Shen Xue left everyone agape once again as he released his 9th layer Qi Gathering Realm cultivation. The most shocked was his opponent, who was sent flying out of the stage before he could react.
Till now, he still hasn't regained consciousness.
This day was the final among senior students, but everyone was only talking about how he obtained the first place, taking Shen Xue as a role model.
Even instructors held him in high regard.
"Now that he got the first place, he will be even more unstoppable. This is the reality of a rank 5 talent, as long as they cultivate diligently, people are just passengers in their life, bound to be surpassed at some point."
Ye Mo had to admit Shen Xue forced respect.
It was one thing to have good talent but to one-sidedly take out every opponent he face, most having been cultivating in the Tiger Martial Institute for years in the later part of the competition, it required true abilities and a profound battle strength.
Compared to Ye Mo, they were complete opposites.
One was the most dazzling junior disciple of the institute making even senior students tremble, the other was the lowest of outcasts, met with contempt and disdain, something no one wanted to get associated with.
In contrast to Shen Xue, only Jin Hao Tian, Yan Mei and Ma Shinfei reached the top ten of the competition, Gao Lixin and Li Qiang being stopped at its doors.
All of them showed an 8th layer Qi Gathering Realm cultivation. This aroused the morale of the members of the four clans who were also part of the Tiger Martial Institute.
Ye Mo was progressing, and others naturally were also progressing.
After taking a meal in the cafeteria, Ye Mo returned to his house. He didn't plan to watch the competition's final, no matter how it unfolded, it would never match the intensity of the fight between Tian He and the wrathful black ape. Besides, Ye Mo always preferred to focus on himself rather than other people.
As long as his strength grew steadily, he couldn't ask for anything more.
In addition, he had better things to do. His priority right now was to breakthrough the 6th layer of the Qi Gathering Realm.
He didn't use his light blue Encompassing Washing pill yet and still held several mid-tier Spirit Qi pills.
Ye Mo put his cultivation on hold to go outside and find the cave, so he still had wisps of qi filling 80% of his dantian.
He wasn't far from breaking through the 6th layer but at the same time he had to hurry before the impurities would solidify.
Sitting on his red mat in a corner of the room, Ye Mo swallowed a mid-tier spirit qi pill and channeled the black vortex in his dantian, absorbing qi at an amazing rate.
Two weeks later, Ye Mo's attention was completely focused on his cultivation.
The 55% wisps of qi remaining broke through the heavenly barrier and converged at the center of the dantian, absorbing each other in a towering spiral.
The mass of qi lowered at a fast rate, and in the end, four new wisps stood out in this vast space, floating about.
Ye Mo broke through the 6th layer!
Immediately he picked up the light blue Encompassing Washing pill and swallowed it right away.
"With this, I won't be able to use spirit qi pills to support my cultivation in the future." He thought as he felt the effect of the encompassing washing pill cleansing his body.
"Relying on my rank 2 talent alone, attaining the 8th layer in less than five months is unlikely. Seems like it's time for me to go to this place."
Ye Mo reflected as he had something in mind.
He spent the next few days gathering qi in his dantian to an adequate amount to sustain a fight. This was a process that every cultivator had to go through after each breakthrough as their qi reserves were set to an all time low.
This is why they needed a calm and peaceful place where they could breakthough in safety but also to refill their dantian enough to recover their abilities before they left outside where danger loomed.
If there was a chance they would be disturbed while breaking through or right after, they would postpone their attempt to a later time.
Ye Mo, without Spirit Qi pills, immediately saw the difference in cultivation pace, as he was only able to gather less than 20% of qi in thirteen days.
"Cultivating by myself in this room is too detrimental, I'm just going to keep lagging behind and wasting even more time. A prolonged battle would be very disadvantageous to me in this state, but I will have to adapt to this amount of qi."
Thinking so, Ye Mo opened the door and left his house.
What welcomed him was a white sea.
It has been more than a day since it started snowing in Azure Water City, and now that it gradually started to lighten, pieces of snowflakes flew in the air, gliding with the wind.
Many branches were naked with no leaves, and streams were frozen except the fountain at the center of the Tiger Martial Institute, which had water flowing smoothly inside and carps swimming unbothered by the weather.
Ye Mo passed by and kept walking, venturing deeper in the institute.
He had a black shirt with long sleeves under his martial suit, and his leather shoes left deep footprints on the snow.
He could still be considered lightly clothed compared to other students, but he discovered he was less affected by the cold than in previous winters. Most had to do with his progress in body refining, another part was due to the fact he had always been thin and emaciated in the past due to starvation, feeling cold even during summer at times, but now he was a vigorous youth.
At some point, he stopped in front of a dark pagoda more than 600 meters tall whose peak seemed to touch the clouds while its structure was made of black steel, which didn't reflect any light.
It was a place dedicated to the practice of cultivation. The heart of the pagoda held multiple powerful formations that drew the qi from the surroundings and concentrated it all in the building.
The qi of heaven and earth inside the pagoda was ten times denser than outside and was the best cultivation place in Azure Water City along with the two in the sky and the golden martial institute.
The pagoda was composed of seven floors, each holding less than a hundred rooms which kept decreasing as you went up, while the higher you went, the more concentrated the qi became. However, among the floors, only the first four were accessible for students, the last three were for instructors and the leaders of the institute only.
With this composition it was evident only a small part of the students would be able to profit from this place.
"This is the most important place in the Tiger Martial Institute and one of the biggest reasons for people to join it. It will be the key for me to reach the 8th layer!" Ye Mo looked at the monument with determination.
To cultivate in this place, one simple rule stood, the law of the jungle!
One has to fight and beat everyone who stands in his way until he reaches a room before he can pay a fee to profit from it. Once the door closes, he is safe for the time being and can cultivate in peace until the next time.
Once a room becomes available, another round of fighting would ensue to decide who would have the right to use it.
The only interdiction was to kill or cripple others' cultivation, but in actuality the latter part was rather blurry. In fact, the institute would intervene only if a good prospect, like a talented individual or an important member of a clan, were crippled but was reluctant to act when it was an average student or someone without any background, giving only a light punishment at best.
It could be seen three months ago when Shen Xue crippled Lao Ting, a senior student, and used his room. When he left, he was only tasked with paying 2500 gold coins and wasn't allowed to return to the pagoda for a few days, which was basically nothing for him.
This was the hypocrisy custom of the righteous path. Those favored would always be given preferential treatment while the less promising would be treated as thin air.
It was different from the demonic faction, where only the survival of the fittest ruled. The strong survived while others were stepping stones for them to grow even stronger
The pagoda was the most attractive but also the most brutal place of the institute. Students had to be prepared before entering inside, as many came in to increase their strength but instead left with injuries that weakened them even more.
The purpose of institutes was to make students grow stronger. The weak were prey to the strong. This was an absolute rule of the world, and only in violent situations where young cultivators were confronted with this reality would they be prepared in the face of mortal danger.
That's also why the recruitment competition of institutions and even sects was so perilous in its early phase, if students and kids were pampered all the time, when a true threat would come to menace their lives, they wouldn't even know how to react.
Those arrangements were well thought out and have proved their efficacy more times than they could be counted.
Many of the participants in those recruitment competitions were mortals. By following those arrangements, not only would the institute weed out the bad grasses and eliminate the weak and useless, but it would also give plenty of experience to the strong and the talented who would pass the first phase. By the time they joined the institute, most of them would already have been changed into seasoned fighters.
One might think that with such cruel standards, the deaths would be plenty even among culivators, which would cause the outrage and infuriation of many clans who sent their disciples to participate.
Yet, it must be taken into account that such a strong reaction would only occur if they lost an important asset like a young master or a talented disciple. But most of the heirs and high-potential disciples of Azure Water City's various families of cultivators were well trained and possessed satisfactory battle skills, as long as they were careful and prepared themselves properly, they would often pass the first phase or at least survive.
The only accident that could happen between two participants was when some of them had the misfortune of crossing paths with forces of nature like Shen Xue or Li Qiang who would cut down anyone in their paths. But so what? Would their families dare fight with the Shen clan or complain to the Tiger Martial Institute if their members were killed by them?
Of course not, those clans would never dare offend any of them. They would act strong and overbearing against the weak, declaring to carve off the skin and eat the bones of their nine generations at the slightest offense, but against one of the four great clans, even if their heir was killed, they would only treat it as being unlucky and that it was a pity before moving on.
It was even more the case with an institute that exposed the rules and the brutality of the competition from the start. With neither the justification nor the strength to support their action, those clans could do little more than punch the air in their sleep and grumble threats in their dreams.
Heroes were molded in the fire of adversity. Only after going through desperate battles and struggles to move forward would true experts rise!
"Due to its abundance of qi, the pagoda will help me progress even faster than with Spirit Qi pills and in this case there's no question of impurities."
Ye Mo always planned to benefit from the pagoda once he reached the 6th layer. It was the perfect level where, when taking into account his body refining technique, he would be able to defend himself and hold his own while still not being too late so he could take advantage of this place quickly without wasting time bitterly cultivating in his house.
What he didn't expect was to have such low reserves of qi when he would step inside.
"I will have to quickly dispose of opponents and reach a room swiftly if I don't want things to go awry. The more I fight, the less chances I will have to get in."
Ye Mo calculated with a cold gaze as he entered inside.