56: Who agrees to me taking on apprentices? Who disagrees?

After a while, Zhang Yang opened his eyes. His current Primordial Spirit Power was still too weak to absorb much Heaven and Earth Origin Qi from the void.

By his calculations, it amounted to about two hundred Purple Sun Pills' worth a day—not a huge amount, but not small either.

Currently, Zhang Yang still needed to expend a portion of his consciousness to operate this technique, which would affect his comprehension of Concepts.

He would have to wait a few more days; once the Azure Nether Scripture reached Perfection, he should be able to run this technique with very little conscious effort.

Moreover, by then, the amount of Heaven and Earth Origin Qi he could absorb should increase slightly.

“I just don't know if the Sect has any Cultivation Techniques for training the Primordial Spirit!”

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and decided to ask the Sect Master tomorrow after the Inner Sect Grand Competition ended.

If his Primordial Spirit Power could be strengthened through cultivation, then the amount of Origin Qi he could extract from the void would increase even further!

“Time to focus on cultivation!” Zhang Yang began to Cultivate!

Purple Sun Pills appeared one after another, controlled by Zhang Yang's Primordial Spirit Power and sent into his mouth, transforming into pure Origin Qi before being refined by the Azure Nether Scripture.

As his speed had surged again, a Purple Sun Pill was sent into his mouth every few moments.

Zhang Yang estimated that he should be able to finish refining all ten thousand Purple Sun Pills by tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, the finals of the Inner Sect Grand Competition were also tomorrow morning!

Night fell, and the bright moon hung high in the sky.

The Aura on Zhang Yang's body suddenly surged before quickly stabilizing.

“Profound Core Realm Third Level!” Zhang Yang opened his eyes and sighed with emotion.

The speed at which the Azure Nether Scripture refined Origin Qi was truly extraordinary; from the afternoon until midnight, Zhang Yang had already refined over three thousand Purple Sun Pills!

His cultivation had subsequently broken through to the Profound Core Realm Third Level, and three cloud patterns now circled the Golden Core within his body.

“Cultivating in the Profound Core Realm really does require Purple Sun Pills!”

Without these Purple Sun Pills, relying solely on using Primordial Spirit Power to extract Origin Qi from the void would have taken him over ten days of sleepless cultivation to gather the energy of these three thousand-plus pills.

But thinking about it that way, it wasn't exactly slow either, was it?

Shaking his head, Zhang Yang continued refining the Purple Sun Pills to Cultivate.

In the early morning, there was still some time before the Inner Sect Grand Competition.

At this point, only about four thousand of the original ten thousand Purple Sun Pills remained in his Storage Ring.

After a long absence, Zhang Yang returned to the small courtyard he had occupied as an Inner Sect Disciple.

Looking at the mountain-like pile of thunder stones beside the yard, Zhang Yang's mind stirred, and he summoned the iron pellet located in his Sea of Consciousness.

He wanted to test the iron pellet's ability to devour minerals!

These thunder stones were also a type of metallic mineral!

“Go on, eat!”

He manipulated the iron pellet to move in front of the pile of thunder stones.

The iron pellet instantly became extremely thin, like a sheet of cloth, wrapping around the mountain of thunder stones.

In less than an hour, these nearly six tons of thunder stones were completely digested by the iron pellet. The pellet had grown significantly and was now emitting faint sparks of electricity.

With a thought, the iron pellet began to shift its shape, eventually transforming into the form of a saber.

A section extended from the end of the hilt, forming a lion's head.

The curve of the blade was like a soaring eagle, narrow at the front and wide at the back, with wing-like cloud patterns carved near the hilt.

A ring was embedded in the middle section, its circumference carved with swirling spirit patterns that connected to the beast-eye patterns behind the ring;

The tip of the blade tapered into an eagle-beak hook, and the inner side of the hook was engraved with fine scale patterns, resembling the talons of an exotic beast.

This was the precious saber Zhang Yang had been visualizing in his mind while comprehending Saber Intent.

Although the color was slightly different due to devouring thunder stones, it was still an incredibly cool precious saber.

He reached out, and the precious saber automatically flew into his hand.

Currently, the grade of this saber was still insufficient, only comparable to his original saber forged from hundred-refined steel.

With a thought, the blade released faint sparks of electricity. Zhang Yang reached out to feel the intensity.

It was slightly higher than raw thunder stone, but at most, it would only cause severe pain to an ordinary person; it was still useless against a Martial Artist.

However, Zhang Yang was already quite satisfied for now. After all, thunder stone was just an ordinary mineral; aside from emitting electricity, it wasn't particularly outstanding in other aspects.

Zhang Yang took the saber and headed towards the Martial Arts Stage.

At the Martial Arts Stage, many Disciples had gathered, everyone anticipating the final battle!

This battle would determine who would be number one in this Inner Sect Grand Competition!

It might even determine who would be the next Sect Head of the Clear Wind Sect!

“Zhang Yang! Zhang Yang!”

“Du Qi! Du Qi!”

Amidst the shouts and gazes of many Disciples, Du Qi arrived at the center of the Martial Arts Stage, and Zhang Yang followed suit.

The atmosphere grew even more heated!

“One strike to decide the winner?”

Du Qi looked at Zhang Yang, his Battle Intent erupting. He gripped his long saber tightly as the Origin Power within his body surged, pouring entirely into the blade!

His strongest learned strike was ready to be unleashed!

“Agreed!”

Zhang Yang nodded, gripping the lion-headed precious saber transformed from the iron pellet. As Origin Power poured into it, the fifth style of Sovereign Extreme Heaven Severing was about to be released.

Between the two, the atmosphere grew increasingly stagnant, as if the surrounding air had been frozen by their respective Auras.

The lower-ranked spectators in the nearby viewing stands couldn't help but gulp; the atmosphere was simply too tense!

Dong!

The bell rang!

Du Qi held his saber, and a blood-colored saber light surged, covering half the Martial Arts Stage with unstoppable momentum! It radiated an incomparable majesty!

On Zhang Yang's side, a purple saber astral was restrained, completely surrounded by the blood-colored saber light!

“Blood Shadow Severing the Rainbow!”

“Sovereign Extreme Divine Explosion!”

Two ultimate moves met, and waves immediately erupted in all directions!

One red and one purple saber light collided in a world-shaking explosion! The blood-colored saber light completely dissipated!

Under the power of the colliding ultimate moves, no part of the Martial Arts Stage was spared; the ground was carved with countless massive gashes by the exploding Saber Qi!

Where the two moves had collided, a crater dozens of meters wide and nearly ten meters deep appeared.

Countless fragments of rock were hurled into the air by the massive impact, only to be sliced into tiny pieces by the surrounding Saber Qi as they fell.

Zhang Yang hovered above the Martial Arts Stage. The lion-headed precious saber in his hand had already transformed back into a sphere and entered his Sea of Consciousness.

A moment later, the dust settled.

“Zhang Yang! Zhang Yang! Zhang Yang!”

Upon seeing clearly who remained on the Martial Arts Stage, the surrounding Disciples burst into thunderous cheers!

“He really is strong! Zhang Yang!” Yu Feng, Jiang Haochuan, and countless other Disciples sighed as they stared at the figure on the stage.

“He truly didn't disappoint me!” Ling Yue, at the top of the stands, showed a faint smile.

“Hehe, don't forget! You lost to us!” Nearby, Elder Wang and Jiang Dao chuckled.

Hearing this, Ling Yue didn't care at all. It was fine!

Even if he was swindled by these two, being able to take a Genius like Zhang Yang as a Personal Disciple was something worth being happy about no matter what!

Outside the Martial Arts Stage, Du Qi was still reflecting on the move from just now. Although he had lost to Zhang Yang, that single strike had taught him a great deal.

He had seen many shadows of the Clear Wind Sect's Saber Techniques within it!

“Ahem!”

Sect Master Ling Yue arrived in the air above the Martial Arts Stage in front of Zhang Yang. With a turn of Origin Power, he bolstered the Formation, and the entire stage was restored to its original state!

“Today, I take Zhang Yang as my Personal Disciple! He is a future candidate for Sect Head!!” Ling Yue's voice spread in all directions.

“I assume no one objects?”

Looking around, no one objected. All the low-level Disciples looked at Zhang Yang with faces full of envy.

As for the other Infant Transformation Realm Martial Artists from the Southern Region, they were already preparing to go home and quickly send over portraits and such!

Ling Yue smiled slightly and then spoke.

“Very well! Zhang Yang, I hereby take you as my—”

“Wait!” A voice interrupted Ling Yue!