Profound Gate Immortal Physique, Entrance Ceremony

Green Plum Room.

The boy and girl who had known each other for years were sharing a room for the first time.

The canopy around the large bed was lowered by a fair hand, hiding the young girl's figure.

"She's turned into an Ice Block again."

Li Mo withdrew his gaze, hugged his quilt, and lay down on the soft couch.

No matter how he looked at it, she did not seem like someone who could be changed by a few casual words.

Forget it. Who knew what she was thinking...

"Speaking of which, investments don't necessarily have to be objects?"

Thoughtful, Li Mo looked at the reward he had just received.

[Profound Gate Immortal Physique]: "Leaping beyond the nine heavens, dwelling not within the ten lands, an immortal body tempered into mortality through the surging mortal world, finally returning to simplicity and truth; no self, no beings, encompassing all forms, possessing myriad mysteries."

"Claim?"

The reward was very simple, only four words.

But at this extremely out-of-place term, Li Mo's brow lifted slightly.

The whole style was wrong, all right? This was clearly a martial world.

Could it just be an adjective, making the system seem a little more high-end, grand, and classy?

Anyway.

It sounded pretty good.

With a thought, he claimed the reward.

In an instant.

A clap of thunder only he could hear exploded beside his ear.

In his mind, it was as if thunder had torn open black clouds, and with a boom, he sank into chaos. He could not even sense himself.

Buzz—

Buzz—

Within the chaos, it seemed like a raging storm, like heaven and earth first opening, filled with countless colors and sounds.

Li Mo could not see clearly, much less hear clearly.

In that instant, he felt himself both tiny as a speck of dust and majestic beyond direct sight.

It was as if he no longer existed, yet was everywhere at once.

Who knew how long passed.

Li Mo lost consciousness.

Not far away.

On the bed, the silk canopy was gradually covered in frost, as if it would shatter at the slightest touch.

The young girl hugged her long legs, her lips pale, her eyelashes dyed with snow.

Even the breath she exhaled carried an ancient chill that would never melt.

Her entire body seemed to have been placed within an ice prison of extreme cold.

But she had long since grown used to it. There was no pain or panic in her expression, only calm.

Ying Bing knew that this torment would end when she grasped the Taiyin Power.

Before that, she first had to open her meridians.

"Pure Yang Pill."

"Xue Jing can be considered the foremost alchemist in the territory of Purple Sun Prefecture."

Ying Bing picked up the pill and swallowed it.

A slight warmth rose from her dantian and slowly flowed into her meridians.

Completing her meridian opening before the Entrance Ceremony would not be a problem!

Suddenly, she thought of something.

Ying Bing lifted the frozen-stiff canopy and looked toward the soft couch.

She saw the boy lying there peacefully, even letting out little snores.

He was sleeping rather soundly?

"He's... fine?"

Early the next morning.

Li Mo opened his eyes on the soft couch, his gaze deep as if it hid a sky full of stars, calm and clear, yet like a mountain spring.

On the surface, he still looked like himself.

But even if he was merely standing there, he gave off a feeling of having merged into nature.

[Name: Li Mo]

[Age: 16]

[Root Bone: Profound Gate Immortal Physique.]

[Realm: None.]

[Heavenly Mandate: ??]

[Evaluation: Bears an immortal physique, fate in chaos, future unknowable.]

[Recent Experience: Eased relations with his childhood sweetheart, finally a little better than strangers.]

Li Mo had thought his Heavenly Mandate would turn purple, or even gold.

Who would have thought it would directly become two big question marks?

"There definitely were changes."

"But what exactly is different, I can't say clearly for the moment."

He thought about it, then stopped dwelling on it.

The investment returns the system had given so far, at least the ones that had burst out from Ice Block, had never disappointed him.

"I haven't even started martial cultivation yet. I can only slowly experience it."

Li Mo picked up the kettle, intending to brew some tea, only to discover that all the water inside had frozen into ice.

The root of all this was a certain Ice Block on the bed.

An astonishing chill was spreading, yet he did not feel cold in the slightest.

For now, it seemed...

At the very least, he had become immune to heat and cold.

"At least I won't have to worry about being weeded out at the Entrance Ceremony."

"At the very least, I should be able to enter the inner sect, right?"

Li Mo's mood brightened.

With nothing to do, and unable to cultivate or the like...

He decided to head out onto the streets and try his luck, to see if he could run into a suitable investment target.

In the blink of an eye, two days passed.

Ever since obtaining the Pure Yang Pill, Ying Bing had stayed in the room the whole time and never gone out.

She did not eat, nor did she drink water.

Li Mo was not particularly worried.

With heaven-defying fortune on her shoulders, surely she would not starve herself to death.

It was probably due to her physique. Best not to interfere.

So after two days, the chill in Green Plum Room had lingered without dispersing. The furnishings inside were probably ruined, and Li Mo had to compensate five hundred taels of silver before the matter was settled.

Over these two days, Li Mo also encountered all kinds of investment targets.

Most were fairly ordinary, and blue ones were extremely rare.

Their recent experiences had also been strange and bizarre in every possible way.

For example, someone whose grades at the private school were not ideal and wanted to find a rich lady.

For example, someone with too much money who found life dull and wanted to experience poverty.

There was even a burly great man who longed to wear women's clothing...

For these experiences, even if Li Mo wanted to invest, he was powerless to help.

Of course, normal people were still the majority.

A mosquito's leg was still meat.

Because of that, he obtained many returns as well. Among them, very few were useful for martial training; most were strange and peculiar things.

Calligraphy and paintings, toys, ingredients, fine wine, and even the dudou of an unmarried maiden...

This wide-net approach truly produced lackluster gains.

On the morning of the third day.

"Compared to quantity, quality is more important."

"In the future, unless it's a special case, I won't take the initiative to invest in white or gray ones."

Li Mo pushed the door open and entered the room.

The first thing he saw was a graceful figure from behind, combing her smooth black hair before the mirror.

"You're better?"

"Better than before."

Ying Bing's white-porcelain face seemed to have gained a little color.

She had opened her meridians.

Successfully opening her meridians meant she no longer bore the signs of severed meridians. It also meant her buried talent had seen the light of day once more.

This could not be separated from that bottle of Pure Yang Pills.

"Come eat breakfast." Li Mo smiled.

Ying Bing lifted her bowl and said softly, "Thanks."

"What?"

Li Mo's movements paused slightly, his eyes widening.

Ice Block actually said thanks?

Shocking.

"I didn't hear clearly. What did you just say?"

Li Mo was not quite sure.

Ying Bing, however, said nothing more and began drinking her plain congee.

When the sky was fully bright, the two of them finished breakfast and went downstairs together.

Today was the day Clear Abyss Sect opened its mountain gates.

When the carriage reached several dozen li out, it could go no farther, because there were simply too many people, all packed onto the official road.

They could only get down and walk. The scene made Li Mo's DNA stir a little.

All around them were young people, giving him a déjà vu of going to the sports field for morning exercises back in his student days.

They walked for about another half incense stick's worth of time.

Ahead, they could see Clear Abyss Sect's mountain gate, as well as many Clear Abyss Sect disciples dressed in all manner of clothing. Before the disciples, seven stewards sat behind large tables.

Clang—

Clang—

Clang—

Three tolls of the Morning Bell rang out.

"Bone structure is the first gate of martial training. If one's bone structure is too poor, every step on the martial path will be difficult; even if one puts in every ounce of effort, it will still be a cup of water poured onto a burning cartload of firewood."

"Those with lowly bone structure should not waste their time. You may leave on your own."

An elderly man with a short, plump build and crimson cheeks spoke in a voice like thunder, rolling over the crowd.

No one left.

Anyone who had come here either already felt certain of success, or would not shed tears until they saw the coffin. They had already reached the mountain gate, after all.

Since they had come, they might as well see it through.

Seeing this, the short, plump old man waved his hand and said:

"Then line up properly. Come forward one by one to have your bones examined."

As his words fell, countless boys and girls, under the management of the Clear Abyss Sect disciples, consciously formed lines for the examination.

The stewards seemed to have practiced some special method. They reached out and patted the examinee on the shoulder, and could roughly determine the other party's bone structure.

"Wu Ping, lower third grade. Go on through."

"He Haikuo, middle fourth grade."

"Qian Ningning, lower fourth grade..."

Bone structure was divided by Clear Abyss Sect into four grades: first, second, third, and fourth. Anyone who reached the third grade had the qualifications to enter the mountain gate.

There were many factors that determined talent, and bone structure was only one of them. Having a third-grade bone structure meant one possessed the entry ticket to the martial path.

Even so, out of ten people, only one or two were third grade or above.

Just the first gate alone would probably screen out eighty percent of the people.

Above first grade?

That could only be uniformly classified as upper first grade.

"Not necessarily accurate, but the vast majority of people with green Heavenly Mandates or above have successfully passed."

Li Mo stood in line, the Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye open the entire time.

"Little girl, come on up."

The old woman in front beckoned.

Ying Bing stepped out from the crowd and was met by countless gazes.

All because she was far too beautiful...

Standing there, cool and aloof, it was as if all sounds around her had fallen silent, making her impossible to ignore.

Li Mo rubbed his chin.

Based on his experience reading novels, if nothing unexpected happened, there were two possibilities.

Either she was an absolute monster, or she was absolute trash.

Blessed with great fortune, in any case, it was impossible for her to fade into the crowd...

"Hiss..."

Sure enough.

The old woman's brows instantly furrowed.

She grew much more solemn, sinking her qi into her dantian. Her robes stirred without wind—she was actually preparing to use inner force to examine the girl's bones and foundations.

The commotion here made everyone unable to resist looking over.

Even the other stewards grew curious.

Even testing as upper-grade first class would not warrant such a reaction.

The next moment, the old woman steward's voice rang across the entire grounds:

"Ying Bing, upper first class!"

Her tone was complicated, stunned yet excited.

The crowd erupted into an uproar.

Those with upper first-class aptitude were few and far between even in the history of the Clear Abyss Sect.

Murong Xiao, who had just been known as the Qilin of Purple Sun Prefecture, had only barely reached lower first class.

And even so, Murong Xiao had still been judged the number one genius of the past ten years.

Li Mo: "..."

Looks like it was the former.

Under all kinds of gazes, Ying Bing became the center of the crowd.

The girl herself, however, showed neither sorrow nor joy.

Because she knew this did not count for anything at all.

The reason she was upper first class was because Clear Abyss Sect's highest rank was only upper first class.

"Unmoved by favor or disgrace—such temperament is truly rare. This old man looks forward to your performance on the Heaven-Ascending Stone Steps."

Even the short, stout elder could not help praising her.

Feeling the bones was merely to weed out those who did not even qualify to practice martial arts.

The true comprehensive test of talent was the second trial.

The Heaven-Ascending Stone Steps!

Bone foundation was not the entirety of talent, but with an upper first-class bone foundation alone, this little girl's results in the second trial could not possibly be poor.

The Entrance Ceremony had only just begun.

Yet the first-place contender had likely already appeared.

Ying Bing nodded and stood among those who had passed.

The pride and self-satisfaction on the faces of the boys and girls who had originally passed the first trial vanished without a sound.

They were still thinking about how to enter the inner sect.

Ying Bing, at the very least, would become a true disciple.