Chapter 228

"What has happened to Brother Zheng..."

Wen Yueyao and Lü Ming looked at Zheng Feng's hastily departing back with expressions of astonishment.

Zheng Feng had always been steady and cautious in his conduct, possessing quite the air of an elder brother among the disciples of Tianyang Peak; this was the first time the two of them had ever seen him lose his composure and leave in such a rush.

Although Jiang Ye had vaguely guessed the reason, he only shook his head slightly and said nothing more.

The fragrance of tea still curled in the air, but a silent gloom had begun to permeate the courtyard.

Lü Ming soon tactfully rose to take his leave, leaving Wen Yueyao and Jiang Ye alone in the courtyard.

Wen Yueyao did not know what she had thought of, but her pretty, oval face suddenly turned bright red, and her bright eyes darted left and right, secretly stealing a glance at Jiang Ye's lower body.

This girl was, after all, not comparable to ordinary women.

She had long since thought the matter through in her heart, over and over again.

After all, Old Master Jiang was a man, too.

Hmm, if he's a man, he'll be like that...

After taking a deep breath, her flushed, pretty face blossomed once again into her usual hearty smile, and she crisply blurted out a shocking statement:

"Old Master Jiang, you really are vigorous despite your age! Yueyao admires you!"

Having said that, she didn't even wait for Jiang Ye to react before hurriedly rising to take her leave, her slender figure slipping out of the courtyard almost as if she were fleeing.

Jiang Ye held his teacup, watching her flustered back disappear into the mountain forest, and shook his head slightly in surprise.

What "vigorous despite his age"...

What on earth was this girl talking about?

However, he didn't dwell on it, finished the clear tea in his cup, and returned to sit cross-legged beside the Green Flame herb field to continue tempering his Earth-element True Divine Qi.

Time flew by, and another seven days passed.

Jiang Ye sat cross-legged by the herb field, his whole body shrouded in a layer of dense Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, his skin emitting wisps of earthy-yellow light; viewed from afar, his thin, withered frame looked like a mountain rock that had weathered the wind and rain, steady and resilient.

The Earth-element pill within his dantian had been more than half tempered, and the earthy-yellow true qi was becoming increasingly refined and heavy.

In a few more days, it would be able to completely transform into True Divine Qi.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps came from outside the courtyard, followed immediately by Lü Ming's respectful voice: "Elder Jiang, a deacon from the Law Enforcement Hall has come to pay a visit."

"Hmm?!"

Jiang Ye collected his thoughts and looked up.

He saw Lü Ming standing respectfully outside the courtyard, and beside him stood a Divine Qi Realm martial artist dressed in plain white training clothes.

This person was none other than the deacon who had been on duty outside the Law Enforcement Hall before, Wang Bo.

"Jiang Zhishi Wang, what brings you here today?"

Jiang Ye rose to welcome him.

Seeing Jiang Ye come out, Lü Ming tactfully took his leave.

Wang Bo politely cupped his hands and got straight to the point:

"Jiang Zhishi, we have almost finished investigating the matter of the Chiyan Sect encroaching on your Eastern Peak's resources."

"Today, I have been ordered by Elder Lu to deliver the Chiyan Sect's compensation to you."

As he spoke, he took a square token from his sleeve and handed it to Jiang Ye: "Inside this are ten thousand anonymous contribution points."

"Compensation of ten thousand contribution points?!"

Jiang Ye's aged eyes lit up, but his movements as he took the token remained as unhurried as ever.

Old Lu was really too generous.

This was undoubtedly a windfall.

He could almost imagine the expression on Cheng Yuan's fierce, old face, turning the color of pig liver with rage, wishing he could overturn the entire Eastern Peak.

Wang Bo also looked at the token with envy, unable to help but exclaim:

"Jiang Zhishi, these ten thousand contribution points are extremely difficult to save up, even for someone with the status of an Elder."

For deacons like them in the Law Enforcement Hall, although their monthly salary was not low, when one counted the cost of elixirs for daily cultivation, they couldn't save this much even after a whole year.

Jiang Ye was overjoyed and immediately invited Wang Bo to sit down for tea.

If it were an ordinary person making polite conversation, Wang Bo would have declined nine times out of ten, but since the person before him held Elder Lu's token, he had intended to build a connection, so he readily agreed.

The two sat at the stone table, chatting for quite a while amidst the curling tea fragrance, and Jiang Ye heard quite a few secrets about the Upper Sect from him.

For instance, the True Transmission gatekeeper Lu Tianhao, who had been defeated by Jiang Chuxue a few days ago, was actually a descendant of Lu Guizhou.

Consequently, Lu Guizhou had not been in a very good mood these past few days, and the people of the Chiyan Sect had suffered quite a bit because of it...

When the setting sun slanted to the west, Wang Bo rose to take his leave.

Jiang Ye saw him out of the courtyard, turned back to the herb field, and stroked the heavy token, already beginning to calculate in his heart.

Ten thousand contribution points were enough to exchange for the first layer of any one of those three peerless martial arts.

He had originally thought he would only have a chance to obtain a large amount of contribution points to exchange for a peerless martial art after seizing the Primordial Qi.

Now it seemed the progress could be advanced.

The temptation of a peerless martial art was simply too great; since the contribution points were already in hand, there was no reason to drag it out.

He immediately rose, brushed the grass clippings from his robes, and headed toward Tianzhu Peak.

Tianzhu Peak, Scripture Hall.

When Jiang Ye arrived before this magnificent, ancient hall along the winding mountain path, he could not help but stop and look up, a flash of sincere admiration crossing his aged eyes.

The entire hall was built against the mountain, constructed from giant stones as dark as ink; the hall was over ten zhang high, towering and majestic.

Hanging above the hall door was a huge black wood plaque, with the three large characters "Scripture Hall" looking ancient and heavy.

Compared to this hall, the Scripture Pavilion of the Tianqing Sect was simply like the library of a village private school.

He stepped slowly into the hall, and a calm, profound scent of books rushed to meet him.

But what truly shook Jiang Ye's heart was the scale of the collection within the hall.

Just on the bookshelves within easy reach at the entrance, second-rate martial arts like "Flowing Cloud Sword Art," "Wind-Breaking Palm," and "Startled Swan Steps"—which would be enough to be listed as techniques only Inner Sect disciples were qualified to practice in the Tianqing Sect—were displayed in rows here like ordinary reading material.

Jiang Ye walked slowly inward along the aisle between the bookshelves, his gaze sweeping over the rows of labels, and he nodded secretly.

"Heavenly Divine Shattering Mountain Hand," "Profound Yin Severing Meridian Finger," and "Wind-Thunder Nine-Turn Steps"—these were all first-rate martial arts, which would be considered sect-protecting level in the Tianqing Sect.

Unknowingly, he had walked to the deepest part of the hall.

The space ahead suddenly opened up, and on a huge central bookshelf, three ancient secret manuals sat quietly on independent jade stands; there was no text on the covers, only three distinct auras slowly circulating.

One was sharp as a sword, one was heavy as iron, and one was wild and uninhibited.

These were clearly the three peerless martial arts: "Spirit Snake Wind Spirit Sword," "Spirit Ox Shaking Mountain Blade," and "Spirit Monkey Shaking Heaven Staff."

Jiang Ye took a deep breath, stepped forward quickly, and was the first to take down the "Spirit Snake Wind Spirit Sword" to flip through it.

The ancient characters were sharp as swords, every stroke seeming to have been carved deep into the pages with a sword tip dipped in snake venom, faintly emitting a chilling, treacherous killing intent.

He calmed his mind and flipped through it for a moment, nodding slightly as if in thought.

The manuals placed here were only the general outlines; the true heart methods and imagery diagrams all required contribution points to be exchanged for them.

However, based on this outline alone, he had roughly grasped the characteristics of this peerless sword art: the sword strikes were like a snake's tongue, light and agile, with myriad variations.