[Shen Family 101, officially begins.]

[Stage One: Earth-Grade External Technique "Stellar Metamorphosis Profound Art".]

[This stage will eliminate 51 people.]

[This means that to advance and obtain the Heaven-Grade technique reward, you must be among the first fifty to master the "Stellar Metamorphosis Profound Art".]

[All one hundred and one of you are taken to one hundred and one different minor star realms.]

[Someone will take care of your daily needs and meals. All you need to do is practice and comprehend.]

[Now, no one will come to guide you. Separating you is also to prevent discussion.]

[It all depends on your own comprehension and ability.]

[Beyond the fixed supply of pills, spirit crystals, and medicinal baths, the Shen Family also allows you to request additional resources.]

[Such as spirit crystals, spirit plants, spirit artifacts, formations, talismans, etc.]

[If you have the means to enhance your comprehension through external objects, the Shen Family will grant it.]

[However, there is an upper limit to resource requests. They can't just hand over the entire Shen Family warehouse.]

["Please forge an Immortal Artifact for me."]

[You pull out the blueprint for the Ten Thousand Souls Banner's main body.]

[Free resources, might as well take them!]

[On your star realm, the Shen Family martial guard assigned to attend to you is a young woman in her twenties, named Shen Yufeng.]

[Looking at this blueprint, she reveals the same expression the Divine Arms City artifact smiths had back then.]

["What is this?"]

["A Banner of Enlightenment, to enhance comprehension. Who else but me?"]

["Can't give you an Immortal Artifact."]

["Exceeds the extra resource limit for this round?"]

["Do you think Immortal Artifacts are so easy to forge? Don't joke around..."]

["Then a Heaven-Grade one will do. The prestigious Shen Family wouldn't be unable to forge a mere Heaven-Grade spirit artifact, right?"]

["Heaven-Grade... we can try. However, this single spirit artifact will exhaust all your extra resource allocation for this round, and you only have one forging attempt. Are you sure?"]

["Sure."]

[The Ten Thousand Souls Banner is a bit happy.]

["You're a real bro! The Shen Family's craftsmanship is top-notch, and it's a high-quality replica of my main body. If successful, I'll be able to wield thirty percent of my peak power!"]

[You tease.]

["Only thirty percent?"]

["Thirty percent still depends on me performing well! Do you think the gap between an Immortal Artifact and a Heaven-Grade spirit artifact is just over three times? The difference is massive!"]

[Although you have no extra resources left, the cultivation-enhancing pills, the large quantity of spirit crystals, and the constitution-improving medicinal bath every three days are still supplied.]

["Bad News Spreads in Martial Circles" begins to exert its power, providing you with double the pill efficacy and accumulating zero Pill Toxins!]

[Other contestants, after such high-frequency pill-assisted cultivation, need regular treatments to expel accumulated Pill Toxins.]

[You ignore this completely and tell the organizers to exchange all resources meant for detoxification for more cultivation-enhancing pills!]

[The Shen Family doesn't understand your request, but they respect it.]

[After all, it's your own choice. If you die from it, it's not their problem.]

[You feel your cultivation speed increase as if riding a rocket!]

There was a minor hiccup while cultivating the "Stellar Metamorphosis Profound Art".

The Proficiency panel couldn't recognize it.

Chen Yi deduced it was like the "Righteous Sun Formula"—it recognized bloodline.

So, when the option to adjust traits appeared, he equipped "Effort Guarantees Reward".

Then, relying on "Proficiency" was enough. Even if he later removed "Effort Guarantees Reward", it would be fine.

"Green-tier traits also have their indispensable uses! Indeed, there are no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters!"

[Year Twenty-One, age thirty-nine.]

[Glancing at the panel, you only need to practice the motions 100 more times to master the "Stellar Metamorphosis Profound Art".]

["That clan leader mentioned something... if you advance to the next round, these auxiliary cultivation resources would be suspended until the next round begins..."]

[You think of a great idea.]

[Be the last qualifier!]

[On each contestant's star realm, there is a glowing stone tablet displaying names, indicating who has passed this stage's test.]

[You just need to practice the Proficiency count to 99 times. Wait until the fortieth-something name appears, then perform the final practice. Once the technique is mastered, inform the attendant responsible for you.]

[For a whole year, not a single person mastered it.]

[Comprehending an Earth-Grade technique entirely on your own is very difficult.]

[Back then, you and the old monk also spent many years learning the "Shattering Star Ripple Finger".]

[No matter.]

[You wish your competitors would be even slower.]

[That way, you can continue enjoying the massive cultivation resources the Shen Family provides.]

[Year Twenty-Two, age forty.]

[Martial Dao realm advances to Golden Body Sixth Layer.]

[Year Twenty-Three, age forty-one.]

[A few people successfully mastered it, but only a handful.]

[This year, the Shen Family delivers your custom-made "Banner of Enlightenment".]

[The artifact smith who forged it secretly tags along, wanting to see how you actually use this thing.]

[Although artifact smiths from the Starry Domains are not under the jurisdiction of the Divine Arms Pavilion of the Five Regions, the Shen Family also has rules against forging evil artifacts.]

[Fortunately, you were prepared. You didn't let the Ten Thousand Souls Banner's artifact spirit take possession. You just place this banner beside you daily to block the sun.]

[It looks like you are meditating under the banner.]

["Is it really a Banner of Enlightenment?"]

[The artifact smith, during forging, should theoretically be completely clear about the internal structure of the spirit artifact.]

[Could the creator not know if it's the Ten Thousand Souls Banner?]

[However, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner is too cunning.]

[Feint in the east, attack in the west!]

[The blueprint this old scoundrel provided is less of a spirit artifact blueprint and more of a parts blueprint.]

[Once the Ten Thousand Souls Banner artifact spirit takes possession, it will reassemble the internal structure, turning this Heaven-Grade banner-shaped spirit artifact into a low-spec Ten Thousand Souls Banner.]

[Before the reassembly, this banner could be called anything, because aside from possessing Heaven-Grade spirit artifact quality, it has no function whatsoever.]

[The artifact smith just forged according to the blueprint. If it comes out functionless, that's not his concern.]

[Year Twenty-Four, age forty-two.]

[Martial Dao realm advances to Golden Body Seventh Layer.]

[Even though your realm is getting higher, the speed of improvement is faster than when you were at the first or second layer. You are extremely happy.]

["Thank goodness I was clever, impersonated a Shen Family member, and thankfully didn't succeed in running away back then. Everything gained is mine! Who cares what conspiracies they have!"]

"Since that's the case, then I won't need the trait for verifying identities for now. No need to check these Shen Family people either, they're all freaking confirmed wolves."

[Year Twenty-Five, age forty-three.]

[Drawing trait...]

[Draw successful!]

["Duang~~" (White Common): Your hair is astonishingly thick, very black, very shiny, very soft, absolutely no special effects, never sheds, duang~]

[Adjust trait?]

[Yes/No]

[You replace "The Only True Prophet in the Whole Game" with "Senior Tomato User".]

[Over these years, you've been both increasing your cultivation and comprehending deeper sword principles.]

[In your spare time, you've also raised the proficiency of your commonly used techniques one by one.]

[Your Earth-Grade techniques are now uniformly at the Perfection realm.]

[Your commonly used High-Grade martial arts have all reached the Transcendent Mastery realm.]

[Your cultivation speed increases once again, and your practical combat ability improves significantly.]

[Combined with your now battle-ready sword principles.]

[You now have the power to fight ordinary Spirit Sea realm opponents, even without trait-based combat power boosts.]

[If you use the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and the Nine Provinces Cauldron, it's even more incredible. Even Spirit Condensation realm experts without Immortal Artifacts would have to take you seriously.]

["The cultivation power of ordinary people who progress step-by-step is very unstable and fragile in actual combat! But the combat power I obtained through cheats and intercepting various opportunities is much more solid and powerful!"]