In the yard behind her house in the Outer Sect, Jun Li stood before her metal training dummy.

  As she closed her eyes and drew her focus inward, she could feel the effects the Lingzhi elixir had on her, both body and Qi.

  After absorbing the Qi from both the elixir and regular Cultivation sessions for two full months, Jun Li stood on the precipice of a breakthrough to the Late Qi Condensation level.

  Jun Li raised the red, lacquered gourd of Lingzhi elixir she had been given by the branch director.

  Over the past two months, she hadn’t taken a single sip from it, instead administering it in small doses through acupuncture with silver needles soaked in the elixir.

  Now, however, so close to breaking through, Jun Li uncorked the gourd and took a sip, knowing the sharp increase in Internal Qi would be of dire importance to break through to the next stage cleanly.

  The last time Jun Li attempted a breakthrough, although successful, the crude Cultivation Method she used had caused a momentary crisis. This time, with Jun Li’s self-made method, she hoped things would go differently.

  Though the traditional posture for Cultivation was to remain seated in the lotus position, Jun Li instead stood upright. With sufficient focus and familiarity, any position would work, and this worked for her.

  As the Lingzi’s medicinal energy coursed through Jun Li’s body and slowly found its way to her Dantian as Qi, Jun Li quickly began to refine the last remnants of External Qi in her body.

  She twisted her Internal Qi into numerous, sharply defined vortices that quickly began to shred and refine any wisps of External Qi that got pulled into her Dantian.

  Within moments, Jun Li felt her senses sharpen as the interior of her Dantian expanded, not physically, but on a more profound level. 'Ah… So easily? I barely felt any strain.'

  The vast lake that was Jun Li’s Dantian had now become a shallow ocean, able to contain a volume of Qi far surpassing what she had previously commanded.

  Her former capacity now seemed quite lacking, compared to the vast reserves she was suddenly capable of commanding.

  Opening her eyes, Jun Li experienced the world in newly refined clarity, every breath and movement coming with an ease that made her own self from minutes ago seem laggardly and ill by comparison.

  Looking down at her robe, she grabbed a small awl, set in a wooden cover, and tied to a sash around her waist.

  The jade slip she had found in the Repository detailed a certain Martial Technique, Sparking Thorn.

  As it called for a piercing implement for use in the majority of its Techniques, this awl was what Jun Li had trained with these past two months, and by this point, it felt comfortable in her hands.

  As she drew it from its sheath, Jun Li’s body now understood how to wield it better than her mind, having ingrained the memory of the Techniques into her muscles, day and night, to the point where she no longer felt the need to return to the repository to read from the jade slip.

  Looking to the training dummy, Jun Li swayed forward, her arm lashing out in three faint blurs, like a trio of snakes lashing out all at once, each strike sending a sharp whistle through the air as thin, deep holes appeared in the metal training dummy.

  Now looking down at her arm, Jun Li felt beyond satisfied with her newly sharpened abilities, knowing that without having refined her physique through the acupunctural application of the Lingzhi elixir, she wouldn’t have been able to fully pierce the metal dummy as she had.

  Testing herself further, Jun Li continued to practice her Techniques against the dummy.

  Each time Jun Li stepped in, her stabs were short, sharp, and evenly spaced with an almost mechanical precision.

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  The ‘Sparking Thorn’ Technique she had found in the Repository had numerous methods within itself, many of which relied on maintaining a complex, flowing pattern of Qi in one’s limbs.

  With the specified Qi pattern, an attempt to fully extend a limb would result in the user’s limb rapidly contracting at the end of the motion, allowing for an almost entirely automated repeating motion.

  For as long as the user continuously attempted to extend their limb, that mental signal is 'translated' into a complex motion of striking and returning.

  It was a difficult thing to get used to, and if the pattern of Qi was even slightly off, it could cause intense cramps or even muscular tearing.

  At this point, Jun Li had become comfortable in her use of the Martial Technique and its odd methods.

  Feeling that she had extracted every valuable piece of knowledge from it, she had taken it down from its hiding spot on the top of the bookshelf well over a week ago, burying it beneath the 'bargain bin' manuals.

  After taking a few dozen stabs at the training dummy, Jun Li felt she had properly acclimated to her new stage of Cultivation.

  Looking at her awl, Jun Li was somewhat surprised to see how unscathed it seemed.

  Perhaps it was indicative of the proficiency she had attained in her new Martial Technique, or perhaps it was simply a testament to the craftsmanship of the awl itself.

  Either way, Jun Li headed back inside to prepare for the day to come.

  Two months had passed since the last Outer Sect Trial, and seeing the sun rise higher in the sky, she knew the next would begin in less than an hour. Inside, Jun Li swiftly plucked four silver needles from a jar at her bedside table.

  Rolling up her sleeve, Jun Li placed the needles carefully into her dominant arm, something to ease the tension built up from practicing with her awl and promote recovery.

  It seemed minor now, but it had taken her many hours and many pricked nerves to become so comfortable with these needles.

  Finishing her preparations, Jun Li made sure to grab her patchwork hat, Pill Furnace, and Cauldron before she left.

  Using a length of cloth rope, Jun Li tied the furnace and cauldron together in such a way that they could be carried on the back.

  Even if she wasn’t at the level of the director, and even if she didn’t have access to proper Medicinal Plants, she still tried to make regular use of her alchemical tools, even if only for mundane things like cooking.

  The more familiar she was with them, the better.

  Placing her acupuncture needles back, Jun Li finished her preparations, stopping only to check her medicinal gourd; though she had drunk most of what remained earlier, there was still a thin layer of elixir at the bottom.

  Thinking it could have some use, she tied the gourd to her waist and finally set off for the plaza.

  Unlike the previous Trial, Jun Li hadn’t checked the placard on the Outer Sect well to see what it was in advance, and figured it was too late to bother.

  It didn't matter what trial she would face; she needed to perform well enough to take a reward of true value, no matter what.

  On the path to the plaza, Jun Li realized that despite carrying both a furnace and a cauldron, each the size of her head, she felt lighter than ever before; the difference brought by even a single level of Cultivation was made profoundly clear to her.

  As the plaza came into sight, Jun Li saw that a crowd of Disciples had already gathered; notably, this crowd was larger than what Jun Li had seen for the last trial, and significantly more armed.

  Nearly every Disciple present had some sort of weapon. Swords, sabers, and spears most common among them.

  Judging by what Jun Li saw, she assumed this month’s Trial must involve some form of combat. It didn’t shock her; she knew that as time passed, and the newest Disciples settled in, the Outer Sect Trials would be more and more likely to include more forms of direct danger.

  She was only surprised it had happened so soon, momentarily failing to realize how long she had truly been at the Sect.

  Even the newest disciples, including Jun Li, had been here for months, more than enough time to take advantage of Sect resources and learn a proper Martial Technique.

  Now closer to the crowd, Jun Li noticed something strange about how the crowd had shaped itself.

  There was a conspicuous gap in the crowd, a clearing no disciple stood too close to, a single person at its center.

  Looking closely, Jun Li found that despite the impact they made on the crowd around them, she had never once seen this person before.

  The individual who split the crowd was a young woman, but didn’t seem to be quite as young as her peers, whereas most disciples present were aged sixteen to nineteen; she seemed to be just slightly older, perhaps by a few years.

  Most notable to Jun Li was just how well-groomed this young woman seemed, though she wore the grey robes of the Outer Sect; her stately demeanor, pitch black hair without a single misplaced strand, and perfectly unmarred skin displayed a certain immaculacy that far outshone the mundanity of her garb.

  Before Jun Li could think more on the matter, a crisp voice rang out from the stage where the crowd of disciples had gathered, and Jun Li looked up to see Elder Yao stand and speak. “Today’s Outer Sect Trial will begin now. Come on then, to the Forest of Magical Beasts.”