In truth, the martial skills kept within the Scripture Vault of the Washing‑Dust Sect had lain sealed for countless ages.
Among all disciples through time, few had so much as opened these scrolls — and none had read even a fraction of the hundred and twenty Li Qiye now carried.
At the mocking laughter around him, Li Qiye merely cast the crowd a faint, glancing look.
Nan Huairen felt a cold sweat trickle down his back.
He knew too well his senior's temperament — when this boy killed, he did so without hesitation. If beings like Du Yuangguang and Xu Hui had died beneath his hand, what chance had these chattering disciples?
### A Fool's Laughter
One second‑generation registrar frowned and tried to advise,
"Martial skills are trivial arts — it's best not to overindulge."
Li Qiye smiled lightly.
"My first art was the 'Qimen Blade Technique,' a mere martial skill — yet its power is clear enough. If I cultivate three or five hundred such arts, perhaps I'll be invincible."
His tone was so calm that no one could tell whether he spoke in jest or truth.
Laughter erupted at once.
"Ha! Three or five hundred? Make it thirty or fifty thousand — that'd make a better punch line!"
"Ridiculous — martial skills are side‑branches. To dabble in hundreds is to waste a lifetime."
"Let him be. A fool won't listen. Try to teach him and he'll bite back."
Their mocking gazes stabbed at him like needles, but Li Qiye's demeanor remained unchanged — calm, polite, indifferent.
The registrar sighed and stamped the forms anyway.
### Scroll of the Kunpeng Styles
When he handed over his second chosen manual, the registrar raised a brow.
"This one's not bad — KunpengMinorIntent:SixForms. It's the final branch of our sect's Imperial Art. Though a side section, it's still deep and mighty."
Even the Protector on duty looked up and spoke for the first time.
"That manual derives from the core Imperial Art Kunpeng'sSixTransformations. Master it, and you may forge the foundation for the true Imperial Law — use it well."
Gasps echoed through the hall.
An Imperial Art — even its shadow — was a treasure of dreams.
"Hmph. A mortal body daring to touch an Imperial Art? Laughable," someone hissed.
"Why should he get to study it?" another grumbled — until the Protector's sharp glance snapped their mouths shut.
With the Grand Elders' order in hand, none dared defy him openly.
### The Forbidden Manual
At last, he produced an ancient, yellowed scroll — its pages aged but untorn, its material unrecognizable.
"LunarVortex·SolarWheelTechnique ?" the registrar read aloud, puzzled, and turned toward the Protector.
The elder furrowed his brow deeply.
Whispers spread through the room, laced with derision.
"Another idiot greedy for quick results."
"He thinks he'll turn into a prodigy overnight? A fool is a fool."
The Protector sighed.
"This art indeed accelerates cultivation, but anyone with a Longevity Wheel finds their path cut off at the Great Longevity Realm. One genius of our sect was ruined by it — talent spoiled, Dao forever sealed."
The LunarVortex·SolarWheelTechnique was a notorious method — swift to nurture qi and blood, mighty at first, but ending in stagnation and crumbling meridians. People called it the "Crippling Art."
Many had tried — and all had failed.
Li Qiye merely bowed slightly, offering thanks without argument.
The Protector, seeing his insistence, snorted and closed his eyes again. To him, this mortal body would never amount to much.
### Return to the Lonely Peak
Through the chorus of ridicule, Li Qiye remained as serene as ever.
Nan Huairen helped carry the scrolls back to their peak.
Dusk cloaked the mountain in gold and shadow.
"Tomorrow," Li Qiye said lightly, "I'll select a weapon from the Treasure Hall."
"I'll fetch a Qiankun Bag from the Outer Affairs Hall for you first," Nan offered.
"Good."
As he was about to leave, Li Qiye added casually, > "That senior in the Scripture Vault — what's his name?"
"Qu Daoli," Nan answered. "Third generation, once a prodigy. Now second generation by promotion."
"Qu Daoli…" Li Qiye smiled faintly, saying no more.
### The Secret of the Martial Arts
Night deepened over the silent peak.
Li Qiye sat alone behind closed doors, lamplight flickering on the desk.
He spread out the hundred and twenty scrolls in an order no one else could decipher, his eyes solemn, his motions precise.
Page by page, line by line, he copied a single character from each scroll.
He worked steadily, unhurried, his face calm as still water.
Only he knew the truth — that within those humble volumes, MartialArtsCompendium, MiscellaneousTechniques, and Iron‑SkinandCopper‑Bone, lay a shocking secret.
A secret he himself had hidden ages ago.
### The Supreme Mystery
People always ask: what is the greatest law under heaven?
The answer never varies — the Secret Arts of the Heaven's Mandate.
When an Immortal Emperor bears Heaven's Will, they forge such arts as bridges between Heaven and Man. Their power is immeasurable.
Yet beyond the Heaven's Mandate secrets are the HeavenlyBooks.
In the primordial ages, before Heaven and Earth separated, the world was a chaotic egg. From the Chaos came the Prime Beginning; from the Prime Beginning, the Nine Characters; from the Nine Characters, the Nine Treasures; from the Nine Treasures, the Nine Books.
These were the legendary Nine Heavenly Books — seldom seen through all eternity.
And Li Qiye was one of the few to behold them firsthand.
In the Primeval Era, as the Eternal Raven, he had by chance glimpsed one of the Nine — the BookofFlesh.
Over hundreds of millennia and countless tribulations, he had finally seized it for himself.
It brought him endless pursuers — even Immortal Emperors coveted its secrets.
Through the Book of Flesh, he perceived the truth of Heaven and Earth.
With it, even a mortal body could defy the heavens.
The Swallowing Sun Emperor, the Overlord Breaker Emperor — even they had traced its shadow.
Immortal Emperor Mingren himself had been the disciple he personally guided through its mystery.
All later generations believed Mingren was born with a Sun‑Body Physique.
But only Li Qiye knew the truth —
that it was not a natural gift at all, but the creation of the BookofFlesh itself.