Jun Luo thought for a moment and said, "Normally, yes. Since we can leave the sect after the competition, there's bound to be an assessment of combat ability."
As soon as Jun Luo finished speaking, Jiang Yao and the other two turned their gazes toward Gu Ningyun and said in unison, "Should we give it a try when the time comes?"
Meeting their eyes, Gu Ningyun's fingertips curled slightly. "Let's try it."
She then quickly added, "Um... I'm just a fragile music cultivator... I'm not scary at all."
Jun Luo agreed without hesitation. "Yeah." After all, 《Lingtai》 didn't actually cause injuries.
Wen Xuan: "..." The logic of a sword cultivator was probably just built different...
.
With three months left until the New Disciple Competition, the arrangements for the individual competition were released.
According to Martial Uncle Lu, the New Disciple Competition was divided into an individual competition and a team competition, with rankings determined by a point system.
The individual competition consisted of two segments. The first was the basic assessment, which included an exam on the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》 and an assessment of the four arts: alchemy, arrays, talismans, and artifacts.
The 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》 exam followed the same format as the previous stage assessments, with results recorded as Distinction, Grade A, Grade B, Grade C, or Grade D.
A Distinction earned ten points, Grade A earned eight points, Grade B earned six points, and so on.
When the final points were calculated, the results from all the previous assessments would be accumulated.
The assessments for the four arts were optional bonus items. Disciples could choose to participate in any one or more of them, with each assessment worth a maximum of one hundred points.
If a disciple did not participate, no points would be added or deducted.
The second segment was the individual combat competition, which was divided into four rounds: advancement matches, revival matches, ranking matches, and arena matches.
The specific rules and scoring details for each round would be announced on-site.
The scoring rules for the team competition were as follows:
Score One: The average score calculated by dividing the sum of the team's individual scores by the number of team members.
Score Two: The team competition score.
The final team competition score would be the sum of Score One and Score Two.
After understanding the rules and scoring system, Gu Ningyun silently assessed her current strength.
The spells corresponding to her star power had not yet been unlocked, likely because her cultivation level was still too low. She didn't need to worry about that for now.
She had tested her mysterious power while practicing her melodies and found it to be extremely powerful, but she didn't intend to use it during this competition.
This was just a competition among fellow new disciples. Everyone's starting point was similar, and their spirit root aptitudes didn't differ that much. The best was a top-grade single spirit root, while the worst was a mid-grade dual spirit root.
She wanted to see what rank she could achieve by relying solely on her accumulation over this period, without using those trump cards.
As of now, her cultivation had broken through to the Qi Refining level four middle stage.
When she went to the dining hall, she had observed the auras of other disciples from Qixia Peak. Most were still at Qi Refining level three, with only a very few having reached the early stage of Qi Refining level four. So far, no one had appeared with a higher cultivation than hers.
The other four members of their Ruiyu Pavilion were among those few who had reached the early stage of Qi Refining level four.
Of course, she couldn't rule out the possibility of people hiding their cultivation.
However, she had been consistently tempering her meridians and compressing her spirit energy. Even if someone truly had a higher cultivation, she wouldn't necessarily lack the power to match them.
In terms of body refining, after completing skin refining, muscle refining, and tendon refining, she had been in the bone refining stage for three months now. In another month, she would finish bone refining and enter the final stage, organ refining.
Although body refining was a mandatory course for the sect, and other disciples who persisted would be at a similar progress level, she had the advantage of drinking spirit spring water from her space.
With the nourishment of the spirit spring water and its marrow-cleansing effects, her body remained in a pure state free of impurities. Her physique was certainly far better than most.
For offensive means, she had her sword techniques, 《Lingtai》, and the first form of the 《Taiqing Astral Wind Art》.
However, since the individual combat competition had four rounds, she planned to compete as a fragile music cultivator first, saving her sword techniques and spells for stronger opponents later.
For defense, she had 《The Qin and the Wei》, and for healing, she had 《Zongjiao》 and the top-grade Return-to-Spring Pills gifted by Wen Xuan.
Regarding agility, as a top-grade wind spirit root holder, she believed that under normal circumstances, no one would be faster than her.
Still, if time permitted, she wanted to learn a movement technique.
While sparring with Mu Chenze, she had noticed he had learned one.
When Mu Chenze used his movement technique, his speed was actually comparable to her speed when she fully utilized her wind spirit energy, and sometimes even a fraction faster.
Except...
Gu Ningyun thought about the first segment, the basic assessment. Each of the four arts—alchemy, arrays, talismans, and artifacts—could add up to a hundred points. For these final three months, she planned to learn one of these crafts.
Her speed was sufficient for now even without a movement technique, and she didn't need to worry much about her overall strength.
She had already considered making time to learn the four arts of cultivation anyway.
After all, these skills could not only earn spirit stones but also increase one's own strength.
Now that there was an extra point incentive, if she didn't learn now, then when?
As for which one to choose, she had already weighed her options.
Combining the guidance of her two martial uncles, she didn't have a fire spirit root, so alchemy was out.
If she needed any pills, she could trade with Wen Xuan or other disciples from Alchemy Peak.
She had asked Jiang Yao about artifacts. With the sect's earth fire available, the requirements for spirit roots weren't high.
What mattered more in artifacts was one's sensitivity to material structure and texture, as well as innate talent.
However, at the beginning of artifact refining, one had to swing a hammer every day to forge basic materials. Only when the materials reached a perfect stage was one considered to have entered the sect.
Because it involved basic materials, this forging process didn't require much talent and could be done by anyone.
But this stage took a long time; without half a year of forging experience, one couldn't even get started.
With only three months left, choosing artifacts was naturally out of the question.
As for arrays, according to Mu Chenze, it took over half a year just to learn array patterns. He had only recently finished the most basic patterns and entered the engraving stage. Starting now would definitely be too late.
Gu Ningyun's gaze finally landed on talismans.
Recalling the knowledge related to talismans she had gained while doing the ancient script translation tasks, Gu Ningyun pulled out her identity jade token and booked Cultivation Chamber No. 888 in the Talisman Hall.
She was counting on talismans to make her a fortune; choosing No. 888 for her first time learning was perfect.
.
At the exit of the transmission hall on Preaching Peak, Gu Ningyun ran into Jun Luo.
Seeing the direction he was heading, Gu Ningyun said in surprise, "Jun Luo, are you also going to learn talisman drawing?"
"I'm going to the Array Hall." Jun Luo slowed his pace, waiting for her to catch up. "Going to the Array Hall takes me past the Talisman Hall, so we can walk part of the way together."
"I see." Gu Ningyun's voice sounded a bit disappointed. She had thought she would have a companion to learn talisman drawing with so they could discuss things together.
But it was fine even without one. If she had questions, she could go to the library or ask Martial Aunt Yang for advice.
She remembered that Martial Aunt Yang had given her a mysterious-rank water shield talisman, so she must know how to draw them.
Rate on N.U.
