Eve of the Genius Summit

A Yellow Tier Low-Grade longsword!

Li Ye drew a slight breath. When he had come out this time, he had only intended to pick out a fairly decent Fine-Grade Weapon longsword. He had never expected to encounter a Yellow Tier Low-Grade weapon!

"Shopkeeper, how much is this sword?"

Suppressing his surprise and excitement, Li Ye appeared relatively calm on the surface, revealing no burning gaze.

"Twenty-two thousand gold coins!"

Twenty-two thousand?! Upon hearing that, Li Ye inwardly shook his head. Sure enough, compared to Mortal Weapons and Fine-Grade Weapons, the price of tiered weapons is simply beyond what ordinary people can bear.

On the Cloud Soaring Continent, one hundred gold coins were enough for a family of three to live comfortably for a year. Even ten thousand gold coins were not something many smaller Lineages could easily produce! At a price of twenty-two thousand gold coins, even within Wuzhou City, there were absolutely few who could pay without so much as furrowing a brow!

Seeing Li Ye remain silent, the shopkeeper immediately smiled faintly. "Of course, if Young Master truly likes it, the price can be lowered a little. Twenty thousand gold coins!"

Twenty thousand gold coins? Li Ye gave a bitter smile and shook his head. Never mind twenty thousand; he could not even produce two thousand gold coins.

As one of Wuzhou City's three great Lineages, the Li Family naturally treated its Inner Disciples well. Especially since he had entered the top ten Inner Disciples, the family issued him one thousand gold coins in living expenses every month.

However, martial cultivators also had considerable daily expenses. Moreover, he had only entered the ranks of the Inner Disciples this month, so he had no money on hand yet.

After silently calculating the gold coins he had, Li Ye found that he had less than one thousand. This was even after the family's one-time reward for his entry among the Inner Disciples.

"It seems this Clearwind Sword and I were not fated to be together."

He no longer looked at it and turned his gaze toward the others. This small room did not contain just that one longsword; quite a few other weapons hung on the walls.

Among them, Li Ye spotted a set of throwing knives. His eyes immediately lit up, and he walked over.

Upon closer inspection, it was a set of six throwing knives. Every one was small and exquisite, glinting with threads of cold light.

The moment he saw them, Li Ye took a liking to them. "I may not be able to afford a Flying Sword, but using the Sword Control Technique to control these throwing knives for a sudden kill would be even more powerful!"

The shopkeeper was somewhat surprised to see Li Ye move elsewhere, but his face gave nothing away as he continued his introduction.

"Young Master's eye is indeed unique. This set of throwing knives was likewise made by Master Tie. Though they have not entered a tier, they are the finest among quality weapons! They even contain some Century Cold Iron, so there is no need to doubt their sharpness. Against ordinary weapons, they cut through iron like mud. Even ordinary quality weapons would snap easily when they met them!"

After saying that, the shopkeeper took an ordinary weapon from the side, then removed a throwing knife and gave it a light chop. There was no resistance whatsoever, and it was severed in an instant!

"So sharp!"

Li Ye could not help but be moved!

On the Cloud Soaring Continent, the difference between ordinary Mortal Weapons and Fine-Grade Weapons generally lay only in the maker's craftsmanship; their fundamental nature was not greatly different. Only tiered weapons could achieve such iron-cutting sharpness.

"Though these throwing knives have not entered a tier, their sharpness is no different from that of an ordinary Yellow Tier Low-Grade weapon!"

For Li Ye, who wanted to use the Sword Control Technique to control weapons and kill enemies, that ability to cut through iron like mud was precisely what he valued most!

Before Li Ye could ask the price, the shopkeeper had already launched into an endless stream of words. "Although this set of throwing knives is not a tiered weapon, it is not much inferior to one. Furthermore, because Century Cold Iron was added, the price is fifteen thousand gold coins for the set!"

Fifteen thousand gold coins! Li Ye truly did not know whether to praise his own sharp eye or curse his terrible luck.

He had taken a fancy to two weapons in a row, yet both were so expensive that they were utterly beyond his means.

Shaking his head, Li Ye helplessly shifted his gaze away. He then swept his eyes across the room and immediately understood that finding a weapon here that he could afford would be very difficult.

"The weapons here are at least the finest of the Fine-Grade Weapons. It seems that with my current wealth, it will be difficult to buy one."

Yet Li Ye could not be bothered with ordinary weapons. Common Mortal Weapons, even Fine-Grade Weapons, simply could not bring out the power of the Sword Control Technique and might even hinder it.

The shopkeeper's eye was exceedingly sharp, and he instantly saw that this extraordinary-looking youth was short of money.

Under normal circumstances, he would certainly have revealed contempt or even mocked him aloud. But today was different. For some reason, he found the youth before him somewhat extraordinary. Nor was he stupid. Although Li Ye wore only ordinary clothes, that bearing was not something an ordinary person could possess.

"His bearing makes him look like a child of a great Lineage."

Of course, even a scion of a great Lineage could not afford weapons above the level of Fine-Grade Weapons unless they were among the very best.

In the end, Li Ye chose an ordinary Fine-Grade Weapon in the form of a longsword, also forged from Hundred-Forged Steel, which left him fairly satisfied. After paying three hundred gold coins, Li Ye returned to the Li Family.

"It seems I had thought too simply before. No wonder those martial cultivators all seem poor as beggars. Spending money really is easy."

Unfortunately, with Li Ye's current status as the seventh-ranked Inner Disciple, he could receive only one thousand gold coins from the family each month. He had to cover all other expenses himself.

Of course, he could choose to go out like those mercenaries and adventurers and accept some tasks to earn money, but Li Ye immediately shook his head and dismissed the idea.

That was because tasks that could be handled alone with ease generally offered little reward, while those with high rewards usually required many people to form a team and might even involve casualties. They also took far too long, making it entirely impossible for him to finish before the Genius Summit.

Over the next day, Li Ye began familiarizing himself with controlling a longsword through the Sword Control Technique. It did not go smoothly at first. Although he could move objects through the air, he could never meet the standard he had envisioned.

However, Li Ye soon became able to use his spiritual power to control the longsword in his hand, making it fly nimbly back and forth.

"At present, my maximum control range is ten meters. Beyond that distance, spiritual power consumption increases severalfold, while control precision drops and the power becomes insufficient."

After repeated tests, Li Ye discovered that at his current strength, controlling a Flying Sword within ten meters produced the greatest power!

Whoosh! A streak of cold light flashed past, and a hard slab of granite seven or eight meters away was pierced straight through!

"With this kind of power, even a Martial Dao Master-level expert could be killed if caught unprepared! At the very least, they would be seriously injured!"

Li Ye was very satisfied with the result. His own strength now was not much weaker than that of a Martial Dao Master. With the spiritual illusion impact of the Blood Eyes and the Sword Control Technique now in his hands, an ordinary Martial Dao Master would have no way to deal with him!

"However, it is still somewhat difficult to threaten Martial Dao Grandmaster-level experts!"

He knew very clearly that the most talented people in Wuzhou City could be judged from Li Mo alone. They were absolute monsters who had entered the ranks of Martial Dao Grandmasters! With his current strength, even if he went all out and fought desperately, his odds of defeating a Spirit Martial Tier Nine expert such as a Martial Dao Grandmaster were below fifty percent!

"What a pity. If I had that set of throwing knives or that Clearwind Sword, then even against a Martial Dao Grandmaster, I would have at least a forty to fifty percent chance of killing them with the Sword Control Technique!"

Shaking his head, Li Ye temporarily stopped thinking about such matters.

"Right now, my Movement Technique, Phantom Step, still has much room for improvement. I have Frost Fist for my fist technique and Gale Legs for my leg technique. That Cloud-Turning Palm, however, requires some careful study."

If anyone knew that Li Ye had learned so many Combat Techniques alone, they would surely laugh at him. Martial cultivators had limited energy. Rather than spreading their learning too broadly, it was better to specialize in one technique!

Even geniuses within the family such as Li Xuan only studied one High-Grade Yellow-Tier Combat Technique, at most learning a few ordinary mid-grade Yellow-tier battle techniques as well.

Someone like Li Ye, who had learned three High-Grade Yellow-Tier Combat Techniques and one High-Grade Yellow-Tier Movement Technique in one breath, along with a Sword Control Technique of unknown grade, was either an arrogant madman or a peerless genius!

Whether Li Ye was a madman or a genius was still difficult to say, but beneath the Blood-Pupil Eye, even High-Grade Yellow-Tier Combat Techniques came to Li Ye the moment he saw them!

"Cloud-Turning Palm!"

Boom! Palm force like a row of air waves blasted out. A large tree in the distance, one that required a person to wrap both arms around it, cracked and shattered into pieces!

"Its power is stronger than Frost Fist and Gale Legs!"

Li Ye analyzed it in secret. Of the three Combat Techniques he had learned, Gale Legs was the most elusive, with the greatest speed and range but insufficient power. Frost Fist was balanced, with moderate power, but its dense chill interfered with an opponent's movements. Cloud-Turning Palm, however, possessed the greatest power. With one palm strike, rows upon rows of palm force erupted, focusing on offensive strength.

In two days, Li Ye directly cultivated all three Combat Techniques to the Minor Accomplishment realm. Combat Techniques and Movement Techniques were generally divided into Beginner, Minor Accomplishment, Major Accomplishment, Mastery, and Perfection. The Minor Accomplishment realm generally allowed martial cultivators to display around thirty to forty percent of a Combat Technique's original power, and it usually took months or even years of cultivation to reach.

Someone like Li Ye, who entered the Beginner realm with one look and reached Minor Accomplishment in two days, was simply monstrous! Unfortunately, Li Ye did not know this and thought it was perfectly normal.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Only the continuous sound of air being torn could be heard as seven or eight afterimages filled the entire courtyard.

"Phantom Step truly deserves to be a fragment of an Earth-Tier Movement Technique. Though incomplete, it far surpasses ordinary High-Grade Yellow-Tier Movement Techniques!"

For some reason, Li Ye cultivated Phantom Step exceptionally smoothly. In less than a day, he had reached the Minor Accomplishment realm, then directly stepped into the Major Accomplishment realm!

Now, when Li Ye unleashed it with full force, he could instantly split into more than ten duplicates. Every duplicate was more lifelike and more bewildering than those Li Wei had displayed before.

Over these days, Li Yating and Xiao Qing had already left after saying their farewells.

At the same time, the day of the Genius Summit drew ever nearer. The great Lineages of Wuzhou City and some Rogue Cultivators all rubbed their fists and palms, eager to display their might at the Genius Summit!

Yet on the day before the Genius Summit, some unexpected changes occurred!