Li Shiming felt weary in body and mind, so he went to bed earlier than usual.

    In his sleep, he was awakened by the alarm from the IBMz15, and realized that only ten seconds remained until midnight.

    Fortunately, the IBMz15 required no preparation time to play the ''Great Compassion Mantra'', and as the song played, from the copper corpse inside the corpse bag, the soul''s struggle and roars could be heard.

    Midnight is the time when the yin energy is at its strongest, and the copper corpse is most excited then.

    Through the Blood Covenant, Li Shiming could feel the copper corpse''s desire to break free of its shackles and its continual assault on the weak master''s spirit with negative emotions from the soul.

    The whole process did not last long, after thirty minutes, the copper corpse returned to a tranquil state.

    Listening to the ''Great Compassion Mantra'' for thirty minutes did not affect Li Shiming''s sleep; on the contrary, it improved the quality of his slumber.

    He slept until the next morning, waking up to feel very good bodily.

    A servant disciple brought him Spirit Food, and after consuming it, he went downstairs.

    Li Shiming organized a few more questions, ready to ask Zhu Ji for advice.

    He had calculated that, considering the time Zhu Ji spent each day at the Qingqiu Pavilion and the total of ten newcomers, he would manage to ask about three questions a day.

    But when he arrived downstairs, he was dumbfounded.

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    For some unknown reason, a group of youths had appeared on the first floor, easily numbering over a hundred at a glance.

    Li Shiming didn''t quite understand; hadn''t it been said the Sky Sea Sect only recruited spirit root seeds from the mundane areas once every five years during the Ascension Conference, and he and the other nine youths should be the last living spirit root seeds of these five years?

    Looking at the scene before him, where had all these additional youths come from?

    "Senior Brother Ji, are these also newcomers?" Li Shiming saw no one around Zhu Ji and walked over to ask.

    It was evident that the quality of a person''s spirit root seeds had a tremendous impact on their cultivation.

    Apart from those two, the rest of Li Shiming''s group advanced to Qi Refining First Level within fifteen days or so.

    Yet, those with poorer spirit root seeds from the later groups only began to advance after a month had passed, and the disparity began to show.

    Li Shiming paid no attention to the others. Every morning, he would consult Zhu Ji on any difficulties, practicing the ''Five Elements Qi Absorption Technique'' and ''Vajra Body Protection Divine Skill''; he devoted all his remaining time to refining the Fiery Flame Sword and Qingyuan Wood Sword with the ''Dragon Drawing Technique''.

    The Fiery Flame Sword was a temporary measure--once his strength reached Qi Refining Fourth Level, he would just barely be qualified to wield the Qingyuan Wood Sword.

    The nightly struggle of the copper corpse was not necessarily a bad thing for him.

    Through his confrontation with the copper corpse, his spirit saw a significant growth.

    So much so that, by the time the newcomer period was nearing its end, he could, without the aid of the ''Great Compassion Mantra'', handle the copper corpse''s resistance alone at midnight.

    Of course, since his realm was not high enough, the copper corpse''s resistance to the Blood Covenant continued; only by advancing to Qi Refining Fourth Level would he be able to resolve this.

    After three months in an environment saturated with dense Spiritual Energy, although his major cultivation level had not improved, he had progressed to the middle and later stages of Qi Refining Third Level. He believed it wouldn''t be long before he reached the late stage of Qi Refining Third Level.

    He had long since completed the refinement of the Fiery Flame Sword, whereas he was only halfway through with the Qingyuan Wood Sword; it would take at least another three months to fully refine it.

    On the last day of the newcomer period, Zhu Ji stood in the front, with a crowd of youths standing below.

    Li Shiming, Jin Fengzhi, and other seven first-batch newcomers stood at the very front, while the two other peers from the same batch stood at the back of the crowd, together with more than eighty others who had not reached Qi Refining First Level.

    Li Shiming knew that it was not a matter of those two having poor talent—spirit root tests do not make mistakes. Rather, it was their psychological issues that were unaddressed.

    The sect only provided a certain cultivation environment and did not aid in resolving psychological barriers.

    Thus, despite their considerable cultivation talent, they could not even reach Qi Refining First Level in the best cultivation environment.

    Additionally, he could see the harsh reality of the Cultivation World; of the second group of over a hundred spirit root seeds, more than eighty still had not reached Qi Refining First Level after three months.

    No wonder the sect held no expectations for those with poor innate abilities from the mundane world; the spirit root is simply too critical.