Emei People, Emei Soul

"Hm?"

Looking at what he had obtained from the lottery, Gu Shaoan raised an eyebrow, a flicker of delight passing through his heart.

"First, I drew a golden tag like [Anointing], and now I've drawn a special purple tag like [Sword Drawn Like a Rainbow]. Could Emei Sect really be my blessed land?"

[Sword Drawn Like a Rainbow], as its name suggested, allowed anyone who obtained this tag to draw a sword like a rainbow even without any prior training.

Its effect was no less than that of someone who had painstakingly cultivated special martial arts such as Sword Drawing Technique and Blade Drawing Technique for twenty years.

Unlike talent tags, which automatically bound themselves to the player once drawn,

tags obtained through the roulette lottery required Gu Shaoan to bind them himself before they could take effect.

After Gu Shaoan successfully bound the [Sword Drawn Like a Rainbow] tag, streams of information suddenly appeared in his mind out of nowhere.

They were precisely the key points and techniques involved in drawing a sword.

At the same time, Gu Shaoan felt waves of energy materialize within both his arms.

In an instant, a burning sensation spread through his arms.

It was as though both arms had been submerged in heated water.

If someone could observe the insides of Gu Shaoan's arms, they would discover that his meridians, muscles, and bones were all strengthening at an astonishing speed.

Only after a hundred breaths did the heat in Gu Shaoan's arms gradually subside.

He rolled up his sleeves and looked. His arms remained fair, though they were slightly thicker than before, yet still no different from those of an ordinary person.

After swinging them once, Gu Shaoan felt as though his arms had undergone years of intense training. They had become exceedingly powerful.

He turned and swept his gaze around the room, which soon settled on a sheathed Wooden Sword, only two feet long, hanging from the bamboo wall.

The scabbard was exquisitely carved with patterns, though its surface had been coated in Tung Oil.

Taking the scabbard from the wall, he drew the Wooden Sword within and examined it. Although there were several chips around its blade, it had not rotted because of the Tung Oil coating.

Holding the Wooden Sword, Gu Shaoan walked to the center of the bamboo house and raised his right hand.

The moment his palm and fingers touched the hilt, he felt an indescribable sense of familiarity.

It was as though this hand had already held a sword countless times.

Closing his eyes, Gu Shaoan rested his right hand on the hilt in a loose grip.

At the same time, as he gripped the sword, Gu Shaoan adjusted his breathing. Once his heart had calmed, he gradually entered a unique state.

The instant his breathing became steady, even his senses seemed to sharpen considerably.

Just then, the hand loosely gripping the hilt suddenly clenched tight around it.

"Whoosh!"

As the Wooden Sword left its sheath, the force that erupted drove a streak of light through the air.

Because the sword had been drawn so quickly, it even made a faint whistling sound as it swung, like an arrow released from the bowstring.

With this strike, not to mention ordinary people, even Martial Artists who had cultivated inner force and entered the Later Heaven Realm would find it difficult to defend themselves if caught off guard.

It was hard to imagine that such a lightning-fast sword strike had come from a boy not yet thirteen years old.

"As expected of a special tag. Its effect truly is powerful!"

Gu Shaoan, however, merely nodded in satisfaction after testing the effects of his new tag.

As the saying went, "Emei people, Emei souls—once you enter Emei, a sword clings to your side!"

Emei Sect primarily specialized in swordsmanship, palm techniques, and martial arts.

Aside from giving Gu Shaoan an attacking method similar to the Blade Drawing Technique, the [Sword Drawn Like a Rainbow] tag also strengthened his arms, making his sword-drawing speed faster than that of ordinary Martial Artists.

The benefits were self-evident.

After the Emei Sect servants delivered hot water and food, Gu Shaoan ate, washed up, and went to bed early.

With the back of his head resting on his arm, thoughts continuously churned through Gu Shaoan's mind.

Now that he had successfully joined Emei Sect and even become Miejue's Personal Disciple, Gu Shaoan temporarily had a place to settle down.

Moreover, from what Gu Shaoan knew, nothing major would happen on Emei Sect's side over the next ten years.

In other words, after joining Emei Sect, Gu Shaoan would have ten peaceful years to prepare.

Gu Shaoan knew full well that the world he was in was magnificent and tumultuous, but he also knew that it was filled with danger.

For Gu Shaoan, what he needed to do now was devote every effort to improving his own strength.

The next day.

Early morning.

As dawn broke, a faint mist still hung around the rear mountain of Mount Emei.

In the distance, mountain peaks flickered in and out of sight amid the dense clouds and mist.

Inside the bamboo house, Gu Shaoan sat cross-legged on the bed. His abdomen rose and fell with each breath, sometimes long and drawn out, sometimes rapid.

As his breathing surged and ebbed, the qi within Gu Shaoan flowed gently along a fixed path.

Only when the clouds and mist over the rear mountain had dispersed and sunlight filled the area did a message quietly appear before Gu Shaoan.

[Practiced the Breathing Technique for half an hour. Achievement Points +1.]

After glancing at the notification, Gu Shaoan slowly stopped his breathing exercise.

Though he had sat cross-legged for nearly half an hour, Gu Shaoan did not feel any numbness in his legs. On the contrary, he felt even more energized than before his cultivation.

[Emei Breathing and Meditation Technique (Beginner Level) — Proficiency: 2/100.]

The difficulty of cultivating a Breathing Technique lay in clearly knowing one's progress, which made it easy to feel bored and restless.

This gradually turned cultivation into miserable, tedious sitting.

If one could always know their cultivation progress, that sense of tedium would naturally be greatly reduced.

Still, half an hour had only increased his Breathing Technique progress by one point.

At this rate, he would still need forty-nine hours before the qi in his body could grow strong enough to condense into inner force.

This progress truly was somewhat slow.

Shaking his head and suppressing his thoughts, Gu Shaoan stood and lightly stretched his limbs.

"Junior Brother Gu?"

Just then, Zhao Jingxuan's voice came from outside the courtyard.

Gu Shaoan opened the door, and the first thing he saw was Zhao Jingxuan and Zhou Zhiruo bathed in sunlight.

The morning sunlight was gentle, casting a warm hue over the plain robes worn by the two girls.

Zhou Zhiruo in particular looked all the more radiant beneath the dawn light, her delicate features gleaming softly.

They said beauty soothed the heart.

Seeing such a pretty little girl first thing in the morning truly made one's eyes brighten and lifted one's mood considerably.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Gu Shaoan quickly stepped out of the house and approached the two girls.

"Greetings, Eldest Senior Sister. Greetings, Fourth Senior Sister."

By then, Gu Shaoan had changed into Emei Sect attire.

The plain robe was mainly blue and white, like snow atop Mount Emei reflecting the colors of pine trees—cold and clear, symbolizing the purity of one's heart and swordsmanship.

His hair was also tied up with a blue ribbon.

Though it was merely the simple attire of a Personal Disciple, paired with Gu Shaoan's handsome features and composed bearing, anyone who saw him could not help but praise him inwardly.