[Year 26, age 44.]

[The first round entered the finals circle, with over forty people having begun their study of the Stellar Metamorphosis Profound Art.]

[You estimated that the results should come out this year, so when the forty-eighth person passed this stage, you informed Shen Yufeng that you had also begun your study of the Stellar Metamorphosis Profound Art.]

["Even you managed to begin studying it?"]

["Hey? Young lady, what kind of talk is that..."]

["Uh... What I mean is, don't you have Low-Grade Innate Talent? Although innate talent and comprehension aren't necessarily linked, usually those with Low-Grade Innate Talent have relatively weak comprehension."]

["Doesn't that just show how effective the resources your Shen Family provides are?"]

[Shen Yufeng wore a doubtful expression, but she was only responsible for being on standby and maintaining contact, so she reported it as required.]

[When fifty people had all begun their study, the first round of competition ended.]

[The fifty eliminated individuals were immediately sent back to the ground.]

[Having witnessed the Shen Family's exaggerated scale, abundant resources, and idyllic lifestyle, how could they possibly be willing to return to the ground to suffer.]

["Patriarch! Give this humble one another chance! I'll train with all my life on the line!!"]

["Patriarch! My dear patriarch! Let me stay in the Starry Domains! I can raise pigs and herd cattle for you!"]

["I don't want to go back! I want to stay in the Starry Domains! This place is simply a paradise! Just thinking about the poor, chaotic state of the Five Regions makes me feel like ants are crawling all over my body!! Let me stay just one more day, one day, one day is enough!!"]

[Some people had gone a bit mad.]

[But the Shen Family paid them no mind.]

[The Dust Lineage originally had no qualification to enter the Starry Domains.]

[These one hundred and one people were only eligible to enjoy the Shen Family's resources because they were selected to participate in the Mirror Wielder election.]

[This was also the reason why Shen Qingshan was decisively refused when he wanted to bring his wife and daughter up.]

["Congratulations to you fifty for entering the second stage of the Mirror Wielder selection. You will receive a Heaven-Grade technique, the Seven Divine Starry Steps, as a reward.

Next, the competition enters the second stage. The technique you must comprehend is the internal technique, the Stellar Martial Spirit Profound Art!

However, it must be reminded that to master the Stellar Martial Spirit Profound Art, your external technique must be the Stellar Metamorphosis Profound Art!"]

[The new round of competition began.]

[This round would eliminate thirty people!]

[You returned to your own star, unhurried, coming to Shen Yufeng who was standing guard at your courtyard gate while cracking melon seeds.]

["Young lady, it's the second round now. Do I have another allocation of my extra resources?"]

["Yes."]

["I don't need anything for now. Can I make my request when I need it later?"]

["Of course. It would be even better if you're willing to save the Shen Family some resources."]

[Although the two of you didn't communicate much normally, after several years of seeing each other constantly, you had become somewhat familiar.]

For the second round of competition, Chen Yi employed the same tactic outside the simulation.

First, he swapped in "Effort Guarantees Reward," waited for the proficiency panel to recognize it, then swapped "Effort Guarantees Reward" back out.

[Year 27, age 45.]

[The Shen Family provided you all who entered the second round with higher quality auxiliary resources.]

[The pills you now consumed daily were at least Earth-Grade, with an occasional Heaven-Grade one to let you taste the difference.]

[Your martial path realm advanced by leaps and bounds, stepping into the ninth layer of the Golden Body Realm!]

["As long as I cultivate this final layer to perfection, I can attempt to break through to the Spirit Sea Realm!"]

[During breaks from cultivation, you also learned that Heaven-Grade technique, the Seven Divine Starry Steps.]

[After all, you just had to mimic the instructions in the technique manual; you didn't need to understand what the technique was saying. Once the required number of practice sessions was met, you would naturally master it.]

[However, the number of sessions required just to begin studying a Heaven-Grade Martial Art was as high as five hundred, five times that of an Earth-Grade one!]

[It was foreseeable that the gap in required practice sessions would grow even larger at higher realms.]

[But this was ultimately just a matter of time.]

[The Seven Divine Starry Steps was a movement Martial Art.]

[It allowed one to tread on air, somewhat like the Moon Walk in One Piece. It also enabled one to exert force through empty space while stepping on the void to intimidate enemies, as well as perform sharp-angle turns, position shifts, and body-swapping illusions...]

[There was a reason why Heaven-Grade Martial Arts were difficult to learn.]

[What seemed like just one Martial Art was actually incredibly rich and profound in content, worlds apart from low-quality Martial Arts.]

[Year 28, age 46.]

[Your sword path and technique realms improved day by day.]

[Your cultivation level, with the Shen Family's support, also reached the Great Perfection of the Golden Body Realm.]

[You heard that the cultivation levels of the other competitors were also changing rapidly, with breakthroughs happening very quickly.]

[Some had even improved by an entire major realm!]

[Of course, there were also those who hadn't improved much, because they refused to take pills, choosing natural cultivation instead, believing that consuming too many pills would ruin their martial path prospects.]

[From chatting with Shen Yufeng, you learned that the daily resources used by you contestants were more than what an ordinary Shen Family disciple received in a year.]

[Not to mention the ability to request additional resources.]

[No one in this world does business at a loss.]

[You felt like the Shen Family was raising pigs.]

[Once fattened up, they would be slaughtered.]

[But you didn't care. If they tried to slaughter you, you'd fight with your life on the line.]

[Best if you could fight your way out.]

[If you couldn't, the cultivation level improved over these years would be solidly inherited when you left, and the techniques you learned would remain yours.]

[You profited either way.]

[This year, people gradually began completing their initial study of the internal technique.]

[You found Shen Yufeng again.]

["Young lady, I'd like to apply to use my extra resources."]

["Uncle Yi, what do you want?"]

["I want to break through to the Spirit Sea Realm!"]

["You've reached Golden Body Perfection?"]

["Exactly."]

["Even you managed to reach Golden Body Perfection?"]

["No, young lady, I have my pride too."]

[Shen Yufeng wore an expression of earnest persuasion.]

["Uncle Yi, you've completely relied on taking pills without detoxifying, forcing your realm up through sheer pressure. It's extremely unstable, wears down your lifespan, and is not a sustainable long-term plan.

In my opinion, don't think about breaking through realms or anything. Let me apply for a detoxification for you? Your health is what matters."]

["That's completely unnecessary. Look at me, I'm hale and hearty. Do I look the slightest bit poisoned?"]

["My Shen Family's pills are of high quality. The Pill Toxins don't manifest externally. You might not feel any discomfort, but once they accumulate to a dangerous level, a single flare-up can be fatal, or even cause complete loss of cultivation!"]

[You insisted on breaking through your realm. Shen Yufeng couldn't sway you, so she submitted the application on your behalf.]

[Not long after, Shen Linfeng arrived with a group of Shen Family alchemists.]

[Shen Linfeng introduced you to these alchemists.]

["Everyone, look!

This is Shen Yi with the Low-Grade Innate Talent. For him to cultivate to the Golden Body Realm on the ground was already a heaven-defying feat.

After coming to our Shen Family, with the assistance of conventional resources like pills and Spirit Crystals, he actually reached the Great Perfection of the Golden Body Realm, meeting the conditions to break through to the Spirit Sea Realm!

The only thing he personally did during this period was apply to have a Banner of Enlightenment crafted.

But according to that artifact smith, that so-called broken banner has absolutely no function whatsoever. It's purely a Heaven-Grade quality fire poker.

The most miraculous thing is, he consumed the most pills, yet shows no signs of Pill Toxin accumulation at all!"]