Chapter Fifty-Three: Coming of Age Ceremony
After Gu Xiaopang, a mere Spirit Refiner, achieved the resonance of the Human Ladder—a feat countless body cultivators had yet to accomplish—the entire Misty Seven Peaks was thrown into an uproar.
Everyone knew the formidable strength of a successful body cultivator’s physique.
Thus, in the countless days that followed, disciples—whether alone or in groups—would often challenge the Human Ladder after their spirit refinement sessions.
Especially as many inner and outer sect disciples discovered that climbing the Human Ladder could accelerate their cultivation breakthroughs or compress their spiritual power, the trend of body cultivation endured for a long time…
The elders and high-ranking members of the sect were all pleased to see this.
...
Having left the Body Pavilion for several days now, Gu Xiaopang could already hold his own against mid-to-late Foundation Establishment spirit refiners relying solely on his physical strength.
With his cultivation unsealed, Gu Xiaopang now felt that, with only his late Foundation Establishment power, even if he faced the Golden Core Sand Scorpion again, he would no longer be so passive—he could fight back.
If facing human cultivators, even those who had reached False Core stage with one foot in Golden Core, he could easily defeat them without much effort.
...
One day, after finishing his cultivation and returning to his courtyard, Gu Xiaopang saw several elders gathered, smiling and chatting amongst themselves.
“Hey, what are you all talking about?” he asked.
“We’re all waiting for you, kid,” one replied.
“Waiting for me? What for?”
...
Thinking something bad was about to happen, Gu Xiaopang instinctively retreated a step, but he didn’t consider that, surrounded by late Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and even higher-level experts, if anything were truly amiss, escape would be impossible—he’d have nowhere to run.
“Today, you’re exactly sixteen,” an elder said.
“Today, these old fellows are here to celebrate your coming-of-age ceremony.”
“Sixteen? Coming-of-age?”
...
After grasping the situation, Gu Xiaopang was momentarily dazed, but quickly returned to normal. Honestly, in his previous life he was already in his twenties—well past sixteen—but upon arriving in the Continent of the Wind God, he had to follow local customs and accept that he was now sixteen.
“Come, Xiaopang! Here is a Five Elements Spirit Elixir—gold, wood, water, fire, earth—that I specially gathered and prepared for you. Old Elder Mu can’t even refine this now,” one elder said.
“Nonsense, Elder Chang! I could refine that elixir if I wanted! I just don’t care to. Besides, with Xiaopang’s talent, does he even need such a pill?”
“Xiaopang, since Elder Chang gave it to you, just take it quickly!”
“These are three Soul Purification Pills I specially crafted for you—all supreme grade! Ha ha ha...”
“By the way, good news—your master is now a Grandmaster-level alchemist capable of refining supreme-grade spirit pills! Ha ha ha...”
“Xiaopang, when you came to my Artifact Pavilion for joint cultivation, I didn’t have much to offer, so I crafted a Falling Star Five-Spirit Bracelet for you.”
“Rare for Elder Xun to be so generous.”
“Xiaopang, my Body Pavilion has been influenced by you—now the sect disciples have turned the Human Ladder platform into chaos; my disciples complain they can’t even train in peace or move their nests…”
“Here! This is what I prepared for you.”
Seeing Gu Xiaopang scratching his head in embarrassment, Elder Chen Shiming of the Body Pavilion shoved a thick notebook into his hands; flipping through it, he found it filled with Elder Chen’s annotated insights into body cultivation at every stage...
After all, it was only a junior disciple’s coming-of-age ceremony—even if he was special, a seed disciple—if all the Peak Masters were to come, it would be a bit excessive.
Thus, Elder Gu Fifth handed over seven jade talismans to Gu Xiaopang.
“These are protective jade talismans, each crafted by the Sect Master and the seven Peak Masters, myself included. Each one is imbued with great power and can shield you from seven full-force attacks not exceeding late Nascent Soul stage…”
“Elder Gu, you make it sound like a gift, but didn’t you shamelessly go to each peak and insist they participate? Ha ha…”
...
“Grandfather, Master, esteemed elders, I thank you all!”
“I’ve decided: from now on, I’ll hold a coming-of-age ceremony every year!”
“What?”
“You rascal! What did you just say?”
...
Looking at his hands overflowing with dazzling gifts, Gu Xiaopang’s heart pounded with excitement—he wished he could celebrate his coming-of-age every year.
“Changqing, tomorrow you will descend the mountain to train…”
“Descend the mountain for training?”
“Yes.”
“I…”
After seeing off the elders, Elder Gu Fifth turned serious, speaking solemnly to Gu Xiaopang… but before long, the atmosphere became anything but serious.
...