"The Four Great Academies each had their own focus, and their admission standards were different."
"However, the Four Great Academies all had one ironclad rule: a student's cultivation had to be at least Fourth Rank." Chu Feng smiled faintly.
"Fourth Rank?" Lu Chuan's eyes widened instantly, his face full of shock.
Good heavens.
Fourth Rank was merely the minimum admission standard? That requirement was far too high.
One had to know that in Lin City, a Fourth Rank Martial Artist was enough to establish a sect and build a force of their own.
Even in ordinary Martial Arts Universities, a Fourth Rank Martial Artist could serve as a teacher.
Yet at the Four Great Academies, Fourth Rank was only barely enough to apply.
Wasn't that gap a little too enormous?
"Shocked?"
Chu Feng looked at Lu Chuan with a smile. "Think about it. Since the Four Great Academies dared to boast that every student would graduate at Ninth Rank, how could our requirements for students possibly be low?"
"If we admitted some good-for-nothing, wouldn't that be smashing our own signboard?"
"Take Azure Dragon Academy as an example. Aside from the hard requirement of Fourth Rank cultivation, we also held our students' Martial Arts Talent to high standards."
"At the very least, it had to be Seventh Rank Talent."
"Of course, the higher your Martial Arts cultivation, the lower the Talent requirement."
"If you were already Ninth Rank, then even if you only had First Rank Talent, the academy would admit you."
Lu Chuan rolled his eyes at Chu Feng.
Did he really need to say that? A Ninth Rank Martial Artist was already qualified to graduate. How could Azure Dragon Academy possibly refuse one?
But then again, if Lu Chuan were to take the entrance exam himself, he truly would not be able to enter one of the Four Great Academies.
First of all, the most basic requirement of Fourth Rank cultivation alone would eliminate Lu Chuan.
After breaking through to Third Rank, Lu Chuan had also tested his cultivation speed.
Running one Greater Celestial Circuit only granted him three points of cultivation. At that rate, it would take Lu Chuan at least ten years to break through to Fourth Rank.
That was perfectly normal.
Lu Chuan's Martial Arts Talent was only Fourth Rank. It might have been decent in Lin City, but across the entire Dragon Kingdom, it was simply not worth mentioning.
Even though Lu Chuan had painstakingly cultivated the Evergreen Spirit Art to perfection, the limitations of his Talent still made every step of his later cultivation arduous.
It seemed he needed to gather some treasures capable of improving Talent.
"Oh, right. There's something I need to tell you."
As Lu Chuan pondered, Chu Feng's voice rang out once more. "The martial path must be fought for! As a martial artist, you cannot fear competition. You must even take the initiative to embrace it."
"Only then can you press forward without hindrance, all the way until you stand atop the pinnacle of the martial path."
"You must know that competition often meant resources. The more competition there was, the more cultivation resources there would be."
"Beneath the feet of every martial arts powerhouse in this world lay heaps of bleached bones."
"If you want to cultivate smoothly all the way to the peak of the martial path, I advise you to abandon that thought as soon as possible."
Chu Feng's words instantly made Lu Chuan's gaze firm.
Wasn't it just competition?
He was not afraid!
Besides, if he refused now, he probably would not even have the qualifications to participate in the competition!
We martial artists—why should we fear competition!
With that thought, Lu Chuan raised his head, his eyes settling on Chu Feng. "I agree to join Azure Dragon Academy!"
Upon hearing that, a smile appeared on Chu Feng's face.
Another one talked into it.
Ahem...
It could not exactly be called talking him into it. After all, everything he had said was true; there were merely slight discrepancies in certain aspects.
For example, the enemies of his faction were not limited to Azure Dragon Academy. They were not even limited to the human race.
"Good!"
"Since you are willing to join Azure Dragon Academy, then as your teacher, I must give you a meeting gift."
"Take this cultivation method."
With that, Chu Feng somehow produced a leather-bound booklet and handed it to Lu Chuan.
Holding the leather booklet, Lu Chuan could not help but complain, "This is already the age of technology. Do we really need to be this retro?"
"Couldn't we just transmit it over the network?"
At those words, Chu Feng looked at Lu Chuan rather strangely. "Don't tell me you don't know that the more powerful a cultivation method is, the higher its requirements for a medium?"
"Basic cultivation methods could still be transmitted through the network, but cultivation methods with a rank could only be recorded on specific materials before they could circulate."
Lu Chuan froze.
There was such a thing?
So it was not that these people were being retro—it was that they had no choice.
After that little interlude, Lu Chuan shifted his gaze to the leather booklet.
On the booklet were three large characters: Sky Swallowing Art!
Those three words alone made Lu Chuan feel a burst of immense terror, as though some ancient Fierce Beast had fixed its gaze upon him and would swallow him whole the next second.
This cultivation method was extraordinary!
"This is a fragment of the Sky Swallowing Art. It should be enough to support your cultivation until Sixth Rank. Keep it. Once you break through to Sixth Rank, come apply to me for the subsequent cultivation method." Chu Feng said.
"This is actually only a fragment?"
Lu Chuan was shocked. A mere fragment possessed such power—just how formidable would the complete Sky Swallowing Art be?
Perhaps merely seeing its name would be enough to frighten a Third Rank Martial Artist to death.
No wonder Chu Feng had not directly given him the complete Sky Swallowing Art.
"Thank you, Brother Feng."
After briefly flipping through it, Lu Chuan quickly put away the cultivation method, intending to study it properly after returning.
"I'll give you one week to prepare. After one week, we'll return to Azure Dragon Academy," Chu Feng said.
"Alright."
Lin City, the Lin family.
"My strength is still too weak."
After witnessing Chu Feng's strength, Lu Chuan deeply felt his own inadequacy.
He had already been unable to interfere in the battle of Lin City. If it were a higher-level battle, wouldn't that mean he would not even count as cannon fodder?
What was more, he would be heading to Azure Dragon Academy in a week.
Azure Dragon Academy was brimming with talent. Any random person picked out from there would probably be stronger than him.
"If I want to make a breakthrough in a short time, I can only place my hopes on the Sky Swallowing Art."
This Sky Swallowing Art was extremely domineering and mysterious.
Unlike ordinary cultivation methods, the Sky Swallowing Art did not rely on cultivation to obtain spiritual energy. It relied on devouring!
Devour treasures! Devour spiritual herbs! Devour the flesh and blood of the Ten Thousand Races!
As long as something was related to spiritual energy, the Sky Swallowing Art could devour it and convert it into a martial artist's cultivation!
From that perspective, the Sky Swallowing Art was rather similar to the Simplification System.
The only difference was that one provided cultivation, while the other provided Simplification Points.
"Who exactly created such a terrifying cultivation method?"
The more Lu Chuan read the Sky Swallowing Art, the greater the shock in his heart became.
The mysteries of this cultivation method far exceeded Lu Chuan's imagination. Once one's mastery of the Sky Swallowing Art reached a certain level, it could even allow a martial artist to condense a special constitution—the Devouring Physique!
Special constitutions were existences favored by heaven!
Even the lowest-grade special constitution was equivalent to Ninth Rank Talent!
In other words, the Sky Swallowing Art could completely create a monstrous genius by artificial means!
Of course, condensing the Devouring Physique was not so simple. Setting aside the immense resources required, merely comprehending the Sky Swallowing Art was enough to filter out the vast majority of people.
According to the Sky Swallowing Art's records, throughout history, those who could condense the Devouring Physique numbered fewer than the fingers on one hand.
From this alone, one could see just how difficult the Sky Swallowing Art was.
Before you continue