I Really Had Never Seen That One Before!

Clap!

Li Ye snapped the book shut, the look of amazement still lingering on his face.

"Whew... Senior Brother Hu, oh, Senior Brother Hu, you really spared no expense..."

Li Ye had originally wondered what tricks he, a modern young man from Blue Star, could possibly not have seen.

But after taking a look...

He really had never seen that one before!

"Cultivation civilization really is unfathomable. I still have so much to learn!"

Li Ye sighed from the bottom of his heart and carefully put away the booklet bearing the words "Dragon Dallies with Phoenix" on its cover.

When it came down to it, a dual cultivation secret technique like this was worth considerably more than an ordinary Law Technique.

Senior Brother Hu had taken the opportunity to offer it of his own accord, perhaps to repay Li Ye's kindness, but more likely to apologize for immediately backing away when Cai Shiwei had come up that day.

After all, Senior Brother Hu had benefited greatly from Li Ye's guidance these past days, yet he had made that choice, not daring to get even slightly involved.

For a time afterward, he had even taken the initiative to keep his distance, as though terrified of being dragged down with Li Ye.

Such behavior could almost be called betraying his trust and abandoning his obligations!

Even among the spirit farmer disciples who were less close to Li Ye, few had behaved as he had.

Now that Cai Shiwei was friendly toward Li Ye, Senior Brother Hu no longer had any misgivings and had come to thank him and apologize as though nothing had happened...

Though the gift was somewhat risqué, Li Ye would not treat the matter itself as a joke.

He could understand that Senior Brother Hu had a family to support and truly could not afford to take the risk, but he was disappointed all the same.

Now that he had accepted the booklet, Li Ye would not blame him, but the trust he had lost could not be restored!

He would naturally take that into account in many matters going forward.

Compared with these people and events, none of which had ever exceeded Li Ye's expectations, Cai Shiwei was the one he had never quite been able to see through.

Not long after recovering from his injuries and being taken in as an elder's disciple, Cai Shiwei had come of his own accord to catch up with him and expressed an intention to recruit him.

He acted as though he had not seen Li Ye's repeated refusals in the past, showing not the slightest grudge or displeasure.

Even when Li Ye refused him again, he merely expressed his understanding and drifted away.

Throughout the encounter, he had played the part of a broad-minded senior brother, showing every care for a junior brother he was close to.

Yet this saintly figure was the very same man who had once sung in harmony with Tang Xiaohan as they egged Li Ye's predecessor on to tread through a minefield!

Even Li Ye had to marvel at the man's extraordinarily brilliant acting!

"That fellow wants to use me to build his reputation and seek a higher position in the sect. That's perfectly normal, and it does sound like something he'd do..."

Li Ye murmured, thought flickering in his eyes.

"But he's only just shown his potential and earned his master's favor, yet he's already in such a hurry to make moves on so many fronts..."

"Isn't he a little too eager?"

"And that woman Tang Xiaohan... there seems to have been less news of her in the sect since the Devil Cultivator attack..."

Now that things had reached this point, outsiders saw him, Li Ye, as tied to Cai Shiwei.

After all, even the Li Household knew to come knocking and ask Li Ye to introduce their Lineage's disciples so they could attach themselves to Cai Shiwei. The other sect disciples and the various factions presumably knew about as much.

They simply weren't the Li Household, so they couldn't even get anywhere through Li Ye.

Under these circumstances, even though many of Li Ye's conjectures led him to believe that something was most likely wrong with Cai Shiwei...

Unless Li Ye courted death by stirring something up himself and took the initiative to make a clean break with him, worsening his own situation once more,

It would be difficult to sever the connection in outsiders' eyes!

Naturally, Li Ye could not go that far based on a few suspicions for which he lacked evidence.

He was cautious, but not so afraid of trouble that he had gone mad!

"Still... I have to praise that bunch from the third branch for being so considerate!"

The smile on Li Ye's lips widened. "Since Li Zongyin wants to bring his own rations and come knocking, I'll let him draw the outside world's attention in my place..."

"Even if Cai Shiwei really does stir up some trouble one day, the effect on me can be kept to a minimum!"

"After all, this is the cultivation world... around here, what schemer spends all day messing about in the fields?"

Though Senior Brother Hu's gift had provided some entertainment, it had not affected Li Ye's daily cultivation routine.

Unwilling to accept defeat, he spent several more days studying the Dao of pills, but the results did not change at all.

Nor did he suddenly see the light; the amount he learned and improved each day remained as meager as ever.

Moving on in turn, he naturally began to study the art of artifact refinement.

This time, though he did not find it as difficult as pill refinement, it was not much better.

After several days, all he had gained, aside from successfully getting artifact refinement recorded on his panel, was a scant few experience points.

At this point, with the artifact refinement inheritance for comparison, Li Ye returned to the pill inheritance and finally realized just how much of a trap these so-called incomplete inheritances were.

Take artifact refinement, for example.

The missing contents of the inheritance included not only records of various finished artifacts, but also crucial foundational knowledge of all kinds.

Many parts of the inheritance either failed to connect or contained errors and omissions, making it look as though it had been cobbled together from scraps.

It made learning much more difficult!

"No wonder the Lineage spent so many years training Alchemists and artifact refiners, only to end up with a bunch of useless fools who blow up furnaces all day or can only patch up Law Artifacts..."

"With this crap, who the hell could learn anything from it unless they were exceptionally gifted and could grasp three things from being taught one?!"

Li Ye set the Jade Slip down with a smack, cursing under his breath.

"Whew..."

Letting out a long breath, Li Ye resignedly picked up the last Jade Slip, the one he had yet to touch.

"For now, all I can do is study how to draw talismans first..."

As for pills and artifact refinement, he would wait until after the harvest and rely on experience points to master them in one go...

With his meager talent, he had better not learn these incomplete inheritances and end up going astray!

In the underground quiet room.

Li Ye held his breath and concentrated, carefully drawing runes on yellow paper with a talisman brush.

As he directed his Law Power in concert with his movements, he set one Law Power node after another on the talisman paper.

He proceeded smoothly in this manner until the sixth.

The rune was already more than halfway complete when one of the Law Power nodes he had set earlier suddenly became unstable.

Law Power spilled out, triggering a chain reaction. Every Law Power node erupted, and the entire sheet of yellow paper was destroyed in an instant, burning to ash.

Li Ye watched calmly, not at all discouraged. He was even faintly excited.

Compared with pills and artifact refinement, the Dao of talismans was indeed much easier to learn.

It required comprehension, but it was one of the few skills in which practice could make perfect from the very first attempt.

Even though Li Ye considered his talent average,

With the panel's help, although only a month had passed,

His talisman skill proficiency was already more than halfway there thanks to his daily practice without regard for the cost of materials. He was not far from truly getting started.

He swept his sleeve, sending Law Power surging across the table to clear away the ash.

In high spirits, he had begun to get a feel for it and was preparing to make a few more attempts while he was in the right state.

But just then, the alert talisman he had set outside was activated, forcing him to stop.

As he cleared the odds and ends from the table, he counted the days and finally realized,

"It seems it's already time for the sect's disciple recruitment ceremony..."