He only stopped working to cultivate, go to formation lectures, and write stories to give to Blood Root. It was times like this that he was glad that he had handed over the work of publishing his books, taking care of Roar, and building his dojo to others.
While he was locked up in his house, constantly scratching his face and pulling his hair in frustration, the news of his fight began to spread throughout the outer sect.
The news spread through gossip at first. Very few believed it because it was outlandish that a disciple that hadn't been in the sect for up to four years would be able to fight an outer sect elder.
After all, even if the elder was lying down and doing nothing, one would require a power of 100 to move them. But this elder wasn't only moving; they even activated their foundation to fight. So it was an unbelievable story.
But the story became believable when the personnel hall updated the ranking list with new information. They added that Arthur had reached the fourth transformation and managed to cultivate the Divine Lightning Armament.
As for his fight with Elder Storm Hawk, it was only stated that it was a test fight. But this was already enough to make the fight believable.
These feats also firmly secured Arthur's position as number 1 on the newbie ranking list. That made the second thing that had been secured firmly.
Princess read the updated ranking list and complained, "Is it not enough that he can secure the record for the fighting excellence test for three years?"
She snorted in annoyance. It is the best that she can do now.
She is no longer as proud as she used to be. After all, she still can't beat Leroy.
She was able to beat Leroy back when she still had the support of her family's immense wealth. But after she was cut off, she fell to the same level as Leroy.
Leroy has a better mana affinity than her, so his cultivation speed overtook hers. So she couldn't beat him in a physical confrontation even if she had better cultivation, and now she couldn't even beat him in terms of cultivation.
To top it off, Jade has also overtaken her in terms of cultivation. Jade is the second fastest in terms of cultivation after Arthur because of her excellent talent and how well her innate blood body matches her cultivation technique.
Arthur is first, Leroy is second, Jade is third, and Princess has been relegated to fourth. She is constantly fighting with the person in fifth place to keep her place. So now, she can't be proud anymore.
Especially when she knows that the disciples of the Blood Skull sect explode in power once they begin cultivating an armament technique. Once that happens, her divine bloodline will be far from enough.
But she didn't feel shame in admitting defeat. She shrugged and said, "There is nothing to be ashamed of. After all, my family has already admitted defeat when they sent me here to join the Blood Skull sect."
After experiencing many defeats, she has become enlightened. She has realized that she shouldn't have been proud in the first place. If her bloodline was so great, she shouldn't have come here to learn the armament technique in the first place.
It was because her family coveted this power that they sent her here. She still had the illusion that she was special because she came from a region that is upstream from the Five Veins Region. But that illusion has been shattered now.
At the very least she understands that she might be special, but she isn't the only one who is special. There are many people like her here in the Blood Skull sect.
As she was reflecting on herself, her communication talisman began to vibrate again. The caller was her elder brother. This didn't surprise her.
Her brother had been trying to reach her for three years now. He would request communication once every week, but she never accepted his requests.
She didn't accept his request now either. She thought to herself, "What's the worst thing he is going to do? Cut me off again?"
She used to be afraid of her brother, and she is still afraid of him. But she doesn't want to speak with him and is no longer afraid of what he would do if she didn't pick up his call because he has already done his worst.
She also didn't want to hear him complain about her and berate her. She especially doesn't want him to berate her about letting a human kiss her. So she didn't accept the request for communication no matter how much her talisman vibrated.
She closed her eyes and went back to cultivating.
She wasn't the only one who was cultivating with all their might. Everyone was cultivating to reach the fourth transformation as fast as possible.
The fourth transformation is the milestone that disciples of the Blood Skull sect need to reach in order to begin using armaments. Once they begin using armaments, their strength will explode.
New disciples have five years to reach the fourth transformation. This kind of progress is unthinkable to lose cultivators who progress by one transformation every five years.
This achievement is also very difficult for disciples of the Blood Skull sect. Usually, only those with high talent and a lot of resources or access to the best accommodations can achieve it.
The bulk of the new disciples, that is, around 99%, don't make it to the fourth transformation in five years. The remaining 1% out of the 50,000 new disciples who make it usually get to be promoted during the outer sect competition that occurs before new disciples are accepted into the sect.
This competition is the chance for many disciples to be promoted. So they are in a rush to reach the fourth transformation and gain double their power. That way they will be able to perform well during the competition.