They faced the rising sun together, breathing in and out, absorbing the Pure Yang Power from the newly risen Great Sun into their bodies, transforming it into True Yuan.
This was the Nourishing Essence Skill, absorbing Pure Yang Power to nourish one's own Essence.
Chu Xisheng took an "Essence Building Pill" awarded by Lei Yuan, the academy master, before starting his breathing exercise.
Facing the sun, Chu Xisheng felt excruciating pain all over his body, as if thousands of steel needles were piercing into his flesh.
His face twisted, yet he had to endure it.
He had crawled out of a grave and returned from death; his limbs, bones, and all internal organs had been corroded by Yin Power, making him especially fearful of the Dominating Yang Fire.
Yet, he had to practice the Nourishing Essence Skill. Only the Primordial Yang Power could improve his physique and resist the Yin Poison and Cold.
Besides taking "Yanghe Powder," it was the only way to prolong his life.
However, the effect of the Essence Building Pill made Chu Xisheng quite satisfied.
After refinement, the pill indeed had the effect equivalent to ten days of cultivation, providing him with ten days' worth of True Yuan.
They continued breathing until 7 a.m, feeling extremely hot all over their bodies.
This was because the intensity of the sunlight had exceeded their limit.
Except for the Inner Sect Disciples of the Martial Arts Academy who persisted in practicing in the morning sun, the Outer Disciples all ended their breathing exercises and practiced Martial Arts Formulas under the supervision of the Martial Arts Instructors.
They were divided into different groups: some practiced swordsmanship, some practiced saber techniques, and some performed spear and staff routines.
Among them, those practicing the Chasing Wind Saber were the most numerous, over ninety.
Chu Xisheng persisted until 7:30 a.m, with steam rising from his entire body, then ended his breathing exercise and joined the last row of Inner Sect Disciples to practice saber techniques with everyone.
He still hadn't fully mastered the Chasing Wind Saber, and most of his moves were just for show, but the supervising martial master didn't scold him. Instead, the master showed a friendly smile, with an appreciative look in his eyes.
The incident from yesterday morning, where an Outer Disciple who hadn't fully learned the Chasing Wind Saber slashed and injured Long Sheng and humiliated Shao Lingshan, the instructor of the West Courtyard, had already spread throughout the Martial Arts Academy.
As the East and West Courtyards had always been at odds, they viewed Chu Xisheng more favorably.
By the time Chu Xisheng finished his morning practice, he was gasping for breath, with his limbs slightly trembling.
This made him think again about the "Virtual Training" in the Martial Arts Treasure Vault.
Not practicing his saber technique was not an option.
Chu Xisheng needed time to cultivate the Primordial Skill and accumulate True Yuan.
He also needed extensive practice to integrate those saber moves into his flesh and bones, making them part of his instinct.
But in his current state, spending half an hour meditating and an hour practicing the saber each day was life-threatening.
Only the "Virtual Training" in the treasure vault could help him solve this problem.
The problem was that one Martial Arts Point could only be exchanged for ten days of practice time, which Chu Xisheng felt was not worth it.
These Martial Arts Points were obtained in a confusing manner.
Before mastering the method of obtaining Martial Arts Points, Chu Xisheng cherished them greatly.
While Chu Xisheng was still struggling with this dilemma, he felt his hand being grabbed.
It was Chu Yunyun, pulling him forward in a mad run.
Chu Xisheng was initially puzzled but soon understood.
Looking ahead, he saw disciples who had finished their morning practice rushing forward like a surging tide.
Everyone's target was the place not far away, called the "cafeteria."
Chu Xisheng couldn't help but feel sentimental; he hadn't expected that ten years after graduating high school, he would once again experience the life of scrambling for food in a cafeteria.
If Chu Yunyun ran at full speed, her speed would naturally far exceed these Inner and Outer Sect Disciples whose cultivation hadn't reached entry-level.
However, she was restrained, only running in the middle of the crowd.
By the time the siblings took their turn in line for food, there wasn't much good food left in the cafeteria.
Following instructions, Chu Xisheng handed over a tael of Demon Silver to the grandma in charge of serving food.
The grandma beamed with joy, not only giving an extra meat bun but also handing him a package.
The package had the imprint of the words "Zhengyang Cafeteria" on it, containing a bag of water, sixteen meat buns, two roasted duck legs, and a small bag of pickles, enough to last him two days.
Chu Xisheng found that he wasn't the only one doing this.
Many newly admitted disciples were secretly slipping silver to the grandma.
There must be a reason for this.
After breakfast, he and Chu Yunyun parted ways.
Chu Yunyun was a disciple of the Magic Institute and usually studied talisman magic in the Daoist Temple on the north side of the Martial Arts Academy.
Chu Xisheng, along with a group of new disciples, was led by several martial masters to a large Stone Tower in the center of the Martial Arts Academy.
The Stone Tower was fifty zhang wide, seventy zhang long, and twelve stories tall, with each story being over two zhang high. Its ancient design exuded grandeur.
Above the main entrance were three gilded characters: "Scripture Storage Tower."
Ye Zhiqiu, the instructor from the Eastern Courtyard, was already waiting there.
She stood with her hands behind her back on the steps, looking down at over a hundred new disciples below.
"This is the Martial Arts Hall that countless Martial Artists in Xiushui County dream of. Inside, there are not only the complete Ten External Skills of the Formless Divine Sect but also a total of seven hundred classic martial arts formulas of Sixth Grade and below, as well as numerous ancient totems and visualization pictures.
According to the rules of our Martial Arts Academy, everyone must pay ten taels of Demon Silver for each entry to the Scripture Storage Tower! Inner Sect Disciples need to pay thirty taels of Demon Silver to stay in there for one day.
However, our ancestor of the Formless Divine Sect once set a rule that all Inner Sect Disciples under the sect could have two days of free study during their entry.
So make sure not to waste this opportunity. Memorize as much as you can of the Ten External Skills and those classic martial arts. If there's anything you don't understand, you can come out to ask the instructors."
At this point, Ye Zhiqiu signaled, and a group of Martial Arts Instructors walked towards them.
"To prevent the books inside from being damaged, you must surrender all contraband when you enter, including weapons, hidden weapons, fire sticks, fire stones, especially anything that can ignite. No open flames are allowed inside the tower. Any item inside is worth thousands of taels of Demon Silver, which you cannot afford even if you sell all you have!"
As Ye Zhiqiu finished speaking, swords, axes, short spears, darts, Flying Locust Stones, Meihua Needles, crossbow arrows, throwing arrows, fire sticks, fire stones, and other items clattered to the ground with a 'clang.'
Someone even took out a small wolf tooth club.
What Ye Zhiqiu said next surprised Chu Xisheng.
"To prevent you from hiding metal objects or bringing in oily substances, no one is allowed to carry any purchased food or water bags. The Martial Arts Academy has prepared food and water for you. Steamed buns cost one hundred cents each, meat buns two hundred cents, meat sandwiches two hundred cents, and water bags five hundred cents."
Chu Xisheng turned his head and looked at the corner Ye Zhiqiu pointed to.
There, about twenty young men dressed as chefs, standing guard over dozens of large baskets, were smiling at them kindly.
The baskets were filled with steamed buns, meat buns, meat sandwiches, and water bags.
Chu Xisheng couldn't help but let out a 'ha,' thinking that these people at the Martial Arts Academy really knew how to make money.
He then patted the bag he carried, feeling that the grandma at the cafeteria was still very considerate.