As they are traveling on the sled, Sam started conversing with her and learned a lot of things about her and the Frost Leaf.
Her name is Aiwa and she turned out to be a disciple in the Frost leaf Branch and even a core disciple at that. She came here for a special test from her master as a part of the selection process for the Annual games that happen in the Central State at the headquarters of the Four-leaf sect.
Her mission is to kill a certain number of Ice bears. All of her peers are sent to the different corners of the state to kill the beasts of the same level and she picked the Ice Bears. And her luck was good. Except for the death of her one wolf, she did great and met the target a lot faster than expected.
She can go back home and finish the rest of the missions earlier and the first one to finish can skip the last battles for the positions.
Sam just listened to her as she spoke and only gave occasional nods until the conversation came to his origins.
"Where are you from? Why are you in the middle of nowhere in your current state?"
Sam just sighed and said.
"It is a long story. Just leave it at that."
"We have a lot of time, you know. You can talk." She answered with a smirk.
At first, Sam thought she might be some aloof girl, but he realized that he is not at all as he imagined. She is actually quite cheeky, but her mouth has no filter and she speaks too straightforwardly. That is why she directly called him a cripple to his face.
Anyway, he is not really willing to share his story with her, so he just brushed her off, no matter how much she asked him to.
So, he changed the subject with a lot of hard work.
"So, what are these annual games you are talking about?"
"There are the special games conducted to select the cream of the crop disciples and other cultivators. Everyone from the Transcendent stage to and Consummate stage can participate. Of course, both of them have different divisions.
The four leaves will conduct the games every year and then send the best of the best to the central continent, where another tournament will be conducted to select the best of them all, and finally that group would be sent out of the planet to participate in some sort of competition.
This happens every year. The competitions start exactly at the middle of every year in the four-leaf branches and then by the time the competitors go out of the planet and come back with the results, it would be the end of the year.
This is a big competition.
And this year, I will be the champion from this side. I will definitely win."
"What is the competition outside the planet?"
"I don't know exactly."
Sam was dumbfounded by this answer. Just how confident this girl is to say that she will win the competition that she didn't even have any idea what it is about.
"I would like to get out of this planet."
"Oh, that is impossible." She answered without any hesitation.
"Why?"
"The Four-Leaf Sect is the only way to go out and they have everything under their control. I don't even know what method they use to get out of this place and even the people who returned from the competition wouldn't speak about it.
They are so strict about this."
"I can't use the money to get out?"
"Pfft, how much money can you give to the sect that owns the whole planet? Sam, did your brain freeze and make you dumb?"
Sam just smiled at her comment, then she became silent for a minute before speaking.
"Are you strong?"
Sam was a bit confused but still replied.
"Yes."
"When I get selected for the final competition outside the planet, I can take a guard team. But I need to pay for them out of my own pocket. I cannot afford them now and I am looking for some sponsors.
The guards need to be at least Consummate Initial stage. Do you meet the requirement?"
"Yes. I think so." Sam replied in amusement.
"Okay, after we reach the city, I will test you. If you can clear them, I can let you come with me as my guard."
"Are you sure? You are not really familiar with me and you trust me with your guard duty?"
"Of course, you are stronger than me, if you have wanted, you would have killed me already, there is no reason for me to not trust you unless you were planted by other core disciples." She looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Don't worry, I don't even know where I am at until you told me. You don't have to worry about that."
With that, Sam decided to become a guard to a Middle stage transcendent cultivator of the Astral Plane for no reason. After all, he still has the option of forcing the Four-Leaf Sect and using their means to get out, but even for that, he needs to understand the current situation of this place and there is no need to show off his strength just because he has it.
He can take it slow. Anyway, he will need a lot of time to use this body to the full strength of a Middle-stage transcendent cultivator of the Astral Plane, until then he decided to keep a low profile.
After three days of traveling, they finally reached the Capital of the Winter State.
Even within the city, people are using sleds. Aiwa rode to the residence she had within the city and let Sam stay there.
"I will go back to the sect and register the kills."
"Didn't you say you are a core disciple? Why are you not staying in the sect?"
"I have a residence there, but there are too many rules we need to follow inside. I need to greet every time an elder passes by and need to be polite to the useless seniors. I don't want to go through all of that. Here, I can be however I want."
With that, she left while Sam stayed in the assigned room.
He looked at his peg leg and must say that it is extremely uncomfortable to wear. The wheelchair is indeed a lot more comfortable. But unlike Sivan, he doesn't have the luxury to just sit there and let others do the fight.
He could only think of making a few adjustments to it, but he doesn't have his fire element. He is really getting frustrated with this. Luckily, he got a ride on the sled, otherwise, things would have been pretty tough if he had to walk all the way here. He is pretty sure he would have captured a beast to ride, but this is a lot less trouble.
After two hours, Aiwa finally came back and said.
"I submitted the bears and I really am the first person to get here. I can go on with the next task."
"Congratulations then. What is it?"
"I don't know. They will only reveal it after two days. Apparently, they are concerned about the well-being of the disciples and don't want to stress me out with back to back to tasks.
Those bastards. They just want to delay me a bit so that the score difference wouldn't be too drastic between me and others."
"They might even it out by letting others wait two days as well."
"No, they wouldn't. This already happened before. They will only leave one day lead for me. I want to beat them to death."
She ranted for a while and calmed down.
"I need to train for a while. Sam, can you spar with me. Since you are stronger, you shouldn't have any problem right?"
Sam didn't even know what to say, he just shrugged and agreed.
"What weapon do you use?" She asked.
"There is no need."
She shrugged and took out her weapon. A spear and the ice elemental energy surrounded with a thin layer of fog.
She lunged forward as she attacked.
And of course, even though Sam suppressed his cultivation, he didn't do it to the same level. He suppressed it to the late-stage transcendent stage of Mortal Plane. But even then, it is impossible for her to attack him or injure him.
His body is way too strong for her to injure him.
Even though Sam is crippled and only has one hand to use, with the least mobility with only one leg, he still managed to win over her and it didn't even take much time.
Sam looked at her usage and said.
"You are not using your ice elemental energy properly. You need to use it efficiently. Make very few movements, your spear tip doesn't need to reach every place you want to attack…"
He went on giving her tips and showed her how to attack with maximum effect.
"Wow, you are good at this."
She said in awe and for the next two days, Sam just kept on giving her tips while she learned quickly.
