Huang Xiao leaped out of the pool. Once he had steadied himself, Old Man Zhu's voice rang out in the stone chamber. "Three shichen, and you still had a fairly easy time overall. It seems you really do have some ability, brat. But from here on, the evil qi will gradually grow stronger. Only when you can endure another shichen after all three Imitation Sabers have released their evil qi will you have truly succeeded."
"I'll do everything I can to achieve that," Huang Xiao said.
"Go to the manual chamber!" Old Man Zhu's voice said.
Over the days that followed, Huang Xiao underwent the evil qi baptism and studied the manuals under the three old men's arrangements. Of course, he also had to make love with the two women at night.
To make the most of their time, the three old men no longer gave the three of them an entire night for lovemaking as they had at first. Instead, they allotted each woman one shichen a day.
Ten days later, Huang Xiao slid the last manual in his hand back onto the shelf and finally let out a long breath of relief.
He had gone through all three thousand manuals. It could be said that he had committed all their contents to memory.
Merely remembering their contents did not amount to much. Next, Huang Xiao had to carefully sift through the three thousand manuals for cultivation methods that would be useful to him.
This was what truly posed a difficulty for Huang Xiao. No matter which of these cultivation methods he chose, even if he devoted himself fully to it, he would be unlikely to reach full mastery within a year.
As for gleaning something useful to him from these cultivation methods and making it his own, there