Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

Silence, there was only complete and total silence swallowing the entire Mage arena. Thousands of Mages stared wide eyes at Darcel, gazing at him as if he was a genuine freak of nature.

Even Aniela and Masami stayed rooted to their spots, their little mouths gasping in genuine awe. 

The girls expected Darcel's to be strong. But for this kind of level, where it seems like the gap is tremendous?

No, they weren't expecting at all. In their minds, things simply weren't adding up. 

For sure, the yellow-eyed woman had crippled their combat prowess beyond belief. They and Darcel was basically at the mercy of any Heavenly Kings at that time.

Then afterward, even as Darcel and Aniela reached the Innate Core realm and Masami became a half-step Heavenly Transformation cultivator, their combat prowess was still a far cry than what it originally was.

Going off from this logic, even after the boost from the Magical Marks, Darcel's combat prowess shouldn't be this insanely high. 

Unless….unless what he said does hold some truth?

Gradual realization started to shimmer within Aniela and Masami's eyes. 

Because they were so shaken up by their heavy losses, neither of them ever wanted to entertain the thought they could perform crazy feats like before.

But seeing Darcel standing tall on stage, not even scratch on him, Aniela and Masami's minds were becoming move.

'Perhaps….just perhaps….we can do it too?' Both girls were still unsure of themselves. 

As the days went on, they both were becoming aware that there's a special dividing line between themselves and Darcel. But, they were still genius near his level.

Aniela and Masami could fathom that surely, they hold some familiarity between their prowess, right?

Without them even realizing it, the girls had fallen under Darcel's plan. This battle indeed was a significant step in the right direction to regaining their confidence. 

In direct contrast to Aniela and Masami's great realizations, the Siren Mages felt like their worlds crumbled to bits and pieces.

After all, the current scene in front of them made every Mage here into an absolute joke. 

A cultivator, through and through, managed to become a Mage. 

Furthermore, he wasn't some mere weak Mage.

In just a few hours, that cultivator reached the great Spirit Mage realm! The absolute diving line for tens of thousands of aspiring Mages. 

No ordinary Mage could ever hope of reaching this level of prowess.

The Senior Siren Mages needed hundreds of years just to reach their immensely high level. 

And yet, a cultivator used only just a few hours to achieve this legendary realm.

Despite the literal biological impossibilities all cultivators have when wanting to become Mage, it matters not for Darcel. 

And as if this didn't shatter beliefs already, Darcel went ahead and brutally stomped on Siren Star.

No practice, experience, or any of the sorts was needed. Darcel's simply overpowered Siren Star by a wide margin.

Even though Elder Yang may have announced their status, nobody could've expected this to happen. 

This cultivator quite literally came in and rearranged everyone's mind. 

After this day, these Siren Mages also realized there's no way they could suppress this shocking news.

Soon enough, the whole Azog Ice Town will become aware that there are powerful Mage cultivators here. Their only saving grace would be that it'll just be rumors or speculation about Darcel's group strength.

And only they will know the whole, horrifying truth. 

Right then, Elder Ying's powerful voice cut into the atmosphere, distracting everyone from their thoughts. 

"Siren Star lost. It is Siren Darcel's win."

Just these simple words caused the whole Mage arena to become rowdy once again. 

However, what was mainly coming out of these Siren Mages' mouths was their sheer disbelief over this shocking battle.

Up on stage, Siren Star never moved an inch from his kneeling position. Despite all the injuries he suffered, his vitality was relatively high. Although, if he doesn't get treated soon, he could very well die.

Because of Darcel's Siren Chains, Siren Star was unable to move on his own. 

But he didn't have to stress about being stuck as another Siren Mage appeared on stage.

Darcel curiously set his gaze on this Siren Mage, promptly feeling amused when a look of trepidation crossed onto his face. 

Without doing anything to stop it, that Siren Mage grasps Siren Star's shoulder and vanishes from his sight.

'Oh? That's an interesting technique. Though, I can still sense where that guy is going.' Darcel causally mused to himself. 

Even though Darcel sensed genuine killing intent from Siren Star, he didn't bother to pursue it. He'll get half of his possession anyways, and killing a senior-ranked member wouldn't do him any good.

Focusing off from that, Darcel was truly feeling above the skies. Like he told the girls and expected from himself, his prowess isn't anywhere near ordinary. 

Thanks to Magical Energy, he managed to achieve a transformation that probably no other person on the entire continent could reach.

Darcel also wasn't worried at all about broadcasting his prowess to the world. Listening to the bustle of the Siren Mages, a pleased smile settled on his lips. 

Now, there won't be any situation like this occurring again. Not even those other Senior Ranked Siren Mages would want to cause trouble with him. 

With everything he wanted to do accomplished, Darcel was about to turn around and jump back to his girls.

But before he could do so, he sensed a powerful presence suddenly appear several feet away from him. 

Darcel furrows his brows, sensing that this presence is nearly equal to Elder Yang.

"Ah! It's Elder Ying!"

From all around him, Darcel heard loud shots of respect boom from the other Siren Mages. 

Snapping his attention towards the powerful presence that landed, Darcel indeed saw Elder Ying calmly standing there.

'Really just as powerful as the other one. Although….I can't help but feel that Elder Yang has a slightly deeper aura.' Darcel made a quick analysis. 

Not making any sudden moves, Darcel kept himself calm when facing Elder Yang. 

And before he could even wonder why he had shown himself, Elder Ying swiftly took out a spatial ring. 

What should've been an ordinary spatial ring that Darcel had seen all of the time had actually caused him to intently focus it.

Most spatial rings wouldn't emit any kind of special aura. Only when a spatial ring is filled to the brim with high-quality resources can anyone sense a rich aura from the spatial ring.

And that kind of special aura was precisely coming from the spatial ring Elder Ying holds. 

"As per the rules of the match, this half of Siren Star's possessions. Congratulations. Also, take this badge with you as proof of winning the match."

As Elder Ying spoke, he tossed over Siren Star's spatial ring and a crimson color badge. 

Under thousands of intent gazes, Darcel calmly caught his rewards and immediately did a quick sweep over the spatial ring.

A rise of anticipation began to rise in Darcel just after a couple of seconds of searching. The amount of Spiritual Magical Stones in this ring is overwhelming!

Though they just reached the Spirit Mage realm, Darcel fathoms they could already make progress with these rewards. 

Shuffling the ring into his pocket, Darcel only took a brief look over the crimson badge. He simply remarked it looked similar to the one Elder Yang gave before stuffing it into his pocket as well, intending to do a full inspection later on. 

When Darcel snapped his gaze back up, Elder Ying had already vanished.

Shrugging at that abrupt meeting, noting that these Mage Elder have a common theme in abruptness, Darcel turned around and jumped off the stage, landing directly in front of Masami and Aniela.

"Well? Surely, you're coming to believe me now?" Darcel promptly asked. 

Even though he couldn't see their expressions, Darcel could perceive the shock and slow realization bubbling up inside the girls.

Hell, even without his Darkness Soul link, he would still be able to tell. The gazes the girls were giving him was just as intense as the other Siren Mages. 

"I mean, sure you can do it, but….can we also do that?" Masami quietly muttered out. 

As the seconds trickled, she was beginning to feel a slight burning feeling within her chest. 

Nowadays, this burn would never spark inside her. But after watching Darcel's utter domination, it was like something that was slumbering was now slowly becoming awake. 

Aniela didn't immediately respond at first. Instead, she took a look over to the audience, noting that there were still plenty of intense gazes on them. 

Turning back to Darcel, she spoke with a slightly dazed tone. "Let's go back and discuss in our room. Far too much chatter going about here."

Nodding to her, Darcel then took the lead, walking straight back into the corridor they used to come back here. 

Aniela and Msaami follow closely behind, their minds still trying to process everything that happened.