On the Qualifications to Seek the Heavenly Sword

Gu Qingshan opened his eyes.

He found himself standing among crumbling walls and ruins.

Broken buildings surrounded him, stretching from the foot of the mountain where he stood all the way to its peak.

A faint spiritual glow still emanated from a few palaces that had not yet collapsed. Their colors were vivid and resplendent, yet still carried a touch of elegance. Clearly, they were covered by the simplest dust-clearing arrays.

Dust-clearing arrays only needed to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to operate, so they had survived intact through the long river of history.

Gu Qingshan withdrew his gaze.

At some point, a youth had appeared before him, looking him over curiously.

"May I ask—" Gu Qingshan clasped his hands in greeting.

"No need to ask. I'm the Spirit Turtle. You can't even recognize me?" the youth said.

Gu Qingshan glanced at the shell on his back and nodded. "Senior—"

The youth cut him off. "What do you mean, 'senior'? I'm only a hundred and fifty thousand years old. I'm still in the prime of my youth, so you can call me Young Turtle—or Turtle Young Master, if you think that sounds better."

Gu Qingshan: "..."

Turtle Young Master tossed him an object.

"You did well. Better than Shen Yang, even. So you passed the trial and earned a Disciple Jade Tablet," Turtle Young Master said.

Gu Qingshan looked at the jade tablet in his hand.

It held astonishing spiritual energy, and wisps of white mist continually rose from it.

The spiritual jade had a rather unusual shape, much like a broken rune.

"All right, no need to keep looking. You passed the entrance trial, so you can begin cultivating now," Turtle Young Master said.

"Cultivating?" Gu Qingshan asked in surprise. "But I came to find the