Disciple Ceremony, Baleful Blade Reaches Minor Mastery

"Hmm? The system has come online?"

Su Yun's expression lit up with delight.

This wasn't an illusion!

He could clearly feel the qi and blood within his body surging dramatically.

The strength of a single arm was probably no less than a thousand jin!

After pondering for a moment, Su Yun's expression shook as he muttered to himself,

"My cultivation techniques seem to be able to cultivate automatically?"

"And the first cultivation attempt can probably trigger a critical hit, causing massive progress!"

This was the result of his initial investigation.

For instance, the Breathing Technique just now had triggered a critical hit on its first cultivation, completing a full thirty-six major cycles of breath circulation!

That was how he had stepped into the Body Refining First Stage.

"Body Refining First Stage in less than a day?"

Feeling the vigorous qi and blood within him, Su Yun could barely suppress the curl of his lips.

During the earlier testing, that elder had said it before.

For a disciple of middling aptitude like Su Yun, reaching the Body Refining First Stage within a month was already considered fairly good.

After all, all things were difficult at the beginning.

When many disciples first began their breathing exercises, they would often hit bottlenecks, unable to find the trick of it, their doubts tangled beyond unraveling.

There had once been a newly recruited Outer Sect disciple who had spent more than three months before finally breaking through to the Body Refining First Stage.

Someone like Su Yun, who had crossed into the Body Refining First Stage in less than a day, could scarcely be found even in the entire history of the Mystic Blade Sect.

Not even personal disciples were this terrifying!

"Let's try the Extreme Shadow Fiend Blade again!"

Coming back to his senses.

Su Yun's gaze fell upon the Extreme Shadow Fiend Blade, a Human Grade High Tier blade technique!

Whoosh!

He then picked up the manual and began turning its pages, studying it carefully.

"So complicated!"

It took Su Yun a full hour before he had completely memorized its contents.

"Now that I have a technique, I'm still lacking a suitable blade!"

Setting down the manual, Su Yun took his Disciple Token and prepared to head to the sect's Weapon Pavilion.

Any newly recruited Outer Sect disciple could, after selecting a cultivation technique, bring their token to the Weapon Pavilion and choose one weapon.

Weapon grades were likewise divided into Mortal Grade, Yellow Grade, Mysterious Grade, Earth Grade, and Heaven Grade!

"In three months, it'll be the Mystic Blade Sect's Disciple Ceremony."

"I wonder whether anyone among the top ten Outer Sect disciples will fall this time?"

"Probably not. Those ten are all monsters. Every one of them is at the Body Refining Ninth Layer, and their technique attainments are high as well."

"The other disciples don't stand a chance at all."

"Do you think any of this year's newly recruited disciples have a chance of breaking into the top hundred?"

"New disciples? They're just there to make up the numbers."

"Not necessarily. Maybe there'll be a dark horse who can break into the top hundred!"

The moment Su Yun arrived at the Weapon Pavilion, he heard several disciples talking among themselves, all discussing the matter.

"The Mystic Blade Sect Disciple Ceremony?"

Su Yun's expression shifted slightly.

Earlier, Senior Brother Song had mentioned it to them newly recruited disciples.

The Mystic Blade Sect's Disciple Ceremony was held once every year.

And each time, several outstanding disciples would often emerge.

That was why such a grand competition had been given the name "Ceremony."

Of course, even if one could not rank among the best, entering the top hundred would still earn considerable rewards.

Pills, cultivation techniques, weapons, and spiritual materials!

Almost everything was among the rewards.

Thus, many people regarded the Disciple Ceremony as a turning point in their martial cultivation.

As long as one performed well enough, one might even gain an elder's recognition and become that elder's disciple!

But breaking into the top hundred was fraught with difficulties.

The Mystic Blade Sect had a long legacy and was a renowned major sect within the Great Cloud Dynasty.

The Outer Sect alone had more than five hundred disciples!

To carve a path through more than five hundred people and break into the top hundred was naturally no easy feat.

Of course, the Mystic Blade Sect was no charitable sect.

If an Outer Sect disciple failed to break through to the Profound Mastery Realm within five years, they would be kicked out of the sect.

Martial cultivation could be divided into Body Refining, Profound Mastery, Qi Sea Realm, Divine Platform, and Spirit Transformation Realm!

Once an Outer Sect disciple broke through to the Profound Mastery Realm within five years, they could advance to the Inner Sect.

However, in martial cultivation, aptitude was important, but resources were even more important!

Many Outer Sect disciples were, in truth, commoner disciples.

Their talent might be decent, but their resources were limited.

The Wang Family's disciples occupied the majority of the top hundred spots.

At its worst, there had been only a mere handful of commoner disciples among them.

Before the system had arrived, Su Yun had held no hope for the so-called Disciple Ceremony or for competing for a top hundred spot.

But now, with this "Cultivation Mini-Assistant."

He could give it a try!

Composing himself.

Su Yun tightened his grip on the token and walked up to the elder inside the pavilion.

"This disciple has come to select a suitable weapon!"

With that, he handed over his token.

"Mm, the token checks out."

After glancing at the token, the pavilion elder propped his chin up with his left hand and said listlessly.

"Go into the first-floor hall. Remember, you may only select a Human Grade weapon."

"Yes!"

Su Yun said no more and entered the first-floor hall directly.

The first-floor hall was fairly spacious.

All sorts of weapons were displayed on the shelves, mostly blades, gleaming with a faint cold light.

"Human Grade Mid Tier..."

"Human Grade Low Tier..."

"Human Grade High Tier..."

After carefully selecting for a while, Su Yun ultimately chose a Black Blade with a long, narrow body.

This Black Blade was called the Black Origin Blade, a Human Grade High Tier weapon!

It was remarkably sharp, its cold gleam biting!

"A good blade!"

Caressing the blade's body, Su Yun secretly praised it.

After making his selection, Su Yun gripped the long blade and stepped back out.

"Go back and cultivate diligently."

Returning the token to Su Yun, the elder offered a brief reminder before narrowing his eyes, seemingly beginning to dream.

Afterward.

Su Yun spent some time making a trip to the Resource Pavilion, where he collected this month's Outer Sect disciple resources.

One bottle of Body Tempering Pills!

Returning to his residence.

Su Yun came to the small courtyard.

He planned to cultivate the Extreme Shadow Fiend Blade!

Gripping the Black Origin Blade, Su Yun began practicing according to the incantations and movements recorded in the manual.

As a Human Grade High Tier technique, cultivating it not only consumed qi and blood, but also drained mental energy.

At this moment, Su Yun had only performed the complete sequence once, yet he felt that nearly one-tenth of his qi and blood had been depleted.

His mental energy had also suffered somewhat, leaving his head swollen and heavy.

Even with pills that replenished qi and blood and restored mental energy.

He probably could not practice it many times in a single day.

This was also an important reason why many Outer Sect disciples could not cultivate Human Grade High Tier techniques to the perfected realm.

"Ding!"

"Your Extreme Shadow Fiend Blade has begun cultivating automatically!"

"First cultivation triggered a critical hit. Successfully achieved entry-level mastery!"

Delight appeared on Su Yun's face.

Entry-level mastery in one attempt?

Boom!

In an instant, a vast number of insights into the Extreme Shadow Fiend Blade flooded into his mind.

His attainment in the technique rose without end.

Technique realms were specifically divided into entry-level mastery, minor mastery, proficiency, major mastery, and perfection!

Any disciple who could achieve entry-level mastery of a Human Grade High Tier technique in one attempt possessed terrifying talent!

"Let's practice it once more."

After closing his eyes and contemplating for a moment, Su Yun opened them, gripped the Black Origin Blade, and continued cultivating.

This time, he clearly felt that his movements were much more fluid, flowing through in one unbroken sweep!

"Your Extreme Shadow Fiend Blade has just obtained a treasured blade of the same grade. It is exceptionally excited, its comprehension has greatly increased, cultivation progress has increased by one hundred percent, and it has broken through to the minor mastery realm!"

Just after finishing one round, another voice rang out in Su Yun's mind.

"It's already at minor mastery?"

At this moment, Su Yun could hardly believe it.

But in the next instant, countless flashes of inspiration and all kinds of understanding regarding the Extreme Shadow Fiend Blade burst forth in his mind.

When he opened his eyes again, he held the Black Origin Blade and could not help beginning to practice.

Now, every move and stance he performed was effortless and elegant, as natural as commanding an arm or finger!

At one moment, he slashed out.

Whoosh!

Three streaks of blood-red blade light flashed past at lightning speed.

Extreme Shadow Fiend Blade Minor Mastery, Three Shadows in One Slash!

If cultivated to perfection, a single slash could produce ten shadows. Its speed would be so swift that one could guard against it from neither light nor shadow.

"What a great assistant!"

After finishing his practice, Su Yun was exceedingly satisfied with the Auto-Cultivation System.

"Oh, right. The manual said that the Extreme Shadow Fiend Blade has something special about it."

"If I can cultivate through slaughter, the cultivation speed will become even faster!"

Su Yun suddenly recalled.

He remembered Senior Brother Song telling them that the Mystic Blade Sect's Outer Sect Back Mountain raised many first-rank demonic beasts, whose cultivation corresponded to the Body Refining Realm.

The entire Back Mountain was divided into the outer region, inner region, and core region.

This was a training ground specially arranged by the Mystic Blade Sect's higher-ups for Outer Sect disciples.

Any Outer Sect disciple whose cultivation had reached the Body Refining Third Stage could enter to train.

But once inside, whether one lived or died depended on one's own fortune.

"My current cultivation is too low. At the very least, I need to reach the Body Refining Third Stage before I can enter."

Su Yun pondered inwardly.

He planned to train in the outer region once his cultivation broke through to the Body Refining Third Stage.

The demonic beasts there had very low cultivation and were relatively weak. Even the strongest could only rival the Body Refining Fourth Stage.

Most were at the Body Refining Third Stage.

By then, cultivating the Extreme Shadow Fiend Blade would certainly become far more efficient!

"Let's continue cultivating."

Returning to his room, Su Yun took out a Body Tempering Pill and swallowed it in one gulp!