Sword Control Technique

After Li Ye finished speaking, he carefully observed the old man's change in expression.

Sure enough, the old man raised his head again and studied Li Ye closely. After hesitating for a moment, he nodded. "Prove it for me to see."

There was clearly a trace of anger in the old man's voice when he said this, as though he was secretly annoyed that this brat before him did not know his place—and was so arrogant besides.

"Senior, watch closely!"

After saying that, Li Ye's figure flickered, and he headed straight for the second floor.

A sharp glint flashed through the old man's eyes. With a cold snort, his right hand shot out like lightning and grabbed for the back of Li Ye's neck!

Whoosh! Yet that grab struck empty air! His hand passed straight through as if through air. Only then did the old man realize that his target had been nothing but an afterimage clone. The real Li Ye was already standing steadily at the entrance to the second floor of the Martial Arts Pavilion, turning back to smile at him.

"I hope Senior will forgive this junior's disrespect."

The old man was briefly speechless, but soon burst into hearty laughter. "Good! You may go to the second floor."

Having said that, he paid Li Ye no further attention. Li Ye nodded and, not wasting any more time, entered the second floor of the Martial Arts Pavilion.

As though he had thought of something, the old man shook his head and said no more. No one noticed that, at some point, he had vanished from the Martial Arts Pavilion. No one had seen how he left, as if he had disappeared into thin air.

Martial Arts Pavilion, second floor.

After entering, Li Ye discovered that this place was much smaller than the first floor. The first floor of the Martial Arts Pavilion contained at least a thousand Combat Techniques and Movement Techniques, while this floor clearly held only several dozen.

They were all placed on a single bookshelf. At this moment, he was not the only person on the second floor; several others were also present.

Hearing footsteps, those people immediately looked up at Li Ye. When they saw that the newcomer was so young and clearly possessed only Spirit Martial Tier Five cultivation, a trace of surprise flashed through all their eyes.

While they assessed Li Ye, Li Ye was also assessing them.

Other than himself, there were five people on the second floor. Four of them looked rather old and were not disciples. The remaining one was close to Li Ye's age, appearing to be just over twenty.

"Li Wei."

"Li Ye."

It was Li Wei, who had lost to Li Ye twice. Now that the two met again, Li Wei's gaze was extremely complicated. There was a trace of resentment, but also a trace of wariness.

After losing twice, he understood better than anyone that Li Ye's strength was far from as simple as Spirit Martial Tier Five on the surface.

Li Ye could not be bothered with him and began selecting Combat Techniques and Movement Techniques.

The second floor of the Martial Arts Pavilion held roughly seventy or eighty Combat Techniques and Movement Techniques collected by the Li Family. All were Yellow Tier High-Grade, while the handful of Yellow Tier Mid-Grade ones were rare treasures comparable to Yellow Tier High-Grade techniques.

"Profound Yin Palm!"

Very quickly, he spotted the Profound Yin Palm that Li Yue had once displayed. Among the many Yellow Tier High-Grade Combat Techniques on the second floor, the Profound Yin Palm was neither particularly poor nor especially outstanding—roughly middle of the pack.

He also saw Frost Fist and Gale Legs. Although he had already learned these two Combat Techniques, he still opened them and studied them carefully.

At that moment, his eyes seemed to have been stained with a layer of blood-red light as they swiftly recorded the Combat Techniques in his hands.

To ordinary people, Li Ye merely seemed to be flipping through books, quickly skimming them before returning them to their original places. Yet no one knew that, in that process, he had already memorized an entire Combat Technique.

"Gale Legs, a Yellow Tier High-Grade Combat Technique. When cultivated to the limit, it can unleash more than a hundred consecutive attacks in an instant, like a storm of gale, driving the opponent into a desperate situation."

"Frost Fist, a Yellow Tier High-Grade Combat Technique. Its practitioner's attacks naturally carry dense cold air, plunging opponents into a state of bitter cold on all sides. It not only slows the opponent's movements; when cultivated to the limit, it can even freeze someone solid with a single move!"

After carefully studying these two Combat Techniques, Li Ye gained a deeper understanding of them. Both were relatively powerful among Yellow Tier High-Grade Combat Techniques. Otherwise, they would not have been chosen by the two geniuses of the Lineage, Li Wei and Li Xuan.

"These two Combat Techniques were actually both altered from incomplete Black Tier or higher Combat Techniques!"

When he reached the end, Li Ye was even more astonished!

According to the records, Gale Legs was a simplified version altered from an incomplete Combat Technique called Divine Wind Legs. Frost Fist was likewise a simplified version of a Combat Technique called Heavenly Frost Fist.

It was written that these two Combat Techniques were presumed to have been at least Mid Profound Tier powerful Combat Techniques! Yet because the years had been too long and the originals too incomplete, they had been altered into the present-day Gale Legs and Frost Fist.

"Even the simplified versions reached Yellow Tier High-Grade Combat Technique! And their power surpasses ordinary Yellow Tier High-Grade Combat Techniques by quite a bit!"

After copying down all the contents, Li Ye returned the two Combat Techniques. Then he turned to Phantom Step and copied it as well.

"Phantom Step, a Yellow Tier High-Grade Movement Technique. Legend says it was created by some expert in ancient times. The complete Phantom Step was actually an Earth-Tier Movement Technique!"

Li Ye's entire body shuddered upon seeing this!

Combat Techniques and Movement Techniques on the Cloud Soaring Continent were universally divided into the four grades of Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow, with each grade further split into high, middle, and low tiers! An Earth-Tier Movement Technique! Forget Wuzhou City—even the entire Jiangnan Circuit might not possess one!

"I never expected Phantom Step to have such an astonishing origin. What a pity it is only an incomplete copy. Even if cultivated to its highest realm, it is merely Yellow Tier High-Grade."

Li Ye found it somewhat regrettable. According to the description, once the complete Phantom Step was cultivated to its end, it could instantly create tens of millions of afterimage clones. Each afterimage clone even possessed one-third of the original body's attack power.

Just thinking about it was terrifying! It meant that when facing such an expert, one would have to confront tens of millions of clones with one-third of the original's strength while also guarding against the original body's sneak attacks. It was absolutely a headache-inducing move.

Afterward, Li Ye looked through the other Combat Techniques and Movement Techniques. Most were quite good, but they were far inferior to the three techniques he had already learned.

There were not many Movement Techniques on the entire second floor, only a dozen or so. Not a single one could compare to Phantom Step, so Li Ye gave up on the others.

As for Combat Techniques, he did not find any fist or leg techniques comparable to Frost Fist and Gale Legs. However, he did find one palm technique and one sword technique.

"Cloud-Turning Palm, a Yellow Tier High-Grade Combat Technique. It was originally a simplified version of an incomplete Black Tier Combat Technique, Cloud-Dispersing Palm."

According to the records, the original complete versions of these three Combat Techniques had all been the sect-defining arts of a sect called the Heroes' Society ten thousand years ago. Unfortunately, the sect had been destroyed, and its ultimate arts had scattered in all directions, eventually becoming incomplete copies.

Still, compared with ordinary Yellow Tier High-Grade palm techniques, this Cloud-Turning Palm possessed considerable power. At the very least, it stood among the finest beneath the Black Tier.

Li Ye immediately used Blood Eyes to copy it down, intending to cultivate it properly after returning. Then his fist techniques, palm techniques, and leg techniques would all be presentable.

Afterward, he turned his gaze toward that sword technique.

"The sword is the king among weapons. Though it lacks the saber's tyranny, it is still the king of ten thousand weapons."

Why did Li Ye choose sword techniques rather than saber or spear techniques? It was entirely because of the influence of his previous life. In those wuxia films, so-called heroes usually carried a three-foot blade of azure steel, roaming the world with a sword at their side, killing one man in ten steps and leaving no trace for a thousand miles.

Now that he had come to this world of martial cultivation, seeing a sword technique naturally made him incomparably excited.

At this moment, he opened a somewhat old and damaged sword technique manual in his hands.

"Sword Control Technique?"

Seeing the name of the sword technique, Li Ye froze slightly. In his impression, sword techniques ought to have names like Ten Thousand Swords Art or Lone Sword Seeking Defeat. This Sword Control Technique left him rather surprised.

"Sword Control Technique, grade unknown. It controls sabers, swords, and other weapons to kill invisibly. When cultivated to its highest stage, it can control sabers and swords to kill people from a thousand miles away! One may even travel upon a sword!"

Li Ye's heart pounded violently. One never knew until one looked; one look was enough to shock him. Wasn't this Sword Control Technique the Sword-Flight Technique from mythological tales?

He looked around and found that no one was paying attention to him.

"This Combat Technique has been placed in the very corner. It is even covered in a thick layer of dust. Clearly, no one has shown interest in it for many years."

Li Ye could not help thinking that if it truly was the Sword-Flight Technique wielded by immortals in myths, it would definitely be unimaginably terrifying once successfully cultivated!

Not to mention anything else, using a sword to kill from a thousand miles away was simply more awesome than a modern sniper rifle! And that ability to travel upon a sword left Li Ye deeply shaken!

On the Cloud Soaring Continent, even King Tier experts who had entered the Innate Realm could only remain suspended in the air for a short period. To fly through the air, one had to reach at least the Earth Profound Realm!

Yet Wuzhou City did not possess any Earth Profound Realm experts at all! Even across the entire Jiangnan Circuit, only those lofty sects might contain experts of that level!

Li Ye continued reading carefully and discovered that cultivating the Sword Control Technique did not require much in terms of one's cultivation realm. Even Spirit Martial Tier One could get started.

However, it placed extremely high demands on the practitioner!

"Only those with extraordinary soul power can cultivate it?"

Li Ye frowned deeply upon seeing this.

For martial cultivators on the Cloud Soaring Continent, the power of the Blood Soul within their bodies was like the internal energy in Earth's wuxia novels, something he understood very well. But what was soul power?

Just then, Li Ye's brow suddenly prickled with faint pain. Immediately afterward, he saw densely packed tiny words appear upon the blank pages of the Sword Control Technique manual, which had originally contained only a few simple lines.

"This is!"

Li Ye had not expected the Sword Control Technique to conceal another secret! The true cultivation method was hidden within it! No wonder no one had ever cared about it before. It was not that no one recognized its value, but that there was simply no way to cultivate it!

"So that is it! Soul power is mental power!" A flash of realization left Li Ye deep in thought.

As for mental power, ordinary people truly found it difficult to judge whether it was strong or weak. After all, people on the Cloud Soaring Continent emphasized cultivating Blood Soul power, while few involved themselves with mental power.

But he was different. As a Blood Clan Vampire, he was born with powerful mental strength! Otherwise, he would not have been able to use Blood Eyes at all!

"This Sword Control Technique was practically tailor-made for me!" A gleam burst from Li Ye's eyes, but vanished in an instant, sinking into their depths.