Finally

Once the banquet ended, daily life returned.

From the next morning, Baek-Cheong continued her sword cultivation Training as usual.

As always, the Pacheon Sword Saint was waiting at the Training Ground.

As Baek-Cheong stepped inside, she examined the Pacheon Sword Saint’s complexion.

She felt uneasy about having dared to peek at the lightning tribulation.

“Next time, conceal it properly.”

The single word of warning the Pacheon Sword Saint had left behind that day while lifting the Barrier was not light.

A Qi Condensation Cultivator preparing a Formation just to look into the Judgment of Heavenly Dao was a reckless act, the more she thought about it.

Furthermore, the talents she had revealed all at once - lightning qi, Formations, Puppetry Art, and Talisman Crafting Art - were excessively numerous.

Vaguely knowing something and seeing it in person were two different things, so she couldn’t help but be worried.

‘Surely he isn’t thinking of making me an Inheritor Disciple because I showed him too much of this and that.’

Keeping up appearances as a Named Disciple and becoming a true Inheritor Disciple were as different as heaven and Earth.

If she became an Inheritor Disciple, she wouldn’t be able to avoid Physical Cultivation Training, and then her forum-browsing time would inevitably evaporate, and there would even be a chance she could be dragged off to the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Baek-Cheong scanned the Pacheon Sword Saint’s demeanor with a nervous heart, but all she got in return was his usual dry and emotionless appearance.

He showed absolutely no sign of bringing up any such topic.

“Is he really not going to ask?”

Baek-Cheong felt relieved inwardly and stealthily relaxed the tension in her shoulders.

Her Flying Sword Cultivation was already on a stable track.

Thanks to the completion of the mental image for the third Sword Form, the Sword Intent contained within the Falling Star Style had also deepened a layer, and the Pacheon Sword Saint observed while correcting the sword paths of her Flying Sword one by one.

Then, occasionally, he would try something else.

“Try holding a handheld sword today.”

Baek-Cheong grasped the wooden sword in her hand.

The Grip Method was engraved in her head, but the problem was always what came next.

In the basic motion of slashing from top to bottom, her elbows flared out, her wrists bent, and the tip of the sword missed its mark.

She clearly knew the correct Sword Path in her head, but her body wouldn’t follow.

‘No, why won’t my arms listen to me?’

When the Pacheon Sword Saint grabbed her arms and corrected her, she moved properly, but the moment he let go, she returned to how she was before.

“At this level, you at least have Consistency.”

She wanted to cry inwardly at the assessment that she was consistent in a bad way, but she couldn’t change a single expression in front of the Pacheon Sword Saint’s dry face.

“Return to the Flying Sword.”

“Should I be happy about this or not?”

Baek-Cheong simply returned to her Flying Sword Cultivation with subtly complicated feelings.

* * *

After finishing her Flying Sword Cultivation and returning to her Abode, her time was entirely her own.

She headed to the Pill Refining Room and set up her Golem Pill Refining.

The five Five Elements Golems handled the medicinal herbs, lit the fires, and formed the pills.

She leisurely connected to the Nameless Forum with the rest of her Divine Sense.

『※Dao Friend(738.22): Older Sister is so good ugh.』

『Dao Friend(411.93): Regarding the overflowing trash posts in the Nameless Forum.』

『Dao Friend(100.2): Fresh meat…!』

[To become a Physical Cultivator suited for a Sword Cultivator and yet not become a Sword Cultivator! This is a clear Act of Abandoning the Sword!]

‘It’s peaceful again today.’

Baek-Cheong was satisfied with the Nameless Forum that had changed because of her.

Even without her teaching them separately, the Dao Friends who were falling into the abyss on their own were throwing off their stuffiness and revealing their hidden natures.

“Well, is there any other bait?”

As she always did, she browsed through various forum boards.

There were a few posts related to the Jinmun Formation Diagram on the Information Board, so she read them meticulously.

‘I haven’t deciphered this Formation Glyph yet, but this kind of interpretation is also possible.’

After putting the useful information into her head.

A sudden curiosity crossed her mind, and she wrote a post.

『Dao Friend(913.14): A Great Cultivator about to reach Soul Transformation is obsessed with me.]

[A Great Cultivator who could enter Soul Transformation at any time isn’t entering Soul Transformation and is anxious to teach me. He covers up my mistakes and doesn’t pry into suspicious things. What kind of situation is this?]

Because she didn’t explain the situation properly, it looked like a troublemaker’s post lost in delusion.

[Dao Friend(11.23): Did you have a dream?]

[Dao Friend(88.4): Why would such a Great Cultivator be obsessed with a Qi Condensation Stage lol?]

[Dao Friend(439.68): Stop spreading weird rumors. Sword Cultivators are always yelling fresh meat anyway!]

The reactions of the majority of the Dao Friends were as expected.

Most of them dismissed it as an attention-seeker making up lies to get noticed.

However, among them, there were also Dao Friends who seriously analyzed the situation.

[Dao Friend(55.19): For such a Great Cultivator, even exhaling a breath is a calculated action. If the goodwill is genuine goodwill, it means there is something to gain from you, Dao Friend, and if it is a setup that looks like goodwill, it means there is a bigger picture that you, Dao Friend, do not know about.]

[Dao Friend(727.44): I don’t know what your Lower Realm is like, Dao Friend, but there are often restrictions once one reaches Soul Transformation, whether it’s an agreement made among Soul Transformation experts, or pressure applied by the Lower Realm. Because of these issues, they tend to take their time and enter Soul Transformation leisurely.]

“As expected, the perspectives of some Dao Friends are different.”

Dao Friend(55.19)'s analysis was something she herself had vaguely felt.

Because there was something questionable about viewing the Pacheon Sword Saint’s goodwill as unconditional.

And Dao Friend(727.44)'s words also made sense.

If there were restrictions that came with ascending to Soul Transformation, it wouldn’t be strange not to rush.

But while she skimmed through the replies, one inconspicuous reply caught her eye.

[Dao Friend(3.7): If there are more than three Soul Transformation experts, it might be a problematic interface.]

It was an Interface Number she was seeing on her post for the first time.

A Single-Digit Interface belonged to the extremely rare category even in the Nameless Forum.

And the Dao Friends with Single-Digit Interface numbers were all extraordinary without exception.

She couldn’t help but be bothered by the sudden remark.

[Dao Friend(913.14): What problem?]

So Baek-Cheong immediately left a reply.

[Dao Friend(3.7): There are so many different cases, but to pick one, it could be a problem related to ascension. For some reason, they are either unable to ascend, or they are choosing not to.]

“Ascension?”

Baek-Cheong blinked at the unexpected topic.

It meant that if there were many Soul Transformation experts in a given Lower Realm, there was a problem related to ascension, but she couldn’t grasp what connection there was between Soul Transformation and ascension.

She knew that ascension was the ultimate means of Breaking Through the Interface at the Peak of the Lower Realm and rising to the Upper Realm, but the circumstances related to Soul Transformation were beyond her capabilities.

‘It’s definitely better to ascend to the Upper Realm than to stay in the Lower Realm, after all.’

If one were at a level to look beyond Soul Transformation, simply staying in the Lower Realm was a huge restriction.

Above all, according to Cultivation World common sense, one could only aim for the next step in the Upper Realm.

Even if, by some chance, a Great Cultivator stronger than Soul Transformation appeared in the Lower Realm, there was a high possibility that the Lower Realm wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

“Are the Soul Transformation Great Cultivators of our Lower Realm then unable to ascend, or are they choosing not to ascend.”

Either way, it was a distant story for her, someone at the Qi Condensation Stage, 7th Level.

She knew that every Great Sect had a Soul Transformation Old Ancestor, so there were definitely more than three.

However, exactly how many Soul Transformation experts there were wasn’t easily accessible information, making it difficult to estimate.

‘For now, it’s a story far removed from me.’

Studying the Formation glyphs of the Jinmun Formation Diagram was more urgent than ascension.

Baek-Cheong put her thoughts aside and exited the Nameless Forum.

And while she was Pill Refining through the Five Elements Golems,

She recalled the interpretation she had seen in the information post earlier, opened the Jinmun Formation Diagram to study, and continued the work of checking by infusing Elemental Energy into each Formation Glyph one by one whether they were activated.

Thus, the days of the sun setting and rising again repeated.

When her Flying Sword Cultivation ended, she would do Golem Pill Refining and forum-browsing in parallel in her Abode, and in her spare time, she would study the Jinmun Formation Diagram or do Training to raise the proficiency of her techniques/spells.

In the evenings, she devoted herself to Qi Absorption, filling her Dantian and solidifying her meridians while expelling impure qi to consolidate her realm.

It was Training that steadily built her foundation.

As the days passed, she felt the Purity of Spiritual Energy in her Dantian becoming clearer and her Meridian Elasticity increasing.

The Pacheon Sword Saint guided her Flying Sword Cultivation without fail, and although there were days when she occasionally tried holding a handheld sword, the result was always the same.

However, she remained clumsy even as time passed.

“When will I get better?”

Because she herself knew that there was no sign of improvement, it was closer to resignation than expectation.

Instead, as her Flying Sword was steadily being trained, the level of her Falling Star Style was rising, and she was satisfied with just this.

* * *

Thus, over a month passed.

The efforts she had steadily put into Training up until then bore fruit.

“Hehe…”

Unlike usual, Baek-Cheong headed to her personal Training Ground with her small chest puffed up full of anticipation.

And she took out the Baekju Dharma Tool from her Storage Platform and drew up her Five Elements Qi.

Five streams of qi flowed out through her meridians, passing through the Baekju, and the duplicated Five Elements Shield Technique unfolded.

Due to the Five Elements Shield layered over her entire body, the colorful hues were quite deep.

However, after repeating it several times, as if piercing through a blocked acupoint,

“Finally…!”

She couldn’t hold back her joy as she looked at the translucent Five Elements Shield wrapping her entire body.

“Five Elements Shield Grand Accomplishment achieved!”