Chapter 1146: Eleven Breaths

“I see!”

Realizing that the other party was a super genius from the Martial Arts Hall, whose talent was no less than Shi Hao’s, Hall Master Wei nodded and looked at Zhang Xuan. “Teacher Sun, let me find you another set of martial arts. The Great Stellar Finger Art is extremely difficult; among these two hundred sets, it ranks quite high…” Even Hall Master Feng, who wasn't a Battle Master before and hadn't received the most systematic training, had taken some time to cultivate. But this genius in front of them had taken a full seven years to reach the minor accomplishment stage. The Great Stellar Finger Art was widely recognized throughout the Martial Arts Hall as exceptionally difficult to learn.

“No need for such trouble…”

Zhang Xuan took the manual, casually flipped through it, and shook his head. To him, as long as it could contribute to forming a Heaven's Path cultivation technique, any of these two hundred martial arts sets was the same; there was no superior or inferior one.

“Then you can take a look first. If it's too difficult to cultivate, we can make other choices…” Knowing that saying too much would be annoying, Hall Master Wei said. There was no use talking about it; only by personally cultivating it would he understand the difficulty. Once this fellow stumbled and couldn't even get started, he would probably realize how terrifying the Great Stellar Finger Art was.

Clearly, Jiao Tan shared this thought. He watched the seemingly ignorant young man with interest, wanting to see his expression after reading the manual and failing to comprehend it. However, he didn't get to see such an expression. Instead, he saw the young man frown, looking as if he had lost his appetite.

“What do you mean?” Jiao Tan's face filled with displeasure. If he couldn't understand it, he couldn't understand it. If he knew it was difficult, he knew it was difficult. What was with that expression?

“Nothing!” Zhang Xuan paused, looked down at the manual again, then shook his head once more after a moment. “Never mind, let's just do this!” With that, he stood rooted to the spot, a look of resignation on his face, and slowly closed his eyes.

“You…” Seeing his reluctance, with an expression even more exaggerated than before, Jiao Tan felt like he was about to explode with anger. The Great Stellar Finger Art, though not the absolute top-tier martial art, was certainly ranked high in the Martial Arts Hall. It was understandable to find it difficult during normal cultivation, but… to look disgusted, as if cultivating this martial art was like eating a dead rat, that was a bit much!

“Even if it's hard to master or incomprehensible, there's no need for such an attitude, is there? This is utterly rude…” With a cold snort, just as he was about to speak, he saw the young man in front of him suddenly raise his palm, and his right index finger gently tapped forward. *Rip!* True Qi pierced the air, emitting a cutting sound as if tearing paper. Stars seemed to revolve at his fingertip, giving off a sense of vastness and profoundness.

The Great Stellar Finger Art was created tens of thousands of years ago by a senior from the Battle Master Hall who observed the sun, moon, and stars. With a single flick of the finger, true qi, empowered by the arrangement of the stars, evoked a sense of traversing the vast universe. Not only was it a true qi attack, but it also carried an extremely strong spiritual oppression. For this very reason, ordinary cultivators found it difficult to comprehend, and some even spent their entire lives without understanding how to harness this stellar power.

Originally, Jiao Tan had thought Teacher Sun was too ostentatious and had an unpleasant personality, and he wanted to scold him a few times. But upon seeing the finger the other party pointed, his pupils involuntarily constricted, and his body trembled. “This is… initial mastery?” He had thought the other party hadn't understood how to cultivate the martial art at all and was just putting on a show. He never dreamed that, in the blink of an eye, he had already achieved initial mastery! He himself had spent a full year to reach initial mastery!

*Zzzzzzt!* While still in bewildered shock, the true qi power at the young man's fingertip grew stronger and stronger, emitting a weeping sound, as if drawing one into the night, with stars hanging low, seemingly ready to fall at any moment.

“This is… proficiency?” Jiao Tan swallowed hard, his face turning pale. Although this martial art was extremely difficult to achieve initial mastery in, once successful, subsequent progress would be faster. But how much time had passed? Ten breaths? Five breaths? Or two breaths? When his finger extended, he was at initial mastery, and before his arm was even fully straightened, he had already reached proficiency… “You're not cultivating, you're just messing around, aren't you?”

His throat dry, he turned to look at Hall Master Wei not far away, wanting to ask what kind of background this fellow had to learn so quickly. He saw that Hall Master Wei's eyes were also wide open, as if he had seen a ghost. It was clear that he, too, hadn't expected the other party to go from initial mastery to proficiency so quickly. This had already exceeded the scope of what common sense could comprehend.

“Hall Master Wei…” He gritted his teeth, afraid of disturbing Teacher Sun who was cultivating, and sent a voice transmission.

“Hmm?” Hall Master Wei snapped out of his shock.

“Teacher Sun... he really hasn't learned the Great Stellar Finger Art before?” he couldn't help but ask.

“He shouldn't have… For such a small matter, there's no need to lie or deceive!” Remembering the young man's various astonishing feats, Hall Master Wei paused and said. One of their hall masters and two hall masters had attacked together, yet they hadn't even scratched him; instead, they had been beaten using a formation… and he had even swept away ten stone tablets in the internal breath passage with a single palm… Such a person would have no need to lie. It seemed… this Great Stellar Finger Art was difficult for them to master, but not difficult for him.

“He hasn't learned it, achieved initial mastery in the blink of an eye, and reached proficiency in a few breaths… I spent seven years just to reach minor accomplishment. He won't catch up to me within a day, will he?” Jiao Tan's lips trembled uncontrollably.

“He shouldn't… There's a huge demarcation line from proficiency to minor accomplishment. No one should be that fast… Ah?!” As he said this, before Hall Master Wei could finish his sentence, he let out a scream.

They saw the young man, his eyes closed, finally straighten his arm. A vortex appeared, swirling like a galactic river. Even without attacking, a mere glance was enough to cause dizziness, threatening immediate unconsciousness.

“Minor accomplishment…” Both of them simultaneously took two steps back. Right after he said that reaching minor accomplishment today was impossible, the other party had achieved it…

Having reached minor accomplishment, Zhang Xuan opened his eyes, glanced at his finger, sighed, and looked up at Jiao Tan not far away. “This martial arts passage requires cultivating a martial art to the major accomplishment stage before one can enter and clear the challenge, right?”

“Yes…” Not knowing what he meant by asking this, Jiao Tan nodded. The martial arts passage required cultivating any one of the two hundred martial arts to the major accomplishment stage to have a chance of passing; otherwise, success would be impossible. Feeling puzzled and about to explain, he saw the young man respond, “I understand…” He closed his eyes again.

“Hmm?” His face twitched. “You're not thinking of… attempting major accomplishment right now? The Great Stellar Finger Art has extremely high demands on true qi. Without prior preparation, a forceful attempt will only lead to mistakes and severe injury…” Before he could finish speaking, he saw the young man point his finger out again. *Whoosh!* The air in front of them seemed to be compressed instantly. In that moment, he felt as if he had fallen into a sky full of stars, and then stars descended from the heavens, seemingly able to crush him with ease.

“All-encompassing stars…” Jiao Tan's body shook violently. “This is… beyond major accomplishment, perfect mastery?” Martial arts cultivation is divided into five stages: initial mastery, proficiency, minor accomplishment, major accomplishment, and perfect mastery.

He had just said that it was difficult for the other party to reach major accomplishment, yet the other party had casually achieved perfect mastery… From receiving the manual to cultivating to this level, it had taken a total of… a dozen or so breaths! While he, a super genius of the Martial Arts Hall, had spent seven years and only reached minor accomplishment… A fierce sense of frustration made him feel like he was about to explode. People… truly couldn't be compared.

Unaware that his casual cultivation had shocked Hall Master Wei and Jiao Tan to the point of wanting to vomit blood, Zhang Xuan opened his eyes. To be honest, if it weren't for the challenge, he definitely wouldn't have bothered learning the Great Stellar Finger Art. Even after incorporating many martial arts, although its flaws were reduced, there were still five of them. A cultivation technique with so many flaws, frankly, he had never refined before… That was why he had deliberated for so long and finally had a look of resignation. It was too terrible! Practicing it was truly embarrassing. However, there was no other way. To pass the assessment and find more Saint 1-dan cultivation techniques, this was the most effortless method. Fortunately, these flaws only caused minor harm to the body and didn't require any rare treasures or the like; otherwise, it would have been much more troublesome.

“I've finished cultivating. I might need to trouble Battle Master Jiao Tan to help me register…” Shaking his head to dispel the gloom in his heart, Zhang Xuan said. These flaws only damaged some meridians in the body, causing them to tear and inflict unbearable pain whenever used. However, he possessed Heaven's Path True Qi, which healed injuries extremely quickly, so it wasn't a major problem. In any case, it was just for the assessment; he could simply use it as little as possible in the future.

“Y-yes…” Jiao Tan finally snapped out of his shock, pulled back his neck, and hurried forward. In a short while, he returned, saying, “Teacher Sun, I've already arranged for you to go first!” Many people came to assess themselves at the martial arts passage every day, but few genuinely passed. This person in front of them had been personally brought by Hall Master Wei and cultivated martial arts in such an astonishing manner, so letting him go first for the assessment was nothing.

“Thank you for your trouble…” Zhang Xuan cupped his fists, followed behind, and soon arrived at the entrance. Just then, the portal opened, and a young man walked out with a look of dejection, clearly having failed the assessment. “Teacher Sun, please…” Jiao Tan extended his hand. Zhang Xuan stepped inside, disappearing from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.

“Hey Jiao, what's this guy's background that you personally helped him cut in line?” A battle master in the crowd shouted.

“I don't know either…” Jiao Tan shook his head.

“You don't know? You must at least know which martial art he registered for, right?” The crowd found it strange, and the battle master who had just spoken asked again. One could infer some background based on the martial art cultivated.

“The Great Stellar Finger Art!” Jiao Tan said.

“The Great Stellar… isn't that what you cultivate?” “This martial art is extremely difficult to master. Even with your talent, you only reached minor accomplishment after seven years. This guy dares to challenge it; has he already achieved major accomplishment? He doesn't look very old!” The battle master frowned and couldn't help but ask, “At his age, how long could he have been cultivating it?”

“Roughly…” Jiao Tan thought for a moment, a bitter smile on his face. “About twelve breaths. Oh, no, exactly eleven breaths!”