A bootlicker who licked to the very end ultimately ended up with nothing.
The youth cast a disdainful glance at the others, his face utterly unconcerned.
"Who are you?" Xu Zimo stepped forward and asked.
"My name is Cui Yuan. My grandfather is Inner Sect Elder Cui Yaoguang," the youth said proudly.
Lin Ruhu slapped the back of the youth's head and shouted, "My grandfather is the Third Elder, and I haven't said a word. Since when has an Inner Sect Elder's grandson become so damn impressive?"
In the True Martial Sacred Sect, ever since the Sect Master had left, Vice Sect Master Xu Qingshan should have held the greatest authority.
After him came the seven great elders, followed by the Inner Sect Elders and Outer Sect Elders.
"Why are you hitting me?" Cui Yuan said indignantly. "If you've got the guts, let's have a real fight."
"You want to spar with me?" Xu Zimo asked with a smile. "Then what stake do you have that would satisfy me?"
"Yes, we'll fight directly. We won't compete over something like comprehension," Cui Yuan said.
He had begun cultivating a year ago. He had now opened his first Meridian Gate and reached the Spirit Vein Realm, making him an outer sect disciple of the True Martial Sacred Sect.
"If you win, I can wager this Dragon Pearl against you," Cui Yuan said, taking a dark-yellow sphere from his Storage Ring.
The sphere was covered in countless patterns, tangled and chaotic in appearance.
Xu Zimo had not cared at first, but the instant he saw the sphere, he froze.
"After wearing out iron shoes searching in vain in my Previous Life, I have found it this life without lifting a finger." Xu Zimo snatched the sphere away, excitedly examining it before his eyes for a long while before finally confirming it.
He looked at Cui Yuan and asked, "Where did you get this pearl?"
Xu Zimo's blazing gaze gave Cui Yuan a fright. The youth stammered, "I-I picked it up while playing by the river in the Back Mountain."
"Very good." Xu Zimo nodded in satisfaction. "This pearl is mine now."
"But we haven't sparred yet," Cui Yuan hurriedly said.
"What spar? Brother Zimo taking your things means he thinks highly of you," Lin Ruhu said from the side, glaring with wide eyes and speaking in a fierce, burly manner.
"You're bullying me." Frightened, Cui Yuan took a step back, sounding aggrieved.
"Get lost." Xu Zimo waved him off and said, "Go play somewhere else, or I'll beat the shit out of you later."
"Just you wait!" Tears streamed down Cui Yuan's face at once as he sobbed his way out of the Gravity Tower.
Xu Zimo was not afraid either. This was a matter between children; as long as it did not go too far or cost someone their life, the adults generally would not interfere.
Besides, as a qualified villain, going back on his word and snatching things were everyday occurrences.
You expected a villain to compete fairly with you? Have you eaten shit or what?!
The Prison Suppressing Pearl—perhaps no one yet knew this pearl's secret, but Xu Zimo knew it crystal clear. As one of Chu Yang's greatest trump cards in his Previous Life, it had made him suffer deeply.
After putting away the Prison Suppressing Pearl, Xu Zimo cultivated in the Gravity Tower for an entire day.
The doubled gravity on the first floor could no longer satisfy him, so Xu Zimo went directly up to the second floor.
Since the gravity on the second floor was twenty times normal gravity, the gap between the two was far too great. The sect feared that some disciples would be unable to withstand such immense pressure.
Thus, they had added varying levels of gravity to the stairs from the first floor to the second, from three times, four times, all the way to nineteen times. Upon reaching the second floor, it was exactly twenty times gravity.
Xu Zimo sat on the stairs leading from the first floor to the second, precisely at the point with ten times gravity.
He cultivated like that for the entire day. Only when the sun sank behind the western hills did Xu Zimo let out a long breath.
The foundation within his body became ever more solid. He exhaled a long stream of white breath, planning to advance into the Spirit Vein Realm within the next few days.
It was already late. After bidding Lin Ruhu farewell, Xu Zimo did not return to Yan Nan Peak, where he lived.
Instead, accompanied by his guard Zhang Chongtian, he made his way to the True Martial Sacred Sect's Divine Weapon Pavilion.
He wanted to choose a weapon of his own.
"Sabers, spears, staves, clubs, swords, halberds, axes, and hooked blades—the eighteen kinds of weapons." Xu Zimo still remembered what his father had told him back then. "Every weapon has a soul. Never treat it as a cold tool.
In truth, the weapons of many powerful experts had accompanied them from the very moment they first set foot upon the martial path.
There is mutual fate between a Meridian Practitioner and a weapon. You choose it, and it chooses you.
It is your companion on the martial path, not a tool for slaughter.
A true Meridian Practitioner can awaken the spirituality within a weapon and make that spirituality acknowledge them.
Only then can you be considered to truly possess your own weapon."
The Divine Weapon Pavilion had ten floors. On the Yuanyang Continent, weapon grades were actually the same as those of Meridian Techniques and cultivation methods.
They were divided into eight levels: Cosmic Star, Heaven Earth Mysterious Yellow.
The first floor of the Divine Weapon Pavilion contained Mortal Artifacts forged from superior materials.
Many disciples wondered why, when such excellent materials could forge Earth Tier weapons or even better Heavenly Tier weapons, smiths would insist on forcibly lowering their quality into Mortal Artifacts.
Many disciples of the True Martial Sacred Sect could not understand this question, so when choosing weapons, they generally began selecting from the second floor of the Divine Weapon Pavilion.
From the second floor to the ninth floor of the Divine Weapon Pavilion were the eight levels of weapons: Cosmic Star, Heaven Earth Mysterious Yellow.
On the tenth floor of the Divine Weapon Pavilion were the Great Emperor True Artifacts left behind after Great Emperors of successive generations had ascended.
Great Emperor True Artifacts had followed Great Emperors through a lifetime of battle. When the Great Emperors bore the Heavenly Mandate, their weapons had also undergone the tempering of the Heavenly Mandate.
Their power far surpassed that of Universe Tier Weapons.
Xu Zimo did not choose those graded weapons. He went straight to where the Mortal Artifacts were displayed on the first floor.
"Young Master, the weapons here are all Mortal Artifacts that have not undergone spiritual energy tempering. What use is there in choosing them?" guard Zhang Chongtian asked doubtfully.
"It is precisely because they retain their most natural state that I choose them," Xu Zimo explained with a smile. "Give an unformed piece of uncut jade to someone to polish—whether it is discarded as waste or turned into a priceless gem depends entirely on the skill of the polisher and carver."
Xu Zimo sighed. "A priceless work of art!"
Everyone loved those high-grade Universe Tier and Cosmic Tier weapons. In truth, many weapons had evolved bit by bit from Mortal Artifacts.
They had never accompanied those weapons through their weak and feeble years, so why would those high-grade weapons acknowledge them?
Xu Zimo had known a smith in his Previous Life. That old man forged only Mortal Artifacts throughout his life and never forged graded weapons.
He had told Xu Zimo that if a weapon emerged from the furnace as a Universe Tier Weapon, without experiencing stages such as Mortal Artifact, Yellow Tier, and Mysterious Tier, then its spirituality was destined to be incomplete.
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