Days passed by like a breeze but Li Gang didn't stop cultivation. As a person's cultivation increases, their sleep requirement decreases.
But, Li Gang still maintains his discipline. He sleeps 6-7 hours everyday and a whole day every 10 days.
The main reason is that, his brain is in active state nearly all times. This is something impossible for an ordinary person. A normal person's brain is generally in a passive state, and only when something important comes up, it switches from passive state to active state.
Human Brain has two kinds of thought states: Active, Passive.
Passive thoughts are similar to instincts. It develops with experience. For an example, let's take a Chess grandmaster. He has already memorized thousands of games, so he can easily see through mistakes by opponent without even calculating a single moves, just based on their pattern recognition.
But, in case of active thinking, they have to calculate different kinds of lines. This can also be understood with another example. When a person rides a bike. He is often lost in his thinking, but he still reaches his destination, without actively thinking which direction he has to go. Yes, it also has negative impact. The accuracy of Passive thinking is far less than Active thinking.
Maintaining active brain continuously cause great exhaustion to Li Gang, and it can even potentially lead to mental illness if not handled properly. Even though the effect has reduced with his high Spiritual and Soul Cultivation, he still takes precautions by having enough sleep. Sleep not only refreshes mind, but also helps in consolidating what he has learnt through active thinking.
1 month has passed.
Li Gang didn't focus on his Cultivation during this time, but tried to increase his proficiency in the techniques he learnt.
Grade 5: Thunderflash Dash: 78% (Intermediate early stage)
Grade 5: Soulshield Ward: 15% (Novice peak stage)
Grade 5: Whispering Wind Arrow: 74% (Intermediate early stage)
Grade 4: Wind-Thunder Eagle Eye: 80% (Advance early stage)
Grade 8: Blade of Brilliance: 1% (Novice early stage)
From now on, Li Gang would use these techniques more often. This is mainly because Grade 2 Techniques are no longer suitable to him. His Soul Cultivation is Rank 4 peak stage and Spiritual Cultivation is Rank 3 mid stage. His Soul Cultivation is decreasing at faster rate as compared to his Spiritual Cultivation, this is because the foundation of his Soul Cultivation is also improving.
Li Gang's understanding of Soul attribute is too low. Thus, his exploitation of Soulshield Ward technique is hindered. He thought of Lin Fan and murmured. "I have to take him down and get his experiences through soul search as soon as possible. Outer Disciple Sect Exam will start from tomorrow, I should be prepared."
Li Gang has already started plotting against him 1 month back, and for this he has already registered in Outer Disciple Sect Exam.
After practicing for a while, He went back for the rest.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Next day
Many outer sect disciples are gathered together and having a discussion.
"Have you heard, Jian Wei has reached Rank 4 middle stage. I am sure he would be number one this time."
"There is even Liu Jin, he is at Rank 4 early stage."
"I know, even Zhou Yuerong reached Rank 4 early stage!"
"Zhou Yuerong has support of Senior brother Yan, it is not difficult to cultivate so fast. She has enough resources to back it up."
"I heard she had marriage contract with someone?"
"Your news is old, they broke up 1 month ago. That b*stard even dared to throw divorce paper on her face. I don't know how will senior Yan will respond at his audacity."
"He will have tough spot in this exam, that's for sure."
Li Gang looked at everyone and soon found Lin Fan hiding in the corner. He didn't bother him, but instead changed his disguise and started interacting with different people.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
After completing his preparation, he left the place, returned to his original face and came back.
Soon, few Inner Disciples came and announced.
"In this Outer Disciple Sect Exam, you will have to face life and death experience. We will teleport you go to a different place, where you will have to survive for 6 months, and hunt Spiritual Beasts of Rank 4 or above. The number of Beastly cores you submit will be considered as your points. The top 10 with highest points will be selected to be Inner Sect disciple."
Most of the disciples are in Rank 3, so it would be difficult for them to defeat Beasts of Rank 4 or more, but here is the catch. There is no rule saying one can't make teams and fight in the group. Those Rank 3 Warriors will all fight in the group.
Li Gang was looking at Lin Fan deeply at this time. He noticed Lin Fan's firm and confident smile and frowned. 'What gives him so much confidence?'
He retracted his gaze and prepared for the competition.
Soon, one of the inner disciple opened a portal and let all the Warriors through. He said:
"Take these tokens and talisman before entering. This token will let you know your current location in the forest and also the location of various beasts. The talisman is for your protection. If you feel your life in danger, break this talisman and it will take you out of the Space immediately. But you will also be disqualified. Remember, your life is more important than entering Inner Sect!"
Li Gang ran as soon as he opened the portal and entered it. He has always believed in the preciousness of time and never wasted even a second. The inner sect disciple, named Gao Li, frowned but didn't say anything.
As soon as he entered, he took out his token and analyzed his position.
This place is covered entirely with forest areas, and their are many small regions marked representing danger. These dangers are none other than Rank 4 and above beasts which the outer disciples are supposed to hunt.
Li Gang found an appropriate place in the map, and immediately set off. Within an hour, he reached his destination.
It was a Waterfall. Li Gang has always liked waterfalls, because sitting beneath it calms his mind for some reason. This is beneficial for his cultivation.
He murmured. 'For next 3-4 months, I would improve my cultivation, and then I would try to learn those Secret Techniques.'
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Few days later, at a certain place in this Forest.
Lin Fan was moving when he soon heard a loud shout of help.
"Heeelp!"
He looked on his right and saw a girl surrounded by 4 Warriors.
Xi Chen looked at the girl and laughed. "Shout, shout as much as you want but no one will help you here Li Meiying. Give us the Beastly core you obtained."
Li Meiying looked at him hatefully and shouted. "I killed the Beast, so what is the problem if I took away it's core? You are robbing openly."
Xi Chen didn't care. "We injured it first, otherwise how could you with mere Rank 3 middle stage cultivation kill it?"
Li Meiying shouted. "Shameless. When did you injure it?"
Xi Chen smiled. "Then how could you kill it with mere Rank 3 middle stage cultivation?"
Li Meiying didn't say anything anymore, but suddenly a young man came out and shouted. "Four warriors surrounding a young girl? Do you even dare call yourself a Warrior?"
Xi Chen looked at the new comer and a glint flashed in his eyes. He shouted. "Who are you?"
Lin Fan said arrogantly. "Dead doesn't have to know."
Saying that he revealed his Rank 3 mid stage aura and used his fist to attack him, but as he was about to attack, all the four Warriors pounced on him.
Even though Lin Fan possesses experience far beyond an ordinary person, fighting 4 Warriors with cultivation above him is difficult. But, with just skills, he suppressed them continuously.
But as he was suppressing them, suddenly, a strong force hit him from the side catching him off guard. His right side was seriously injured and he felt pain, but his expression didn't change. Such pain is nothing to him. He looked at Xi Chen and murmured. 'Spiritual Imprint!'
Lin Fan's soul is still in an injured state and not to mention it is too high level and his current cultivation can't even utilize a single ounce of the abilities.
But, he didn't cower. He used multiple Secret Techniques efficiently, and immediately suppressed them again. But soon, he faced another problem. All those 4 Warriors used their Spiritual Imprint and continuously targeted his injured part. Even though he was still winning, but the fight is no longer worth it.
Lin Fan thought. 'I shouldn't have been so reckless. But, the gains would also be great if I loot them.'
As he thought of this, he fought more and more fiercely.
Xi Chen and others were completely suppressed. Suddenly, Xi Chen was hit by Lin Fan's strong fist and fainted down.
As soon as Xi Chen fainted, Lin Fan immediately defeated others easily but before he could kill them, they broke the talisman and left this place.
Lin Fan's face changed. He looked at Xi Chen and murmured. 'I can no longer kill him, it is better to loot him before leaving this place.'
He came close to Xi Chen's body and started searching his Space rings. He soon found few of them, but as he went to take them off, a small knife stuck his abdomen catching him off guard. Without giving him another chance, Xi Chen immediately used his Spiritual Imprint to attack him further.
Xi Chen's Spiritual Imprint grants him enhanced physique. It increases his Strength, Defense and Speed.
Lin Fan was seriously injured. He shouted. "You left me no choice."
Lin Fan immediately utilized his soul power and created a strong Soul attack, killing Xi Chen immediately.
Soul Attack are double edged swords. It not only harms the enemy but also the user. Not to mention Lin Fan's Soul was already in injured state.
Lin Fan murmured. "I can only use it two more times, I have to find something to heal my soul."
But unknown to Lin Fan, his misfortune has just begun.