Awakening of the Ancient: Rise of the Fallen

Xu Ming walked back to the lake that was as empty as always as he began to practice the Heavenly Vajra Finger.

Although he understood the concept behind the skill, it was still difficult to perform it. It was just like how an Alchemist would be unable to make a pill even if he knew all the steps. The practice was absolutely necessary.

Xu Ming practiced the whole night and he was able to use the attack, but it didn't go as he had expected.

Heavenly Vajra Finger was a skill that didn't need any weapon.

When someone used the skill, a finger made entirely from the energy of the user was supposed to appear and attack the enemy, but Xu Ming wasn't able to achieve it.

As soon as the Original Energy came out of his fingers, it disappeared before taking the shape of the finger, let alone attacking someone.

Xu Ming practiced throughout the night, but he wasn't able to perform the skill successfully. He had also guessed the reason he was failing.

Although he knew the concept and the skill, it was his Origin Energy control that was the problem.

He had just broken through to the Spirit Establishment Realm a few days ago and he had straight-up gone to the 5th stage of Spirit Establishment Realm.

His cultivation did increase, but his control over his Origin Energy was still like before. As he couldn't bring Origin Energy out of his body when he was a Body Refining Realm cultivator due to the limitation of that realm, he was just a newbie that was told to use the Origin Energy with precise control.

He was just like a kid that was given a gun for the first time and told to aim at an object 20 meters away. Even the practiced ones would have difficulty achieving it, whereas, he was just a newbie.

Although Xu Ming realized it, he also knew that there was no other way but to keep practicing until his control was sufficient.

He noticed that the Sun had begun to rise. He walked back to his courtyard.

As he entered the courtyard, he began his cultivation as he didn't wish to destroy his courtyard.

From that day, Xu Ming walked to the lake to practice Heavenly Vajra Finger every night. He spent most of the day cultivating and only slept when he seriously hit his limit.

Since the moment he broke through and formed a Martial Soul, his cultivation had become much faster and smoother. He felt like he would achieve another breakthrough in 5 more days.

It was the 12th night since he had begun practicing the Heavenly Vajra Finger and his control over his Origin Energy was much better than before.

"Haven't Vajra Finger!" Xu Ming called out as he pointed his finger towards the lake.

Xu Ming hadn't expected this phenomenon, but the heavy wind started flowing suddenly as if the world was welcoming the finger of Heavenly Vajra with open arms.

As Xu Ming had selected the lake as the target, the Heavenly Vajra Finger struck it.

Huge amounts of water splashed out of the lake and even more of the water was evaporated from the power of the Heavenly Vajra Finger. When everything returned back to normal, Xu Ming noticed that there was less water in the land.

The lake possessed half the water it originally had and the rest was evaporated by the Heavenly Vajra Finger.

"Powerful. It's many times more powerful than the 3 Strikes of Heavens and that too when I can't even use a fraction of its full power because of my limited cultivation," Xu Ming muttered as he gazed at the lake.

The wind had calmed down by now, but Xu Ming decided to wait back and not outside anymore. The Heavenly Vajra Finger was successfully learned and he didn't wish to learn Thunder Storm inside the sect. 

The Sword Art of Destruction was what he planned to learn next, but he didn't comprehend next, but he pushed that back to when he will be finished with the Inner Sect Entrance Exams.

He had decided to put what little time he had in cultivation for the next 3 days and breakthrough once more. He wanted to pass the exams and he didn't wish to take a risk. 

He already had the skills that would make him almost invincible in his Cultivation Realm, all he was worried about was his Origin Energy Reserves that he wanted to increase by increasing his cultivation so that he could use his skills more effectively.

Xu Ming walked back and spent the rest of his days in cultivation.

During the day, many people noticed how the lake had lost most of its reserves. Even the Elders came here to see it, but they couldn't understand what may have caused it.

They decided to increase the protection around the sect just to be sure. They increased the guards and told them to keep a strict watch during the night.

All this happened in the sect, but Xu Ming had no idea about it. He was greedily absorbing the Origin Energy energy from the air in an effort to break through before the day of the trial.

It was the 14th day and Xu Ming succeeded as he broke through to the 6th stage of the Spirit Establishment Realm.

"Right on time," He muttered as he stood up and left the courtyard.

He was already informed by Wu Tian that there was no registration.

The test would be held in the Martial Arena of the Inner Sect. They would place a barrier outside the martial arena and only people that are in the 2nd Stage of Spirit Establishment Realm or higher will be able to enter.

Xu Ming had told Wu Tian he didn't know where the Martial Arena of the Inner Sect was. Wu Tian told him that he would be waiting for him near the Skill Hall on the day of the test and they would go together.

As Xu Ming got near the Skill Hall, he saw Wu Tian waiting there for him.

"You're finally here. If you hadn't been here for 20 more minutes, both of us would be late," Wu Tian said to Xu Ming as he saw him.

"Did you get to the 2nd stage of the Spirit Establishment Realm?" Wu Tian inquired.

"I did," Xu Ming replied to him.

"Nice. We can both participate now. Let's go. We wouldn't be late," Wu Tian said as he started walking towards the Inner Sect. Xu Ming simply followed him.

They walked for half an hour as they entered the Inner Part of the Sect. Generally, it wouldn't have been allowed for the Outer Sect disciples to enter the Inner Sect, but today was a special day and it was allowed.

As Xu Ming entered the Inner Sect, he noticed that the place was much fancier than the outer sect. The buildings were bigger and taller. The roads were even more premium.

Although Xu Ming couldn't feel it, the Inner Sect also had another big improvement over the outer sect. The Qi density and the Qi Quality, both were higher in the Inner Sect compared to the Outer Sect. Xu Ming on the other hand was more sensitive towards Origin Energy, thus he didn't notice the change in the Qi compared to the outside.

Only Origin Energy mattered to him and it was the same in the outer sect and on the inner.

"It's good, isn't it!" Wu Tian asked Xu Ming.

"It looks better than the outer sect," Xu Ming replied.

"Indeed and the Qi here is so amazing. The growth here would be much faster than in the outer sect," Wu Tian said smilingly.

"Yeah," Xu Ming simply nodded.

They got to the martial arena. There were 2 Inner Sect Disciples standing outside that were there to check the badges of the ones that entered.

"Show us your badges!" They said as Wu Tian and Xu Ming got close to the entrance.

They both showed their disciple badge.

"You can enter," They said after checking the badge.

"Remember! Only those that are a 2nd stage Spirit Establishment Realm Cultivators or higher can enter! If your cultivation is lower, don't even try or you might be harmed by the barrier," The guards warned them.

Wu Tian and Xu Ming stepped forward and passed through the barrier without any trouble.

As they entered the Martial Arena, they found themselves in a huge hall There were over 500 outer sect disciples already inside, but no Elder was there yet.

"Looks like we're on time," Wu Tian said smilingly.

"You!" A person noticed Xu Ming as he called out.