging him as if his ego was speaking louder.

"Information no one knows." Nathan remembered the lines from the novel while memories of a sword cut flowed through his mind. "Scorching Sword is a variation of [Sword Art Breaking Red Sky]."

In the original novel, Ye Chun uses a final blow against Zeng Xiang that nearly kills him. He learns this move after his master says that the Scorching Sword is a fundamental technique for a powerful sword art.

At first, Nathan truly believed that he had an affinity for the Dao of the sword, but when he took his blade and attacked Wang Ting, memories of Li Dao using a special move came to his mind, and along with the memories of the novel he became remembered a fact.

'Li Dao has no affinity with the Dao of the sword. He is extremely talented with the sword or has a physique related to it. Now I'm sure because even with his master teaching it, Ye Chun took 3 months to master this move.'

Using the time Nathan was explaining against him, Wang Ting came back to rationality and prepared himself. He knew he had made mistakes, and for him, even tired, the battle would begin now.

He squinted his eyes as he stared at Li Dao's every move.

He had finally recognized him as a worthy opponent.

Nathan smiled and braced himself, he closed his eyes, opened his legs a little and went on high guard.

"Sword art breaking the red sky, eclipse." The concept of fire heated the black blade giving it a reddish hue.

Just like the eclipse, an alignment between Li Dao's concepts of fire and Qi took place. Something impossible to happen before the Foundation Establishment had happened.

Li Dao's metaphysical Qi escaped from his grasp by ascending the heated blade transforming it into Fire Elemental Qi.

Whoosh!

His sword ignited on fire.

Performing the move, the eclipse fell.

Li Dao's flaming sword came down with voracity and pressure on Wang Ting who swallowed hard when he came to the conclusion that it was impossible to dodge.

The temperature rose considerably as the trail of fire left by the sword intensified.

Wang Ting raised his sword to parry the attack. His eyes widened in shock.

'It seems that you deserve the attention, I overestimated myself.' He thought.

The flaming sword passed through Wang Ting's raised saber cutting it in half like it was nothing.

Just as Li Dao's sword was going to kill him, something happened.

Ting!

"Wait." A voice reverberated on the spot.

Just as the flaming sword approached and would kill him, a new saber appeared and dispelled Li Dao's flames stopping the attack.

Li Dao, who was concentrating on the attack, was shocked.

"Looks like Young Master Li doesn't plan on going easy on whoever gets in his way." A voice reverberated in the place causing everyone to be shocked.

Nahan looked at the saber's owner and saw an old man looking at him with interest. He frowned as he thought:

'Young master? it bought faster than i expected.'

The crowd went wild with the appearance of someone mysterious. The elder who was very shocked by Li Dao's blow, looked at the old man and cautiously clenched his fists.

"I salute the sect leader."

Wang Ting who was in a trance, looked at the sect master with various apparent emotions, shock, fear, guilt and shame.

Li Dao who was lost in his thoughts about being a young master quickly returned to his normal expression. He put the sword back in its scabbard, smiled and walked down from the arena.

"Class is over."

Silence dominated the place.

Seeing that the sect leader had no intention of stopping him, Nathan walked back to the central courtyard while receiving several shocked looks from the disciples and elders.

Fang Xu, stared at Li Dao's back with a complicated expression.

'Ancestor, when you descended to the nether realm and said that the Scorching Sword was a powerful technique, I did not believe it. Now I see that I am nearsighted.'

As he walked towards the central patio, Nathan was chuckling inwardly.

'I expected to have to show more false evidence, but since they bought the idea, I don't care anymore.'

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