Having chosen his cultivation method, Zhang Wan respectfully asked Vice Dean Huang to remove the obscuring barrier from the jade slip.
Vice Dean Huang brushed his hand over the jade slip, and Zhang Wan's sharp eyes caught a flash of talismanic script across its surface.
It was densely packed, making his vision swim for a moment.
"All right. You can see the contents afterward now."
"But remember this: you may take the jade slip with you, but you must not reveal its contents. Aside from cultivating it yourself, you absolutely must not pass the Bronze Iron Body technique on to anyone else."
"Otherwise, I won't punish you, but the sect's Discipline Hall will still take your life!"
As for an oath, Zhang Wan was not required to make one.
This made Zhang Wan realize that the sect did not care all that much about the first six levels of the Houtian Realm Bronze Iron Body technique.
Otherwise, they would certainly have left some means of restraint instead of casually trying to frighten him with the Discipline Hall.
"That makes sense, too. After all, it's only a Houtian Realm technique, and only the first six levels. There's indeed no need to take it too seriously."
"As long as I keep the later parts of the technique from leaking out, there shouldn't be any problem."
After registering his identity as a disciple and receiving the cultivation method, Vice Dean Huang reminded Zhang Wan to return before February 1 of the following year to collect his Jade Bone Sect outer disciple token and cultivation resources, then let him leave.
Instructor Liu stayed behind to continue chatting with Vice Dean Huang.
"February 1 of next year isn't that far away, either." Zhang Wan placed the cultivation method against his chest and thought about the disciple token and cultivation resources.
He knew he could not obtain those things immediately. The academy had already explained the matter.
After all, the academy was not where the sect's mountain gate was located.
The sect provided all the cultivation resources the academy needed once every six months.
The dates were February 1 and August 1 each year.
During that period, if any student at the academy broke through to become a Houtian martial artist, the cultivation resources the sect issued to that student would also be temporarily held back, then distributed together with the resources being transported to the academy.
Although the meal in the exclusive dining hall did not disappoint Zhang Wan, it also made him feel the difficulty of cultivating in the Houtian Realm.
He guessed that even after cultivating a technique, absorbing spiritual energy from the outside world, and eating food made from pseudo-spiritual items, his progress probably would not be very fast.
If he wanted to accelerate his cultivation, he would have to rely on experience points and cultivation resources.
The more cultivation resources he obtained, the more experience points he could save. When he encountered an impassable cultivation bottleneck in the future, he would then have enough experience points to squander.
"Still, how many resources the sect will issue is unknown."
"If they aren't enough by then, I can't be stingy with my experience points, either. I'll have to invest them when necessary."
Zhang Wan still intended to control the speed of his cultivation, but he did not plan to drag it out for too long.
The Xiantian barrier was right there before him.
If he could not break through to the Xiantian Realm before the age of thirty, breaking through afterward would become several times more difficult with every passing year.
It was not that there had never been martial artists who broke through to the Xiantian Realm after turning thirty.
But martial artists like that had basically exhausted their martial paths.
What Zhang Wan wanted was to keep improving without ending up standing at the center of attention.
Breaking through after thirty did not suit his needs.
After all, if he became someone others believed had essentially exhausted his martial path, yet his cultivation still rose by a level every so often, even an idiot could see that something was wrong.
Breaking through before thirty was different. As long as he did not become one of the very best, he might attract some attention, but it would not amount to anything.
"I'm ten now, so I still have twenty years until I'm thirty. Breaking through one minor realm every two years—this cultivation speed should be quite reasonable, right?" Zhang Wan muttered.
"Perhaps I don't have to rigidly stick to improving one minor realm every two years."
"Being too fixed wouldn't be good, either."
"By using experience points and temporarily stopping cultivation, I can vary the amount of time needed to break through each minor realm. That would seem more reasonable."
As he pondered, Zhang Wan had already returned to the shared dormitory.
The other students in the shared dormitory were still attending their literary class, so the room was empty.
Zhang Wan simply packed up his belongings and carried them toward the independent courtyards where Instructor Liu and the other Houtian martial artists lived.
After advancing to the Houtian Realm, his treatment immediately changed.
He no longer had to sleep in the shared dormitory with a crowd of students and could have a residence of his own.
Moreover, it was not a single-room dormitory with rooms connected together, but an independent courtyard with some distance between it and the others!
The courtyards with name plaques hanging outside them were occupied.
Those without plaques were empty.
After advancing to become a Houtian martial artist, one could freely choose any vacant courtyard to live in.
Zhang Wan found one he liked and moved in.
The courtyard had all the necessary furniture, but there were no quilts or anything of the sort.
Although Zhang Wan had brought all his belongings from the shared dormitory, scattering them around this courtyard would not even be enough to fill a single room.
"Later, I can ask the academy's logistics office to get me some quilts, bowls, chopsticks, and other things."
"Even if I don't use the other rooms, I should still get beds and bedding for them. Besides, it's not as if I won't use them."
This courtyard was not limited to students who had advanced to the Houtian Realm.
If a Houtian martial artist living there was willing, they could also invite other students from the academy to move in.
Instructors like Instructor Liu could even bring their families.
That was what Zhang Wan intended to do.
But he was not planning to invite a friend from the shared dormitory. He intended to invite his younger sister, Zhang Lingshu.
He was not an instructor like Instructor Liu and could not bring family members in. But Zhang Lingshu also practiced martial arts at the academy, so he could bring her to live in the small courtyard.
When he was a little over four and nearly five, he had left home and entered the Beginner Martial Arts Academy. He returned home only in January and June each year, while his second younger sister, Zhang Lingshu, who was three years younger than him, had entered the Beginner Martial Arts Academy at roughly the same age.
Although the atmosphere at the academy was good and the instructors managed the students strictly, forbidding private brawls, humiliation and ostracism were things that could never be completely absent anywhere.
Because he went to look after Zhang Lingshu from time to time, she had naturally never been bullied.
But no matter how good the shared dormitory was, it could not compare with an independent courtyard.
Leaving aside the enormous difference in living space, the spiritual energy in the independent courtyards was denser, making them more beneficial for martial cultivation.
If ordinary people stayed in such an environment for a long time, even their bodies would become healthier, and it would be easier for them to temper their qi and blood to the limit.
With such conditions, Zhang Wan naturally wanted to bring his second younger sister over.
After tidying up his belongings a little, he went to the academy's service office and had someone make a wooden plaque bearing his name and hang it outside the courtyard. He also had the service office deliver some quilts, bowls, chopsticks, and other things.
Then he went to Third Grade Class C to look for his younger sister, Zhang Lingshu.
After all that running around, it was already nearly noon.
When Zhang Wan timed his visit, it happened to be when the morning literary class had ended and the students were going to eat lunch.
The instructor who taught martial knowledge to Third Grade Class C happened to run into Zhang Wan.
Zhang Wan had come looking for his second younger sister many times, so the literary-class instructor knew him as well.
This time, however, the instructor noticed that Zhang Wan was different. He sensed the aura of a Houtian martial artist from him, and his expression immediately changed.
He was not overly shocked.
Yet his expression held several strands of complicated emotion and envy, and his attitude also became respectful.
As usual, Zhang Wan chatted with the instructor for a few sentences before taking his leave.
He saw the complicated look in the instructor's eyes and knew why he was acting that way.
Unlike the martial instructors, the instructors who taught martial knowledge were not all Houtian martial artists. Most of them were ordinary people at the Mortal Limit.
At the Jade Bone Sect, these people were only servant disciples.
Zhang Wan, however, had already broken through to the Houtian Realm and become an outer disciple, placing him above them in status.
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