Martial Saint with Passives

Chuyang Peak.

Following the winding mountain path upward, large clusters of buildings with green tiles and white walls were scattered gracefully amongst the forest.

Unlike the ethereal, jade-like palaces of the Inner Sect Main Peak, this place resembled the orderly districts of the Mortal realm, brimming with the vibrant energy of daily life.

This residential area was composed of a series of courtyard homes.

Each home consisted of four separate wing-rooms surrounding a shared, open-air courtyard.

This was where the New Disciples lived.

Under the arrangements of Steward Lu Qing, Jiang Che received his key and pushed open the gate to a courtyard designated ”C-72.”

Inside the courtyard stood a single old locust tree, with a stone table and stools set beneath it. While the environment couldn’t be called secluded or elegant, it was at least clean and tidy.

Jiang Che was assigned to the East Wing.

He pushed the door open and entered. The room’s furnishings were extremely simple: a bed, a table, a chair, and a meditation cushion. There was nothing else of note.

’Since I’m here, I might as well make the best of it.’

Jiang Che set down his bag, tidied up a bit, and then left his room, planning to familiarize himself with the surroundings.

Just as he stepped into the courtyard, he heard a hearty laugh:

”Haha! Brother Jiang! I knew our paths were destined to cross again. I can’t believe we were actually assigned to the same courtyard!”

Jiang Che looked toward the sound and saw Bao Da, the man with the thick eyebrows and large eyes, leaning against the doorframe of the West Wing, a wide smile on his face.

”Brother Bao, what a coincidence,” Jiang Che said, a faint smile on his own face.

In this unfamiliar place, it was always good to have an acquaintance to look out for.

At that moment, the doors to the South and North wings opened almost simultaneously, and two young women walked out.

One of them, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, had a slender figure. Though not a peerless beauty, her features were quite lovely.

Her expression held a mix of composure and shrewdness, and her lips were pressed together, giving her a somewhat calculating air.

The other woman appeared to be in her early twenties. She was as cute as a porcelain doll, with a round, goose-egg face and a pair of exceptionally lively eyes that radiated cleverness.

Since they were neighbors, it was only natural for them to introduce themselves.

The four of them sat down together around the stone table in the courtyard.

After exchanging names, they learned that the older woman was Lin Xiao, from the remote Gangzhou.

The younger one was Su Xiaoxiao, who hailed from the great southern continent of Yuzhou.

After some pleasantries, the conversation naturally turned to the upcoming choice of Cultivation path they would all soon face.

Bao Da was the first to ask, ”Everyone, assuming we pass the assessment a year from now, which branch do you plan to choose?”

Su Xiaoxiao propped her chin on her hand and said with some frustration, ”The four branches of the Myriad Phenomena Dao Sect each have their own strengths. I still haven’t made up my mind.”

Lin Xiao was silent for a moment before speaking slowly:

”I’ve heard that the disciples of Spirit Void Peak are the most skilled at refining Elixir Pills and Magical Artifacts, and those items sell extremely well within the Sect. If I can get into Spirit Void Peak, earning Sect contribution points should be much easier in the future. Resources are the most important thing on the path of Cultivation, so I plan to choose Spirit Void Peak.”

”What about you, Brother Jiang?” Bao Da asked, turning his head.

”We’ll see. First, we have to get through this one-year assessment period,” Jiang Che said calmly.

After all, he hadn’t even started practicing the Basic Techniques yet. It was too early to talk about such things.

Bao Da nodded. ”Brother Jiang is right.”

”By the way, there’s something I still don’t understand,” Lin Xiao said with a frown. ”Didn’t we all practice other Cultivation Techniques before this? Without Dissipating Skill, how are we supposed to switch to cultivating the Myriad Phenomena Infinite Dao? Won’t we suffer from cultivation deviation?”

”You don’t have to worry about that.”

Bao Da waved his hand and explained, ”I’ve already asked around. The reason the Myriad Phenomena Infinite Dao is called ’Myriad Phenomena’ is because it is all-encompassing, like a Sea of All Rivers. The principle isn’t to forcefully discard your old technique and start over, but rather to ’convert’ it.”

”Convert?”

”That’s right,” Bao Da nodded. ”We can use the Cultivation Technique’s unique properties to gradually convert the True Qi we’ve already cultivated into Myriad Phenomena True Qi. Not only is there no rejection, but you can even retain some of your original True Qi’s characteristics.”

Hearing this, everyone breathed a small sigh of relief.

But then, Bao Da’s tone shifted, and he said with a wry smile:

”However, while there’s no risk of cultivation deviation, this conversion process... is extremely difficult and long.”

”Those Direct Disciples who grew up in the Sect are like blank slates. They cultivate the Myriad Phenomena Infinite Dao from scratch. It’s still difficult, of course, but their foundation is pure, making it much simpler for them than for us.”

”As for us, we already have the foundation of other Cultivation Techniques in our bodies. Trying to completely convert that deeply ingrained Exotic True Qi is like trying to bleach a dyed cloth back to white before dyeing it a new color. How could the difficulty not be several times greater than theirs?”

”That’s why the Sect gave us a one-year deadline. It’s not just a test of Comprehension, but also a test of patience and perseverance. If we slack off even a little, we’ll be left in the dust by those Direct Disciples.”

After hearing Bao Da’s explanation, the expressions on both Lin Xiao’s and Su Xiaoxiao’s faces turned grim.

Lin Xiao bit her lip, a trace of unwillingness flickering in her eyes. ”If my ranking had been high enough to get into the Haotian Sword Sect, why would I have come here to suffer like this? I heard the Sword Sect’s Vast Heaven Sword Manual is incredibly domineering—it can directly use other Cultivation Techniques as nourishment. Your past training isn’t a hindrance; it actually helps your Cultivation. Nothing like this place, where we have to convert everything from scratch.”

Su Xiaoxiao also had a bitter look on her face. She flopped onto the stone table and grumbled, ”Me too... I originally wanted to go to the Prajna Zen Sect. They don’t require you to convert your technique either; you can just cultivate their methods directly without any conflict. But they ran out of spots. If I had known the Myriad Phenomena Dao Sect was this much trouble, I wouldn’t have come.”

Aside from Jiang Che and Bao Da, who had actively chosen the Myriad Phenomena Dao Sect, most of the other disciples had, in fact, been reassigned here because the first two sects were full.