Chapter 6: Fiancée (Part 2)
In the beginning, Li Qiye was incredibly clumsy. Even though he grasped every mystical meaning of swordsmanship in his mind, his hand still trembled when he drew his sword, failing to achieve the required level of flawless precision.
However, Li Qiye was not discouraged. He practiced his swordsmanship again and again. Through his arduous, repetitive training, he gradually grew more skillful. In a single night, Li Qiye practiced three hundred times. He slowly mastered the mystical meaning of the art, and his strikes became incomparably accurate.
Although Li Qiye possessed countless memories and held heaven-shaking secrets, his incomparably firm Dao Heart made him understand one thing clearly: to raze the Immortal Demon Cave in this life, he would have to put in ten, even a hundred times more effort than anyone else. Otherwise, even with infinite resources, it would be impossible. In the current era, no one understood the Immortal Demon Cave better than he did!
For three days, Li Qiye remained secluded in his courtyard, arduously practicing his swordsmanship. He understood that the coming trip to the Nine Saints Demon Gate would be perilous; he had to be prepared.
「Three days passed in a flash.」
Li Qiye set off for the Nine Saints Demon Gate. Accompanying him were Nan Huairun, who had been acting as his messenger, and a certain Guardian Mo.
The Xiyan Ancient Sect had Six Great Elders, twelve Guardians, and thirty-six Hall Masters. Yet for a trip to a powerful sect like the Nine Saints Demon Gate, only a single Guardian was leading the way. It was truly pathetic.
"Just the three of us?" Li Qiye asked, glancing at the meager party before they departed.
The leader of the group, Guardian Mo, was a man of few words. He was also Nan Huairun's master. Guardian Mo shot Li Qiye a look, too disinclined to say anything more.
Nan Huairun, on the other hand, was a smooth operator, adept at navigating any social situation. Hearing Li Qiye's remark, he gave a dry laugh and said, "Senior Brother, the elders have all recently entered seclusion for their cultivation. They don't plan on going."
Li Qiye chuckled and said calmly, "'Secluded cultivation? More like they're afraid of losing face. It's not like I have any chance of passing the assessment anyway. If they, as elders, were to personally attend, the failure itself would be a small matter, but they can't afford the humiliation.'"
Called out so bluntly by Li Qiye, Nan Huairun could only laugh awkwardly. Li Qiye had hit the nail on the head. 'He hasn't even begun to cultivate, and he's going to the Nine Saints Demon Gate for an assessment? He'll just end up embarrassing himself over and over again.'
To the Six Great Elders, there was no way Li Qiye could pass the assessment. Failure was a foregone conclusion. The humiliation, however, was something they couldn't afford.
"Senior Brother, you're reading too much into it," Nan Huairun said with a dry laugh. "The Nine Saints Demon Gate isn't exactly friendly toward us, and the elders don't wish to provoke a conflict. That's why they're not attending."
Li Qiye just smiled indifferently. "The Nine Saints Demon Gate is nothing to speak of," he said. "The Xiyan Ancient Sect is a shadow of its former self. Back in the day, even if the Nine Saints Great Sage himself were alive, he would have had no choice but to come and pay homage to our Xiyan Ancient Sect."
Hearing Li Qiye's outrageous claim, Guardian Mo snorted coldly and shot him a look, too disinclined to waste any more words on him.
Nan Huairun just smiled awkwardly, afraid that Li Qiye's boasting would only get more outrageous. He quickly changed the subject, introducing the man to Li Qiye. "Senior Brother, this is my master, a Guardian of our sect."
"I will be in your care on this journey, Guardian Mo." Li Qiye performed a formal bow. His etiquette was perfect, his bearing poised and graceful.
Guardian Mo glanced at Li Qiye, still unwilling to waste words. "Let's get going," he said, turning to leave. As a Guardian of the Xiyan Ancient Sect, he was actually one of the older ones, and his Dao Practice was quite good. Unfortunately, he was a man of few words and unskilled at social interaction, so his standing within the sect was average at best, incomparable to the other Guardians. Otherwise, a thankless task like leading this delegation to the Nine Saints Demon Gate would never have fallen to him.
The upper echelons of the Xiyan Ancient Sect all understood that this trip to the Nine Saints Demon Gate was bound to make them a laughingstock. Li Qiye would undoubtedly make a fool of himself, and there was even a chance he could get himself killed. The mission was doomed from the start. Not only did the Six Great Elders shun it, but the other Guardians also refused to lead. In the end, the task fell onto Guardian Mo's shoulders.
Guardian Mo knew this trip was guaranteed to be a humiliating disaster. How could he possibly be in a good mood? This only made him more taciturn, to the point where he couldn't even be bothered to speak.
Guardian Mo led Li Qiye and Nan Huairun onto the Xiyan Ancient Sect's Dao Platform. The platform was enormous, capable of holding ten thousand people. A Dao Platform of this scale was shockingly vast; throughout the entire Middle Grand Realm, few Inheritance Sects could claim to possess one so immense.
The Dao Platform was incredibly ancient, constructed from Divine Stone Treasure Pillars and inscribed with the Immortal Emperor's Text. Its aura was majestic and unfathomably deep. Each chapter of the Immortal Emperor's Text was said to be capable of obliterating time and space. This Dao Platform alone was a testament to the Xiyan Ancient Sect's profound heritage.
This was the very Dao Platform that Mingren Immortal Emperor had personally crafted. He had once used it to launch expeditions to the Eight Desolations and traverse the Nine Realms! In the entire Middle Grand Realm, it was likely that only an Immortal Sect Emperor Lineage could possess such a Dao Platform.
VMMM— As the disciples of the Xiyan Ancient Sect activated it, a colossal Daoist Door rose from within the Dao Platform. The door was forged from polished Divine Gold and inscribed with incredibly profound Emperor's Text. Rows of grooves were carved into the door's surface, designed to be inlaid with Essence Walls.
Essence Walls were crystal stones formed from condensed Heaven and Earth Essence Qi. They had many uses, one of which was to power the Daoist Door for spatial traversal. The more Essence Walls used, and the higher their grade, the farther one could travel.
Unfortunately, only a paltry few of the grooves on the Daoist Door were currently inlaid with Essence Walls, and even those were of a low grade.
Seeing this, Li Qiye sighed internally. 'The Xiyan Ancient Sect has truly fallen into decline. Back in the day, this Daoist Door was filled to the brim with Essence Walls from the Immortal Lands! It could traverse the Nine Realms, reaching any destination you desired, so long as you had the precise coordinates.'
"Let's go." Guardian Mo led Li Qiye and Nan Huairun into the Daoist Door, and in an instant, they were teleported away.
The Great Middle Realm was immense, spanning a vast territory. Cultivator Sects were countless, and there were even dozens of Jiang Countries. A single one of these behemoths—be it a Jiang Country, an Upper Country, or an Ancient Country—could command a territory that was itself unimaginably vast.
Therefore, to cross an entire Jiang Country by flying, one would have to be a True Saint Emperor. Otherwise, even powerful experts like Heroic Heroes or Princes would need an incredibly long time. What's more, the Great Middle Realm was merely one part of the vast Human Emperor Realm.
The Human Emperor Realm—also known as the Emperor Realm or the Emperor's Domain—was a vast land. To its north lay a great ocean; to its south, the Red Lands; to its east, the Hundred Cities; and to its west, the great wilderness. At its very center was the Great Middle Realm.
Crossing a Jiang Country or traveling between realms by flight alone was impractical. One had to rely on Daoist Doors for spatial traversal. Of course, very few sects possessed Dao Platforms capable of crossing between realms; those that did were usually the supreme rulers of an Upper Country.
VMMM— In the blink of an eye, Li Qiye and his companions were transported to the Nine Saints Demon Gate, stepping out from the Daoist Door on its Dao Platform.
The moment they stepped through the Daoist Door, both Guardian Mo and Li Qiye were struck by the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi, which was so rich and dense it felt tangible. Before them unfolded a vista worthy of an immortal paradise.
The Sect Territory of the Nine Saints Demon Gate spanned thousands of miles. The landscape was magnificent, with waterfalls suspended in mid-air, Divine Trees that seemed to prop up the heavens, and ancient halls and jade pavilions drifting amongst the clouds. From the deepest recesses of the territory, pillars of divine light surged skyward, betraying the presence of world-shaking Celestial Treasures hidden within.
Within the Nine Saints Demon Gate, Longevity Spirits could be seen entering and exiting glowing grottoes, breathing in the vibrant mists. Celestial Beasts streaked across the firmament, soaring through the Nine Heavens as a primordial aura roiled the very clouds.
This was the true bearing of a Major Sect. With such a magnificent presence, it was no wonder they were the dominant force in the Jiang Country. Compared to this, the Xiyan Ancient Sect seemed like a dying old man on his deathbed. There was no comparison.
Faced with such a grand sight, both Guardian Mo and Nan Huairun were momentarily stunned. It wasn't their first visit to the Nine Saints Demon Gate, but seeing its grandeur still filled their hearts with melancholy. They remembered a time when even a behemoth like the Nine Saints Demon Gate would have had to pay homage to the Xiyan Ancient Sect.
Alas, those glorious days were long gone. Today, the Xiyan Ancient Sect had fallen so far that it had to rely on the goodwill of the Nine Saints Demon Gate to survive.
"So it is Brother Mo who graces us with his presence. It has been a long time." As Guardian Mo and the others descended from the Dao Platform, an old man and his disciple were already waiting to receive them.
The Xiyan Ancient Sect and the Nine Saints Demon Gate had already corresponded about the assessment, so the latter was well-prepared for their arrival.
The one greeting them was a Hall Master from the Nine Saints Demon Gate, surnamed Fu. This Hall Master had a grim, cold expression, as if he found it difficult to crack even the slightest smile. A treasured aura pulsed from Hall Lord Fu's body, and his eyes shone with a terrifying, cold light. Each glint seemed tangible enough to chill one to the bone.
"We've troubled you, Brother Fu. To have you welcome us personally is a great honor," Guardian Mo said, quickly offering a formal bow upon seeing Hall Lord Fu. Without realizing it, his very presence already seemed diminished before the other man.
It couldn't be helped. Though Hall Lord Fu was merely a Hall Master, the treasured aura pulsing from him revealed he possessed the power of a Heroic Hero. In the Xiyan Ancient Sect, only the elders had the strength to be considered Heroic Heroes, yet here, a mere Hall Master had already reached that level.
Guardian Mo said to Hall Lord Fu, "Brother Fu, we have come regarding the matter of the assessment."
Hall Lord Fu managed a slight smile that didn't reach his eyes. "The elders have already instructed me on this matter," he said. He glanced once at Li Qiye, then couldn't be bothered to look again. "This must be your esteemed sect's Chief Disciple, I presume."
"Indeed. Li Qiye is the Chief Disciple of our Xiyan Ancient Sect," Guardian Mo replied, forcing a smile out of resignation. With Li Qiye's aptitude, it was hardly a point of pride.
"The assessment is merely a friendly exchange," Hall Lord Fu said with that same forced smile. "There's no need to force the issue, Brother Mo." In his eyes, Li Qiye was nothing more than an ant.
"It's just an assessment. Nothing worth mentioning," Li Qiye said nonchalantly, not bothering to give Hall Lord Fu a second glance.
Hall Lord Fu snorted coldly, ignoring Li Qiye completely. He turned to Guardian Mo and said, "Brother Mo, please follow me." As far as he was concerned, speaking to a junior like Li Qiye was beneath his station.
Guardian Mo, however, couldn't stop himself from shooting Li Qiye a harsh glare.