The morning sun had already risen, casting a warm, golden glow across the Xuantian Sect. Spirit birds could be seen flying through the air.
Inside a quiet bamboo hut, Xu Xing was diligently reading the history books Meng Yao had brought two days ago. He had actually spent a whole two days studying without a single wink of sleep. Of course, cultivators at his level didn't really need sleep, but the mental exhaustion was still very real.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door thrice. Xu Xing slowly got up, rubbing his tired temples. He already knew who it was as he had instructed Meng Yao to knock 3 times. He opened the door.
"Junior brother, you look worse than a dead fish!"
Meng Yao said with her hands on her hips, sounding concerned. She truly meant it. Xu Xing waved his hand through his wild and unkempt hair, and his clothes were a wrinkled mess. This was the direct result of his sheer frustration after reading the history of the continent.
This realm was known as the Seven-Star Ascension Realm. It was an ancient, lower realm. Its name included 'Seven-Star' because there had been exactly seven Great Emperors who had accumulated boundless merit by completely suppressing their entire generations. The most recent among these supreme beings was the Slaughter Emperor, Ye Qingtian! He had founded the Xuantian Sect!
The Seven-Star Ascension Realm's current dominant species were humans. But it wasn't always this way. Around a million years ago, in the primordial era, the demon race were the absolute overlords and treated humans and three thousand other races like nothing more than livestock.
That era was extremely cruel. Eventually, through the sheer efforts of humanity's first emperor—the Heavenly Golden Emperor—the demons were forced to back down into the southern region and have been isolated there ever since.
Now, many races live in harmony in the rest of the world. Well, everywhere other than the northern region where demonic cultivators are active. That region has absolutely no rules; only the strong survive. High-level cultivators there don't care a single bit about their image when killing juniors, which is exactly why the northern region still isn't united and remains suppressed.
The western region is basically a forbidden zone for everyone! In the primordial era, the Heavenly Golden Emperor and nine primordial demon beasts had fought a heaven-shaking battle there. The residual energy now gives birth to endless mindless demons that only know how to devour. No emperor since the primordial era has ever been able to purify it.
And the eastern and central regions are home to various righteous sects. After recalling all that information, Xu Xing still felt confused about many things! Like, why didn't the Heavenly Golden Emperor clear off the western region from the aftereffects of their battle? And what is the current situation of the demon race?
But the thing that confused him the most...
"Senior sister, our eastern region has four sects that dominate it," Xu Xing said. "The Xuantian Sect founded by Emperor Ye Qingtian, the Golden Gate founded by the Heavenly Golden Emperor, the Divine Medicine Valley which is the king of alchemy, and the Tianjian Sect."
Xu Xing paused for a moment before continuing.
"The Tianjian Sect has recently fallen off from the ranks of the four great sects, but isn't there still a Shenjian Sect in the central continent? Are these two separate? Don't they both worship Saint Chendao as their ancestor?"
Meng Yao thought for a while, recalling the historical facts.
"They both are indeed the same sect," Meng Yao explained softly. "But after Saint Chendao ascended, two influential figures of the Tianjian Sect had a massive conflict. So, they both took their own factions to settle separately, and each side took one of Saint Chendao's nourished swords."
She sighed. "The Shenjian Sect in the central continent lived up to Saint Chendao's glory and rose as an absolute giant. But the Tianjian Sect is currently declining because there hasn't been a single genius there for the last three hundred years."
Xu Xing still had another doubt.
"There have been seven Star Emperors, which our realm is named after," Xu Xing noted, "but they all are from the righteous factions. Is there really no emperor strong enough among the demonic cultivators?"
Meng Yao understood why Xu Xing felt this doubt. Even she had asked the same thing to her master when she studied the history for the first time.
"Junior brother, there have been many emperors from the demonic faction, but they've only had a single emperor capable enough to truly fight the Star Emperors. Even I am not entirely sure about the specifics, other than the fact that everyone calls him Demon Ancestor Gu. Don't worry though, Demon Ancestor Gu has already ascended to the upper realm."
Xu Xing felt all his doubts that could be answered were cleared. Now that he was done with learning the entire history, he could devote his time to cultivation again.
Ever since witnessing Yu Yan's sword strike laced with sword intent, he felt his practice of the Crossing River Formation was far too slow. He always wanted to unleash such a strike.
He wanted to ask Meng Yao for help, but he felt it would be a stupid question. After all, how could anything help him other than bitter practice? Still, he asked on a whim.
"Senior sister, is there a way for disciples to improve their sword comprehension?"
"There definitely is! In our Xuantian Sect, there is a sacred mountain called 'Sword Heaven Peak' where many predecessors leave behind their wisps of sword intent for juniors to comprehend. There is even Emperor Ye Qingtian's strike. Though only those with enough contribution points and contribution can visit it."
Xu Xing suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, thinking he was being far too old-fashioned. He was constantly thinking only practice could increase his skills while external help already existed in many ways.
If he had not decided to trust this whim of his, then he likely would've taken a long time to even glimpse at his own sword intent.
Xu Xing had made up his mind to visit Sword Heaven Peak, but Meng Yao's voice suddenly interrupted his fantasies.
"You can't go to Sword Heaven Peak."
Xu Xing felt confused. He then remembered that many elders and the sect master had recently left the sect, so naturally, no one must be there to take care of it.
"I understand," Xu Xing said, letting out a helpless sigh.
"Junior brother, I mean you cannot go because to enter Sword Heaven Peak, you need contribution points."
Xu Xing realized he was wrong. It's just that he lacked contribution points, but couldn't he just ask to borrow some from his senior sister?
Meng Yao sensed his thoughts and said in a helpless voice, "I would've lent you some, but to enter Sword Heaven Peak, you must have contributed to the sect. And the only way to do that is to at least complete one mission. So, junior brother, you will have to take up a mission if you want to go."
Xu Xing felt reluctant at the idea of leaving the sect, but thinking back, he really couldn't stay locked up in the sect all day. That simply wasn't realistic. He sighed and decided he could only avoid staying at public places for too long.
"Let's go to the Mission Hall. Don't worry, most missions there have already been verified to be completely safe, and they only provide you with missions you can easily complete based on your strength."
Xu Xing nodded, and they both left. This was only the third time Xu Xing had left his room. He was curiously looking around. There were many low-level cultivators here, likely because they still haven't entered the Inner Sect; this was the Outer Sect. Meng Yao deliberately led him here first so he could see the sect's environment for himself.
Many cultivators were walking around since they couldn't fly yet. Only some inner disciples were flying overhead on their flying swords. There were some even riding on their spiritual mounts. He even saw someone riding a human-sized toad. Many disciples were practicing their sword techniques. Their stances and movements were a bit unpolished, but still, the Xuantian Sect was after all the descendant of a Star Emperor. Even outer disciples had remarkably good talent.
A little far away, near a stone pathway, a group of four were poking a snail on the ground.
"Li Feng, are you sure we should do this today? Isn't it the Recruitment Exam soon? What if we get in big trouble..."
The lanky guy named Li Feng shook his head dismissively. "You don't get it at all! Today is the recruitment exam, and that's exactly why many newcomers will enter the sect. Many of them won't even have any cultivation! It's an opportunity to earn some easy fortune."
The other guy was still a bit reluctant but still waited. Suddenly, Li Feng noticed someone walking down the path and he yelled in a hushed tone, "Get ready!"
He sneakily kicked the snail, and it landed right in the middle of the pathway.
Xu Xing was walking alone. Meng Yao had left, saying she would be back soon after getting some candied hawks from the outer sect market. He suddenly stepped on something. He quickly lifted his leg. It was a snail and thankfully, the snail was only hurt a little. He was confused. Why did a snail suddenly appear here?
"You blind dog!" a lanky youth shrieked at the top of his lungs. It was Li Feng, dropping dramatically to his knees to cradle the snail. "You dare trample my noble mount? Lightning-Chaser was destined to run down the wind itself! You've ruined his life now!"
Xu Xing's eye twitched. Did he just hear that right? A snail... was destined to run down the wind? He noticed that behind the man who spoke just now, there were three more figures. They likely all tried to scam passing weaker disciples, and if they didn't pay up, they would forcefully loot them.
As for why they targeted Xu Xing...? Because they couldn't sense his realm! They likely thought he was just a mortal here for the Recruitment Exam and had absolutely no cultivation.
"Li Feng, why waste words with this trash?" A man behind Li Feng spoke with arrogant confidence, puffing out his chest to scare Xu Xing. "He has blatantly broken the rules of the Xuantian Sect by harming your precious mount. Let's report him directly to the Administration Hall and make sure this bastard can't even enter the recruitment exam!"
Xu Xing was watching this ridiculous drama unfold with a weird, almost pitying look on his face. Didn't these kinds of face-slapping events only happen to the protagonists of cheap web novels? Sigh... I guess I must "educate" these foolish fellow juniors.
Just as Xu Xing was about to open his mouth to dismiss them, a weird, uncontrollably searing heat suddenly passed through his chest! Oh no! Xu Xing's heart trembled violently. He was getting used to this feeling, but he couldn't stop it! The dog-shit system was acting up again!
He suddenly placed his hands behind his back and adopted an unfathomably profound look, staring up at the clouds. His lone figure instantly looked as if he was unparalleled and supreme, looking down on everyone from the absolute top.
"Compensate...?" Xu Xing's voice rang out, carrying a terrifying, unquestionable arrogance that seemed to pierce the heavens. "You should compensate me instead. Your snail has touched my shoe and will likely soon turn into an Immortal! It had the honor of gracing my presence... You all should compensate me!"