Chapter 3 Day 1

"T-This food.....its delicious!" It was the next day and currently the disciples were happily eating their breakfast. They were amazed by the sheer quality of the food, after all most of them weren't from well off families but rather those who were in the middle rungs of Clear Sky City.

"Can you keep your voice down Ye Chen." A boy chided from the side. He looked to be about 13 years old, with long well kept black hair and obsidian eyes, unlike the rest of the disciples he had a air of nobility around him.

"Zion don't tell me what to do, especially when the food is so great! I don't think I've had anything as good before!" Ye Chen replied, his emerald eyes staring intensely at his plate.

Hearing this Zion looked like he was about to pop a vein but soon calmed himself down. 'Whatever this bumpkin will get over it, I'll just let him have his fun for now....but I still share a hut with him.' Zion sighed internally finishing up his meal. He had to admit it was quite good, comparable to the food he had in the Clan, but it was tasty because of the ingredients rather than the skill of the chef himself.

Some time later all 28 disciples had finished their breakfast and proceeded to wait for Alfred. In the mean time they made conversation with one another. Before arriving at the Sect none of them knew each other, after all in a city of 50,000 people what were the odds? Especially when one took into account the age range.

"Yo so how's this gonna work, we have to do Body Tempering first right?" Ye Chen asked, looking towards Zion. While they'd only known each other for less than a day and didn't get along all that well Ye Chen still looked towards Zion for answers as did anyone who knew of him.

Unlike the others Zion hailed from one of the 4 Clans in the city, the Eden Clan, so he was more in the know on the basics of cultivation.

"Obviously, in the Clan it takes the guards about 10 years to complete Body Tempering, while us descendants take 5 to 7 years normally. So we'll "have to do Body Tempering" for a long time." Zion explained causing the others to suck in a cold breath of air.

They thought at most it'd take a year, but 5 to 7? That was practically their entire lives up until that point. While they knew cultivation was hard they didn't think it'd be that hard. "Oh okay, well if your shitty Clan can do it in 5 to 7 years I guess I'll do it in 3!" Ye Chen declared.

"Those aren't words a country bumpkin such as yourself should be spouting." Zion retorted getting up from his seat. In response Ye Chen also got up from his seat, the two staring each other down.

"Guys don't fight, what if they kick you out of the Sect!" A young boy stepped up trying to stop them. As soon as they heard what he said they simmered down. They didn't want to get kicked out of the Sect after all.

And as luck may have it, just as the two sat down, the doors of the Mess Hall swung open and Alfred entered. "I am glad you've all enjoyed your food, now your cultivation journey shall begin. Follow me." Alfred commanded.

In an instant the disciples got up from their seats and followed Alfred out of the Mess Hall. First they went towards the main square of the Sect and then they went down one of the numerous paths. After almost 20 minutes of walking they arrived at the training grounds.

It was a large with training dummies in the center, to the side were numerous stones and boulders of various sizes, and around the perimeter of the training grounds there seemed to be a sort of running track.

A distance away from the training grounds was an unassuming building, the sign above the door read "Weapons Hall". Seeing this the disciples were excited, could they learn weapon techniques? But Alfred soon doused their enthusiasm.

"That's naturally the Weapons Hall, you'll be allowed to enter it once you've reached the 3rd Stage of Body Tempering." Alfred mentioned in passing before turning towards the disciples. "I'll be heading back now he'll be guiding you."

Just as Alfred said this, a figure descended from the sky. The air billowed under him causing his descent to slow down allowing him to softly land before the disciples.

"Greetings Sect Master!" Zion bowed respectfully.

"Greetings Sect Master!" The others followed bowing towards Wang Tian.

"Good, very good! I'll take it from here." Wang Tian said, a pleased expression gracing his face. Alfred then left to handle some other matters leaving Wang Tian alone with the disciples.

"First I will introduce myself, as you've all rightfully deduced I am indeed the Sect Master, Wang Tian." He introduced himself causing the disciples to stop bowing and look up. Finally getting a good look at him they were shocked.

Unlike their expectations the Sect Master was rather young. While Alfred also looked to be in his 20s, he had an air of an Elder around him. On the other hand while the Sect Master definitely commanded respect and had the air of a senior around him, it wasn't the same feeling.

'If he is indeed in the Foundation Realm he must be a genius!' Zion thought causing him to admire the Sect Master.

Wang Tian then began introducing cultivation to them with a main emphasis on the Body Tempering Realm.

"Cultivation begins from the Body Tempering Realm, to the Qi Gathering Realm, then the Foundation Realm and so on so forth. For you all the Body Tempering is the most important Realm as it is where you will begin your journey." Wang Tian then paused for a moment before continuing.

"The Body Tempering Realm as the first Realm of cultivation is vitally important, it has 9 Stages and as the name implies its all about enhancing the strength of your body. This is done through the use of a Body Tempering Method. Typically Body Tempering Methods are just breathing techniques which must be done in conjunction with physical exercise. The method you will all be using is such a method called the "Iron Body Technique", I will explain more about it later on."

He then went into various small details such as the fact that different methods will bring about different results, allowing people in the 1st Stage of Body Tempering to exert the strength of someone in the 3rd Stage. Unfortunately the Iron Body Technique wasn't such a method.

"And yes when you breakthrough a Stage you will almost always feel it in someway shape or form. Now that we've got all of that out of the way I am going to give each of you a copy of the Iron Body Technique and then you will officially begin cultivation. Are you ready?"

"Yes!"