<3rd Day>

Ezra's troubles were expected.

This was very normal. A new disciple would surely be bullied by the senior disciples for a period of time. It could be said to be a certain unspoken rule of sorts, but Ezra was different, he was a bully himself.

If he wanted to accept the Diamond Quarter with a clear conscience, he would have to first ensure all the other disciples had no objections, or it would only bring about more trouble in the future.

To prevent such disputes, the most direct method was to display his strength and force the senior disciples to acknowledge him.

Hence, even if Pele had not provoked the prince, he would have looked for some other avenue to display his prowess.

A figure landed outside the Gold Quarter of Ezra Zephyr, he knocked on the door.

"Come in." Said Ezra.

The door opened without a sound, showing how well-oiled it was. The figure came in, he was Mubarak, the 1st Diamond Belt disciple.

He saw his junior in sweat, his body was drenched in sweat as if he was having a spar.

"Junior Brother Ezra, your opponent is a Lower Yellow alchemist, are you prepared?" Teased Mubarak.

Ezra laughed along but didn't reply.

He spoke in a joking manner and tossed a small finger-sized scroll towards Ezra Zephyr. "This was just sent by Elder Lo."

The prince caught the scroll and opened it. The thick, pungent smell of ink immediately dashed out into his nose, he opened the scroll fully and scanned it.

This was obviously the pill formula of match and names of ingredients. It was a lower yellow-grade pill.

Lightning flashed in Ezra's eyes as he said. "So this is the pill I have to concoct? Youth Refreshing Pill!"

This was the pill of the lowest grade, the Youth Refreshing Pill. It glows one's skin and removes the dead cells, it has nothing to do with martial prowess and was just helpful to outer appearance, highly demanded by females.

"You're pretty ambitious and I will support you. But, don't take this lightly, Pele is a Lower Yellow Grade alchemist for 2 years, he has the experience." Cautioned Mubarak.

Ezra touched the palm on his right hand as he grinned, "I'll make him dance on my palm"

Mubarak shook his head, speaking no further on this topic as his gaze suddenly locked onto a crimson creature lazily resting on a mat. Not long after he saw another of such creature, it was cerulean this time, they both looked like wolf cubs.

An extremely fearful smile appeared on his face, for some unknown reason, he felt tremendous power from these little cubs.

"Brother Ezra… whose cubs are these?" Asked Mubarak in a worried manner.

The prince wheeled his head to look at them and smiled. "They are my contracted martial animals, the crimson one is Sköll and the Cerulean one is called Hati."

"Sköll and Hati…" Mubarak gulped and questioned again. "What is their tier?"

"2nd tier, why, senior brother?" Ezra knew the answer but still asked to avoid unnecessary questions.

"Uh, no – it's nothing." He waved his head. "2nd tier, then why I was intimidated by them?" He pondered.

Ezra grinned as he looked at Mubarak. "Senior brother Mubarak, tell the others that I will be secluding myself to practice the formula and won't be attending the next morning's class."

Mubarak acknowledged before turning around to leave.

<The Pill Seeker Hall>

It was Elder Lo and his faction who were there to learn about alchemy again.

When Pele arrived, the first thing he saw was Ezra's empty seat. The former chuckled in amusement, evidently already aware of the latter's secluded cultivation session.

"Resorting to such unnecessary measures even though you only have a few short days." Pele shook his head, a slight sneer and contempt flowing out in his eyes.

"Ezra O Ezra, you have to show me all your cards. If you lack the talent, don't blame your senior brother for bullying you…"

Several of his gold belt disciple friends around him softly chuckled. Looks like there was going to be an entertaining show in a few days.

Ezra Zephyr and Pele's match still ended up causing some slight ripples in the Outer Mountains of Alchemic Rune Peak. However, the disciples under Elder Sonk merely viewed it as a silly squabble that was not worth much attention.

This was quite normal because even in Elder Lo's group, there weren't many who fancied Ezra's chances even if he was the latest champion of the peak selection ceremony.

At the end of the day, Pele was a true-blue veteran senior disciple of the Lower Yellow Grade, someone who was far more experienced than the newbie Ezra.

In the eyes of many of the senior disciples, Ezra was merely asking for trouble.

While many disciples held such thoughts, five days passed in the blink of an eye.

...

Mists swirled around the pine trees, an enormous stone stage towering above them, there were two gold cauldrons placed on the opposite sides of the stage.

At this current time, the vicinity of the stone stage was already filled with figures, even Elder Lo already here, seated above them. Today was the duel between Ezra Zephyr and Pele, and Elder Lo was naturally going to oversee it such as to prevent any accidents from occurring.

Besides them, some of the disciples from the other imprint faction were also present, clearly waiting to enjoy the show.

Of course, what they wanted to see was likely Ezra's suffering. After all, he had been in the limelight too much recently and was also the champion of the peak selection ceremony. However, he was also a new outer mountain disciple without enough experience. Thus, there were naturally people who were happy to see someone put him in his place.

On one side of the stone stage, a smiling Pele was surrounded by several disciples like a moon amongst the stars. He was pretty relaxed from the looks of it and did not treat today's match seriously at all.

~CRACKLE CRACKLE~

With a thundering rumble of lightning, a black figure jumped over from far away, eventually landing on the opposite end of the stone stage. It was Ezra with Sköll and Hati at his side, he already registered them as his contracted martial animals. 

"Elder Lo." Ezra's gaze scanned his surroundings, sensing the amusement in many gazes. He ignored all of them as he looked towards Elder Lo and bowed.

Elder Lo nodded in response, a rather complicated look on his face. He truly did have high hopes for Ezra's potential, which was why he did not wish to see him clashing with Pele at such a time.

However, he also understood that it was because he regarded Ezra with too much importance that the senior disciples were now unhappy, leading them to make things difficult for Ezra. But why couldn't these fools just stop for a moment and question themselves instead? If they had shown a little more worth, wouldn't he have no need to place all his bets on a single person?

If Ezra lost today's duel, he would surely have to give in for a period of time and keep a low profile, losing all hopes of obtaining the Diamond Quarter.

Without such resources, it would undoubtedly become even more difficult for him to catch up with the veteran diamond belt disciples

With such feelings churning in his heart, Elder Lo ultimately sighed inside, nodding to Ezra before turning towards Pele. "This is a match between our own people, make sure you understand when to show respect."

Pele laughed in a relaxed manner and replied, "Don't worry Elder Lo, I'm a senior after all and will spare the humiliation."

The moment he finished, his figure moved, landing behind the gold cauldron of his side as he cast a playful gaze towards Ezra Zephyr and said, "Junior brother Ezra, you can avoid any suffering if you admit defeat now. It's never a pretty sight when your beautiful face is ruined by the nasty smoke of ruined ingredients."

Ezra opened his mind. "Your breath stinks." With saying that he also arrived behind the gold cauldron. He stood opposite Pele, his face akin to a still ancient well.

When their gazes met, iciness flashed within their eyes.

Below Elder Lo, the diamond belt disciples were also watching.

James Endoro wore a slight smile on his face as he said towards Mubarak, "Hehe, senior brother Mubarak, I believe this junior brother of ours does have potential, but he has a bit of a rebellious streak and doesn't follow the rules. I hope that he will be able to better behave after today, and at the very least understand that he should be more respectful towards us senior brothers."

Mubarak frowned upon hearing this. He was a gentle and magnanimous person, and although his talent was not exceptional, he did possess a substantial amount of influence among the disciples.

He could sense the happiness on Elder Lo's face due to Ezra's arrival, happiness that in turn made Mubarak blame himself and feel somewhat ashamed. Elder Lo would not feel this way if he had been more capable as the first disciple.

Thus, he showed goodwill towards Ezra Zephyr, because he genuinely hoped that someone amazing would arise from their group.