Tyler spent the couple weeks until the Sword Sect admissions engrossed in his exploration of the Thundering Winds and Sword Clouds Method and the Radiant Wave Stance, causing time to fly by swiftly.
During his battle with the thugs from the Azure Viper Gang and his sparring with Master Tanaka, he clearly understood the need to gain power quickly but also he knew not to rush things in order to establish a proper base for his future cultivation.
Sure, he was beyond overpowered if fighting anyone on his “level”, but facing stronger foes? He’d be doomed and he knew that.
Tyler still didn’t really know his goal in this new world, but for now, he’d settle with continuing his life as is and chase power until he was strong enough to survive in the wilds to explore this new world of his.
On cultivation, in the last two weeks Tyler had consistently been opening acupoints every time he cultivated, pushing him straight from the 49th to the 73rd acupoint.
Every day, he would wake up and Annie would have an extremely Qi-rich breakfast ready for him.
Right after that, he went to the gazebo and practiced for a few hours. Using the excess Qi from the succulent dishes, opening acupoints became as easy as breathing.
As mentioned before, achieving Ascendance of Trinity had caused a large qualitative shift in his Qi and with that, he could finally force his pores open. By doing so, his absorption rate of ambient Qi had drastically improved.
During this period, Lin Jian had dropped by to discuss some things with Tyler with regards to cultivation and he had to delve deeper into all the specific cultivation aids so that Tyler really understood the whole picture.
For starters, alchemy items.
When refining pills and other concoctions, inefficiencies inevitably arose in the creation process and over time and when consuming those products, one's body would become incapable of processing the impurities and with time, leading to a semi-permanent bottleneck.
However, alchemical items, like pills and other concoctions, offered more focused power gains that could be customized to specific needs. Unless you were severely stuck in your cultivation progress or required healing beyond your natural recovery rate, you shouldn't haphazardly use these products.
For instance, there were pills designed to aid in igniting one's blood and helping reach the 16th level, or pills tailored to unblock multiple acupoints simultaneously and obviously, healing pills.
Then, he explained specifically about the derivative products made from the same materials as the coins; Silver Condensate, Spirit Crystals, Celestial Shards, and Obsidian Gems.
Their use was simple. Absorb them while using your cultivation method to siphon off the energies within and use it to gather energy at an accelerated rate. Absorbing those was akin to consuming raw Qi and True Essence, almost like regular food, but with exponentially more potency.
Using this to cultivate however was exorbitantly expensive, even more so than opting for pills or just eating foodstuffs filled with Qi, as it required a significant amount of currency for those gains.
For instance, to acquire a single Spirit Crystal, one would need to part with a dozen spirit coins. In contrast, you could purchase the equivalent amount of high-quality beast meat filled with Qi for less than fifty silver coins.
Only affluent cultivators would engage in such practices and the Sword King was just that. Extremely rich. So he did what rich people do and gave a full purse of Silver Condensates to Tyler for his cultivation needs.
Tyler had refused at first but he had made it clear once more that he couldn’t care less about spending money on Tyler as he saw it as an investment that had already paid off a million fold.
Then, there was foodstuffs.
Food was a daily necessity for all, with a natural limit to how much one could consume before being full and was generally seen as the best way to naturally temper and consolidate your cultivation base as it was both cheap and without any drawbacks.
The Qi contained within was also completely natural and was refined by the beast or plant it had belonged to, making it an extremely pure and natural form of energy. But, what would take a few hours to absorb with the Condensates or Crystals could take weeks to eat.
The real use of the coin derivatives were for cultivators to swiftly restore their Qi or True Essence following an arduous battle. This energy was remarkably dense and pure, carrying no drawbacks except for its prohibitive cost. Hence why almost no one used it to cultivate, although it could technically be done.
Finally, there were natural treasures.
Regardless of one's wealth, these couldn't be purchased; they could only be stumbled upon by chance. But to be more precise, they were items spawned directly from the world itself, from a concentration of leylines, spirit veins or other events resulting in a large concentration of energy.
So, generally speaking, you could technically have a higher chance to stumble on one if you knew where those were but even then, it was a one in a million chance.
Every single natural treasure was different and no one could pinpoint their use before seeing the treasure itself. One example that Lin Jian mentioned was a meteorite that had fallen deep in Serenity Lake centuries ago.
When Fang Mo and Lin Jian had gone to investigate, they discovered the corpse of an Ascendant-level beast. They had feasted on its meat for months, which had supported both men's breakthrough into the Soul Shattering stage.
Moreover, they had utilized its Aperture, a feature possessed by everyone at the Aperture Strengthening stage and beyond, to craft Fang Mo's personal weapon, Starfall’s Edge, which he still wielded to this day.
That talk with the Sword King had confirmed some things he had read about in the library but most importantly, it really put things into perspective for Tyler. The library in Edge City had only publicly available knowledge for mortals after all.
If he had been browsing Profound City’s libraries instead, he would’ve gotten all of this and more in a few days of reading.
After explaining all of this, he inquired if Tyler had any insights or knowledge related to those topics from the pre-shattering times. Unfortunately for the Sword King, Tyler had only encountered such concepts in fantasy novels and had no practical knowledge of this in the real world.
Finally, wrapping up the two weeks recap, a nice surprise for Tyler.
Meliessa had gotten in touch with Tyler and summoned him to the restricted section. She had accumulated a few coins for him. His cut of the newly reworked One Finger, One Sword technique!
When Tyler arrived at the library, Meliessa handed him two dozen spirit coins, which shocked him that so many people had paid to learn his reviewed work.
Seeing how he hadn't actually seen the fruits of his labor, he meandered over and went to look for the official finished work.
After a few minutes of browsing he found it.
One Finger, One Sword.
Earth-grade. (Codex - Forming Stage.)
Offensive technique, reviewed by Elder Plum, given by the Sword King.
After looking over the manuscript's revisions, the elder had updated the grade and its origin. Tyler didn't mind that his name wasn't credited for it. He then spent a few minutes reading through the contents and was pleased with what he found.
This finally appeared to be a genuine technique that, in his opinion, incorporated all fundamental aspects of cultivation.
After placing it back into its sealed display, he returned to converse with Meliessa and discovered that a Codex was simply a book that could teach you a technique simply by reading it. He had also learned that the technique now performed four times better than before.
Such a feature was exceptionally rare for a cultivation technique, hence its steep price.
In the end, Tyler still lacked sufficient knowledge about the world's economy to accurately assess the value of cultivation methods or techniques. However, to his understanding, if privately sold, a codex of this caliber would likely fetch at least three to four times the library’s price.
During his training under Master Tanaka, Tyler also came to a realization. He now understood that the main reason he had struggled to make progress in other techniques from the library was his limited understanding of their underlying principles and that the original One Finger, One Sword was so simple a brute could learn it.
This became evident as he made slow and methodical progress while learning the more advanced techniques of the Radiant Fist series of moves from Ryuji.
If he were to devote sincere effort to studying any of these techniques, he was confident he could achieve some level of success over time. After all, he had only dedicated a day, at most, to some of those techniques.
Just like that, a couple of weeks whisked by, reminiscent of fleeting summer vacations and the arrival of autumn.
Now, it was time for the Sword Sect’s admissions.
***
On the morning of the event, Lo Shen sent a note to Three Heritage Haven, asking Annie to remind Tyler of the appointed date at noon.
After finishing his morning routine of exercise, breakfast, and cultivation, Tyler returned to his room around 9 o'clock. He took a revitalizing shower and then changed into a fresh outfit consisting of black silk pants and a dark blue shirt that resembled a casual kimono.
He had grown fond of Master Tanaka's clothing style at the dojo and had given some of his newly acquired funds to Annie and requested her to procure a similar but more casual wardrobe for him in those same color palettes of black and blue.
He then embarked on a leisurely journey accompanied by Greg towards the Radiant Fist Dojo to say his temporary goodbyes to Master Tanaka. Then, they both headed to the plaza where he had been running back and forth a lot since his arrival on this mountain.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
On route, they encountered several people, mainly teenagers, heading in the same direction.
The air was abuzz with excitement as everyone was eager to take the admission tests and possibly become part of the elites of Veridian Peaks!
When they reached the toll at the gates leading out the city, everyone handed over 10 copper coins to pass through the gate.
When it was Tyler and Gregory’s turn, however, they were let through without a single word or coin being exchanged.
This caused a stir among the group of teenagers. None had noticed the token on his waist, and even if they had, they wouldn't comprehend its significance unless they had already developed their divine sense or touched it directly.
Tyler took his time ascending, feeling no rush as he followed the crowd.
As the only individual who looked over the age of 20 present, he was largely left to his own devices during this one-and-a-half-hour climb up the mountain. Eventually, they all reached a plaza where four cultivators were waiting for them, with Lo Shen among them.
After waiting for half an hour for the sun to reach its zenith, a few more mortals wandered in from Permanence City and Lo Shen took flight, looking at everyone from a few meters off the ground.
“Welcome to the Sword Sect admission tests. My name is Lo Shen and I am in charge of outer sect admissions. Beside me are Elder Brady, Elder Yore and Elder Hill they will be in charge of the other groups. Now if your name is called, you will follow Elder Brady here and he will be in charge of you for the next few hours.“
Unfurling a long list of names that he acquired from the application process, he started naming people. “Gilbert Hill, Johana Brand….” After a total of twelve names, he continued. “The next batch will follow Elder Yore!”
Thus, every mortal was assigned to one of the three elders, leaving the final twelve individuals, including Tyler, to Lo Shen himself. Intrigued by Tyler's admission and eager to observe the results of the various Trials, Lo Shen utilized his authority to personally oversee the process.
"As many of you may know, the tests consist of four parts. You need to pass one to become a servant of the outer Sword Sect. Two to become a member of the outer sect. Three to become a member of the inner sect and four to become a core disciple and of course, depending on your results in each of those tests you could be assigned a higher position.”
After a short pause, he continued. “First, you will choose one of the six tests available in the plaza's pagoda formation. Second, you must climb the mountain itself by passing through the Mountain Ascension Trial. Third, you must challenge a sect disciple in a different subject than the first trial. Lastly, if you are willing, you will be subjected to the Sword Intent guarding the treasure pavilion. If you can endure for a full minute, you pass." He paused once more, surveying the crowd.
"Now, since I am overseeing this whole thing, our group will go first. I have quite a bit of work to do once I'm done with you guys." With a wave of his sleeves, the large gate to the Nine Illusions Pagoda formation swung open.
In a neat line, the three youths with the highest cultivation levels stepped toward the center, their faces beaming with pride and boasting as they looked around, almost tauntingly. Lo Shen was about to intervene and place Tyler in their spot, but Tyler shook his head.
To him, how others perceived his position did not matter. After all, he did have a lower cultivation level than them… technically. Well at least, their detection techniques said so.
Gregory, being a sea formation cultivator, had been directed to the observation deck by Shen which had surprised the man greatly.
As Tyler positioned himself on the circle beneath him, he extended his divine sense in all directions. He sensed the precise moment when Shen activated the formation, creating a connection between Tyler and the circle beneath him.
This was a novel experience for Tyler, marking the first time he had been at the focal point of a formation and could intimately perceive its inner workings. It felt like a web of channels filled with True Essence were pulsating with power and through the magic that were formations, the pagoda appeared for all to see.
Though he had sensed formations before due to his divine sense, this was a unique opportunity to be an integral part of one and get a feeling on its intricate workings.
He shut his eyes to concentrate on this subtle connection and a link suddenly formed between him and his inner world.
Fortunately for the formation, Tyler permitted this connection, which caused his soul body to be forcibly drawn out of his inner world and into the pagoda. Had he resisted, the formation would have instantly shattered.
Tyler couldn’t explain why but he just felt that this was the case.
After all, his inner world had sustained a Soul Shattering cultivator’s breakthrough and was a power usually only reserved for Ascendants. No one, not even Lin Jian could’ve warned him of this possibility of happening while being the subject of soul manipulation formations.
Inside the pagoda, Shen stood there just 10 meters away, quietly.
In a monotonous voice, he listed off the options. “What will it be? Combat, Alchemy, Formation Creation, Treasure Refining, Runemaking or Law Confirmation?”
Lacking knowledge in alchemy, refining, formations, or runemaking, he opted for what seemed like the most fun path that would let him have an out at the third test with Law Confirmations.
“Combat.” Replied Tyler.
Through his divine sense, Tyler could tell that Shen’s cultivation level was set exactly at the maximum limit of Qi Gathering, level 9.
As this test had to be fair for all attendees, the first combat level was always level 9. Then, Lo Shen’s voice echoed, seeming almost like an automated message from an answering machine.
“You have 10 minutes to either beat this avatar or you have to survive my attacks for 10 minutes. All injuries and energy consumptions won’t be reflected on your original body but will be carried over to the next level. In the case of death, you will simply be kicked out of the illusion. The fight starts in a minute.”
Tyler stood up and he got into a fighting stance. He didn’t plan on bringing out any special weapons… Not that he had any…
55… 56… 57… 58… 59…
After the count reached a minute, Tyler spread his divine sense and stepped forward.
Detecting a gap in the avatar’s defenses, he kicked. Using the Radiant Waves Stance while using minimal amounts of Qi, the strike landed square in the avatar’s chest.
In less than a single second, Lo Shen’s avatar exploded into mist, revealing a staircase heading to the next floor.
Shen, being in control of the formation, wasn’t surprised and he was certain that these first few levels would be trivial considering Tyler's firepower but there was something he hadn’t expected… Soul attacks!
As Tyler reached the second level of the pagoda, he saw another avatar of Shen. This time, he discerned its level at the very peak of the 9th level.
Tyler kept using the basic moves taught to him by Master Tanaka, using a single blow to destroy the second level as well as soul attacks were fatal to anyone under the late stage of Qi Transformation.
Level by level was beat by Tyler as he slowly ascended to the third, fourth, fifth and sixth level.
The elder observing Tyler was speechless as he didn’t understand how a level 6 mortal kept winning in a single blow even against a level 13 avatar of Lo Shen.
Gregory was also observing from behind and was also somewhat shocked. He knew his newest client was strong as he had killed a level 12 cultivator, but he didn’t realize it was to this extent.
When he had first accepted the job, all he was told was that he’d be serving as personal guard to a promising young cultivator. He didn’t question it more than that as the pay alone was outrageously advantageous for simply guarding a mortal.
As Tyler ascended to the 7th level of the pagoda, Shen’s avatar had reached level 15.
Tyler was aware that, typically, this was the stage where his power started to be evenly matched. If he had faced the real Shen at this level, he probably would have been defeated after a short exchange and Tyler running out of Qi due to the man’s soul defenses.
However, in this formation, the rules were different.
Shen's avatar was purely a soul projection, making soul attacks a sure way to destroy all of them. The nature of the formation didn't allow for the projections to have such defenses and Tyler wouldn't tone down the power for fun. He had acquired it fair and square.
This test was designed for mortals and early Qi Transformation martial artists, not freaks like Tyler who had come here with their actual souls and had achieved Trinity.
With a single punch, Tyler effortlessly advanced to the eighth and ninth levels as if he were taking a leisurely stroll and conquered those as well.
Those levels, even if he had given it his all, were beyond his capabilities if he hadn’t been here with his soul body.
They housed level 17 and 19 incarnations, far exceeding Tyler's limits and posing a grave threat that could likely defeat him with a single strike.
But, with a single ranged One Finger One Sword, the hidden threat of the soul attacks instantly won him the bouts and Tyler was well aware that this was the case.
Upon reaching the end of the pagoda, Tyler was taken back outside and the formation’s connection was severed, allowing his soul form to return to its paradisiacal island and his body to move once more.
Seeing that Tyler was extremely fast to beat every level, he was amongst the firsts to emerge from the formation.
One by one, the young cultivators emerged from their individual illusions and their results were announced.
Two had conquered the Refining Simulations at the second and fifth level respectively.
One youth had excelled in the Alchemy Simulation, completing the fifth level as well.
Four individuals had successfully completed the Combat tests, two at the second level, one at the fourth level and Shen, intending to save the most impressive result for last, pronounced each word with utmost clarity.
"Tyler Reed, 9th level Combat test. Passed."
This announcement left the entire group in stunned silence. The pass rate for this group was significantly above average, but no one seemed to care about that at the moment.
All eyes were on Tyler, and even the observing elders, who had previously paid no attention to his test, now stared at him in astonishment, their mouths hanging open.
Normally, the elders would descend to provide personalized feedback to each participant but now, they were all silent. The elder who had been observing Tyler, however, frowned as he spoke up, breaking the eerie atmosphere.
“Ah.. I think I get it. Tyler, if I may… Did you by any chance use soul attacks?”
Tyler, completely unaffected by the question answered honestly. “Yes sir.”
Once more, a heavy silence hovered in the air.
It took a few seconds of that awkwardness for Shen to cough and speak up. “Elders, please do your duties and debrief these youngsters. The next wave of test takers are waiting.”
Shaken from their astonishment from hearing that a mortal at level 6 employed soul attacks, the group gradually descended to the plaza and proceeded to carry out their respective duties.
One of the elders also joined Tyler.
"Truly impressive to display such a rare… talent at level 6. Who might your master be?" the elder inquired.
"Technically, he’s just my martial arts teacher but his name is Ryuji Tanaka. Heard of him?"
The elder deepened his frown as he pondered this unexpected reply, not recalling that the proprietor of the Radiant Fist Dojo used soul attacks in a Qi Gathering of even Qi Transformation martial arts stance.
But there were more pressing matters at hand, so he proceeded to the feedback. "Well, there isn't much feedback to offer as you've ended the battles with a single move every single time and that soul attacks will completely counter this test and most Qi Transformation cultivators. Good luck in the next trial, I’m looking forward to your exploits in the future within the Sword Sect." He respectfully clasped his hands at Tyler before returning to the viewing stand.
A few of the surrounding youths overheard their exchange and were shocked. This person was at level 6 and he had defeated the Combat trial at the ninth level? The elder had also acknowledged his eagerness for his future achievements?
Impossible!
None of them even knew what soul attacks were.
Once everyone had received their feedback, Lo Shen led them outside and began explaining the next trial. "The Mountain Ascension Trial is next. It's rather straightforward. We will take you to a hill leading directly into the location of the third trial where the formation is located. Starting from the 15 meters mark, you'll enter a formation that will test your cultivation. With each step, a denser condensation of Qi will press down upon you." He paused, scanning the group to underscore the importance of his next words.
"Let me make this clear: if you feel you can't proceed, you must loudly declare that you quit. At that point, an elder will escort you to the next trial. If you fail to do so and stubbornly continue despite the strain on your body, you risk serious injury or even death. This trial is not an illusion and the consequences are very real."
This time, Lo Shen looked directly at Tyler. "Without further delay, follow me."
As this was the whole reason Tyler decided to come here, he was somewhat anxious but mostly, he was excited.
With that, Shen led them out of the plaza, clearing the way for the second group, and guided them towards the mountain ascension trial.
After a five-minute walk, they stood before a steep hill that extended for at least 500 meters and had a challenging incline of approximately 40 degrees.
Tyler stood there for a bit, staring ahead. A few of the youths eagerly started their ascent and shortly after entering the formations, they significantly slowed down.
Feeling excited, he stepped forward.