Chu Huaixu stared at the small booklet, completely bewildered.
Refusing to believe it, he flipped to the next page. As it turned out, this page also had only two words:
—"Heed the advice!"
Judging by the handwriting, the first and second pages were likely not written by the same person. This was enough to make Chu Huaixu's head spin.
"What the hell is this, two people singing the same tune."
Chu Huaixu continued to flip through the pages, only to find there was nothing more.
"That's it?" He grew even more confused.
"Could this be a newly released aperture-opening stage technique that very few people have practiced?" This was the only possibility he could think of.
The Dao Gate was huge, with numerous outer sect disciples. One had to know, even if the Dao Gate's requirements were strict, only accepting one-in-ten-thousand geniuses, the population base of the entire Eastern Continent's Mirror Kingdom was not small. With so many in-name disciples, it was impossible that so few would choose this, right?
"Is it because its name isn't as flashy as those other techniques?" Chu Huaixu wondered.
"That shouldn't be it either."
After all... that legendary sword was in the Dao Gate! Within the Dao Gate, the practice of the sword was extremely popular. As long as a technique had the word "sword" in its name, there was no reason for it to be so unpopular.
Chu Huaixu was genuinely afraid that he was about to become the third guinea pig...
"But no matter what, this technique has the highest compatibility with me, at 93%."
"The system judged it to be fine, so it must be fine."
In any case, for him, a so-called cultivation technique was just something to stuff experience points into.
With this thought, Chu Huaixu tossed the small booklet aside and picked up the jade slip.
As a veteran player, he had a certain understanding of the Xuanhuang Realm's cultivation system.
In the past, the aperture-opening stage did not actually exist as a realm. The human body had nine apertures, which were used to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Some people were born with all nine apertures open, like that long-legged beauty next door. Some people were born with all apertures blocked, like Chu Huaixu at his current stage.
For a chosen prodigy like Han Shuangjiang, her aperture-opening stage was like a walk in the park. It could be understood that her nine apertures were merely clogged with some of the human body's impurities. All she needed to do now was rely on a cultivation technique to cleanse these impurities. Before long, she would reach the Great Perfection of the aperture-opening stage and then begin to break through to the first realm!
Many years ago, only those born with all nine apertures open could cultivate. Everyone started practicing directly from the first realm. Therefore, in that era, the threshold for cultivation was extremely high, and the number of cultivators was very small.
Until... the meteoric rise of the Dao Ancestor!
The Dao Ancestor, unrivaled in the mortal world, discovered the secrets of the human body's nine apertures and refined the Aperture-Opening Pill. By consuming an Aperture-Opening Pill, one
could unblock their originally sealed apertures.
The so-called aperture-opening stage techniques were actually just to assist in absorbing the medicinal power. By circulating the technique, the pill's effect would be better, and the absorption would be faster.
The world revered him as the Dao Ancestor precisely because he had created the Aperture-Opening Pill and established the aperture-opening stage. Without him, many people would have never had the chance to become cultivators.
Right now, in Chu Huaixu's storage token, there was an Aperture-Opening Pill, provided for free by the Dao Gate to its in-name disciples.
"I have to say, the benefits at a major sect are really good," he thought. "Some small sects even make their disciples buy Aperture-Opening Pills with their own money."
Taking out the Aperture-Opening Pill, Chu Huaixu swallowed it in one gulp, then spread the jade slip open before him.
"[Ding! Do you wish to learn the cultivation technique—'Sword Tempering Art'?]" he heard the system prompt.
Did he even need to ask?
Learn!
"Well then, let's begin cultivating!"
...
...
Asking the Dao Peak was the main peak of [The Mountain Beyond the Mountains]. The main hall of the Dao Gate was located at the summit of Asking the Dao Peak.
At this moment, there were a total of six people in the main hall. Sixth Elder Li Chunsong was among them.
The person in the lead sat on the Sect Master's throne. He was the current Sect Master of the Dao Gate—Xiang Yan. This man did not have the slightest transcendent aura of an immortal. He was ferocious-looking, hideously ugly, looked very difficult to provoke, and was also bald. From his appearance, he was clearly a far cry from the Dao Gate Sect Master everyone imagined.
On both sides of the hall sat four others: First Elder Lu Pan, Fifth Elder Zhao Shuqi, Ninth Elder Nangong Yue, and Tenth Elder Chu Yinyin.
Sixth Elder Li Chunsong stood in the center of the hall, constantly rubbing his hands, his face flushed and his mood excited.
He was in the throes of his gambling addiction, thinking about how to lay the groundwork and start a bet with his martial brothers.
"I have brought back the people Little Martial Uncle asked me to retrieve," Li Chunsong cleared his throat and said.
Tenth Elder Chu Yinyin immediately asked, "What people?"
It was strange, but while the other high-level members of the Dao Gate all looked middle-aged, only this Tenth Elder, Chu Yinyin, still looked like a young girl in the prime of her youth, appearing to be only thirteen or fourteen, her body not even fully developed. But in reality, she was already thirty-two years old. This was related to her cultivation technique and her Spirit Embryo.
Li Chunsong turned to glance at her and said directly, "This is a matter for those at the seventh realm and above. You, at the sixth realm, shouldn't ask."
As soon as he said this, everyone else laughed.
Chu Yinyin's brow furrowed, and she slapped the small table beside her chair in anger. "What do you mean by that, you gambler? Are you looking down on me?"
Li Chunsong immediately put on a placating smile. "How would I dare, Little Martial Sister? But this matter has been classified by Little Martial Uncle as a top sect secret. You know the rules; only those at the seventh realm and above are qualified to know."
"You're using the sect rules to pressure me?" Chu Yinyin refused to back down.
This forced Li Chunsong to seek help, looking at First Elder Lu Pan. "First Martial Brother, you're the Law Enforcement Elder. Say something."
The stern and dignified Lu Pan looked up, the lines on his forehead so deep they looked as if they were carved with a knife.
"According to the sect rules, it is indeed so," he answered earnestly.
"So that's how it is! You're all ganging up to bully me!" Chu Yinyin stood up abruptly.
Dao Gate Sect Master Xiang Yan raised his hand and pressed it down slightly, signaling her to calm down. Not only was the bald man ugly, but his speaking voice was also very unpleasant, sounding like a screaming chicken toy.
"Little Martial Sister, you have indeed been too lazy in the past. Your innate talent is clearly the most outstanding among us. Both Master and Martial Uncle said that the end of your cultivation path will surely be farther than ours, but you just refuse to cultivate properly."
Hearing this, Chu Yinyin looked down at her own body and became even more displeased. "Cultivate what! Look at what I've cultivated myself into!"
She swept her gaze over everyone and said in a fit of pique, "If you won't tell me, then don't! I don't want to hear it anyway! I'm leaving!"
She walked quickly to the entrance of the hall, then stopped and turned around. "Are you really not going to tell me?"
Her martial brothers and sisters remained silent, just looking at her with smiles.
Only then did Chu Yinyin storm out of the hall in a huff. This time, she was really gone.
Ninth Elder Nangong Yue was a gentle-tempered woman. She wasn't exceptionally beautiful but had a heavy chest. She shook her head and chuckled. "Little Martial Sister is really something. She's already so old, yet her temper is sometimes just like her appearance, never growing up."
"She's always been like this, it's not like she's changed," Fifth Elder Zhao Shuqi said with a shrug.
"Her special technique is one reason, but it's mainly because of her nature," First Elder Lu Pan said.
Just as he finished speaking, he couldn't help but let out a soft "Eh?" "Why is she still eavesdropping outside?"
As the Law Enforcement Elder, he was in charge of the sect rules. With a wave of his large hand, he released a sound-insulating formation, completely sealing off the sounds within the main hall.
"Now she's really gone," Lu Pan probed outwards with his Spiritual Sense and smiled faintly.
Sect Master Xiang Yan cleared his throat and said in his incredibly grating voice, "Alright, let's get down to business."
Sixth Elder Li Chunsong knew it was his turn to speak.
"As instructed by Martial Uncle, I brought back two people from Biyou Terrace on Wumeng Mountain."
"The man is named Chu Huaixu, the woman Han Shuangjiang."
"This Han Shuangjiang is incredible. Guess what her Spirit Embryo is," he began to build suspense.
No one spoke; they just stared at him in silence.
"You all are no fun!" Li Chunsong grumbled.
"Her Spirit Embryo is on par with the Dao Ancestor's Pure Yang Physique! She has a Profound Yin Physique!"
The others were instantly astonished. "What!"
Profound Yin Physique! It's actually a Profound Yin Physique!
Ninth Elder Nangong Yue crossed her arms over her chest, her ample flesh bunching up on her arms. "Do you think... if it's a Profound Yin Physique, is it possible for her to gain its recognition?"
The others were slightly taken aback. "Its?"
But they quickly understood what "it" Nangong Yue was referring to.
It was a sword.
A sword left behind by the Dao Ancestor.