Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Saint’s Test
Although Jian Chen could see through his frail appearance and find the true strength of the old man, he remained motionless and did not reveal anything on his face. With a silent nod to show his thanks, he stepped by the old man and proceeded down the left corridor.
Arriving at the end of the corridor, Jian Chen’s eyes began to shine brightly as he walked into a large room. The light in this room was exceptionally bright, so much so that it was comparable to the light outside. Many neat and tidy bookshelves that contained thousands of books lined the walls of the library.
Jian Chen slowly tilted his head to look at the ceiling. He knew that the reason why the light was so bright was due to the ceiling. He had no idea what material the ceiling was made from, but it was strangely emitting a strong glow. Although the light was somewhat intense, it was not to the point of irritating the eyes.
Although the ceiling had piqued his interest, he wasn’t willing to squander time by trying to figure it out. Walking up to a bookshelf, he finally grabbed a book and started flipping through it.
The book had fairly clear descriptions written inside, despite it not being as thick as the others. It had taken Jian Chen 3 hours to completely read through the book. Because of this, he had finally gained some insights regarding this strange world.
This continent was called the Tian Yuan continent and was fairly big. There were numerous countries of various sizes and even more cities of all sizes. The biggest cities were known as the Capitals and each one stretched across countless miles, and each of these Capitals were ruled by a city ruler. Each ruler was also in charge of several million up to ten million guardian soldiers.
However, within the entire Tian Yuan continent, there were only 7 Capitals while 3 of the 7 were controlled by a single strong empire. Among the strongest empires were the Karl Empire and the Felicity Empire who both controlled two Capitals each. It was the Holy Empire that controlled the first 3 Capitals.
Under the Capitals were the King Cities, but the King Cities were smaller than the Capitals by a huge amount. Practically every kingdom had at the very least one King City and each King City had a million guardian soldiers. Under the King Cities were the First Class Cities which had 800,000 guardian soldiers. The Second Class Cities had 400,000 guardian soldiers each. Under the Second Class Cities were the varying villages which all had their own guardian soldiers but their numbers wouldn’t reach over 50,000. Even their strength and numbers varied greatly.
The Tian Yuan continent had people that all practiced something called the “Saint Force”. When their Saint Force reached the 10th level, then based on the expert’s ideology, the saint force will condense into a Saint’s Weapon. There were over 1000 shapes and each were completely dependent on the expert’s ideology.
As a result of the Saint Weapon forming from the “Saint Force”, once it formed, it formed a special link with the expert. Some people with an outstanding gift would receive a Saint Weapon with a special attribute. These attributes were classified as Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Light, and Dark. Among these elements, light and dark were rarely seen, but were still extremely powerful.
The light element was extremely strong in the healing aspect, and those who had light attributed Saint Weapons were given the title of Immortals in the Tian Yuan continent. They were given this title due to the fact that while on the battlefield, they could easily restore any damage taken. On the battlefield, if they were not killed in one strike, then they would be nearly impossible to defeat.
Those with the dark element had a corrosive nature. Not only was this a troublesome element, but those with dark attributes were also in demand. At night, they could come and go as they pleased, earning them the titles of Night Lords, for the night was under their command.
The rest of the 4 elements each had their own corresponding strengths. The amount of power they had depended on one’s own strength and judgement. Of course in the Tian Yuan continent, those who had a Saint Weapon with an attribute was 1 in 10 compared to those who didn’t have an attribute. On a battlefield, those with an attribute were often harder to fight against than those who didn’t.
The Saint Weapons were the strongest of weapons. In a war, Saint Weapons could be freely summoned at will and provide assistance to their masters to help overcome their limits. At the same time, a Saint Weapon and its master’s life were intertwined. Whatever injury the Saint Weapon sustained would then be equally reflected back to the master. Also, if the Saint Weapon ever broke, then the master would receive a fatal wound as well. If the situation was grave, then even a wound may cause death.
However, Saint Weapons were extremely hard to break. As long as the Saint Weapon was stronger than the opposing force, then it would not be harmed in any way.
After a Saint Weapon takes shape, then this new way of cultivation would absorb the Qi from the world to become stronger. This method would improve one’s own strength as well.
Once the Saint Weapon was formed, then the expert would be called a “Saint”. In the Tian Yuan continent, the Saints are classified into 9 different levels: Saint, Great Saint, Saint Master, Great Saint Master, Earth Saint Master, Heaven Saint Master, Saint Ruler, Saint King and Saint Emperor. Within each of the levels, they are further separated into 3 levels: Lower, Middle, and Upper.
Within the Tian Yuan continent, there lies a mountain range that was spread out across the continent called the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. The range was filled with countless magical beasts. The further you went in, the stronger the beasts would get.
These magical beasts were also separated into 9 levels. The class 1 beasts were equivalent to a Saint, while the class 2 beasts was equivalent to a Great Saint. Continuing on with this, a class 8 beast was on par with a Saint King and finally, a class 9 beast was equivalent to a Saint Emperor.
At the same time, the Tian Yuan continent had a very prominent profession called the Mercenary. According to this book, the Tian Yuan continent had many mercenaries. These mercenaries would accomplish a variety of tasks for money, although many mercenaries would enter the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts to hunt monsters and sell the monster cores for money.
Although the dangers were big, the rewards were just as generous due to monster cores being highly valued in the continent. The higher grade a monster core was, the higher priced it was. There were some high ranked monster cores that could not be bought with money alone.
Monster cores were one of the most desired items in the continent. Inside the center of a monster core was a large amount of pure energy and could be absorbed by humans for a faster training speed. Absorbing the energy from a monster core was ultimately faster than trying to absorb the World Essence into one’s body. However, using the monster cores to increase the cultivation speed wasn’t a method the general populace could do without having plenty of money.
Other than a few odd things, Jian Chen was finally beginning to understand many things about this world. This world was exceptionally cruel and wars happened everywhere. The people of this world were more dangerous in comparison to his old world. If one wasn’t strong enough, then they would find it hard to survive. Most of the people on the continent were practitioners as well, although the average practitioner would be of average strength. The average person wouldn’t be able to cultivate their Saint Force to the 10th level and be able to condense it into a Saint’s Weapon. If these people don’t have the proper training and support, then they would remain at the lowest levels similar to a peasant in the mountains.
After finishing the books, Jian Chen finally understood the new world to a better degree. Saint Weapons, elements and attributes, magical beasts, monster cores and mercenaries, everything was a new experience to Jian Chen that gave his heart a thrill. He was looking forward to the new world and desperately wished to leave the Changyang mansion immediately. To be able to experience the outside world would be a refreshing change of pace.
However, Jian Chen knew that he would not be able to fulfill his desires in the upcoming years. His parents would never allow a three year old child to leave their home for the outside world. Even if he could leave his home, he would have no way of defending himself.
After a long period of time, Jian Chen decided to put even more effort into his training. Aside from his daily meals, everyday was spent training alone within his room. He still hadn’t completed the basics of the cultivation stage of Azulet Sword Law, so the World Essence he had been absorbing was distributed equally throughout his body, entering each cell and strengthening his body.
It was only when his body could no longer be strengthened by the World Essence would Jian Chen be able to break through to the second stage, where he would start the formal training of his True Qi. Currently, Jian Chen still had the physique far beyond that of a normal person, however some regions of his body where Qi previously gathered in his past world were still empty.
In his previous world, Jian Chen had managed to finish the cultivation stage within a single year. Since this World Essence was stronger by at least twofold, even though it was taking him more than 2 years to make a breakthrough, his body was getting stronger and stronger, giving his current body the potential to be even stronger than his previous body.
Although Jian Chen normally spent the entire day hiding in his room to cultivate, neither of his parents had outwardly expressed any sort of bafflement or concern. The reason for this was because in the Changyang mansion, the parents would generally teach the children a method of breathing and let them train for a year. By the third year, these children would take a test to see how strong their Saint Power was and evaluate their potential as well as their aptitude. When Jian Chen was 2 years old, Bi Yuntian had taught him the same breathing method as the other children had learned. However, Jian Chen had taken this breathing exercise and tossed it into the depths of his mind, for Jian Chen had felt that this sort of training was like giving an adult a child’s toy to play with.
As a result, Jian Chen had locked himself in his room. People passing by had only thought that Jian Chen was practicing the breathing method, and paid no attention to him.
The following morning, Jian Chen had finally finished last night’s cultivation exercise. Today was a special day for him, since it was his 3rd birthday. At the same time, today would be the day that he would undergo the very same test as any other 3 year old in the Tian Yuan continent–the Saint’s Test.
Accompanying his mother Bi Yuntian to the dining halls, Jian Chen was then later taken to the Changyang clan’s official main hall.
The Changyang mansion covered a large amount of area, and compared to the area Jian Chen was used to, he had only experienced a small portion of the land. Walking along the road, Jian Chen looked at the mansion without stopping. In his first 3 years, Jian Chen had spent the vast majority of his time within his own room and cultivated, very rarely did he stroll around the mansion.
Within the Changyang mansion, a large group of uniformed patrolmen were walking around the area. Many sharp eyes were staring all around from hidden areas, and despite it being the daytime, they still did not show the slightest sense of relaxation.
As Jian Chen walked past a series of training grounds, a young, but soft shout had gotten his attention from the inside. A mere glance inside would show a small group of 10 year olds being taught some martial art drills by a middle aged man.
Jian Chen understood in his heart that these children were disciples born directly into the family line. The Changyang clan had about 1000 clansmen. Although half of them were guardsmen and servants, the other half were members that were born from within the clan line.
Walking past the training grounds, Bi Yuntian led her son to the middle of an official looking hallway. This was where Jian Chen would undergo the Saint’s Test.