When Bai Qiushui retracted her hand, she looked at the green glow on her fingers with pity in her eyes.

A brief moment later, she spoke out, “That’s right. The buzzing sword that you used was the Seeking Sword Spirit. Only very few can comprehend it, and I had only heard of it before. I have never witnessed it.”

“What’s the Seeking Sword Spirit?”

“The Seeking Sword Spirit is an ancient technique, separated into four different stages. They were the Seeking, Controlling, Heart, and Spirit. You should be in the Sword Seeking phase, and it was also the threshold. At the same time, it was only the superficial part of it.”

“But since you’ve comprehended the Sword Seeking Sword Spirit, I did not want a talent like you to fall. After all, it’ll be too much of a pity.” Bai Qiushui had admiration on her face as she looked at Lin Yun.

“Purely that?”

“What else? Why do I see that you’re disappointed?” Bai Qiushui smiled.

After a brief pondering, Lin Yun replied, “The Young Sect Master told me that three years ago, you guys tried to recruit Senior Sister Su, promising all sorts of resources in the process.”

“I’ve never met her, but I did hear about her. You’re saying that my motive for coming to you is to recruit you?” Bai Qiushui asked as she showed an understanding expression.

“Was I thinking too much myself?” Lin Yun showed an awkward smile.

“You’re not.” Bai Qiushui explained as she continued, “I do have the intentions of recruiting you. Over the years, my Bai Family has been trying to find potential Houtian Realm cultivators in the nearby nations.”

As they conversed, Lin Yun realised that it was easy to talk with Bai Qiushui.

“Just earlier today, I stopped Bai Tianming and allowed Liu Yu to probe your potential. Your talent in Sword Dao was truly shocking, and many people I’d met were inferior compared to you. But after seeing that Seven Orifice Exquisite Pellet in your heart, I changed my mind.”

“Why is that?” Lin Yun was baffled.

“A cultivator’s talent is separated into aptitude and comprehension, you should know about that, right?” Bai Qiushui asked.

When Lin Yun heard Bai Qiushui’s words, he could roughly guess something.

Aptitude!

His aptitude has been terrible, and it was mentioned by many people.

Aptitude could also be understood in this manner. Similar when using resources, those with a stronger aptitude could absorb 50% of them, while one with poor aptitude could only absorb 10%.

That was the difference between someone with good and poor aptitude.

“You might not feel the difference in the Aquasky Nation, but after you step out of this place, you will realise the existence of Spiritual, Saint, and even Divine Physiques. Although they’re not officially evaluated, your aptitude is only an ordinary physique.”

Bai Qiushui explained as she continued, “Logically speaking, it’s rare for you to reach your current cultivation with your aptitude, which I was doubtful before. But after seeing the Seven Orifice Exquisite Pellet in your heart, I’d figured it all out.”

“Over the two years, you must have been using pellets to strengthen your physique to complement the differences in your aptitude, especially this Seven Orifice Exquisite Pellet. Using it on a Houtian Realm cultivator is simply a waste of treasure.” Lin Yun’s face changed when he heard that.

Su Ziyao’s eyesight was definitely not inferior compared to Bai Qiushui, and she must have seen his problem as well, which was why she gave him pellets with maintaining her sword as an excuse.

“The Seven Stages of the Xiantian Realm. The first stage is to clear up your meridians, which was also known as the Seven Orifice of the Xiantian Realm. If you consume the Seven Orifice Exquisite Pellet when you’re in the Xiantian Realm, it will enable you to cultivate ten times faster than an ordinary person. At the same time, your Xiantian profound energy will become much stronger when refined.”

Seven Orifice of the Xiantian Realm!

Lin Yun was stunned when he heard those terms and asked, “Then why did this person not let me take it after I’m in the Xiantian Realm?”

“There’s also a common phase among cultivators. If you’re unable to make it into the Xiantian Realm before the age of seventeen, it’s impossible for you to make a breakthrough in your lifetime. Although it wasn’t absolute, that was most of the cases, and there are rarely any exceptions. This person must have been afraid that you won’t be able to step into the Xiantian Realm in your lifetime, so that person gave you the Seven Orifice Exquisite Pellet.”

Feeling curious, Bai Qiushui asked, “May I ask who gave it to you? It’s unimaginable how someone will give something so precious to you.”

As Lin Yun dazed off, he finally understood Su Ziyao’s difficulty all these while.

I seem to have forgotten something…

“Sir Lin?” Bai Qiushui called out when she saw that Lin Yun wasn't replying.

“Oh, sorry about that. You were saying?” Lin Yun recovered from staring off into the air.

Looking at Lin Yun, Bai Qiushui smiled bitterly. A beauty like her was standing before Lin Yun, and yet, Lin Yun was dazing off.

“Nothing, I’ve already said what I needed to.”

Nodding his head, Lin Yun replied, “I understand. Because of my poor aptitude, City Lord Bai has given up the idea of recruiting me.”

“Don’t be discouraged. The reason why I’m not recruiting you isn’t completely because of your aptitude, but I believe that you can come up with your own path with your talent in Sword Dao.”

Once again, Bai Qiushui had admiration in her eyes as she replied, “Among everyone I know, there aren’t many who are comparable to you when it comes to Sword Dao.”

At this moment, Lin Yun finally understood Bai Qiushui’s intention. The reason why she saved him was because she did not want to see a talent like him dying.

There wasn’t any interest involved, and it was just pure admiration.

Cupping his hands together, Lin Yun replied, “No matter what, I’ve remembered the favor today.”

“You’re being too polite. Actually, it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing you can do about your aptitude.”

“What do you mean?”

“Cultivators will refine a Xiantian Seed upon reaching the Tenth Stage of the Martial Path, and you can be considered a Quasi-Xiantian Realm cultivator at that time. You can only be considered a genuine Xiantian Realm cultivator upon breaking this seed. The Xiantian Seed can give birth to many bizarre items, such as ancient divine weapons, beasts, treasures, flames, and lightning… they’re also known as Martial Souls.”

“Martial Soul?”

“That’s right. Martial Souls are graded, and if your Martial Soul is strong enough, it doesn’t matter if your aptitude is poor.”

Bai Qiushui’s words had opened Lin Yun to a whole new world.

But it was a pity that he had never heard about the term ‘Martial Soul’ when he was in the Azure Sky Sect.

But even Bai Tianming was only considered Quasi-Xiantian Realm, and not the legendary Xiantian Realm.

So how could those in the Azure Sky Sect know about the Martial Soul?

As curiosity piqued in his heart, Lin Yun asked, “City Lord Bai, can you share with me about the profundities of the Xiantian Realm?”

Covering her mouth as she chuckled, Bai Qiushui replied, “It’s nothing profound, and the objective of my visit today is to chat with you. Even I’m curious how far you will go with your talent in Sword Dao.”

Her words instantly pulled their relationship closer.

In the eyes of outsiders, Bai Qiushui was the City Lord that even the Sect Masters of the four great sects had to be respectful with.

But in reality, Bai Qiushui was just a lady around his age. She felt admiration for how he managed to comprehend the Seeking Sword Spirit and defeating Liu Yu with his cultivation in the Eighth Stage of the Martial Path.

She did not put on any airs, and as they chatted, Lin Yun realized that Bai Qiushui was also an expert in the way of swords.

Although, her cultivation was higher than Lin Yun, her comprehension was lacking in comparison.

Then again, there was much knowledge that Lin Yun had never heard of.

Rather than Lin Yun seeking knowledge, it was more of a mutual exchange.

Before Bai Qiushui left, she gave a book to Lin Yun.

It wasn’t any martial technique, but knowledge for cultivators. There were cultivation classifications along with common knowledge about Sword Dao.

“Now that you can injure four Elders of the Violet Ember Sect, no one in the Azuresky Nation can be your match aside from Sect Masters, not to mention that you even comprehended the Seeking Sword Spirit. I believe that you will be leaving the Azure Sky Sect not long in the future.” Bai Qiushui spoke out.

“It’s not that the Bai Family isn’t willing to recruit you, but the environment in the Bai Family isn’t suitable for you.”

Lin Yun could now guess that Bai Qiushui had a huge power standing behind her, and it was to the extent that it was beyond his imagination.

But just as Bai Qiushui had said, a place with rich resources didn’t mean that it was suitable for him.

“It’s fine. I have my own path.” Lin Yun smiled.

“Goodbye.” Bai Qiushui smiled as she left.

Three days later, everyone from the Azure Sky Sect returned to the sect. After which Bai Tianming held a meeting with the Elders to discuss what to reward Lin Yun.

In the end, they went along with Lin Yun’s opinion and changed all his rewards into mid-grade spiritual stones. Based on Lin Yun’s performance in the Four Sects Tournament, Lin Yun was rewarded with a total of 2,000 mid-grade spiritual stones.

It was an enormous sum, but it was nothing compared to how Lin Yun protected the spiritual mine for the sect.

In summary, Lin Yun had benefited greatly from the Four Sects Tournament.

A few days later, Lin Yun finally consolidated and digested the insights he had from the Four Sects Tournament, especially the Seeking Sword Spirit and Rose Sword Art.