Serlon and his group didn’t take long before disbanding. Despite how angry Serlon was, he knew he wasn’t even close to being Cain’s match, so he would have to tell Lambard. Once Lambard came, Cain would be taught not to mess with the Lambard Faction ever again.

“How in the hell…”

Lefric, Aliz, and Nabar were shocked by Cain’s performance. They knew he was strong, but they always thought he was about as powerful as them, and only had amazing speed. They only just realized how wrong they were.

“Cain, I really underestimated you. However even with your strength Lambard won’t be an easy opponent”

Lefric had taken the worst of the beatings, however he wasn’t angry at Cain at all. In fact, the first thing he thought about was Cain’s well being.

“What are you worrying about. Did you not just see the same thing I saw, even Lambard would have to go full out if he wanted to beat Cain”

Aliz pitched in

“I agree with Aliz, Lefric. Based on my estimations, the odds of Cain winning a battle against Lambard are about 48 to 52. Making them quite evenly matched. Even if Lambard won, he wouldn’t be able to humiliate Cain, so we don’t have to worry”

Nabar, who was the eyes of the group, seemed to know a lot about this kind of stuff.

“Yeah, let's just support brother Cain in becoming the new top 10 disciple”

Durren cheered excitedly.

Meanwhile, while this was going on, Serlon had already run back to Lambards house.

“Master Lambard, we’ve besmirched your name. That Cain person was to strong for us to beat, so unfortunately we couldn’t do anything against him”

“Hmph, if he couldn’t even beat back you guys, he wouldn’t be worth much. It’s better this way, fighting someone who isn’t a worthy opponent is no fun. Go set up a fight, say I challenge Cain in front of the entire outer sect. I want everyone to see what happens when you go against me”

Lambard was a thin man, with tanned skin. Despite the fact that he was sitting in darkness, his body gave of a light, that luminated the entire room. Serlon who was kneeling in front of him could feel this light burning on his body, making him sweat all over.

“Don’t worry master Lambard. Once you beat Cain, people will remember that you aren’t someone they can mess with!”

Back at the Greenwood Faction house, Cain and the rest of the group were currently talking when they got news of the challenge, which would take place 1 month from now.

“Looks like Lambard isn’t going to sit still anymore, Cain this is a good opportunity for you. Even if you don’t win, as long as you perform well enough, the other disciples will still look up to you.”

Lefric spoke.

“Indeed, however your speed alone isn’t enough, you need a martial skill as well. Lambard is said to be currently training the Divine Halberd Movements, and he may have even reached the second layer of the technique, if so his strength will raise tremendously. You need something to even the playing field”

Nabar seemed to calculate all the loose ends, instantly revealing Cain’s biggest weakness.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already got a technique I’ve been practicing. A month later I’ll have no worries”

Naturally the move Cain was talking about was the Nine Strike Spear Technique. He would need this month fully if he wanted to reach the first layer, so he wasted no more time in the Greenwood faction and headed back home to start training. Oldman Belmon who was originally quiet instantly started chattering again.

“Hmm, this technique looks pretty familiar. I just can’t put my finger on it… Oh yeah, I remember, this was the technique I left behind in this sect. I managed to win it off the Spear Sovereign back in the day, ya know the Spear Sovereign was famous because of this technique. I challenged him to a game of chess and managed to win it off him. Unfortunately he didn’t know about my title at the time, the Scam Sovereign”

“You seem way too proud of a title like that, Oldman”

“What do you know kid, scamming is an artform that took me hundreds of years to master. Your technique looks a bit different from the one I got in the past though”

“This is the incomplete version”

“Heh, kid, what are you doing learning the incomplete version when I’m right here”

A flash of information suddenly flew into Cain’s head. It was the complete version of the Nine Strike Spear, and was far more sophisticated then the incomplete version he had learnt in the past.