Chapter 3 The First Task

Yang Yuan and his companions used to behave recklessly without fear towards the former master, and never got punished. Apart from the problems with the former master himself, the Grand Elder was also highly involved.

Shi Xiaole weighed things in his mind and said, "I was knocked out by Senior Brother Yang and his companions yesterday, causing me to miss the annual test. I intended to explain the situation to the master after he finished his closed-door training and then leave."

The Grand Elder's face changed slightly upon hearing this.

In the past year, the Sect Master had spent most his time in closed-door training, this allowed him to have unchallenged control.

The Grand Elder's original plan was to drive Shi Xiaole away before the Sect Master finished his closed-door training. By then everything would be a done deal, and with no other witnesses, he believed that the Sect Master would be helpless.

But now it seemed, that kid Shi Xiaole is not as stupid as he appears.

The Grand Elder spoke coldly, "There are rules to follow. No matter what your reasons, if you do not pass the annual test, you are not a disciple of Huajian Sect, this applies to the disciple personally trained by the Sect Master as well. I order you to leave this place today! Otherwise, do not blame me for not being polite!"

As he spoke, an overbearing aura rushed out and directly oppressed Shi Xiaole. This implied that if Shi Xiaole did not leave, the Grand Elder would take action himself.

"Shi Xiaole, keeping you here is only embarrassing yourself, you better go home now. Hahaha..."

Seeing this, Yang Yuan started laughing in triumph. His companions, however, kept silent.

Under the intense pressure of the invisible aura, Shi Xiaole's wounds seeped blood continuously. He was furious inside, yet he stayed silent, stumbled up, walked back to his room, and seemed to start packing.

Many Huajian Sect disciples were indignantly silent, on one hand, they sympathized with Shi Xiaole. On the other hand, the Grand Elder stepped out of line, he would stop at nothing for Senior Brother Qin.

The Grand Elder's eyes flickered, and suddenly he called out, "Hold on!"

Shi Xiaole turned back and asked, "What else?"

The Grand Elder inwardly cursed this cunning kid. He suddenly thought that if Shi Xiaole left and went to his aunt, telling her everything, wouldn't he be screwed?

That must be it, this kid's obedience must be a ruse. He wants to bite back. Hmph, I have lived for so many years, would I fall into your trap?

A sneer appeared at the corner of the Grand Elder's mouth, "Shi Xiaole, after pondering over it, I should give you a chance. Let me give you a make-up test now, if you pass, you can stay."

Some Huajian Sect disciples muttered to themselves. This Grand Elder is providing no way out for Shi Xiaole.

The annual test consists of two parts, inner energy and techniques.

The requirement for inner energy is low; reaching the Hidden Qi second phase is sufficient, which undoubtedly Shi Xiaole meets. However, techniques are much more difficult, and one needs to reach the perfect stage of Shape Mimicry.

Since ancient times, there are three major stages in techniques, namely Shape Mimicry, Spirit Integration, and Transformation Phase. Every stage is divided into three phases: minor achievement, major achievement, and perfection.

Although the perfection of Shape Mimicry is only the first stage, it requires several years of hard work for the average person.

Shi Xiaole has an average talent, reputedly achieving Shape Mimicry perfection four or five times out of ten.

Even when he was uninjured, he couldn't guarantee the results, let alone now with injuries impairing his performance. How could he possibly pass the annual test?

Shi Xiaole looked at the Grand Elder, suddenly a mechanical voice rang in his mind, "Face the difficulty and live up to the true spirit of man! Task one issued: Pass the Grand Elder's test and secure your foothold in Huajian Sect."

"Task difficulty: one star."

"Task reward: Randomly draw a third-rate martial arts skill, gain 100 points as reward value. Failure penalty: Wipe out the host's cultivation base, start from scratch."

"May I ask the host, do you accept the task?"

Shi Xiaole was slightly surprised.

He did not expect the system to issue the task so soon, let alone this level being ranked as one star, he couldn't imagine the difficulty of a five-star task.

However, as the system said, facing difficulties is the true spirit of man. Since the Grand Elder wanted to push him down, he might as well let him lift a rock and hit his own feet under the watchful eyes of everyone!

"The Grand Elder, with his golden speech, it'd be challenging for me to pass."

Shi Xiaole stated.

"Hmph, there's no need to mock me. There are so many eyes here, falsehoods can't masquerade as truths."

"In that case, why wouldn't I give it a try!"

Picking up his sword, Shi Xiaole stepped into the center of the yard. To everyone's eyes, it was clearly his last stand, filled with despair.

The Grand Elder's face revealed a look of profound indifference, masked by his silent mockery. Yang Yuan laughed heartily with great delight. Many disciples, however, looked on with pity in their eyes.

Shi Xiaole took a deep breath.

Perfection in Shape Mimicry?

After practicing last night and this morning, he was confident that he could succeed at least eight out of ten times, but that was before he got injured. Now, with injuries, his success rate would undoubtedly plummet.

No, rather it should be said that under these circumstances, he would almost certainly fail, because when a person is in pain, their movements unconsciously change, it's not something he could control.

Shi Xiaole, however, was undeterred.

His soul, fused from two lifetimes, had given him an inhuman level of self-control. His mind was clear and composed as he took position. With a single-minded intent, he thrust his sword straight out. This was the basic sword technique of Huajian Sect.

Swish swish swish.

As Shi Xiaole swung his sword, the bandages bled continuously. Even the person standing farthest away could see the cold sweat continuously breaking out on his forehead. Yet his movements were not twisted in the slightest.

Not only were they not twisted, they were quite on point.

"Brother Shi!"

Someone called softly.

After finishing the practice of the eighteen basic sword techniques, Shi Xiaole's upper-left body was stained red with fresh blood. He turned to the Grand Elder, panting, and asked, "How was it?"

The Grand Elder's face flickered between dark and light. His fist inside the sleeve tightened and relaxed, and relaxed yet clenched again. Finally, suppressing his killing intent, he said threateningly, "Shi Xiaole, you are doing very well!" He was about to turn around and leave.

"Wait."

Shi Xiaole called out, "Over the past year, Yang Yuan and the other four have deliberately harmed me several times, even causing me to miss yesterday's annual test. They have already violated the sect rules. May I ask how does the Grand Elder intend to deal with them? Please be explicit."

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the Grand Elder's face turned iron-blue. Everyone in the disciple circle knew about this, so he could not deny it, gritting his teeth, "The five people, Yang Yuan, need to face the wall for three months!"

"Grand Elder, this… this…"

The five persons of Yang Yuan turned pale, their faces as white as paper.

The so-called facing the wall for three months is to be confined alone in a dark room for a full three months without seeing the sun. The loneliness and terror were truly indescribable in words.

In the past, those who suffered this punishment were either driven mad or disturbed, with only a few managing to recover.

The disciples present couldn't help but rejoice in their misfortune, casting a friendly glance at Shi Xiaole before they all left.

After dressing his wounds alone, Shi Xiaole closed the courtyard door and returned to his room's bed, his consciousness arriving at the entrance of the Martial God Hall.

The system had already notified him that he had completed the task. He came here now to redeem his reward.

"Does the host wish to draw immediately?"

The system asked.

"Draw."

On the first floor of the Martial God Hall, a square halo flickered, and Shi Xiaole's mood was also uneasy. Although it was just third-class martial arts, undeniably, the gap between the best and the worst is quite significant.

Shi Xiaole only hoped that even if he couldn't draw the best, he could at least get a medium grade. Okay, even if there's no medium grade, the lower grade is fine, as long as it's not…

"Congratulations to the host, this time it's drawn blank."

Looking at the empty stone wall, it seemed like ten thousand horses were galloping in Shi Xiaole's heart. A ten percent chance, how could he have bumped into something so small?

Shaking his head, Shi Xiaole asked in a muffled voice, "How much cultivation time can I exchange for a hundred reward points?"

If he couldn't draw martial arts, he could only hope that the practice time was a bit longer.

The system answered, "One 2-hour period requires ten reward points."

Shi Xiaole nodded slightly. In that case, he could practice in the Martial God Hall for ten 2-hour periods. Based on the flow rate of three to one, he would have more than six 2-hour periods than others.

"Friendly reminder to host, if you can practice martial arts to a certain realm, you can get additional reward points from the system. Also, the host can contribute martial arts from this world to the Martial God Hall to get reward points. The number of reward points depends on the situation."

The system added again, making Shi Xiaole feel much better.

Because he gradually felt that getting reward points was not an easy task, and having an extra path was always more relaxed.

Shi Xiaole looked at the prices of various third-rate martial arts, only to find that even the Huashan Sword Technique he had obtained required a hundred and fifty reward points. He couldn't afford anything with his hundred points.

Shaking his head, he instantly exchanged it for ten 2-hour periods of cultivation time. As for saving up reward points to buy martial arts later, it didn't make any sense.

His current strength was too weak, and improving his strength was the most important task at hand.

Shi Xiaole was very sure that the Grand Elder definitely wouldn't let it go. Although he could not openly deal with him, cold arrows would be inevitable.

So, he must grow quickly.

In the Martial God Hall, free of injury and hunger, Shi Xiaole was entirely focused. In a blink of an eye, ten 2-hour periods passed. When he exited the Martial God Hall, it was just afternoon in the outside world.

"My Huashan Sword Technique has been fully trained to near perfection in the Shape Mimicry realm, and the Huajian Sect's basic sword technique is not far from the Spirit Integration realm. Good progress."

If any disciple of the Huajian Sect heard Shi Xiaole's words, they would be shocked.

In just ten 2-hour periods, the Huajian Sect's basic sword technique had advanced from unstable near perfection in mimicking shape to approaching the spirit integration phase. This was too fast.

Also, from his words, it seemed he had practiced more than one sword technique.

At this moment, Shi Xiaole's aura had not changed, but if he really fought, he was confident that he could defeat the likes of Yang Yuan without relying on ambushes.

Moving from near perfection in mimicking shape to approaching spiritual integration was not a small improvement but a qualitative one. Only when one grasped the essence of the sword technique could one truly unleash the power of the sword technique.

Over the next few days, Shi Xiaole spent his time recuperating and practicing in his small courtyard.

Since the wound on his left chest was deliberate, it seemed dangerous but, in fact, it wasn't as severe as expected. So, it was almost healed in half a month.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

In the courtyard, Shi Xiaole was brandishing his sword, with blinding sword lights. Each move presented an incredibly dangerous and unexpected charm.

The Huashan Sword Technique had incredibly been refined to the Spirit Integration realm!

As for the more manageable Huajian Sect's basic sword technique, he had reached Spirit Integration yesterday.

"Now that my sword technique has improved greatly, and I'm about to break through to the third level of Hidden Qi, maybe I can visit the martial arts arena."

Shi Xiaole, standing with his sword put away, murmured to himself softly.

Working in isolation was never his style, to be honest, he hadn't even properly interacted with the other disciples of the Huajian Sect yet.