Star Pavilion.

A handsome young man with blue hair landed down on the stage staring at Wu Shen like he was completely beneath his notice. He wore long robes that had the colors of the inner sect and just from how strong his presence on the arena was, Wu Shen could tell this young man was well respected. But, regardless of status, the young man stepped on the stage and that only meant he wanted to fight against Wu Shen. Ignoring his first comment, Wu Shen responded, "Are you here to fight or not? If not, then get off the stage."

The young man's face started to show visible frustration as he folded his fists and said in a curious tone, "Wu Shen right? Who gave you the right to challenge us when you've barely made it into the sect? Don't you think you're acting a bit too arrogant for a newcomer?" Although the young man looked familiar to Wu Shen because of the memories he received from the Elder God, he didn't remember his name as remembering every single cultivator mentioned in the story was just impossible. Especially when they were of no interest to Wu Shen. Listening to the young man mouthing off about how arrogant he was, Wu Shen, sighed and thought, 'All of this talking is just for him to save face as if he was that sure I'm weaker than him, he would've already attacked. Since he thinks I would be affected by his weak bluffs, I'll test him to see how powerful he really is.'

Wu Shen immediately used his high-speed movement and appeared in front of the young man with a swift kick aimed at his face. The young man didn't even realize that Wu Shen had moved from his spot until he saw a white blur moving towards his face with incredible speed. No matter what he did, he had no time to block this attack when it was this close and his heart sank as he just stood there waiting for the attack to land.

BOOMM!

An explosion went off as a thick layer of smoke settled across the arena. The power of the attack was formidable but the more powerful cultivators there could tell that it wasn't anywhere near as powerful as Wu Shen's earlier attacks. As everyone looked at the smoke clearing with bated breaths wondering if the young man had been defeated, the smoke thinned out and an old woman who managed to block Wu Shen's kick with just her forearm came into view. The woman clearly was unfazed by Wu Shen's kick and looked at him nonchalantly, saying, "I think this problem ends here today young man. The one behind me is called Wen Ren Yan and he's one of the strongest inner disciples. He's also my own personal disciple. So, give this old woman some face and let this issue go, I will talk to Ren Yan myself."

The patriarch was surprised when he saw the old woman make an appearance to defend her disciple as she was one of the most powerful elders in the sect. Wu Shen of course hesitated quite a bit at first as he wanted to see how powerful Wen Ren Yan was but in the end, he decided to give up on pursuing the fight. Making things difficult for elders on her level would just make his life harder within the sect so backing down was the best option. Wu Shen calmly removed his foot from the woman's arm and said with a small smile on his face, "My apologies then elder. I only wanted to see where I stood within the power hierarchy of the disciples."

Wu Shen's earlier aggressive demeanor had changed completely in front of the elder and Wen Ren Yan started to feel like as long as the old woman was there, he had no reason to worry about Wu Shen. "Good, at least you know when to back do-" The old woman suddenly turned around and slapped him, causing him to fall to his knees from the impact. She then shouted furiously, "Stop talking nonsense when you were just completely defeated! Go to my residence and wait there! I will deal with you appropriately when I get there."

Wen Ren Yan was about to refute the old woman's words but he saw that she raised her hand to slap him again so he decided to listen and just hurriedly went off in the direction of the old woman's residence. She then turned back to Wu Shen and started to carefully study him as she said, "Young man, your martial skills are very impressive, and just from your body structure I can tell that you don't slack off on your training. Hm, you said your name was Wu Shen right? If you have any questions about cultivation you can feel free to seek my advice on the matter. I will help you in any way I can."

Wu Shen thanked the elder as she made her way back to her residence in the mountains to take care of her disciple. He then walked to the patriarch and thanked him for the opportunity while asking him about important places within the sect. The patriarch told him where he could turn in materials for different tools, learn martial skills, and everything else the average disciple had to know about the sect. Wu Shen thanked him again and walked away from the arena as everyone's eyes were upon him. Some were wondering just what kind of family background he had that allowed him to be that close to the patriarch while some were jealous of his luck because he had received the favor of multiple high ranking elders.

Wu Shen wasn't currently worried about anything they thought about him as he was heading straight to the Star Pavilion, the place where disciples would be able to learn martial skills. It didn't take long to get there with his speed as he appeared right in front of the elderly man who usually watching over the pavilion. Wu Shen cupped his fists together and greeted him saying, "This disciple greets elder. My name is Wu Shen and I've come to borrow a few skill books." The elder looked at Wu Shen carefully and he seemed to be bewildered by something. Wu Shen already guessed what the problem was and said, "I'm at the first Ling Qi Layer, elder."

The elder looked at him once again with a mysterious expression then he nodded, saying, "Good. You can go up to the second floor and take three skill books. You only one stick of incense worth of time." Wu Shen thanked the elder and entered the pavilion where he saw only a few disciples present as most of them were still returning from the arena. As he looked around, he thought, 'My Shaolin Kung Fu is powerful but I can't depend on that style for the rest of my days. I need to craft a style that fits me, maybe something more vicious and free-flowing will work. Adding those elements onto my already more aggressive style of Shaolin Arts will increase my attacks to another level. At that point, I might have to name it something else entirely. As for my weapons, the sword could take me to the top of this world but it doesn't fit the style I'm looking for. Sigh, I'll pick up something as I go along....'

Wu Shen looked through multiple shelves on the first floor for about a minute until he found a Xuan level skill called the {Seven Tyrant Fist}. Its description claimed that it was {One Tyrannical Fist, Seven Lethal Strikes.} It was suitable for those who had a more physically oriented martial spirit. Wu Shen's versatile set of abilities allowed him basically to practice and master any type of skill because at 100% of its power so he wasn't worried about the spirit requirement. Normally, martial artists practice skills that corresponded to their martial spirit and if they practiced one that wasn't, they would only be able to use 25% of its power at most. He took the skill and looked around a bit more before he just made his way up to the second floor instead. Almost immediately, Wu Shen found another Xuan level martial skill called the {Bloody Hands Technique.} This skill book looked extremely old as it was just shoved into the corner of a shelf. It was another skill that required a physical spirit and its description read, {Ripping, Tearing, and destroying your opponent entirely is the only purpose this art serves. It is not for one who would shy away from the path of slaughter. Beware: The training required for this skill is incredibly painful and there is a chance the practitioner might die in the process.}

Wu Shen immediately picked up the skill as it sounded like something that would suit him perfectly. His hands were already trained to a high degree because of the animal forms of Shaolin so this training shouldn't be too hard. He then started looking around for one more skill, this time a weapon art that would flow nicely with the skills he just chose. Unfortunately, he didn't find anything else that impressed him. Before he knew it, it was time for him to leave and he just went back to the elder to show him the books he took.

"The Seven Tyrant fist? Not bad. A lot of cultivators choose this one as it's easy to learn but only a few master it completely. The next one is...Hm? The Bloody Hands Technique? This skill is basically impossible to train, disciple. Not even one cultivator who tried to train this martial skill came back alive. Disciple, do not be arrogant and think you will be the first to master it. Many before you tried and they all failed."

Wu Shen was unmoved and just responded, "Its no problem, Elder. If it gets too hard, I'll just return the skill to you." The elder seemed to be debating about the decision for a bit until he just sighed and gave the books to Wu Shen. "Be careful, disciple." Wu Shen thanked the elder and quickly went on his way towards the inner sect as he still needed to collect his robes. When Wu Shen was out of earshot, the elder took another even older looking martial skill out of his desk and looked at it with a hopeful expression on his face.

"I was going to dispose of this book today but it seems like I'll have to give it one last chance. If this disciple manages to learn that technique, then by all rights, this book can only belong to him..."