Chapter 262 - 223: Topping the Rookie List

Chapter 262: Chapter 223: Topping the Rookie List

In Feng Chen’s private courtyard, Zhang Ji was helping himself to a spread of rare foods that greatly nourished one’s essence and spirit.

While the food wasn’t overly nourishing for him, its flavor was truly excellent. For an existence of Zhang Ji’s caliber, eating was about more than just a palette of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty, and savory; he could perceive far more information from it.

Eating was like reading a rich story. It was a far more advanced experience than that of ordinary people, for whom fine dining was mostly about good looks and grand presentation.

He was a true connoisseur.

Meanwhile, Feng Chen was observing Zhang Ji.

He had already reviewed all the information on Zhang Ji.

A young man from overseas, seeking the Way.

His will to pursue the Way was resolute and his talent was extraordinary. His bloodline also seemed special, with some connection to the True Dragons of old.

If that was the case, then it wasn’t surprising.

True Dragons were powerful enough to rival a Returning Void Celestial Monarch who had achieved the Broken Void. No matter how one looked at it, a descendant carrying their bloodline couldn’t possibly be mediocre.

Zhang Ji’s current performance was likely due to him still being in his formative years, compounded by prior malnourishment.

Otherwise, he should have been born with at least the strength of the Merging Realm, not just appear to have somewhat abundant Qi and Blood while his actual power was merely equivalent to the Molting Realm.

"Li Long, your talent is outstanding," Feng Chen said. "However, I don’t advise you to advance too quickly. For a while, you should focus on building your foundation and solidifying it. This will make further progress easier. You should also practice some techniques to learn how to more precisely control the Qi and Blood in your body. I have some fist and palm manuals here you can take with you to study."

"This disciple thanks Hall Master Feng," Zhang Ji replied with a respectful nod, still eating.

"There’s no rush. If you’d like, you can come here to eat every day," Feng Chen said.

"I feel a bit awkward eating here. It would be better if you had someone deliver the food to me..." Zhang Ji said.

"You certainly don’t hold back, do you?" Feng Chen chided with a laugh. "I invited you to eat here so you could conveniently ask me any questions you have. It’s not just about the food."

He was quite tolerant when it came to geniuses, especially a top-tier one like Zhang Ji.

"This disciple believes I can learn these things perfectly well without having to trouble the Hall Master," Zhang Ji replied.

"Since you’re so confident, we’ll exchange a few moves after you’re done eating. You can use the Mountain Shattering Fist you all just learned today," Feng Chen said.

Zhang Ji had only watched the Mountain Shattering Fist demonstration once and hadn’t officially started practicing it.

’But it doesn’t matter,’ he thought. ’It’s just an ordinary skill. In my current state, I can master something like this with a single glance. To condense its essence would only take a few minutes.’

Soon, Zhang Ji had devoured the entire table of food. He then began to spar with Feng Chen, using the Mountain Shattering Fist.

Zhang Ji truly started from scratch. His first two punches were merely a semblance of the form. But with the third punch, his Qi and Blood began to integrate. With his fourth, the air cracked. With his fifth, his Qi and Blood surged as he focused all his power into a single point. He had already achieved the ultimate power-generating stance described in the Mountain Shattering Fist manual. Yet Zhang Ji took it a step further, innovating on the old form. He integrated his tendons and bones, his posture becoming dragon-like as he channeled power from the ground up through his spine, combining it with the torrent of his Qi and Blood.

BANG!

A fierce gust of wind erupted. Feng Chen caught Zhang Ji’s fist, a trace of shock visible in his eyes.

In such a short time, he had not only completely mastered a basic martial art but had even innovated on it, evolving it into a superior technique tailored to his own strengths.

This level of comprehension was truly staggering, even to Feng Chen.

Although Zhang Ji’s comprehension had been rated "Supreme" in the test, it now seemed that was only because "Supreme" was the highest possible rating. If a higher grade existed, his aptitude would surely have surpassed it.

By the same token, his innate physical aptitude likely also far exceeded the test’s maximum limit.

"He qualifies to be a True Disciple," Feng Chen sighed emotionally.

An ’Ascendant Disciple’ is one who is capable of stepping onto the path of the Way.

Only those with such talent have a real chance of pursuing the Way.

And a step above that, a ’True Disciple’ is one with the talent to truly *hear* the Great Way.

The Profound Heart Realm *is* the Great Way. To be able to "hear" the Great Way, one would conservatively need to be at the Earth Cover Realm, which is equivalent to an S-rank.

In any of the ten main peaks, such a person could become a Hall Master.

On a secondary or unaffiliated peak, with a bit of luck, they could even become a Peak Master.

However, it was rare for a new recruit to be immediately promoted to a True Disciple. If Zhang Ji wanted to advance, he would need to pass some internal sect assessments and build up a record of achievements.

"Alright, you may go back now," Feng Chen said. "Study hard. You can come and ask me about anything you don’t understand. But remember, do not rush to break through, and don’t practice any other methods. Focus on building your foundation first."

He already had plans for Zhang Ji but wasn’t in a hurry to reveal them.

But he wasn’t worried that a lack of information would make Zhang Ji rush for results. Zhang Ji’s mental fortitude was also rated "Supreme." A simple reminder would be more than enough to ensure his patience. This little trial wasn’t even a real test for him.

Zhang Ji thanked him and left with the technique manuals Feng Chen had given him.

These techniques were from his private collection, complete with handwritten notes. They were one-of-a-kind manuscripts and couldn’t be copied with a Handheld Communicator.

Zhang Ji was expected to return them after he was done reading.

Zhang Ji had already memorized everything after a single read-through, but he took the books with him anyway to keep up appearances.

’Relationships require give and take, after all,’ he thought. ’This also gives me an excuse to come back, return the books, and score another free meal.’

After Zhang Ji left, the corners of Feng Chen’s mouth curled into a smile.

Having discovered such a talent, Pure Heart Hall’s name was bound to be heard for some time.

With Zhang Ji’s talent, he wouldn’t even need to wait for next month’s assessment; he was sure to make it onto the rankings this month.

.....

In fact, Zhang Ji appeared on the rankings the very next day.

First Place on the New Talent Chart: Li Long.

The rankings could be viewed on the Communicator Jades.

The New Talent Chart was a ranking for disciples who had been in the sect for less than five years and were still in the Molting Realm.

There were many ways to get on the list; points were awarded for performance in various courses and for completing sect missions, among other things.

The chart was updated daily and reset at the end of each month.

But there was only one way to get the most points: breaking through a cultivation realm.

The Molting Realm was composed of five minor stages: Skin Refining, Refined Flesh, Refining Tendons, Bone Refining, and Bone Marrow Refining.

Breaking through one of these minor stages instantly awarded one thousand contribution points as a reward from the sect.

And Zhang Ji had just completed the cultivation of all five stages in one go, instantly rocketing to the top of the chart with five thousand points.

Below each name on the chart was a short personal description. Most were filled with exaggerated praise, describing the person as a talent seen once in a thousand years.

However, the description for Li Long was very brief.

[Cultivated the Qingcang Body Refining Skill during his first lecture at Pure Heart Hall, completing the entire Molting Realm within six hours.]

It was just a single sentence, but it shocked countless people.

He instantly became the hottest topic of discussion within the Qingcang Sect.

As Zhang Ji remained in his residence, he could vaguely sense many people chanting the name "Li Long," their thoughts transmitting a strange power of faith toward him.

’So a fake name works too?’

Zhang Ji gained a deeper understanding of the nature of faith power.

Real names and false names were merely identifiers; even nicknames or fabricated titles could lock onto an individual’s karmic signature.

The truly important factor was one’s degree of mystique.

He would need to create several layers of aliases, true alternate identities, to avoid being directly targeted.

What Zhang Ji was doing now didn’t count as a true alias. He had only changed his name; the person was still the same. A deeper level of informational targeting would still lead directly to him.

For now, however, this faith power was too faint. It lacked the sincere emotional force from the depths of their hearts, making its purity far too low. Even if Zhang Ji could sense it and gather it, it was of little use—less than useless, in fact.

But this also helped Zhang Ji confirm one thing.

The boundary between information and energy wasn’t so clear-cut. Just as energy could be converted into matter, information could, through specific means, be converted into both energy and matter.

The three were one and the same. At higher realms of existence, one needed to unify them to truly enter the higher dimensions of spacetime.

He might have defeated a weakened Divine Emperor, but he was still worlds away from that level of existence.

’If I want to have a seat at the big table in the Origin Universe after breaking through to Super S-rank, I’ll have to plan carefully and pull off something spectacular. It’s impossible otherwise.’

...

...

「Two Realms Basin.」

One of Zhang Ji’s clones remained here, in the vast basin where a spacetime rift connected Qunxu Continent and Origin Star.

This clone was informationally linked to his main body, sharing a perfect connection. It contained less than one ten-thousandth of his total mass and served as a means of information control.

He even had several other clones on Origin Star and in the Celestial Essence Realm, each composed of a minuscule amount of mass that had virtually no impact on his main body’s combat strength.

They were all connected in real-time, sharing information instantly. This was the marvel of the spacetime domain. For a higher-dimensional being, the information they left behind across the infinite spacetime of the multiverse was all a part of their true self. They could only be considered truly dead when all this information was completely erased.

In the research conducted by Robby and the others, this phenomenon was called "quantum entanglement."

But to return to the matter at hand, within the Two Realms Basin, Zhang Ji was observing footage of his two disciples conquering three countries.

A little over a day had passed since his departure, but the changes were already immense.

On Gu Jie’s front, he was attacking the Yin Country, which was still in the throes of a disaster. Wherever he encountered refugees, he provided immediate aid. He distributed unlimited food and living supplies without a second thought, unconcerned with any waste. He won the hearts of the people with astonishing speed; the disaster-stricken commoners already saw his forces as divine saviors. Whenever they reached a city, they would conquer it with ease, crushing all resistance.

Their forces grew like a snowball. After conquering a city, Gu Jie would notify the council to send in drones and construction teams to begin rebuilding. He himself would press forward, leading only a contingent of his own fully-equipped soldiers and the most basically-armed locals. He kept his vanguard force at around a thousand men, accepting no one with a strength rating below D-class, Seventh Rank.

His luck was also good; he had managed to procure a herd of exotic warhorses, each standing ten feet tall. Now he was cutting an unstoppable path across the map, having already conquered four cities. His pace would only increase from here.

Gu Jie and his men had no intention of resting. If they were pushed to their limits, a single Magic Potion would instantly restore them to peak condition. It was a luxury ordinary armies could never dream of.

Meanwhile, Hudson was tackling the Liu Country. His progress was slightly slower, but not by much.

Once he demonstrated his overwhelming strength and powerful logistical support, liberating the local territories became a simple matter.

The most important part was that they only needed to achieve military victory. The tasks of governance and construction were handled by the council’s logistics department. A single call on a communicator was all it took for swarms of drones to arrive, bringing with them construction crews and heavy machinery.

The difficulty in conquering a land is actually quite low. The hard part is ensuring that, once conquered, the people remain loyal and obedient.

Without such incredible logistical support, even with their strength, it would have taken Gu Jie and Hudson a year or two to conquer these lands.