Cultivator from the Modern World

Coming across the manual was a great fortune for Shen Long. He was desperately in need of some insights, and this manual might very well help Shen Long to cross that final boundary. However, time was running short as the library was shutting down soon. In the palace, one was not allowed to borrow a manual either; they could only view it in the library.

Skimming through the manual, he was surprised by the levels of details within it. Even though this manual was still inferior in terms of quality, the detailed explanations made up for its flaws. Unfortunately, Shen Long couldn't understand half the information inside as it was a spear manual. Nonetheless, he still continued reading it as it would still benefit his comprehension towards the Dao of Balance.

After a while, Shen Long began to understand where his problem lied. Shen Long was always striving to forcefully fuse the two sword art together, but that wasn't the concept behind the sword art. Merging them as one would only weaken its prowess as the opposing would, naturally, cancel each other out. Reaching complete mastery of the first stance required the two opposing elements to strengthen each other, highlighting the strengths of both swordplays.

Lightness and heaviness had their own respective strengths. Light sword strikes would be superior in terms of speed, while heavier sword strike focused on strength. At the point of equilibrium, it was possible for Shen Long to employ both speed and strength in his strikes. However, it was an extremely difficult task.

This was the reason why the [Melodies of the Nine Sole Swords] wields tremendous power. Cultivators who practised the sword art would typically be able to challenge others in a higher realm. The sword manual linked closely with the comprehension of the Dao, and hence why the manual was so difficult to cultivate.

One could imagine the difficulty of grasping a full Heavenly Dao if a normal Dao was already this hard to comprehend. That's why no one supported Shen Long to walk down the Dao of Balance despite his monstrous innate ability. Even for Shen Long, it would be an arduous task, and it was totally possible that he failed.

Having a rough idea on how to improve, he exited the library as he headed back to his residence. He meditated, consolidating all the new insights he got from the manual. Time passed quickly as it was almost two o'clock. Double-checking his inventory and appearance, he started heading to his Banquet hall.

Of course, an uneducated person like Shen Long didn't understand any art. Besides that it looked somewhat decent, he had no other comment. Deep down, he just wished that someone would approach and speak to him. Staring at these motionless paintings made him miserable as they all looked the same to him.

(HOW DARE HIM? INTIMIDATING ART?)

It wasn't long until other personal disciples spotted Shen Long. Out of curiosity and kindness, they all called him over as they smiled gently. To them, Shen Long was no difference to a kid. No matter which criteria - age, cultivation base, appearance - Shen Long was a complete noob compared to them.

Everyone present, with the exception of Shen Long, was at least in Celestial Immortal. Shen Long, however, was too weak to even detect their cultivation base. What he did know, for sure, was that they could destroy him with half a fingertip. However, they didn't put on any air towards Shen Long at all.

They introduced themselves, one by one, as Shen Long memorized their names quickly. Unexpectedly, Master's fifth personal disciple, InkBamboo, was actually an Emperor. Yet, he didn't receive any special treatment, and his status was no different to other disciples. Before speaking to them, he expected the exact opposite.

Well, he made that assumption based on the light novels he read in the Modern World. In most light novels, disciples of an overpowered Master would never get along easily. They would always fight for authority, power and treasures, but it wasn't the case here. Shen Long felt really fortunate to have such caring seniors.

It was Shen Long's turn to introduce himself.

"Hello Senpais - no, I meant Seniors, I'm Master's thirteenth personal disciple, and my name is Shen Long. Please take care of me in the future! I have only entered the cultivator world two months ago, so please don't take offence for my misdoings." Shen Long accidentally spouted out the word "Senpai" as he was too used to saying it.

Everyone nodded at the same time as if they had reached an agreement mentally. Everyone present, besides Daoist Fireblade, started taking out treasures from their storage rings. They all started giving Shen Long some treasures as Shen Long was dumbstruck by their kindness. As shameless as Shen Long was, he refused their gifts as it was too improper.

Everyone was quite impressed with Shen Long's personality. Despite quite stubborn, he had his values and morals, and most importantly, he wasn't greedy. To reward him, everyone continued to stuff Shen Long with treasures, and Shen Long was unable to refuse them.

Shen Long was genuinely a truthful man. He didn't like receiving others' favours; when he did, he would try his best to repay them. After all, Shen Long was a follower of ancient Chinese philosophy. These qualities were trained since he was young. Also, many short stories from Earth also told him the importance of being truthful. Even though Shen Long didn't believe in those myths, they still influenced him greatly.

Their fervid passion towards Shen Long had caused the "friendly contest" to be delayed. It was almost 2:30, and the event had finally started. The contest really was friendly, just as the letter said. Although they might still be a little competitive, they didn't really care about the results. Everyone was just here, to celebrate Daoist Fireblade's birthday and to show their respect.

Everyone took out some rare treasures, each of them worth over hundreds and hundreds of thousands of spirit stones. Immortal Nethphyus' summoning manual, however, was the most impressive. As she chanted and waved, a nine-headed glowing red dragon appeared from the formation that Shen Long and Chen Mei crafted.

The red dragon was a top-tier spiritual mount, and it was beyond rare in the cultivation world. Much less Celestial Immortals, even majority of the Emperors wouldn't have a dragon as a mount. Dragon, in the cultivator world, was a legendary creature that had a heaven-defying bloodline. Taming and summoning one required lots of resources, and these types of scrolls were rarely seen.

Everyone clapped as Immortal Nethphyus offered Master the dragon. In a totally random order, other personal disciples went up one by one as they offered their gifts. Shen Long, however, was the last one to go up. No one had expected Shen Long to offer any fancy gifts as he was still in Peak-Saint realm. His master, without exception, was the same.

As Shen Long went up to present his gift, everyone was quite dumbstruck by the things Shen Long held in his hand. A wooden container, a pin needle and some water.

"Holy f*uk! We know that you are a newcomer and you have never adventured outside, but at least you can buy some spiritual herbs. Are you that poor? Even if you give Master the treasures we gave you, we would be fine with that. But a bucket of water and some random garbage from the trash can? Sigh. That's really a bit too much." Other personal disciples stared as they couldn't believe what they were witnessing.

Qingyu jumped out and defended Shen Long immediately.

"Shen Long, it's okay! We know that it's your first time attending this event! Ah. Maybe the Apothecary Department made a mistake and they forgot to send you a letter! My apologies, everyone. Please don't mind Shen Long. He's still a newbie after all!" Qingyu said as she lied for Shen Long. She really treated Shen Long with sincerity, and she didn't mind if she received all the blames.

"No, I did read-" Shen Long tried to express himself but he was quickly interrupted again by another disciple.

"Yeah! No problem. Just prepare a gift next year! No one would blame you for not bringing one! We were once young like you too!"

Shen Long didn't know whether he should cry or laugh. He was grateful that his seniors were willing to defend him, but he actually did prepare a gift for Master. In fact, he spent the entire day yesterday just to think of the present.