"That's right. You can't be talking about me?" a panicked voice suddenly cried out. All eyes turned to a second year disciple who stood in the middle of the crowd. His name was unfortunately also John, and he thought Thunderfist was throwing him to the wolves for no reason.
"Oh, there's another John in this group?" Thunderfist chimed up, completely shocked. His actions clearly revealed that he had no idea who this youth was, despite him being one of the three hundred most talented youths of the sect. However, the boy's attitude clearly indicated that he was on the meek side, and so him staying low profile wasn't unexpected.
"But no, I don't mean you boy. I mean him," Thunderfist elaborated as he pointed to John. John was standing with his group at the very rear of the disciples, and Thunderfists finger was clearly pointing directly at him.
John sighed as he saw all the other disciples look at him with a mix of anger and confusion.
'It seems Thunderfist is making things hard on me. I never asked to be a General, and being a General will only bring me more trouble than it's worth. I want to be able to move freely within the Jade Dragon Empire lands, not be bound to babysit some fellow disciples. I'm of half a mind to just relinquish the title to someone else.'
John was truly considering just refusing to be a General, as it was more trouble than it was worth.
"Him?" A confused and slightly angered voice boomed up from the front of the crowd. It was a powerful build and short brown hair. A large greatsword was strapped to his back, making him look even more intimidating. His Middle Heaven Tribulation cultivation was clear for all to see, as it naturally seeped out with great power. "Sect Leader Thunderfist, why would a first year ever be named a General? And I've never seen him before today, is he also from a branch sect? Surely you're joking?"
"It's Lyeon," a disciple whispered to another nearby.
Lyeon was considered the third or fourth most powerful disciple of the sect, and had a massive following behind him. He was physically the strongest member of the sect, and had a common grade Innate Variant Body to boost his prowess even further. As such, many thought he deserved to be the third General, and so did Lyeon apparently.
"Seems like he's pissed. This won't end well for that first year unfortunately. I wonder why the Sect Leader placed such a target on his head?" another whispered.
"He must have pissed the Sect Leader off. Everyone knows Sect Leader Thunderfist is quick to anger," a third whispered, his voice barely audible as he was afraid of Thunderfist hearing.
"Do you take me for a jester?" Thunderfist boomed out, his voice containing a pressure that pressed down on Lyeon and those nearby.
"No, of course not Sect Leader Thunderfist," Lyeon hastily replied. "I only ask for a reason for assigning this Late Meridian Forging first year as a General."
"Hmmph," Thunderfist snorted in disdain. "I don't need to give you a reason for my decisions. If you want to know why I assigned John to be a General, ask him yourself. You can have his title if you get him to relinquish it."
John narrowed his eyes at Thunderfist upon hearing this, as Thunderfist truly was just making him a target. Thunderfists smiling gaze shifted to John, and John couldn't help but feel agitated by the whole thing. However, he knew Thunderfist was not doing this out of malice, but for some other reason. As such, he didn't harbor hatred for the Sect Leader.
Lyeon's eyes lit up upon hearing Thunderfists words, and he quickly turned on his heels towards John. The crowd parted immediately as they knew what his intentions were, and a passageway appeared directly towards John.
John stood there calmly as he watched Lyeon slowly walk over to him. His towering frame was quite impressive, and his powerful aura slowly grew as he approached John. Chase, Iris, and Adam stood calmly at John's side, expressions of amusement on their faces for the show to come.
"You've been laying too low since you came to the sect, so you can only blame yourself for this," Adam chimed up. "You should have beat up some strong disciples when you arrived to establish your name a bit more."
John rolled his eyes at Adam's words, but said nothing as he knew Adam was right. He had made absolutely no splashes within the sect since he arrived, mostly due to him being busy the entire time. However, this resulted in him being almost a no-namer, despite being a Direct Disciple.
However, many assumed his Direct Discipleship was due to his connections with Lilian, who seemed to have been favored by the sect when being directly promoted to a high-status Elder.
"This should be a good show though," Chase chimed up as well.
"Let's see how long that smug look of his will last," Iris said as well while looking directly at Lyeon. Lyeons smug and confident expression pissed her off, and she almost wanted to lash out at him herself. However, she knew she didn't have the power to do anything against him, not yet at least.
Lyeon quickly arrived before John, his frame towering over Johns. John was not a small person, and was both quite tall for his age and muscular. However, Lyeon was several years older, and his common Innate Variant Body seemed to increase his size by quite a bit as well.
He was at least a head taller than John, and looked down at him with disdain. He stared at John in silence for a while as the other disciples watched from behind, curious as to what was going to happen
"You heard Sect Leader Thunderfist," Lyeon spoke out after a short moment while his powerful aura began to push down on John, attempting to intimidate him.. "Relinquish your title to me."