(Part One)
Chen Zong and Zhan Ying stayed in the same room, and their relationship was quite good.
The food was not bad at dinner. Not only was it delicious, but it was also sumptuous. There was also some good wine, and everyone enjoyed themselves to the fullest.
"The day after tomorrow is the triennial disciple recruitment of the Four Great Academies. Just thinking about it makes me nervous." Zhan Ying's tone was a little excited, and he immediately looked at Chen Zong. "Brother Chen, why do you look like you're not nervous at all?"
"There's nothing to be nervous about. What will come will come." Chen Zong smiled slightly.
"You have such a good attitude." Zhan Ying smiled, as if he was also a little affected by Chen Zong, and he was not as nervous as before.
After chatting for a while, Zhan Ying began to cultivate and purify his Vitality as much as possible.
To break through from the peak of Vitality Stage Nine to the Force Training Realm, the most important thing was to have a sufficiently pure Vitality. This required time and effort to slowly polish, and there were almost no shortcuts.
In addition, one's mind and willpower must be strong enough.
Only when the two were combined and guided by one's mind and willpower, a new type of energy was extracted from one's physique and Vitality. It was called Inner Force, and only then could one become a Force Training Realm martial artist.
Under normal circumstances, Vitality could only be slowly purified, and mind and willpower could only be slowly honed. Therefore, after martial artists reached the peak of Vitality Stage Nine, they often needed a year or even longer to settle down.
Some martial artists could not even break through in three to five years, and some were even worse, being stuck at a bottleneck for ten to twenty years.
In terms of the purity of Vitality, Chen Zong had not only reached it, but also far surpassed it. After all, there was no Vitality that could compare to Pure Yang Vitality in terms of purity.
While returning to the Seven Lights Martial Academy, Chen Zong spent his time either cultivating or flipping through various books. He also continuously researched himself. In the end, he came to the conclusion that it would be much more difficult for him to break through to the Force Refinement stage compared to the normal peak of the Qi and Blood Realm ninth stage.
After all, the power of his Vitality was too pure. This kind of foundation was incomparably vigorous. The cultivation of the great perfection of the Vitality realm and the Copper Skin Reinforced Steel also made Chen Zong's physique far stronger than that of ordinary martial artists. To extract inner force from this kind of physique and pure Yang Vitality, one had to have an extremely strong Spiritual Will.
Right now, it was still not enough.
"At the very least, the spirit and willpower must be completely integrated into one," Chen Zong said to himself.
Due to the fact that he had perfected his Vitality realm, his Spirit and Will were gradually becoming more harmonious. However, it was not truly harmonious yet. At the very least, it would take a few more months.
Chen Zong did not have a better way to refine his spirit and willpower, so he could only let it be. He concentrated on comprehending the sword art.
The sword was his foundation. The more he practiced, the more he felt that way.
In the middle of the night, Chen Zong finished his meditation and laid down to rest. Soon, he fell asleep.
The night was as cool as water, and the moonlight was faint.
Chen Zong was already practicing his swordsmanship in the big yard. It was just a very ordinary swordsmanship. Every stroke looked slow and direct, and the trajectory was clear. Ordinary martial artists could not tell what was real and what was not.
"What a brilliant swordsmanship." Gu Xiaolin was stunned, paying more attention to Chen Zong.
In the seemingly simple and direct swordsmanship, there seemed to be a kind of clumsiness, like returning to simplicity. It was a bit exaggerated to say that. After all, even Gu Xiaolin had not reached that level. He only had a trace of that feeling.
However, he was not in the Strength Refining realm after all. He was no match for Gu Xiaolin, so he did not need to pay too much attention to him. Liu Shuiyan and Yan Zhongzheng basically had the same idea.
Chen Zong, who ranked fourth, could only get their attention because of his swordsmanship attainments. The others were not qualified.
After all, the Strength Refining realm and the Vitality realm were two big realms. There was a huge gap between them.
Chen Zong practiced his swordsmanship. He did not care about other people's gazes. He just waved his sword casually. There was nothing special about it. It was a combination of various foundational swordsmanship. His sword followed his heart. He was more looking for inspiration. That was why it looked so simple and direct.
Up to now, one sword with nine changes was still not smooth and harmonious.
At this moment, the closed door was pushed open. Eight people strode in one after another. Each of them had a shocking aura fluctuation, as if they brought a gust of wind with them. It was frightening.
"You are this year's new disciples. You look good. Three of you have reached the Strength Refining realm." The leader's gaze was sharp and domineering. Only Gu Xiaolin, the three Strength Refining realm martial artists, and Chen Zong could look him in the eye. The others, including Qi Fei, could not help but shrink back under his gaze that contained spiritual willpower.
He showed off his power as soon as he arrived.
However, he was surprised to see that Chen Zong did not shrink back under his gaze. He stared at Chen Zong and found that his aura was smooth and harmonious. He could not see the depth of his aura. He could only be sure that he was in the Vitality realm.
It was not bad that a Vitality realm martial artist was not afraid of his spiritual willpower suppression. However, that was all. After all, some martial artists had stronger spiritual willpower. It was not strange that they were rare.
"You are … Zhang Tianchi!" Yan Zhongzheng frowned slightly. He felt that the other party looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before. After thinking carefully, a name flashed through his mind.
Among the twenty-nine Tianyao Hall disciples, Yan Zhongzheng was indeed the oldest. He was twenty-two years old. He had entered Tianyao Hall half a year earlier than the others, just before and after the recruitment of the four academies.
In the last batch of Tianyao Hall disciples, there were also more than twenty participants. In the end, less than ten entered the four academies. More than ten were eliminated. Zhang Tianchi was one of them.
Looking at the other seven people behind Zhang Tianchi, they were indeed familiar. They were all the previous batch of Tianyao Hall disciples.
They were at most twenty-four years old now.
After they were eliminated, their names were still hanging in the Seven Lights Martial Institution. They could also continue to stay in Tianyao Hall. However, Tianyao Hall would no longer provide them with any resources. They had to rely on themselves. Therefore, that batch of disciples chose to leave and go out to train.
Now that three years had passed, some of them had died in the training, and some of them had passed the age limit. Only Zhang Tianchi and the other seven were still alive and met the requirements. Naturally, they were unwilling to miss such a grand event.
Chen Zong discovered that among the eight disciples from the previous batch, six of them were at the Qi Refining realm. Although the other two were not, the aura they emitted was very strong. They had completely reached the peak of the Qi and Blood realm. Compared to ordinary martial artists at the peak of the ninth level of the Qi and Blood realm, they were much stronger.
From the looks of it, the other empty rooms in the courtyard were prepared for these people.
These eight people had also officially settled into the small courtyard and were waiting for tomorrow's grand event. Although they were unfamiliar, they were all disciples of the Seven Lights Martial Institution in name. They were all disciples of Tianyao Hall. There were no conflicts between them, so naturally, there would not be any conflicts.
However, there was one thing that made people feel uncomfortable. Perhaps because these eight people felt that they were from the previous batch, or perhaps because their cultivation was higher, the way they looked at Chen Zong and the others was always condescending. The way they spoke also had a commanding tone.
Of course, this was not the case for Gu Xiaolin and the other two. These three were all martial artists at the first transition of the Qi Refining realm, and this was their first time participating. There was an eighty to ninety percent chance that they could enter the four great academies. They were not to be underestimated.
"You're Chen Zong." One of the two Qi and Blood realm martial artists among the eight was called Wang Minghua. His seemingly scattered footsteps casually walked in front of Chen Zong, who was casually practicing sword arts. His gaze was a little condescending as he said casually, "I heard that not long after you entered Tianyao Hall, you challenged the fourth ranked martial artist and successfully defeated him. Your talent is not bad."
"What's the matter?" Chen Zong's sword paused. His tone was neither high nor low. If the other party was speaking properly, Chen Zong naturally would not be so cold.
"It's nothing. I just wanted to see if you were bragging." As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Minghua immediately drew the long saber at his waist. The cold gleam of the saber was like a waterfall as it slashed towards Chen Zong in the blink of an eye.
The drawing of the saber and the slashing of the saber was done in a single breath in the blink of an eye.
Very quickly, without the slightest hesitation or unnecessary movements, everything was done with the goal of killing the other party. It could be seen that the three years of experience had sharpened Wang Minghua's saber skills to an extremely terrifying level.
An ordinary martial artist at the peak of the Qi and Blood realm would not be able to dodge such a strike, let alone defend against it. They would be killed immediately.
But for Chen Zong, it was not enough.
With a flash of his feet, he easily avoided Wang Minghua's saber. A frost-like sword gleam flashed past his eyes, and a chill attacked him.
"You have some skills." Wang Minghua was a little surprised. Although he was only ranked ninth three years ago, and his cultivation was still at the peak of the Qi and Blood realm, the three years of life and death experience had made his Qi and Blood extremely pure. His willpower had also reached a high level. Soon, he would be able to break through the shackles, extract inner force, and step into the Force Training realm.
The three years of experience had mostly honed his saber techniques. His grade martial arts had reached the peak of the realm of perfection. His saber moves were faster and more concise, and everything he did was to pursue the pursuit of killing the enemy.
It could be said that the difference between martial artists who had not experienced life and death experiences was very obvious. Even if their cultivation levels were the same, there was a clear distinction between life and death in a battle.
Not only did Chen Zong easily avoid the attack, but he also counterattacked with his sword. It was so fast that it almost exceeded Wang Minghua's reaction speed. Of course, Wang Minghua was shocked.
The gleam of the saber was like a scattered wind blade, cutting towards Chen Zong's side.
With a flick of his wrist, Chen Zong shattered all the gust of the saber. Then, he pointed at Wang Minghua like a cold star. It was fast, accurate, steady, and ruthless, and there was no way to dodge. Wang Minghua reluctantly withdrew his saber and held it in front of him.
With a clang, sparks flew. A terrifying force burst forth, as if it wanted to pass through the saber and reach his face. Wang Minghua's expression changed drastically. The force contained in the attack was also unceasing, causing Wang Minghua to take three steps back.
"Not bad, not bad. This strength is much stronger than I was in the past." Wang Minghua's expression changed back and forth. Finally, he squeezed out a smile and sheathed his saber. Many people had seen their fight just now. They did not use any grade martial arts, only simple moves, and adapted according to the situation. Wang Minghua was the one who was at a disadvantage, but he still spoke in a guiding tone.
Chen Zong did not respond. After all, the two of them had not really fought, and they had not really angered Chen Zong. Otherwise, blood would have been spilled.
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