Sword Qi! Success!

"How many survived?"

At the valley entrance, the goateed man cradled an antique-looking purple clay teapot in his right hand, his fingertips stroking its smooth, warm surface as he took a light sip of tea.

Beside him, a black-robed cultivator held a rolled jade slip, its surface shimmering with several names. After examining it carefully, he answered:

"Reporting to the deacon, six."

"Oh? That many?" Deacon Hu raised an eyebrow, revealing a trace of surprise. He casually took the jade slip and lowered his gaze, slowly scanning the names.

"No wonder. Four of the six got in through connections. Only two truly passed on their own merits."

With a look of understanding, the goateed man handed the jade slip back.

Those figures in the sect whose hands and eyes reached the heavens were paying less and less heed to the rules.

Not one of them held back when it came to shoehorning people in.

"Forget it. That's not my concern. I just need to tend my own little patch." Closing his eyes briefly, the goateed man simply stopped thinking about it.

Before long, indistinct figures appeared deep in the valley, and a group emerged under a black-robed cultivator's guidance.

They were the survivors of this trial.

Six people in total.

Tang Shun, Shen Fan, Du Yunian, Wu Tao, Sun Pingqiu, and Qi Yun.

The other forty-one had all perished in the valley, becoming first-rate human materials.

Walking at the rear with a gloomy expression, Tang Shun coldly surveyed the five people ahead of him. Whoever had stolen his Storage Bag was most likely among them.

Sensing the knife-sharp gaze behind him, Qi Yun tilted his head slightly and met Tang Shun's eyes.

With a slight stir in his heart, Qi Yun naturally cupped his hands, his smile sincere and warm:

"Brother Tang! Wonderful, you passed safely too!"

Seeing Qi Yun greet him first, Tang Shun froze briefly before forcing a smile:

"Yes."

Looking at Tang Shun's smile, which looked uglier than a crying face, Qi Yun chuckled inwardly. This smiling tiger was almost unable to smile anymore.

The group soon arrived before the goateed man.

Lifting his chin slightly, the goateed man looked down at the six before him, his gaze lingering particularly on Qi Yun and Wu Tao.

After all, of the six, only these two had endured the trial through their own abilities. The other four had all relied on connections.

"Good. Having successfully passed today's trial, you are henceforth formal disciples of our Wuji Sacred Sect.

My surname is Hu. You may call me Deacon Hu. From now on, we are fellow disciples, so let me first wish you a smooth Dao Path and flourishing immortal fortune!"

He nodded slightly. Only now did the goateed man grudgingly acknowledge them as fellow disciples and give them his surname.

"Thank you, Deacon Hu!" Not daring to be negligent, the six cupped their hands in unison and returned the courtesy respectfully.

"Mm. The trial is over. You may go back and rest. In three days, someone will take you to the sacred sect's mountain gates to attend the initiation ceremony.

Once the ceremony is over, you will truly have entered the sect."

After giving them these instructions, Deacon Hu waved for the black-robed cultivator to lead them away to rest.

But while Qi Yun and the others obediently followed the black-robed cultivator away, Tang Shun hesitated briefly before hurrying after Deacon Hu, who had yet to leave, and speaking urgently in a lowered voice.

As Deacon Hu listened, his brows knitted into three deep furrows.

Before Tang Shun could finish, he shook his head decisively, a trace of impatience appearing on his face. Flicking his sleeve, he turned and strode away, leaving Tang Shun standing rigidly alone.

It seemed this smiling tiger's backer was not all that powerful.

Noticing this, Qi Yun narrowed his eyes slightly.

Tang Shun must have been trying to pressure Deacon Hu through his elders' influence, hoping to have this deacon help him find his missing Storage Bag.

But Deacon Hu clearly refused to play along. Either Tang Shun's elders could not sway him, or the request was too excessive and exceeded his authority.

From the look of things, the contents of the Storage Bag seemed extremely important to Tang Shun. Otherwise, he would not have been so unwilling to let the matter rest.

Withdrawing his gaze, Qi Yun remained as calm as before, silently calculating. It seemed he would have to find a way to dispose of these things as soon as possible. Keeping them would always pose a hidden danger.

Under the black-robed cultivator's guidance, Qi Yun and the others soon reached a row of wooden cottages built amid a bamboo grove.

Though small, these cottages were tastefully decorated inside and out in a simple, antique style, with considerable charm.

They were countless times better than the stone houses Qi Yun and the others had previously occupied.

"Deacon Hu has instructed that you stay here for now. Someone will deliver three meals a day.

Some places here are off-limits, so please bear with it for a while and do not wander."

After quietly giving these instructions, the black-robed cultivator cupped his hands toward Qi Yun and the others, then turned and left.

"This day has worn me out. I'm turning in early."

Stretching lazily, Shen Fan walked forward as though no one else were there, eyes indifferent, as if everyone else were air.

Immediately afterward, the plump Du Yunian and Sun Pingqiu also chose cottages without a word and went straight inside.

The doors closed softly, separating inside from outside.

Having successfully passed the trial, these privileged descendants only needed to follow their elders' guidance and advance step by step.

Their former so-called companions were no longer walking the same road.

Watching Shen Fan and the other two completely ignore them, Qi Yun and Wu Tao exchanged a glance and shrugged helplessly.

There was nothing they could do. They had no one above them, after all.

"Brother Qi, get some rest."

"You too, Brother Wu."

After exchanging well wishes, Qi Yun and Wu Tao each chose a wooden cottage and went to rest.

That night.

Frost-white moonlight rested lightly on the window frame. Outside, the bamboo grove swayed gently, giving off a faint, fragmented rustling.

Sitting cross-legged on a long bench in the inner room, Qi Yun kept his eyes half-closed and both palms facing upward as true Qi flowed gently within him.

True Qi was the highly refined power cultivators formed within their bodies by using inner cultivation methods and true arts to refine the Qi of heaven and earth, bearing the imprint of their individual spirits.

Law techniques were concrete applications of the "Dao."

Cultivating law techniques meant using true Qi as a guide and one's own understanding of "Dao intent" to set the power of the Great Dao of heaven and earth in motion.

Thus, cultivating law techniques presented two major hurdles: the purity and control of true Qi, and comprehension of the elusive, intangible "Dao intent."

[Basic Sword Qi] was the most common metal-element sword Dao law technique. Its demands on true Qi were low enough that even someone at the Qi Refining First Layer could cultivate it.

Moreover, this copy of [Basic Sword Qi] in Tang Shun's possession clearly spelled out every insight and essential principle, making cultivation yield twice the results for half the effort.

As he cultivated [Basic Sword Qi], Qi Yun sighed inwardly.

This was the advantage of an inheritance.

For rootless rogue cultivators with nothing to anchor them, learning law techniques was like blind men feeling an elephant. Faced with nothing but cold, abstruse method formulas, they could only exhaust their minds pondering, hitting walls, and proceeding through trial and error.

Thorns crowded every step. The slightest carelessness could undo all their previous efforts.

But for someone like Tang Shun, sheltered by elders who gave him earnest instruction, the difficult and essential points of law techniques had already been written out with perfect clarity.

The former groped alone through the fog, while the latter ascended golden steps laid by their predecessors.

The gulf between them was like that between clouds and mud.

Circulating and driving his true Qi according to [Basic Sword Qi], Qi Yun turned his hands like blooming flowers and recited an incantation. Suddenly, he pressed two fingers of his left hand together into a sword and pointed through the air at the wooden table over five meters ahead!

Hiss-

An invisible yet exceptionally keen breath shot through the air, giving off a faint but piercing whistle!

A straight sword mark roughly a foot long split the sturdy wooden tabletop, its edges smooth as a mirror! Wood shavings fluttered slightly!

Slowly opening his eyes, Qi Yun revealed a trace of joy.

[Basic Sword Qi]-he had succeeded!