"Ha!" "Ah!" "Ya!"

Tie Dan sat cross-legged on the eaves of the Sword Sect's Taoist tower, holding his head in boredom, watching a group of children wielding wooden swords in a brawl on the training field.

Master Tian Yao was simply bluffing; upon hearing that the iron sword lost, it had to be driven out. So, he hastily crafted a batch of wooden swords overnight. Early in the morning, after running laps around the manor, he handed them to this group of children and made them fight in pairs.

If they won, they could have breakfast. If they lost, they had to keep fighting until they won to eat. If they really couldn't win, they'd miss a meal. Of course, if they won, they could continue fighting, and the last one standing would receive a Bone Strengthening and Blood Melting Pill as an extra reward, nicely termed as a pre-competition trial.

Well, actually he understood Tie Dan's intention, since root bone and such could be distinguished by sweeping with Divine Sense. But the Daoist heart, courage, and character couldn't be seen unless pushed to a life-and-death situation, he just wanted to see if there was anyone worthy of passing on the sword.

But this old guy was soft-hearted, so to avoid real swords causing too much death and injury, he used this small trick to give the children a bit of self-awareness, to know their own weight, so they wouldn't risk their lives for the Immortal Fate. And those willing to fight to the end for a mere pill naturally had the desire to win.

Well, it's fine then, even if the wooden sword brawling isn't as effective as direct sword fighting, as long as it serves the purpose of selection, it's enough.

After all, Tie Dan had been in seclusion for half a year, and the first thing to do upon coming out was naturally to unleash the killing tribulation, so his intention was to first pass on the master-disciple Immortal Fate, to avoid killing a batch outside and ending up not picking up Heavenly Materials Treasures but a bunch of wilderness disciples instead.

So he learned to be smart himself, cooperated, and took a look at whether there was anyone in this batch he liked, then he'd pass the sword on to them.

"Ha..."

After watching for a short while, Tie Dan was also yawning.

What was there to say about children fighting? There weren't even many who could breathe the second breath of Qi, let alone kill with sword energy like him.

Though there were a few from military families, tall and strong, with some foundation in Refining Gang Fist martial arts, these people didn't care for the Bone Strengthening and Blood Melting Pill, casually defeating an opponent and going off to have breakfast. And those who were naturally less skilled mostly stopped fighting when they were too tired, if they missed breakfast, there was always lunch anyway.

So soon, only a few were left, and the fight came down to two boys wrestling, their wooden swords long discarded, rolling around in the yellow dirt for a full incense stick's worth of time.

Moreover, their fight wasn't about competing for a pill or grabbing a bite to eat, they purely had a personal vendetta. Well, to have a personal vendetta at such a young age was something else.

Of course, strictly speaking, it was a generational family feud, passed down from the ancestors. So, while they might not dare kill just anyone, they would certainly show no mercy in beating each other to death.

Master Tian Yao gave Tie Dan a sideways glance, suggesting he should intervene already unless he really wanted them to beat someone to death.

Fine then, two is enough.

So Tie Dan quickly intervened, pulling the two apart and tossing them to the ground.

"What's your name?"

"Bai Xiaodao from Hezhang Village, She County."

"Xie Hutou from Qianyu Village, Lin County."

The two were out of breath, lying on the ground in prostration.

Tie Dan, calculating with his fingers, understood the cause and effect.

Both the Bai and Xie families were local tycoons in Genzhou, essentially neighbors, their two villages facing each other across the Zhang River. So every year, they fought over the river water for irrigation, leading to deaths and a long-standing family feud.

In this, there was no right or wrong; the river only had so much water, if Hezhang Village irrigated, there was none for Qianyu Village. Hezhang Village lay on the plain Chidao, a traffic artery bustling with trade, with more population and wealth. Qianyu Village, situated at the gorge pass in the mountains, had descendants of vassal soldiers guarding the pass, with martial arts inheritance, and better fighters.

Furthermore, as these two villages belonged to different counties, the local officials in Genzhou found it difficult to intervene, pretending not to know and allowing them to decide by themselves. Anyway, they fought every year, neither exterminating the other, until they realized nobody would be left to farm if the fight continued, then they'd stop to farm only to start again the next year.

These two could hardly get along well.

But Tie Dan was very satisfied.

"Good, one of you is Purple Mist and the other is Returning Dust, just perfect for dual cultivation."

"Dual cultivation!? With him?!"

Hutou and Xiaodao were dumbfounded.

"As long as there are karmic ties between you, and you train and progress together, it can be considered dual cultivation.

Just maintain the attitude of trying to kill the other to sharpen your sword blades.

Once you reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, have another bout, and let me see who is worthy to inherit my mantle."

Tie Dan did not hold back, swiftly imparting them with his self-created and researched swordsmanship and moves from recent years.

Of course, Tie Dan knew that 'My Sword' and Blood Jade Technique were generally untrainable for ordinary people, and the Nine Luminaries Sword Scripture and Killing Sword were Sword Sect legacies, with many rules for teaching disciples.

So he didn't write down all the messy verbose nonsense, just simplified it, guiding them in person, leading Qi with Nine Luminaries Unification Qi Refining Secret Technique through them several times each, covering all the ordinary and extraordinary meridians three times. The remaining sword styles and moves were just matters of diligent practice, leaving them to train themselves.

Hutou and Xiaodao were bewildered.

They weren't fools and knew that after a fight, they somehow got great fortune, getting an Immortal's true inheritance, but...

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