Chapter 78

Directly become a Divine Hidden One?

Hearing this, Li Li Youyi couldn't help but look up at the cliff carving above; that was the combat technique intent of the legendary God of Jiuli—surely every martial cultivator in the world would want to comprehend it?

This script...

It actually looks very similar to the bird-track script used to carve "Ancient Path of Chixian" on the stone pillar in his soul sea.

But he didn't have much understanding of ancient scripts, so he naturally couldn't decipher it.

The youths present all had fervent eyes; after bowing, they stared unblinkingly at the four ancient characters on the cliff, carefully contemplating every stroke and groove, longing to be a heaven-sent genius who could quickly comprehend something from the characters.

After reaching the Five Seas Realm, the most urgent task for a martial cultivator is to cultivate their own combat technique intent. Otherwise, when facing the mental power attacks of a Great Thought Master, they can only flee to save their lives.

Whether one has cultivated combat technique intent, and how strong that intent is, is second only to the cultivation realm in importance within the Five Seas Realm.

Yin Twenty-four stood quietly to the side, unfazed.

Two years ago, wasn't she the same?

After waiting for an hour, she finally spoke: "Everyone, do not obsess over this. Since ancient times, only the Cang King has been able to comprehend the God of Jiuli's combat technique intent from these four characters."

"After entering the valley, your time will be extremely precious; every day is a race against the Grim Reaper, so do not waste your time here."

"I am telling you this now, but most of you probably won't listen; everyone thinks they are the child of destiny. But in the future, you will regret it—regret wasting your time."

Li Li Youyi asked: "I heard that the combat technique intent of Five Seas Realm martial cultivators is all comprehended from techniques that combine with Heavenly Law. Do these four characters on the cliff have corresponding techniques for us to practice?"

"No!"

Yin Twenty-four said: "But there are nine fundamental martial arts in the valley left behind by the Nine Kings themselves, which are more primordial, more precise, and more detailed than what you learned in your tribal schools, and they possess more of the Heavenly Law's divine essence. Of course, they are also easier to use to cultivate Heavenly Law Convergence."

The Nine Kings were the nine first ancestors of the nine great tribes, all of whom were children of the God of Jiuli.

Everyone looked at each other, their eyes filled with joy.

"Does the Hidden Sect have the Cang King's fundamental martial arts?" Seeing Yao Yin asked.

Since the Cang King once comprehended the God of Jiuli's combat technique intent, practicing his fundamental martial arts might be the best shortcut.

Yin Twenty-four said: "The fundamental martial art left by the Cang King is the Thirty-six Heavenly Demon Axes, which is not suitable for everyone to practice. You have already been practicing in your tribes for several years, or even over a decade; suddenly changing to practice another martial art is equivalent to crippling your own martial arts."

"You must know that your lives only have one month, or a few months, left."

"Are you confident that you can practice the Thirty-six Heavenly Demon Axes to perfection within a month or a few months?"

A youth of the tiger-like deformed race who had opened eight springs was ecstatic: "I have practiced axe techniques since I was a child, and the first nine moves of the Thirty-six Heavenly Demon Axes are in the tribal schools of every tribe; I have already practiced them to perfection. I have practiced the first move, 'Opening Heaven and Earth,' to the point of being infinitely close to Heavenly Law Convergence."

Many people present showed envy; who could catch up with such a foundation in axe techniques?

Li Qing said disdainfully: "You haven't even cultivated Heavenly Law Convergence, so what is there to brag about? Since ancient times, how many geniuses and heroes have entered the Hidden Sect, and yet no second person has been seen to comprehend the God of Jiuli's combat technique intent."

The tiger-like deformed youth's eyes flashed with cold light, his fighting spirit intense: "Then let's see who will be the final winner in a year's time?"

The Hidden Lord had already left silently while they were contemplating the four characters on the cliff.

Yin Twenty-four led the group, walking through the misty river valley, passing through the forest of unknown trees emitting purple light, and arrived beneath a stone wall.

The stone wall shimmered like a red jade mineral; staring closely, one would discover that spiritual light was flowing inside, with scriptures floating up and down.

Because of the fog, one could not see how high the stone wall was.

But the area beneath the stone wall was quite flat and vast, like a martial arts practice square.

Yin Twenty-four said: "To skip the life-and-death trial and the competition among Hidden Ones, and directly become a Divine Hidden One, there are actually two other paths."

"The stone wall before you is a mental power mural."

"Every martial cultivator who enters the Hidden Sect and reaches the Nine Springs Ancestral Field will imprint their own combat technique portrait here. At the same time, the Hidden Sect also purchases combat technique portraits of other top martial cultivators from the Lingxiao Life Realm to imprint here."

"You only need to defeat three people in the portraits to directly become the Divine Hidden One of this sixty-year cycle. Including me, all Hidden Ones will become your Hidden Servants, listening to your commands unconditionally."

There was an uproar all around.

"This is much simpler than comprehending the God of Jiuli's combat technique intent! You only need to defeat three people, not chase after a legendary god."

Seeing Yao Yin immediately asked: "Can I challenge them now?"

As a Pure Immortal Body, she was very confident in herself.

Yin Twenty-four shook her head: "You must be at least a Nine Springs martial cultivator to have the qualification to challenge."

Seeing Yao Yin fell silent; for her to cultivate to the Nine Springs level within a year was simply impossible. It seemed that no matter what, she had to become the Hidden Twenty-six.

"Doesn't that mean I am the only one here with the qualification to challenge? How can I not try it out for everyone first?"

Li Qing stood out confidently, his gaze like torches as he stared at the stone wall ahead.

Yin Twenty-four seemed to have expected this, saying indifferently: "Press your palm onto the stone wall and inject magic power; the combat technique portrait of the first person will naturally appear to fight you."

After Li Qing did as instructed.

"Buzz!"

In the red jade mineral stone wall, spiritual light, magic power, and scriptures gathered rapidly, condensing into a vivid mural.

In the mural was a thirteen or fourteen-year-old youth, unremarkable in appearance, but with a pair of deep eyes inconsistent with his age, holding a giant axe that was extremely disproportionate to his thin body.

The youth walked out of the mural, a semi-virtual, semi-real glowing body: "Are you ready?"

"Let's begin!"

Li Qing drew his magic power longsword, not daring to underestimate his opponent; he sprayed all his magic power from his nine springs, and the magic power overflowing from his pores wrapped around his entire body, his state instantly climbing to its peak.

"Buzz!"

He was the first to attack with a sword strike, the sword like a shooting star, fast to the extreme.

"So fast, his speed exceeds Xue Zheng's by quite a bit." Li Li Youyi watched this battle seriously to better judge Li Qing's strength level; he had to admit that a Nine Springs True Person was indeed very strong.

Stronger even than Xue Zheng, that Pure Immortal Body.

"Clang!"

Li Qing's full-force sword strike was casually blocked by the glowing youth with a wave of his axe.

"How is this possible?"

Li Qing's eyes were full of shock; he dared not believe the opponent only had Nine Springs cultivation.

After the glowing youth deflected the magic power longsword in Li Qing's hand, he suddenly raised his axe and swung it down like an axe splitting heaven and earth; the momentum rippled, tyrannical and peerless.

Everyone watching the battle was intimidated into retreating.

Li Qing's expression changed in shock, his heart under immense pressure; unable to care about anything else, he immediately urged the magic power in his Ancestral Field, unleashing his strongest sword strike at the Heavenly Law Convergence level.

He swung his sword out!

The Wind Mansion is a small magic power sea, so those who open eight springs are called Little Five Seas.

And the Ancestral Field, the size of its magic power sea, can directly rival the size of the first magic power sea of many Five Seas Realm martial cultivators.

Li Qing's sword strike gathered the massive amount of magic power in his Ancestral Field; it was his true trump card, slaughtering those who had opened eight or seven springs like pigs or dogs.

"Is the magic power in the Ancestral Field this thick?"

Without using those few powerful magic artifacts, Li Li Youyi felt that with his current Seven Springs cultivation, if he were to face Li Qing, his chance of winning would not exceed fifty percent.

This was simply terrifyingly strong; just two realms lower, and it was already difficult to defeat him.

Of course, the most important reason was that the Wind Mansion and the Ancestral Field could actually store magic power like a magic power sea, which made Li Qing's combat power during an outburst extremely heaven-defying. Currently, Li Li Youyi did not have such a means to unleash a supreme strike.

"Boom!"

All the magic power and sword energy Li Qing swung out were shattered by the glowing youth's axe strike.

Axe and sword collided.

Li Qing felt as if he had been punched in the chest; his face turned deathly pale, and he retreated repeatedly, his web between thumb and forefinger bleeding profusely. The longsword in his hand had long since flown out of his grasp.

The glowing youth pursued and swung a second axe.

"Admit defeat quickly," said Yin Twenty-four.

Li Qing, as if granted amnesty, immediately shouted "I admit defeat."

That huge, sharp axe hung suspended above his head.

The spiritual light emitted by the axe blade made the fine beads of sweat on his forehead clearly visible.

"Buzz!"

The giant axe disappeared.

The glowing youth dissipated like smoke.

Li Qing trembled all over, exhaling a long breath; his pale complexion took a long time to recover, and he asked: "Who is he? Is he a Pure Immortal Body?"

Li Qing did not believe a Nine Springs martial cultivator of the deformed race could have such strong combat power, and it was even more impossible for a mortal.

Yin Twenty-four said: "He is Yin Nine! He opened four springs at eight years old to enter the Hidden Sect, opened eight springs at eleven, and spent another two years in bitter cultivation, opening nine springs at thirteen. What you encountered was him at thirteen years old."

"He is not a Pure Immortal Body; he is just a mortal."

All of Li Qing's confidence and pride were crushed, and he smiled bitterly: "I actually lost to a thirteen-year-old child!"

"Among Nine Springs mortals, you are already very strong; you withstood one axe from Yin Nine and only suffered some minor injuries," said Yin Twenty-four. "Yin Nine represents the number one combat power among all Hidden Ones of our sixty-year cycle when they were at the Nine Springs level."

The youths present, who had all been severely struck, suddenly felt relieved and felt a bit better.

Some eight or nine-year-old children suddenly gained confidence.

If Yin Nine could become the final winner of that year, they could too. The younger one is, the more benefits one obviously gains from cultivating in the Hidden Sect, and the stronger one will be in the future.

Li Li Youyi asked: "We need to defeat three people to directly become a Divine Hidden One. So besides Yin Nine, who is number one among Hidden Ones at the Nine Springs level, who are the other two?"

Yin Twenty-four said: "The second person is a Nine Springs Pure Immortal Body with all-silver hundred meridians."

"The third person is the Lingxiao Chief at the Nine Springs Realm."

"Besides this path, there is another, but it has nothing to do with you; only Five Seas Realm Hidden Ones can compete for it."

After hearing this, everyone present instantly gave up on the idea of directly charging to become a Divine Hidden One.

For a mortal or a deformed race member to want to defeat a Pure Immortal Body at the same realm is simply a pipe dream.

Even so, Seeing Yao Yin, who was a Pure Immortal Body, still had a chance.

But, wanting to defeat the Lingxiao Chief at the Nine Springs Realm, this... is the Divine Hidden One of the Jiuli Hidden Sect aiming to be the best in the world?

The Lingxiao Chief is not just any Jiuli Chief, Lizhou Chief, or Southern Region Chief; it represents the best in the world for martial cultivators under sixty.

Seeing Yao Yin asked: "Does 'all-silver hundred meridians' mean that the meridians in the body exceed one hundred, and all of them must be raised to the level of silver meridians or higher?"

Yin Twenty-four said: "Exactly."

"This requirement is the standard for those who are inheritors of ten-million-level gates!" Seeing Yao Yin said.

Yin Twenty-four said proudly: "The Jiuli clan is the only ten-million-level ancient clan in the Lingxiao Life Realm; even if the outside world has declined, the Hidden Sect must require the Divine Hidden Ones it cultivates to meet the standards of a ten-million-level ancient clan."

"A Divine Hidden One should be stronger than an inheritor!"

The colors of the meridians in a martial cultivator's body, from low to high, are white, red, silver, and gold.

Almost all martial cultivators have white as their most basic meridian color.

Reaching the opening of the seven springs is a watershed.

Some people will choose to break through directly, enter the Five Seas Realm, and pursue higher realms.

While others will stop to settle and temper their foundations. The more red meridians one tempers, the greater the chance of charging to the eight springs Wind Mansion.

To want to charge to the Nine Springs Ancestral Field, one needs to temper as many silver meridians as possible.

Li Qing smiled: "I understand! I know the gap between me and Yin Nine! I tempered twenty-seven silver meridians to break through the ninth spring, and now the number of silver meridians in my body is only forty-six. I must temper all ninety meridians in my body into silver to have a chance to compete with him."

Li Li Youyi was also secretly calculating: "The number of meridians in my body is eighty-four, and it seems I don't need to temper them; they are silver meridians by nature. No wonder it's very difficult for me to defeat Li Qing now; he has more meridians in his body than I do, and more than half of them are silver."

Li Li Youyi guessed that the reason he could defeat other martial cultivators across realms must be related to the grade and number of meridians in his body.

Seeing Yao Yin smiled bitterly: "A Pure Immortal Body is indeed a darling of the heavens, a one-in-ten-thousand cultivation genius. But only a Pure Immortal Body with all-silver hundred meridians is a true Pure Immortal Body."

"You could say that."

Yin Twenty-four said: "Besides constitution and meridians, other things affect combat power at the same realm. There are also combat techniques, physical strength, breathing methods, magic power usage, mental power superposition, magic artifacts... and so on, all of which can make you stronger. So everyone shouldn't be discouraged by the gap in natural talent and constitution; a Pure Immortal Body is not invincible."

"Li Qing, if you had cultivated a Heavenly Law Convergence level movement technique, you would definitely have been able to dodge Yin Nine's second axe just now. As long as you cultivate enough Heavenly Law Convergence level moves, your combat power at the same realm will also be stronger."

After finishing, Yin Twenty-four led the group to their living quarters.

"You are not Hidden Ones yet, so you cannot enter the Hidden Sect; you can only live in the cave dwellings carved out along the river valley."

"Those who have opened four springs live on the first floor. Those who have opened five springs live on the second floor. Those who have opened six springs live on the third floor."

"The first month is a protection period; whoever dares to slaughter martial cultivators of the same batch will be killed without mercy!"

(End of chapter)