บท 4: A Year Later...

It has been one year, Jin Zhi has reached the peak of the soul layer and is preparing to break through to the Xuan realm today. Another important fact was that after the incident Jin Zhi was unable to attend training sessions and was thus in seclusion in his room however he was able to go to the library. However, this was the best thing possible for him as he did not need training but needed to learn more about this world he was in.

One important fact he learned was that this world was rather undeveloped but that was mainly due to the many wars and the constant greed of humans although Jin Zhi was no stranger to that being revered as a 'Devil' in his previous world. Their knowledge of pills, formations, and martial arts had regressed within the last millennium although compared to his knowledge it was still be considered useless.

"Finally It took a year, a little longer than I anticipated but today I will break through to the profound layer. Qi condense!" Jin Zhi thought as his Qi continues to condense. It takes two hours as Jin Zhi begins to sweat before suddenly he breakthrough feeling large amounts of Qi rush into his dantian.

"Haha~ finally now I can begin to strengthen my martial arts." Jin Zhi thought as he lets out a sigh. He then continues to cultivate to stabilize his cultivation before going to the courtyard to practice his martial arts.

"Now that I am in the profound layer let's practice some martial arts.' Jin Zhi says as he pulls out his sword and does swift, rapid but graceful sword movements ad with each step a burst of Qi could be felt.

"This is the feeling I have been waiting for." Jin Zhi thought as he reminisces over his old strength.

Dawn breaks and Jin Zhi decides to stop and take a herbal bath get dressed for the martial tournament. It was the day that he had was allowed to go back to the training grounds, and this day he decided to use to pay back Jin Bao for the humiliation this body had suffered in the past. As if he did not, a demon would come into his cultivation although he is not the old Jin Zhi, the memories of the old Jin Zhi and experience will become a blockade in the future and thus he must settle this grudge.

Upon arriving at the training grounds he saw many of the children from a year ago slightly taller and more mature with most in the 4th Qi layer but Jin Bao in the 7th layer. "Look who it is, the trash that never dared to show his face after last year's events." Jin Bao teased with a smug grin which got many to laugh as Jin Zhi had suppressed his Qi to seem like he was only in the 5th layer therefore weaker than most of them.

"Oh, Jin Zhi come, today is an important day and you must all be prepared. The sect that will be here this year is the famous Yun Hai sect. The patriarch of the clan will oversee the fight this year so all of you must be on your top game do you understand?" Instructor Zhu asked.

"Yes." They all replied in unison.

Then a few minutes later you could see the patriarch of the Jin clan walking with a tall stern man who had a long purple ponytail and mustache with bright blue eyes that matched his large well-built body. He also had a token on his side reading 'Patriarch' on it.

"So that is the patriarch of the Yun Hai Sect, he does not seem like much." Jin Zhi thought to himself laughing at how easily he could crush him.

"We welcome the Yun Hai Sect patriarch!" Instructor Zhu bowed with all of the disciples following after.

Another elder came to the stage with a walking stage who Jin Zhi recognized as Elder Lin the oldest elder but also one of the strongest. He came to the arena which Jin Zhi had fought in a year ago and said, "Today is the day you will make the clan proud and some of you will become disciples of Yun Hai Sect! This will be done in two stages, a cultivation test and then finally in sparring round which will be a 1v1 battle to determine the top 5 who will be admitted to Yun Hai Sect."

This made many of the family members nervous with a select few confident that they would pass. Then a few older members of the family entered carrying a large stone together as they brought it to the center of the arena. Then the elder thanked them before continuing with "Each of you come up one by one, anyone below the fifth Qi layer will not be allowed to continue."

The names were called one by one with the first big surprise to the crowd being Jin Bao who swaggered onto the stage before placing his hand on the stage to which it lit up azure blue before words hovered above the stone reading '7th Qi layer.' which made the patriarch of the family and Yun Hai Sect patriarch smile.

The list continued until it reached the final person left, Jin Zhi. Many in the crowd laughed saying "This trash will just embarrass himself haha~"

However, as Jin Zhi neared the stone his cultivation suddenly rose which shocked the crowd as it rose from the 5th to 6th stopping at the 7th and as he put his hand on the stone it lit the same azure blue as Jin Bao. This turned their faces sour as they realized Jin Zhi had played them suppressing his cultivation and made them wonder if perhaps his cultivation was higher. They were not the only ones to think this even both patriarchs were shocked especially the Jin family patriarch as he had caught word a few months back that Jin Zhi did not attend practice and instead only went to the library and back to his room, so this revelation showed that he was a genius amongst geniuses who had reached the 7th layer with no guidance.

"Dammit, how is this trash on the same level as me!" Jin Bao thought as his grin turned upside down and his eyes cold as he realized Jin Zhi was staring at him with eyes that mocked him and only made it worse as he gave a shit-eating grin towards Jin Bao.

At that moment Jin Bao had resolved himself to get rid of Jin Zhi in any possible way...

A/N: Hope you enjoyed just wrote this up now as the new 'God of Martial Arts' chapters came out and were pretty good so gave me inspiration for this chapter. Leave your ideas and feedback below.

P.S. Make sure to check out my other works and my original wuxia/xianxia 'Path to a Martial God'