"Hmmph, I can't believe the Elders would let such a shameless piece of trash become the Prime Disciple. This kid is truly a disgrace of our Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect." A student yelled out.
Another student thought something was strange and inquired: "Isn't he currently going through the trial at the Nine Saint Demon Gate? Why is he back so early?"
"Hah, of course the trial was a failure. How could such a person become the partner of the Nine Saint Demon Gate princess. It is like dreaming during the day; clearly, he is a frog wanting to eat swan's meat." Another student pompously commented.
The Six Elders haven't announced Li Qiye's success in the trial because they haven't yet understood the Nine Saint Demon Gate's intentions behind the order. Without their agreement, the Elders didn't dare to announce the marriage between Li Qiye and Li Shuangyan. If Li Shuangyan actually didn't agree to the wedding, and they had announced it; it would be a blur on her purity, and such an action could enrage the Nine Saint Demon Gate.
After hearing the comments from the other disciples in the sect, Nan Huairen was both embarrassed and indignant, but he couldn't reveal the secrets regarding what had actually occurred at the Nine Saint Demon Gate.
As for the victim of these negative remarks, Li Qiye himself was strolling, unaffected, through the library. He acted as if he didn't hear a single word; he continued on to calmly look through the many manuals on the shelves, one by one.
Tiger's Power law, Heavenly Cocoon Life technique, Revolving Moon law, Iron Ox King Physique… Each of these manuals were placed on the shelves. Some were the original versions while some were copied by hand. Others were restored from ruined manuals, and some were inscribed on stone tablets. There were manuals for all purposes: from physique building techniques to longevity laws to increase blood energy as well as cultivational methods to build the Fate Palace…
"There are many different manuals here, collected by many generations of paragons; some were even created by them. The others were taken from other sects or different inheritances." Nan Huairen spoke to Li Qiye: "If senior wants an Emperor level manual, senior would have to go up to the third level. The manuals in the first level are the elementary techniques, anyone can learn these. The second level has manuals meant for disciples with contributions to the sect or the different sectional leaders."
Li Qiye was not in a rush; he continued on skimping the different manuals, but he already had some in mind. He started from the first level all the way to level three. During the way, he saw one or two Emperor level manuals, but they were not formidable ones.
During this process, he found out one thing. The higher up he went, the shelves started to contain less manuals. Some of the shelves were classified, but they did not have any manuals. This meant that there used to be scrolls here, but they were now gone.
"There is no way that these manuals were given or lent away?" Li Qiye looked around on the third level and inquired.
Nan Huairen shook his head: "I heard that we have lost a numerous amount of manuals."
Here, he looked around for a moment, then whispered: "My master told me, the truth is, our Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect does not have that many Emperor manuals left. The most crucial ones are at the end of this building, but there are only around three to five left. If we lose these manuals, then we would be an Immortal Emperor sect only in title."
After Min Ren's ascension, he spent most of his life creating numerous Emperor level techniques and Merit Laws. Some of his manuals had the abilities to connect with the heavens; there were rumors that he even left behind Heaven's Will Secret Laws.
"Did other people ransack us?" Li Qiye naturally knew how many Emperor level manuals the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect had. It didn't only contain the ones that Min Ren had created, but also those that Li Qiye himself personally stole from other people. Some dated back to the Desolate Era, and some were from the hands of Heavenly Devils, Blood Tribes, Stone Golems, Charming Spirits, and Ancient Ming… To sum it up, in short, Li Qiye had pillaged many secrets from the inhabitants of the Nine Worlds.
"I don't know the exact details of the ordeal. I heard that fifty thousand years ago, our genius ancestor lost a fight, and we suffered a great disaster. Another sky-shattering accident happened thirty thousand years ago, and we lost many manuals from that as well. Another rumor has it that some of our Emperor manuals were sealed in the last three levels by Grand Elder Mu; however, some said that the Heavenly God Sect took all of our manuals when they defeated us in the last thirty thousand years war."
"You are talking about Mu Shaodi?" The words of Nan Huairen reminded Li Qiye of fifty thousand years ago, there was a great genius in the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect.
"Yes, it was Grand Elder Mu." When it came to Mu Shaodi, Nan Huairen's blood boiled in pride; he passionately continued: "From the legends, fifty thousand years ago, Grand Elder Mu had the greatest potential to become an Immortal Emperor in our sect after Immortal Emperor Min Ren. He was the strongest rival of Immortal Emperor Ta Kong. I heard that when Grand Elder Mu was competing with Immortal Emperor Ta Kong to win the Heaven's Will, he won three times and lost three times. Even with his heavenly aptitude, Immortal Emperor Ta Kong still lost three times to Grand Elder Mu. That year, we were at our strongest after the era of Immortal Emperor Min Ren. We were able to dominate all of the Mortal Emperor world, not just the Grand Middle Territory."
Nan Huairen couldn't stop speaking regarding Mu Shaodi because he was the biggest pride of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect after Immortal Emperor Min Ren.
Opposite of Nan Huairen's excitement, Li Qiye simply said: "But in the end, the one that had received the Heaven's Will was still Immortal Emperor Ta Kong."
Li Qiye's words were like a cold water bucket hitting the face of Nan Huairen. He suddenly lost his will to speak and dejectedly said: "It was rumored that they had one last fight, and then Grand Elder Mu never appeared again. Some say that he died during the battle, others said that he met his origin inside the sect."
"What about the three middle levels, do they contain anything?" Li Qiye looked up and asked. He was only given the rights to the first three levels.
"Master said that he had been through there twice, but the number of manuals there can be counted on one's fingers."
Li Qiye was silent. It seemed like the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect was only a name; what kind of Immortal Emperor lineage only had a few Emperor level manuals? This was also part of why it started its decline.
Finally, Li Qiye, at the third level, chose an offensive technique manual, a Life Wheel technique in the second, and a bunch of different scrolls from the first.
Nan Huairen saw a total of one hundred and twenty different manuals, and he silently said: "Senior, these manuals are just martial arts, and they are not worth mentioning. Anyone in the sect can look at them; do you want to change to something else?"
"I have my own calculations." Li Qiye shook his head.
Nan Huairen quickly gathered these techniques to check them out. Nan Huairen knew that Li Qiye was very methodical, and everything he did had a clear logic behind it.
When Li Qiye and Nan Huairen carried the numerous manuals to the front, the other disciples looked at him as if they saw the village fool. Even the disciples responsible for checking out looked at him weirdly.
"Elder said you could only pick three different manuals." One of the disciples checked the order from Li Qiye again and said.
Li Qiye slowly answered: "I know. I only picked one cultivation technique and one Life Wheel method, and the third I did not pick. As for these martial arts manuals, Huairen said that anyone could look at them. This includes me right?"
The disciples looked around and ended their gaze at the protector in command, waiting for his decision.
They counted the different books: "Total there are forty-four specialized martial arts manuals, thirty-six hybrid martial arts manuals, and forty body training manuals."
These martial arts, here, had no value even when compared to other martial art manuals. The disciples were surprised at Li Qiye's choices.
From the dust collected on these manuals, it was clear that no one had ever read them before.
The spectating disciples couldn't help but start laughing at Li Qiye and his choosing more than one hundred martial arts manuals.
"The idiot can't tell what's good and bad. Even if you study all of the martial arts in the world, you will still only become an average person at best." A student said in a condescending manner.
Another one joined the fray: "Senior Wang, this is called knowing your own limits. Cultivational Merit Laws aren't meant for those with a Mortal Physique, Mortal Life Wheel, and Mortal Fate Palace. He knew that he wouldn't be able to cultivate to the foundation level in even ten years, so he took a step back to learn martial arts instead!"