Young master baxia exhaled a sigh of relief and fall back to fell to the floor. He tore off a part of his cloth and tied it on his forehead where the crown had been placed. 

"Bring in the food and the drinks" The sect master ordered with joy. The crowd roared in return. The sect master was not a stingy person, He had killed plenty of cows for this day so there would be more than enough food to go around. The house of master yin was in charge of the cooking so everyone knew they were expecting nothing short of a blissful meal.

"Eh the young master is really strong isn't he" Harith's mother said to him.

"hmm" Harith nodded in agreement. Enduring the pain of crown of fire on one's head sounded like something he wouldn't like to try.

"it's time to serve the food, I'll be back. Don't cause any trouble while I'm gone" Harith's mother said and joined the people that carried food around.

Harith stared at her as she left...did she always have to work so tirelessly? Even if she wasn't his real mother he still didn't like seeing her running around and about at this age, the owner of this body wouldn't be pleased with him if he left her suffer like this.

"I have to get stronger" In a world like this strength and power were the things one needed to have an established home. Harith had already lived a worthless and miserable life in the past. He got bullied by his peers and love wasn't even on his side. The only way to avoid being as miserable as before in this life now was to get as powerful as possible.

"He said he's going to get stronger!" A voice mocked and the laughter of a small group went along with it.

Harith stared at the group of teenagers that passed by him....were they laughing at his words? 

"How would someone that couldn't even awaken his element get stronger" 

"Maybe he means physically stronger so he can help his useless mother out in the kitchen" 

"Hahahah what a useless bastard" The group laughed as they left.

Harith's eyes twitched. What do they means by he couldn't awaken his element when he literally summoned fire from his mouth just yesterday?! "Useless bastard? I'll show you all who is useless" Harith clenched his teeth as he vowed.

....

As the feasting and drinking continued on Harith couldn't resist the temptation and he decided to indulge himself. Him too joined in and soon his belly was as big as a blown balloon.

"Ah is it time" The sect master asked.

"Yes it is, this is the final custom" one of the men seated next to him replied 

"The young master will have his Ceremonial duel with one among his peers" The head guard announced.

"Young master!"

"Oouu so handsome!" The crowd praised the young master as the head guard announced. 

The end the ceremony the next in line to the sect master position would usually have a friendly duel with a selected person among his peers. No matter who was selected the next in line would usually come out as the winner since it was considered disrespectful to defeat on on his Ceremonial day, especially one as important as this. Besides, the one next in line was usually much more stronger than his peers.

The young master came back down to the stage with a sheathed sword in his hand, one could see some oil on his mouth if they looked closely. He had been eating to take his mind off the still burning feeling that he felt at the top of his head and now that was interrupted the pain was coming back again.

"The young master shall now choose an opponent" The head guard announced and blew his horn.

"Young master here"

"Young master pick me pick me" 

"No he'll pick me, young master me me" The practitioner teenagers were enthusiastic about being picked. It was a great honour to be able to say one fought the future sect master, even if they lost it still would be a feat worth mentioning.

Young master baxia kept looking around and a peculiar fellow caught his attention. It was that useless bastard Jin Wu in the crowd. He was calm unlike the rest of the crowd and didn't even bother asking to be picked. 

The young master's face twitched as he stared at Harith. Harith was unconcerned and looked like he had just received a million as he had a big smile on his face...the food here really was top notch.

"I pick him" Young master baxia said as he pointed his sword directly at Harith.

"What?" Shock was ample on the faces of most in the crowd as they stopped eating and focused more on what was happening. Did the sect master's son just choose the most useless practitioner among his peers? To call him a practitioner would be an honour since he couldn't even awaken his element, why then would the sect master's son choose him.

"Him?" The sect master asked. He was familiar with the the one his son had selected. It was the only child out of all who went under the Donghua course to not awaken an element.

Donghua course was a very important set of rites and actions one would perform before they could awaken their elements. One would be bathed in the sect's spring eight months after birth and they would spend their time with the grand sect master, learning the martial arts of the sect and how to awaken their elements along with it. This course until the child had become and teenager.

"Yes Father" Young master baxia said without any further thought. He picked Harith for two reasons...the first was because Harith was very weak so he would spend a substantially less amount of time fighting him that he would have spent if he fought others. And the other reason was just to teach him a small lesson on how to show basic courtesy during one's ceremony.

"Very well. The duel shall commence if your opponent is ready" The sect master said and looked at Harith.

Harith had a bone in his mouth as he looked stunned. He could feel the numerous eyes on him piercing through his soul. Why would this dude pick him out of everyone he saw. He didn't know shit about the fire he had so how would he fight? 

"Be quick and accept it fool"

"The young master graciously granted you an honour and you dare think on it" Voices of displeasure instantly came from crowd. Even the elderly ones were displeased.

"I am afraid I cannot accept the challenge my Lord"Harith said and bowed slightly

"bullshit!" A voice shouted a someone threw a piece of bread at Harith.

"How dare you refuse an honour from the young master"

"that's why he'll remain useless all his life" The voices kept on increasing but Harith maintained his stance. He had refused because he literally couldn't fight. What would be the point of the duel if his opponent just beats him? He also didn't want to fight anyone yet until he had learned more of this place and how to control the fire in him.

"And why do you refuse?" The sect master asked with an intrigued look.

"I am in no position to fight now, I am injured and not well" Harith said as he rolled up his sleeves and slightly raised up his shirts. Bruises and freshly healed wounds could be seen all over his body.

"very well" The sect master nodded and looked over to Baxia "As you can see he is unwell, choose for yourself another which you would like to duel" 

Baxia smiled internally as he saw the bruises on Harith's body, he very clearly knew when and how they appeared. He enjoyed bullying like he enjoyed eating.

"Very well father" Young master Baxia responded and finally selected an opponent other than Harith.

"You may begin" The sect master announced and at once the two youths got into stance.

The young master held his unsheathed his sword and it instantly ignited. Fire danced around the blade like it would on a matchstick.

The young master's opponent, Lee min, smirked and formed his hands into fists. Soon enough the fists began flaming. He slammed it to the ground and a wave of flames travelled towards Baxia.

Baxia tapped his foot on the ground lifted himself, avoiding the attack. In mid air he made two quick slices. A burst of force was giving off by the sword as they rapidly reached lee min and knocked him back slightly.

As the young master landed he threw his sword like a spear and waved his palm after it. A ball of fire travelled right after the sword, he made it so that if one avoided the first then they would surely be hit by the second.

As expected lee min was quick enough to avoid the sword's onslaught but just fell slightly off when avoiding the fire ball. It hit him in the shoulders and sent him to the ground.

The crowd cheered on as the two fought, but mainly cheering for the young master and his amazing display of skills.

Lee min frowned, even if this was a duel and he would eventually give up he still wanted to put on a real show of strength before he did. He slammed the ground in anger as the fire spread to his arm. He decided to take things into his territory, since the young master had discarded his sword he wasn't scared to go close now.

At once he ran with full speed, reaching the young master and going for a tackle to the ground. Baxia had cat-like reflexes and he skillfully dodged that by shifting his body to the side so that lee min grabbed nothing but air.

Some in the crowd laughed at that. The young master was making a fool of his opponent!

Lee min swung his arm just as he passed Baxia and he successfully connected with Baxia's jaw bone. The cracking sound was loud enough for one to hear as baxia was instantly sent flying several metres into the air. 

"Here's my chance" Lee min's eyes brightened as he projected himself forward, grabbing baxia's leg in mid air in slammed him to the ground. The force used was very hard and a small crater was made with Baxia in the middle.

Lee min landed with a smile on his face. "Atleast i have delivered a good blow that's all that matters". He thought as he turned around only to freeze when he met the gaze of his target. The entire arena suddenly went silent as everyone stared at the one they expected to be in the crater.

Young master baxia stood just inches away from lee min with the coldest look in his eyes and raging flames surrounding him. The crowd marvelled, they had never seen such powerful flames come from one so young. For many spectators the sight made their breath hitch

Young master baxia stared straight into Lee’s face as he raised his fiery arm and struck. Lee min was too stunned to do anything and he took the blow face first.

Baxia chased after him as they flew, blow after blow landed until Lee min finally crashed to the ground with a bloody nose.

Young master baxia smiled and faced the crowd, raising his hands in a self gratifying motion. The crowd responded with cheers and claps, the future sect master was really strong.

"Ah Master Jai, your son is really something else" one of the sect elders said as he laughed.

The sect master smiled, He was very proud of his son. He had won the duel clean and fair and he didn't even make use of his other element...what a breed! 

His son could be very promising indeed.

"Hmm" As he faced the crowd, baxia sensed a threatening energy coming his way. He immediately dived to the side. 

As soon as Baxia dived, a huge ball of fire shot through the position he was in before. Baxia's eyes widened, if he hadn't been fast enough that ball would probably have given his a very serious injury.

The crowd gasped, they too were shocked. The fire ball was very fast and soon enough it had reached the audience seat, just at a corner where a certain person seated.

Harith stopped breathing as he felt the approaching heat...his death was very near.

The sect master's eyes glowed and the wind blew. A force gathered in the air very quickly and went after the fire ball that was about to meet an unfortunate person in the crowd...but sadly it was too late.

*Bang* An explosion occured as a massive forced rippled throughout the building. Dust scattered all over, blocking the view of the Hall's corner.

One of the guards immediately went down to check for any casualty. That corner which the fireball had hit was the corner where the workers of master Chen's kitchen stayed. None of them were practitioners so they were defenseless when an attack of such level hit them.

As the dust settled, lo and behold, the people in the corner remained unharmed. A fiery shield formed an arc as it extened from the ground and curved above their heads. A hand held this shield...the hand of the useless bastard called Harith.

"What?!" Young master Baxia expressed his shock as astonishment filled his face. 

His gaze then shifted to the rest of the kitchen members who were standing around the shield, looking at each other in disbelief. No one had expected this development.

Harith was pacing and his heart was surely racing, he had reacted just a split second before the ball hit and unknowingly protected himself and everyone around.

*Clap* A single clap sounded followed by another...then another, and soon enough the whole stadium was clapping that hands off. They were a seemingly in celebration of Harith, after all he had just saved the lives of the kitchen workers.

As the claps continued Harith had an intense feeling welling up inside him. This was the first time he was being appreciated by so many people....why did he like this so much?!

___

Far away from the Raging flames sect, a cast tower sat on a lonely mountain cut off from the rest of the world.

Inside the tower, an old man sat around two orbs- one black and one white.

The white orb glowed as it's light lit up the inside of the whole tower. "The man of prophecy is here" He said as his gaze shifted to the black orb "When shall you arrive..."