Martial Saint with Passives

”I see. Thank you for telling me, Senior Brother!”

After that, Xiao Mingqian gave a few more instructions and left.

Jiang Che returned to his small courtyard, carrying all sorts of supplies.

After tidying up, Jiang Che moved to the dormitory area for Inner Courtyard Disciples.

He was assigned a small, single-family house with two rooms—one for him and one for Jiang Ling.

Not long after he had put his things down, someone knocked on the door.

Jiang Che opened the door to see four young men and women outside, dressed in the Disciple’s Robe of the Inner Courtyard.

The leader was a tall, handsome man in his twenties. He cupped his fist and smiled.

”We’re all neighbors. I am Mu Jun of Liufeng Courtyard. May I ask for Junior Brother’s name?”

”Greetings, Senior Brother Mu. I am Jiang Che, newly admitted to Yunhai Courtyard.” Jiang Che cupped his fist in return.

”So it’s Junior Brother Jiang! Let me introduce you. These three are Shu Yaxin from Yanluo Courtyard, Yan Hanpeng from Thunder Shock Courtyard, and Yun Weiwei from Lingxiao Courtyard,” Mu Jun said.

”Greetings, Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters!” Jiang Che cupped his fist to each of them in turn.

The three of them returned the gesture.

After some pleasantries, Mu Jun suggested they all get together at the tavern near the sect gate another day to get to know each other better.

Jiang Che thought for a moment and agreed.

After all, he was new here and didn’t know anyone. Meeting more people would make things more convenient in the future.

Then, the four of them left.

’These people all seem to be at a high Realm... At least two of them are at the Bone Forging Level.’

Jiang Che watched their departing figures, thinking to himself.

...

The next day, Jiang Che was practicing his skills in the courtyard.

He thought about what Xiao Mingqian had said earlier regarding cultivation Realms and couldn’t help but feel a little pressured.

’No matter what... I have to reach the Bone Forging Realm first! You have to take things one step at a time!’

Jiang Che shook his head, deciding not to dwell on things so far in the future.

It would only cause him unnecessary worry.

He immediately opened the first layer of the Nine Heavens Azure Cloud Technique and began to read.

Before he knew it, he had entered the ’Heart Stream’ state.

After a long time, Jiang Che put down the book.

’A True Skill, indeed...’

Jiang Che’s expression was complicated.

If a True Skill was a university textbook...

...then Qi Blood Realm Martial Arts could only be described as elementary school primers.

Following the mnemonic verses of the Nine Heavens Azure Cloud Technique in his mind, Jiang Che began to circulate the Qi Blood throughout his body.

The first day, there was no reaction.

Jiang Che wasn’t discouraged and continued his Cultivation.

On the third day, Jiang Che couldn’t hold back any longer and went to find Senior Brother Xiao Mingqian.

Xiao Mingqian didn’t seem surprised to learn that Jiang Che hadn’t reached the Entry Level after three days.

”Do you know how long it took me to reach Entry Level?” Xiao Mingqian asked with a smile.

”How long?”

”Ten days.” Xiao Mingqian sounded a bit smug.

Reaching Entry Level in ten days was actually considered fast in the courtyard.

”Even you took that long, Senior Brother?” Jiang Che was a little surprised.

Xiao Mingqian knew Jiang Che had no frame of reference and didn’t understand the significance, but he still said in a placid tone:

”Actually, most people take at least half a month...”

”I see! Your talent is extraordinary, Senior Brother. This Junior Brother is thoroughly impressed!” Jiang Che caught on and said hurriedly.

”I’m alright... Actually, your Second Senior Sister is the one with truly astonishing Talent. Guess how long it took her to reach Entry Level?” Xiao Mingqian said with a wave of his hand.

”Uh... five days?” Jiang Che ventured.

Xiao Mingqian held up three fingers.

”Three days.”

”Three days?!” Jiang Che was astonished.

”Yes. Compared to her, the rest of us can only be considered to have low aptitude... Anyway, you’ll understand when you meet her in the future,” Xiao Mingqian sighed.

”Mm.” Jiang Che started to feel a trace of curiosity about this Second Senior Sister.

”In short, as long as you can reach Entry Level within half a month, you’re considered normal,” Xiao Mingqian said.

”I understand. Thank you for clearing my doubts, Senior Brother!” Jiang Che nodded.

After that, Xiao Mingqian shared some of his own insights on cultivation, from which Jiang Che benefited greatly.

Returning home, Jiang Che continued to immerse himself in his Cultivation.

Empowered by ’Heart Stream’, Jiang Che finally reached Entry Level on the fifth day.

[Nine Heavens Azure Cloud Technique First Layer Entry Level (1/1000)]

Seeing the line of small text flash before his eyes, Jiang Che’s heart leaped with joy.

’Reaching Entry Level in five days isn’t slow.’

Although, it couldn’t compare to Second Senior Sister, who did it in three days.

But most people took half a month.

Even Senior Brother took ten days.

But after seeing the zeros behind the Skill Level, Jiang Che sucked in a sharp breath.

’Just reaching Entry Level requires one thousand Skill Level points?’

He finally understood why Xu Qingshan had never managed to master all nine layers.

The nine layers definitely grew harder the further one progressed.

Just the first layer alone would probably take an ordinary person several years to master!

And that didn’t even account for the bottlenecks during breakthroughs.

Breaking through from Qi Blood to Force Integration was a life-and-death struggle.

Let alone even higher-level Realms?

’If one really achieved True Mastery, wouldn’t they truly become an Immortal...?’

Jiang Che was now beginning to doubt whether those three confirmed Great Daoists of True Mastery were real.

Then, Jiang Che began to circulate the Nine Heavens Azure Cloud Technique, mobilizing the Jin Qi in his body.

He then threw a punch at an iron training post.

This training post was forged by mixing Refined Iron with special materials, making it astonishingly hard.

Previously, even when using his full strength, Jiang Che could only leave an extremely shallow Fist Seal.

But this time, a single punch created a pit half an inch deep!

’The power has increased by so much!’

Jiang Che was shocked.

But on second thought, it was normal.

Before mastering a True Skill, he had basically just been smashing people with Qi Force, with no technique whatsoever.

At least ninety percent of the Qi Force was wasted.

The Nine Heavens Azure Cloud Technique, on the other hand, contained many exquisite techniques for using Qi Force.

The utilization rate of his Qi Force had increased several times over.

’Someone who has practiced a True Skill fighting someone who hasn’t is like a modern cannon fighting a primitive man who can only throw rocks...’

Jiang Che marveled to himself.

If it weren’t for the need to cultivate Talent Skills, the Qi Blood Realm Martial Arts he had practiced before would be completely worthless compared to a True Skill!

After another ten days of training, Jiang Che felt his empty coin purse and found only five taels of gold left. Moreover, his Cultivation Resources were almost depleted.

’I... need to make some money...’

Jiang Che sighed.

The path of cultivation truly burned through money.

He didn’t go to accept a mission directly. Instead, he found Xiao Mingqian to ask about hunting Black Beasts to earn Black Crystals.

After all, he was relatively skilled at hunting Black Beasts. As for missions, he had no idea what kind of situations he might encounter.

”Huh? Junior Brother, you’ve reached Entry Level! Congratulations! When did this happen?” Xiao Mingqian noticed a difference in the way Jiang Che carried himself and knew he had succeeded.

”Yes, I just reached Entry Level yesterday.” Jiang Che didn’t dare say it had only taken him five days.

Although he felt that his Senior Brother was a good person, people’s hearts were ultimately unpredictable.

If he sparked jealousy and was tripped up in the future, he would be the one to suffer.

Xiao Mingqian calculated that it had been about half a month, a very normal amount of time, so he wasn’t suspicious.

He then began to tell Jiang Che about hunting Black Beasts.

”You want to hunt Black Beasts to make money, right? I wouldn’t advise it,” Xiao Mingqian said, shaking his head.

”Oh? Why is that?” Jiang Che asked doubtfully.

”You don’t know, Junior Brother Jiang. The mountain ranges with Black Beasts are all divided by territory, and most are in the hands of the other two sects. Even within our Cangyun Sect, different courtyards are allocated different resources. Our Yunhai Courtyard’s territory isn’t large, and it only has Low Level Black Beasts, which don’t yield many Black Crystals. It’s much less profitable than taking missions,” Xiao Mingqian explained.

’This...’

Jiang Che hadn’t expected that in the Prefecture City, even the mountains were carved up into territories!

For a moment, he regretted not having hunted more Black Crystals back in Lin Yuan City.

However, leaving Cangzhou Prefecture now would also be very troublesome.

A round trip would take six or seven days on the road alone, not to mention the time spent hunting Black Beasts in the mountains.

It was very difficult to get a travel permit to be out of the city for that long.

Once he left, it would probably be very hard to get back into the city.

Besides, given his current expenses, which easily ran into the hundreds of gold...

...the Black Beasts on Moon Viewing Mountain wouldn’t earn him much money anyway.

It really was better to take on missions.

”I’ll go see what missions there are. Hopefully, there’s something suitable...”

Having made up his mind, Jiang Che walked toward the Main Affairs Pavilion.