Chapter 17: Sect Loyalty Below Sixty — Cannot Join
"You... just who are you?" Xiao Xixi finally began to take Su Bai seriously.
Su Bai had seen right through her, yet she knew nothing about him at all.
The feeling made her heart tremble. Could this young man truly be some ancient hidden monster who had deliberately come out to temper himself in the world?
"I am Xiao Yan's master. Who do you think I am?" Su Bai said with a light smile.
Xiao Xixi fell silent. At that very moment, Xiao Yan walked out of the Immortal Arts Pavilion.
"Master, your disciple has found an immortal art suited to himself!"
The moment he stepped out, he knelt before Su Bai, clutching a scroll, his face overflowing with elation.
"Good, very good!" Su Bai nodded. He had already known what had transpired inside the Immortal Arts Pavilion.
Body Tempering — it was a path of boundless promise!
"Xiao Yan can cultivate now?" Xiao Xixi was stunned once again, her face filled with disbelief.
Xiao Yan's physical constitution problem was something even Uncle Ying had been unable to resolve, let alone provide a cultivation method for!
"Master, how many silver taels would it cost to cultivate this immortal art?" Xiao Yan asked urgently.
Though he knew in his heart that the Primordial Body Tempering Formula was precious and the cost might be beyond what he could bear, he still wanted to try.
If it meant he could cultivate, he was willing to pay any price!
"Every disciple who joins the sect may choose one immortal art for free. No silver taels are needed." Su Bai shook his head.
"For free?" Xiao Yan was stunned for a moment, then overcome with excitement. He immediately knelt before Su Bai again. "Master, please accept another bow from your disciple."
"Enough. Go and begin your cultivation. Strive to reach the Mortal Body Realm as soon as possible." Su Bai waved his hand.
The realm of Body Tempering began with the Mortal Body Realm, which also had nine levels, corresponding to the nine levels of the Qi Refining Stage.
"Thank you, Master." Xiao Yan rose to his feet and departed respectfully.
He then sat cross-legged and began carefully reading through the Primordial Body Tempering Formula in his hands.
However, when he saw the very first page, he drew in a sharp breath.
Run ten li carrying one hundred pounds — in fifteen minutes!
One hundred consecutive push-ups carrying one hundred pounds!
One hundred consecutive lashes from a whip!
Only after completing the above tasks and achieving the required physical fortitude would one be qualified to formally begin cultivation! (Note: the physical constitution of ordinary people in the immortal cultivation world is slightly higher than normal.)
Even with Xiao Yan's willpower and endurance, a bead of sweat appeared on his forehead at the sight of this.
Xiao Xixi also saw the training requirements, and her whole body shuddered.
Could an ordinary person who had never cultivated actually complete this?
"Xiao Yan, maybe you shouldn't cultivate this?" she said, trying to dissuade him with worry.
Going through all of that would surely cost him half his life, wouldn't it?
Even Xiao Yan was a little frightened. Growing up, aside from the strange looks others gave him, he had never truly suffered hardship. How could he endure such torment?
Su Bai glanced at the two of them and said with a faint smile, "What's wrong? In three years, do you want to still be trampled underfoot by Liu Yanran?"
"This..." Xiao Yan clenched his teeth, his fists tightening with a crack.
In the end, he gripped the scroll fiercely and said, word by word, "I want to grow stronger. I want to defeat Liu Yanran!"
"I will prove that I, Xiao Yan, am no worse than anyone!"
His eyes were red, his entire face flushed purple with the effort it took to force those words out.
With that, he immediately stood up and began running around the foot of the Heavenly Dao Sect's mountain.
He would prove himself. He would grow stronger!
At that moment, Su Bai's gaze swept over and noticed that Zhuge Feng and Xiao Lingxi were both watching from the side. He said at once, "Go and cultivate. The sect's strength depends on how hard you work."
Upon hearing this, Zhuge Feng and Xiao Lingxi did not immediately begin cultivating. Instead, they glanced toward Xiao Xixi standing nearby.
It was obvious — their immortal arts were far too extraordinary. If an outsider were to see them...
"It doesn't matter. The Heavenly Dao Sect's immortal arts were neither stolen nor seized. There is no need to hide them from anyone." Su Bai smiled.
Hearing Su Bai's words, Zhuge Feng and Xiao Lingxi finally relaxed and turned to leave.
Xiao Xixi stood there in a daze, unable to make sense of the situation.
Cultivating immortal arts — and they needed to hide it from her?
What, could their immortal arts possibly be stronger than those of her family?
She should know that her family, across the entire continent, was an absolutely unimaginable colossus!
Even a mere gatekeeper from her family would be supreme and unrivaled upon arriving in the Great Zhao Empire!
The sect-defining immortal arts of sects like the Lingxiao Sect and the Yuntian Sect weren't even worth a glance from her. Why would she care about such inferior goods?
"Hmph. Putting on airs. I'd like to see just how remarkable the immortal arts of this Heavenly Dao Sect really are!"
She grumbled inwardly, her beautiful eyes fixed intently on Zhuge Feng and Xiao Lingxi as they cultivated, afraid to miss a single detail.
"One, two, three..."
She had only counted to three when her expression changed.
Her discernment far surpassed Xiao Lingxi's. She had a deeper and broader understanding of supreme immortal arts.
Too fast!
The Spiritual Energy circulation was far too fast!
Such rapid Spiritual Energy circulation meant there were almost no impurities — the quality had reached an unimaginably high level!
Moreover, the Spiritual Energy flowing through the two of them was of different colors and attributes, making it clear they were practicing two completely different immortal arts.
"Twenty... twenty breaths per circulation cycle. This is what Father described as the legendary supreme art!"
"And there are... two of them!"
"How is this possible..." Xiao Xixi was shaken to her core, her fair face flushing crimson.
This was absolutely heaven-defying!
And weren't such heaven-defying immortal arts supposed to be cultivatable only by direct bloodline relatives?
For example, her family's highest immortal art could only be cultivated by her father and herself. Others cultivated different arts — precisely to prevent the arts from leaking out.
Yet in this Heavenly Dao Sect, an ordinary disciple could cultivate such a heaven-defying immortal art?
This...
They treated their disciples this well?
"Um... can I join the Heavenly Dao Sect?" she suddenly spoke up.
She looked toward Su Bai with a hint of nervousness.
Su Bai glanced at her with mild surprise, then shook his head.
Because before him, a line of text had appeared.
Sect loyalty is below sixty — cannot join!!!
This was the first time he had discovered this restriction, because previously — whether it was Zhuge Feng, Xiao Lingxi, or Xiao Yan — all of them had sect loyalty above sixty.
Xiao Yan in particular had a loyalty of seventy when he joined the sect, and it had immediately risen to eighty after receiving his immortal art, which showed that a loyalty of sixty was not particularly high to begin with.
In other words, if someone couldn't even reach sixty loyalty, they simply didn't take the sect seriously at all!
How could such a person possibly join the sect?
"Sigh..." Xiao Xixi let out a breath, clearly disappointed, but she did not press the matter further.
After all, she did not have much time to remain here.
There were conflicts within her family that still required her to mediate.
Su Bai, meanwhile, watched Xiao Yan running at the foot of the mountain, and watched Zhuge Feng and Xiao Lingxi cultivating with full concentration. A quiet laugh rose in his heart.
The upgrade mission — recruiting three disciples — had already been completed, and the one hundred sect points were only ten points short.
The sect's advancement was ready in every regard; all that was lacking were those final points!