Chapter 503: Chapter 502: Explosive Martial World Gathering (Part 1)
Seeing Shi Xiaole accept the token, Ai Renxiong heaved a sigh of relief, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his heart.
If Shi Xiaole had refused, he would have instructed Ai Wenhong and Ai Wenqian to treat him as a common friend, because the other party was unwilling to have too deep interactions with the Ai Family.
Luckily, everything turned out perfectly.
Actually, Ai Renxiong was overthinking things.
Given Shi Xiaole’s character, even if the Ai Family hadn’t shown him such great kindness, as long as Ai Wenhong asked for something, he wouldn’t stand idly by.
But given the current situation, Shi Xiaole had to accept this generous gift.
After he left, Ai Wenqian’s father, Ai Yinglong, came out from the side room and hesitated before saying, "Father, isn’t this gift too generous? I’m worried..."
"He who wishes to achieve great things must not be overly cautious. Trust me, this boy won’t let us down."
Ai Yinglong didn’t utter another word.
...
The Ai Family’s Book Collection Building, located on a mountain behind the family’s home, was the Ai Family’s first line of defense, surrounded by countless hidden experts on guard.
After presenting the token, Shi Xiaole moved unimpeded under the astonished gazes of the Ai Family’s experts, entering a three-story tower.
The tower was small, with two bookshelves on the first floor, one on the second floor, and a single table on the third floor, on which were placed two secret manuals.
Shi Xiaole counted a total of eighty-one secret manuals in the Book Collection Building — two top-tier manuals, sixteen second-tier manuals, and the rest were third-tier manuals.
Given the Ai Family’s history spanning over five hundred years and their status as a top-tier power in Xuanwu State, the fact that they’ve accumulated less than a hundred secret manuals over the years speaks volumes about how tightly the Martial World controls their distribution.
To others, viewing the Ai Family’s secret manuals could inspire new ideas, leading to fresh insights and the acquisition of new martial arts techniques. But the significance of the manuals was far greater for Shi Xiaole.
Ai Renxiong would never know what a great favor he had done for Shi Xiaole.
From that day on, Shi Xiaole was completely absorbed in the secret manuals, spending all day every day in the Book Collection Building, flipping through them. His memory was excellent, and he often retained all that he read at a glance. Afterwards, he’d close the manual to reflect carefully on its mysteries.
Once he thoroughly studied each manual, Shi Xiaole would redeem it for reward points.
Instead of redeeming rewards for equivalent martial arts, it made more sense to accumulate enough rewards to purchase a set of top-tier martial arts!
Every day at specific times, someone from the Ai Family would personally deliver exquisite meals. This kind of treatment stirred envy in the other Ai Family members who came and went on the first floor of the Book Collection Building.
As a result, some rumors began circulating within the Ai Family. Some were saying that Shi Xiaole was the illegitimate son of a main-line family member who had been abandoned, while others suggested that Shi Xiaole and Ai Wenqian were deeply in love, and had already been chosen as the future son-in-law of the Ai Family...
Shi Xiaole was unaware of these external comments, and even if he did know, he wouldn’t care.
He was completely engrossed in the sea of martial arts. When he encountered sword techniques, he would subconsciously trigger the sword movements, appreciating their essence. For other martial arts, he would build scenes in his mind, trying to find the possibility of integrating them with his sword techniques in order to continually perfect his Sword Realm.
In three days, Shi Xiaole had fully learned sixty-three third-tier secret manuals, each one practiced to the point of unconscious mastery.
If this speed were known, it would definitely shock the entire Ai Family. Even most Lord Level figures would not be able to surpass Shi Xiaole’s speed.
The difficulty level of second-tier secret manuals is at least ten times greater than that of third-tier manuals. However, this doesn’t mean that Shi Xiaole would need to spend ten times the time.
Just like two math problems, for those who have truly mastered the knowledge, there isn’t too much of a difference between the easy and hard ones.
It took him five days to turn all sixteen second-tier secret manuals into a source of inspiration and foundation in his mind.
Phew!
After six days of continuous brainstorming, even with Shi Xiaole’s mental strength, he felt dizzy and was in poor condition. He opened the window of the Book Collection Building, and after resting in the sunlight and gentle breeze for several 2-hour periods, immediately went up to the third floor.
"In eight days, he’s gone through seventy-nine secret manuals. Isn’t his speed a little too fast? Did he just skim through the content without understanding it in depth?"
Outside the Book Collection Building, many hidden Ai Family experts who had been quietly watching Shi Xiaole wrinkled their brows.
"Now, this is a genius! Even martial arts practice talks about methods. There’s indeed no need to spend too much time on the less important secret manuals. If I am not wrong, he should spend a majority of his energy on the martial arts techniques on the third floor."
One of the Ai Family elders said, garnering the agreement of others.
On the third floor, there were only two secret manuals, namely the lower level first-tier internal power manual, Water Sky True Scripture, and the lower level first-tier sword technique, Water Sky Sword Technique.
"Among the top-tier forces, there are strong and weak. The Spring Night Hell in the past was undoubtedly ranked first among the top-tier forces. Unfortunately, ever since the Ultimate Yin Treasure Scripture was lost, they lost the advantage to lead other sects."
If we exclude the top-tier influence of the branches of the Flying Horse Dynasty, among the local forces in Xuanwu State, only the Spring Night Hell owned a mid-level first-tier unique technique, the Ultimate Yin Treasure Scripture, in the last hundred years.
This was also the main reason why the Spring Night Hell was besieged by many sects in the past.
The level of difficulty in understanding first-tier secret manuals is more than ten times that of second-tier manuals.
Shi Xiaole was spending his days and nights studying the Water Sky True Scripture and Water Sky Sword Technique, especially the Water Sky Sword Technique, which held countless mysteries that united the principles of water and sword. This gave Shi Xiaole profound insights he had never experienced before.
Caught in this immersive contemplation, his Sword Realm was continually improving, and his foundational understanding was growing day by day. It seemed like every day brought about new changes.
His peaceful and fruitful life went undisturbed, but Shi Xiaole was unaware that the entire Martial World of the Flying Horse Dynasty, including the Ai Family, was in an uproar.
The cause of this was that on the first day of October, the Divine Strategy Academy struck a major blow by publishing a book called the Martial World Collection!
This booklet, unprecedentedly, has recorded the major events that occurred throughout the Flying Horse Dynasty in the past month, including the involved personnel, causes of the incidents, results, and so forth. Every detail, no matter how small, is covered without exception.
By fully examining this booklet, martial artists throughout the land can be aware of all major events in the entirety of the Flying Horse Dynasty.
A single stone stirred up a thousand ripples!
Everyone was amazed by the Divine Strategy Academy’s initiative. Such a book compilation would require an incredibly extensive intelligence capability and influence range.
As to the authenticity of the incidents, no one would doubt it.
The history of the Divine Strategy Academy dates back even further than that of the Flying Horse Dynasty. The information from it is not one hundred per cent accurate, but at least 99% so.
"On the 23rd day of the 9th month of the 217th year of the Flying Horse Dynasty, in Tian State, Heavenly Snow Mountain, one of the Seven Sects of the Chaotic World, sent thirteen super masters to encircle and suppress the Grand Elder of the Nether Demon Hall. After the confrontation, dozens of miles of forest was flattened. Among the thirteen masters of the Righteous Path, nine dead, four injured. The Grand Elder of the Nether Demon Hall vanished without a trace."
"On the 24th day of the 9th month of the 217th year of the Flying Horse Dynasty, in Tian State, the Martial Emperor was suspected to have appeared in the Flying Horse royal palace."
"On the 24th day of the 9th month of the 217th year of the Flying Horse Dynasty, in the Azure Dragon State, a shocking purple light shot up into the sky. It was suspected to be the re-emergence of a famous ancient sword, provoking countless masters to fight over it. There was so much bloodshed that bodies floated for a hundred miles."
"..."
One piece of news after another was read out amidst the flipping of pages, causing countless people in the Martial World to be shocked to their cores.
They have always known that the Martial World was full of excitement, with major events happening all the time. Yet, when these events were truly recorded down, it still left everyone in awe of how vast the world was and how expansive the Martial World was.
The characters in the Martial World Compilation seemed to have transformed into the most vivid paintings, allowing those martial artists who could only spend their whole lives in a corner of the world to immerse themselves in, becoming a part of the story.
The whole world was in an uproar.
Without a doubt, the Divine Strategy Academy’s initiative had a significant, and even unprecedented, impact on the Martial World. The release of the Martial World Compilation unified the information channels within the Flying Horse Dynasty for the first time, and thus brought the Martial World into a completely new era.
However, the thing that really attracted the heated discussions of the people was not the major events recorded in the Compilation of the Martial World, but another section — the power ranking list!
In the latter half of each copy of the Martial World Compilation, the Divine Strategy Academy listed numerous power rankings and claimed that these rankings were compiled after considering various factors over many years, with an accuracy rate of over 90%.
The first list was the mesmerising ranking of the top ten masters of the dynasty!
"Empty Mountain Man, ranked tenth in the Flying Horse Dynasty, renowned all over the world for his unique Heaven Defying Hand. Ordinary in his childhood, but later rose to fame astonishingly... "
"Galan Sword Emperor, ranked ninth in the Flying Horse Dynasty... "
"..."
"Martial Emperor, ranked first in Flying Horse Dynasty, the first prodigy, first swordsman, first hero in nearly a thousand years, attained Hidden Qi at seven, absorbed Qi the same year, accessed Xuan Qi at eight, made his name at eighteen, defeated the Dragon Gate Realm Lord with a single move, and became the Lord among Lords..."
The top ten masters were each so powerful that they seemed nearly divine. Ordinary people might hear their names, but would never get to see them in person. As for their rankings, no one dared to comment further.
How could ants ever dare to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of elephants?
After the top ten masters of the dynasty came the Heaven and Earth lists.
The Heaven list included thirty-six people, while the Earth list accommodated seventy-two. These individuals were also elusive, each possessing astronomical strength.
However, the lists following the three main rankings suddenly narrowed from the scale of the dynasty to the scope of cities or even towns. A few powerhouse states were also mentioned, such as Tian State, Azure Dragon State, and White Tiger State, etc.
Xuanwu State.
The eyes of countless sects, clans, and Martial World people were fixated on the pages that outlined the ranking list of Shuntian Capital.
There were fifty top martial artists in Shuntian Capital. However, this list of fifty was not originally arranged by the Divine Strategy Academy, but rather spread from certain interested parties.
Now, the Divine Strategy Academy had reorganised the list of the top fifty martial artists, marking it with an officially recognised stamp. The significant changes in the rankings had provoked endless discussions among the public.
Following the fifty top martial artists, people’s eyes inevitably landed on the title of another section—The Fifty Top Talents Ranking of Shuntian Capital!
"Ranked 50th, ’Mountain-Cleaving Sword’ Xiahou Cheng."
"Ranked 49th, ’Light Boat Amidst Myriad Glows’ Shui Piaoping."
"..."
"Ranked 9th, ’Invincible in a Hundred Battles’ Tong Baizhan."
"..."
"Ranked 2nd, ’Junior Lord’ Yu Zhao."
As they read down the list, the brilliance of these talents seemed to leap off the page. Finally, all the martial artists of Xuanwu State had their eyes fixated on the uppermost text on the page, their hearts all pulsating violently.
"Ranked 1st, ’Green-clothed Sword Marquis’ Shi Xiaole."
Following each name, there were introductions to their life’s achievements and major exploits, as well as commentary from the Divine Strategy Academy.
It was evident that the Divine Strategy Academy held Shi Xiaole in the highest regard, even giving him the honour of being called the greatest talent of Shuntian Capital in the last six hundred years.
Before this, only martial artists in Xuanwu State and a few neighbouring states knew about the general situation of the Linjiang Fairy Gathering.
But with the release of a single Martial World Compilation, everybody in Shuntian Capital now knew the names of the top ten local talents. Most importantly, they all paid attention to Shi Xiaole, who was ranked first and stood high above!
