After bidding farewell to Senior Brother Su, Qin Fengming flew straight toward that mountain peak.
Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Qin Fengming suddenly sensed an immense pressure bearing down on him. His body dropped straight from the sky, and in his alarm, he hurriedly activated his lightness technique.
He drifted lightly onto a rocky outcrop, only then managing to calm himself. He now understood that the tremendous pressure came from some formidable restriction laid nearby.
No longer using the Sky Soaring Art, Qin Fengming cast the Light Body Technique and continued upward at tremendous speed, soon reaching the summit.
Atop the peak stood a grand hall bearing a plaque that read "Pivot Pavilion." It was not particularly imposing; compared with the hall where Sect Master Wang resided on Cloudwatch Peak, it appeared much smaller.
On his way up, Qin Fengming had already sensed more than a dozen divine senses sweeping over his body. Every one of them was far stronger than his own. He did not dare reveal the slightest abnormality. He knew that this pavilion was an important place within Luoxia Sect, so its tight security was only natural. There were even Foundation Establishment Realm seniors stationed here.
Two Luoxia Sect disciples in gray robes stood before the Pivot Pavilion. Qin Fengming did not dare act rashly. He hurried forward, bowed deeply, and said, "This disciple is Qin Fengming. I wish to enter the Pivot Pavilion and look through some texts. I wonder if the two senior brothers could make an exception?"
The two gray-robed disciples looked him over. Seeing that he was merely at the third layer of the Qi Gathering stage, one of them gave a soft snort and said indifferently, "Which branch are you from? Do you have a token?"
"This disciple is currently at the Artifact Refining Hall, cultivating under Martial Uncle Fei. Here is the jade tablet Martial Uncle Fei bestowed upon me."
As he spoke, he took out the jade tablet. With the Object Control Technique, he sent it drifting slowly toward the disciple who had questioned him.
After taking the jade tablet, the disciple examined it carefully before returning it to Qin Fengming. "The tablet is genuine. You may enter the pavilion, but you may only consult the texts on the first floor."
Qin Fengming bowed and, not daring to delay, stepped into the pavilion.
The moment he entered, he saw an old man sitting on a meditation cushion in the very center of the hall, with several rooms on either side. Qin Fengming used the Spirit Eye Technique to briefly scan the old man, then was greatly startled. The old man's spiritual power was incomparably deep, yet Qin Fengming could not see even the slightest trace of his exact cultivation level. There was only one possibility: the old man was undoubtedly a Foundation Establishment Realm senior.
"This disciple Qin Fengming pays his respects to Martial Uncle." Qin Fengming immediately bowed, not daring to hesitate in the slightest.
The old man did not even open his eyes. He merely said indifferently, "Only at the third layer of the Qi Gathering stage, yet you have come to consult the texts. You may read them on the first floor. If you wish to take any away, you must pay Spirit Stones."
Having said that, he closed his mouth and ignored Qin Fengming completely.
Qin Fengming bowed, then turned and entered a room marked "Martial Arts Manuals." He wanted to look around first before deciding which books to choose.
There were three bookshelves in the room, holding several dozen books. He casually picked one up and saw the words "God-Demon Palm" on its cover. He picked up another, which was titled "Five Tigers Soul Severing Spear." These manuals all contained martial techniques renowned throughout the martial world. Even there, it was already difficult to find complete copies of them.
The cultivation sects truly were extraordinary. Any random martial arts manual placed in the mortal world would certainly provoke struggles throughout the martial realm. Most of the martial arts manuals here were lost arts that had vanished from the martial world long ago. Yet none of them held the slightest attraction for Qin Fengming anymore.
He went to another room marked "Herbal Medicine and Stones" and casually flipped through the books inside. They were all texts introducing medicinal herbs, acupuncture, and medicine. If someone could master even one of them, they would certainly become a famous physician renowned throughout the world.
He walked through the rooms one by one. When he reached one marked "Immortal Cultivation Anecdotes," Qin Fengming's eyes immediately lit up. He had entered the Cultivation World only recently and still understood very little about its many affairs.
He could not be compared with those cultivators from cultivation families or sect disciples. From childhood, those cultivators had seniors in their clans or sects explain such matters to them, allowing them to learn about cultivation without expending any effort. Qin Fengming, however, was different. Everything had to be learned through his own efforts.
Overjoyed, Qin Fengming flipped through the books one after another and finally found a copy of "Chronicles of Luoxia Sect" and another titled "Introduction to Immortal Cultivation." Unable to contain his delight, he carried the books out and went to the old man.
Seeing Qin Fengming holding those two books, the old man's expression froze slightly, and a trace of surprise appeared on his face. "You want to borrow these two books?"
"Yes, Martial Uncle. I would like to borrow them for five days. How many low-grade Spirit Stones would I need to pay?"
"One low-grade Spirit Stone per book. Are you certain you wish to borrow them?" the old man asked again.
Qin Fengming nodded, took two low-grade Spirit Stones from his storage ring, and handed them to the old man. After bowing, he left the pavilion.
Watching Qin Fengming depart, the old man could not help muttering, "I didn't expect him to be a little rich man. He actually didn't borrow anything related to immortal cultivation, only two useless books."
Among the low-ranking disciples, Spirit Stones were in desperately short supply. Even those who did an excellent job as laborers received only three or four low-grade Spirit Stones a month. Those who performed poorly were fortunate to receive two. To cultivators, Spirit Stones were indispensable, whether for cultivation or battle.
Ignoring whatever the old man thought, Qin Fengming returned straight to his residence and immediately took out "Chronicles of Luoxia Sect," beginning to read it carefully.
After more than a day of meticulous study, Qin Fengming finally learned the origins and scale of Luoxia Sect. He also learned quite a few of its other anecdotes.
Luoxia Sect had been founded more than thirty thousand years ago. At that time, a senior at the late Nascent Soul stage, a cultivator surnamed Liu, had given up cultivation after realizing that his path to the Great Dao was hopeless and established Luoxia Sect. He chose its location in the central region of the Haoyue Mountain Range.
The cultivator surnamed Liu even moved his entire family into the Haoyue Mountain Range. From among his descendants in the mortal world, he selected several nephews and younger relatives with excellent Root Bones but no ability to cultivate. He had them practice martial arts and established Luoxia Valley.
Two or three thousand years passed. Dynasties rose and fell, and many sects experienced their own cycles of flourishing and decline. Yet Luoxia Sect and Luoxia Valley remained standing in the Haoyue Mountain Range. This was inseparable from the formidable protective array that Ancestor Liu had established at the beginning.
After tens of thousands of years of propagation, many disciples of Luoxia Sect found themselves unable to advance any further in cultivation. They chose to marry and have children, eventually returning to the mortal world. In time, their branches multiplied and spread, becoming cultivation families that depended on Luoxia Sect.
By now, the more renowned of these cultivation families included the Lin Family, Yue Family, Huang Family, and Feng Family. Each had a Core Formation stage cultivator safeguarding it, and every generation produced many outstanding disciples who joined Luoxia Sect. Thus, the two sides supported one another, surviving and prospering together.
Eight thousand years ago, after the last Nascent Soul stage senior of Luoxia Sect passed away, the sect had not produced another Nascent Soul stage cultivator to this day.
Even so, relying on the protective sect array personally established by Ancestor Liu, Luoxia Sect had survived several crises that nearly destroyed the sect.
Although it had now fallen into the ranks of second-rate sects, Luoxia Sect still had several thousand disciples. Most of them were disciples at the Qi Gathering stage, while there were only several hundred Foundation Establishment Realm disciples and merely twenty or thirty Core Formation stage seniors. Compared with such major sects as Zhui Feng Valley, Wang Ting Mountain, and Xiao Yao Sect, it appeared considerably weaker.
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