He nodded slightly. The man said, “Understood. You may go now.” Hearing this, the old man finally smiled, patted Brian Sutton on the shoulder, and said, “From now on, everything depends on you. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask the two attendants. Three years from now, if you still haven’t achieved anything and lose your life, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.” By the end, the old man’s tone had turned stern.

Brian Sutton nodded calmly, his expression unchanged. He watched as the old man soared into the sky and disappeared from sight, then slowly walked over to the two attendants and sat down cross-legged beside them, imitating their posture.

“Name?” The attendant on the left did not open his eyes, but it was he who spoke.

“Brian Sutton.”

The attendant extended his right hand, and with a flourish in the air, wrote the four characters “Brian Sutton.” Then he asked, “Age?”

“Thirty-three.”

Upon hearing this, the attendant on the left finally opened his eyes. To everyone’s shock, his eyes were completely white, without a trace of black.

“Thirty-three. You are the twenty-third person to ascend at this age.” Then, the attendant on the left closed his eyes again, wrote “thirty-three” in the air, and slapped his left palm. The line of writing shot up into the sky, and about thirty zhang above the ground, a transparent membrane suddenly appeared in the air. The writing passed steadily into the membrane, and as the membrane appeared, countless lines of text floated into view. Then, all the writing, along with the transparent membrane, vanished.

“All right, registration is complete. Whether you want to learn magic or martial arts, you can ask him.” With that, the attendant on the left slowly lowered his hands to his knees and became completely motionless. Brian Sutton could no longer sense any trace of life from him. If he hadn’t just spoken, Brian Sutton would have doubted whether the body before him was left behind by some powerful being who had passed away in meditation.

“Do you want to learn magic or martial arts?” The attendant on the right, a man whose eyes shone like stars, smiled at Brian Sutton.

“Martial arts.”

“Do you know what magic is?”

“No.” The answer was straightforward.

“Then why do you want to learn martial arts?” the man asked curiously.

“I was already a martial artist who ascended through martial cultivation. Why would I choose magic?” This time, it was Brian Sutton who was curious.

“I see. It seems you don’t know yet—learning magic allows you to progress much faster than martial arts, and you can achieve the same results. Many who ascend here choose the fast-track of magic. Now that you know this, do you still insist on learning martial arts?”

“Yes.” Brian Sutton’s answer was firm.

“In that case, very well. Please follow me.” The attendant on the right finally put on a serious expression, stood up, and turned to walk into the great hall.

Inside the vast sanctuary, a long corridor stretched into endless darkness, with stone walls dividing it into countless small chambers on either side.

The sheer number of small rooms—tens of thousands—made Brian Sutton feel dizzy. The aura emanating from each room was as vast and unfathomable as the sun, moon, and heavens. The attendant led Brian Sutton into a pitch-black room, pressed his palm casually against the wall, and with a rumbling sound, the floor split into two and slowly receded into the walls, revealing another dark passage below.

The attendant stood at the entrance of the passage, pointed at the stairs leading to an unknown place, and said to Brian Sutton, “Go down. There are countless martial arts manuals hidden there. Whether you can find an advanced manual depends on your luck. Lastly, let me give you a word of advice: if you truly wish to become a master, you must create your own martial arts. The sanctuary has many martial arts, but most are just basic techniques. Everything depends on your own fortune.”

“Thank you!” With these words, Brian Sutton resolutely stepped into the pitch-black unknown.

Night vision is the most basic ability for a martial artist, so even though the entire underground of the sanctuary was pitch dark, it posed no obstacle for Brian Sutton.

The attendant had said that the sanctuary contained a vast number of martial arts manuals, but it was only after entering the dark passage beneath the sanctuary that Brian Sutton understood the true meaning of those words.

The martial arts of the sanctuary were carved into the rock walls on both sides of the passage. The writing was densely packed and extremely small—without careful attention, it was almost impossible to make out. Another thing worth mentioning was that the stone steps did not extend straight down to the base of the mountain, but instead spiraled back and forth within the mountain itself, which was a thousand zhang high. This provided an enormous space for inscribing martial arts diagrams.

As Brian Sutton silently kept track of the time in his mind, he browsed the martial arts formulas and diagrams on the walls. This was precisely the benefit of the dual-focus technique he had mastered before his ascension. After a full day and night, Brian Sutton had only descended eight steps further down the staircase, which showed just how abundant the martial arts here were.