Hundred Li Qi Merging

As a place of inheritance, the Martial Skill Pavilion was one of the most important places in the entire Wuji Sect, so its defenses were extremely tight.

Lu Ming walked all the way there, undergoing one stringent inspection after another before finally being allowed inside.

The Martial Skill Pavilion had three floors. The first housed Human-grade, low- and mid-stage martial arts, while the second housed high-stage and peak-stage martial arts.

The third floor housed Human-grade, peak-stage martial arts.

Anything above that was not stored here.

After entering, Lu Ming had a clear target and went straight to the second floor.

Last time, he had only stayed on the first floor. This was his first time coming up to the second.

He swept his eyes across the floor. The space inside was quite large, with more than a dozen huge bookshelves.

They were all filled with martial arts.

Internal arts, lightness arts, External Skills, fist techniques, palm techniques, saber techniques, and more had all been arranged into their respective categories. The selection was incredibly complete.

At that moment, many disciples were choosing their own techniques. The place was very quiet; apart from the sound of pages turning, no one made another sound.

After bowing to the elder guarding the second floor, Lu Ming went straight inside.

The first bookshelf held palm techniques. There were the Five Dragon Palm, Rootless Palm, Thousand Jin Palm, Rosy Cloud Palm, Flying Sunset Palm, Six Yin Soul Transformation Palm, and more.

There were dozens of them.

He browsed through them casually, one after another, and found that these manuals contained only brief introductions. Clearly, this was to prevent disciples from secretly memorizing them.

At the same time, every palm technique had its required number of Contribution Points marked on it.

For example, the Human-grade, high-stage Five Dragon Palm required a thousand Contribution Points to exchange for.

That should have been the lowest price. Everything else required at least a thousand, with some demanding several thousand or even over ten thousand.

The Six Yin Soul Transformation Palm, for example, required a terrifying eight thousand points.

Lu Ming did not know how many Contribution Points one could earn from a single mission, but he imagined it would not be too many. Otherwise, martial arts would be far too easy to obtain.

Of course, this palm technique was also of a higher grade, reaching the Human-grade, peak stage.

"Too bad. My beginner benefits only allow me to choose a Human-grade, high-stage martial art."

After looking through the palm techniques, Lu Ming did not rush to make a choice. Instead, he planned to continue browsing the other martial arts. For one thing, it would give him more options; for another, it would broaden his horizons.

The second row contained leg techniques: Purple Cloud Leg, Seven Treasures Hundred Poisons Leg, Ten Paths Flying Crossing Leg, Chasing Wind Eighteen Kicks...

After examining them all, he went to the third row. This row held sword techniques: Nine Palaces Sword, Flying Cloud Sword, Divine Illumination Sixty-Four Swords, and others.

Then came the fourth row, the fifth row...

After looking through everything, Lu Ming had made his decision. He planned to use his two opportunities to choose a lightness art and an External Skill.

He had considered this carefully. He currently had the Heavenly Saber Technique for offense, and his hand technique could be the Tiger Fiend Claw he had obtained from the Sect Leader of the Black Tiger Gang.

If he cultivated another External Skill, he would have offense, movement, and defense covered.

He arrived at the lightness-art bookshelf and went straight for the Hundred Li Qi Merging.

This lightness art was Human-grade, high stage.

Once mastered, it made one as light as a swallow. One could travel up to two hundred meters in a single step, making it one of the best among all Human-grade, high-stage lightness arts.

It was also exceptionally suited to long-distance travel. Running a hundred li in one breath was as easy as turning over one's hand.

That was where its name came from.

Lu Ming did the calculations. One hundred li equaled fifty thousand meters, and if he could cover two hundred meters in one step, he would need only two hundred and fifty steps.

With his current cultivation, running two hundred and fifty steps in one breath would not be a problem.

It was very reasonable.

After choosing the lightness art, Lu Ming went to the External Skill bookshelf. External Skills were also called body-tempering arts. Advanced External Skills did not focus solely on the exterior; on the contrary, they progressed from the outside inward, giving rise to internal qi, true qi, and so on.

After all, Martial Artists could unleash Hidden Strength and vibrating force. Purely external defenses could not withstand them at all.

Therefore, he discarded techniques such as Iron Garment Art and Copper Armor Art.

Instead, he chose the Iron Elephant Art, which also included qi cultivation. This art could not only temper the flesh until it became as hard as iron, but could also form protective true qi within the body.

With this true qi, he could effectively defend against attacks that penetrated the surface of his body and entered his internal organs.

The only problem was that this art was Human-grade, peak stage, exceeding the scope of his beginner benefits. But he had a way to deal with that.

Thus, carrying the introductions to the two manuals, he went to the elder guarding the floor.

There were already people queuing here to exchange for martial arts, while others were copying them down. The original martial arts manuals could never be taken away.

"All right, this is the manual for that fist technique. Take it over there and copy it down. Remember not to damage it. Also, the copied version must be returned within a month."

"And you are forbidden from privately passing on martial arts. Otherwise, the consequences will be severe."

The elder guarding the floor issued his warning.

"Got it, Elder Kang. It's not like this is my first time exchanging for a martial art." The disciple in front grinned cheekily.

Elder Kang still wore a stern expression. "It's better to remind you more than once, lest negligence and complacency lead you to make a mistake."

"A few years ago, a disciple took a chance. Not only did he privately pass on martial arts, he even sold them outside. Once he was found out, his cultivation was crippled, and he was expelled from the sect."

The disciple's heart tightened when he heard that. He hurriedly promised he would not do such a thing, then went to the side and began copying.

At last, it was Lu Ming's turn. He first handed over his identity token, then the Jade Pendant proving his beginner benefits.

"This Iron Elephant Art exceeds the scope of your beginner benefits."

Elder Kang looked toward Lu Ming. From his gaze alone, it was clear that he knew of Lu Ming's existence.

Even so, he still asked the question because he wanted to know whether Lu Ming was the sort of person who was arrogant about his talents.

Without the slightest panic, Lu Ming took out the Tiger Fiend Claw and the Heavenly Saber Art. He intended to exchange both of them for Contribution Points.

The Wuji Sect did not require its disciples to hand over martial arts they brought back from outside, but disciples could voluntarily exchange them.

The last time Lu Ming had come, he had been in a hurry to cultivate, so he had not taken them out. This time, he happened to exchange them while he was here.

"Are you certain you want to exchange this martial art?"

Elder Kang took the Heavenly Saber Art and glanced through it, his expression full of surprise.

It was not as if no disciples had ever brought martial arts obtained outside to exchange before, but those had all been relatively low-grade.

Even Human-grade, peak-stage martial arts were rare, let alone Earth-grade ones.

Decades could pass without seeing a single one.

Once a martial art reached the Earth grade, it was already considered rare. An Earth-grade, low-stage cultivation art could even serve as the inheritance art of a ninth-grade family.

Thus, ordinary people treated such treasures with extreme caution after obtaining them, regarding them as their own secret techniques and rarely exposing them.

Even within the Wuji Sect, one had to make a major contribution to learn an Earth-grade martial art.

For Lu Ming to take one out now was truly astonishing.

Lu Ming himself did not care. His true reliance was not the Heavenly Saber Art, but the mysterious Jade Pendant and his talent.

Rather than keeping this saber manual, he might as well exchange it for more martial arts to equip himself with.

Besides, the Wuji Sect had treated him well, so exchanging it would not cause any problems.

Thus, he nodded directly. "I'm certain."

"All right. Come with me."

Seeing that the area was crowded and full of prying eyes, Elder Kang called over a Steward Disciple to handle the martial-art exchanges, then led Lu Ming to a room.

Everyone grew curious. What grade of martial art was the other party exchanging that he had to go somewhere alone?

But no one dared discuss it here.

"This Heavenly Saber Art contains both an internal art and a saber technique, so it counts as two Earth-grade, low-stage martial arts."

"As for its specific quality, this martial art takes an unconventional path. Its strength lies in the astonishing speed of one's movement and saber strikes after it is successfully cultivated."

"Its weakness is that the internal qi, true qi, and astral qi cultivated by it are not as dense and substantial as those produced by other Earth-grade, low-stage martial arts."

"Thus, its quality is considered upper-middle at this grade. Of course, that is the quality when the internal art and saber technique are combined. Separately, their quality drops significantly."

After examining it, Elder Kang gave his assessment.

"The sect will not take advantage of you. Martial arts of this quality are generally worth around twenty to thirty thousand Contribution Points. I'll make the decision and give you thirty thousand. In addition, I'll give you another opportunity to choose one other Earth-grade, low-stage martial art."

Lu Ming's breathing quickened slightly. The Contribution Points alone were one thing, but he could also choose another Earth-grade, low-stage martial art. This exchange had indeed been worth it.

"Don't underestimate this opportunity. No matter how many Contribution Points you have, unless you earn the sect's approval, you still cannot exchange them for an Earth-grade martial art."

Elder Kang smiled as he spoke.

Lu Ming hurriedly thanked him. "Thank you, Elder."

"No need. If someone else had come to exchange it, I would have done the same, because Earth-grade martial arts are too precious."

Elder Kang waved his hand and explained:

"With every additional martial art, the sect gains another part of its inheritance. Besides, whether it is the internal cultivation method or the saber art, this Heavenly Saber Art advances step by step and is extremely easy to use for training disciples."

After saying that, he handed Lu Ming a token. It was the certificate allowing him to exchange for an Earth-grade, low-stage martial art.

Lu Ming did not plan to use it yet. After all, he had no need for another cultivation art, and even if he obtained another martial technique, he could not use it.

He would keep it for now.

"By the way, I have one more thing to ask you."

After recording the Contribution Points for Lu Ming, Elder Kang spoke again.

Lu Ming was somewhat puzzled. "Please ask, Elder."

Elder Kang sized him up and said, "What exactly were you thinking when you chose to exchange this martial art—the one you rely on to establish yourself—with the sect?"