Chapter 96: Nothing to Prove
He was braced for a crash, for him to fall back into his bed and pass out for the rest of the day.
That didn't happen.
Instead, he felt normal. Totally, absolutely normal. No lingering effects on his mind. His body felt a little tired, but it had been a while since he had slept.
Paike stood up and went through a quick routine, testing the limits of his body. There was nothing wrong in the slightest.
Slowly, a smile crept its way onto his face. As far as he could think, this was his first absolute, unadulterated success. There were no caveats, no major problems he had to deal with later or things he had missed out on. Nor had it been a frantic scramble to fix previous mistakes or something he was late to.
He had done something long before he was supposed to. He did it early and far better than anyone could have thought possible. This wasn't the control he had been required to achieve; no, it was the beginning of mastery. This was a tool he could use at will, and he saw that it could even take an Emerald cultivator off guard.
It only reinforced the idea that no one could really challenge his position in the outer sect. Only Li Feng, he thought, could give him a real fight, but even then he was pretty sure he could come out on top. But he didn't think there was any reason to have that fight in the first place. Li Feng wasn't going to stand in his or Liming's way.
Not only did they agree to work together, but neither he nor Liming wanted that top spot. Not really. Top five was all that mattered to Paike. What it came down to in the end was the end-of-year tournament and who would qualify to enter the inner sect. Being top-ranked wasn't a guaranteed ticket to entry.
There was still a long way to go. Almost a year, but he couldn't sit still, not because he didn't think that he wouldn't make it. Already, he was nearing the level at which disciples entered the inner sect. No, if he stopped moving, he would lose momentum and stagnate. Father had told them all over and over that nothing was more dangerous to a cultivator than a lack of a threat.