Chapter 10: X
After living his life for a good two weeks, Rokas had made note of the fact that he had no true combat proficiency with any weapon. Given that no one else was around, he made a proposition to Cang Yue.
"Why don't we spar a little in preparation for the tournament? Sometimes profound strength alone isn't enough to secure the victory. Who knows? One of the four top sects might have a super-genius who can match you."
'None other than second best girl, Xia Qingyue… and the bane of my bad luck.'
"Wasn't the goal top five?"
"If we've come this far, we might as well shoot for the top spot." Rokas replied, creating a glowing chinese-shaped sword out of pure profound energy. "Besides… I… want to get better at combat myself."
"You should have said so from the beginning." Cang Yue smiled, drawing her sword. "By the looks of things, you aren't all that confident. I could teach you some sword profound skills if you wish."
"Well… if Im to be honest, my sword skill goes as far as swinging swords at air. I could do some fancy tricks but that's about it."
"Fancy tricks? I'd love to see a few…"
"Er… they're not all that great."
"You're just being modest, Long Ke."
[System: Show her that flick of the wrist!]
"No, my sword skill is genuinely terrible." Rokas replied, shaking his head.
"Ah… we can work on it together then, can't we?"
Seeing Cang Yue's encouraging expression, Rokas nodded. "Mn… we will."
~
It was a rough few weeks for Rokas as Cang Yue outclassed him completely. Naturally, he had restrained himself to her level so he couldn't rely on that massive advantage. These sparring sessions reminded him of just how much he had been relying on simply outmuscling everyone. However… he did get better, eventually.
Just in time, they returned to the Blue Wind Imperial City and gathered the top two disciples; Fen Juechen and Feng Bufan. Rokas, looking over them, couldn't help but sigh. They were both in the lower stages of the Spirit Profound Realm… which simply wasn't enough. They'd be going just to get curb stomped by any decent twenty-year-old genius.
"Are they even worth bringing along?" Rokas questioned, scratching his hair.
"They worked hard to be here." Cang Yue replied, giving them their invitations. "Every sect brings three contestants to each Blue Wind Ranking Tournament… so will the Blue Wind Imperial Family, as it always has."
"Fair enough." Rokas shrugged, glancing at Fen Juechen. 'The Meme Cult Lord himself… oh, if only he knew.'
"What are you looking at?" Fen Juechen frowned.
"Shouldn't you be contending for the Burning Heaven Clan as its young master?"
"... That's none of your business."
"Touche." Rokas chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. "If by some miracle you two ever matched up, your older brother would put you in a bodybag within five moves at most. Attending the tournament with the idea of defeating Fen Juebi in mind… I don't know, it seems to me that you just want to get humiliated by him again."
"..." He clenched his fists and raised them, aiming to strike Rokas in the face.
Rokas took the blow without moving an inch. He hadn't felt an ounce of pain… if anything… it was Fen Juechen who was hurting!
Fen Juechen observed his bleeding, broken hand as he withdrew.
'Might as well pack up the other guy.'
"I'm sorry for being honest with you." Rokas swiped his cheek as he observed Fen Juechen walk off. "Cang Yue… I'll give this other lad some resources and he'll be more than happy not having his ass kicked in the tournament. Wouldn't you, Feng Bufan?"
"Yeah… I would not make much of a difference, haha." Feng Bufan was quite nervous as he turned away from Rokas' golden glare.
"Good." Rokas tossed a few pellets to the disciple and turned back to Cang Yue. "It seems that we've lost the other two participants."
"You… scared them both off." Cang Yue sighed, although she smiled thereafter. "So be it, I will be the only participant."
"The only one the Blue Wind Imperial Family will ever need." Rokas nodded.
~
'Alright, let's see what this beam is all about.'
Rokas looked in the mirror and pointed his thumb at himself, imagining a full set of black-white Adidas clothing. And so… within an instant, his old clothes were replaced exactly by what he had imagined.
"... Nevermind the awful fashion sense, how did you do that?" Jasmine raised an eyebrow as she inquired.
'Awful fashion sense… me? No way.'
"Awful fashion sense, huh… then what about this?" Rokas pointed his finger at Jasmine, turning her old clothes into a traditional cute maid outfit with the addition of cat ears. It was hilarious considering that she was the Heavenly Slaughter Star God.
"..." Jasmine looked in the mirror, observing her new clothes. Her expression of shock, embarrassment and then fury were absolutely priceless. "Do… you… want… to… die?"
"... No?" Rokas scratched his hair, chuckling as he turned Jasmine's clothes into a scarlet red dress. "I'm sorry, princess… would this be better?"
"You do love dancing with death, don't you? Hmph, the only reason you still draw breath is that this princess requires the Sky Poison Pearl's purifying abilities." Jasmine frowned, observing her new attire. She didn't seem to hate it.
"But you looked so cute in the maid outfit…" Rokas countered, sighing. "Eh, the dress isn't so bad either."
"This is… certainly better than what I was wearing beforehand. Now, explain how you just did that…"
"Turns out that the Heretic God specialised in the culinary arts alongside fashion." Rokas shrugged as he jested. "Or maybe I'm a secret, ancient, Creation God who can only create useless things combat-wise."
"Given how clueless you were when I met you, I find that unlikely."
[System: Burnn.]
"Honestly, it's not even that big of a deal. Just clothes and food."
"Hmph… I suppose it is pointless to probe further as you won't answer."
Jasmine returned to his Inner World and went silent. Meanwhile, Rokas went on to go through a myriad of outfits. From full saiyan armour (which was uncomfortable as fuck) to Minato's hokage cloak to that quincy drip to Ezio's brotherhood armour… he truly went through everything on his mind. In the end, however, he decided on something more personal. Something that resembled who he was now.
He really wanted to wear a Phoenix-based outfit alongside some fancy nine-headed dragon patterns… but figured that those could lead to some unwanted speculations. Given his bad luck, such things could really bite him in the ass. So, he decided on what he was known for.
He wore crimson red robes with some nice orange dragon patterns flying across them. On his sleeves, he had scarlet flame markings. Most amusingly, there were white marks on his back clearly saying; 'The Foreigner'. On the top-front of his chest, in smaller letters, he also had the words 'Burning Heaven Clan's Father'.
[System: Man should just make a whole clothing brand called Foreigner.]
'How much can I spam the Clothes Beam, exactly?'
[System: I don't recall there being any limits… other than only being able to impact one person at a time.]
'That sounds like a lot of effort.'
~
The Blue Wind Imperial Family's entourage ended up being the smallest one visiting the Heavenly Sword Villa, starring; Rokas, Cang Yue and Qin Wushang. Coincidentally, just as they were arriving, the Burning Heaven Clan's entourage was right in front. Sensing a strong presence behind him, Fen Moli turned to Rokas and instantly felt a wave of PTSD rush over him.
The terrifying slap god himself…
"..." Fen Moli turned back without saying a word.
"What did you do to the Burning Heaven Clan to make such a powerful man so terrified?" Qin Wushang wondered.
"Er… nothing too drastic. Just a few backhands."
"Those must have been quite the backhands…" Qin Wushang remarked as he stepped forward to the free Heavenly Sword Villa disciple at the mountain gate.
"You three are here to attend the Blue Wind Ranking Tournament?" The disciple raised an eyebrow as he questioned. Truly, every participating force was allowed to bring eight people. Three disciples who would contend in the tournament and four others… and so, most forces always sent eight distinguished people. To have only three in total was… well, shocking and seemingly a waste.
The disciple glanced at the three of them. "Could you be… the Blue Wind Imperial Family's Blue Moon Princess?"
'And I thought Lord Phoenix God was an overly long title.'
"Yes." Cang Yue simply replied, handing over the invitation letter alongside the list of names. "We three came here to represent the Imperial Family and participate in this time's ranking tournament. This is our invitation letter and list of names."
"... Long… Ke?" The disciple suddenly looked up at Rokas and then the letters 'Burning Heaven Clan's Father'. "The… Foreigner…"
'Am I that famous now?'
"Well… can we enter or what?" Rokas wasn't interested in standing about, frankly.
"Of course…"
After they left the scene, the disciple stared blankly at the list of names.
"The Blue Moon Princess… is the only participant?"
~
They made their way to the assigned courtyard and took a good look around. Then the disciple informed them that there would be a banquet in an hour or so. Rokas recalled that in canon there was no such thing… then he glanced at the Mirror of Samsara, wondering if it was up to something. With only an hour of time, he decided not to do any training and write something in his bedroom instead.
It had been so long since he put pen to paper in his spare time… or, well, typed anything. Given that it used to be his main hobby, that much was shocking.
'What shall I write…'
[System: A love poem?]
'Ah, that sounds good to me. It shouldn't take all that long, either.'
…
The banquet hall was absolutely massive with several other halls branching from it. Apart from Jiufang Ke's memories of the Jiufang residence, he had seen nothing quite like it. The Heavenly Sword Villa was able to seat every guest with ease… having plenty of space for their own. Rokas made his way to his assigned seat and then…
He suddenly stopped, seeing what was ahead.
'Ain't no way.'
Right next to the Blue Wind Imperial Family's seats were Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace's! Even better, on the other side, was the Heavenly Sword Villa! Sandwiched between these two sects… what were the odds!?
'Is this… on purpose!?'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SovereignOfHeaven
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