Chapter Forty-Seven: A Hair’s Breadth, The Plan

In the holy white space, Xu Chen’s conscious avatar gathered itself, calmly replaying the battle that had just transpired.

“I was careless. I definitely shouldn’t take the pills right at the start.”

“If that’s the case, even if I take them during the fight, my double will notice and continue to try dragging out the time.”

Over and over, Xu Chen replayed the scene of the battle in his mind.

“No more thinking. Time for another round!”

Pushing open the wooden door marked Six Forms of the Sacred Ape, this time Xu Chen did not take any pills at the outset; instead, he first swallowed the antidote to the poison powder.

Gripping his thousand-forged blade, Xu Chen charged toward his double.

“No pills this time?” his double taunted.

“Come on, fight your grandpa!” Xu Chen slashed with his blade.

Seeing this, the double burst forth with all his might, and at the cost of injury, unleashed the Sacred Ape Hammers the Heavens technique, shattering Xu Chen’s skull.

Once more, his conscious avatar gathered in the holy white space.

“I don’t believe this!”

Again, he prepared everything carefully and pushed open the door to the Six Forms of the Sacred Ape.

Taking pills, using poison, and ultimately being dragged to death.

This time, after his conscious avatar reformed, Xu Chen seemed to have grasped a crucial point.

“My strength is just a hair short. If I could increase my power by the strength of a tiger…”

“Even without the pills, the double wouldn’t be able to kill me instantly.”

“Then, I could use the poison to stall him.”

With this thought, Xu Chen’s consciousness returned to his body. He took out the token for the cultivation secret realm, and from the bottom of his storage pouch, retrieved the lotus spirit stones his parents had given him.

“The token allows a month’s cultivation. Fifty thousand spirit coins will buy another month, paired with these lotus spirit stones.”

“In two months’ time, I’ll be as strong as a tiger. That won’t be a problem.”

As Xu Chen calculated his resources, he realized that if he spent fifty thousand spirit coins to enter the cultivation secret realm, he’d be broke afterward.

“I’ll have to think of a way to earn more spirit coins later.”

The next morning, man and ox trained together in harmony.

“Towering waves!”

Ten layers of sonic booms echoed through the dense forest.

After Xu Chen finished his practice, Niu Dali approached with his dumbbells.

“Brother Xu, these dumbbells are getting a bit light. Can you add another ten thousand catties?” Niu Dali grinned.

“That’s no problem. Leave them with me after you finish your training tonight, and I’ll add the weight for you.”

Having absorbed the perfect insights of the Hundred-Forged Blade, Xu Chen had become a master blacksmith; adding another ten thousand catties to each dumbbell was child’s play for him.

“Thank you, Brother Xu.”

“By the way, the sect is opening its gates wide today and holding the entrance examination for new disciples. Want to go see the excitement?”

Xu Chen looked up at the sky and realized it was nearly noon.

“Let’s go. No harm in taking a look.”

Originally, Xu Chen intended to head to the secret realm for cultivation, but then he remembered Steward Bai’s request. He decided to spend a month or two helping his nephew train in the sect before going to the secret realm.

After all, having received favors, he couldn’t be absent at a critical moment.

Outside the mountain gate, a vast plaza had become the stage for a gravity formation now being activated.

Hundreds of thousands of children, aged six to ten, were struggling to walk step by step within the gravity array.

Xu Chen and Niu Dali stood outside, watching the children inside the formation.

“Our sect’s minimum requirement is spiritual-grade aptitude, under ten years old, and at least at the Vital Blood stage to qualify for the examination.”

“The assessment changes every year, but it usually focuses on perseverance, willpower, character, and wisdom.”

“This first stage looks like a test of endurance,” Niu Dali commented.

“Why are they all humans? Aren’t other races admitted as well?” Xu Chen asked curiously.

“Humans are tested first, then the others.”

“The non-human assessment is much tougher.” Niu Dali shuddered at the memory of his own entrance trials.

Xu Chen said no more and turned his eyes to the children in the array.

“Damn, not even ten years old and already at the Vital Blood stage. And here I am, stuck with useless ordinary aptitude,” he grumbled inwardly.

Within the gravity formation, tens of thousands of children found each step arduous. By the middle of the course, their stamina and vital energy were nearly spent.

Every further step depended on sheer willpower.

Half of the children were eliminated by the midpoint.

Another half fell by the time they reached the latter half.

“This assessment…”

Xu Chen suddenly gained a new appreciation for how hard his father had worked to secure a backdoor for him.

“On the grand path of cultivation, those without resolve cannot walk this endless road.”

“But fate is not absolute; those who are eliminated today may yet have opportunities in the future.”

A sonorous voice resonated across the plaza outside the mountain gate.

Most of those present were not disciples watching the excitement, but family members anxiously waiting outside the array for their children.

The eliminated children were met with either comfort or scolding—cries filled the air.

Those who passed the test entered the trial of the mind, this time through an illusion, closed to outside observers.

The remaining tens of thousands of children entered the illusion to have their minds tested. Those who failed were immediately sent out.

By the end of the afternoon, after four successive trials, only a little over twenty thousand children had passed and become disciples of the Great Creek Sect.

These newly admitted children would enter an academy.

There, instructors at the Returning Void stage and even the Spirit Nurturing level would individually plan each disciple’s cultivation path.

After three or six months, they would be allowed into the main sect.

After watching the festivities, man and ox each returned home.

In the holy white space, Xu Chen forged his thousand-forged blade.

As he hammered the iron, many ideas sprang to mind.

“I’m not a mechanical specialist, so a gun is out of the question, but I might try making a repeating crossbow.”

“Coat the bolts with poison.”

“Grenades are possible too. Mix gunpowder with poison powder for a wider area of effect.”

“Though I don’t know if this holy white space would allow that.”

As Xu Chen muttered, he finished forging the thousand-forged blade—quality seventy-nine.

“That’s an improvement.”

He looked up to face the thunder descending from above.

Boom—

After three bolts of lightning, Xu Chen’s conscious avatar reformed.

“Again!”

Training by day, forging by night—half a month passed in this relentless routine.

Early one morning, Xu Chen awoke to see a troop of apes, each three meters tall, building houses not two miles from his home.

They cleared all the forest between his home and the construction site, creating a vast plaza spanning several thousand acres.

A spirit boat slowly descended nearby.

Steward Bai stepped off, accompanied by a striking young boy from the three-tailed fox clan.

Xu Chen noticed the boy’s three tails—white, blue, and green—twitching uneasily behind him.

“Brother Xu, this is my nephew, Hu Yue.”

Steward Bai gently pulled the shy boy from behind her.

“I’ve made arrangements with the local wine ape clan; they’ll bring you meals three times a day—morning, noon, and night.”

“You just need to follow this human elder brother in your cultivation.” She patted Hu Yue’s head affectionately.

“I understand, auntie,” came a tiny voice, soft as a kitten’s mewl.

“Brother Xu, I’ll leave Hu Yue in your care.”

“Rest assured, Steward Bai.”