Nebula three-star

The next day when the siblings woke up, they found Shui sitting down with his eyes closed. They thought he was impressive before, but when they saw him after a night of sleep, they felt a faint urge to kneel to him. Not out of fear, but out of admiration and respect. While allowing the incarnate metal to soak in the speed essence and harmonizing with himself, his divine aura was now more prominent so even diluted it still resulted in those weak of heart being unable to resist his charisma.

Furthermore, during the process he had also broken through to nebula three-star. The breakthrough was so peaceful that he didn't even notice the change until he was finished with the speed essence.

This didn't result in a leap in his soul strength, but he could tell that his body control had greatly improved. He still couldn't use his body cultivation to its full extent, but he was more confident that that day wouldn't be far.

Once Shui released his spiritual sense, it was as if nothing could hide from him. Whether it was the animals in the forest or the ants in the ground, he had a clear understanding of everything around him. He could even clearly feel the flow of energy without concentrating on it.

'This is amazing.'

Once Shui's eyes opened, both of the siblings immediately went down and kneeled to him. He was surprised at first, before realising why and diluted his aura to the limit. He tried to suppress it, but unfortunately, absorbing more speed essence meant that his divinity had increased, so his condition was the same as before. Just looking at his eyes still filled them with reverence, but now they could at least sit up straight. After making sure that they were better Shui sighed and tried taking out the incarnate metal. He put his hand on his chest and focused on it.

'Come, Sui.'

To strengthen the bond between him and the artifact, Shui named it with his mother's name as a reference so that it would remind him of his way of life. Once he called it, a silver hilt appeared for him to grab. Shui then pulled out a single-edged blade that looked like a big kitchen knife. It was as wide as the length of his hand and as tall as his upper body, while being as thin as a leaf. It had a strange shape for a sabre but Shui's eyes lit up when he saw it.

'Perfect.'

Serina and her brother were also fascinated by this strange weapon. They didn't know why, but it seemed like they could be cut just by staring for too long. This was proven when Shui lightly swung the sword towards the trees. He used no divine energy or transcendent force, only his own insights into the blade. Tge gentle breeze that flew from his sword and touched the trees, removed an extremely small layer of space from the trees. The strong wind that came after his sword swing, knocked over the pile of trees.

Shui smiled and placed the blade back inside him and turned to the siblings. The blade hadn't finished synchronizing with him, but it had already met his expectations.

"Let's go."

Silver City was incomparable to Cyrus. Whether it was the height or strength of the white walls that protected the city, or the wide expanse of space the city took up. Even the guards were at least at the Earth Realm. It was definitely impressive but while the brother and sister gasped in amazement, Shui only nodded in affirmation since he had heard many stories about this place from Kate. It took longer than when he first entered Cyrus, but in less than an hour they were allowed to enter the city. After selling the carriage at a store nearby the west gate, Shui turned to the siblings.

"Well, this is goodbye."

"Do you have to go now? I want to treat you for helping us." said the young blacksmith, who introduced himself as Set along the way.

"Thanks but, I want to check out Storm Sky Manor. They should be recruiting disciples right now."

"Oh! That's good, then Serina can go with you?"

"Really? You were planning on joining Storm Sky Manor?"

Shui looked at Serina and she nodded her head in response. She actually hadn't decided which of the three average-level forces she would join, but she was fine with following Shui's choice.

"Well fine, let's go."

Sef watched as Serina followed behind Shui. He would leave in a few days, but he felt assured with Shui staying with her.

The three average-level forces of Silver City were Storm Sky Manor, Lava Stream Sect and Maiden Academy. Storm Sky Manor had the best wind, lightning and rain cultivation resources and arts. The Lava Stream Sect was best for those who trained in fire and earth cultivation methods. Maiden Academy had cultivation methods that were especially useful for females.

Shui only picked Storm Sky Manor because Kate was there and he wanted cultivation resources, but he didn't know if Serina would fit in Storm Sky Manor. Shui knew of a method to figure out someone's elemental affinity, but he didn't have the materials so it would have to wait until they reached Storm Sky Manor.

Along the way, while Shui desperately tried to ignore it, some mortals either stopped and stared, or went down on the ground in worship. Serina was in awe at the sight but Shui was just embarrassed. To him, this scene only proved that he lacked control over his aura and that he needed further training. He could dilute it enough to stop cultivators from noticing, but divine nature wasn't something so easily hidden. Unlike in the myths where gods transformed into humans and casually walked the lands, there were many times when a human could instinctively tell that the one before them wasn't the same.

Fortunately, there were no major incidents before they reached the long line in front of the large double door with the 'Storm Sky Manor' sign. After some time spent waiting, Shui stopped in front of a young man in a blue coat holding the talent-checking gem.

"Your hand."

After receiving permission, Shui placed his hand on the gem. Since, he became able to cultivate this would be the first time he had ever checked his talent so he was curious. The moment he placed his hand on the gem, a reaction occurred that drew on the surrounding nature energy. It was at this exact moment that Shui got worried.

'No no no. This is too much.'

Shui was confident in getting a good result, but as he sensed the nature energy rushing towards the gem, he knew that this was too much. Instead of swiftly removing his hand, Shui used traces of his divine energy to block out majority of the incoming nature energy. Shortly after, the gem released a dazzling light and the result appeared.

Even after struggling to restrict it, Shui still managed to obtain a result that was only one talent level below Kate's.

Everyone who saw his result widened their eyes in shock. One must know that even among the direct disciples, few obtained results as good as this. Due to this frightening result, the inner sect disciple was stunned but quickly regained his wits and took out a black square and gave it to Shui.

"Yo-yo-you may go on to the next test."

The disciple's grip on the square was stronger than it should be but Shui easily plucked it from him and entered Storm Sky Manor. Once he was inside, Shui stopped and waited for Serina.

She had already checked her talent so this was no surprise. After receiving a blue square from the disciple, she entered the manor and Shui welcomed her.