The first thing Yao Wu noticed was the absence of an elder standing at the post, there was only an outer court disciple there accepting entrance fees.
There was only an outer court disciple there because no one from the inner and core court would waste their time doing this kind of job when they could be cultivating.
Elder Yao Wu approached the young outer court disciple and the disciple immediately stood up straight in the presence of an elder.
"Young disciple, where is the elder that should be here with you."
"Ah, s-she told me she would be back soon. Would you like me to go get her for you?"
The truth was that the elder that should've been here was actually neglecting her duties. She didn't want to waste her time here when she could be doing other things, so she would always leave the outer court disciple alone to do this menial job.
Yao Wu could understand why she would be slacking off. The elder was stationed here not only to supervise this post but to also notify the Matriarch if the Heavenly Fire spirit attribute had chosen one of the disciples. But since no one was chosen in so many years, the elders had stopped believing that it ever would.
"No need. I can't be here for long anyways. I'll just finish what I came here to do and be on my way."
The outer court disciple bowed nervously as Yao Wu walked in.
'It seems I've dodged a bullet this time,' the outer court disciple thought.
Inside of the Sect's Archives, Yao Wu quickly sealed the new spirit attribute.
'Hm that's strange.'
Till now Yao Wu assumed that the Heavenly Fire spirit attribute was just hiding its flames from her, but she was sure that the scroll was supposed to be in this spot that was now vacant.
Yao Wu gasped as her eyes widened.
'Could it be?!'
She then rushed out of the Sect's Archives, confronting the outer court disciple standing outside.
"Where is she!?" She yelled at the disciple.
"I..."
Yao Wu could tell that she didn't really know where the elder was, so she didn't want to waste anymore time here. She quickly turned to leave, but the moment she did, she saw a blindfolded man walking past her.
Although it seemed strange, she didn't have the time to think about it. She needed to confirm her suspicions quickly because the Matriarch was waiting for her in the inner court.
...
Xiao Fang wore his blindfold and hair down because he didn't want to waste time dual cultivating with anyone.
"50 merit points to enter," the outer court disciple said.
Xiao Fang tossed the merit points to her then proceeded inside.
As soon as Xiao Fang entered the Sect's Archive, he immediately felt a strange aura in the air. Whatever it was it seemed to be calling him.
Xiao Fang had a good idea of what it was since he recognized the feeling and it was coming from the same place the Heavenly Fire spirit attribute scroll used to be. The only difference was that it was several times stronger.
Standing before the scroll, white and blue electric shocks moved over the box. Suddenly the auspicious lightning began to engrave words into the hard metal sealed box.
[ True Immortal Lightning Tribulation ]
[ Mastering others is strength, Mastering yourself is true power. Immortal lightning strikes from the highest Heavens. Can you endure it? ]
[ 100,000 merit points ]
Xiao Fang wasn't sure last time, but now he could say for sure that these spirit attributes had a life of their own.
He paid the merit points to open it, but the moment he tried to pick up the scroll from the bottom of the box it zapped him, making him pull his hand away. He read the description again then laughed.
"Are you trying to test my endurance? I already paid 100,000 merit points for you. I'll show you just how much I can endure."
Xiao Fang tried to reach into it and pull it out quickly, but the moment the lightning touched him, it forced his hand to slow down.
Xiao Fang had one eye closed as he tried to fight through the pain. The closer he got to it the more intense the pain got.
Body cultivators are known to have an extremely high tolerance to pain. However, Xiao Fang wasn't just any body cultivator, he had been tortured from training all his life, so his tolerance to pain was much higher than even the toughest body cultivator amongst the younger generation. Despite how impressive his tolerance to pain was, his hand had only moved 2 out of 5 inches closer to the scroll, but he already felt as if he was at his limit.
Finally both eyes were closed tightly as he tried to push his hand closer. When he was only 2 inches away from touching it he screamed and released the power or his Profound Body realm and Spirit Core realm at the same time, but it didn't ease the pain. Xiao Fang was experiencing the worst suffering he ever felt in his life.
The only thing Xiao Fang feared more than this kind of pain was having to do it again if he failed. No, that absolutely couldn't happen.
Only an inch away from it now, but Xiao Fang felt as if he had already surpassed his limit and couldn't go on any further. This felt like the end, but Xiao Fang didn't know when to quit.
He kept pushing as the pain flooded his senses.
Suddenly, Xiao Fang's eyes opened wide and they started to emit a ferocious blue and white electric light.
"YOU'RE MINE!!!!!!!!"
Finally, after much struggle, Xiao Fang was just barely able to touch it with his finger.
The scroll disappeared as it was put into Xiao Fang's spatial ring. Xiao Fang collapsed as he tried to catch his breath. His whole body was vibrating, shaking, and spasming. Even though the lightning was gone, he could still feel it circulating throughout his entire body. He could feel the power within him.
Even though it took a while to describe, the whole thing only took less than 30 seconds.
Xiao Fang finally got up once the pain was starting to lessen. Even though he could still feel the torturous pain, he was in a rush to get up because he couldn't wait to get home to cultivate it.
Xiao Fang picked up his blindfold then put it back on. Despite the pain he was in, he still walked happily out of that place.
...
Meanwhile, Yao Wu and one other elder returned to the Sect's Archive. The outer court disciple bowed as they approached, but they didn't stop to greet her as they went directly inside.
"Yao Wu, if it's true, then-"
"Let's not make speculations, just find the Heavenly Fire spirit attribute scroll first."
The elder quickly led Yao Wu down one of the aisles then suddenly stopped.
"What is it, did you find it?"
The elder's finger shook as she pointed at the shelf.
"I-It should be here."
The elder took the empty box down then confirmed it.
"Yao Wu, someone really!-" the elder paused when she saw the expression on Yao Wu's face. She was staring at a spot on the shelf.
Yao Wu slowly took the empty box off the shelf then examined it.
"100,000 merit points... What kind of technique was in there?" the elder commented on the box Yao Wu was holding.
Yao Wu released the power of her Divine Body, then in the next moment she disappeared right before the elder's eyes. Outside of the archive Yao Wu suddenly appeared in front of the young outer court disciple standing at her post.
"That blindfolded boy, which way did he go."
The girl could clearly tell that Yao Wu was extremely serious.
She pointed in a direction then Yao Wu vanished again.
"Even the Matriarch and I were rejected by it. Just how talented is that boy, and how could someone like that be put into the outer court."
Even though she knew that the Matriarch was waiting for her, this was far more important. She was prepared to search the entire 33rd District if she had to.
Then she remembered something. There was someone that had completed the entrance exam in under 3 hours, but he was never found.
'It must be the same guy,' she thought.
After thinking about it a bit more she realized that she hadn't seen a single blindfolded cultivator in the outer court the last time she was searching for Da Long.
'Could it be him?'
It all seemed to connect. Yao Wu finally stopped and then turned around. She headed straight towards the inner court to report everything to the Matriarch.
If what she suspected was true, then Da Long was someone they really couldn't ignore.
...
Yao Wu quickly finally found the Matriarch in the inner court.
"There you are, what took you so long?" the Matriarch said.
"Matriarch, something serious has come up."
"What is it?"
"It has to do with Da Long."
"I told you to forget about him. We have more important things to do."
"With respect, Matriarch, you're going to want to hear this."
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When Xiao Fang returned, he immediately went into seclusion to cultivate the lightning spirit attribute scroll. Seeing Xiao Fang return in a rush, Xiao Hei watched quietly as he ran upstairs to go into closed door training.
Xiao Fang took the spirit attribute scroll out then sat down cross legged in the empty room. He began to recite the words on the scroll, then slowly slipped into a meditative state.
Even though he was slowly integrating the spirit attribute scroll into his body, his cultivation realm was staying the same. However, he could clearly feel that his battle power was quickly rising.
The process of integrating the spirit attribute into his body was nothing like Li Lian described it would be. It felt like his dantian was being electrocuted and torn apart. The process was extremely painful, but it only seemed to be getting worse as time went on.
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