Beat You Up

Chapter 7: Beat Your Ass

A simp simps until the end, only to end up with nothing.

The youth cast a contemptuous glance at the others, his face full of indifference.

"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 youth on the back of the head and blustered, "My grandfather is the Third Elder, and I haven't said a word. Since when are Inner Sect Elder grandsons so cocky?"

In the True Martial Sacred Sect, ever since the Sect Master left, Vice Sect Master Xu Qingshan should hold the most authority.

Next come the Seven Great Elders, followed by the Inner Sect Elders and Outer Sect Elders.

"Why are you hitting me?" Cui Yuan said defiantly. "If you've got the guts, fight me fair and square."

"You want to spar with me?" Xu Zimo asked with a smile. "Then what stake do you have that'll satisfy me?"

"Yeah, we'll just fight directly, no testing of comprehension," Cui Yuan said.

He had started cultivating a year ago and had already opened his first Meridian Gate, reaching the Spirit Vein Realm, making him an outer disciple of the True Martial Sacred Sect.

"If you win, I'll pawn this Dragon Pearl to you," Cui Yuan said, taking a dull yellow orb from his Storage Ring.

The orb was covered in many chaotic and intricate patterns.

Xu Zimo wasn't particularly interested at first, but the moment he saw the orb, he froze completely.

"In my previous life, I searched high and low with no luck; in this life, it comes without any effort," Xu Zimo snatched the orb and held it before his eyes, examining it excitedly for a long moment before confirming it.

He looked at Cui Yuan and asked, "Where did you get this pearl?"

Xu Zimo's burning gaze startled Cui Yuan, and the youth stammered, "Th-this, I found it while playing by the river in the Back Mountain."

"Excellent," Xu Zimo nodded with satisfaction. "This pearl is mine now."

"But we haven't fought yet," Cui Yuan quickly said.

"Fight what? Brother Zimo deigning to take your stuff is already doing you a favor," Lin Ruhu said, glaring wide-eyed and fierce.

"You're bullying me," Cui Yuan stepped back in fear, his voice filled with grievance.

"Scram," Xu Zimo waved his hand, looking at Cui Yuan. "Go play somewhere else, or I'll beat the shit out of you."

"Just you wait," Cui Yuan burst into tears on the spot, sniffling as he ran out of the Gravity Tower.

Xu Zimo wasn't afraid. This was just kids' stuff. As long as it didn't go too far or risk lives, the adults generally wouldn't interfere.

Besides, as a qualified villain, going back on his word and stealing things were all in a day's work.

You expect a villain to compete with you fairly? Go eat shit!

The Prison Suppressing Pearl—maybe no one knew its secret yet, but Xu Zimo understood it completely. As one of the trump cards of the previous life's protagonist, Chu Yang, he had suffered greatly from it.

Putting the Prison Suppressing Pearl away, Xu Zimo cultivated in the Gravity Tower for an entire day.

The twofold gravity on the first floor could no longer satisfy him, so Xu Zimo went straight to the second floor.

Since the gravity on the second floor was twentyfold, and the gap between the two was too large, the sect feared some disciples couldn't handle such intense gravity.

So they added some gravity on the stairs from the first to the second floor, going from threefold, fourfold, all the way to nineteenfold, with the second floor itself being exactly twentyfold.

Xu Zimo sat on the stairs between the first and second floors, right where the gravity was tenfold.

He cultivated like this for an entire day. When the sun set in the west, Xu Zimo let out a long breath.

The foundation within his body grew more solid. He exhaled a long stream of white air, planning to break through to the Spirit Vein Realm in the next few days.

It was getting late. After bidding farewell to Lin Ruhu, Xu Zimo didn't return to his residence on Yan Nan Peak.

Instead, accompanied by his guard Zhang Chongtian, he made his way to the True Martial Sacred Sect's Divine Weapon Pavilion.

He needed to choose his own weapon.

"Sabers, spears, staves, clubs, swords, halberds, axes, poleaxes—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 fact, many experts' weapons had accompanied them from the very moment they first set foot on the path of martial arts.

Between a Meridian Practitioner and their weapon, there was a mutual fate. You chose it, and it chose you.

It was a companion on your martial path, not a tool for killing.

A true Meridian Practitioner could awaken the spirit within a weapon and earn its recognition.

Only then could you truly claim to have your own weapon.

The Divine Weapon Pavilion had ten floors. On the Yuanyang Continent, weapon grades were the same as techniques and cultivation methods.

Divided into eight levels: Cosmic, Star, Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, Yellow.

The first floor of the Divine Weapon Pavilion housed Mortal Artifacts forged from fine materials.

Many disciples wondered why, with such excellent materials that could produce Earth Tier weapons, or even better Heavenly Tier ones, the forgers insisted on lowering the quality to Mortal Artifact.

Many disciples of the True Martial Sacred Sect would not understand this question, so when they choose weapons, they typically start their selection from the second floor of the Divine Weapon Pavilion.

From the second floor to the ninth floor of the Divine Weapon Pavilion, there are weapons spanning eight tiers: Cosmic Star, Heaven Earth, Mysterious Yellow, and so on.

On the tenth floor of the Divine Weapon Pavilion, what is stored are the Great Emperor True Artifacts left behind by successive great emperors after their ascension.

Great Emperor True Artifacts have accompanied the great emperors through a lifetime of battle. When the emperors bore the Heavenly Mandate, their weapons were also tempered by that mandate.

Their power far surpasses that of Universe Tier weapons.

Xu Zimo did not choose any graded weapons. He went directly to the first floor, where the Mortal Artifacts were displayed.

"Young Master, these weapons are all Mortal Artifacts that haven't been tempered by spiritual energy. What use are they to you?" the guard Zhang Chongtian asked in confusion.

"It is precisely because they retain their most natural state that I choose them," Xu Zimo explained with a smile. "A piece of Uncut Jade that has yet to take shape—if I entrust it to you to polish, whether it ends up discarded or becomes a priceless gem depends entirely on the skill of the polisher and carver."

Xu Zimo sighed with emotion, "A priceless work of art!"

The world covets high-tier weapons like Universe Tier and Cosmic Tier, but in truth, many weapons evolve step by step from Mortal Artifacts.

Those people have never accompanied these weapons through their weak periods—how could those high-tier weapons ever acknowledge them?

In his Previous Life, Xu Zimo knew a forger. That old man spent his entire life crafting only Mortal Artifacts, never once making a graded weapon.

He told Xu Zimo that if a weapon emerges from the forge as a Universe Tier weapon, without ever passing through the stages of Mortal Artifact, Yellow Tier, or Mysterious Tier, its spirituality is destined to be incomplete.