Patrick slashed the wooden sword and caused the reality of the Broken World to break into pieces, space above it shattering, the timeline severed from the cosmic time-flow, a cut so clean even the Devil God Arm did not get a chance to finish being a story. The only people to remain were Patrick, Athena, Anna, and Anastasia, the ladies unaffected by the reality distortion as they were goddesses and infinite beings, sofas still sofas in a void that had forgotten what a planet was, wine still wine, sunglasses still insulting a cosmos that no longer had a sun. Anna looked at the empty void the Broken World once occupied and spoke to Athena calmly, as if commenting on weather that had been cancelled.
"Patrick seems to be enjoying himself, but I thought he wanted us to use weak powers and techniques, blah, what a hypocrite."
She mocked and continued drinking, Athena speaking to Patrick across the nothing.
"My Love, I remember a certain someone who said something about using weak techniques and going easy."
Patrick floated in the void as he heard them, left hand to his face, knowing he was the one who had talked about weak powers and going easy, and now he had broken the rule with a wooden sword that Grace had called the weakest thing qualified to touch him.
"Sigh, you can't blame me, this armor is the weakest that's in my item space, even when I tried to make anything weaker than this for my personal use, it registers not qualified item."
He sighed as he turned and answered Athena, then thought of something and spoke to Grace.
"Grace, I don't want to use infinite knowledge, so tell me why I can't wear anything weaker than this Spartan God armor."
"Master, due to your ability of Infinite/Eternal Transcendence, you are constantly transcending yourself infinitely every second, and that also includes your items and beasts, based on the fact that you exist out of the universal cosmic conception, you are nothingness."
He heard it, hand to his face, sigh expression, asking Grace to show the skill status of the mentioned ability.
[Ability: Eternal/Absolute/Selective Transcendence, Passive: Transcends endlessly into the Great Infinite Above.]
[Sub-abilities: ∞]
(Search for eternal transcendence for the sub-abilities.)
He saw the description and sighed again, truly helpless when he saw passive, which meant he could not turn it off, a god forbidden from borrowing a mortal's stick. He slowly descended to Athena and Anna, Anastasia's golden hair still catching a light that no longer existed, and spoke with an awkward smile.
"Well, I guess we have to go slowly with things now."
Athena and Anna rolled their eyes as they already knew what was about to happen, Anastasia sipping as if rewind were a dessert.
"Grace, cancel combat mode."
The Spartan God armor disappeared as Patrick returned to the golden robe he wore before, and he watched the void as the destroyed reality of the Broken World began reforming in a matter of seconds, time reversing until he was on the stage with Dong Pao, the killed cultivators and experts all brought alive and returned to how everything was before Dong Pao died from Patrick's pressure, Master 45 unborn in this afternoon, Soul Explosion unspent, a continent given its toys back without being asked if it wanted them.
_____________________________________________
(Present restored timeline)
The referee called Patrick's name on the stage as he and Dong Pao prepared for combat, Kang Mu still looking for a worthy opponent, Lou Yan still tasting the strain of Heavenly Eyes, Ju Han still owning a throne handle that had not yet learned to break.
"So you are the dark horse everyone wants to see fight, huh, well this is your chance to give up before I embarrass you in front of your women, after they will be mine, and I can do whatever I please."
Dong Pao finished the sentence he could not finish before and had a mocking look at Patrick, the words that had died in seven seconds now living long enough to be stupid. Patrick walked toward him, already knowing what happened when he used his weakest qi pressure to suppress the boy, and everyone was confused, expecting abilities or cultivation techniques, watching the dark horse simply walk across the platform as if the bricks were a hallway.
The Emperor of the Ju Empire sat on his throne and squinted to see if Patrick would use his body cultivation technique, the black-robed man having only received the messenger's information about Anna and the Shi family on the stands below, Patrick's and Athena's details remaining a mystery, Anastasia's name still a rumor the Devil Sect had filed under daughter, not granddaughter. On the stage Dong Pao saw Patrick walking toward him, not bothered that closing distance would be disadvantageous, smirked, released his Spirit Awakening realm qi pressure, and to everyone's surprise Patrick was not restrained by even a step, continuing unhurriedly, a walk that made Kang Mu's ten-second victory look loud.
Dong Pao, noticing the suppression did not work, attacked using his cultivation technique, the Dong family practicing beast transformation, allowing them to become their selected beasts while gaining super reflexes and attack speed and boosting qi recovery, which was a fine answer until the question had already seen the timeline die.
"Is Dong Pao going to use the Dong family's beast transformation technique?"
"He's going to use it, can't you see his stance?"
"Hey, shut up, I am trying to focus on the battle."
Commotion on the stands, people arguing, many interested in what Patrick would use to counter, and Dong Pao transformed into a humanoid tiger with large claws and fierce fangs, looking at Patrick like prey waiting to be slaughtered, flashing with speed until only a blur could be seen. Patrick continued walking as the tiger attacked, Dong Pao flashing behind with a smile, thinking he had won when it came to speed, slashing claws at a back, and what happened next shocked him, the Patrick he slashed dissipating like the wind, the referee and everyone else left speechless, Dong Pao turning to look behind to see if Patrick had also used speed, but Patrick was not behind him, or more to say he was not on the platform at all.
"You think speed is something you can challenge me with, you are nothing but a tiny soul conceptualized to exist in a physical vessel."
Patrick's voice rang out, remaining unseen.
"Stop hiding and show yourself, coward."
Dong Pao shouted, eyes moving fast to find the voice, tiger claws alert, ready to attack the moment a body appeared.
"Am right here, fool."
Patrick's figure slowly appeared behind him, hands behind his back, Dong Pao attacking, Patrick not there anymore, standing in front instead, hands still behind him, speaking casually.
"That's enough playing for you, now get off the stage."
BOOM!
As if a force acted based on the words, Dong Pao was sent off the stage as Patrick uttered, crashing into the walls of the stands, spitting mouthfuls of blood, passing out, and the referee saw it speechless, turned, found him knocked out cold, unconsciously raised a hand and declared Patrick the winner, fifteen seconds if the stands were counting, a Qi Condensation realm defeating Spirit Awakening without a technique the continent had a name for.
Above the higher stands Ju Han saw it and gripped his throne with force, destroying the handle, standing, eyes widened, glaring, intensifying his reason to make Patrick the imperial disciple of the Ju Empire, thinking the boy must be more powerful than he appeared, must have used a Spirit King technique to attack that kid from the stage without physical force, creating reasons and probabilities that made sense from a cultivator's perspective, because if he truly got the real concept from a scientific explanation he would not even think of Patrick's methods, and a throne that had broken in another timeline was breaking again as if the wood remembered.
Below the Emperor's stand the dark-robed man from the Devil Sect had a contemplating look after what happened on the platform, curiosity growing, sending a shadow to connect with Patrick's and spy on him later, the shadow leaving unnoticed by the other sect representatives, Elder Mo still Little Mo in a future that had not yet been allowed to arrive. Patrick slowly suspended in the air as he moved from the stage, not paying attention to the other participants, continuing to Athena and Anna, and far from the platform they saw him floating toward them with hands behind his back, the devilishly handsome husband they had, and they smiled, Anastasia's cup tilting in greeting.
The crowd, left speechless, was unable to take their eyes away, from beginning to end a Qi Condensation taking only fifteen seconds to defeat a Spirit Awakening cultivator, and the representative from the Sunblaze Sect stroked his long grey beard as he spoke to a member standing beside him, a bulky man with a long sword on his back.
"This kid will make a promising future for our sect if we recruit him."
"Recruiting him will be the issue."
The bulky man replied, which was the most honest sentence the afternoon had produced.
Next fight, the host calling the next combatants, the competition continuing, many not caring about the other fights especially after they had seen Patrick's methods, Kang Mu's face doing mathematics that no longer added, Li Feng still proud of a stone that had not been asked to speak. The competition continued until ten candidates remained, and the host called Patrick and Lou Yan to the stage.
Lou Yan, although arrogant, had seen Patrick's strength, knew she was not even close in comparison, and after receiving a pill from her mother she went to the stage, the pill having helped replenish her qi after the Heavenly Eyes' third level, Lou Min's fan already thinking about a daughter who might not need to win, only to enter the top five. After Patrick left the stage he had noticed the shadow of the dark-robed man from the Devil Sect, and he did not cancel it even after Grace wanted to destroy it completely along with the man, adventure liking a spy that thought it was clever.
He rose from between his wives and went to the stage, saw Lou Yan and her confident stance, smiled as he spoke.
"Why are you so tense, relax."
Lou Yan heard the devilishly charming voice she had never heard in her life and relaxed completely, feeling as if something was telling her to submit to this person and not fight at all, seeing him standing opposite her with hands behind him, magnificent robes and boots, ponytailed silver hair and golden eyes, a boy the Eyes had not been built to predict.
"You seem bullied, here, take this pill and get yourself in a fair cultivation state."
He held his palm, a white pill appearing from it, floating toward her, stopping in front of her confused and skeptical expression, and the crowd burst into commotion when they saw a pill formed without alchemy ingredients or furnace.
"OMG, did you guys see that, he made a pill without using alchemy ingredients or furnace, I must be dreaming."
"Isn't that the ultimate stage of an alchemist, to make a pill without a furnace?"
"Fool, even the master alchemists needed ingredients to make a pill, not just from thin air."
"You guys are talking about the method he used and forgot the most important thing, it is that Alex is not only a martial cultivator, but he is also an alchemist."
A group argued about methods until the last man pointed out the main factor, that Patrick was a genius, and all the sect representatives stood from their seats, including the family powerhouses, looking at each other making sure one did not make a move to ask him, then feeling a slight qi pressure from above, Ju Han with a serious expression grabbing his throne with full force, almost breaking the other remaining handle. They understood the Emperor had eyes on Patrick and it would not be easy to approach, but Jiang Shi from the Heavenly Rain Sect only turned his head slightly to notice the pressure, smirked, and was the first to sit, followed by the others, a Sage practicing patience because patience still looked like power.
Lou Min saw how Lou Yan looked at Patrick, her daughter never having looked at any other boys like that, first time displaying such an expression, and she sent a qi message, warning her.
"Yan'er, do your best not to anger such a person, take the pill, he must be a master-grade alchemist, don't worry, no one can harm you when I am here."
Lou Yan looked at the pill floating in front of her when she suddenly received her mother's message, recollected herself, stretched her hand, took it, threw it in her mouth with no hesitation.
BOOOOOM!
The next moment after taking the pill, Lou Yan's body exploded with power which caused where she stood on the stage to shatter into pieces, sending the host who was below the platform meters away from the stage, Heavenly Eyes wide, a top-five afternoon learning what a gift from a hypocrite felt like.