Faced with the Elder's furious shout, any other disciple would have been trembling in fear. Li Qiye merely smiled and said calmly, "Elder, please quell your anger. Junior Brother Nan has already told me the details. If I truly pass the assessment, it will be a tremendous merit for the Washing Yan Ancient Sect. Merit must be rewarded, so it is only proper for me to name my conditions."
"Wait until you pass before saying that!" the Elder said coldly, deeply displeased by Li Qiye's provocative behavior.
"This condition may be raised." The Grand Elder merely nodded and said, "Rest assured, if you pass, you may choose any cultivation method in the sect apart from the Heavenly Mandate Secret Arts and the core Immortal Emperor cultivation methods! The premise is that you can pass the assessment. I believe none of the Elders will object to that."
The other Elders present exchanged glances. If Li Qiye could truly pass, such a request would not be excessive. But Li Qiye's chances of passing were practically zero!
"The other conditions can wait until after I pass." Li Qiye smiled. "However, there is one condition I must raise now. I hope the Elders are prepared. Once I reach a certain level in the Body Tempering Realm, I will need a portion of Sacred Body Ointment!"
"What an enormous appetite!" Upon hearing this, the six Elders' expressions changed, and one of them barked sharply.
Li Qiye remained unmoved. He said leisurely, "Elder, that is going too far. Think about it: if the Nine Sacred Demon Gate enters into a marriage alliance with us, what an immense merit would that be? Sacred Body Ointment may be precious, but I believe it would be well worth the price!"
"Hmph, Sacred Body Ointment? Easier said than done!" This Elder snorted, thoroughly dissatisfied.
The Grand Elder looked at Li Qiye for a long while before finally saying in a grave voice, "If you succeed, one portion of Sacred Body Ointment would not be an unreasonable demand. However, the sect cannot satisfy you at present. We are still lacking quite a few spiritual medicines to refine a portion of Sacred Body Ointment!"
Looking at the Grand Elder, Li Qiye sighed softly inwardly. It seemed he had still overestimated the Washing Yan Ancient Sect of today. The present Washing Yan Ancient Sect had truly declined. Back then, when Immortal Emperor Mingren founded the Washing Yan Ancient Sect, its treasures had been so abundant that not merely Sacred Body Ointment—even Immortal Body Ointment would not have been a problem.
"Fine, then I will take a step back. I want Imperial Body Ointment—the best Imperial Body Ointment!" Li Qiye could only settle for the next best thing.
The six Elders exchanged glances. In the end, the Grand Elder nodded. "I can agree to that, provided you succeed!"
Li Qiye merely smiled at the Grand Elder's words, then said, "However, before going to the Nine Sacred Demon Gate, I have one small request. No one knows whether this journey will mean life or death, so I need to learn some techniques and have one or two weapons to protect myself."
"You certainly know how to make a little scheme and profit from the situation." Elder Xiong, one of the six Elders, snorted coldly, equally dissatisfied.
The Grand Elder was at least fair. He nodded and said, "How about this? You may choose one cultivation method and one weapon from those below the rank of hall master within the sect. What do the Elders think?"
Although the other Elders disliked Li Qiye's haggling, they still agreed to the Grand Elder's proposal. They all understood that Li Qiye's chance of passing the assessment was zero. Any weapons and cultivation methods they gave him would be like meat buns thrown at a dog, never to return. Still, they had not given up hope and wanted to give it a try!
"The Elders worry too much. How would this junior dare open his mouth like a lion?" Li Qiye naturally knew what the six Elders were thinking. He smiled and said leisurely, "I have heard that the sect possesses a technique called the Mystic Gate Saber Technique, which has the effect of rapid mastery. This junior will choose it, then select a pair of sabers that can complement it. How about that?"
At Li Qiye's words, the six Elders present could not help exchanging glances. They had thought Li Qiye would open his mouth like a lion and might even demand Imperial Techniques. They had not expected him to ask for such a cultivation method.
"The Mystic Gate Saber Technique?" Hearing Li Qiye's words, the Grand Elder pondered for a moment.
Another Elder said, "Brother Gu, it is a martial skill within the sect, nothing worth mentioning." He was in charge of distributing the sect's cultivation methods, so he knew its various techniques well.
At this Elder's explanation, those unfamiliar with the Mystic Gate Saber Technique were stunned. Martial skills were indeed beneath notice to cultivators; any ordinary cultivation method was stronger than a martial skill! Yet Li Qiye had chosen a martial skill. The Elders could not help staring blankly. In their eyes, trash was trash—he did not know quality goods!
"No problem. Huairen, deliver the Mystic Gate Saber Technique manual to Lone Mountain and choose the best pair of sabers suitable for this technique for him." The Grand Elder immediately approved Li Qiye's request.
"Do you have any other small requests?" Since Li Qiye had not opened his mouth like a lion, the Elders present were somewhat satisfied, so they asked this question.
"This junior has none for now." Li Qiye smiled.
"Very well. Go back and prepare yourself. We depart in three days! Once you return, you may pay respects to the ancestral masters!" the Grand Elder said gravely.
Of course, whether Li Qiye could return alive remained unknown!
After Li Qiye returned to Lone Mountain, Nan Huairen brought him the Mystic Gate Saber Technique manual and a well-balanced pair of sabers.
Li Qiye weighed the crescent-shaped short sabers in his hands and was satisfied. These blades were called Moon Arc, and a faint cold gleam shimmered upon them. Though they were neither True Artifacts nor treasure artifacts used by cultivators, a trace of Crimson Moon Gold had been mixed into them when they were forged as short sabers for a Mortal Physique. In the mortal world, such short sabers could sever hair blown upon their edges. To cultivators, however, they were nothing at all.
After Nan Huairen left, Li Qiye slowly opened the Mystic Gate Saber Technique and read it word by word. As he read each word and sentence, lines of the cultivation method emerged in his mind.
Back when he had transformed into the Shadow Crow, he later escaped the Immortal-Demon Cave's control through a heaven-shaking scheme. Yet his condition had remained unstable, and he would sometimes still be affected by the Immortal-Demon Cave. Thus, whenever his state became unstable, he sealed himself away and fell into slumber.
He had endured the suffering of life after life over countless ages. He had entered immortal lands and burial grounds. During the savage eras, he had once fallen into the hands of invincible experts and undergone innumerable ordeals. Because of this, he had come into contact with countless cultivation methods, some even Imperial Techniques and immortal secrets.
He feared that one day his condition would become unstable and he would lose control of himself, only to be dragged back into the Immortal-Demon Cave. Therefore, in every lifetime, he erased all memories concerning the various cultivation methods and secret arts, lest heaven-shaking techniques fall into the Immortal-Demon Cave's hands. However, he, the Medicine God, Immortal Emperor Xuexi, and the others had used an extremely mysterious method. Though those memories had been erased, once he had the chance to read those cultivation methods again, all their profound truths would resurface!
As Li Qiye read the Mystic Gate Saber Technique, every profound truth concerning it that had been erased long ago slowly reappeared in his mind!
After spending quite some time finally recovering the Mystic Gate Saber Technique's erased profound truths, Li Qiye took a deep breath and carefully compared them with the manual in his hand. Through the comparison, Li Qiye discovered that the Mystic Gate Saber Technique in his possession was missing certain portions, and this caused him to worry about some matters.
In truth, it was normal for a cultivation method like the Mystic Gate Saber Technique to have missing parts. After all, martial skills were beneath notice. In cultivators' eyes, they were mere tricks of carving insects. Over the Washing Yan Ancient Sect's millions of years of history, there were likely very few disciples who had practiced the Mystic Gate Saber Technique!
It did not take Li Qiye long to completely comprehend every profound truth of the Mystic Gate Saber Technique that had surfaced in his mind. Having comprehended them, Li Qiye merely smiled.
Although his physique, life wheel, and fate palace were all at the level of an ordinary mortal, beneath notice and utterly incomparable to those geniuses, he had encountered countless cultivation methods and manuals throughout life after life, even heaven-shaking immortal secrets. Though all of those cultivation methods and secret arts had been erased, Li Qiye's views, comprehension, and perspective on cultivation were far beyond what those geniuses could compare with.
More importantly, as the Shadow Crow, he had endured countless hardships and had even been imprisoned for over ten thousand years without seeing daylight! After suffering innumerable torments, he possessed a Dao Heart beyond anyone's comparison. His Dao Heart was as firm as a boulder; nothing could shake it!
Gently stroking the Mystic Gate Saber Technique in his hand, Li Qiye could not help sighing softly. It stirred some memories within him. The Mystic Gate Saber Technique held secrets unknown to others, secrets that even the Washing Yan Ancient Sect's disciples likely did not know.
Before Immortal Emperor Mingren had begun cultivating the Dao, he had been a youngster passionate about martial arts. The martial skill he practiced had been the Mystic Gate Saber Technique. Later, after Immortal Emperor Mingren bore the Heavenly Mandate and ruled the Nine Worlds, he could not help feeling wistful about his green and youthful years. He had later refined the Mystic Gate Saber Technique that he had practiced in his youth.
Of course, this martial skill could not compare to the Imperial Techniques created by Immortal Emperor Mingren, much less the Heavenly Mandate Secret Arts. Naturally, Immortal Emperor Mingren had not wanted later generations to practice martial skills either, so the Mystic Gate Saber Technique had been casually placed in the Washing Yan Ancient Sect's Scripture Repository. Over millions of years, very few disciples had practiced this saber technique, much less comprehended its true profound truths.
When Immortal Emperor Mingren had refined the Mystic Gate Saber Technique, Li Qiye, as the Shadow Crow, had once joked with him, "Although your Mystic Gate Saber Technique can still slay kings and marquises if cultivated to its peak, this petty martial skill of yours will probably find no willing practitioners among later generations!"
Immortal Emperor Mingren had only smiled at those words. Yet Li Qiye had indeed been right. Few people in the Washing Yan Ancient Sect had later practiced the Mystic Gate Saber Technique.
Li Qiye withdrew from his thoughts and took a deep breath. Holding the short sabers in reverse grips, he slowly began practicing the Mystic Gate Saber Technique. He practiced each move and stance without seeking rapid mastery. His control over every movement was incomparably exacting, each move and stance perfectly measured.
It was the weekend today, so there was one extra update—a small burst of effort. While everyone enjoyed reading, do not forget to vote in support of the author.
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