On the Immortal Ascension Staircase, the gourd elder formed from clouds looked at Bai Yi. His smiling eyes suddenly turned cold.
"Old Wei Ghost, whoever touches this strand of Mysterious Yang Heavenly Fire will obstruct my Great Dao."
"Since you've made your move, you're now my mortal enemy."
Hearing the gourd elder's words, Bai Yi was slightly taken aback. Then he saw the Rogue Cultivator elder of the Dragon Gourd Sect, formed from clouds, slap his palm. The gourd on his back, its emerald surface carved with intricate patterns, immediately floated before him.
The air filled with the clangor of metal. Three flying knives shot out with a howl, arranged in a triangular formation. Dao Resonance patterns covered their blades like seal script.
"Zzt..."
"A Magic Art at Dao Resonance Perfection?!"
Bai Yi's expression tightened slightly. The Heart-Questioning Sword left its sheath and dropped into his palm.
Tapping the tips of his toes in succession, Bai Yi darted forward instead of retreating, charging at the three metal flying knives. His sword tip quivered, bringing with it a clear breeze, and precisely tapped the edge of the knife in the middle. He twisted his waist and dodged sideways, then raised his arm and swung his sword. The blade struck down the second knife once more, its movement as artful as an antelope hanging its horns on a branch.
After breaking through the triangular knife formation, Bai Yi rushed straight toward the gourd elder.
Seeing his three metal flying knives so easily overcome, the gourd elder looked astonished. He hurriedly circulated his Spiritual Power and cast a Magic Art on the treasure gourd before him.
Luminous Dao characters entered it, and the emerald gourd instantly turned crimson. Thick, pungent black smoke, accompanied by specks of firelight, poured out of the gourd.
Black smoke and firelight swept down, and the scorching heat distorted the air.
Bai Yi's expression remained calm. The Heart-Questioning Sword flew from his hand, sweeping up a powerful gust as it struck. Amid the howling wind, the sword spun rapidly, like a tornado, and cleaved through the black smoke and firelight.
Sword Light rode the wind down, piercing through both the gourd and the elder, leaving behind only a body that scattered into clouds.
The clouds dispersed. Bai Yi opened his eyes and glanced at the figures climbing up from below. Without lingering, he rode his sword toward the eleventh tier of steps.
"Where did this freak come from? He only paused for about fifteen breaths at the tenth-tier minor checkpoint."
"Aren't Sword Cultivators a middle-of-the-road path? How can there be a monster like this?"
The many Dao Studies geniuses below had just broken through the ninth-tier illusion. They had thought they could finally catch up, but when they looked up, they saw Bai Yi riding his sword away once more. They couldn't help muttering under their breath.
The dozen or so borrowed students who had transferred down from Qunlan City were also grumbling to themselves.
At their respective schools, they had all been geniuses who could at least place in the top twenty of their grade. They had thought that by taking a step down and transferring to these second- and third-level cities, they could reign supreme.
But they hadn't expected a freakish Sword Cultivator like this to show up.
He'd defeated Lu Zheng with one sword, and now he was firmly ahead of them in the assessment, stealing all the glory.
"Enough talk. If we don't catch up, we'll bring shame even to the name of being from Qunshan City."
In the crowd, a round-faced boy with a crew cut and crimson eyebrows glared at Bai Yi in frustration, then landed heavily on the tenth tier of steps.
Clouds gathered, and the gourd elder with his chest bared appeared once more.
Two plumes of hot white vapor burst from the crew-cut boy's nostrils. Spiritual Power surged from his Dantian like an erupting volcano, and crimson flames instantly enveloped him as he shot toward the nearby gourd elder like a meteor.
The three metal flying knives shot out again. The crew-cut boy swung his flame-wreathed fist and punched.
The blade light tore through the flames and struck his crimson skin, leaving several bloody marks.
His brows furrowed at the pain. Dao Resonance of flame coiled around him, and after withstanding several strikes, he smashed the three flying knives.
When the black smoke and firelight Magic Art descended, the crew-cut boy couldn't help but rejoice. He rushed straight into the smoke without hesitation and, moments later, shattered the gourd elder's chest with a punch.
"Thirteen breaths. I can catch up!"
The clouds dispersed. The crew-cut boy looked up in delight, but the moment his gaze fell on Bai Yi, his smile froze and vanished.
On the twelfth tier of the Immortal Ascension Steps, Bai Yi had just glanced down. His calm eyes met the boy's for a moment, then he rode his sword toward the thirteenth tier once more.
"What a monster!"
On the thirteenth tier, Bai Yi faced a middle-aged man wreathed in flickering lightning. With Swordlight Transforms into a Rainbow combined with the White Rainbow Sword Art at full power, his Sword Light pierced the man's neck in a little over ten breaths.
"It seems the cultivators on this stretch all have a Magic Art with Dao Resonance Perfection."
Bai Yi gathered his focus and put away the Heart-Questioning Sword. No wonder no Dao Student from Lanshan City had passed the Four Academies and Ten Palaces Preliminary Trial in ten years.
Though they were only cultivators who had mastered Lower Vehicle Magic Arts at Dao Resonance Perfection, the test was already like this by the tenth-odd tier.
Even those borrowed students who had come down from Qunlan City would need to use some tricks to get through.
"Passing means reaching the fiftieth tier..."
He repeated it to himself, then rode his sword upward once more.
The fourteenth tier, the fifteenth tier... the nineteenth tier.
Bai Yi, wielding Swordlight Transforms into a Rainbow and the White Rainbow Sword Art, cut down the cultivators formed on the nineteenth tier as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.
He rode his sword down onto the twentieth tier of the Immortal Ascension Steps. All around him, clouds churned and formed into a secluded cultivation chamber with an ancient style.
A Dao-Teaching Jade Talisman floated above a meditation cushion. The rules for passing the test immediately appeared in midair.
[Choose one Magic Art and comprehend it to the entry level within half a day]
"Is this round testing comprehension?"
Bai Yi looked around the empty chamber, walked forward, picked up the Dao-Teaching Jade Talisman from the cushion, and sat cross-legged.
"Choose one? Does that mean I can choose the contents of this Dao-Teaching Jade Talisman myself?"
Thinking of the instructions he'd just received, Bai Yi raised an eyebrow. After obtaining the method for comprehending Sword Intent from the study compendium of the Three Heavens Sword Sect, he was now short on Sword Arts to comprehend and build up his foundation.
He sent his Divine Sense into the Dao-Teaching Jade Talisman in his hand.
Within his hazy consciousness, hundreds of Magic Arts flowed like stars.
[Lower Vehicle Body Refinement Method: White Jade Body] [Lower Vehicle Magic Art: Chaotic Water Art] ... [Lower Vehicle Sword Art: Iron-Slashing Sword Art, its sword light heavy as a thousand jun...]
"This one."
Looking at the hundreds of Lower Vehicle Magic Art inheritances inside the Dao-Teaching Jade Talisman, Bai Yi felt a little regretful, but he also understood that reaching the entry level of a Lower Vehicle Magic Art in two hours already counted as impressive comprehension.
After selecting the Sword Art, Bai Yi pressed the Dao-Teaching Jade Talisman to his brow. Lines of text poured in.
The imprint of the Iron-Slashing Sword Art deep in Bai Yi's Sea of Consciousness grew clearer and clearer.
"A heavy sword has no edge; great skill seems clumsy. Use momentum to drive force, and nothing can be feared..."
After familiarizing himself with the Iron-Slashing Sword Art's general principles and meridian-circulation method, Bai Yi's consciousness sank into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness and looked toward the Enlightenment Glimmer beside the Dao-Deriving Mirror.
That's right. Although the nourishment from many Enlightenment Glimmers had improved his aptitude, he could now comprehend this Lower Vehicle Sword Art to the entry level within two hours.
But there was a world of difference between reaching the entry level in two hours and bypassing the moves altogether to comprehend Dao Resonance directly in that same time.
Since he wanted to obtain more resources, he also needed to show himself to be more of a genius. Otherwise, why would anyone give him resources?
Having made up his mind, Bai Yi's consciousness touched an Enlightenment Glimmer, and the immortal realm deep within his Sea of Consciousness appeared once more.
Below the plaza, seeing Bai Yi effortlessly climb to the twentieth tier of the Immortal Ascension Steps, the many Dao School principals finally had time to discuss him.
"Good heavens, that little fellow's Sword Light is something else. He barely paused as he cut down those Rogue Cultivators from the outer regions. We old fellows didn't even get a chance to blink."
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