Chapter 130: Chapter 125: The Inside Story

’Great sects truly are on another level,’ Zhao Lin thought with an inward grimace.

The entirety of Qinghe County only had two Blood Realm masters: his master, Zhu Huaishan, and the old Sect Leader of the Lingshan Sect’s local branch. There wasn’t a single martial artist from the younger or middle generations who had reached the Blood Realm.

Yet the Xingyun Sect had an Inner Institute that only accepted disciples who broke through to the Blood Realm before the age of twenty-five. The difference was simply astronomical.

Zhu Huaishan continued, "The Outer Institute has a great number of disciples, and their cultivation levels vary greatly. For this reason, the sect established the Wuxiang Institute, specifically to select the most exceptionally talented among them."

"Virtually all disciples in the Inner Institute come from the Wuxiang Institute."

’Outer Institute, Wuxiang Institute, Inner Institute...’

Zhao Lin was starting to get the picture. The Outer Institute was for regular disciples, and the Inner Institute was for the elites. The Wuxiang Institute, then, was a place to select young, promising disciples from the Outer Institute and groom them to become future members of the Inner Institute.

"So, Master, you want me to enter the Wuxiang Institute?" Zhao Lin asked, putting two and two together.

"Exactly!"

Zhu Huaishan smiled and stroked his beard. "The Wuxiang Institute has extremely high entry requirements. Besides superior talent, there are two other strict conditions: one’s age cannot exceed twenty, and one’s cultivation must be at least the Second Layer of the Qi Realm."

"The reason I wanted you to reach the Second Layer of the Qi Realm before returning to the sect was so you could enter the Wuxiang Institute. That would give you a high starting point right from the get-go."

"If you were to start from the Outer Institute, you’d have no backing. I’m afraid you would face a great deal more trouble."

Zhao Lin asked doubtfully, "Master, based on those requirements, I’m still only at the First Layer of the Qi Realm. Doesn’t that mean I can’t get into the Wuxiang Institute?"

"Not necessarily."

Zhu Huaishan waved his hand and continued, "Do you remember when I asked you whether one’s cultivation realm or one’s combat prowess was more important?"

"Yan Province is located on the frontier. Since ancient times, we have clashed with nomadic tribes, so the people here are all fierce and skilled in battle."

"For this reason, the Xingyun Sect places great importance on practical combat experience. If someone can defeat two Outer Institute disciples at the Third Layer of the Qi Realm in a row, and is under the age of twenty, they can be admitted into the Wuxiang Institute by special exception."

"I originally thought you were advancing through the realms too quickly and that your practical combat skills would inevitably be lacking. That’s why I wanted you to wait until you reached the Second Layer of the Qi Realm before you left."

A smile spread across his face as he said this. "But now, it seems my concerns were unnecessary. Whether in the Power Realm or the Qi Realm, your combat prowess far surpasses that of other martial artists at the same level."

"Worst-case scenario, even if you can’t get into the Wuxiang Institute, you’ll spend half a year in the Outer Institute at most. The conditions there are still much better than what you have here."

Understanding dawned on Zhao Lin. Then, a question he was very concerned about came to mind.

"Master, what’s the realm above the Blood Realm?"

He knew there were higher realms beyond the Blood Realm, but he had always been too embarrassed to ask. After all, his cultivation level had been so low before that asking such questions would have made him seem overly ambitious.

Zhu Huaishan chuckled. "I’ve actually been waiting for you to ask that. Ambition is a good thing. What martial artist doesn’t want to reach a higher realm?"

"The next realm after the Blood Realm is the Primordial Realm."

"Upon reaching that realm, one can cultivate powerful Primordial Qi. Their strength is on a completely different level from a Blood Realm martial artist’s."

"Then how long can a Primordial Realm martial artist live?"

Zhao Lin hesitated, almost asking, ’Can one achieve immortality?’

This was what he cared about most.

He had been mulling this over ever since he was reborn.

’I have the Spirit Beast Scroll, and with a body modified by Essence Souls, breaking through realms isn’t hard for me. But if I can only live to be seventy or eighty, that would be a terrible waste.’

Zhu Huaishan gave Zhao Lin a deep look. He couldn’t help but smile, thinking that his disciple seemed to be practicing martial arts just for the sake of a long life.

"The Primordial Realm re-forges the physical body, which naturally extends one’s life. As long as your training goes smoothly and you take good care of yourself, your lifespan can reach ninety, or even a hundred years."

"There’s another benefit, too: your power declines slowly. Although I am at the Blood Realm, my cultivation is only at twenty or thirty percent of what it was at my peak."

"A Primordial Realm master, however, can maintain their power for a long time. Even when they die of old age, they still retain at least fifty percent of their cultivation!"

’Only a hundred years...’

Zhao Lin felt a pang of disappointment. He then asked, "Master, there are realms above the Primordial Realm, aren’t there?"

Zhu Huaishan nodded. "Further up is the Innate Realm. However, throughout history, those who have reached it are few and far between. Anyone who reaches this realm is called a Grandmaster."

He paused, then added without waiting for Zhao Lin to ask, "A Grandmaster’s lifespan can reach one hundred and twenty years. How does that sound?"

"Amazing!"

Zhao Lin praised him out loud, but inwardly he thought, ’So it seems even at the absolute peak of martial arts, that’s the longest you can live. I’d better focus my research on how to absorb the Essence Souls of immortal jellyfish and giant deep-sea lobsters.’

"Master, are there many mutated beasts in Yan Province?"

This question was of great importance, as it concerned the future development of his Spirit Beast Scroll.

A memory from the Spirit Beast Scroll contained a key piece of information: the higher the grade of the beast, the stronger the Essence Soul absorbed from it.

Through his experiments over the past year, Zhao Lin had found this to be true.

Currently, the Spirit Beast Scroll held five Essence Souls: a bear, a Golden Leopard, a Horseshoe Bat, a Lark, and a Fragrant Mink.

Of these, the ones that granted strength were the most effective by far. Both the degree to which the Essence Soul modified his body and its ability to release the white mist were a cut above the rest!

When he absorbed the Lark’s Essence Soul, it attempted to modify his bones, but it was quickly suppressed by the Essence Souls of the bear and the Golden Leopard. This was the difference between a strong Essence Soul and a weak one.

Zhao Lin also realized some of his previous assumptions might have been wrong, such as his inability to absorb the Essence Souls of scorpions and spiders being due to differences in body structure.

He had recently run tests with fleas and grasshoppers and found he couldn’t absorb their Essence Souls either.

The specialty of both insects was jumping. Logically, absorbing their ability shouldn’t have required the creation of new organs; legs were all that was needed.

But the flea’s Essence Soul was so fine and small it was nearly invisible to the naked eye, and the Spirit Beast Scroll didn’t react to it at all.

The grasshopper’s Essence Soul was slightly better, barely taking form, and the Spirit Beast Scroll gave an infinitesimal tremor in response. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

This indicated that the Spirit Beast Scroll couldn’t absorb their Essence Souls because they were too weak and lacked the power to modify his body.

’So,’ he reasoned, ’if I found a mutated grasshopper—a mutated insect—could I absorb its Essence Soul then?’

Zhao Lin was self-aware. He knew that with all the geniuses in the Xingyun Sect, he could never hope to catch up through diligent training alone. He had to rely on his Spirit Beast Scroll.

Five of the nine slots in his Spirit Beast Scroll were already filled. In addition to absorbing new Essence Souls, he also had to consider "upgrading" his existing ones, which meant he had to find new mutated beasts.

Baitou Mountain had mutated beasts, but there weren’t many varieties. Moreover, many of their special traits weren’t suitable for him, like the color-changing Iron Spike Lizard or the heat-sensing Nine-Ringed Snake.

Yan Province was home to Yanyun Mountain, one of the most majestic mountain ranges in the world, stretching for thousands of miles. To be precise, it was the Yanyun Mountain Range, and Baitou Mountain was merely one of its spurs.

Zhu Huaishan hadn’t expected Zhao Lin to ask this. Assuming he was simply curious, he didn’t give it much thought and replied, "But of course. Yanyun Mountain is a place of great spiritual energy and natural beauty. Mutated birds and beasts there aren’t necessarily any rarer than common wild animals."

"The Xingyun Sect has even compiled bestiaries to document these mutated beasts."

’They even have bestiaries?’ Zhao Lin’s interest was piqued.

"What? Are you getting ideas about these mutated beasts?"

Zhu Huaishan glanced at him and said in an admonishing tone, "Although the meat of mutated beasts is toxic, the internal organs of some are prime ingredients for martial arts medicinal formulas. They cannot be hunted indiscriminately."