One Blade Style

Li Qiming and Wang Jie had nearly made a full circuit when they realized just how vast the Martial Hall was. It was divided into many areas: there was the Martial Arts Arena, the Scripture Pavilion, the Contribution Hall, and an eight-story pagoda said to be off-limits to ordinary disciples. Only the Pavilion Master, the elders, and True Disciples were permitted to enter.

"Brother Qiming, this is your room..."

Wang Jie led Li Qiming to the residential area.

Rows of houses stood in neat, closely packed lines.

Li Qiming stepped inside. The room was simply furnished, with only a bed, a table, and a stool.

The bedding and pillow on the bed were all new.

Good. This was more than enough!

"Brother Qiming, change into your clothes and bring your disciple token. I'll take you to the Scripture Pavilion. New disciples can enter for free and choose one martial art!"

Wang Jie said.

Li Qiming's eyes lit up. There was such a good deal?

He quickly changed into the gray disciple's robe inside the room.

Once he had shed his patched servant's clothes, he felt like a brand-new man.

He finally looked like a normal person!

The Scripture Pavilion.

It was a three-story pagoda, ancient and imposing in appearance.

"Brother Qiming, I can't go in with you. I'll wait here at the entrance."

Wang Jie said, standing by the door.

"Okay."

Li Qiming nodded.

Then he stepped through the entrance to the Scripture Pavilion.

The moment he crossed the threshold, an enormous pressure crashed down on him, leaving him unable to take another step.

"New kid? Remember, you've only got half an hour. Don't take too long..."

An old man with a white beard was reclining in a rocking chair behind the counter by the entrance. He spoke to Li Qiming slowly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the pressure on Li Qiming vanished, and he could move freely again.

"May I ask what I should call you, Senior?"

"Heh. You can call me Elder Huang."

Elder Huang seemed too lazy to pay him any mind. He answered in a listless voice.

Li Qiming was about to ask something else when a snore suddenly sounded. Elder Huang had actually fallen asleep.

But Li Qiming didn't think that meant he could let his guard down.

That old man was definitely an expert.

He put the thought aside and looked around the room. Neat rows of bookshelves filled the space, and the countless martial arts manuals dazzled his eyes.

What martial art should he choose?

Li Qiming was at a complete loss.

Then he recalled what Wang Jie had told him earlier: disciples of Dragon Roar Martial Hall had to complete basic tasks every month and earn at least a hundred contribution points. Otherwise, they would be punished; in serious cases, they could even be expelled from the sect!

So, for now, he would have to try tasks that were relatively easy, simple, and not too dangerous...

But he would certainly run into some danger.

Li Qiming assessed himself.

He seemed to be lacking a martial art that used a weapon.

If he faced a warrior at the mid stage of the Blood Refining Realm, and rushed in with his fists, only for his opponent to pull out a cleaver and attack, he would be hacked into mincemeat first!

"I've heard swordsmanship is hard to learn... A spear is too long to carry around... And a hammer is too heavy..."

After thinking it over, his eyes suddenly lit up.

A blade!

Blades were relatively easy to pick up.

Even if he had never practiced any blade technique, give him a blade and he'd still know how to hack an enemy to death.

All he had to do was swing it with all his might!

He still had seven or eight taels of silver, and the Martial Hall had a Forging Hall. He could buy an ordinary steel blade to use for now...

He had heard the Forging Hall also had treasured blades that could cut through iron like mud. Unfortunately, money couldn't buy them; he would need a great many contribution points to exchange for one.

Brushing aside his stray thoughts, Li Qiming looked at the text about the Scripture Pavilion on the nearby wall.

It explained that the three floors of the pavilion held more than ten thousand martial arts manuals,

all contributed over the past three hundred years by the Hall Masters, elders, and True Disciples of the Martial Hall.

Some were original manuals, while others were spoils taken from other warriors and sects.

The martial world classified manuals into four grades: unranked, third-rate, second-rate, and first-rate.

And even the weakest martial arts recorded in the Scripture Pavilion were third-rate!

Li Qiming nodded, his heart stirring slightly.

The first floor, where he stood, contained only third-rate martial arts.

Every one of them was stronger than his Tiger Roar Fist.

After all, for Tiger Roar Fist to have found its way out of Dragon Roar Martial Hall, it must have been an unranked technique.

Li Qiming couldn't help looking toward the corner, where an entrance led to the second floor.

The second floor held even more advanced martial arts manuals!

But Elder Huang had just told him that he could only choose one technique from the first floor.

Li Qiming had no choice but to walk along the rows of bookshelves.

Before long, he reached the bookshelf of blade techniques.

It was packed with all kinds of blade techniques—more than a thousand in total!

Life-Taking Thirteen Blades, Tyrant Blade, Liu Family Thirty-Two Blades, Seventy-Two Route Blade Art...

Li Qiming slowly scanned the manuals. His gaze paused, and he casually picked one up to browse.

Three large characters were written on its cover:

Single Blade Style.

The preface explained the manual's origins. A True Disciple had once lost an arm to an enemy during a mission outside the Martial Hall. After returning, he created Single Blade Style, and eventually made a name for himself throughout the martial world.

Li Qiming was immediately intrigued.

But as he read on, he discovered that the technique required wielding the blade with the left hand...

"It seems that True Disciple senior lost his right arm—the one he used to wield his blade."

Li Qiming shook his head. He wasn't left-handed, so Single Blade Style wasn't for him.

He put the manual back and picked up the one beside it, Complex Blade, reading it carefully.

Time ticked by, second by second.

"Kid, half an hour is almost up. Why haven't you chosen yet?"

Elder Huang had woken from a nap and noticed the kid was still hesitating. He couldn't help asking.

"What kind of blade technique do you want to learn?"

Li Qiming looked up at Elder Huang. The old man's question had reminded him, and he answered without hesitation:

"Elder Huang, I want the most powerful blade technique in here!"

If he was going to learn one, he might as well learn the strongest!

"The most powerful... Heh, there is one. But you can't learn it." Elder Huang shook his head.

"Which one?" Li Qiming asked.

Elder Huang reached to the top corner of the bookshelf, took down a dusty blade manual, and handed it to Li Qiming.

Li Qiming took it and blew the dust off the cover. Three large characters appeared:

One Blade Style.

"Kid, don't say I didn't warn you. One Blade Style is extremely powerful. It gathers all the Blood Qi in your body into a single slash. Just one slash. Afterward, either your enemy dies, or you do... So it's not very practical!"

"More importantly, the original was a second-rate martial art! It's only on this floor because none of the disciples have ever managed to master it..."

Elder Huang gave him a grave warning.

He meant well. Some disciples before had been foolish enough to train in this blade technique, only to waste more than half a year for nothing.

"None of the disciples have ever mastered it?" Li Qiming couldn't help frowning.

But he was genuinely tempted, because he had a trace of Flood Dragon Bloodline within him. Even if he used up every last bit of Blood Qi in his body with one slash, it could instantly recover to its full strength.

In other words, if he mastered it, he could use One Blade Style twice in a row.