Michael made a strange face as he heard the shameful patriarch's words. It was well-known how different the current patriarch was compared to his predecessors, but this really was a bit of a stretch. How an easy-going cultivator like this became the patriarch of a superior third-grade sect was a mystery to the young man.

“I’m confident in my strength.” he replied

“Good, good, youth is all about being fearless.” the old man said and laughed. “Bold and fearless!”

Michael nodded and put his hand on the metal device. He revolved his aura, a bright light coating the device. It signified his aura as of the light-attribute.

In total, there were six elements in the world.

Fire. Wind. Earth. Water. Light. Darkness.

Every cultivator had a special element as their attribute. Light and darkness were considerably rarer and more powerful than the other four and so Rector being the second strongest in the clan and Michael being the strongest was partly because this fact.

The first marking of the metal device quickly lit up, followed by the second, third and fourth.

The eyes of the elders similarly lit up as well. A fourth rank light-attribute cultivator in his twenties was incredibly precious. Cultivators with life energy had the hardest time ranking up along with darkness cultivators because of the intricate mysteries of the elements themselves. However, the difficulty was followed by sufficient reward. The light-attribute was famed for its healing properties and incredible effectiveness in vanquishing demons.

Silently, the fifth marking followed suit.

The elders began to whisper with each other as they saw five of ten marking shining. Although they were all in the sixth rank or higher, not a single one of them possessed the light element — as only about one in a thousand possessed either light or darkness as their attributes. This made Michael and Rector very valuable to the clan. Michael could be groomed to an indispensable healer and Rector to a ruthless assassin.

Slightly after the fifth shone up, something no one expected happened– two more markings joined the other five.

The room turned silent.

The Patriarch received a cough-attack.

The elders had their eyes popping out.

And Rector’s jaw dropped so low it almost touched the floor.

The first person in the room to regain his composure was the old Patriarch. He started to laugh and said. “Dang, you should have told me you were this confident from the start! You’re damn powerful for just a kid.”

“I wasn’t sure.” Michael said. He looked down at his hand, staring at it for several seconds before taking a long sigh, his eyes slightly moist. “And if I had the choice I’d rather not.”

The patriarch nodded and turned to the red-haired elder. He smiled wryly and said. “Hey, Miara, I remember you saying you wanted to test the kid?”

Elder Miara froze. She stiffly replied. “I t-think a seventh rank is good enough.”

“Oh really now?” the patriarch mused. “Well, I kind of want to see that with my own eyes.”

“Maybe you should test him yourself then.” Elder Miara venomously said in return.

“With this old body? You must surely be joking, I can’t possibly do that.” the Patriarch waved his hands in the air to signify how frail he was. “You young people should take the chance to be courageous. Not to mention how you are twenty or so years older than him. I think it could be a very nice fight to watch. An elder versus a disciple!”

Elder’s face twitched as she bit her nail. “You’ll regret this old man.”

“Ahaha, no need to be so serious.” the Patriarch laughed it off. “I mean– you weren’t this serious at your home last night when discussed an interesting topic with your faction.”

Several elders along with Elder Miara felt their heart almost stop.

“Why? Not serious anymore?” he added.

“Patriarch, it’s not like you thi–”

“I’ve heard enough.” the old man bellowed. The mansion shook from the incredible aura within his voice. Even Michael felt his eardrums clamor.

“How about it.” he continued. “If you can defeat the kid in a battle, I’ll let that matter pass as mere drunk talk. Nothing more. Nothing less. However, if you were to lose–” he stopped, smiled faintly and said. “Then you and your faction may never set foot in my clan again.”

Elder Maira bit her lip until a faint line of blood trickled down her lip. She looked around and saw the other elders’ gaze on her and the rest of her faction. She slowly turned to the Patriarch and bowed. Then she walked down to the middle of the hall and stopped.

“Go on lad.” the Patriarch urged Michael from the side. Before he could take a step, the old man added in a voice only he could hear. “Defeat her and I’ll owe you a big one.”

Michael nodded. He understood that something fishy was going on but couldn’t quite understand what it was. Either way, the Patriarch’s favour would ease up a lot for the quest he was about to undertake, and more so the mission he had in his life swore to complete.

Michael walked down from the side to the open space in the middle of the hall. Large pillars wooden pillars supported the room and faint sunlight slipped through from outside above the red-haired elder’s head.

The young man stopped a couple of meters away from Elder Maira. He looked at the elders who watched the him with great interest. “The opportunity you gave me, father… I will make good use of it.” he mumbled to himself as he, motionlessly, stared at the elder.