Chapter 116 Shocking

  "That is the divine light flying out of the direction of Shengshan, seven stars shining together, this is a sign that a disciple has stepped onto the seventh layer of Huangzhe Peak."

  In the Shenxu Academy hundreds of kilometers away, other disciples could not see the stream of light shooting into the sky, but several deputy deans in the Shenxu Sacred Mountain simultaneously looked up.

  Almost immediately after the seven rays of light shot into the sky, in the courtyard of the principal of Shenvu Academy, an old man hurriedly rushed towards the main building of the courtyard. Soon, he had already passed through the corridor and pushed open the door to enter the study. As he pushed open the door, he exclaimed with joy: "Sir, have you seen it? The Seven Stars Aligning is a sign that our Southeast Six Nations Shenvu Academy Branch has not seen in thirty-five years..."

  In the study, a man who looked like he was in his fifties, although showing a hint of age, yet full of energy, was quietly gazing at himself on a flat mirror.

  This old man was none other than Mo Baiyun, the Dean of Shenxu Academy, who stood at the pinnacle of the six nations in the southeast and could sit on an equal footing with the ancestors of the Great Xia, Great Yan, and Great Ming dynasties. A hundred years ago, he had already contended for the title of King.

  At this moment, the scene displayed on the spiritual instrument mirror in front of Mo Baiyun was exactly the seventh layer platform of Huangzhe Peak. There, Qin Tianyi could be clearly seen sitting cross-legged in front of the stone wall, quietly contemplating the mysterious aura of the stone wall.

  "Uh... Sir, you're leaving?"

  "Hehe, Luo Gong, you're already over 300 years old, yet you're still so impatient."

  "Seven stars shining together, a rare talent that appears only once every few decades. The last time our Divine Void Academy saw someone with the Seven Stars Converging aura was Cold Tianlun, who has now cultivated to the level of Skypiercing Sword Master and is expected to have a great future ahead of him, becoming a core figure in our academy. His emergence back then caused a stir throughout our Eastern South Branch, but since then, we've been stagnant for so long, with unremarkable achievements over the past thirty years. Today, we finally see hope for revival once more."

  "Seven stars shining together... indeed, your comprehension is not bad, but... among the 108 divisions of the sect, every year there are a dozen or so geniuses who enter the Divine Void Sect. Every few decades, someone with the omen of gathering from all eight directions will appear... how many people can be like Leng Tianlun, who reached the Sky Sword Master realm in 35 years of cultivation?"

  "Sir, this..."

  "Insight and innate talent don't guarantee everything, they can only make their cultivation path smoother. There are still two and a half months until the trial at the Divine Void Holy Mountain ends. Let's see what level he can reach in these two and a half months before making the final decision."

  Lu Gong looked at the Dean with some surprise, logically speaking, even if one had entered the sixth layer of the Huangzhe Peak platform, they would have qualified to become a student of the Dean. As for the seventh layer, becoming an apprentice under the Dean was a foregone conclusion, after all, every time the Shenzu Sect cultivated an excellent disciple, as the Dean of this branch sect, it would be a great honor... Why did the Dean seem to show no great interest in this student this time?

  "Lu Gong, how long have you been following me to this separate courtyard?"

  "Reporting back to Your Excellency, it has been 136 years."

  "One hundred and thirty-six years... A Tiankong Sword Master, in theory, can live for a thousand years, just like some long-lived ordinary people who can live up to two hundred years. However, most of them reach the end of their lives at around one hundred and fifty years old... One hundred and thirty-six years is not short for a Tiankong Sword Master who can feed on yuanqi either... It's time to go back..."

  "Go back? But sir, we..."

  Lu Gong's expression was somewhat stunned, and he was about to say something, but at this moment, he suddenly guessed something from the tone of Vice President, and the stunned look on his face was immediately replaced by wild joy: "Sir, could it be that you finally..."

  Mo Baiyun smiled faintly and looked at Qin Tianyi in the mirror, with a hint of scrutiny: "This should be my last term as Dean of the Southeast Branch... This little guy is now on Huangzhe Peak, where seven stars shine together... Next, let's see how he fares. If after leaving Shenvu Sacred Mountain, he can condense an air vortex, I'll take him as a student; if he can ignite true fire, he can become my disciple; if he can... enter the Blood Refining stage of a great sword master... he can become my direct disciple!"

  ……

  Huang Zhe Peak

  The seventh platform, Qin Tianyi slowly withdrew his right hand from the stone wall.

  "The cultivation of Shen Dao and Qi Dao has some differences after the formation of the Golden Elixir. The cultivators of Shen Dao, upon reaching the later stage of resonance, require resonating with Heaven and Earth, using them as a spiritual medium to manipulate their power. On the other hand, the cultivators of Qi Dao absorb the primordial energy of Heaven and Earth into their body, transforming it into True Yuan, feeding on wind and drinking dew, allowing themselves to be tempered by the power of Heaven and Earth, and infusing the primordial energy of Heaven and Earth, resulting in an unbroken flow of True Yuan, even enabling them to tread on empty space."

  One is to borrow the primordial energy of heaven and earth, and the other is to forcibly absorb the primordial energy of heaven and earth for one's own use.

  On the surface, it seems that one can harness the power of heaven and earth for personal use with a bit more ingenuity. However, in reality, no matter how strong a person is, there's only so much energy they can absorb. But if one uses the power of heaven and earth as a medium to drive the power of heaven and earth, what can be triggered will be the boundless might of heaven.

  "The Seventh Layer, what needs to be done is to comprehend the primordial energy of heaven and earth, comprehend the sharpness of metal, the vitality of wood, the continuity of water, the intensity of fire, and the heaviness of earth... When a great sword master's true energy within their body can resonate with the external primordial energy of heaven and earth, they will have entered the realm of the Sky Sword Master. From then on, without relying on special breathing techniques or training methods, they can directly draw in the primordial energy of heaven and earth into their body, greatly increasing their own true energy. Moreover, because of this resonance with the power of heaven and earth, stronger Sky Sword Masters can even use this resonance to leave the ground and conquer the void!"

  Perceiving the primordial energy of heaven and earth is a bottleneck for any practitioner.

  A great swordsman of the Da Jian level, in the six countries of the southeast, each one is a strong man who dominates one side. However, in the Shén Xū Zōng, this level of existence is not rare. But the Tiān Kōng swordsmen have already transcended the ordinary strongmen's level to some extent. They can tread on empty space and are invincible unless they face a strong opponent of the same rank. Even when facing the thousand armies of the human kingdom, they can come and go as they please.

  This terrifying ability brought about the Sky Sword Master's immense prestige and lofty status. Even within the Shendu Sect, once one became a Sky Sword Master, they could be considered a core disciple. Placed outside, they would be in charge of a certain spiritual mine or serve as an executive, or even become the vice dean of a branch like the Shendu Academy.

  "Heavenly Sword Master, I believe that with the breakthrough of my spiritual degree, it's not a difficult task. What I need to consider is whether to follow the divine way of cultivation and borrow the power of heaven and earth, or to follow the Qi way of cultivation and absorb the power of heaven and earth."

  Qin Tianyi looked at it for a moment, and then recorded the cultivation insights on the stone wall. He glanced up at the eighth layer above his head, but he didn't intend to climb any higher.

  Between the seventh and eighth levels, there are fierce gusts of wind. These gusts come and go unpredictably, only those strong enough to sense the changes in the Heaven and Earth's primal energy can detect the changes in the gusts from the changes in the Heaven and Earth's primal energy, thereby making preparations in advance to avoid being blown off the mountain peak.

  Qin Tianji's spiritual sense was indeed superior to that of an ordinary divine path cultivator in the later stages, but his spirit could not extend beyond his body and touch the primordial energy of heaven and earth. Even with keen senses, facing this intangible gale attack still posed a risk of being blown away.

  "It's all going down, the method of condensing the vortex and refining the true fire has been understood. Next is to find a place with dense yuanqi, thoroughly refine the true qi in the body into true yuan, then condense the vortex and ignite the true fire."

  Thinking of this, Qin Tianyi no longer wasted time, looking at the location of the sixth layer platform, he jumped up and directly flew down from the seventh layer.

  During the leap, his internal energy surged, and the qi and blood in his body, under the traction of his spirit, propelled his body upwards, forming a kind of counterforce.

  There was a bit of backlash to offset it, and although Qin Tianji's body shook violently when he fell onto the sixth platform, his blood boiling with rage, he didn't suffer any substantial harm.

  "Unfortunately, my cultivation has not yet advanced to the level of a great sword master. If I could cultivate to the realm of a great sword master, I would be able to temper that flying sword with essence blood, true yuan, and spirit, and at that time, I would be able to achieve flight by controlling the sword, soaring through the nine heavens."

  Qin Tianyi shook his head regretfully and took a short rest on the sixth floor before descending to the fifth floor using the same method.

  In the fifth floor, Yan Tianqi seemed to have been hit by something and had left. Except for Yan Tianqi, there were not many strong people in Shenxu Academy who could climb up to the fifth floor, and here was still empty.

  After a brief rest, Qin Tianyi leaped again and landed on the fourth floor.

  The fourth floor has three people, each of whom is a top-notch swordsman, and Jiangbei and Yuandangui are among them.

  Seeing Qin Tianyi actually use this method to jump down, Jiangbei and Yuandanggui were shocked at the same time.

  Especially Yuan Dangui couldn't help but ask: "Qin Tianyi, senior, have you grasped the Sky Sword Master's Lingkong Xudu method?"

  Qin Tianyi glanced at Yuan Dangui and replied, "If I really understood the Lingkong Xudu method, I wouldn't jump down layer by layer, but fly directly."

  "Hmm...I suppose so."

  Jiangbei, who was standing beside him, cupped his hands and said solemnly: "Qin Shidi, congratulations to you for reaching the seventh floor. By the time your training at Shenxu Sacred Mountain comes to an end, your name will surely resound throughout Shenxu Academy."

  Qin Tianyi nodded slightly: "I have just come to a realization, I plan to find a place with dense yuanqi to retreat for a while, so I'll take my leave first. Jiang Xuechang, we'll meet again in the future."

  When Qin Tianyi seemed to want to have a deep conversation with him, Jiangbei, the fourth-ranked strongman on the Divine Communication List, actually felt a sense of being favored and hastily said: "Alright, we'll talk later, you go ahead first."

  Qin Tianyi responded with a sound and quickly descended from Huang Zhe Peak through this method.

  Looking at Qin Tianyi who had reached the seventh platform of Huang Zhe Peak, Yuan Dangui said with a tone full of envy: "Jiangbei senior, this Qin Tianyi can actually reach the seventh platform of Huang Zhe Peak, his future is boundless. You have a good junior, your mentor has taken in a good student."

  "Good student..."

  Jiangbei thought back to Daoyuan's attitude towards Qintianyi and couldn't help but smile wryly, shaking his head.

  Who could have imagined that someone who had stepped onto the seventh layer of the Emperor's Peak, achieving a feat that no student of the Divine Void Academy had accomplished in thirty-five years, would be treated as if they were worthless by their own master?