57 A Year Had Passed 1

After Wang Li Tian was caught red-handed by his senior sister, the boy had to face the punishment given out by Xin Shu Yi. Every morning, the elegant lady would brew and create a tonic that would significantly boost a person's spiritual energy recovery. It would've been fine if it was just the tonic as the bitterness was bearable. The saddening part was that this was just the first step in Xin Shu Yi's miracle tonic.

The girl retrieved five Grade A herbs that could only be found in her village mountains. The names of the herbs like Devils Heights Grass, Weeping Morning Grass, Hell's Dew are already able to scare cultivators deeply. Even though each of these herbs could be considered to have great nourishing effects, they give off a horrible taste when ingested. Thus, most cultivators would rather not consume these herbs unless necessary.

For a whole week, every morning, Wang Li Tian was forced to drink down the tonic that was created by Xin Shu Yi. The first time he drank it, the poor boy fainted and only woke up the very next morning. He was frothing within the minute he fainted. The second day was slightly better and was able to wake up at night. This went on for seven days. Long Tang Yun was worried that his disciple would accidentally kill his other disciple.

The Prime Elder knew the lengths his older disciple would go to to help someone she cared about. Back then when Long Tang Yun had gotten an internal injury from inscription, the caring girl had brewed a tonic to help improve his recovery. That time, Long Tang Yun was clueless and drank it carelessly. Within seconds, just like Wang Li Tian, he fainted from now bitter it tasted. Xin Shu Yi had only mixed in one Grade A herb, so it wasn't wrong for him to be worried that five Grade A herbs may actually kill the poor youth.

When the 'treatment' was finally over, Wang Li Tian had undergone a qualitative transformation. Not only did his spiritual reserve pool expand from the tonic ingestion, he was able to increase his Mental Will strength from trying to combat how bitter that tonic was. The biggest realisation that occured during that time was that he should never go against his senior sister's words. If he did, this time, he may never wake up again.

Wang Li Tian went back to learning inscriptions with his teacher. Long Tang Yun already recognised the boy's natural talent in spiritual energy inscriptions and so, he made sure that Wang Li Tian practised only that. Without a stable inscription, one would never be able to succeed as a master artificer.

And so, in the morning, Wang Li Tian would start off with runic inscription practice, focusing on his control. In the afternoon, when he was drained of spiritual energy, the boy would start practicing his Quickdraw Sword Manual. Long Tang Yun was rather lax towards his youngest disciple. After all, Wang Li Tian wasn't one that like reading books. He would prefer to allow Li Tian to grow at his own pace. If he pushed him too hard, it was very possible that he may burn out from artificing. At night, when Elder Phoenix requests, the boy would head over to the cavern in the Treasury Mountain to get private lessons from the Origin Beast. He would cultivate the Brave Heart Manual or learn new words in the Demonic Beast language.

Life was tranquil and exciting for the twelve year old. In the blink of an eye, a year had passed and the boy was now thirteen. The name Wang Li Tian was soon forgotten in the eyes of the cultivators that participated in last year's selection test. He had not done anything noteworthy in that one year, as compared to Li Tian's big sister, Jiang Rou Xuan. The direct disciple of the Sword Devil, Prime Elder Lan You Tian, was known as one of the Five Heavenly Phoenixes in Southern Wind Academy.

Her extreme beauty that only gets more refined over time, was an eye-catching sight for those in the Sword School Disciple. Though she rarely smiled in public, her cold demeanour was still able to attract the gazes of the male disciples. Not only was Wang Li Tian's best friend extremely pretty, she was gifted in Sword Arts. Coupled with her extreme Yin Spiritual root, the famous Frost Nova Sword Art was passed down to her by the Grand Elder of the School of Sword Arts and Sabre Arts. Within one year, she had already cultivated to the second stage in the Frost Nova Sword Art.

The sad part was that she had been undergoing close door cultivation in Sword Mountain for the whole year. Only now, Jiang Rou Xuan was finally able to step out of the mountain to look for Wang Li Tian. A smile unknowingly appeared on the 13 year old's face.

"Eh, Rou Xuan? Why are you smiling for no reason?" A girl named Lan Meng Meng asked. Lan Meng Meng was the only friend that she had made in the School of Sword Arts. She was the niece of her teacher, Prime Elder Lan You Tian.

"Ah? I smiled?" Jiang Rou Xuan blushed, covering her mouth.

"Oh? Which boy made you smile? Are you thinking about Senior brother Mu Feng Xian?"

Mu Feng Xian was an inner disciple in the School of the Sword Arts. He was deemed as one of the top Sword Cultivator in Southern Wind Academy. At a young age of fifty, Mu Feng Xian had already reached the Core Establishment Stage. For a Sword Cultivator that would be able to have a life span of a 1000 years, he could be classified as a prodigy in the Divided Continent.

Mu Feng Xian, recently, had been coming to Jiang Rou Xuan's residence. He gave her advices on where she could work on in her Sword Art, while also caring about her well-being. It was no wonder that Lan Meng Meng thought that Rou Xuan was thinking about this charming senior.