Claiming the reward

The next day, Qin Yi, the newly appointed head disciple, began receiving personal instruction from his master.

Each day, the morning bell and evening drum marked the times for comprehending the Dao and receiving instruction.

At the martial arts platform in Emerald Bamboo Peak's outer courtyard, Huang Tianrong expounded the scriptures to the disciples and shared his insights into cultivation.

In the inner courtyard, Qin Yi and Gu Yiyi received special instruction beneath the bodhi tree, with their master personally teaching them the scriptures.

According to Gu Yiyi, her father rarely taught the scriptures himself. Even once every ten days or half a month counted as frequent.

But ever since taking Qin Yi as his disciple, he had taught every day, paying particular attention to Qin Yi.

In just five days, Qin Yi had essentially mastered all five of the Famous Sword Sect's great sword arts.

He simply continued to hide his abilities, revealing them to no one.

With his master's instruction providing the authentic mental methods and formulas, these five great sword arts did indeed flow more smoothly and wield greater power.

And with his maxed-out comprehension, once these five sword arts were paired with their authentic formulas and mental methods, he immediately far surpassed the vast majority of disciples.

Among the Famous Sword Sect's younger generation, he felt he could at least rank in the top five.

His master, Gu Yanshan, was the Famous Sword Sect's seventh elder and also had a Daoist title: Elder Dripping Water.

The name came from "Dripping Water Sword." Gu Yanshan primarily cultivated the Jade Pivot Sword Art, through which he had forged his own Dao, able to slay an enemy in the time it took a drop of water to fall.

When he was young, he had once fought three enemies alone. At the cost of grievous injuries, he had slain all three formidable foes and returned carrying their heads, making his name in a single battle.

Back then, he had also been a candidate to become the next sect master, but had lost out for various reasons.

Afterward, he had remained secluded on Emerald Bamboo Peak, rarely venturing out.

For this reason, Emerald Bamboo Peak had the fewest people of all nine peaks in the Famous Sword Sect.

Gu Yanshan took a laid-back approach to accepting disciples and had never actively recruited any himself. The disciples currently on Emerald Bamboo Peak had all been assigned there by the Famous Sword Sect.

Only Qin Yi was different, having been personally accepted by Gu Yanshan. With that distinction, it was no wonder Gu Yanshan had tacitly allowed him to become head disciple earlier.

After the morning bell, he began teaching Qin Yi swordsmanship; after the evening drum, he began teaching him Daoist scriptures.

Qin Yi often needed only a hint to understand these things, which made Gu Yanshan increasingly enthusiastic about teaching him.

For other disciples, he had to split one topic across three lessons, but for Qin Yi, he had to condense three topics into a single lesson.

There was no helping it. This disciple's comprehension was so high that he himself was happy to teach him more.

Under these circumstances, on the eighth day, after the evening scripture lesson, Qin Yi finally stopped waiting.

He told the system, Claim the reward!

At that moment, he and Gu Yiyi had just finished listening to Gu Yanshan explain the Daoist scriptures beneath the bodhi tree.

In an instant, golden light flickered over Qin Yi, streaks of golden radiance shooting from the lower part of his body straight to the crown of his head.

It flashed five times in succession!

Each flash advanced his Qi Refining cultivation by another level. After five consecutive flashes, he had actually stepped straight into the Foundation Establishment realm!

After successfully establishing his foundation, Qin Yi examined his dantian with his eyes closed and discovered a nine-story pagoda standing within it.

His Foundation Establishment had been granted directly by the system, without distinctions between early, middle, late, or great perfection. Once he entered Foundation Establishment, he was effectively already at great perfection.

The sight left the girl beside him dumbstruck.

After a brief moment of surprise, Gu Yanshan stroked his beard and laughed up at the sky. "Good, good, good! To think that I, Gu Yanshan, would accept such a disciple in my lifetime. Heaven has truly treated me well."

The girl could hardly believe it. When they had made their wager, she had thought Qin Yi was boasting. Reaching Foundation Establishment in ten days was impossible.

Yet now, only eight days had passed, and this fellow had actually reached Foundation Establishment ahead of time.

This was the Foundation Establishment realm. Could it really be so easy?

"Father, how could this happen? How long has it even been? How could he be so fast?"

The girl questioned her father in bewilderment. This was far too abnormal.

But her father merely twirled the little beard on his chin. Though surprised, he did not share her disbelief. It was as though he had seen similar examples long ago.

"Fast? Qin Yi's cultivation is indeed advancing quickly, but wasn't Hua Yunfeng even faster? There are always some people in this world who are born for cultivating the Dao. They are called children of destiny. For a genius, Qin Yi's speed can only be considered average. There is someone even more formidable in the Taiyi Sect, who reached the late Golden Core stage at fifteen. Even Hua Yunfeng cannot compare to him."

The girl fell silent as she listened.

She had long since heard rumors of that genius from the Taiyi Sect as well. He was an exceptionally formidable figure.

Because of this genius's emergence, rumors were now spreading throughout the cultivation world that he might one day lead all the great sects under heaven and become a towering figure of the mortal world.

But someone like that was ultimately far too distant from her.

Qin Yi was someone close to her. Even if he could only be considered average, he had already shocked her enough to make her question her life.

"Father, I've cultivated for so many years and only reached the sixth level of Qi Refining. Does that mean I'm not suited to cultivation?"

Gu Yanshan looked at her affectionately and said, "Yiyi, you aren't slow either. You simply fall among ordinary cultivators. From now on, get along well with Qin Yi. He is a disciple I take pride in. If he can advance further in the future, I may betroth you to him and make him our Gu family's son-in-law."

"Father, you... what are you saying?"

The girl's face flushed scarlet with embarrassment. She chided him resentfully and lowered her head, not even daring to look toward Qin Yi.

Meanwhile, Qin Yi was immersed in the sensation of the Foundation Establishment realm and had yet to open his eyes.

That spared them the awkwardness of the moment.

"As for Hua Yunfeng, don't get too close to him. I told you long ago that I don't like him," Gu Yanshan said.

Still blushing, the girl had never really understood why her father disliked Hua Yunfeng.

If her father had said this to her before, she would surely have forgotten it the moment she turned away.

But now that Qin Yi had a place in her heart, she was beginning to take her father's words to heart as well. "Oh..."

"Father, it'll be time for an outside assignment in three days. Can I take Qin Yi along this time?"

Seizing the opportunity, the girl simply brought up what they had agreed upon.

Gu Yanshan glanced at Qin Yi. The more he looked at this genius disciple now, the more satisfied he became.

He had entered the Foundation Establishment realm less than half a month after joining. If word got out, the Famous Sword Sect's other peaks would surely be envious in every way.

On the one hand, he was somewhat worried. If Qin Yi met with an accident while on an outside assignment, the loss would outweigh the gain.

Any sect would keep a genius disciple like this safely within its gates and teach him until he matured, only letting him venture out after he had achieved some mastery.

On the other hand, he thought that keeping such a genius disciple confined to the mountain all the time, without practical experience, might not be a good thing either.

After a few moments of silence, he finally nodded. "Very well. Let him go with you when the time comes."