"Who should I look out for from the Iron Cloud Sect? Do you know the most powerful person of the younger generation there?"
Fang Lei quickly nodded his head, his eyes sparkling clearly; he was very excited about being able to share this information—that he had painstakingly learned about—to someone else.
"Of course! There's two people you need to take note of from the Iron Cloud Sect, the most powerful of which is the first-ranked inner disciple named Guo Peng! He is known as the 'Wandering Sword of Reshi City.'
This is because, according to the rumors, Guo Peng was actually found in the Iron Cloud Forest as an infant and was taken into the sect to be nurtured because of his talent!"
An infant? How were they able to find out his talent if he wasn't even able to cultivate yet? Huang Shi had a thoughtful expression on his face as he continued to listen.
"This Guo Peng's talent for the sword is ridiculous; he actually has an Innate Sword Heart! It is a type of heavenly physique granted to him by the heavens that makes it so when he cultivates sword-type techniques, he learns them at least five times faster than the average person!"
An Innate Sword Heart? What is that? A heavenly physique? Hey System, does he have a heavenly physique like me as well?
[Responding to host: Physiques have grades attached to them as well depending on quality and future potential. From my calculations, it is improbable that this Guo Peng has a heavenly physique in such a backwater place.]
Backwater? Damn you bastard, aren't I also from this backwater place?!
The System, as if ignoring his words of protest, continued its explanation:
[A Heavenly Physique is actually a type of Divine Body. It represents a boon from heaven and earth to the individual and is divided into three tiers and nine sub-tiers for each, with one being the weakest and nine being the strongest:]
[Mortal Physique]
[Earthly Physique]
[Heavenly Physique]
[For example, the host's Nine Sun Primordial Sunfyre Physique is a 1-star Heavenly Physique.]
What? Just a one-star? Isn't that weak as hell?
After Huang Shi spoke in protest, the System remained silent for a while as if it was offended, before it spoke in a cold and emotionless tone:
[In a mortal world such as where the host is located, a heavenly physique is usually seen once every hundred million years.]
Hearing the response that came from the System, he suddenly felt embarrassed as he quickly replied:
Hey! Don't be mad. Of course I'm thankful for all the help you gave me, but you know people are greedy by nature… so what I'm saying is that is there any way for me to increase the level of my heavenly physique in the future?
This time, as if the System had been pacified, it quickly gave a response that satisfied Huang Shi.
[Yes, it is possible.]
Alright, as long as there is room for improvement, that's good enough for me… besides, like what the System said, in this backwater place I doubt I'll meet a second person with a heavenly physique!
After having this quick conversation with his trusty System, he quickly shifted his attention back to Guo Peng and asked the critical question: "So, how strong is his cultivation base?"
Fang Lei suddenly became quiet as he spoke in a solemn tone, as if he himself couldn't believe the answer he heard.
"According to the publicly available information, Guo Peng is currently at the 7th Level of the Nascent Profound Realm!"
Hmm? A genius like him is actually only at the 7th level of the Nascent Profound Realm? Are these guys not that good after all?
Seeing that Huang Shi didn't seem as impressed as he had thought, Fang Lei suddenly grew agitated as he quickly spoke with conviction:
"Young Master! You shouldn't underestimate people like him. As we all know, cultivation becomes harder and harder the higher your cultivation base becomes. For people of our age group, around 16-18 years old, reaching the higher levels of the Elementary Profound Realm is already considered as a genius!"
Eh? Really? Damn, it seems my perception of cultivation has been skewed because of the System…
Huang Shi once again thanked his System internally as he then asked another question: "Then Fang Lei, how rare is it for people to reach the Nascent Profound Realm at our age?"
Seeing that Huang Shi seemed a bit more interested now, Fang Lei breathed a sigh of relief as he replied with a hint of worship in his eyes: "For people of our age to reach the Nascent Profound Realm, only one in 10,000 people are able to achieve it!"
"What the fuck? One in ten thousand! If my calculations are correct, the approximate population of Reshi City is around 500,000 people.
This means that approximately only 50 people have this level of talent—and that's just getting into the threshold of the Nascent Profound Realm, i.e., the first level of the Nascent Profound Realm!
This doesn't even take into account the monsters who have an even higher cultivation base than that, like Yan Fei, Guo Peng, or even his elder brother, Huang Long!"
Huang Shi suddenly shivered as he felt the gravity of the situation. Clearly, any person who was able to reach the Nascent Profound Realm at such a young age should never be underestimated.
Alright, this is a good wake-up call for me and a motivation for me to continue to work hard on my cultivation.
The problem is that if I want my cultivation speed to remain as fast as before, I'll need to do some shitty stuff once again. How am I gonna do this?
Huang Shi felt a headache coming on as he thought of his remaining Scum Points, which had actually slightly increased compared to the last time he checked because of what happened with Tian Ju and the disciplinary hall.
[Scum Points: 1450]