I made the entire cultivation world cry

Chapter 644 Introductory Lessons (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Jiang Yi stopped at the entrance after climbing the stone steps from the foot of the mountain and entering the gate of Xuandu Temple.

The scene before me was completely different from the dilapidated palaces and temples I had seen in the secret realm of Beixuan Xuandu Mountain. There was no eerie atmosphere; it was a scene of a celestial Taoist temple.

The eaves of the palace remain unchanged, but the vermilion pillars are as clean as new, without a trace of wear and tear.

Ancient trees reach for the sky, their branches and leaves are lush, casting a large expanse of green shade, exuding vitality everywhere, and the air is filled with the fragrance of grass and trees and the solemn scent of sandalwood.

On the highest mountain in the distance, the Azure Emperor's Jade Palace shone brightly, and the enormous celestial clock slowly turned, inspiring longing in all who beheld it.

As far as the eye could see, there were many people in the squares in front of the various palaces, and there were indeed quite a few disciples.

On the east side of the plaza, dozens of disciples dressed in dark blue Taoist robes formed a square formation and practiced swordsmanship under the guidance of a senior brother. The sound of swords cutting through the air was uniform and their aura was solemn.

In the west corridor, another group of disciples sat cross-legged at a low table, sitting upright and listening to an elder explain the art of talisman drawing.

"Senior sister, please come with me to register."

A young Taoist boy, about ten years old, with his hair in a topknot, trotted over, his voice clear and crisp.

Jiang Yi nodded slightly and followed the young Taoist boy through several courtyards to a side hall to register. Afterward, she received the items for an outer disciple.

A brand-new dark blue cotton Taoist robe and a standard-issue black iron magic sword, the blade gleaming with a faint light, much stronger than the peach wood sword used during the assessment.

Since there were no storage bags or pills, Jiang Yi didn't ask for the time being, for fear of exposing herself.

Then, the young Taoist led her to the female disciples' courtyard near the bamboo forest and pointed to an empty room, saying, "Senior sister will live here from now on. New disciples must complete three years of introductory courses before they can formally study the true teachings of the temple."

"Three years?" Jiang Yi was somewhat surprised; that was far too long.

The young Taoist nodded and said earnestly, "The introductory lessons are not difficult. I have been doing them for two years. All you need to do is fetch water from the spiritual spring at the foot of the mountain every day to fill a large blue stone vat at the entrance of the woodshed in the backyard, and then go to the green bamboo forest to cut down three green jade bamboos. If you can complete these two lessons before sunset, you can arrange the remaining time as you wish, either by going to the outer sect's martial arts arena to observe and learn basic sword techniques, or by going to the library to browse through the classics."

If Jiang Yi hadn't visited the Xuandu Temple in the secret realm before and knew that the jade bamboo was difficult to cut, she would have really thought that this task was not difficult.

"May I ask how one can become a disciple of the Azure Emperor and enter the Azure Emperor's Palace?"

Faced with Jiang Yi's question, the young Taoist boy did not seem very surprised, because almost every cultivator who joined Xuandu Temple was aiming for the Azure Emperor.

"The Emperor has been in seclusion for a thousand years. Accepting disciples depends on fate. Every once in a while, the gates of the Azure Emperor Palace will open. At that time, there will be an assessment. Those who pass the assessment can enter the Azure Emperor Palace. The time and content of the assessment are uncertain."

"Thank you."

After giving his instructions, the young Taoist left, telling Jiang Yi to rest for the day and begin her introductory lessons tomorrow.

Jiang Yi walked to the door of the woodshed and saw dozens of large vats neatly arranged. She reached out and touched them, then laughed, "Sure enough, there's something mysterious about these vats. I'm afraid they won't be so easy to fill."

She is not in her original form now; this body of hers is only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. The cultivation techniques stored in her mind are not very advantageous when facing introductory courses that purely train physical strength and willpower.

Before anyone else came over, Jiang Yi picked out a fairly sharp axe from the woodshed and took it back with her.

"Carrying water, chopping wood... these are truly ancient ways of spiritual practice."

As soon as Jiang Yi returned to her room, she saw two new female cultivators, who were about the same age as her, not yet twenty.

"New senior sister? I'm Su Wan, and this is Liu Xu. We just came back from picking up our stuff."

Jiang Yi looked at the two girls wearing brand-new blue Taoist robes. Su Wan was taller, while Liu Xu appeared petite and delicate.

"Hello, senior sister! We'll be in the same department from now on! What's your name? Shall we go down the mountain to Lingquan to get familiar with the route?" Liu Xu invited warmly.

Jiang Yi nodded slightly, her voice calm and even, "Yi Xianyu, there's no need to go down the mountain. I'd like to rest first."

After saying that, he went back to his room and closed the door before the two of them could speak again.

A low voice came from outside the door, "This Senior Sister Yi... seems rather aloof."

Liu Xu echoed softly, "Yeah, maybe that's just her personality. Let's ignore her and go together."

Inside the door, Jiang Yi listened to the footsteps and whispers fading away outside, her eyes calm and undisturbed.

She couldn't form any ties with anyone here; this was a mental wall she had built for herself before entering Xuandu Temple.

If this continent of Kyushu, this Xuandu Temple, and all these living people before her are ultimately proven to be nothing more than a grand illusion meticulously woven by the demon race, she fears she might become too soft-hearted to kill them in the future.

Therefore, her first characteristic at this point is indifference!

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Su Wan and Liu Xu, who lived in the same courtyard, went out energetically, carrying wooden buckets, and went down the mountain together to fetch water. Jiang Yi waited until they were all gone before slowly getting up, picking up the axe she had chosen the day before, and heading straight for the Jade Bamboo Grove.

The bamboo forest was shrouded in mist in the early morning, with dewdrops condensing on the bamboo leaves. It should have been a quiet and elegant place, but the clanging and banging of the felling made it seem particularly...arduous.

Jiang Yi walked through the forest, her gaze sweeping over the surroundings, comparing them with the bamboo forest in her memory.

The layout was very consistent, and she even found the path leading to the herb garden, but unfortunately she couldn't go in, and she couldn't see what was inside from the outside.

Looking around, the green jade bamboo here was not as thick as the ones she had seen later. There was no black jade bamboo or bamboo swordsmen in the forest either. There were only a dozen or so blue-robed disciples like her, struggling to chop down the bamboo in front of them.

The heavy axe falls on the tough bamboo, often leaving only a shallow white mark. The recoil makes the arms numb and the tiger's mouth sore, with muffled groans and panting rising and falling.

Jiang Yi picked out a relatively slender piece of jade bamboo, stood in front of it, and weighed the axe in her hand.

She took a deep breath, mobilized all the power of her Qibing clone at the Foundation Establishment stage, gripped the axe with both hands, aimed at a spot on the bamboo, and chopped down fiercely!

clang--

The ear-piercing clang of metal against metal was accompanied by a tremendous force that rebounded from the axe blade, traveling up the arms and straight to the torso.

Jiang Yi's arms trembled violently, and she staggered back two steps before barely regaining her balance. Looking at the bamboo, she saw only a faint white mark where the axe blade had struck.

When they were collecting Azure Jade Bamboo in the secret realm, they only managed to cut down a few thanks to the immense strength brought by Shen Puning's innate savage bones.

Although her body was sturdy, she didn't possess the immense strength of Shen Puning, making it difficult for her to cut bamboo.

Despite the gazes cast upon him, Jiang Yi remained expressionless. He rubbed his numb wrist, raised the axe again, and precisely chopped down at the center of the white mark from before.

clang!
The white mark deepened slightly, and the recoil was still strong, but Jiang Yi's lower body remained as stable as a rock, and he withstood the force head-on.

She didn't stop, the third axe, the fourth axe... each time landing precisely in the center of the mark left by the previous strike.

The swordsman's accuracy is beyond doubt!

After a dozen or so blows, the outer layer of the bamboo was finally split open, but Jiang Yi's own spiritual energy was also exhausted.

She walked to an open space, sat down cross-legged, and began practicing the most basic Qi cultivation technique.

The gray spiritual energy permeating the air was gradually absorbed into her body, and under the guidance of her cultivation technique, it was absorbed and transformed by her internal organs.

The heart contains fiery red, the liver generates woody green, the spleen contains earthy yellow, the lungs transform into metaly white, and the kidneys condense watery black…

The five internal organs are like five furnaces with different attributes, refining and transforming the gray mystical energy, which eventually converges and merges in the dantian to form purer five-colored vortexes.

The process was smooth and natural, without any hindrance.

Each time the energy circulates throughout the body, the five-colored vortex grows stronger, and its speed of restoring physical strength far surpasses that of ordinary breathing techniques in the Mountain and Sea Realm.

This gray spiritual energy is called Xuanling Qi by the cultivators here. When combined with the Qi cultivation techniques of this place, the cultivation efficiency is frighteningly high.

In the Mountain and Sea Realm, it takes ordinary cultivators at least ten years to establish their foundation, while the standard here is one hundred days.

If it weren't for the strange origin of this mysterious spiritual energy, which made her extremely vigilant, she felt that if she devoted herself to cultivation here, combined with her own foundation and comprehension, it would not be an exaggeration to say that she could break through to the Nascent Soul realm within a hundred years.

With his internal strength restored, Jiang Yi stood up again and returned to the jade bamboo, repeating the monotonous yet precise chopping motions...

When she finally felled the three jade bamboos and dragged them out of the bamboo grove, it was already past lunchtime, and the sun was beginning to set.

Most of the people in the forest had just cut down their first tree when they saw Jiang Yi's indifferent back and were all astonished.

"She...she chopped them all? Three?"

"How is that possible?! It's only been half a day!"

"Look, the bamboo she chose is a bit thinner..."

"Even a thinner one is still a lapis lazuli! Look how neat her cut is... How steady must her hand be to have such good accuracy?"

Jiang Yi seemed not to hear, and simply dragged the bamboo towards the place where homework was handed in.

She still had to fetch water in the afternoon. She had never suffered like this before, even when she was in the Xuan Ying Sword Sect. It seems that the fortunes and misfortunes in life are indeed predetermined. No matter how much laziness you indulge in in the past, you will always have to pay back in a strange way later.

(End of this chapter)