Chapter 58 - A Little Bit of Pain (1/2)

In Swords Gate upper house, Zhong Yue returned the upper house token and carried his medicine basket with the weathered lamp in it. He visited Tao Daier and the others to bid them farewell before he left for the inner hall. Tao Daier and the other young ladies of the female house all cried out loudly when they were sending him off.

Tao Daier could not claim her spot in the Lawless Battles. Hence, she was barred from the Ethereal Hall. Luckily, she was still young, seeing that she was still only 14, she still had plenty of time to cultivate and become a Qi Practitioner within these two years.

While Yu Feiyan, Ting Lanyue, Li Xiuniang, Yu Zhenlong and the others had entered the Ethereal Palace and started to manifest their spirits. They were still cultivating in the palace.

"The techniques of the Tao Lin Clan accumulates your prowess overtime, Tao-tao you will definitely be a Qi Practitioner in the future."

Zhong Yue comforted her and said, "Furthermore, I have not yet entered the Ethereal Palace, even if I have, it is uncertain whether I can be a Qi Practitioner, I might not be able to manifest my spirit and be forced to come back to the upper house."

His words caused a smile to bloom on Tao Daier's face, "Junior Martial Brother Zhong, you are already the strongest in the upper house, how is it possible for you to be unable to manifest a spirit? The inner hall must have prepared the strongest spirit for you, once junior martial brother comes out from the Ethereal Palace, you will then be our Junior Martial Uncle Zhong!"

"Junior Martial Uncle Zhong?"

Zhong Yue was stunned, he then shook his head and laughed, before he met with Xin Huo he was still an outer hall lower house disciple that was knocking his head trying to liberate his soul but now, he was at the verge of becoming a Junior Martial Uncle Zhong.

He waved at the young ladies and strode toward Swords Gate inner hall. Behind him came a young and graceful voice that sang a melodic song, it was the young lady of the Tao Lin Clan sending him off with a goodbye song.

The young man turned his head, the figures of the young lady could still be seen vaguely.

"I will be waiting for you all in the inner hall!"

Zhong Yue waved his hands. He then struck the gong in front of the mountain.

Not long later, he was walking in the inner hall, and he glanced around at the surroundings. The scenery in the inner hall was much better than the outer hall. Water river cascaded down, and exotic beasts basked in the sun. Oftentimes, he could see sword rays clashing in the air, and far away on the mountains, Qi Practitioners were sitting in the lotus position cultivating and controlling soul weapons.

There were also Qi Practitioners flying in the air training on their flying skills. Some had wings while the others relied on their soul weapons.

It is indeed different after being a Qi Practitioner; one wouldn't be able to see such things outside of the outer hall upper house, Zhong Yue praised in his heart.

"Junior Martial Brother Zhong, you just came up here like this!"

Suddenly, a Qi Practitioner saw Zhong Yue, he quickly descended from the air and walked toward him, he whispered lowly, "You are a little too brave! Almost the whole inner hall knew you had the sword token and they were unconvinced and indignant about it, they have plans to look for your trouble!"

"It's Senior Martial Brother Gu."

Zhong Yue looked at the Qi Practitioner that approached him, it was the senior martial brother that led him into the Valley of Swords, he was perplexed, "It's only a sword token, don't all the Qi Practitioners have one of their own? Why are they trying to look for trouble with me?"

However, he was more curious about how the disciples knew about the sword token, only the elders in the Hearts of Swords Palace knew he had it. But why did it seem as if it had spread throughout the entire inner hall already?

Who was spreading the news?

Senior Martial Brother Gu made a face contorted with chagrin, "Everyone has one? If I have one, then I must have been blessed by my ancestors. Junior martial brother, you have to be careful, there are strong and formidable disciples in the inner hall. If you happen to meet them, don't start a fight with them. Oh yes, I suppose you have not registered yourself in the book yet? You are still unfamiliar with the inner hall. I will lead the way."

"Register myself in the book?" Zhong Yue followed him and asked.

"The inner hall and outer hall are different, outer hall disciples or even the upper house disciples are really only considered nominal disciples of Swords Gate. Only the inner hall disciples are the true disciples of Swords Gate."

Senior Martial Brother Gu started to explain the rules of inner hall, and he said, "The techniques imparted to the disciples in the outer hall comes from the clans, they are not the of the true capital of Swords Gate. While in the inner hall, the techniques we are taught are the true arts and skills that make up the foundation and identity of Swords Gate. But before this, junior martial brother, you need to register yourself in the book with the Minglu Hall. Register your name and only then will you be considered as a true disciple of Swords Gate."

This is the difference between the inner hall and outer hall.

The outer hall disciples, their names would not even be recorded in the Swords Gate, while only the inner hall disciples will have their names registered in the book and officially be a bona fide Swords Gate disciple.

Senior Martial Brother Gu accompanied him all the way to the Minglu Hall. He said, "Junior Martial Brother Zhong, you only need to register your name in the book in Minglu Hall, then you may proceed to the Ethereal Hall. After you become a Qi Practitioner, you can then have a property of your own."

"A property?"

Zhong Yue's eyes brightened up, "A property like the palaces on the Ganoderma-like platforms?"

Senior Martial Brother Gu laughed out involuntarily, "Junior martial brother, you think too much! Those palaces are the cave dwelling of the elders and the hall masters. If you can take control over any of the halls, then you would be said to have the qualifications to stay in one of the palaces. But we, the disciples, are still a distance away from becoming an elder or hall master. Only when you are a legacy disciple are you a step closer to becoming a hall master. The hall masters are also known as the swords masters. For example, Zuo Xiangsheng was a legacy disciple but after he defeated the hall master of Cloudless Hall. He was then promoted to the Cloudless Hall Hall Master, and he is now also known as Sword Master Zuo."

"I see."

Zhong Yue suddenly remembered something, and he asked while smiling, "Has Senior Martial Brother Gu ever heard of the name of Qiu Jin'er?"

Senior Martial Brother Gu took a moment to sift through his memories and said, "Qiu Jin'er? The innate spirit body of Qiu Tan Clan? She cultivates alongside her mother, I hear that she is in the Yang God Palace, but she has never walked out before. I have never once seen her with my own eyes. But I did hear that this young lady fell sick the last month. She was sent over to the You Yu Clan grand elder by her mother, but I don't know whether or not she's returned."

"Junior Martial Sister Jin'er is sick?"

Zhong Yue asked for directions to the Yang God Palace and Ethereal Palace. He then thanked Senior Martial Brother Gu and headed into the Minglu Hall to register his name on the book. After the registration process was done, he walked out of the hall and thought, Should I go to the Ethereal Palace first or the Yang God Palace? The Ethereal Palace is basically useless to me since Xin Huo had promised to bring me out of Swords Gate and manifest the Sun and Moon spirit. I should go to the Yang God Palace and see whether if Junior Martial Sister Jiner has returned or not.

Right after he left the Minglu Hall, the Qi Practitioner that registered Zhong Yue's name transformed his psyche into a crane flying out of the Minglu Hall. Moments later, the crane fluttered its wings and flew over to a mansion. It said, "Ta Wuyou, Ta Wuyou, the Zhong Shan Clan disciple you are looking for has arrived!"

The mansion's door opened, a Qi Practitioner walked out, he raised his head and said, "Thank you, senior martial brother. Heihei, the sword token that contained the headmaster's secret art, [Great Boundless Sword Qi] is finally here!"

A big black bull that was eating the green grass beside the mansion overheard the conversation. It quickly turned and ran away, leaping in the wind and galloping past mountains; not long later, it arrived at another marvelous cavernous cave dwelling, it shouted, "Master, the Zhong Shan Clan disciple is here!"

"Shut up!"