This scene caused everyone to be stunned, and this included the Six Elders. Although they were the Elders of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect, with their cultivation, the best they could do was to be given the title of Named Hero from counties.
Yu He was different; with the status of Grand Protector of the Nine Saint Demon Gate, he was an extremely powerful Royal Noble. He could even be granted the title of Enlightened Being.
This was why practitioners with lower cultivation levels than Yu He, like the Elders of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect, didn't have the qualification to stand side by side with him; because of this, their positions were already lowered by half.
The Six Elders respectfully greeted Yu He while the Grand Protector was speaking to Li Qiye with reverence; no one understood the events that were unraveling before their eyes.
What was even more incredible was that Yu He also brought a message from the Demon King Lun Ri: if Li Qiye, once again, became a guest at the Nine Saint Demon Gate, Lun Ri would personally greet him.
Who was the Demon King Lun Ri? He was the mighty overlord of an entire region; he could walk unrestrained across the world. The Elders of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect could only stare from afar, and someone like Demon King Lun Ri wanted to personally greet Li Qiye? This was an unimaginable matter.
As for the other disciples, they were unable to think. At once, the people on the scene were standing frozen in place. However, they were even more shocked at the scene where Li Qiye naturally curved his left arm; Li Shuangyan glared at him for a second, without saying anything. She then, gently, held Li Qiye's arm, and she left with Li Qiye in a submissive manner.
"Protector Yu, I don't have time to entertain you." Before leaving, Li Qiye only left behind one sentence while Yu He was bending his back to say goodbye.
No one in the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect understood; none of them had any explanations for the things that had just happened. These events were so outside of their own imagination. The disciples, Elders, and Protectors were all petrified, and they could not recover for a long time.
***
While everyone was still flabbergasted, Li Qiye had brought Li Shuangyan back to his ancient peak. Once they stepped inside the small house, where there were only the two of them, Li Shuangyan withdrew her hand from Li Qiye.
She angrily narrowed her eyes at Li Qiye, and her cold and arrogant voice rang in the air: "This time, are you satisfied?"
Li Qiye acted as if he didn't see Li Shuangyan's attitude. He comfortably sat in a chair, and he looked at her, slowly saying: "In front of everyone, do you think by grabbing my hand is akin to granting me a great honor? Satisfying my vanity? No, you are mistaken. This Li Qiye does not need such vain admirations."
"The fact that I let you borrow my arm is my giving you three parts face…" Li Qiye paused for a second, and his eyes became cold; he then spoke in a serious manner: "I have always hidden the shortcomings of the people by my side, and I have always protected them. Since you wanted to follow me, I gave you face by letting you hold my arm. This is so you could be proud! Strictly speaking, as my sword maid, you don't have the status to hold my hand and walk alongside my shoulder; you need to remember this!"
"You!" Li Shuangyan was shaken with anger, and her face was deeply flushed with redness. She accepted the order to come to this place, to let go of her royal status; she patiently held the hand of this bastard, and she followed him in the presence of everyone. One could say that she gave him ten parts face. However, now, he dared to say these words. How could she not be angry?
"You have your pride, I can understand." Li Qiye did not acknowledge her anger, and he continued speaking: "You were ordered by the Demon King to come here, but, in your heart, you did not want to. You consider yourself to be a talented woman, a beloved daughter of the heavens, and you look at me with great contempt; you believe me to not be worthy of your attention for even a second – this is normal. However, remember these words, today, I let you hold my arm. This is to give you a good beginning. If you feel victimized by having to follow me, then that is your concern. The decision is yours; however, when comes the day of my sweeping this entire heaven and earth, there will be no place for you by my side!"
A thirteen-year-old boy, saying these most confident and arrogant words, even a prince coming from an ancient country would not make such a statement. However, today a thirteen-year-old boy said such dominating words.
If others said such a thing, then it would certainly be arrogance and ignorance. However, Li Shuangyan looked at Li Qiye's incomparably calm expression and his tone showed his confidence in saying the most arrogant words in the world. If it was another time, she would have thought of him as being presumptuous, ignorant, and the King of Ye Lang; however, now, she could not see this pattern in his appearance. [1]
Of course, Li Shuangyan didn't want to come here voluntarily. Outside of Demon King Lun Ri's command, even the honorable Elder Sword of the Nine Saint Demon Gate thought that following Li Qiye would grant her a promising future; they eventually persuaded her, so that she would come.
This matter, for Li Shuangyan, could be considered an incomparable grievance. She was the Nine Saint Demon Gate's successor, and she was the princess of Old Ox country. Whether it be talents or appearance, she was an outstanding phoenix; she was a beloved daughter of the blue heaven.
Her male suitors, even if only counting the talented geniuses, were numerous like the carps crossing the river, but she didn't care; however, today, she had to lower herself into becoming a sword maid for a mortal.
Her master, Demon King Lun Ri, was an expert with an extremely powerful cultivation with great talents and intelligence; even in the era where the Heaven's Will was fractured, he was able to defy the heavens and become a tyrant in one direction. However, this generation's overlord and her master would value someone that only had a Mortal Physique, Mortal Life Wheel, and Mortal Fate Palace; this made her so perplexed – without an answer – after much thought!
She wanted to release the anger in her heart, but she didn't know how; she wanted to call Li Qiye ignorant, but the situation did not seem to be this way.
In the end, Li Shuangyan couldn't contain herself and angrily said: "Good, you consider yourself to be unparalleled in the world, then prove it to me. If you truly have that sort of ability, then I'll consider those words to be legitimate. Otherwise, you are just daydreaming to satisfy your own ego."
Looking at Li Shuangyan for a moment, Li Qiye slowly raised his voice: "Proof? I have nothing to prove!"
Li Shuangyan angrily shivered at Li Qiye's arrogant attitude. He was only thirteen years old, obviously younger than her, but his words were incomparably domineering; it was as if he was the supreme emperor for an entire generation. This thirteen-year-old boy had gone mad to say such words in such an indifferent and bored manner.
"I have a magical formation; if you can just say a few mysterious truths regarding it, not to mention you being able to solve this formation successfully or not, then you do have some ability!" Finished speaking, Li Shuangyan took out an ancient beast fur – its origin was unknown. It was a myriad of curved symbols, Dao runes, stars, and formations of dots. This little beast fur, seemingly, contained all of the stars in the universe; it was as if it held all the profound mysteries of the heaven and earth.
If one took a careful look, their spirit would be sucked out instantly with the feeling that they had suddenly entered a mysterious world. No matter how marvelous and supreme one's talent was, they wouldn't be able to control themselves. They would be captivated by the mysterious truths of the beast fur, and eventually, fall enamored to the magical formation, unable to escape from the inside.
Li Qiye looked at this old fur; it was too familiar. In the blink of an eye, a corner of the magical formation clearly appeared in his head. This was one part of the memories regarding the complete magical formation hidden in the mind of Li Qiye, and that was the magical formation on the ancient beast fur.
This little corner of the magical formation was simply too profound. Regarding the complete formation, Li Qiye was too lazy to remember the whole memory because no one else knew more than him.
"This is only a corner of a broken formation. Listen carefully, now: Starting from Kui Xing constellation, go towards the Nine Entrances, avoid the Eight Full Moons, turn into Nine Stars, switch to the Milky Way, and then return to the Dao…" Li Qiye calmly spoke while pointing with his fingers: "This will be the center of the broken formation; it is carefully protected by six Beasts and four Immortals, together. From the past until now, the people who could successfully break through this formation could be counted on one's fingers." [2]
Li Qiye eloquently spoke without pause; it was as if he had them memorized. Each word, from his mouth, made it sound like it was not a masterpiece magic formation, but merely a trivial technique.
However, Li Shuangyan was shocked completely. She knew the heaven-shattering secret of this broken magic formation. Even her patriarch, an ancestor of the Nine Saint Demon Gate, was only lucky enough to have this little ancient beast fur. This corner of the broken magic formation, alone, was enough for the many geniuses and Virtuous Paragons of the Nine Saint Demon Gate to research through several generations; in the end, they were able to completely understand the profound truths behind this broken formation.
Despite understanding the theory, they could not actually recreate this magical formation for practical usage. Seeing Li Shuangyan's talent for magical formations, Demon King Lun Ri passed the formation to her, full of optimism, since she might be able to, one day, understand this formation even further; this, too, could be a boost to her training. Half of her current cultivation was also related to this magical formation.
From a young age, Li Shuangyan had already started studying this formation, but it took ten years for her to understand it. This was under the guidance from the knowledge left behind by the Virtuous Paragons. Otherwise, someone else, without such good circumstances, would waste an unknown amount of time.
Li Shuangyan's dream was that one day, she could create this formation; even though it was only a broken corner, it would still be able to kill Gods and Immortals; however, she knew, with her current cultivation and luck, this dream was impossible.
This trip to the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect, Demon King Lun Ri also wanted her to bring along the ancient beast fur and wait for the right opportunity to ask Li Qiye to see if he knew anything about it or to hear his thoughts regarding it.
Li Shuangyan would never, even in her wildest of dreams, think that Li Qiye would be able to, with a single glance, eloquently describe this broken formation that was considered peerless in the world.
[1] King of Ye Lang is an expression of calling someone ignorant and arrogant. The original raw has another idiom for arrogance + ignorance so it sounds more poetic than this version.
[2] Kui Xing = one of the twenty-eight mansions. All of these terms here are based on Daoism constellations and beliefs, the same as the Fate Palace.