Michael had been more than enough cautious about the entire matter. After leaving, he was again on alert. The feeling that he had gotten from the cultivator with devouring bloodline was that of imminent danger. As he was becoming more and more familiar with psychic energy, he was getting more and more proficient in his skills as well. Thus, his intuition was actually at a frightening level. After exiting the battlefield, he waited for some time in another independent space with the rest of the candidates that had cleared the test. The entire test was supposed to have a fixed tenure. After the tenure was over, all the ones who were still alive were transported back to the peak of the mountain. In the end, only around 700 candidates were qualified and half of them were demi-ascendants. This was indeed a great way to cull the total numbers. Each person had to defeat 10 to pass. And there was a time limit as well. Thus, the number was more or less expected.
The passed candidates were again teleported to a big square. This was an open space in between grand buildings extending to many stories. Michael and the other candidates appeared here. The first thing Michael noticed was the stability of the space and abundance of spirit-energy. It was actually tens of times compared to the City of Liberty! One must keep in mind that Jupyter's space and energy were already hundreds of times more concentrated than Aterna. Michael estimated that his power level was actually suppressed to that of a peak-saint in Aterna! It was not that his power had decreased but the entire world around him was monstrous. If a mortal was placed in such a world, they would be crushed into a paste by the pressure!
A middle-aged man was standing on the dais. He was standing there but the entire space was bending around him! It was as if as long as he wanted, the space around him would shatter. This man was the most powerful cultivator Michael had ever seen. Gordon and the rest were like ants before him! The man was keeping his pressure quite controlled but Michael knew that if the other party released his aura, perhaps he too might end up dying. This man had instantly attracted all the attention as soon as the candidates appeared.
Looking at the new candidates, he said:
> Welcome to the Dead Sea Sect. I am an elder here. You can call me Elder Francis. I am a rank seven ascendant and I was the overall organiser of the tests this time. I am happy to tell you all that you all have passed the preliminary test and even if you were to fail in the further tests, you would still be accepted in the Dead Sea Sect. But the discipeship ceremony would happen after the entire testing process has been concluded. Meanwhile, you will be given provisonary identity cards. These cards have spirit arrays in them that will give you access to many of the facilities. I would suggest for all of you to look into all the facilities that are there in the sect. As for further selections, we are going to conduct one on one combat matches from now on. The elders will watch these matches and will decide your battle talents over the course of many matches. Then, we will select 60 people with the highest combat ability and talent to take part in the final competition. The decision will be made on the basis of combined scores of all the elders. Meanwhile, we will also select 20 most outstanding students and have an internal competition giving several rewards to these winners. But know this, getting selected for the final phase of testing does not guarantee entry into the Divine Sea Sect as only a hundred applicants will be chosen finally. I hope that you all can do your best in the coming days as part of the family. Now, go to the disciples standing in the alley and get your maps and orientation books. Dismissed!
Michael left like the rest to find a disciple. This disciple was also a powerhouse - he was definitely at least a rank three ascendant! Michael respectfully bowed to the person before politely accepting his identity card and orientation jade. Michael was completely awestruck by the power wielded by upper-ascendants. The Elder earlier was so strong that Michael was simply an ant before him. Even the plane-will of Aterna was nothing in front of this man. He could have even fought and crushed Aterna's plane-will when it was at its peak. This was a true overlord of the Oceania dominion. As long as the matters did not involve divine ones, he was someone who could handle any matter. If such a person stood up for Aterna, there would be no need to worry. But Michael did not engage in this ridiculous fantasy. He swiftly went through the orientation jade. Again, using psychic energy, he managed to go through the information extremely quickly. He could see how grand the Dead Sea Sect was and after looking through the facilities in the sect, he was truly stunned.
There were many things that were legendary in the world outside but were available to disciples in the sect. For example - special cultivation rooms. These chambers not only had extremely profound condensation of laws but also accelerated time. Law-lake in Aterna was like this but there was a huge difference. The law lake was actually a naturally formed area, so the laws were wild and unruly. Several laws were mixed up and it was hard to distinguish them. The complexity was also randomly spread and so, finding the appropriate strand and focussing on it was difficult. But these cultivation chambers were not like that at all. They were artificially created where one could control the time acceleration as well as set the law one wanted to have as well as the complexity. It was perfect heaven, especially useful for conception realm experts. Due to the factors of time acceleration, it was possible to cover the entire perfect-realm in a single day. This was simply heaven-defying. How many perfect-realm ancestors of the human race had died in vain after spending thousands of years trying to reach the condensation realm? And how many across Aterna had suffered the same tragic fate? Even greatest geniuses with potential, hard-work and supreme backgrounds had failed to reach the immortal realm. Michael, even with a law inheritance, took many years to cross the journey. And now, he came across these chambers which could seemingly produce condensation realm cultivators like a factory. As long as one had even the smallest potential, with these rooms, they would reach the condensation realm. And these rooms were not the most precious in the sect either but in fact only mildly important compared to other resources.
While these chambers were very useful for conception realm experts, they were going to be very beneficial for Michael as well. Many years ago, Michael had obtained the law inheritance of Endless Life Scripture and had cultivated it blindly. And it had unknowingly skewed his laws and had damaged his foundation. Now, he was having to unlearn his wrong misconceptions or else his future would be limited. When Michael had started his cultivation, he lacked understanding and experience and was also in a desperate situation. Thus, he had chosen to blindly cultivate the inheritance. This had caused his laws to be very unbalanced. And if he could not overcome this hurdle, perhaps he might never reach the upper-ascendant realm. Using these chambers would reduce the time and effort it would take him by a lot.
The other incredible resources were law spirits. These were objects that were made completely out of laws. As long as one absorbed them, one's understanding of laws would increase by leaps and bounds! Michael had never heard of such things and had not even imagined that such things existed. These were one of the highly precious resources in the sect.
Another great resource was known as wisdom bead. It was said that once one consumed a wisdom bead, one would gain incredible wisdom for a period of time. Whether it was law cultivation, spells, martial skills or anything else - one could comprehend in a small amount of time.
Of course, these resources were not freely distributed but had to be bought with sect points. And one earned points through missions, trade or services. If one kept giving huge meritorious services to the sect, one would be able to avail as many resources as one wanted. And what was the way to make contributions? There were many different missions but the ones which paid the most were related to the exploration of the law ocean, planar wars, expeditions in dangerous regions of space-time. The greater the risk, the higher the reward.
The one-on-one battles were going to start from the next day so most of the people chose to explore the various facilities in the sect. But Michael immediately went to another part of the sect - The Arts and Techniques Centre.
The Dead Sea Sect was established in a semi-plane. It was made by the Grand Elder of the Divine Sea Sect - a two-star divinity. The plane was actually huge - much bigger than Aterna. The identity cards of disciples contained teleportation arrays or else transport would have been an issue in the sect. Michael reached the location of the centre in the blink of an eye. The centre was actually an entire campus with several huge buildings. Michael entered the campus and looking through the map, arrived at the location that he felt was suitable for himself. It was a pavilion that contained mortal-class skills and arts. The building was actually the busiest out of all the buildings on the campus. After all, even in the Dead Sea Sect, there were many mortals and much fewer ascendants.
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Michael's entrance caused many eyes to turn. After all, he was wearing a normal scholar's robe and was not in the martial uniform of the sect. One glance could tell that he did not belong here. There were many curious gazes. Michael walked to the reception and said:
> I wish to find some important combat skills and cultivation techniques. Am I at the right place?
>
> Receptionist : Um, are you a disciple of the sect? Where is your uniform?
>
> Michael : I am not a disciple but a candidate. Here is my identity card.
The receptionist made the "Oh! So that was it!" look and checked the card. Then she said:
> Receptionist : Junior, you are indeed at the right place. But there is a problem. The disciples here all exchange for whatever arts or techniques they want with sect points. All new disciples are given a thousand points initially. But this only happens after the discipleship ceremony. So right now, you can not make the trade.
>
> Michael : I know. Therefore, I want to make a trade. In my adventures, I have come across many techniques and arts and have developed some myself. I will sell these in exchange for the ones that I need.
The receptionist looked at him and said,
> Junior, it is not that I don't want you to succeed but we don't do this type of business.
Michael was a bit disappointed and was about to leave when a voice rang through the entire building
> Send that boy up. I will meet him.
The power of the voice was definitely not weak!
The receptionist looked Michael with surprised eyes before showing him to the elevator. She told Michael to go to the topmost floor. Michael reached the topmost floor in a few moments. As the elevator door opened, he was greeted by a luxurious lobby.
The voice from before echoed in his head
> Come in. My office is to the right.
Michael entered the gate and went right. He easily found the office of the woman whose voice he had heard. That was because the entire right side of the floor was actually her office.
He opened the gate to find a graceful woman sitting on a sofa. The office looked like a luxurious suite. This woman was another powerful cultivator - she was at the same level as Gordon Marx. Michael cupped his hands and greeted the lady. She looked up from the manuscripts she was reading and said
> Indeed, you are a celestial. This time there are many interesting candidates. What were you doing before taking the exam?
>
> Michael : I was an independent cultivator.
>
> Lady : To be able to reach such a level with your own talent is indeed incredible - considering your age. But your laws are also skewed - looks like your master was an idiot. He almost ruined such a gem! Anyway, no irreparable harm has been done. Since you have not ascended, it can still be rectified. I am Reyna - an elder of the inner sect. I used to be a legacy disciple but could not keep my discipleship as I could not advance in the time set by the sect. So tell me, what trade do you want to make?
>
> Michael : I have come across many different techniques through my adventures. Please take a look.
Saying so, he took out the manuscripts he had prepared for all his unusable arts - All-Seeing Eyes, Flowing River Art, Close Combat Soul Art, Vitality Burning, Disorientation art, Illusion Combat Art, Formless Concealment Art.
Lady Reyna looked through the manuscripts and her eyes registered shock. All these were extremely high-class mortal-stage arts. Apart from the stages of cultivation that the arts were naturally classified into, they were also classified on the basis of quality. The arts or techniques could be divided into the low, intermediate, high and super grades. Each of these grades could be further classified into different stages but that was dependent to some degree on the user-compatibility and even circumstances. All the arts that Michael had given were at least high grade with the All-Seeing Eyes and Formless Concealment Art being super grade. But most importantly, apart from Vitality Burning, all these arts were not in the Sect's library! What was the Divine Sea Sect? It was the behemoth of the entire dominion and so its library and archive were huge. It definitely did not contain all the knowledge there was but it was truly too hard to create skills that were not present in the archives. As a result, most of the times, the transaction value of techniques was too low. But this situation was definitely not like that.
After inspecting the skills for some time, Reyna looked at Michael and said:
> Reyna : All these are pretty good. We already have Vitality Burning Art but yours is a bit different. So this will be valued at 50 sect points. As for the Flowing River Art, Close Combat Soul Art, Disorientation art and Illusion Combat Art, they are all high grade techniques - each valued at 250 sect points. This will be 1000 sect points. As for your All-Seeing Eyes and Formless Concealment Art, they are super-grade and are 500 points each. This is another 1000 sect points. In total, you can choose techniques worth 2050 sect points from our archives to read and learn. This is a catalogue. As I see it, you perhaps don't need any of the normal ones. All the celestial arts on a separate page. Go through them and find the one suitable to you.
>
> Michael : Many thanks!
Michael started going through the page on celestial arts. There were actually hundreds of arts described on the page. But more than half of them dealt with different methods to boost the power of spells. Michael ignored these. His combat style, as well as dao, was that of a warrior. What use would he have of skills of a mage? Mages were known for their strategic use. A single mage could kill much faster and on a larger scale than a warrior. But in a one-on-one battle at same cultivation, the mage would most likely end up dying. There was no combat class better at one-on-one battle than the warrior.
After eliminating many of the arts, there was still quite a lot of them left. Michael then went slowly through the description of these arts. After reading through, three of these caught his eye:
Compression - Michael's body carried a connection to heaven and earth. He could recover any lost celestial energy at a terrifying speed. As a result, he could keep up the expenditure of celestial energy for a long time in normal circumstances. But the amount of energy in his body and soul was actually fixed. Thus, the greatest amount of energy that he could erupt with was not as large. This new art was a method of compressing the energy stored in his body so that he would be able to store more energy and as a result could explode with more power. While this would decrease his energy recovery - Michael's energy recovery using life laws was absolutely absurd. The negative effect was actually easy to bear for him.
Forging - This was a body cultivation method based on using celestial energy. It used celestial energy to increase physical strength permanently. This was quite remarkable as the physical strength of one's body almost remained the same after reaching the conception realm. Even after the body became attuned to laws and one could use law energy, the power of the physical body did not increase. What use was physical might? First of all, there were many places in the world where the power of laws was extremely thin - these were the dangerous zones, space-time crevices in the law ocean. Usually, these regions contained many precious resources. But exploring them was risky as there was no source of power for cultivators. As long as one was not an ascendant, it was too hard to enter these areas confidently. But even for ascendants, their law marks were not infinite and if trapped in such a region, their law marks would run dry. In such situations, having powerful physical strength was a huge benefit. But more importantly, this actually built the foundation for ascension. With a more powerful body, one would have a more solid foundation and it would be possible to bear more law marks!
Manipulation - This skill covered methods of using celestial energy as telekinesis. It was extremely useful for weapon practitioners. With this, one would be able to wield a weapon even from a distance.
Michael had been focussing on his choice of weapon for quite some time. That was also the reason he wanted to win this tournament. A life-weapon would increase his power by a lot. Even if he did not win, it was time that Michael learned handling a weapon. As he could not make progress in his cultivation, for the time being, he had to look to other avenues to increase his strength. All of the skills that Michael had seen were quite practical and their endpoint was also quite ahead. For example, theoretically, one could keep on improving one's body strength as long as the celestial energy cultivation was stronger than the base physical body. So even ascendants could use this method. But it became harder to increase the base power of a human body beyond a certain limit. That was the limit of ascendance. A human could never reach the same level as beasts and have their physical body strength in the ascendant realm - not without the use of law marks. Thus, it was the endpoint of this skill. But currently, Michael was quite far off from that point. Compression similarly could compress celestial energy to about 10 times the normal. It could not go higher because of the limits of the human body.
Each of these skills cost 1000 sect points. Michael wanted to get all three but in the end, decided to take Compression and Forging focussing on his present needs. What he wanted most was a perception skill similar to All-Seeing Eyes that would be effective against ascendants but it seemed such skills were not present in mortal stage.
After taking these arts, Michael went into secluded cultivation. He worked day and night. And slowly his mastery over these techniques grew. Battles were arranged and daily many battles were arranged. Michael revealed his identity as a demi-ascendant celestial in the first battle shocking all the candidates. His opponent who was only in the conception realm had spit blood and fainted due to Michael's overbearing aura! This scared the other candidates pretty badly and the several of Michael's next battles were all forfeited by the opponents. This gave him the peace to cultivate these skills and he made rapid progress. And in this way, half a month went by. It was at that point that Michael received the notification - he had been selected as one of the 60 candidates to take the final test. He was also chosen as one of the 20 people eligible for internal competition. From tomorrow onwards, the battles of the top 20 would begin for the lucrative rewards!