"No—" The Sun-Turning Demon Emperor made his decision decisively. "Fine. Open the Sacred Cave. Let Young Master Li take any one item from within it!"
"Smart man." Li Qiye nodded. "Get everything ready, then come find me. I'll head back first." With that, he turned and left the Heavenly Hall.
The Sun-Turning Demon Emperor ordered Yu He to escort Li Qiye back.
After Li Qiye had left, an Elder in the Heavenly Hall could not help saying, "Your Majesty, the matter of the Sacred Cave was decided far too hastily."
"Not necessarily." The Sun-Turning Demon Emperor's voice rang out. "Since the founding of our Nine Sacred Demon Gate, who has ever opened the Sacred Cave? It has always remained sealed; no one has ever opened it! Perhaps this is an opportunity. It also coincides with a true saying left behind by our patriarch."
The Grand Elder nodded, supporting the Sun-Turning Demon Emperor. "No harm in trying. Since Your Majesty has already decided, let Li Qiye give it a try."
"Your Majesty, why have we never heard of this guardian deity? Is the guardian deity of our Nine Sacred Demon Gate a Heavenly Beast, or a longevity spirit?" another Elder could not help asking.
"I do not know either." The Sun-Turning Demon Emperor said, "There are scarcely any records concerning our sect's guardian deity. The patriarch's secret volume only mentions it in a few brief lines. The patriarch merely said that only when our Nine Sacred Demon Gate faced the calamity of extinction would the guardian deity display its divine powers. Only the sect masters of each generation may read this secret volume."
"But this time, it displayed its divine powers," another Elder could not help saying.
"That is also what I do not understand." The Sun-Turning Demon Emperor said, "If the guardian deity chose him, then it has its reasons."
"That brat is truly bizarre." Elder Yun, the Grand Elder, could not help saying, "According to Yu He, he first passed through the Heart-Disordering Forest with effortless ease—twice, at that! Something completely impossible has happened, and now the guardian deity has chosen him as well. It simply makes no sense!"
His words left the other Elders silent. As Elders, they knew the Heart-Disordering Forest better than anyone. They knew exactly what it meant to clear all fourteen levels of it!
"This really is bizarre." An Elder could not help saying, "Our Nine Sacred Demon Gate is flourishing with each passing day. Among the younger generation, Nephew Leng is foremost in cultivation, while the princess is unrivaled in talent and potential. Yet the guardian deity chose neither Nephew Leng nor the princess. Instead, it chose a junior with no cultivation at all, one with a Mortal Physique, Mortal Meridians, and Mortal Fate!"
By this point, that Elder could not help complaining. Their sect's guardian deity had chosen an outsider. Even taking ten thousand steps back, if their guardian deity had chosen an outsider who was an unparalleled peerless genius, they could at least have accepted it. Yet it had chosen a brat everyone called trash.
"The matters of eternity are not something we can comprehend one by one." In the end, even the Sun-Turning Demon Emperor had to concede. Everything that had happened today was simply too strange. He was a man who had roamed the world far and wide and experienced countless great events, yet even he could not make sense of today's events.
"Your Majesty, taking ten thousand steps back, if Li Qiye truly opens the Sacred Cave, are we really going to let him choose any treasure he wishes?" another Elder could not help asking.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I hear there may be an Immortal Emperor Artifact within the Sacred Cave." Some Elders were unwilling to accept this, after all, it was an Immortal Emperor Artifact.
"If he can truly open the Sacred Cave, then it is the will of Heaven." The Sun-Turning Demon Emperor said, "Elder Jian has already said that no one in our generation can open the Sacred Cave! Perhaps Li Qiye might be a miracle. Since none of us can open it, why not let him try?"
Upon hearing the name "Elder Jian" from the Sun-Turning Demon Emperor, the Elders of the Nine Sacred Demon Gate said nothing more. Within the Nine Sacred Demon Gate, no one possessed greater authority than Elder Jian!
"Pass down the order: regarding today's events in the sect, no disciple may reveal a single word. Any violator will be severely punished. This is an ironclad rule!" At last, the Sun-Turning Demon Emperor issued this command.
As for the Nine Sacred Demon Gate's guardian deity, they did not wish outsiders to know too much.
When Li Qiye returned, their residence had already been changed. They had been moved into the quarters where the Nine Sacred Demon Gate received its most honored guests. Only kings of great kingdoms and emperors of ancient nations received such treatment.
Such treatment left Nan Huairen and Protector Mo flattered beyond measure. Not to mention insignificant people like them—even if Elders or the sect master of their Washing Yan Ancient Sect had arrived in person, they would not have received such treatment.
Now, Protector Mo and Nan Huairen understood that all of this treatment was because of Li Qiye.
When Yu He escorted Li Qiye back, Protector Mo and Nan Huairen could not help staring at Li Qiye, but for a long while, neither could say anything.
At this point, even Protector Mo did not dare ask what Li Qiye had discussed with the Sun-Turning Demon Emperor in the Heavenly Hall. This was no longer something someone of his standing could inquire about.
Now, Protector Mo and Nan Huairen had nothing but speechlessness. Over the past two days, Li Qiye had been outrageously arrogant. First he killed Du Yuanguang, then he looked down upon Xu Hui, even boldly declaring that he would trample the Nine Sacred Demon Gate flat. Especially today, Protector Mo had several times felt that this brat Li Qiye had simply gone mad, so ignorant that it was terrifying!
But now, after thinking it over carefully and calming down to reflect, they understood that Li Qiye had not been ignorant at all, nor had he been spouting wild boasts. He had merely stated a fact. He had long since held victory in the palm of his hand.
Nan Huairen could not understand it, and neither could Protector Mo. How had Li Qiye passed all fourteen levels of the Heart-Disordering Forest in one breath? Why had that invincible stone giant protected Li Qiye? Master and disciple could not make sense of any of it.
However, Nan Huairen finally understood one thing. That day, when Li Qiye had wanted to climb onto the giant stone man's shoulder, it had not been for fun at all. Li Qiye had been prepared all along.
Thinking about it carefully now, Nan Huairen could not help feeling that his knowledge and experience were still far too shallow.
"If you have something to say, then say it." Seeing Protector Mo and his disciple hesitate as if they wanted to speak but held back, Li Qiye smiled. He sat grandly in the seat of honor, as though nothing had happened.
Protector Mo opened his mouth to speak, yet he did not know what to say. He was already a man of few words, so in the end, he simply sat down heavily to one side and said nothing.
Compared to Protector Mo's silence, Nan Huairen was much more adaptable. He looked at Li Qiye, opened his mouth, then closed it again. Finally, he gathered his courage and asked Li Qiye, "Then... then did it work out?"
"That matter? What matter?" Li Qiye was instead taken aback by Nan Huairen's question, not knowing what he meant.
"The... the marriage alliance. The matter of marrying Princess Li." Nan Huairen even stammered as he spoke.
"You mean Li Shuangyan?" Li Qiye smiled and shook his head. "I did not ask about it, nor could I be bothered to. She is only a woman. Why waste my thoughts on it?"
Li Qiye's words were so overbearing that Nan Huairen was instantly speechless. What kind of person was Li Shuangyan? The successor of the Nine Sacred Demon Gate, the future Demon Emperor, the princess of the Ancient Niu Jiang Kingdom. Leaving aside her peerless beauty, her talents alone—Imperial Physique, Imperial Wheel, Sage Fate—were enough to make countless people marvel.
One had to know that not only in the Ancient Niu Jiang Kingdom, but throughout the entire Great Central Region, the young heroes wishing to marry Li Shuangyan could line up from the eastern edge of the Ancient Niu Jiang Kingdom all the way to its western edge.
Yet now, a goddess adored by tens of thousands, a woman whose beauty stunned countless people, had become, in Li Qiye's mouth, a woman not worth mentioning. His arrogance was as boundless as it was tyrannical.
But by now, Nan Huairen no longer thought Li Qiye arrogant. No matter how arrogant Li Qiye's words were, Nan Huairen would not find them arrogant. He would only feel that they were perfectly natural.
What Li Qiye had done today had utterly overturned his beliefs and completely shattered his common sense!
Nan Huairen could only close his mouth, but his eyes still could not help drifting toward the Snake-Beating Cudgel on Li Qiye's body. That utterly inconspicuous wooden stick had lashed Xu Hui, an expert of the True Fate Realm, until his skin split and flesh tore, leaving him unable even to crawl. The impression it had left on him was far too deep.
"If you want to look at it, take it and have a look." Seeing Nan Huairen's strange gaze, Li Qiye was generous enough to remove the Snake-Beating Cudgel and toss it to him. "Take it."
Nan Huairen caught the Snake-Beating Cudgel and hurriedly held it in both hands, examining it carefully. At this moment, even his master, Protector Mo, could not help leaning over. Master and disciple began studying the Snake-Beating Cudgel together.
Yet no matter how thoroughly the two of them examined it, it was still only that ordinary wooden stick.
"Th-this really is the fire poker from the ancestral hall?" Nan Huairen could not help asking Li Qiye. He could not believe that this mere fire poker had made Xu Hui howl like a wolf and cry like a ghost!
"That's right." Li Qiye nodded.
Nan Huairen swallowed and, summoning his courage, said to Li Qiye, "Senior Brother, can... can I give it a try?"
"Look at how timid you are." Li Qiye could not help laughing. "Go ahead and try it."
Seeing Li Qiye agree, Nan Huairen immediately began wielding the Snake-Beating Cudgel. Protector Mo also watched without blinking, wanting to see what was so miraculous about this fire poker!
But after Nan Huairen gave it a round of swings, the Snake-Beating Cudgel showed none of the power it had possessed in Li Qiye's hands. In his hands, it could not strike wherever Li Qiye pointed.
"Senior Brother, why does it turn decay into magic in your hands?" Nan Huairen could not understand it at all. It was only an ordinary wooden stick, so why did it become so formidable in Li Qiye's hands?
Li Qiye glanced at him before slowly saying, "A sincere heart brings spiritual response." He stopped there. He could not possibly reveal the Snake-Beating Cudgel's true profundities so easily to others.
Naturally, the Snake-Beating Cudgel could not display the same power in Nan Huairen's hands as it did in Li Qiye's. After all, Li Qiye had brought the Snake-Beating Cudgel out of the Ghost Forest. No one in the world understood this strange cudgel better than Li Qiye!
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