Origin Court: Accepting Disciples With A System

THE MATCH ENDED with Yang Lujia winning it. Sheng Fudi, on the other hand, as he had been knocked out of the competition, went home to his family. Yang Lujia also went back to his seat in the participants' waiting area.

Whether it was Xia Jieke, Wang Lao, or the Runic Demon, nobody dared to make a sound. Runic Demon himself wasn't certain if he could defeat Sheng Fudi that easily. After all, that was a Half-Step Saint Realm. As far as he had known, their young lord, Zhang Lixin also had the same cultivation level.

It was such a wise move for them not to attack Guile City.

Otherwise, Diabolos City could have suffered a huge loss if they were to fight this Cao Nima who was clearly a freak of the Heavenly Dao, so to say.

Yawning, Yang Lujia laid down beside Lin Diyu whose eyes were sparkling. He let him idolize him more. That way, this Lin Diyu would become his number one fan and would never betray him in the future no matter the consequences. Unless he was bias-wrecked like some fans would say in his previous world.

Xia Jieke couldn't believe what he saw. Even he couldn't catch up with the speed Cao Nima showed them. He even felt the aura of death when Yang Lujia's purple eyes lay on Sheng Fudi's. Bone-chilling.

The first round of the Knockout Cluster was finally over. Originally, there were only 44 participants. At the moment, only 22 were left as half of them were eliminated. In the second round, there would be 11 pairs who would fight each other. Whoever won would advance to the third round.

"For the first pair…" Xia Jieke said, leaving a suspenseful moment for everyone. That was because the 22 left on the list were already the strongest amongst all the participants. "We have Xia Hua versus Lin Diyu!"

People froze.

"This is going to be a fight for the century! Both are good and it's gonna be a good fight to see! I am expecting more from this Lin Diyu guy!"

"I just hope that if any of the two of them would defeat the other, he or she would not kill him or her. It's just a pity if they would."

"Yes. After all, they're geniuses. Killing them is like cutting off someone's little brother."

Lin Diyu had a solemn look on his face. He then stared at his master, waiting for his approval. If his master didn't want him to fight, he wouldn't.

On the other hand, Yang Lujia was baffled by Lin Diyu's stare at him. "What are you looking at? Aren't you going up?"

Lin Diyu was a bit taken aback. "You're letting me fight her, master? She's a freak, right? I don't want to get killed."

Yang Lujia rolled his eyes. "If she dares to kill you, I will slaughter everyone in Da Sishen."

"Master…" Lin Diyu was, again, touched. He then slightly bowed with hands clasped towards Yang Lujia. "Understood, master. I will win this match."

"Just shut up and go."

"Yes."

"…"

With strong momentum, Lin Diyu arrived and landed in the arena. His overflowing confidence created his nonchalant face towards the strong enemy he was going to face.

Pulling out his Underworld Scythe that could terrorize the whole world, he made his stance even before the fight began.

Lin Diyu's Underworld Scythe contained the throbbing of death. Its relentless and unabated release of smoke made everyone's hearts writhe. Waves of death rules rolled and surged from it but were completely suppressed, as though it was waiting for something.

On the other hand, Xia Hua didn't want to lose to anyone, so she also prepared herself. Raising her unsheathed saber to forehead-level, she pushed her other feet backward and looked at her opponent. Her eyes were sharp. Even Lin Diyu did not dare underestimate her.

However, he needed to win this for his master and for his junior brother.

Lin Diyu held his scythe sideward, with its blade's point facing upwards, as though he predicted the next move Xia Hua was going to make.

In between and surrounding them, the atmosphere was eerily quiet. Any moment later, they knew a volcano would erupt. Its lava would smolder everyone's hearts, with the wind hammering their nerves.

Even Xia Jieke himself felt the tense atmosphere. He just hoped his sister would get through this challenge.

"Let the match…" Xia Jieke trailed off that it made everyone's chests heave.

Lin Diyu gripped his Underworld Scythe tightly.

Xia Hua also held her saber's grip unyieldingly.

"Begin!"

As if blown by the wind, the scabbard flew off from Xia Hua's saber and beelined towards Lin Diyu's head. The latter barely dodged the penetrating scabbard with a slight move of his head to the right.

Xia Hua naturally knew that her opponent could avoid her first assault easily. Hence, she pushed herself forward, facing the approaching Lin Diyu head-on.

Finally near each other, she swung her saber downward and faced the onslaught of the scythe's lower attack.

With ferocious looks, their eyes met each other.

After a second the surrounding particles dropped to the ground, the two separated from each other and clashed one more time.

CLANG!

CLANG!

Repeatedly, they faced each other head-on, but no one seemed to have the upper hand over another.

People also noticed this.

However, their speed was really top-notch. For ordinary cultivators and people, what they could only see in the arena were the shades of glaring lights of countless blades every time the two clashed against each other.

Their hearts tightened. Even Xia Jieke himself didn't know who would win.

With clenched teeth, the continuous colliding force made them feel exhausted. Breathing heavily, Lin Diyu stared at Xia Hua. However, his mouth was closed.

"You're quite... you're pretty good," Xia Hua said, her chest heaving up and down. "However, if you think that's my full power, you're mistaken. I am determined to win this to gain a reputation for my father like what my brother did—"

Before she finished her sentence, Lin Diyu suddenly appeared in front of her. His knees were bent. Quickly, he slashed his scythe against her abdomen. Xia Hua was taken aback.

With furrowed brows, she shouted at him. She actually got slightly wounded!

"Shameless prick! Why did you attack me while I'm still talking?!"

However, she received another attack as an answer.

Lin Diyu once again swung his scythe.

Xia Hua immediately blocked it with her saber.

CLANG!

"Shameless asshole!"

Lin Diyu pretended not to hear her and flung his scythe to the side once more.

Xia Hua prepared herself to block his strike, holding her wounded abdomen. As the blade and her saber were about to contend again, her eyes widened all of a sudden.

Lin Diyu pushed his scythe forward at the last minute they were about to collide.

BUZZ!

It caused a buzzing sound when the saber hit the scythe's body.

Very quickly, the scythe's blade dis-attached itself from the snath[1] and flew off towards the woman's chest. Leaving herself open, she gasped and hurriedly retreated, even losing her grip on her saber.

Her face had sweat all over. When she turned to look at Lin Diyu, her anger soared. But before she could snarl at him, Lin Diyu already arrived in front of her, kicking her in the gut.

As quickly as the eyes couldn't see, people realized the one who won the fight.

SCREECH!

A lady screamed in horror as she looked at the wounded and unconscious body of Xia Hua. "She's… she's actually defeated…"

As soon as her voice faded, the crowd caused a major hubbub. Never would they have thought that someone as strong as Xia Hua who was at the Ninth Stage of the God Emperor Realm would be defeated by someone whose cultivation level was three stages lower than hers.

Inconceivable!

Meanwhile, Lin Diyu, who won the battle, didn't even spare a glance at his defeated opponent. Even if he had the ability to kill her, with her identity, it would be troublesome if he did so.

He knew Xia Hua was the doted daughter of the City Palace Lord. If he found trouble by killing her, he and his master would not have a place in Death City anymore, even in the Da Sishen.

Hence, he restrained himself.

With his face as bright as the sun, he went down the arena and ignored the people's bedlam. Instead, his gaze was on his master who was calmly looking at him.

"Master, how was it? How did I do? How did I do?" Lin Diyu was thrilled. During his entire journey, he had never had a good fight with other people as his master always did things for him and his junior brother, even when Feng Huang was already present.

Yang Lujia smiled, nodding.

Seeing this, Lin Diyu was elated.

"But why did you not finish her off in one stroke? You could've done that, right? It's such a waste of time clashing with her like that," Yang Lujia said, as a matter of factly.

Lin Diyu's face turned red and scratched his cheek with his forefinger. Then, he looked at his master. "It's not that I want to defeat or kill her in one go. I just wanted to experience a battle. It exhilarated me. Plus, I don't think it was just something I wanted to do.

"I thought that perhaps by doing so, I would be able to hone myself whenever someone stronger than me would appear and hunt me down. That way, I could at least protect myself.

"Besides, she's someone with a really strong background. I don't want to implicate master for my selfish wants."

Yang Lujia was quite satisfied with Lin Diyu's answer. That was true.

He would not always be there to protect them, much less in Lin Diyu's case who had the job to become the senior brother of every disciple he'd take in.

He only had the S-Class Talent.

Such a talent would not need more time to cultivate, but time wasn't the case here. Lest he took some disciples who were more talented than Lin Diyu, this kid would probably break down for being weaker than his junior brothers and sisters.

So, he let him decide on his own.

One time, he heard a story from his grandfather that there was one man above the heavens who walked his way up to become supremely powerful. He had no talent firsthand. He only had his effort as his capital to level up, and some luck.

No matter, Lin Diyu was his disciple and Yang Lujia himself felt that he was abundant in luck, fortune, as the system named itself when it was first activated. He knew that his disciples would be affected by his luck. Even if they were far away from him, they would still be affected.

Just like how Lin Diyu smoothly leveled up from the bottom till at this moment.

After all, ever since blood had become a problem with his cultivation, Lin Diyu himself fought beasts to use their blood to cultivate according to the Asura Blood Scripture. Back then, his grandfather had also always secretly protected him when he was trying to battle with beasts in order to increase his battle experience.

Speaking of his grandfather, Zhuquan De, he still had his letter with him. 'I wonder where you are now, old man. How are you doing?'

Seeing his master in a daze, Lin Diyu snapped his lips shut and turned to look at the arena again. After that fight, he wanted to fight again. It really ignited his passion for battle.

Ever since he cultivated the scripture and obtained the Thanatos Bloodline, Lin Diyu had taken a liking to darkness. He liked to stay in the dark. At the same time, he also liked to play or kill in the dark. This was why he liked the Underworld Scythe so much.

He also felt that this weapon was very much compatible with him.

"Next match!" Xia Jieke announced after finally seeing his sister settle down. Although he was a bit angry with Lin Diyu's methods, he still had to formally preside over the event. Apart from that, Lin Diyu never violated any rules, so it was only normal for his sister to be injured if she wasn't careful enough.

Hence, he continued.

"Next match! Yang Lujia versus Gu Shuli!"