"You have progressed exceptionally quickly, Xiao, although you lack the brute force and speed for now, your swordplay already rivals that of an elite swordsman, if you wish to continue on the path of swordsmanship, maybe you should consider getting involved with Bright Sword Peak, or the Sheng clan, in terms of pure swordsmanship, they are unmatched in this country" Elder Gang advised Xiao, who was currently lying face first on the ground, having been flipped over the old man's shoulder just a few seconds ago, it was good thing the floor was well thought out for such purposes, otherwise, his nose would be bent the wrong way right now.
"Master Gang… Why would I think about getting involved with such forces, when I am already a disciple of the Myriad-Arm Sect?" he replied after standing up, giving the proper salute, it still felt weird to perform the mannerism that he had only ever read about in books or seen in comics, but he performed them smoothly enough now.
"How righteous of you! But let me be honest, as far as the sect goes, outer disciples aren't taken much into account, they either ascend to the inner ring of the sect, leave, or perform odd jobs… They aren't truly counted as members of the sect, if a conflict broke out, we would rather send them away than use them as manpower… It's the same in most sects, outer disciples are only disciples by name, they are still in the process of being gauged" he scratched his hair-free skull.
"So whilst you are an outer disciple, nothing anchors you here… You have lots of talent, and if you intend on becoming a sword cultivator, there are better options than here…"
"I thank you, Elder Gang, but the Myriad-Arm Sect is exactly where I want to be!" Xiao responded with enthusiasm.
On the side, his ghostly mentor nodded his head, that was exactly how a good junior rose in the estimation of his seniors, by always acting like the older folks were saying wise stuff, along with licking their boots the entire time!
Frankly, Xiao had a fairly good memory of a lot of things in the novel he had read, although the descriptions of characters and places were rather to properly remember, as frankly, the author would usually only make a proper description once, and then proceed to only mention the most notable aspects from time to time, if that guy even bothered to make a proper description at all- So after a while, Xiao had made up his own mental images of the characters, such as unconsciously imagining Gang as having a long, thick white beard, despite the face, when in reality, the elder was as hairless as a naked mole rat.
Honestly, most female characters had just been described by the fact that they were beautiful, and maybe their hair colour if the author was feeling generous…
In any case, Xiao knew that staying in the Myriad-Arm Sect was the best course of action, not because that was what had happened in the original story, but because when he obtained the Weapon Encyclopedia and began to cultivate it, as well as managed to get his sword back, he would become the embodiment of the sect, capable of wielding an extensive array of weaponry with extreme precision and skill, capable of switching between different ones at any times during a battle.
However, the artefact that was the ancestral sword of the Chen family wasn't too overpowered in certain aspects, same for the cultivation technique, for certain, more difficult weapons, Xiao would first need to get to know them before being able to shift the form of the sword into it, and reading on certain weapon cultivation techniques could also allow him to gleam into details that would help his learning of Weapon Encyclopedia, so naturally, being an esteemed disciple of the Myriad-Arm Sect was the best thing to progress smoothly.
In the original story, the protagonist would mostly stick to the sword all the time, which had endlessly frustrated Xiao to no end, having such a cool weapon alonside a technique that could allow for a lot of imagination, only to constantly swing the exact same sword around, it had just seemed like waste, so having taken the helm as the main character, he intended on actually making use of what was available to him in full.
"I see, then in that case, I can only assume that you intend to participate in the upcoming tournament? It is only involving outer disciples of our sect, the winner will be promoted to inner disciple without fault, and be awarded some resources as well, but plenty of others will surely be granted the title of inner disciple as well, so simply do your best, with your skills, even if you lose, none of the elders will have a problem with you ascending in the sect… However, I must warn you of something" the senior turned serious and glanced around as though worried that someone might hear him.
"Although not an outer disciple, due to having been recruited at the same time as most current outer disciples, Edrick Lucien Anoteros, or Zixuan Elt, will also be taking part… I have no doubt that he will be amongst the two that make it to the final duel, if you encounter him, be very careful! That kid is a real monster, freakishly strong even when he had yet to begin cultivating... Awfully talented as well, I heard that he cultivates more than three techniques at the same time, whatever you do, do not offend him!" Xiao nodded along, understanding why Gang would be so worried about Edrick.
That guy could probably crush someone's head with one hand, and indeed, the simple fact that he was an Elt was a red flag, Xiao had no memories of any character bearing that name who did not eventually go on to commit some foul stuff, but they were still nobles at the end of the day, and they played the part.
"Do not worry, Master Gang, Edrick and I are fairly good friends, and we have made a little bet as to which one of us would manage to defeat the other during the tournament, so he will certainly hold back and not split me in half even if given the occasion!" although that last part could be debatable, both Xiao and his ghostly master believed that Anoteros was planning on having Xiao take part in something that would definitely require him to still be alive.
"And anyway, will there not be an array that prevents lethal blows?" he added.
"There will be one indeed, but that thing is not infallible, I will be the one to operate it, but you still need to be careful"
"Of course, Master"
"You're a good kid… Let's end today's lesson here, you can go pay a visit to your girlfriend"
"T-Thanks, Master Gang…"
"Everyone knows that she is your girlfriend now, and you didn't say a thing, do you know what that means?" Chengzhe moved to the side of Xiao.
'What does it mean?'
"That she said it to her friends, and that they spread the word! Listen, she's the shy sort, otherwise you would have already deflowered her- So to boldly speak of you in such a way, it means that you might get lucky! Rush to her, right now!"
'Alright…' the idea that what the spectre was saying was true made Xiao feel all nervous… Would he finally lose his purity? Hopefully, he wouldn't mess up when it came to doing the deed…