Chapter 77

After listening for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Yang Hua flew away, leaving these newly joined disciples. They began to relax, their faces showing excitement. They had finally joined the coveted Inner Court and become Outer Court disciples.

"Alright, everyone, follow me to the Merit Hall to receive a set of Outer Court disciple clothes, some resources, and a place to live." Seeing the head of the court leave, Mentor He called out, and everyone followed him to another peak.

"Mentor, just now the head of the court mentioned that contribution points can be used to enter the Xuan Yang Tower for cultivation. What is this Xuan Yang Tower?" Ye Feng was very puzzled. Exchanging for spirit stones, martial techniques, and cultivation methods were not hard to understand; these were common in the Outer Court. However, the Xuan Yang Tower puzzled him, and it was also what puzzled the others. Hearing Ye Feng's question, everyone looked at Mentor He.

"Good question. The Xuan Yang Tower is the foundation of our Tian Ling Academy, and it is very unique. It has its own space, and more importantly, its own time laws. The time law in the first level is twice that of the outside, four times in the second level, eight times in the third level, and so on. The Xuan Yang Tower has nine levels in total. This means that cultivation in the ninth level is 512 times faster than outside. If you cultivate for one year outside, it would be over 500 years inside." Mentor He explained to everyone.

Everyone's faces showed shock. Such a unique place could shorten cultivation time.

"However, you can only imagine it. Ordinary Outer Court disciples can only enter the first level for cultivation. Even with a large number of contribution points, you cannot enter the second level. Only those who qualify as Inner Court disciples have the chance to enter the first three levels. The fourth level requires an even more terrifying number of contribution points, and Inner Court disciples can only enter up to the fifth level. No matter how many contribution points you have, it won't help."

Seeing everyone's eager eyes, Mentor He poured a bucket of cold water. Only those who reach the Xiantian realm can become Inner Court disciples. As for Core Disciples, they must wait until the Diwu realm.

They chatted and laughed all the way, and soon arrived at the Merit Hall. Since it was already dark, the Merit Hall was already lit up, just like during the day. Plus, Ye Feng and the others returned relatively late, so other groups had already collected their items, leaving them as the last group to arrive.

Walking into the Merit Hall, the space inside was incredibly vast, with dozens of pillars supporting the hall. Even if thousands of people entered, it wouldn't feel crowded. The pillars were intricately carved, with dragons that seemed to be ready to ride the wind.

The elder in the Merit Hall seemed a bit impatient, and upon seeing Ye Feng and the others enter, he hurriedly urged them.

"These are nineteen chests, one for each of you." Mentor He said, looking at the chests on the ground.

Each person picked up a chest and left the Merit Hall, heading to their living quarters.

The living quarters were quite unique, built on the edge of the peak, each a separate pavilion. Because the spiritual energy here was relatively dense, but compared to where the Core Disciples lived, it was like a pigsty. As for the True Transmission Disciples, each had an entire peak.

"Alright, that's it for today. The chests contain introductions. As for what you need to do in the future, and what you don't need to do, it's all explained. I wish you all to become Inner Court disciples soon." Mentor He said and left, leaving the nineteen people standing there.

Mentor Li and the others had already left the academy and returned to the Outer Court. If any of these people advanced to Inner Court disciples, they would gain points and strive to return to the Inner Court.

Fortunately, the nineteen people's living quarters were not far apart. This was largely due to Mentor He's deliberate arrangement, hoping they would unite in the future.

"It's getting late, everyone go back and rest!" Ye Feng glanced at everyone and walked to his room.

Pushing open the door, the room was quite spacious, with a bedroom for resting, a room for refining pills and artifacts, and a not-so-large hall, which was enough for Ye Feng to cultivate.

Entering the bedroom, Ye Feng put down the chest and opened it. Inside were several books made of animal skin, a long sword, a few sets of clothes, and some bottles.

Ye Feng picked up a book. It was thick, with two large characters on the cover: "Miscellaneous Records," authored by Hai Xiaotian.

Flipping to the first page, the content was some of the most basic knowledge, such as the classification of beasts, the structure of the academy. As Ye Feng delved deeper, a broader world unfolded.

The Southern Domain of the Divine Continent was vast, with numerous sects and academies. All sorts of strange and unusual things were introduced, whether it was beasts, pills, herbs, or regional divisions, there were corresponding explanations.

Soon, Ye Feng was attracted by another type of knowledge: artifact refinement. There was an introduction to artifact refinement, but no specific techniques, only the classification of weapons.

Ordinary weapons were called mundane weapons. Above that were spirit weapons, followed by magical weapons, elemental weapons, dao weapons, and finally, immortal weapons. Ye Feng's Qiu Sha was one of the best mundane weapons. Only through continuous refinement and the incorporation of large amounts of artifact materials could its level be improved.

"It seems I need to find resources to improve Qiu Sha's level. Otherwise, encountering a spirit weapon in the future would be very disadvantageous, and it might even be shattered." Ye Feng muttered to himself.

However, to refine artifacts, one needed refinement techniques. It wasn't easy to improve a weapon's level. Ye Feng's primary task was to obtain a refinement technique to improve Qiu Sha's level.

He had a good understanding of the Southern Domain's divisions and strength levels. It turned out that reaching the Tianwu realm made one a True Transmission Disciple. Each True Transmission Disciple held a very high position in the academy, even having life and death authority over Outer and Inner Court disciples.

Putting down the "Miscellaneous Records," Ye Feng picked up another book, a cultivation technique. It was much better than the Purple Jade Technique, a high-level technique. However, compared to the Nine Transformations of Gods and Demons, these techniques were like garbage. He tossed it aside and picked up another book, a sword technique, which he also didn't need.

Finally, there were the bottles. Picking up a porcelain bottle, he opened it and sniffed. "Not bad, a Blood-Stop Pill." He put the bottle down and picked up the second one, sniffing it. "Hmm, this is a True Spirit Pill." He poured out the pill, which was identical to the dozens given to him by Mentor Li.

After sorting through all the pills, he had one bottle of Blood-Stop Pills, one bottle of internal injury healing pills, some miscellaneous auxiliary pills, and one bottle of True Spirit Pills, about a hundred in total. The Inner Court's treatment was indeed good, and there were also a hundred spirit stones at the bottom of the chest.

"Everything starts anew!" Putting everything away, Ye Feng put on a set of Outer Court disciple clothes. Only Core Disciples had the right to not wear the academy's uniform, and True Transmission Disciples even more so.

Sitting cross-legged, Ye Feng didn't want to miss any opportunity to cultivate. He took a few True Spirit Pills, which transformed into pure spiritual energy, filling his body.

"Good stuff. If I had a large number of True Spirit Pills, there would be no worry about not improving my strength." Feeling the rich spiritual energy in the True Spirit Pills, Ye Feng exclaimed in amazement.

Unfortunately, the academy could only distribute so many each month. To obtain more True Spirit Pills, he would have to hunt Blood Demons or go on missions to earn contribution points.

The night passed quickly. As soon as it was light, Ye Feng stopped cultivating. After pondering all night, he decided to go on a mission first to earn contribution points, then exchange for an artifact refinement technique, hoping to quickly improve Qiu Sha's level.

As for his own strength, Ye Feng was not too worried. Even if he encountered a late-stage Xiantian, he could escape safely, unless it was a Diwu realm.

The entire academy was bustling. Following the route from yesterday, Ye Feng headed to the Merit Hall. It was about half an hour's walk. On the way, he saw various people, some in Outer Court disciple uniforms, some in Inner Court disciple uniforms, some walking alone, and some in groups. Core Disciples were rarely seen, but he could still spot a few, each with a powerful aura.

Yesterday, it was night, and he hadn't had a good look. Today, he almost froze in shock. The Merit Hall covered a vast area, about ten thousand square meters. Disciples were moving in and out, and following the crowd, Ye Feng also entered the Merit Hall.

Inside the Merit Hall, Ye Feng looked around and saw various windows. There were windows for exchanging pills, windows for spending contribution points to ask questions, windows for exchanging martial techniques, and registration counters. Yesterday, because it was too late, these windows were not open. Today, he saw that the Merit Hall was indeed extraordinary.

Then Ye Feng looked around and noticed that the walls were divided into four areas, each a different color: red, yellow, orange, and green. These colors corresponded to the difficulty levels of the missions, as described in the "Miscellaneous Records." Missions were generally divided into four levels: Heaven, Earth, Xuan, and Yellow. Heaven-level missions were the highest and most difficult, while Yellow-level missions were the lowest, mostly done by Outer Court disciples.

The red level was the highest, and Ye Feng didn't plan to look at it yet. He walked to the yellow wall, where various mission tags were posted. Ye Feng was dazzled, but one mission caught his attention.

The mission was simple: go to the Demon Domain Forest to find a type of magic gold stone. If obtained, one would receive ten thousand contribution points, a very generous reward.

"Brother, you're not thinking of taking this mission, are you? I advise you to give it up." A young man in his twenties appeared beside Ye Feng, wearing a green robe, the uniform of an Inner Court disciple.

"You must be a new disciple. I'm Zhang Yuanhua, an Inner Court disciple." The young man continued.

"Nice to meet you, Senior Brother Zhang!" Ye Feng quickly bowed.

"You new disciples don't understand the difficulty of these missions. Let me explain. Don't underestimate the task of finding magic gold stone. Just entering the Demon Domain Forest is nearly impossible. Even those in the Diwu realm would face certain death. It's filled with beasts and various swamps. About ten days ago, five Inner Court disciples went together to find magic gold stone and haven't returned. They probably won't come back. I advise you to look at the green-level missions, which are more suitable for Outer Court disciples, especially new ones like you." The young man explained to Ye Feng.

"Thank you for your advice, Senior Brother Zhang." Ye Feng said and walked to the yellow wall.