"BOOM!"

Early morning, the next day, two people were exchanging blows at the center of the village. One was a young man clad in white clothes. He was huffing and puffing, doing his best to save the little bit of stamina he had left after twenty minutes of intensive sparring.

His opponent was a black-haired tall woman similarly dressed in white. Her Daoist robes were graciously fluttering with each gesture she made to attack the boy. Contrary to the young man, she appeared extremely relaxed. During this fight, she had yet to take a single defensive stance. She gave the impression of playing with a feeble cat; one completely unable to resist her successive waves of assaults.

Fortunately, this woman saved her strength and didn't go all out. This, in turn, allowed her foe to have room to put up one desperate but cute fight.

Those two people were obviously, Zi Ming and Zi Muyue.

That day, Ming woke up at the sound of the roosters singing. He was particularly carefree the night before after he knew his dream of going to the city was going to be fulfilled. To celebrate the beginning of his long-awaited cultivation journey, he went and stole some wine as well as a tear of liquor inside his father's secret stash.

The young man who never had any alcohol before, drunk till he was completely buzzed. When his sister came to check on him and say goodnight, the lad was already curled up in his sheets. He slept for eight hours straight and as he woke up he decided to get rid of the remaining poisoning substance by training. The Zi Ming who had never slept for more than five hours after he entered the fourth stage of body refinement realized how careless he had been in underestimating the beverage.

"Alcohol isn't called the elixir of immortals for nothing..." He smiled in self-mockery and muttered as he lifted his spear.

"Wu, wu!" The little Heilang barked in excitement as he came over and jumped on his shoulder.

Zi Ming stroke him a bit and played with him before starting his training session. He didn't realize that at this moment someone was watching him train. That person was exactly Zi Muyue.

This young elder didn't sleep and didn't need to. She was taking a small break from her nightly cultivation and decided to stroll around the village for a change of pace. When she came back from the town square and jumped on the closest roof to her room, she chanced upon the young man's actions. No matter how talented Zi Ming was, she would never resort to peeping on the young boy.

But bored as she was, she decided to stay and examine his stances. Maybe she could understand better why her father had given such a high assessment concerning the children. In any case, those three would eventually become fellow disciples. If she didn't know any better, she wouldn't consider the possibility of her father taking this young guy as a legacy disciple. However, according to the current trend, she understood that he could very possibly become her junior brother in the future.

In the clan, not many clansmen knew of this fact, but the strongest cultivator wasn't her uncle Zi Wuhen. This Clan head was terrifyingly strong and crafty, still compared with his brother he was still a bit wet behind the ears. The very reason why she never disputed her father's decisions was due to this even if the acted like a slob half of the time. This Grand elder of the Zi Clan was the strongest person in Thousand Rain town despite his peculiar demeanor.

"Swoosh." Zi Muyue restrained her aura to the limit and jumped like a thief on Ming's rooftop. She sat down and watched with concentration his movements. They were sloppy and wide, but each and every one of them was swift and accurate. She nodded with approval as she examined the muscles on his body.

"This lad's foundation is indeed well polished. What a surprise...I wonder what kind of spirit he's going to awaken once he breaks through to the martial beginner stage." She whispered in thought before she went silent once more.

"Martial spirits are a cornerstone concerning the fighting ability and style of us cultivators after all. This boy seems extremely suited towards the art of assassination..."

Martial spirits were divided into eleven grades representing their potential and suitability with the cultivator:

Mortal, Warrior, Master, Earth, Heaven, King, Emperor, Sage, Immortal, Saint, Divine.

A mortal grade spirit was the most ordinary type of spirit one could get, whereas a divine grade spirit was only talked of in legends. Zi Muyue herself only awakened a Heaven grade spirit but she was considered to be at the top of the young generation in the country in terms of potential. Sure enough, martial spirits couldn't represent the complete ability and talent of cultivators, but the higher the grade, the more chances the cultivator had to become an immortal in the future.

Martial spirits were responsible for filtering and absorbing the energy of heaven and earth for the cultivator. The process of refining energy into lifespan and magic totally depended on people's own comprehensions. Possessing a high-grade martial spirit was completely irrelevant to battle potential, as different spirits possessed different skills and developed different divine abilities.

Nevertheless, the usefulness of a good martial spirit was there for everyone to see. No matter how good someone's comprehension in the Dao was, if they weren't able to collect energy fast enough, it was all in vain.

"We still have several days before we go explore that forest father spoke of. Maybe I could use those to help this fellow advance a bit faster. This is what junior brothers are for after all..." Zi Muyue showed the trace of a malicious grin as she jumped down from the top of Zi Ming's house.