His arrival was noticed immediately because of his childish face, red hair, and the three hundred or so students following him. Many people turned to him and began whispering to themselves about his identity.
A path was opened up in the circle of people. He used it to reach the sand pit at the center of the field.
As he passed by the people, he heard the many things they were saying about him. Most of what they were saying was that he was generous but crazy.
He fought hard to keep his face impassive as he walked past them. Fortunately, there was something more important for him to focus on.
Skylar was already on the other side of the sand pit. He was dressed in a martial outfit and was sitting on the sand meditating.
The successor of the Owl Claw dojo only opened his eyes when Arthur arrived at the other side of the sand pit.
He stood up and bowed to Arthur. Arthur bowed in return.
Then Skylar said, "To be honest, I really admire you. You started cultivating when you were seven, five years ahead of the norm. Then you reached the seventh transformation at the age of eleven. No matter what the outcome of today will be, it won't change the fact that you are impressive."
"Be that as it may, being an impressive cultivator doesn't mean you will be a good teacher. Teaching is a sacred job. Through teaching, a master changes and uplifts the life of a student."
"It is not a simple job. In fact, it is very difficult. That is why dojos charge tuition. With tuition, the teacher is encouraged and will be able to teach wholeheartedly."
Arthur rolled his eyes because he knew that to be a lie. It was just like the lie that they tell people on earth that if they pay for insurance, they won't have to pay for anything in the future when the need arrives.
Not only does tuition not make teachers encouraged to do better, it in fact does the opposite. It encourages teachers to be relaxed so that their students will learn slowly and they can earn more tuition.
But he didn't interrupt the young man's tirade. He just rolled his eyes and yawned occasionally.
Even though he tried to be respectful, his behavior still ticked Skylar off. The tough man frowned. Then he eased his frown when he remembered that his opponent was a child.
In fact, he felt like smiling because his opponent was a child. After all, it meant that his victory was secured.
He has acquired all the information that can be acquired about Arthur, so he knows that Arthur is at the seventh transformation.
He is also at the seventh transformation, but he is sure that he will win because of the advantage of his many years of training and his intelligence as an adult.
He doesn't know exactly what his level of control is, but he can estimate that it is at least 70% and almost 80%.
That is impressive for someone at the seventh transformation since most people only need to have a control that is above 50% to break through from the sixth transformation to the seventh transformation.
While he doesn't think he can compare to the level of genius that Arthur had shown, he is afraid of defeat because he has learned that most of Arthur's progress was due to expensive medicine that his mother bought for him.
He, on the other hand, worked hard to reach his level of skill and acquire his transformations. So he believes he has the advantage in terms of control.
It is not a far-fetched belief. After all, he is 22 years old, which is twice as old as Arthur's age. It is simply common sense to believe that he has better control than Arthur.
The fact that Arthur is childish will only increase his chances of victory in battle. So Skylar didn't feel bad anymore about Arthur yawning at his opening speech.
He continued magnanimously, "Today, I will test your qualifications to teach. If you lose, I hope you will stop teaching or at least take teaching seriously. This is something that I will have to enforce for the safety of your students and the sanctity of teaching."
Master Owl Claw, who was standing at the back, began to clap. His action spurred on the students of the Owl Claw dojo into clapping too. Soon everyone was clapping as if Skylar's speech was special.
Arthur couldn't take it anymore. He too began to clap. But he had a sneer on his face, so his clap wasn't of good intention.
He continued to sneer as he said, "So much nonsense for the sake of money and your livelihood."
"Bravo. Well done. You should be proud of yourself for finding a way to cover up your shameless means."
"You said a lot of things, but you didn't say the main reason why we are fighting today. That reason is that I teach the basic breathing technique for free, but you want me to stop so that I won't poach the students from your dojo."
He raised his voice as he said, "No matter the outcome of today's fight, let it be known that I am generous while you are evil. That's why you want to bully someone half your age."
"It has already been confirmed by the alliance of dojos that I am not running a scam or teaching a fake breathing technique. They came to inspect my dojo and left when they didn't find anything wrong with it."
"The alliance of dojos is not condemning me, but you are because I am reducing your livelihood. You're just a bully. You're a shameless bully."
He pointed at Skylar and said, "Shame! Shame. Shame! Shame! Shame!"
His students picked up the chant and began shouting with him. Their voice rose up defiantly with conviction and determination. They even mimicked their teacher by pointing at Skylar as they accused him of being shameful.