Chapter 6 – The Fiancé (2)

Although he understood the truths behind the technique, his body could not keep up with his orders. He demanded perfection, yet it was hard to reach.

But Li Qi Ye was not deterred. He kept on practicing the martial arts. He became more refined after each swing. After one night, he had practiced more than three hundred times and slowly grasped the profound truth. Slowly, each of his blades became more accurate.

He understood that if he wanted to completely decimate the Heaven Demon Grotto, he must increase his efforts by ten fold, no, hundreds of folds in order to achieve his goal. No one understood the Heaven Demon Grotto better than him in the current era.

Within these three days, Li Qi Ye still had not left his villa; he imprisoned himself in the inner sanctum to perfect his blades. There were too many uncertainties in life and he must be in top shape in order to combat any disasters.

***

Three days later, the journey to the Nine Saint Demon Gate had begun. Only Nan Huai Ren and a sect protector, with the surname of Mo, were coming along.

The Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect has a total of six elders, twelve protectors, and thirty-six sectional leaders. Today, to visit a grand sect such as the Nine Saint Demon Gate with only three people, the highest being a mere protector; there were no words to describe it.

“Only us three?”

Before the departure, Li Qi Ye looked at the shameful members and asked.

Protector Mo was very frugal with his words; he was also the master of Nan Huai Ren. After he heard the question, he only glanced at Li Qi Ye without answering him.

Opposite of his master, Nan Huai Ren was a playful fellow; he coughed once in shame and opened his mouth:

“Big Brother, all of the elders are in secluded cultivation; they could not make the trip.”

Li Qi Ye perked his lips and coldly declared:

“Secluded cultivation? They are only afraid of losing face. In the end, they believe I have no chance of passing the trial. My not passing is a small matter to them, but them being there and losing face would be the big deal, right?”

Nan Huai Ren couldn’t say anything back and shamefully smiled. How could a mortal expect to pass the trial of an Emperor level sect? The elders thought the same; that was why they refused to go, since it would only have one result.

“Don’t worry, Honorable Brother.”

Nan Huai Ren kept up his positive attitude.

“The Nine Saint Demon Gate has kept its distance from us in recent times; that is why the elders didn’t want to go and create unnecessary conflict.”

“Hmmph, it is only the Nine Saint Demon Gate; can’t reach the apex.[1] In that era, even if Nine Saint Virtuous Paragon was still alive, they would still have to bow down to the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect.”

Protector Mo could only ignore Li Qi Ye’s arrogance, not bothering to throw out a response.

Nan Huai Ren was afraid that Li Qi Ye would say even more outrageous things, so he interrupted:

“Older Brother, this is my master, a protector of the sect.”

“Please take care of me on this trip.”

Li Qi Ye bowed his head with just the right amount of courtesy and respect. Not too forced, yet not too weak.

Protector Mo glanced at him once again and said:

“Let us go, now.”

Protector Mo was one of the older protectors; his cultivation level was above average. However, he does not know how to interact socially with others. Thus, his position in the sect was quite low relative to the other protectors. Otherwise, he would not be a part of this great expedition.

The upper echelons of the sect knew that this trip would become a comedic play and Li Qi Ye was the main character. If the audience was not happy, death might be inevitable, and that is another reason why everyone hid away from the trip.

Protector Mo also thought that there would be no positive results coming out of this trip, and that was why his mood has been even more sour than normal.

The long trip was filled with silence until they reached the grand temple of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect. The grand temple was huge, and it could contain ten thousand people. Looking through all of the Grand Middle Territory, it would be difficult to find a comparable temple.

The jade colored temple was extremely ancient; it was built by heavenly stones and crystals. Above were calligraphy carved by Immortal Emperor Min Ren. The words exuded a courageous aura, deep beyond fathom; each word and each phrase felt as if it could erase existence itself. From this grand temple, one could appreciate the old power of the dying sect.

This temple was the starting point for all of the conquests made by the great Emperor. Min Ren conducted ceremonies here before conducting his expeditions that would span the whole Nine Worlds. Only an Immortal Emperor sect could possess this temple.

“Bang…”

As the entrance was opened, a gateway could be seen standing inside. Colored and tempered by god crystals, the hulk was covered by empty holes and Immortal Emperor carvings. The empty holes were there to be filled with meteoric crystals.

Meteoric crystals are formed by the natural spiritual power of heaven and earth; the very essence of what makes cultivation possible. Its main purpose was to operate gateways in order to traverse far distances. The warping distance was predicated by the quantity and quality of the meteoric crystals.

Unfortunately, the current gateway only has a few meteoric crystals inside. Once again, Li Qi Ye was saddened by how far the sect had fallen. In the past, this gateway, with an abundance of crystals, had brought many armies to far away places in the Nine Worlds.

They entered the gateway and in the blink of an eye, they warped to a different location.

The Grand Middle Territory was huge, spanning billions of miles. There were countless sects spanning across fifteen countries. However, there were gigantic monsters like Kingdoms and Ancient Kingdoms that spanned billions of miles by themselves.

If one wanted to cross a country by flying, unless he was an Enlightened Being or a Heavenly King, it would take many years. Any Named Hero or Royal Noble would be wise enough to not attempt this feat. Plus, the Grand Middle Territory was only one part of the Mortal Emperor World.

The Mortal Emperor World was also known as the Emperor Boundary or Emperor Country, and consisted of five different parts. In the north lies the Limitless Land; the south has the Chained Earth; the east forms the Hundred Cities; the west contains the Desolate Wasteland; and the middle was the Grand Middle Territory.

“Bang…”

Li Qi Ye and his companions arrived at the gateway of the Nine Saint Demon Gate.

As they stepped out, they felt that the natural spirit essence was denser than any place before. As far as the eyes could see, this was truly a heavenly sect.

The location of the Nine Saint Demon Gate spanned for millions of miles; it was filled with mountains and rivers, with majestic waterfalls and heavenly saint trees that could pierce the heavens, and with marble palaces floating and hiding in the clouds as far as the eyes could see. At the deepest part, you could see penetrating auras that shone radiantly across the land. One would believe that the origin of those aura lies a shocking heavenly treasure.

This was the picture of a powerful sect. With this atmosphere and location, no wonder it could rule over a country. In comparison, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect was akin to a destitute old man at the end of his life.

“I see that it is Older Brother Mo, long time no see.”

When the three of them left the gateway, there was an older man leading his disciples for the welcoming party.

The man was a sectional leader of their sect. His last name was Fu; he was the owner of a cold and stoic face. His eyes contained a powerful gaze, and his body radiated a shining aura; his natural disposition was one that could cause fear in weaker souls.

Even though he was only a sectional leader, he possessed the strength of a Named Hero, that was evident by the aura exuded from his body. In the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect, only an elder would be eligible for the Named Hero qualification.

“Is this your prime disciple?”

“That is correct, Li Qi Ye is the prime disciple of my sect.”

Protector Mo smiled bitterly. The body and talents of Li Qi Ye was nothing to be proud of.

“The trial, it is but a friendly competition. Brother Mo does not have to worry about it.”

Sectional Leader Fu showed a gentle smile.

“Only a trial, can’t reach the peak.”[2]

Li Qi Ye smiled back at Sectional Leader Fu and elegantly expressed his feelings.

Sectional Leader Fu ignored Li Qi Ye’s sly remark and conversed with Protector Mo instead:

“Brother Mo, please follow me.”

In his mind, a Named Hero arguing with a junior like Li Qi Ye would be unbecoming for a man of his status.

Protector Mo, on the other hand, glared angrily at Li Qi Ye.

[1] This is a saying Li Qi Ye and other people in this novel love to say, I think the meaning is literal enough to keep

[2] He uses it again here to imply that a trial is nothing to him