First Weapon

After reaching the second Martial Novice stage, Shi Li didn't instantly rush over to his father's room. He instead cultivated his soul through the night in order to gain more strength that he could use for cultivating his body.

During this time, he saw how fast he cultivated his soul. It was at a level incomparable to before. If one night of soul cultivation would give him around 15% of progress, this time it would give him 25% progress. This meant that Shi Li would be able to reach the peak of the second Martial Novice stage with his soul easily.

To be honest, if Shi Li only focused on cultivating his soul, he would have possibly reached the Martial Adept stage already. But since he was cultivating both internal and external cultivation techniques, not to mention an auxiliary cultivation technique, it took longer for him to reach the Martial Adept stage his father desired.

But in exchange for that, he gained strength that exceeded his current cultivation realm.

...

As the moon falls down, the sun rises up, dyeing the sky a bright orange as it is gradually engulfed by the vast cerulean blue sky and the soft white clouds.

At this time, Shi Li opened his eyes as he adjusted himself to his newly cultivated strength. He could see and hear better than before. He had a feeling that he would be able to see and hear everything clearly within a 2 kilometer radius, but he didn't know he could really do that.

He then closed his eyes as he finished adjusting and checked the progress of his soul. After a few minutes, he finally connected with the soul, allowing him to see a rough model of his body that slightly gleamed.

If one looked closely, the body's knees up to its feet were already glimmering a beautiful silver. Not only that, hairline cracks could be seen all over the body as if it only needed time for it to become fully iron. And well...it did only need time.

Shi Li then headed towards his courtyard's training space to check his current strength. He positioned himself in front of the strength measuring pillar as he bent his knees perpendicular to the pillar, channeling the strength of his body and soul as it shot out through the tips of his fist.

Bang!

A hazy white light that Shi Li usually ignored appeared once more as it covered the pillar. After a few seconds, a double-digit number appeared in front of the pillar, making Shi Li nod his head before heading towards his father's room with his full strength.

Shi Li's current strength was 33 ren.

...

Shi clan, Shi Xingwan's room.

Knock knock.

"Come in," Shi Xingwan said after he scanned the person behind the door with his qi. 'Eh? Shi Li? I've only talked with him yesterday but he already came back?'

Although he was slightly surprised, he suppressed this emotion, only directing a calm gaze towards Shi Li as Shi Li walked in.

Shi Li looked at his father's gaze and instinctively felt fear for once. It was as if it was wrong for him to come here today. Then again, it did seem wrong for him to come here today since it would make him look like a braggart in front of his father that told him about the challenges yesterday.

Nonetheless, the challenges and his current achievement were unrelated, which is why Shi Li had the confidence to sit down in front of his father.

Shi Xingwan couldn't help but frown slightly once he saw his son sit on the chair in front of him. He let out a bit of his Martial Master aura and asked, "What are you doing here, my son? Shouldn't you be cultivating in order to complete those two challenges?"

"Indeed I am Father," Shi Li gritted his teeth as he endured his father's aura. Even though it was just a small percent of his father's aura unlike at the time when his father opened the library, this aura he felt was filled with bad intent and only targeted towards him.

"I-I have already broken through," Shi Li said through his teeth.

Once he heard his son saying that he broke through, all of the aura he let out instantly disappeared, only being replaced by an expression filled with shock. "Eh? You're already at the second Martial Novice stage?" Shi Xingwan couldn't believe it.

"You can check it if you want Father." Seeing that he can now breathe easily, Shi Li inwardly let out a sigh of relief as he felt his father's qi scan his body and soul.

Shu Xingwan closed his eyes as he checked each and every cell on Shi Li's body. He could see some parts of Shi Li's muscle demonstrating the properties of iron, which meant that Shi Li broke through to the second Martial Novice stage not long ago. As for Shi Li's soul, it was far ahead than his body, emitting a strength that was slightly stronger than his body.

After seeing that his son's words were correct, Shi Xingwan couldn't help but laugh. "Hahahaha. I've given birth to a great son. Within one month, he has already broken through to the second Martial Novice stage!"

He looked at his son and asked, "Why didn't you tell me that you came here to tell me about your breakthrough?"

Shi Li wryly smiled. "You didn't give me a chance to do so, Father."

Shi Xingwan laughed as he apologized. "I'm sorry, my son. Just take it as a misunderstanding."

Shi Li did love his father, so he didn't mind it and nodded.

"Anyways, since you're already at the second Martial Novice stage, you're qualified to learn one Low Mortal grade martial technique," Shi Xingwan said.

Shi Li's eyes lit up. This was why he told his father about his breakthrough, it was because he needed a martial technique!

"Anyways, I would give you a chance to pick one sooner or later since you need to participate in the Martial Novice tournament. But since you've broken through, I don't have to delay it any further and give it to you right now," Shi Xingwan smiled.

"Now tell me son, what weapon would you like to cultivate?"

Shi Li wanted to shout the word sword as he wanted to become a sword cultivator, but he then thought of his current situation.

'I have a strength that's well above my peers in the same cultivation realm. If I use a normal sword, I wouldn't be able to efficiently use all of my strength in each attack,' Shi Li pondered.

'What weapon could allow me to exert the prowess of my strength?' Shi Li rubbed his chin as he recalled every type of weapon before stopping on a specific type.

'The hammer!' Shi Li's eyes lit up.

The hammer. Although it was a blunt weapon, it made up for its reduced attack power with its wide area of damage and heavy mass. For someone like Shi Li, it was suitable since he would be able to use hammers that have a higher strength requirement than usual.

Then again, Shi Li still wanted to become a sword cultivator. Zooming through the skies on a flying sword, killing multiple enemies with one slash...who wouldn't to live a life like that?

But he knew that the hammer was more suitable for him. In that case, he was going to choose the hammer as his weapon of choice. But before he could do so, an idea flashed in his mind as he replied.

"Father, I would like to use two weapons!"