Every time the Celestial Academy held its Disciple Selection Ceremony, all the older outer sect disciples who weren’t able to meet the Celestial Academy’s requirement to become an Inner Disciple would watch on in amusement as the new disciples frantically fought over resources to increase their cultivation.
Though, the outer sect disciples didn’t face this type of pressure alone. The people who had Sky-grade innate talent and were promoted straight to an Inner Sect disciple would face a demotion to an outer sect disciple if they weren’t able to reach the Sea Expansion realm before they turn sixteen.
It’s been three months and the ‘Freshmen Disciple Competition’ was coming up.
This competition was separated by outer and inner sect disciples. And as it draws near, it caused the tension between all the new disciples to become noticeable, the outer sect disciples even more so.
This was due to the prizes that are rewarded to the disciples that come first, second, and third in the competition, but especially the first place position.
For placing third a disciple was awarded five thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones, three Qi Condensation pills, three Blood Purifying pills, three Bone Reconstruction pills, and three Meridian Opening pills.
Second place would receive ten thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones, a low-grade spiritual treasure, and ten of each pill mentioned above.
And the prizes for the disciple that placed first, which was what everyone was talking about, were ten thousand high-grade Spirit Stones, one mid-grade Spiritual treasure, and the most well-desired Sea Expansion pill.
For the third-place prizes, those weren’t something a normal disciple could afford. Just the ten thousand low-grade Spirit Stones could allow them to procure resources that could greatly improve their cultivation, not to mention all the valuable pills.
From those pills' names alone, one could tell that taking those pills could help with their cultivation of the five Physical Realms.
The second-place prizes were more lucrative as that disciple would receive much more than third place, and even a low-grade spiritual treasure, something that was rare among the outer sect disciples.
But with all of that said, it’s the first place prize that made all the newly arrive disciples become cultivation maniacs.
They were using everything at their disposal and all of their time cultivating, so they could have a chance to come first and get their hands on the Sea Expansion pill.
The commotion among the inner sect disciples was a bit tamer though since the resources they were given were a lot, but the outer disciples were filled with mania at the thought of receiving the Sea Expansion pill.
The Sea Expansion pill was a product of the alchemy masters of the Celestial Academy. It took a lot of time and expenses to create even one so they were a limited amount.
The pill itself would be able to allow a disciple at the peak of the Meridian Opening realm to have a seventy percent chance of developing their Qi Sea within their Dantian and enter the Sea Expansion realm.
This means that this one pill could give them a seventy percent chance of becoming an inner sect disciple. This was something that every outer disciple would do anything to receive, as their chances of becoming an inner disciple were close to zero.
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Within one of the outer disciple courtyards, there was a makeshift hut made from the surrounding forest trees within a corner of the training grounds.
Some distance away from the makeshift wooden hut was a two-meter tall boulder that would take two adult men to wrap around it. Sitting cross-legged on top of it in meditation, was the ragged clothe youth.
Though that name should be changed, as he was now wearing the gray outer disciple’s uniform. And to give him credit, with him out of those ragged dirt stain clothes, and his once bird’s nest hair neatly combed into a ponytail, he now appeared rather handsome to the eyes.
In the three months, he and Xi Shen had lived together, you could say that he went through a drastic transformation from his country bumpkin persona, to a refine and good-looking youth.
However, aside from speaking with Xi Shen three months ago, he hadn’t seen him since.
What Xi Shen had told him before he went into behind closed doors was to not start his cultivation, and just meditate until he came out of seclusion.
He did exactly as Xi Shen said and had not even opened the cultivation manual that the Celestial Academy gives to every newly admitted outer sect disciple.
Over the past three months, while he was meditating, the memories of what happened during the disciple selection ceremony replayed constantly in his mind.
The elder’s cruel expression as he broke his arm, the ridiculing remarks of the crowd. Those memories will forever be imprinted in his mind of how everyone treated him like he wasn’t worth anything.
He’ll never forgive those people, and in the future, he’ll make sure they regret ever looking down on him.
As these thoughts occupied his head, his mind became unstable from the intense emotions. As a result of that, an intangible pressure suddenly erupted from his body, which cause all the small pebbles and stone in a ten-meter radius around him to rise a couple of feet off the ground.
Even the large boulder beneath him was beginning to rise.
Just when he was on the verge of completely losing control of his emotions, he heard the voice of Xi Shen calling his name.
“Yang Su.”
When Yang Su heard Xi Shen’s voice, his intense emotions calmed down and all the rocks and pebbles fell back down with a thud.
Yang Su then suddenly thought back to when Xi Shen had helped him during the ceremony.
He had the notion that as someone from a small village, no one would ever show him kindness or go out of their way to help him, but when Xi Shen had carried him on his back, Yang Su had never felt more grateful.
Despite Xi Shen being the second prince, he was willing to help him, a mere commoner who was from a backwater village.
At that time Yang Su made a promise to himself that he would become a great assistant to Xi Shen. He didn’t know what it was but he felt a connection towards Xi Shen and even thought of him as a kind older brother of sorts.
Yang Su then thought to himself, ‘Just thinking of him calling my name was able to calm me down. I’m indebted to the second prince so..’
Yang Su wasn’t able to finish this thought, as he heard the voice of Xi Shen calling his name again, this time from a closer distance.
“Hey, Yang Su I’m calling you, have you become a statue or something?”
Yang Su frown as he heard that, he thought Xi Shen's voice sounded awfully real for his imagination.
Opening his eyes, Yang Su came out of his meditation and looked around the courtyard.
“Down here.” the voice of Xi Shen said again.
Yang Su looked down and was stunned to see that the voice he thought was his imagination was actually coming from Xi Shen.
With arms behind his back, Xi Shen was looking up at Yang Su on top of the boulder.
As he stood there in his outer disciple uniform, the surprised Yang Su could sense a profound aura surrounding Xi Shen’s body.
Snapping out of his surprise, Yang Su quickly got up with a smile on his face and leaped down from the boulder.
After landing in front of Xi Shen, Yang Su cupped his fist and excitedly said, “Greetings elder bro... I mean, second prince. Did your seclusion go well?”
As Yang Su said that, a slight smile appeared at the corner of Xi Shen's lips.
“Yang Su, like I said before, it doesn’t matter if you wish to call me elder brother, I don’t care what address you use. And yes, my seclusion went very well, fantastic even.”
When Yang Su heard Xi Shen’s words, he began scratching his cheek with his index finger while a sheepish smile played on his lips.
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Within the small stone hut, Xi Shen was seated in a cross-legged position with Yang Su in front of him.“All right Yang Su, are you ready?”As Xi Shen said that, Yang Su looked nervous as he said, “Wait, elder brother Xi Shen you haven’t exactly told me what you're going to do.”After Yang Su had greeted Xi Shen, the latter had immediately dragged him into the hut without any explanation.They were currently within the only bedroom in the house, and Yang Su could see that most of the furniture was either knocked over or totally destroyed. Yang Su also saw burnt marks on the white-blanketed bed in the corner.The whole room just looked as if a burning tornado had swept through the room. And even though there was a formation that gathers the Spiritual Qi from the surrounding area here and acts as a protection for the small house, Yang Su still saw fine
Xi Shen still had his hand on the floor, which he sent his perception through to control his master rune. All of the Spiritual Qi the black formation on the mountain was supplying to all the outer disciple's courtyards suddenly began rushing towards his room.The room began to shake as the Spiritual Qi poured out from the red rune, towards the rotating sphere of Spiritual Qi in front of Yang Su’s dantian.The furious aura that came from a fifth mountain some distance away from the four outer disciple mountains, was due to the Head Elder of the Outer Sect, who was at the Soul Transformation Realm.That Head Elder was currently hovering in the sky above the mountain. His raging aura towered to the heavens causing the clouds to become dark while flashing phenomenons appeared lightening up the mid-day sky.As soon as his figure appeared above the mountain, he shot across the sky in a colorful strea
Xi Shen who was guiding the Six Elemental Qi to fuse with Yang Su’s dantian slowly lifted his gaze towards the ceiling of the bedroom. As if he could see through the stone ceiling to look at the ever-increasing tribulation that was around three hundred meters now, Xi Shen’s eyes narrowed into slits.A smile then suddenly spread across his lips as he said, “You want to stop me?” As Xi Shen said that a derisive expression appeared on his face before he condescendingly yell, “Don’t make me laugh!! Who the fuck do you think you are?!!”As if the consciousness heard Xi Shen's words, the dark clouds swirled in fury before a lightning bolt with the thickness of a meter struck down from the heavens toward the small stone hut.Seeing this, the Head Elder and all the disciples on the second mountain face drained of blood, the disciples even more so. They all frantically rush off the mounta
Without saying anything, Donghuan grasped towards Xi Shen.With that gesture, Xi Shen immediately felt his body become rigid and he was unable to move even a finger.Seeing this a cold look flashed within Xi Shen's eyes, but it quickly disappeared and was replaced with a frightened expression, after which he started screaming hysterically, “Wait!! Head Elder, it wasn’t me I swear, you have the wrong person!!”Donghuan frowned upon hearing Xi Shen’s wails. He formed a hand seal and then pointed at Xi Shen, causing his mouth to clamp shut. After that Donghuan used his Divine Will to lift Xi Shen off the ground.He then said, “No form of pleading will allow you to escape the Academy’s punishment. Even if you’re the second prince, trash like you won’t escape the enforcement of the Academy’s rules.”When Xi Shen heard that, he suddenly had
Within the Celestial Academy, there were various divisions specific to the different paths of cultivation. For example, there is the Alchemy Pavilion, which focuses on studying the myriads of spirit herbs under heaven and concocting medicinal pills using pill formulas from them.Aside from the Alchemy Pavilion, there are also divisions like the Blacksmith Pavilion, the Formations Pavilion, the Beast Tamers Pavilion, and a bunch of other major and minor paths of cultivation.With that said, out of all of those divisions, the one with the most fame and prestige is the Sword Pavilion. They’re also the strongest division and they have the power to influence the Academy as a whole.Despite the Blade Pavilion, which was the Sword Pavilion’s rival, being said to have power that’s close to theirs, in reality, they were way behind.The Head Master of the Sword Pavilion was said to have reach
As Ye Fei said that, his sharp gaze wandered around the room searching for any fluctuating signs in space.Seeing this, Xi Shen frowned and said, “Vice Head Master Ye Fei, I think we have gone way off topic from what we were supposed to be talking about, and by we I mean you.”Hearing that, Ye Fei coughed awkwardly and said, “Right, right, second prince, you might not want to admit it, but these are evidence against you that shows your nature to cause trouble.” Ye Fei gestured to the stack of papers as he said that.Looking at the frowning Xi Shen, he continued and said, “Due to you being the second prince, the Celestial Academy will overlook this incident”Xi Shen raised his eyebrow upon hearing that.“And who exactly are you to speak for the Celestial Academy?”“Oh, don’t get it wrong, I’m on
Xi Shen looked at Yang Su’s bemoaning expression and he couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty. He had completely forgotten that Yan Su was back in the Outer Sect getting familiar with his new Dao Foundation.“Ahem”Coughing awkwardly Xi Shen changed the topic by pointing out Yang Su’s cultivation, “Yang Su, I see you’ve already stepped on the path of a cultivator by entering the 1st Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. Since you had a bit of time to examine and get familiar with your Six Elemental Qi Dao Foundation. What do you think of it?”Both Xi Shen and Yang Su were out in the training ground, with Yang Su seated cross-legged on the ground while Xi Shen stood in front of him similar to a teacher and disciple scenario.Yang Su placed his upset emotions away and answered Xi Shen, “Elder brother Xi Shen, the Foundation you ga…”
On the Sword Pavilion mountain in the Inner Sect, the disciples don’t have a specific rank of any kind, but instead like most cultivation institutes, the hierarchy is based on seniority.But aside from showing respect to the senior members in the Sword Pavilion, most members in the Sword Pavilion were completely haughty and arrogant to the disciples in the other divisions.This arrogant nature of theirs wasn’t because they had a higher cultivation base than their fellow Academy disciples, but was simply because of the Sword Pavilion’s supreme status within the Academy.A disciple who was a member of the Sword Pavilion commanded a lot of respect and fear, as other disciples were scared to offend them and subsequently the Sword Pavilion.Both Xi Shen and Yang Su were walking along a main path towards the Techniques Library. Xi Shen was currently wearing the Sword Pavilion’s whit
So, that's the end of Book One."..."Are you mad?"..."Of course you are, I'm sorry."Fuck you, Author..."Wah! I'm really sorry!!*start groveling and begging for forgiveness.*For those of you who haven't seen it in the last chapter(it's not like I didn't put it in the title.) I made the decision to end Book One here, right on the edge of a massive cliff... don't kill me haha, I swear I'll write Book Two.Oh, did you see the title of Book Two? If not here it is again... BOOK TWO: War Of Continents... coming soon.I always intended to split this novel into separate books, but I never planned on stopping Book One here. At first, I made the decision to go on hiatus, but then as I read over the last few chapters I realized this was somewhat of a good place to end Book One... please don't kill me.For all the readers who have reached this point... thank you.I've been writing this book for over a year now. Arguably I haven't posted much in the last three months, but we don't talk about t
When Gu Min landed in front of him, Yang Su stood there staring at him with a blank expression while tears ran down his cheeks.“What, you won't even come running to hug me after not seeing me for so long? You always did when we were little. Or have you grown too big now? You’re almost as tall as I am.”Gu Min said this jokingly, but Yang Su could only lower his head and began wiping his tears.Gu Min walked up to him and hugged him.“It’s okay, why are you crying?”“I-I thought you died because of me. And Mom and Dad, they…”“Did they blame you?”A sad expression appeared on Gu Min’s face, but Yang Su shook his head.“No, after they thought you died they wouldn’t let me out of their sights. It's because of you that I couldn’t even set foot outside of the house.”Gu Min cracked a smile when he heard his little brother’s words.“I’m sorry I didn’t come home, I-”“It’s fine.”Yang Su suddenly said cutting off Gu Min.“As long as you’re fine I don’t care if I never see you again, I just
Ling Tian was in the sky scanning the crowd of disciples down below.His heart was filled with both anger and frustration.Soon, his gaze stopped on a figure that was trying to blend into the crowd as much as possible.But despite the hood hiding their appearance, Ling Tian knew exactly who this person was.In a fit of rage and worry, he bolted toward this person.On the ground, Li Shen looked at Yang Su and asked.“Yang Su, what do you mean, is that person your older brother?”Everyone in the group heard this and they all turned to look at Yang Su.Yang Su nodded and said.“He looks slightly different, but I’m sure that’s him.”While Xian was smiling off to the side, Mu Fan glanced at Yang Su’s brother in the air and scowled.“His hair is ever redder than yours, how revolting.”Jun frowned and elbowed Mu Fan to shut up.As Yang Su continued to look at his brother he started to become more agitated.He was skeptical of Xian’s words before but now that he saw his brother he was overcom
Mu Fan placed everyone down before they all glared at Xian.Xian shrugged his shoulders in response.Jun was about to comment on Xian being here, but Li Shen placed a hand on his shoulder.“Look after Lu Yue for me.”Hearing this, Jun turned to look at Lu Yue before hurrying over.Fei Yin hurried over as well, it looked like she had a few superficial wounds he was able to heal.Li Shen then looked at Xian and asked.“What’s the point of you joining? You seem to have a group of your own.”“Well, that doesn’t mean I can’t join yours right?”Li Shen went silent for a moment and then said.“I’ll think about it. For now, we should focus on why we were teleported here.”Xian turned to look at the front of the hall where a throne was before saying with narrowed eyes.“Isn’t it obvious my other half? Someone wants us here.”Hearing Xian’s words, everyone in the group had their expressions change.They suddenly had a bad feeling rise in their hearts. One that Mu Fan long had.“Master…?”Li She
“D-Damn it, what is happening now?!”Mu Fan cried out as he saw his fingers fading away.Li Shen looked over at him and then down at his own hand to see his fingers were fading away as well, and at a rapid pace at that.Li Shen then looked towards the sky to see that after shattering, what was revealed was a clear blue sky.The shattered fragments of the previous crimson sky were still hovering in the air, reflecting the blue sky above and the Fiery Dimension below at the same time.Looking away from this scene, Li Shen bent down to pick up Lu Yue and carry her bridal style. He then turned to Mu Fan and said.“It’s okay, we’re being teleported to the Hidden Fragmented Realm. Hold onto me.”Mu Fan hurriedly got up and place his overly large palms on Li Shen’s shoulders.Mu Fan then watched in curiosity as a strange black light with starry light in it spread from Li Shen’s body to cover both him and Lu Yue.“What kind of ability is this?”Mu Fan said looking around. It almost seemed as
“Stop being so dramatic, I barely touched you.”Li Shen said as he gave Mu Fan who was on the ground a cursory glance.Mu Fan wined.“It is you. Bastard, do you want to get hit in the head and see how it feels?”Mu Fan then glared at Li Shen, but in response, Li Shen merely rolled his eyes and then turn back to check on an unconscious Lu Yue.Mu Fan also turned to her and asked.Is she going to be alright?”“If we can get to Jun in time, then everything will be fine.”“Is that why you let those bastards get away?”Mu Fan said as he watch Gu Jin and Shiming fly away with the rest of the Fire Empire’’s disciples and Ming Clan members.Li Shen shifted his head to look in their direction before turning back to Lu Yue.“There will come a time when they can longer run away from me, but that time hasn’t come yet. Rather, you should be healing your injuries before thinking about fighting in your condition.”“It merely scratches, I’m fine!”Mu Fan said confidentially, but Li Shen suddenly saw
“You fucker, I’ll definitely kill you for this!!”Shiming’s face was deathly pale, but intense hatred was evident in his eyes.“Huh? How are you going to do that when you’re going to see King Yama?”Mu Fan kicked Shiming’s severed arm that held his saber to the side as he walked towards him.Shiming manage to stop his bleeding and he held his stump as he slowly got up.A crazed look was in his eyes that matched Mu Fan’s own.Mu Fan didn’t care and he rushed to lop off his head like he promised he would.He appeared in front of Shiming and did a horizontal slash.However, a crazed Shiming suddenly grasp the void and a red illusory blade appeared in his remaining hand.Swoosh!Shiming swung it towards Mu Fan’s incoming saber and a Blade Energy no weaker than Mu Fan’s own swept out.BANG!A loud explosion occurred that caused the ground beneath the two to form a massive crater.Shiming was seen flying out of the dust that had risen in the area.Even when he called on his own Blade Will h
Shiming wasn’t in a hurry as he flew over to where Mu Fan was.Previously when Mu Fan had reached this location and realized he had found Lu Yue, he didn’t hesitate to start hacking.Now laying around him were numerous bloody corpses of the Fire Empire Disciples. But of course, there were also disciples who came from various small Sects that were transported here with Lu Yue. A few disciples in the group Mu Fan came with had died too.Mu Fan frowned at this sight.Something didn’t feel right to him. He loved hacking these fuckers for what they were doing, but this type of massacre irked him.It’s as if it was all planned.Mu Fan didn’t know, but he could vaguely sense something was wrong.As Mu Fan was feeling repulsed by this massacre, Shiming’s voice echoed behind him.“Why do I always have to deal with you?”Mu Fan slowly turned to see Shiming land not too far away from him. His eyes narrowed.“You don’t have to worry about that for too long. Once I lop off your head then you never
Gu Jin would send out a fist or a palm strike towards Lu Yue and she would counter it with her Sword Technique.However, she would be blown back and injured every time.After a few more of this, Lu Yue realized that she was getting further away from the battle.Gu Jin had purposely brought them here.“Are you just now realizing the situation you’re in?”Gu Jin said with a laugh.Lu Yue had fallen to the ground and as she slowly got up, Gu Jin’s gaze roamed over her slightly disheveled body.It didn’t take a genius to understand what was going on.However, Lu Yue seemed unphased despite the blood at the corner of her lips and was even weak to the point where she had to lean on her sword for support.Looking at Gu Jin, she said.“And it seems you haven’t realized the situation you're in yet.”Upon hearing that, Gu Jin frowned.However, a moment later his expression changed.Inside his body, he sensed several strands of frigid energy slowly circulating in his meridians.If it weren’t for