Upgrade, New Function

[Congratulations to the host on obtaining the Eye of Heaven Observation. Fuse with it?]

Not bad. It knew what to do.

This time, it knew to ask.

"Begin fusion."

Ning Yue felt a cool sensation in his eyes. Then the starry sky turned upside down, and nebulae swirled around him.

A piece of information entered his mind, and he understood what the Eye of Heaven Observation did.

Eye of Heaven Observation: a divine eye of laws.

Observe the Dao of heaven, behold the three thousand laws in a single glance: one qi, taiji, the three talents and four symbols, the five elements, six harmonies, seven stars and eight reaches. Look up to the thirty-three layers of heaven and down upon the eighteen levels of hell.

Of course, the level it could reach depended on the user's ability.

At present, Ning Yue could only see a person's martial arts rank when he used the Eye of Heaven Observation.

As he fused with the Eye of Heaven Observation, his qi and blood value shot straight up to 1,000 points, with more to spare. Ning Yue was so full of qi and blood that he nearly broke through on the spot.

"To break through to the First-Rank Realm, a martial artist must unleash all the qi and blood in their body, break through the body's restraints, and open the heavenly meridian. Only by connecting the body to the outside world and achieving unity between heaven and man can they gain the ability to absorb spiritual energy."

As Ning Yue recalled the instructions for advancing to the Martial Dao First-Rank Realm, they still seemed somewhat unreliable.

Spiritual energy had already returned. What was there that science could explain anymore?

Ning Yue thought about how so many people had reached the First-Rank Realm this way, so he gave it no further thought.

The greatest concern when a martial artist advanced was indecision, which could ultimately cause the breakthrough to fail.

He composed himself and circulated the Basic Body Tempering Art at the perfected level. Following the breakthrough method described in it, he punched repeatedly while constantly trying to sense the location of the heavenly meridian.

After practicing over and over again, he finally sensed where the heavenly meridian was.

"Erupt, qi and blood!"

A blast rang out inside his body, blasting the faintly discernible heavenly meridian into view.

Ning Yue discovered an additional gray pillar reaching toward the heavens inside his body. It connected the human body to heaven and earth, continuously absorbing spiritual energy from the world as Ning Yue circulated his cultivation art.

"So this is the heavenly meridian?"

Ning Yue marveled at the wonders of creation. Only a single meridian lay between the human body and heaven and earth.

[Beep. Congratulations to the host on reaching the First-Rank Realm and officially stepping onto the martial path. The seal on the Bitter Bamboo Scripture is being released. The crystallized cultivation experience for the Bitter Bamboo Scripture is ready to be unsealed...]

[Beep. Congratulations to the host on reaching the First-Rank Realm. The Myriad Heavens Simulator is upgrading.]

[Simulator upgrade complete. Upgrade details have been sent to the host. Please check them yourself.]

A vast amount of memory then surged into his mind, smashing the memories in his head to pieces. Ning Yue had no time to examine the new memories and first settled his muddled mind.

Bitter Bamboo Scripture: a divine-grade cultivation art divided into four sections: the physical body section, inner landscape section, heaven and man section, and Divine Realm section.

The physical body section corresponded to the first three ranks, the inner landscape section to the fourth through sixth ranks, the heaven and man section to the seventh through ninth ranks, and finally there was the Divine Realm.

It also came with the corresponding cultivation experience.

The cultivation art and experience settled into Ning Yue's mind, becoming instinctive to him, as though he had cultivated them for many years.

After looking through it, Ning Yue saw that if he cultivated according to the cultivation experience, he could cultivate all the way to the Divine Realm without encountering a bottleneck.

However, looking at the cultivation time at the end, he saw that reaching the Divine Realm would take three hundred years.

He could not help frowning.

That was too long.

This was the cultivation time after the Myriad Heavens Simulator had perfected it, and it had already been shortened considerably from the original.

Even so, it was still too long for Ning Yue.

Three hundred years. It had only been three hundred years since spiritual energy returned to Blue Star.

Ning Yue did not dwell on it. With the Myriad Heavens Simulator, he believed there would be better cultivation arts in the future, or that he could fuse and strengthen the Bitter Bamboo Scripture to make it even more perfect.

Next, he looked at the details of the Myriad Heavens Simulator's upgrade.

I can draw talents?

Ning Yue was somewhat surprised. Ten talents would be randomly generated, and before each simulation, he could add three starting talents to a character from the myriad heavens.

He read on.

One simulation every ten days? And each simulation costs one hundred thousand yuan?

There were pros and cons.

Adding talents would reduce the number of failed simulations. It would no longer be like before, when the options drawn after a simulation were unreliable; he could save at least one talent ability.

But it also increased the cost of failure.

One failure meant ten days without a simulation. It could be a devastating loss.

That afternoon.

Xinyuan Martial Artist Complex.

This was a complex in Xinyuan City that combined testing, bounties, shopping, and many other functions. Its total area was anyone's guess, and it contained various mountains and forests.

When Ning Yue arrived, he looked at the great archway, over thirty meters high and more than ten meters wide. The area beyond the gate was even more spacious, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Soldiers patrolled and stood guard at the entrance.

[Luo Xiang, Martial Arts Third Rank]

[Sun Yue, Martial Arts Second Rank]

[Nalan Hai, Martial Arts Second Rank]

Ning Yue used the Eye of Heaven Observation and discovered that not a single soldier here was below the Second-Rank Realm.

Watching them come and go, he saw that there were at least several hundred soldiers, and these were just the guards outside.

He believed there were even more powerful people inside, perhaps even seventh-rank Grandmaster Realm martial artists.

After all, this was one of the important places in Xinyuan City.

It was one of the institutions belonging to the empire.

Ning Yue had come this time to have his martial artist title certified. Only after receiving certification could he obtain more privileges.

These were not limited to trading, hunting, leaving the city, and all aspects of daily life.

Even if you managed to kill a vicious beast, without martial artist certification, you were not qualified to trade its meat.

Even the information you could access online would be different.

Otherwise, why would teachers know things that students in the Qi and Blood Realm did not? This was the limitation of information.

You were allowed to learn what you should know. If you wanted to know more, then work hard to raise your martial arts realm.

Moreover, certified martial artists could receive a monthly subsidy: ten thousand yuan for the first rank, thirty thousand for the second, one hundred thousand for the third...

He took another look at the people coming and going.

[Chen Zheng, Martial Arts First Rank]

[Jia San, Martial Arts Fourth Rank]

[Passerby A, Martial Arts Fifth Rank]

There were people of every realm, and they headed in different directions. Some went to the first building, some to the second, and some martial artists kept walking farther back, who knew where to...

Perhaps Ning Yue had stood at the entrance for too long and attracted the soldiers' attention. One soldier came up to him and asked in a gentle manner, his expression serious:

"Little brother, what are you here for?"

"Hello, I'm here for martial artist certification," Ning Yue explained.

The soldier's expression relaxed a little. "Your first time here, right? The first building is the certification hall. Just head straight in."

With that, he watched Ning Yue until he passed through the gate, then returned to his post.

Meanwhile, in places Ning Yue had not noticed, some other soldiers saw what happened and relaxed as well. They continued their patrols without showing the slightest sign that anything was amiss.

"Ning Yue?"

Ning Yue had just entered the certification hall when a puzzled voice reached him.

He looked over and saw a somewhat familiar-looking young man staring at him in surprise.

"And you are?"

Ning Yue was not pretending not to recognize him. He genuinely did not know him.

The young man had delicate features and alternative-style hair that covered half his face. He looked eighteen or nineteen. Could he be a classmate from school? Ning Yue wondered.

"It's me, Lu Xiansen." The young man's expression was excited, and his voice was slightly deep.