Chapter 149: The Test (Please Subscribe)

Yang Ze naturally had to cultivate the Ethereal Primordial Breath Technique. However, apart from this cultivation method, he also needed to seek out martial arts techniques to practice.

The martial arts he had practiced in the past could still be used, of course, but their power was far too ordinary and entirely insufficient to deal with future enemies. For instance, when fighting Yu Mao, martial arts like the Nine-Revolution Finger he had previously practiced were completely incapable of inflicting any effective damage upon Yu Mao.

Having stepped into the realm of graded martial artists, what one cultivated was now True Essence. The power of True Essence could not be compared to that of mere True Qi or preliminary breath Qi; with True Essence, one could unleash far more powerful martial arts.

Regarding the choice of martial arts, Yang Ze already had some ideas in mind. After the tournament for provisional disciples, his contribution points had yet to be returned to Lin Hui before Xie Yuan took him away. Following his successful breakthrough, he was directly assigned to the outer courtyard. Therefore, the three thousand contribution points he currently possessed were entirely rewards from the martial arts tournament.

Yang Ze believed that three thousand contribution points were quite a substantial amount for an outer disciple, as contribution points were not easily earned. He had no intention of spending these points on other items; he planned to use them all to copy martial arts manuals, thereby compensating for his own shortcomings. As long as he could master a few powerful martial arts now, someone of Yu Mao's caliber would certainly no longer be a match for him.

Feeling quite urgent, Yang Ze put down his belongings and immediately left his residence. Normally, he would not have been in such a rush, but suddenly possessing a supreme cultivation method like the Ethereal Primordial Breath Technique changed things.

An innocent man hoarding a jade ring is considered a crime; possessing a supreme cultivation method caused Yang Ze to feel a deep sense of insecurity. Once discovered, it would spell absolute disaster for him. Thus, he urgently needed to enhance his strength. Only by becoming sufficiently powerful could he guarantee his own safety.

Walking briskly out of the Battle Hall, Yang Ze held the map of Mount Hengyun in his hand and hurried toward the location of the Scripture Pavilion marked on the map.

The status of the outer courtyard could not be compared to that of provisional disciples, and the various facilities established on Mount Hengyun were much larger than those on Mount Qingyang. Especially the Scripture Pavilion; it was much taller than the one on Mount Qingyang because the outer courtyard's Scripture Pavilion was not actually built directly on Mount Hengyun.

As one of the supreme powers of the Nine Regions, the Ethereal Martial Sect possessed a foundation so profound it exceeded ordinary imagination. Its Scripture Pavilion housed countless martial arts from all over the world. For convenience, several powerful experts of the Ethereal Martial Sect had jointly opened up a secret realm, setting up the Scripture Pavilion within it, while establishing a formation on Mount Hengyun that allowed access to the secret realm where the pavilion resided. Inner courtyard disciples could similarly enter the secret realm through their own dedicated formation to select martial arts from the Scripture Pavilion.

Recalling all the information related to the Scripture Pavilion in his mind, Yang Ze walked to the teleportation formation on Mount Hengyun and was successfully teleported out under the arrangement of the disciples guarding the array.

A wave of dizziness and spatial distortion washed over his vision, and Yang Ze felt his body being pulled and warped by a force, unable to move for several full breaths.

When he once again felt his feet touch the ground, he saw a massive pavilion appear within his line of sight, towering a full six stories high.

The height of each story in the Scripture Pavilion was different from ordinary buildings; each floor was equivalent to three or four stories in height. Standing proudly there, the entire Scripture Pavilion was extremely conspicuous.

Surrounding the Scripture Pavilion were layers of thick fog, making the scenery within completely indistinguishable. Just as Yang Ze wanted to look further into the distance, someone pushed him from behind, shoving him right off the platform where the teleportation array was located.

"What kind of person are you, so clueless as to block the entrance of the platform? Don't you know that many people travel to and from the Scripture Pavilion secret realm every day? By standing here, aren't you blocking everyone's way?"

After Yang Ze was pushed out, a stern voice rang out from behind him.

Hearing this, Yang Ze did not flare up. He had been momentarily stunned by the sight before him and failed to realize he was blocking the path. Now that he knew, he quickly walked away in the direction of the Scripture Pavilion.

Just as he walked away, a handsome young man stepped out from beneath the teleportation platform. Looking in the direction Yang Ze had left, a peculiar expression flickered across the young man's brows.

"So this is the newly promoted disciple from the Battle Hall this time? He looks quite different from the previous Battle Hall disciples; he doesn't seem as repulsive as those fellows."

After murmuring a few words, the handsome youth also walked toward the Scripture Pavilion, unaware that nearby, a dark-faced man had been listening to his words the entire time and only left after the youth had departed.

Meanwhile, Yang Ze had long since entered the Scripture Pavilion. After going through the necessary procedures, when he finally stepped into the main hall inside, he was dumbfounded by the sight before him.

The scale of the first floor of this Scripture Pavilion far surpassed the one on Mount Qingyang. With so many cultivation methods and martial arts housed on just this single floor, it was no wonder he had sensed so many powerful, faint auras lingering within the pavilion upon entering.

Given Yang Ze's current status, he was only permitted to stay on the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion. To step onto the second floor, one needed at least the cultivation of the Second-Pin Blood Condensation Realm.

However, the martial arts hidden on this first floor were already more than enough for Yang Ze to search through. Hurrying against time, Yang Ze quickly searched the Scripture Pavilion for the martial arts he needed.

There were also many other disciples here. Yang Ze wove through the crowd and walked toward the section where saber techniques were placed...

Two hours later, Yang Ze emerged from the Scripture Pavilion. Unlike the excitement he felt upon arrival, his face was now full of heartache.

Looking back at the Scripture Pavilion one last time, Yang Ze wore an expression of extreme reluctance and could not help cursing the Scripture Pavilion for being an utter rip-off.

He had only selected three martial arts to copy, yet all three thousand of his contribution points had been completely exhausted. The number of contribution points required for the martial arts here exceeded his imagination.

He had chosen one saber technique, one palm technique, and one leg technique, each costing one thousand contribution points. After acquiring all three, the contribution points he carried were completely drained.

Of course, this was also related to the types of martial arts he had chosen. The martial arts he selected were not complete; they were only partial manuals, with the remaining portions kept on the higher floors of the Scripture Pavilion.

The reason for this was that the grades of these martial arts were not low. Martial arts were graded just like cultivation methods, and the complete versions of the martial arts Yang Ze chose reached the Profound Tier. Thus, even for just a partial manual, the price was exorbitant.

Naturally, this exorbitant price was not enough to deter Yang Ze. He possessed the Black Stone; such incomplete martial arts manuals in his hands all had the chance to be perfected.

This was equivalent to obtaining complete martial arts at a lower price than what others paid. No matter how much it ached his heart now, Yang Ze was resolute enough to carry out this transaction.

Placing the three copied martial arts manuals into his storage bag, Yang Ze entered the teleportation array and was transported back to Mount Hengyun.

Just as he stepped off the teleportation platform on Mount Hengyun, he saw a dark-faced man wearing outer disciple robes standing outside the platform. Seeing him walk down, the dark-faced man gave him a deep, lingering look.

Yang Ze noticed the man's gaze and looked back at him as well. Just as their eyes were about to meet, the dark-faced man abruptly turned his head and left from the other side of the teleportation platform.

Watching the man's departing back, Yang Ze frowned slightly. From that brief contact just now, he could tell that the man's cultivation had already reached the mid-stage of the Bone-Tempering Realm.

However, he did not dwell on it, simply chalking it up to a coincidence. After all, he had just arrived at Mount Hengyun and did not even know a single person here, so why would anyone pay special attention to him?

Shaking his head, Yang Ze strode back to the Battle Hall. Returning to his residence, he activated the protective barrier of his small courtyard and began his seclusion.

Another benefit of being a Battle Hall disciple was that one did not need to complete any missions every month, nor would one be stripped of their outer disciple status. Unless the Battle Hall needed to execute an important mission and explicitly called upon someone who then refused to show up, would they be stripped of their identity.

Since Yang Ze had just joined, he had no worries about being called upon to execute a mission, and he immediately commenced a period of closed-door cultivation.

With this seclusion, a month's time passed swiftly. Any slight news regarding Yang Ze joining the Battle Hall was consequently forgotten by people...

On this day, Yang Ze was in the training room undergoing arduous cultivation. The aura emanating from his body had improved significantly compared to when he had first entered the sect.

Yang Ze's hands were forming seals when suddenly the hand seals shifted, and a peculiar aura radiated from his body, causing the surrounding energy fluctuations to transform.

Abruptly, Yang Ze brought his hands together sharply, fusing his hand seals. The fifteen lower limb bones he had successfully tempered simultaneously radiated a golden glow, breaking through and tempering the sixteenth lower limb bone.

The moment the sixteenth lower limb bone was successfully tempered, Yang Ze opened his mouth and gently expelled a breath of stale air, pushing his hands apart as the aura around him retracted and stabilized.

"The difficulty of cultivating the Ethereal Primordial Breath Technique is indeed immense. Even with the assistance of the Black Stone, it took me a full month to convert the True Essence in my body into the True Essence of this technique, and in the end, I only managed to temper a single lower limb bone."

Yang Ze muttered to himself. He was someone whose physical body had been baptized by the Ethereal Qi, granting him supreme talent, yet even so, cultivating this technique still felt far from easy.

Standing up, Yang Ze stretched his muscles and limbs, and just as he was about to continue practicing his martial arts, a sudden, fierce sound of a drum echoed from outside, causing his room to vibrate.

Hearing the drumbeats, Yang Ze's eyes flashed. He walked out of the room, looked in the direction of the sound, and murmured, "The Battle Hall's quarterly disciple assessment has begun."