Chapter 7

Han Li slowly returned the energy flow in his meridians to his dantian. This was the seventh major cycle he had run today. He knew that his body had reached the limit it could bear. If he ran the next major cycle, his meridians would most likely rupture again, and he would once again taste that feeling of being better off dead. Whenever Han Li thought of the pain of his meridians rupturing bit by bit, even he, who was usually bold, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

It had been over half a year since Han Li entered the sect, and the official entrance examination for named disciples had ended more than two months ago.

Only a small portion of the named disciples could officially join the inner sect. Most of the examined disciples failed to pass this hurdle, and those who didn't pass had to carry their bundles down the mountain to become outer disciples.

Most of these children who didn't pass would be assigned to the Treasure Gathering Hall and the Flying Bird Hall. Those who were a bit more outstanding would likely receive further training before it was possible for them to be recruited into the better-treated Outer Blade Hall. Of course, the best-treated in the outer sect was the Four Seas Hall, but unfortunately, the Four Seas Hall only recruited famous figures from the martial arts world. Without a move or two of decent martial arts, that was something they couldn't even dream of, let alone these children who were still wet behind the ears.

Whenever Han Li thought of the content of the examination for the other named disciples two months ago, he still couldn't help but feel a bit terrified.

Running a lap around the Colorful Cloud Mountain range, which was over ten miles in circumference, followed by forming teams to fight in a sparsely populated forest, and finally having to withstand a certain number of moves under the crazy attacks of those senior brothers with high martial arts skills. All these tests made Han Li feel a bit of schadenfreude again.

Han Li and Zhang Tie did not participate in these terrifying tests. Just as Doctor Mo himself said, they only tested the cultivation progress of the set of formulas for the two of them. But this hurdle was not as easy to pass as Han Li had thought. Even now, Han Li remembered the situation of his cultivation at that time clearly.

According to Doctor Mo, this nameless formula was divided into several layers. The two of them only obtained the cultivation method for the first layer. That is to say, as long as the two could achieve success in the first layer of the formula within half a year, Doctor Mo would consider the two to have passed, and they could become Doctor Mo's official disciples and enjoy the same good treatment as other inner disciples of the Profound Heaven Sect.

And ever since Han Li learned from others about the difference in treatment between inner disciples and outer disciples, he completely threw away the idea of muddling through these six months to become an outer disciple and go home. To him at that time, compared to being able to receive more silver from the Profound Heaven Sect and having someone send it home, everything else seemed less important because he had truly been terrified of poverty when he was at home, knowing that for every extra bit of silver he received, the lives of his parents and siblings at home could be a bit better.

After obtaining the formula from Doctor Mo, Han Li no longer went out of the room, practicing day and night, spending all the time he could use on it. Because Doctor Mo didn't give them any guidance on cultivation, Han Li could only grope for himself, referring to the methods of other children practicing the Profound Heaven Sect's basic internal cultivation technique, "Yang-Sun Strength," to comprehend the cultivation method himself.

According to this cultivation method, after three months of arduous practice, what shocked Han Li was: the speed at which he practiced this set of formulas was shockingly slow. He used all his might, but could only produce a tiny, cool energy flow in his body. This energy was so subtle that it was almost non-existent; if he didn't perform internal observation carefully, he wouldn't be able to discover it at all.

This was probably the internal true qi that several instructors spoke of, right? Han Li naturally assumed so.

But hearing other children practicing the Profound Heaven Sect's "Yang-Sun Strength" say that the true qi produced in their bodies was a very obvious, warm heat flow, while what was produced in his body was a cool energy, and the effects after running the two were even further apart.

After other children used the "Yang-Sun Strength" true qi in their bodies, they could already break a small tree as thick as a bowl with one punch and jump over a zhang high. While after Han Li ran his own strange true qi, compared to before using it, there was almost no major change. The only difference was that his spirit seemed much more vigorous than before, and his appetite was much better than before he went up the mountain, but what use was that? Watching other children who went up the mountain together show off their power before his eyes, Han Li became discouraged.

This unexpected discovery almost made Han Li give up his efforts over the past few months. He thought his aptitude was too poor to pass Doctor Mo's evaluation in the remaining days, and he even prepared to go down the mountain.

By chance one day, Han Li learned from Zhang Tie, who practiced together, that: from the time Zhang Tie practiced this formula until now, there hadn't been the slightest change in his body, no effect, and he hadn't produced even a bit of true qi like him.

Learning this by chance allowed Han Li to regain some of the confidence he had lost. In the remaining days, he began the arduous cultivation of before.

No, he did it even harder and crazier than before.

Han Li now used every quarter of an hour to meditate and practice. When sleeping at night, Han Li even began to maintain the cultivation posture, hoping that he could have a little more cultivation effect. Of course, this crazy approach only lasted for a few days before it was aborted. The reason was that he was sleep-deprived and unable to maintain his daytime cultivation efficiency.

What made Han Li puzzled was that ever since Doctor Mo taught the formula to the two, he ignored them, never asking about their cultivation progress or problems in cultivation, as if he had completely forgotten their existence.

Every day, Doctor Mo spent the whole day reading the book with three black characters on the cover, as if there really were beauties and golden houses in the book. At first, Han Li and Zhang Tie even thought that Doctor Mo didn't intend to be a doctor who saves people and heals wounds anymore, and was studying hard to take the licentiate examination. Later, after the two learned to read, they recognized that the three characters were "Longevity Scripture," a book about how to cultivate one's character, prolong life, and live long.

At this time, the two finally realized that Doctor Mo didn't want to take the licentiate examination, but wanted to be like the turtle in the river, old but not dying, living for thousands or tens of thousands of years.

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