Chapter 120: Start of the next phase

Excellent people stick out like a sore thumb.

The phrase aptly illustrated how Snowy felt right now.

After the small commotion due to her leveling up her sword intent, she could sense many pricking gazes behind her back. Especially Elder Lan, who kept her eyes on her like a teacher looking at a troublesome student.

Though she had already grasped all of the techniques inside the Sword Pavilion, Snowy decided to stay still in her current position until the first period ended to avoid another unnecessary commotion while contemplating the mysterious Mastery of All Things skill.

'The improvement is slowing down with every addition of a new skill. Is it because they have similar grades? Or do I need to learn different skills other than sword techniques first?'

Snowy noticed several things afterward:

First, the higher the technique's grade she learned, upon reaching the maximum level, the greater the improvement in Mastery of All Things obtained.

Next, learning a purer technique yields a better result. Supposedly, she had learned two similar grade techniques, where the first was based solely on Sword Dao and the other contained Elemental Dao, such as Wind Dao or Fire Dao. Upon its completion, the first technique would yield a better result.

And lastly, at some point, comprehending similar grade techniques would not increase the progress of Mastery of All Things. So she needed to comprehend higher grade techniques if she wanted to successfully learn the skill.

Although the requirement was quite harsh, Snowy didn't seem that dejected at all, as she had expected that she needed to make a great effort to learn such an overpowered skill.

While the other examinees were struggling to learn the technique contained within the stone tablet, Snowy diligently browsed the record inside her memory and made an elaborate list of techniques suitable to increase her progression. A spear, a bow, a saber, an elemental spell, and various immortal and martial techniques from profound-rank to heaven-rank slowly filled her list.

Unlike the techniques contained within the stone tablets, which contained insight from experts, Snowy had to personally learn, practice, and comprehend the techniques. Furthermore, she had yet to learn the mastery skills for most of the techniques, so she didn't immediately learn them.

'I can gradually learn these techniques once I improve my constitution.'

Her top priority before breaking through to the Golden Core stage was to strengthen her constitution. She'd be able to build a stronger foundation and reach the legendary perfection level in the Golden Core stage.

Her primordial essence body, which was initially a celestial-rank physique, was forced demoted to a mortal-rank physique due to her incomplete soul, restricting her potential.

Fortunately, she had met Feng Xue and the Feng family, allowing her to expand her understanding of human emotions and improve on the quality of her soul, thus lessening her physical limitations.

Also, upon reaching the qi transformation stage, she now had several ways to improve her physique, similar to how Feng Xue evolved her physique from a Blazing Vermillion body to a Heavenly Phoenix body. However, she could only improve her body to a profound level currently.

With the abundant contribution points promised by Elder Yang and her connection with Master Chen Xi, she was confident that she could gather the necessary ingredients to refine her physique in a relatively short period.

Well, I need to finish the examination first, though.

Snowy once again focused her attention on her records.

***

After the first period ended, the examinees once again gathered at the entrance of the Sword Pavilion.

The examinees were swiftly divided into five groups according to the examiner's instruction. 

Snowy and the three girls ended up on a different stage. The younger of the Qi Twins, Qi Ying'er, was in the first group, Qi Ning'er was in the second group, Meng Qi was in the fourth group, and Snowy joined the fifth group. Surprisingly, Qian Bu Yu was also included in the fifth group, destined to clash with Snowy.

"Waa... it's not fair! I also want to be in Snowy's group! " 

The twin-tail lolita, Qi Ying'er, stomped her feet in an angry manner and grumpily complained when she met Snowy, Qi Ning'er, and Meng Qi.

Don't be wilful; nobody knows who ended up where. Though I also agree that it's a pity. "

"Hmph, you're just not honest, sis." In response, Qi Ning'er gave a helpless smile and Meng Qi gave a cold stare, which was followed by a helpless smile from Qi Ying'er.

Qi Ying'er stuck out her tongue and said coyly, "Hehe, just kidding... Don't be angry, big sis. "

Meng Qi ignored the mischievous Qi Ying'er and looked at Snowy.

"Your gain is good, it seems?"

"Un. A little bit... How about you? "

"Hmm, not bad," said Meng Qi confidently.

"The Heaven Sword Sect is living up to its name. I don't expect they also have combination martial techniques, "Qi Ning'er joined in.

"Frozen Flaming Combination Sword Technique?"

"Yes, The technique is extremely suitable for me and Ying'er, in which I learned the Frosty Sword Technique and Ying'er learned the Flaming Sword Technique.

It's like it was tailored for us! I can't wait to show it off to you guys! It's a pity that the performance round is performed individually. "

Just like its name suggests, a combination martial technique was a technique that required the action of at least two people to perform. It was similar to array formation, which needed cooperation from several cultivators to be activated. However, unlike array formation, the combination martial technique could stand as an individual technique.

For example, the Frozen Flaming Combination sword technique was chosen by the Qi Twins. They could use the technique separately, but it was only when they acted together that the technique could exert its full power. 

"Show it to us next time."

"You can count on us!" said Qi Ying'er with a big grin, followed by a determined smile from Qi Ning'er.

Snowy and the three girls chatted for a while before the examiners called all the examinees to their respective stages. Just before they split up, they could feel a malicious gaze directed at them from a particular direction. As they looked for the owner of the gaze, they saw a boy looking at them like a predator looking at its prey. It only lasted for a moment before the boy followed the elder. As expected, the boy was Qian Bu Yu.

Snowy, you need to be careful of that Qian guy. I get a bad feeling from him; it seems like he is somewhat crazy... "

"Yes, I can feel something baleful from his presence. "

"Be careful."

"Un. It's okay. You don't need to worry.

Snowy knew that sooner or later she would need to deal with the Qian family as a grudge had already formed between them. Qian Bu Yu was just the beginning.

Although they were still a little bit uneasy, they believed Snowy had already had a plan to solve her problem. Thus, they didn't make a fuss about it anymore.

Let's claim the first position in our group! Whoever doesn't get the first is the loser! "

"Good luck, everyone!"

"See you in the next round."

"Un. Good luck. "

The four girls split off, moving toward their respective stages.