Chapter 365: Chapter 364: Finally Achieved Top-Level Martial Arts (4th Update, Please Subscribe!)
Before long, an elder from the Lingjian Sect entered, leading three other elders in with him. They were all in the ninth peak of the Spiritual-Passage Realm, sharing the same profound aura.
"What do you intend to exchange?"
Amon the three, the elder standing in the center, who had the most powerful aura, asked.
Shi Xiaole had a plan in mind. He responded, "Secret manuals. If it’s a second-grade upper-class secret manual, one is enough. If you don’t have an upper-class one, you can use a certain number of second-grade middle-class and low-class secret manuals to trade."
Shi Xiaole’s current reward points amount to 43,500. He just needs 6,500 points more to purchase a first-grade lower-class martial arts.
And 6,500 points, is just about a few second-grade secret manuals.
Hence, he is willing to trade it for a low-grade spirit sword.
There are less than two months left till the assembly at Mt. Cang. To complete the system task, Shi Xiaole will inevitably collide with the Demon Marquis. His current strength is too risky.>
Therefore, he must obtain a first-grade martial art.
As for whether or not the first-grade martial art might be too profound, causing him to spend too much time and not being able to learn it in time, Shi Xiaole had already figured out a solution.
"Trading for secret manuals?"
The elder in the middle shook his head, "I’m sorry, but we cannot offer secret manuals as they are not meant to be passed on."
Martial arts secret manuals have always been one of the most important resources within the martial world, especially second-grade martial arts. Even for a top sect like Lingjian Sect in the Fire Cloud State, they would not have too many. Any one of them was of considerable significance.
"In that case, sorry for troubling you. Please return my low-grade Spirit Sword."
Shi Xiaole stood up, pointing at the sword in the old man’s hand on the left.
The elder on the left said, "Aside from secret manuals, Lingjian Sect can grant any other of your requests."
"Sorry, but I want nothing other than the secret manuals."
With the talk having reached this point, there was visibly no need to negotiate further.
"We can withdraw a step and exchange ten third-grade secret manuals with you."
The elder in the middle was set back substantially as he smacked the table and declared.
Shi Xiaole laughed.
Trading a low-grade spirit sword for ten third-grade secret manuals, did they take him for a fool?
"I say it for the last time, either use second-grade secret manuals for the trade, or give me back my sword."
The elder on the right said in a calm tone, "Sir, I wonder where you got this low-grade spirit sword. Is it legal? Judging by your appearance, you don’t seem like someone who could own a treasured sword."
The three elders were all among the top 20 experts from Lingjian sect, holding high ranks and profound authority, especially the elder in the middle. His skills were only second to the Sect Master, making him the Grand Elder of the Lingjian Sect.
The reason why they didn’t return to the sect and chose to stay here was that they were assigned to investigate the causes of the magma tide that occurred four months ago.
Unexpectedly, they couldn’t figure out the cause but managed to chance upon a low-grade Spirit Sword. Seeing that Shi Xiaole seemed to possess more than one, sunk into such a stroke of wild luck was too beguiling for them to simply let it pass.
So when Shi Xiaole didn’t agree to cooperate, the elder on the right harboured other intentions.
The other two elders hesitated briefly upon witnessing this and chose to remain silent.
The fifteenth elder was right, this man Shi Xiaole had a dubious and enigmatic background. Flaunting a low-grade spirit sword with such ease, who knows where he came from. If his intent turned out to be malicious, this seemed like a good opportunity to eliminate a potential threat.
Yes, they were not acting out of self-interest, it was for the sake of justice and righteousness.
"Hand it over."
Tired of beating around the bush, Shi Xiaole sucked in a deep breath and instantly, the sword in the elder’s hand when flying out involuntarily.
"Scoundrel, dare to act wildly in Lingjian Tower!"
The three elders, including the first one who initiated the conversation, were all enraged, and as if coordinated, simultaneously attacked Shi Xiaole.>
All of them held high cultivation levels, but they were not at the limit of the Spiritual Passage Realm. Especially the Lingjian Sect’s Grand Elder, who clearly grasped the ’Sword Heart’ to a minor extent and had a complete understanding of a certain artistic conception.
The four of them teamed up and put in their full strength at once owing to the nervousness they felt. Hoping to avoid drawing others’ attention, they intended to subdue Shi Xiaole in one fell swoop.
"What a righteous sect."
Standing still in his spot, Shi Xiaole swung out a low-grade spirit sword that he had pulled out from his back.
Swoosh!
With a cracking sound, the Gang wind was broken, and the elder on the left lost his right hand; an outburst of sharp screams escaped from his mouth. The other three were also impacted by the power of the sword qi, suffering internal injuries and stepping backward.
"You..."
All four of them were shocked, their faces turned pale with fear.
Such strong power! Even the Sect Master, against their combined force, wouldn’t be able to stay so calm.
The Grand Elder forced a smile, "Venerable one, we failed to recognize a great person. Let put this way, I, in my personal capacity, can make a trade with you. How about it?"
He wasn’t foolish enough to call for others. Firstly, it might expose his rotten deeds. Secondly, for someone of Shi Xiaole’s caliber, what difference would more people make?
At this critical moment, the priority was to appease him, to prevent him from making a deadly move.
"Let’s hear it."
"Having traveled in the martial world for decades, I have obtained two second-grade, mid-class secret manuals to give to you."
Shi Xiaole raised his sword.
"Two second-rate medium-grade secret books, three third-rate top-grade secret books, this is all I have left."
The Grand Elder was despondent.
He couldn’t reveal Lingjian Sect’s martial arts; otherwise, the mental restriction in his mind would be activated, and he would surely die.
Seeing that the other party had told the truth, Shi Xiaole turned towards the other three: "What about you?"
The three elders were both angry and resentful, but they could only cooperate obediently.
Half a 2-hour period later, Shi Xiaole left the Lingjian Sect, but his mind was filled with nine martial arts skills. Among them, two were second-rate medium-grade secret books, three were second-rate lower-grade secret books, and the remaining four were third-rate secret books.
Among those four people, three were Spiritual-Passage Realm ninth-level experts. They had been making a name for themselves in the Martial World of the Eight States for decades, and had only procured a few scattered secret books.
This demonstrated the precious nature of these secret books.
Given these gains, Shi Xiaole was quite satisfied.
According to the system’s rules, a second-rate medium-grade secret book was worth around 3,500 reward points. A second-rate lower-grade secret book was worth 2,000 reward points.
A third-rate secret book was worth between a few hundred to 1,000 points.
After exchanging all nine martial arts skills into reward points, Shi Xiaole’s reward value surged from 43,500 points to an astonishing 59,000 points, just 1,000 points short of a top-tier lower-grade martial arts technique!
Having tasted the sweetness of success, Shi Xiaole then visited several other top-level sects.
One of them was greedy, and he extorted several secret books from them. After exchanging them, the reward value reached 61,500 points.
However, some of them were very disciplined and did not make a move.
Having tasted the sweetness of success, Shi Xiaole was tempted to force others, but after hesitating for a moment, he decided not to do so.
Firstly, the other party may not have the secret books that he had. The elder of the Lingjian Sect was quite wealthy, but the elder of the second sect only had a few third-rate secret books.
Secondly, and most importantly, one must not lose their character.
This time, he violated his bottom line for a top-tier lower-grade martial art. Next time, there will be greater temptations. Would he violate his principles again and again?
If he lost the most precious things, what use would the high level of martial arts be?
In order to prevent his identity from being discovered, Shi Xiaole left Flame Cloud City after getting rid of any remaining followers, and entered the boundless mountains.
Several days later, dressed in a blue robe and with his original appearance restored, he found a waterfall pool, and using his sword technique, opened a cave behind the waterfall to hide within.
Entering the system in his mind, Shi Xiaole’s gaze wandered through the stone wall on the third floor of the Martial God Hall. Seeing the names of acclaimed martial arts skills that were well-known in the Martial World, he was overwhelmed with excitement.
Finally, his gaze stopped on a stone tablet.
Long ago, Shi Xiaole had decided on which lower-grade top-tier martial arts technique he would buy, so he didn’t need to hesitate at this moment.
"I’ll take this one."
Ding!
"This skill is a lower-tier top-tier technique and must be purchased with 61,000 reward points. May I ask the host, are you sure you want to buy it?"
"Confirmed."
"Congratulations! The host has successfully purchased the lower-tier top-tier internal power skill, ’Yu Peiyu’s Faceless Divine Skill’."
His reward points decreased rapidly until only 1,500 were left, but Shi Xiaole didn’t care. He was simply engrossed in the new internal power mantra in his mind.
The Faceless Divine Skill was one of the four unchallenged internal powers in the Martial World. Together with Mingyu skill, Sizhao skill, and the Wedding Dress skill, its mighty power could cause great surges of energy. The internal power cultivated from this skill was extremely fierce.
The year when Yu Peiyu first practiced the Faceless Divine Skill, his power was so great that it forced a thousand-foot waterfall to reverse its flow in mid-air. This showed the terrifying power of this skill!
The reason Shi Xiaole chose the Faceless Divine Skill was that, unlike other profound internal powers, it could be learned quickly.
The Faceless Divine Skill had a great relationship with the Xiantian Wujimen. Only those with spirit and resolve could successfully cultivate it.
If one was naturally gifted and had the foundational internal power of Xiantian Wujimen, they could master this supreme internal power in as little as five days!
There were two months left before the Mountain Cang convention. Considering the waste of time on the journey, Shi Xiaole had at most one month left.
Therefore, he must practice the Faceless Divine Skill within a month!
Outside the cave, the waterfall was roaring. Shi Xiaole sat cross-legged on a rock in the sitting posture of Buddhist monks, his face serene and solemn as he gradually entered a state of selflessness.
Shi Xiaole didn’t have the foundational power of Xiantian Wujimen, so practicing the Faceless Divine Skill was many times harder for him than for Yu Peiyu.
One day.
Two days.
In a blink of an eye, half a month passed.
In each seven-day cycle, Shi Xiaole was constantly pondering the mysteries of the Faceless Divine Skill. In the end, he even started to feel a headache.
This was a sign of overusing his brain and excessive mental energy consumption.
However, compared to mastering the Faceless Divine Skill and the exhilaration of improved skills, what was this little discomfort? Besides, the process of delving into profound martial arts was filled with indescribable joy.
In the Martial World, most people never even saw a first-rate martial art in their lives, let alone suffer from it.
There were only three days left in the one-month deadline set by Shi Xiaole.
On this clear morning, Shi Xiaole’s pale face suddenly turned red, shining brilliantly and even more dazzling than a gem.
