Arthur heard the knock on the door and looked at it, he had already sensed the strong presence long before he reached the room.
Before he could get up and open the door, it was swung open by a guard outside it. And when the door slid open and the guard stepped aside, the Sect Master of the Spirit Pagoda Sect entered without ceremony, his expression was unreadable but Arthur could clearly feel his curiosity.
The guard finally closed the door behind him, leaving the two alone.
Arthur rose from the edge of the bed, and relaxed a bit; he would have been more suspicious of the sect master's intention if he didn't figure out something about him. The Sect Master stopped a few steps away and studied him openly, his eyes sweeping from head to toe in a way that was not rude, but curious.
For several long seconds, neither spoke.
Then the man rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, almost conversationally, "Tell me, how did you make your physique so strong? Do you possess one of the Heavenly physiques?"
Arthur tilted his head slightly, feigning confusion. "Heavenly physique?"
The Sect Master's lips curved slightly in amusement. "You can deceive the others, lad," he said calmly. "But to someone in my cultivation realm, it is not difficult to notice how carefully you are restraining your strength. Your steps are measured, and your muscles are too dense for someone untrained. Even the way you stand, you are distributing weight as if you fear cracking the floor."
His gaze sharpened. "And yet…" He paused, divine sense sweeping across Arthur again. "You do not possess even a trace of spiritual energy. Not a speck, and that is what amazes me."
Arthur sighed slowly.
Arthur sighed as he somehow felt his lies would be caught easily by this man. Even though he was much stronger than him, and who knew what kind of method he had, he felt he should try to build a good relationship with the sect before achieving his goal.
So, he decided to tell the man half truth, and it's not like he would be able to do anything to him. In fact the strongest being on this planet was still a bit weaker than him from what he could sense unless someone was hiding inside some pocket dimension.
"I have an ability," Arthur said evenly, "that allows me to improve my physical strength."
The Sect Master's eyes narrowed slightly. "An innate talent?"
"You could say that."
"And you appeared to be around thirty years of age," the man continued, watching him carefully. "Why did you never cultivate before?"
Arthur didn't hesitate. "Because I didn't know cultivation existed until a few days ago. I didn't even know I possessed a Heaven-grade elemental root."
For the first time, genuine shock crossed the Sect Master's face. He stared at Arthur as if trying to detect if there were any lies in the statement, but he sensed no deception from Arthur.
So, he was even more bewildered, "…You are telling me," the Sect Master said slowly, "that someone with Heaven-grade talent lived nearly three decades without ever hearing about cultivation?"
Arthur shrugged lightly. "I suppose I was isolated."
The man studied him again, then muttered under his breath, "Were you raised inside a cave or something?"
Arthur didn't answer that, he simply held the man's gaze calmly.
Well whatever he said was the truth, it was just just that it was not the complete truth. He simply omitted the detail that his "cave" had been an entirely different universe. And it's not like you get to see someone who can jump universes everyday, so the man never guessed it in the first place.
The sect master sighed in exasperation, clearly reassessing everything he had assumed. He felt this was the reason for Arthur's lack of etiquette, the ignorance of sect customs to bow before their elders, and suddenly they made sense.
And there was also his strength. He could not quantify it precisely, but instinct told him that Arthur's body was far beyond what an ordinary mortal should possess.
"Follow me," the Sect Master finally said. "I wish to test your strength."
Arthur sighed inwardly and followed the man out of the room. Now he needs to act weak before the sect master as if he showed too much strength then the man would get suspicious. So he decided to show strength comparable to a Golden Core realm cultivator; that way he would not appear too weak and also not too strong.
He followed the Sect Master through winding corridors until they reached a vast training hall carved directly into a mountain side just behind the palace. The walls were reinforced with formations, as he felt spiritual energy move along the surface of the walls.
The Sect Master stepped into the center and gestured casually. "Attack me, use all your strength."
Arthur nodded once, then moved. He did not use Aether as it would be too powerful and it would reveal he had some kind of energy.
He simply accelerated towards the man with physical speed, closing the distance in a blur that would already astonish most Golden Core disciples. His fist drove forward toward the Sect Master's chest, all the while he was restricting his strength.
The Sect Master shifted lightly to the side, the movement was minimal yet perfectly timed. Arthur followed with another strike, then a low sweep, then a rising elbow, layering his attacks fluidly.
For nearly a minute, the exchange continued in a similar pattern where Arthur attacked the sect master and the man was dodging them effortlessly.
Arthur carefully calibrated his every movement. Each punch was delivered with force consistent with an advanced Golden Core realm cultivator. He even adjusted the recoil through his own muscles so as to appear he was trying extremely hard to land a blow on the man.
The Sect Master allowed him to continue, deflecting and dodging the attacks rather than countering, all the while observing Arthur.
Then, abruptly, the man's hand flicked outward in a seemingly casual swipe.
Arthur saw it coming long before it reached him, but he allowed the attack to connect with his chest.
The impact struck his chest, and he controlled his body's response, deliberately relaxing his stance, and allowing himself to be sent flying backward. He slammed into the reinforced wall with a heavy crash, cracking the stone slightly.
He forced his lungs to constrict and coughed, expelling a mouthful of blood that he had ruptured from capillaries intentionally.
Arthur staggered upright, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, and started breathing slightly heavier as if strained.
The Sect Master approached slowly. "That is enough." And handed him a pill which Arthur consumed. He followed the energy that from his stomach reached towards the capillaries that he was intentionally keeping damaged and felt the energy was trying to heal them. He sensed this pill works somewhat similar to healing potions from Thyrandel.
There was an unmistakable surprise in the sect master's tone. "Even without cultivation," he continued thoughtfully, "you can contend with most Golden Core cultivators. If you were willing to risk your life, you might even defeat them."
Arthur lowered his gaze slightly as if he was in deep thought. The Sect Master studied him a moment longer, then smiled faintly. "Are you willing to become my disciple, lad?"
Arthur paused just long enough to appear contemplative before nodding. "I am."
He thought it was surely justifiable to lie a bit for his growth. It was a calculated lie, but a necessary one.
The Sect Master seemed pleased and he didn't mind Arthur's lack of proper etiquettes. "Good."
He then turned and walked toward the far end of the hall, where a side chamber was concealed behind a carved stone panel. The panel slid aside smoothly, revealing a smaller room filled with scroll racks, wooden shelves, porcelain vials, weapons mounted on stands, and several artifacts radiating subtle spiritual fluctuations.
He then looked at Arthur and said while pointing towards the room attached to the training hall, "Go on, go there and choose a cultivation technique."
Arthur nodded and stepped inside the small room, the room was clearly curated.
High-grade pills labeled in porcelain vials sat temptingly near the entrance shelves. Several rare-grade weapons were also mounted along the walls. Even a mid-tier artifact lay casually displayed near a pedestal.
Arthur ignored all of it. He moved directly toward the scroll racks, scanning the titles methodically. He let his fingers brush across different cultivation manuals, reading the brief descriptions engraved on their spines.
Outside the chamber, the Sect Master watched quietly with his divine sense extended.
He saw Arthur pass by a rare spirit-enhancing pill without hesitation. He saw him ignore a defensive artifact worth a fortune. He saw no flicker of greed, no hesitation of temptation on his expression.
Instead, Arthur focused solely on the cultivation techniques.
The Sect Master smiled faintly. "The lad possesses good temperament," he murmured to himself.
Inside, Arthur continued scanning the scrolls. He needed something compatible enough to function within this world's system, but flexible enough that he could modify it later. He wasn't here to become dependent on their framework. Though he was interested in the way cultivators create their Sea of consciousness and divine sense.
The way he senses his surroundings where his vision doesn't reach was by simply sensing the lifeforce of living beings. But he has read in novels that using divine sense cultivators could observe something even better than seeing with their eyes which always fascinated him. And the Sea of consciousness serves as the storage for spiritual energy and soul power for a cultivator.
Currently his energy was stored in his cells and he felt his way of storing energy was better but taking inspiration from the sea of consciousness he could create a dimension anchored to his body to store excess energy, it would act like a battery and that way he would be able to access it whenever he was in a pinch.
The principles of cultivation revolve around transcending mortal limitations to achieve immortality, power, and Daoist enlightenment through intense, structured, and often dangerous self-refinement. It includes absorbing spiritual energy (Qi), strengthening the body/soul, mastering martial arts and magic, and progressing through distinct, hierarchical stages of power to become an immortal.
Arthur felt cultivation was unnecessary for him as he found his body had become an extremely good conductor of energy after he absorbed Aether. And other than improving his soul strength and understanding 'Dao' he could achieve other things that cultivation provides multiple times more efficiently than what a cultivator could.
He pulled out one scroll and unrolled it carefully. "Spirit Resonance Art…"
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. This cultivation method focuses less on raw physical strength and more on the synchronization of spiritual energy with nature, or spiritual frequencies to achieve immortality and power. And he felt it would do for now.
Outside, the Sect Master's smile deepened slightly.
***
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