Soul Emperor Martial God

Within the Martial Arts Stele Forest, nearly three hundred martial artists had found a Mystic Realm Stele suitable for their comprehension.

However, only a handful could actually commence comprehending.

In just minutes, out of the three hundred people, nearly a hundred had fainted due to an inability to endure the pressure.

Most of the remaining two hundred were also struggling to hold on.

Outside the Stele Forest, ten Inner Sect Deacons quietly nodded in approval.

"This year's disciples are quite impressive, at least in terms of toughness, they have exceeded our expectations."

"Indeed, those who try to comprehend the Mystic Realm Stele without sufficient perception will only suffer. However, if they are mentally resilient enough, they might well reap some benefits."

The ten Inner Sect Deacons, serving as the 'examiners' for this third assessment, were making fair evaluations.

"Look, someone has begun to comprehend."

The ten turned their attention to the individual who had started his comprehension.

That towering Mystic Realm Stele, several dozen meters tall, emitted an ancient and peerlessly sharp aura.

Beneath the stele, a young man was seated cross-legged; it was Xiao Yi.

"Not bad, considering his age of only 16 or 17, yet possessing Innate Ninth Layer Cultivation. His martial arts talent is enough to place him in the ranks of super geniuses."

"I wonder if this young man has any talent in refining; if so, he could join my Medicine Hall," said a Deacon from the Medicine Hall.

"There's no need to think further," a Deacon from the Sword Hall laughed. "Don't you see? He's comprehending a Stele of Sword Dao; he's definitely going to join our Sword Hall."

The Deacons from the other eight halls also smiled satisfactorily. "With such quick adaptation to the effects of the Mystic Realm Stele's prohibition, it proves that this boy's comprehension ability is extraordinarily excellent. No matter which martial arts he cultivates, his achievements will surely be high."

"Whichever hall he joins, he will certainly become a well-known genius in Northern Mountain County. It's just a pity that he's comprehending the Sword Dao Mystic Realm Stele, so it seems like he wants to join the Sword Hall."

"Humph, you guys just keep looking on enviously," the Sword Hall Deacon laughed. "This boy is destined to join the Sword Hall."

...

On the other side, underneath the Mystic Realm Stele, Xiao Yi was unaware of the discussions among the Deacons.

He was merely trying his best to quickly assimilate the content on the stele.

Each Mystic Realm Stele represented the lifetime martial arts knowledge of a Mystic Breakthrough Realm Martial Artist.

Strange characters and mysterious images were continuously flashing through his mind.

The so-called comprehension of the Mystic Realm Stele involved the Mystic Realm Stele transmitting this knowledge directly into the comprehender's mind through 'Enlightenment.'

And this knowledge far exceeded what Innate Realm Martial Artists could understand and endure.

This was also why other martial artists would experience dizziness and even faint.

Those with high comprehension could digest this content; once understood, new characters and images would emerge in their minds.

Those with low comprehension who forced themselves to observe would find the images in their minds freezing, unable to endure; and they would experience near mental collapse and excruciating headaches.

"Ah." Xiao Yi gritted his teeth, and a pained expression suddenly appeared on his face.

These characters and images represented the lifetime cultivation knowledge of a Sword Dao Elder.

He was able to comprehend, but it required a process. During this process, before full comprehension was achieved, he still had to endure that torturous pain.

Only with complete comprehension, when everything became clear, would the torment disappear.

Yet, as soon as he comprehended one set of images, new ones would appear.

These new images would once again cast him into agony.

Xiao Yi's expression kept alternating between pain and relief.

He could no longer count how many images had flashed through his mind or how many characters he had comprehended.

He only knew that he had comprehended about a third of the content on the giant Mystic Realm Stele in front of him.

The third round of the assessment tested comprehension ability, endurance, and mental resilience, among others.

And these were all aspects of talent, indicators of a true martial arts genius.

This was the purpose behind the third assessment.

Half an hour later, inside the Martial Arts Stele Forest, everything was settled.

Those who could comprehend had already commenced their comprehension under the Mystic Realm Stele.

Those who couldn't comprehend, no matter how much they forced themselves, couldn't last much longer.

Half an hour of torment was enough to make them utterly unable to endure and faint.

The Inner Sect Deacons waved their hands and controlled the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy to pull out those who had fainted within the Stele Forest.

Only twenty people remained inside.

"If all goes as expected, these are the twenty who will enter the Inner Ten Halls this year," the Deacons said.

Every year the number of martial artists participating in the examination exceeded ten thousand, yet only three hundred made it to the third round, and usually, only about ten actually passed.

No wonder the Inner Sect Disciples were so few, yet their treatment was extremely generous.

Having twenty this year was already far beyond the usual numbers.

"Look, that young man over there is also impressive; he's comprehending the Sword Dao Mystic Realm Stele. If I remember correctly, he's the second one who managed to stabilize his mind and enter a state of comprehension."

A Deacon looked towards Lin Jin inside the Stele Forest.

The Sword Hall Deacon nodded in satisfaction. "Hmm, this boy has Innate Eighth Layer Cultivation and extremely high comprehension ability. He's most fitting to enter our Sword Hall."

"Another person has entered a state of comprehension,"

A deacon looked towards Tie Niu on the other side.

The Beast Hall deacon also smiled broadly, "With his Innate Eighth Layer Cultivation and high comprehension ability, the most precious thing is that this child appears honest and calm, seemingly possessing the heart of an innocent child. Let him join our Beast Hall."

"That girl isn't bad either." Suddenly, the Ten Thousand Wood Hall deacon looked at Liu Yanran and said with a smile, "She is comprehending a plant-related stele from the Mystic Realm. Let her join my Ten Thousand Wood Hall."

The Ten Thousand Wood Hall's deacon, a middle-aged woman with superb demeanor, spoke sparingly but exuded a refreshing aura that felt like a spring breeze.

"Ah." Suddenly, the Beast Hall's deacon looked at Qin Feiyang in the Monument Forest, "This youth is comprehending a stele that contains cultivation knowledge left behind by one of our Beast Hall elders."

"It seems this child will join our Beast Hall as well. To think that this year, we could recruit two such extraordinary talents into our Beast Hall, tsk tsk, truly fortunate."

"....."

The ten Inner Sect deacons had already determined which hall the remaining twenty in the monument forest would join based on the type of Mystic Realm Steles they comprehended.

The Inner Ten Halls were where the Inner Sect Disciples trained and lived. Sa@mp!le fr*o#m^ My V+ir#t%u%al% L.i-br+a*r#y$ Empir.e!—*r#ea#d mor#e on M&V-L^EM@PY&R-.

Time flew, and, an hour later, the situation in the Stele Forest changed once again.

"Puh." Gu Changfeng suddenly woke from his comprehension and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Puh." Hua Jian, Wang Hu, and others also spat out blood.

....

Over a dozen people awakened from their comprehension state, blood spewing from their mouths, faces pale.

But the ten deacons showed no dissatisfaction, instead, their faces beamed with smiles.

"Being able to comprehend for more than two hours, these dozen or so disciples have done quite well. Although they did not fully understand the entire stele, they managed at least a quarter of it."

"In previous years, disciples who participated in this assessment could normally comprehend only about half an hour, understanding about one-tenth of the Mystic Realm Stele."

"These dozen disciples are truly greatly talented."

The ten deacons praised them and, with a sweeping gesture, pulled these dozen people out.

Left in the Stele Forest were Xiao Yi, Lin Jin, Tie Niu, Liu Yanran, and Qin Feiyang.

Another four hours passed, and Lin Jin and the other three eventually woke from their comprehension.

"Puh." Lin Jin spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, his face deathly pale, regretfully said, "It's a pity. The more content one comprehends from the entire Mystic Realm Stele, the more difficult it becomes towards the end."

"Having comprehended for over three and a half hours, but only understanding just over half."

Qin Feiyang, Tie Niu, and Liu Yanran also wore expressions of regret.

Little did they know, the ten Inner Sect deacons outside the forest were already wearing faces full of shock.

"These four actually withstood the non-human torment for over three hours under the prohibition of the Mystic Realm Stele. Truly impressive."

"They are currently only in the Innate Realm, yet they have comprehended more than half of the content on the Mystic Realm Stele. Their future path in Martial Arts will undoubtedly be smooth sailing, progressing rapidly."

Praising thus, the deacons waved their hands, pulling these four out of the stele forest as well.

The next second, ten deacons, especially those from the Sword Hall, fixed their intense gazes on the only figure remaining in the Stele Forest.

"That young man is still comprehending."

"He was the first to enter the comprehension state, yet he has persisted the longest."

"It's uncertain how far he will go."

The deacons were filled with anticipation.

In the Stele Forest, Xiao Yi continued his comprehension.

In fact, his comprehension time was almost the same as Lin Jin and the others, but his speed of comprehension was far superior.

At this point, he had almost fully comprehended the content of the entire Mystic Realm Stele.

Only the last tiny bit remained.

And this tiny bit of content recorded a Martial Technique named "Lightning Stone," a Peak Xuan Rank technique.

There were no Earth Rank Martial Techniques on the Mystic Realm Stele, the highest being only Xuan Rank Martial Techniques.

It's not that these Mystic Breakthrough Realm elders did not possess Earth Rank Martial Techniques, but they specifically did not record them on the Mystic Realm Stele.

Even a Low-level Earth Rank Martial Technique was a hundred times more precious than a Peak Xuan Rank Martial Technique, naturally not to be given lightly. The real scriptures were stored in the Inner Sect Treasure Vault, not easily accessible.

Of course, apart from the Earth Rank Martial Techniques, the lifelong cultivation knowledge of this Sword Dao elder, including the mysteries of Mysterious Profundity Realm and Mystic Breakthrough Realm cultivation, were also recorded on the Mystic Realm Stele.

Xiao Yi believed that this knowledge was the true treasure and the most important thing for his future Martial Arts cultivation, priceless beyond measure.

Xiao Yi comprehended at a faster rate but also endured much more torment.

The continuously flashing images and text meant that he underwent torment far more often than Lin Jin and the others.

This kind of torment that invaded the mind was the most painful.

And if the pain had persisted, it would have been one thing; regrettably, the process of comprehension was painful, but upon completion, it brought relief; this alternating sensation of hellish pain and heavenly relief was particularly grinding.

His face was terrifyingly pale; his forehead was covered with sweat beads the size of beans; his sweat even soaked through his clothes.

Rather than saying his talent was superior to Lin Jin and the others, one might say his inner fortitude was more resolute and steadfast than anyone's.

Of course, the bitter endurance was for those precious Martial Arts Knowledges and the technique "Lightning Stone," which he cherished deeply.

Although "Lightning Stone" was a Peak Xuan Rank Martial Technique, its power could overcome any other Peak Xuan Rank Martial Technique.

It was regarded as the strongest Peak Xuan Rank Martial Technique of the Sky-splitting Sword Sect, even comparable to a Low-level Earth Rank Martial Technique.

Without any accidents, this would be the strongest martial technique Xiao Yi had possessed so far.