Moon Vortex Sun (Part One)
"Pah! Our Washing Yan Ancient Sect actually let such a shameless, vile piece of trash become the Chief Disciple. What a disgrace to our Washing Yan Ancient Sect!" a disciple said indignantly.
Another disciple could not help asking curiously, "Didn't he go to the Nine Sacred Demon Gate for the assessment? How did he come back so quickly?"
"Heh, he definitely failed the assessment. Trash like him wants to pass the Nine Sacred Demon Gate's assessment? Dream on! And he wants to marry Princess Li of the Ancient Niu Jiang Kingdom? A toad lusting after swan meat!" a disciple said with a cold, contemptuous sneer.
Of course, the six Elders had not yet announced that Li Qiye had passed the assessment. They did not know the Nine Sacred Demon Gate's stance on the matter, and without its approval, the six Elders naturally did not dare casually announce Li Qiye's marriage to Li Shuangyan. If Li Shuangyan refused to marry him and her reputation was damaged, angering the Sun-Turning Demon Emperor would mean the destruction of their sect.
Nan Huairen could naturally hear the low whispers of his fellow disciples. He felt somewhat awkward, but he could not reveal what had happened at the Nine Sacred Demon Gate.
Yet Li Qiye, the person at the heart of it all, strolled about as if he had heard nothing. Calm and unhurried, he browsed the manuals on the shelves one by one.
Tiger Roar Skill, Heavenly Silkworm Longevity Method, Blazing Sun Wheel Technique, Iron Bull Emperor Physique Technique... Manual after manual sat arranged on the shelves. There were original copies, handwritten copies, reproduced copies, stone rubbings... all sorts and kinds. There were physique arts for cultivating the body, longevity methods for strengthening one's blood energy, and Fate arts for attack and defense...
The manuals here were incomparably mixed and varied, with every kind imaginable, and there were an enormous number of them. Simply from these manuals, one could tell that the Washing Yan Ancient Sect had possessed an incomparably glorious past.
"Some of the manuals here were created by the generations of sages and patriarchs of our Washing Yan Ancient Sect. Others were seized from other sects and inheritances," Nan Huairen told Li Qiye. "If Senior Brother wants to choose a cultivation method related to Imperial Techniques, he must go to the third floor. The first floor contains the most ordinary methods in the sect, which many ordinary disciples can cultivate. Only hall masters or disciples with merit can cultivate the methods above the second floor."
Li Qiye was in no hurry to select a cultivation method. He merely browsed each method before him one by one, because he already had a goal in mind.
Li Qiye browsed from the first floor all the way to the third. Upon reaching the third floor, he could see one or two Imperial Techniques, but they were merely peripheral branches, not core Imperial Techniques.
As Li Qiye browsed, he noticed something. The higher he went, the fewer cultivation methods were piled on the shelves. Many shelves stood empty, while quite a few bore only a name. This meant that a certain cultivation method had once been stored there, but its manual had vanished.
"Not all these empty spots could have been borrowed out, could they?" Li Qiye asked after looking around the third floor.
Nan Huairen shook his head. "I heard that our Washing Yan Ancient Sect lost a great many cultivation manuals." At this point, he looked around. There were only the two of them on the third floor, so he lowered his voice. "I heard from my master that our Washing Yan Ancient Sect actually has very, very few Imperial Techniques left. Even if there are any, there are no more than three core Imperial Techniques. If they truly exist, they are probably on the final three floors. If there are none there either, then our Washing Yan Ancient Sect is merely an Imperial lineage immortal sect in name only."
Immortal Emperor Mingren had borne the Heavenly Mandate and created countless cultivation methods throughout his life. Especially after bearing the Heavenly Mandate and becoming an Immortal Emperor, he created Immortal Emperor cultivation methods capable of communicating with heaven and earth, even including the Heavenly Mandate Secret Arts!
"Were they stolen?" Li Qiye knew very well how many Imperial Techniques the Washing Yan Ancient Sect had once possessed. The cultivation manuals stored by the sect went far beyond the Imperial Techniques created by Immortal Emperor Mingren. They also included Imperial Techniques from other inheritances that he had led people to plunder back then, as well as even more ancient arts. These ancient arts originated from the primordial age, and some even came from the secret arts of the Heavenly Devils, Blood Race, Stonefolk, Charming Spirits, Ancient Ming... and countless other races!
"I don't know the specifics," Nan Huairen said quietly. "I heard that fifty thousand years ago, the invincible genius patriarch of our Washing Yan Ancient Sect suffered defeat, and disaster eventually descended upon him. Then, I heard that a heaven-shaking event happened thirty thousand years ago, and our Washing Yan Ancient Sect suffered grievous losses. There are rumors in the sect that Patriarch Mu sealed our Imperial Techniques away in the final three floors. There are also rumors that thirty thousand years ago, our Washing Yan Ancient Sect was defeated by the Holy Heaven Sect, and they seized a huge number of our Imperial Techniques!"
"Young Emperor Mu?" Hearing Nan Huairen's words, Li Qiye recalled the genius produced by the Washing Yan Ancient Sect fifty thousand years ago. However, there had been a problem with his condition at the time, so he had not paid much attention to the details.
"Yes, Patriarch Mu." At the mention of Young Emperor Mu, Nan Huairen's blood could not help boiling. "Legend says that fifty thousand years ago, Patriarch Mu was the person in our Washing Yan Ancient Sect most likely to become an Immortal Emperor after Patriarch Immortal Emperor Mingren. He was once the strongest opponent in Sky-Treading Immortal Emperor's life. I heard that..."
"...when Patriarch Mu fought Sky-Treading Immortal Emperor for the Heavenly Mandate, they had three victories and three defeats! Even a heaven-defying figure with unrivaled talent like Sky-Treading Immortal Emperor had lost to Patriarch Mu three times. Back then, our Washing Yan Ancient Sect reached its strongest peak since Patriarch Mingren. Our Washing Yan Ancient Sect once swept across the world. Not to mention the Great Central Region—even across the entire Human Emperor Realm, no one dared provoke us..." Nan Huairen spoke endlessly when it came to Young Emperor Mu, because Young Emperor Mu had been the Washing Yan Ancient Sect's greatest pride after Immortal Emperor Mingren.
"But in the end, Sky-Treading Immortal Emperor still bore the Heavenly Mandate," Li Qiye said flatly in response to Nan Huairen's excitement.
Li Qiye's words were like a basin of cold water poured over Nan Huairen's head. His endless stream of words immediately wilted away, and in the end, he said dejectedly, "I heard... I heard that after Patriarch Mu's final battle with Sky-Treading Immortal Emperor, he never appeared again. Some say he died in battle, while others say he passed away in meditation within our sect. Some Elders even speculate that Patriarch Mu took away a great number of the sect's Imperial Techniques and sealed them within the final three floors."
"There are no Imperial Techniques on the middle three floors?" Li Qiye glanced upward. With the Elder's permission, his authority only allowed him entry into the lower three floors.
Nan Huairen also looked at the upper three floors and shook his head. "My master said he went up there twice, but the manuals above can be counted on ten fingers."
Li Qiye said nothing, only shook his head lightly. The Washing Yan Ancient Sect had become unworthy of its name. An Imperial lineage immortal sect possessing only a handful of Imperial Techniques could no longer be called an Imperial lineage immortal sect. Thus, there was good reason for the Washing Yan Ancient Sect's decline.
In the end, Li Qiye selected a manual for slaying enemies and protecting one's Fate from a shelf on the third floor. Then he chose a manual for extending one's lifespan and nourishing one's blood on the second floor. At an inconspicuous corner of the lowest floor, Li Qiye hauled out a huge pile of manuals.
Nan Huairen counted the manuals Li Qiye had brought out from the lowest floor. There were one hundred and twenty in total. He was immediately speechless and could not help saying quietly, "Senior Brother, th-these are martial arts techniques. They are nothing worth mentioning. Anyone in the sect can read them. Shouldn't you exchange them for other manuals?"
"I have my own plans," Li Qiye said, shaking his head with a confident air.
Seeing Li Qiye's confident appearance, Nan Huairen said nothing more and hurriedly helped him carry the manuals out for registration.
In the past, Nan Huairen would certainly have considered Li Qiye ignorant. As a cultivator, choosing over a hundred martial arts manuals was putting the cart before the horse. But now, Nan Huairen no longer thought so.
When Li Qiye and Nan Huairen carried the one hundred and twenty martial arts manuals over for registration, every disciple present looked at him as if he were a fool. Even the second-generation disciple in charge of registration stared at Li Qiye as though he were some kind of monster.
"The Elder stipulated that you may choose three manuals." A disciple responsible for registration looked at Li Qiye's authorization token before finally speaking.
Li Qiye spoke unhurriedly. "I know. I selected one cultivation method for my Fate, and another for extending my lifespan and nourishing my blood. I will not select a third. Huairen said that every disciple in the sect may browse these martial arts techniques, so I should be allowed to borrow them, shouldn't I?"
The several disciples responsible for registration exchanged glances, then looked toward the protector presiding over the place. After the protector gave his approval, the disciples did not say anything further.
One disciple responsible for registration examined the one hundred and twenty manuals Li Qiye had brought out. "Martial Arts Compendium, forty-four volumes. Martial Arts Miscellany, thirty-six volumes. Iron Skin, Copper Sinews, forty volumes."
As he spoke, the disciple looked at Li Qiye as though he were an idiot. These martial arts techniques were all utterly low-grade. Not to mention compared to Dao methods, even among martial arts techniques, these one hundred and twenty volumes were still low-grade.
The thick dust covering these one hundred and twenty martial arts manuals made it clear that no one had ever read these hundred-odd volumes.
Upon hearing that Li Qiye had actually chosen more than a hundred martial arts manuals, the disciples borrowing cultivation manuals all burst into laughter.
"What an idiot who cannot recognize value. Even if you cultivate every martial arts technique in the world, you will still be a low-grade character!" a disciple said disdainfully.
Another disciple mocked, "Brother Wang, this is called knowing one's own limits. With his trash Mortal Physique, Mortal Meridians, and Mortal Fate, how could cultivating Dao methods possibly be easy? Perhaps he could not even cultivate the most basic foundational heart method successfully after ten years. So he knows he cannot cultivate the Dao and settles for the next best thing: martial arts techniques!"
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