Chapter 454: Secret Inheritance Grounds - 454
Zhu Yi clicked on the crystal pad and entered the crystal pad network. Upon clicking on the icon, all that Zhu Yi saw was a search bar at the top. Below it was an empty white screen.
Zhu Yi had an idea of how the crystal pad network worked after living in White Palace City for so many years.
He searched, "Is there a place to learn arrays in White Palace City?"
After a moment, a few links popped up. Zhu Yi clicked on one of them. It led him to some sort of "Forum". Whatever that was supposed to mean.
He saw a discussion in the past asking the same question.
"Is there any place to learn arrays in White Palace City?"
"There isn't. As a place with nobody at the core formation realm or above, it is mainly just a tourist attraction. If you want to learn arrays, join a sect or find some sort of inheritance."
It was a short conversation, but it had everything that Zhu Yi needed to see. It was only a few years old, so it was very likely that there had been no changes in the city since then.
Zhu Yi got off the crystal pad and walked up to the front desk. He needed some information. Although some things could be found on the crystal pad network, there was not much, especially at his low rank.
"I'd like to buy information from the Assassination guild." Zhu Yi said.
The lady at the front desk nodded and turned around. She went through a door and came back a moment later.
"Go to waiting room three." She said as she pointed towards a hallway.
Zhu Yi thanked her and walked towards the room. He entered, and inside was a small room. It was completely enclosed besides a small, rectangular slit in the wall.
Zhu Yi sat down on the only chair inside and waited.
After a few moments, he heard an upbeat voice. "Welcome, Zhu Yi. First time having you here."
Zhu Yi did not recognize the voice, but as a member of the Assassination guild, it was not weird that this person knew him.
"Hi. I need information on where I can learn arrays." Zhu Yi said.
There was no response for a moment. "That's quite the request. I assume you don't intend to join a sect or other organization, which makes this almost impossible. There is one possibility, however. You are under the age of 20, right?"
Zhu Yi nodded. "I am."
"And it seems that you've entered the Foundation Establishment realm, am I correct."
Zhu Yi nodded again. "Indeed."
The voice was envious. "Your talent is great."
To most people, weak rank meridians were already quite good. It was not common. However, it did not usually allow someone to reach the foundation establishment realm before the age of 20.
The bottleneck was what stopped a vast majority of cultivators.
"Anyway. I have some great information, and even an opportunity. Of course, it isn't free." The voice said.
"How much?" Zhu Yi cut to the chase.
"I want 30 low-level spirit stones."
"Can I take that on debt?"
"Of course. A talented cultivator such as yourself would have no need to scam little old me."
Zhu Yi used all his spirit stones to cultivate, leading to a lack of money. Luckily, as a foundation establishment realm cultivator, he had more options than before.
"Thank you."
"Alright, listen up. In White Palace City, there is a secret inheritance grounds."
The man's first words shocked Zhu Yi, but he continued without stopping.
"There are only two conditions to participate. One, be at the foundation establishment realm. Two, be under the age of 20. Although this applies to many people in the world, the leaders of our world have created their own limitations. They control who enters and exits, real scummy work. Anyway, as the branch of the Assassination guild in White Palace City, we get special treatment. We have two spots available. One is already set in stone, while the other is fought for among everyone else. I can get you in that competition."
"And there is information on arrays in there?" Zhu Yi asked.
"Hah!" The man suddenly burst into an uncontrolled laughter.
"Arrays! Hah! That inheritance ground was created by countless powerhouses of the past, and the leader of them was none other than Chen Jie. Not to mention information on arrays, you could get the opportunity to become the number one array master in the world. In fact, arrays aren't even important compared to some of the other stuff I've heard of, though those are just rumors."
Zhu Yi was amazed. If even Chen Jie had participated in the creation of the inheritance grounds, then was it not the number one in the world?
"You were truly lucky to be born so close to this city." Zhou Fan said.
Zhu Yi nodded in agreement.
"Please sign me up for the competition." Zhu Yi said.
"Of course. In fact, here."
Through the slit in the wall, the man handed him a letter.
"Everything you need to know is inside."
Zhu Yi thanked him again before leaving. He walked to his house before opening the letter.
After some words describing what was going to happen, a tournament between every cultivator in the foundation establishment realm below the age of 20 in the White Palace City Assassination guild branch, Zhu Yi got a location and time.
"A month. We need to train." Zhu Yi said.
"This is a great opportunity. I can't help you too much due to lack of materials, but if you can find them in the inheritance, we'll be fine."
Zhu Yi naturally did not need a teacher to teach him arrays with Zhou Fan, but there were a couple of issues involved.
First, there was no explanation for why Zhu Yi would suddenly learn arrays. If anyone found out, it could lead to big trouble. Some may think he had found an inheritance and would attack him. The results of such an issue were unknown.
Secondly, he needed materials. Array materials could not be casually found in White Palace City and were usually hoarded by sects.
Chapter 455: Instant Completion - 455
Under Zhou Fan's suggestion, Zhu Yi opened up the time bubble. Due to Zhou Fan's optimization of the time bubble technique, as well as giving Zhu Yi the perfect technique pathway to enhance the technique, Zhu Yi was able to recover more Qi while using the time bubble than he used.
Unfortunately, Zhu Yi's power level was too low to use the true perfect technique pathways for the technique. He would need to reach the god realm to do so.
Within the time bubble, Zhu Yi had two months to prepare for the tournament.
Zhou Fan's plan was to train him in the sword while creating an offensive time Qi technique. It would be difficult to create an offensive time Qi technique.
It was not because Zhou Fan would struggle, but because it could not obviously be the power of time. Showing off time Qi would be a perfect way to get captured and used in lab experiments.
Zhou Fan had to create a Time Qi technique that could be misinterpreted as something else.
While Zhou Fan thought, he also gave Zhu Yi instructions on the art of the sword.
For anyone else, two months would not be enough time to improve. Zhu Yi, however, had Zhou Fan sitting on his shoulder.
Although Zhu Yi usually focused on cultivating to get stronger and speed up Zhou Fan's recovery, when he practiced under Zhou Fan's guidance, even a day could provide qualitative changes.
A month and a half soon passed in the time bubble. All this time, Zhu Yi had been practicing the sword, and his strength had completely changed. At first, Zhou Fan had expected Zhu Yi to need to use Time QI to win the tournament, but he had underestimated just how greatly Zhu Yi would increase his strength under his guidance.
The initial plan of making a Time Qi technique that didn't seem like a Time Qi technique was thrown out the window.
"For the next half a month, you will practice a Time Qi technique. This is a technique you should only use when you are absolutely alone or in danger of dying. Otherwise, if someone notices the power of time, nobody can save you." Zhou Fan explained.
Luckily, he would be able to detect if anyone was nearby as long as they were not very far away.
Upon breaking through a recovery threshold, he was now able to sense cultivation 10 miles away from him.
Zhu Yi sat down and listened as Zhou Fan explained the technique and its usage.
"I call this one, "Instant Completion". Imagine swinging the sword at someone." Zhou Fan said.
Zhu Yi nodded. "Now, imagine swinging the sword at someone, but as soon as you begin swinging, the slash is already completed."
Zhu Yi was shocked. "So this is the Time Qi technique."
"Yes. To be honest, it is something far more advanced than you can handle. If you use it, you will instantly be drained of all your Qi and will suffer great injuries. That's assuming that you use it with a full power slash. The stronger your attack, the more Qi it will take to use this technique." Zhou Fan explained.
"And that's why I'm even able to practice it." Zhu Yi said.
Zhou Fan nodded. He then explained the technique pathways best suited to the technique at Zhu Yi's level.
Before anything else, Zhu Yi dispersed the time bubble and bought a bunch of mannequins at a cultivator store. Each of them had the bodily defense of a level 3 Qi gathering realm cultivator, though that was not very strong. It was quite expensive despite being so weak, so Zhu Yi only bought 15.
He returned to his yard and put up the time bubble. Luckily, his courtyard had rather high walls and not many cultivators lived in this area.
Inside the time bubble, Zhu Yi held his sword and looked at the mannequin. He ran up to it and waved his sword while using the Instant Completion technique. Before he even noticed it, the mannequin was cut in half. It had only been a weak cut, barely a tenth of Zhu Yi's power, but it had used up a fourth of his Qi.
By that logic, using two fifths of his power would drain all of his Qi. Using his full power would naturally severely injure him. Zhu Yi practiced with mannequins, taking time to recover his Qi after 3 attempts before recovering to maximum capacity again.
The mannequins did not last long, but they had served their purpose. Zhu Yi was now able to practice Instant Completion without any sort of mannequin.
After a week, Zhou Fan taught Zhu Yi a basic sword technique, but one that had been refined greatly. It was the "Sword Wave" Technique.
Even in Zhu Yi's world, this was one of the most common sword techniques. Zhu Yi was able to use it with instant completion, which gave him a long range attack. For each technique that he learned, Zhou Fan gave him the perfect Technique pathway, transforming his power.
Finally, on the last day, Zhu Yi took down the Time bubble and rested.
The next day, Zhu Yi arrived at the location. It was in a private building with strong walls. When Zhu Yi walked in, he saw 7 people. One was the guild master of the Assassination guild. Another was Bernard. One more was next to them, clearly not a participant.
Near them, but not in the guild masters group was the young man who had calmed down Zhu Yi's sword intent.
Finally, in the center of the building were three people. These were the other participants. It seemed that the young man off to the side was the one that had gotten the spot without fighting for it.
"The last one is here. Let's get started." The guild master said.
Zhu Yi walked up to the other three and stood next to them. They were all silent and looking at the guild master.
"As all of you know, I am the guild master of the Assassination guild. Next to me is Bernard, and next to him is the guild master of the rogue cultivator guild." The guild master of the Assassination guild said.
Zhu Yi was shocked that the guild master of the rogue cultivator guild was here, but it made sense. He naturally knew about the Assassination guild.
From what Zhu Yi understood, the rogue cultivator guild branch in White Palace City also had two spots.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
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