Chapter 167: Selecting A Secret Manual

The Divine Sword Sect’s Hall of Scriptures was located on Tianji Peak, which was named after the 36 Heavenly Spirits among the Stars of Destiny. This was an important place in the Divine Sword Sect, and hence it was heavily guarded. This was the first time Yan Liqiang had ever visited this place.

By afternoon, when the sun was hanging high above his head, Yan Liqiang was already standing at the foot of Tianji Peak.

There was a checkpoint at the foot of the mountain. An attendant from the Hall of Scriptures was assigned to stand guard here with a few servant disciples. After Yan Liqiang showed his waist tag and the slip Hall Master Su had issued to him, he was personally led up the mountain by an inner disciple dressed in black with a solemn face.

“Tianji Peak is an important place in the sect. Follow me closely and do not wander around. A wrong step may just cost you your life!” The servant disciple emotionlessly told Yan Liqiang this on the way.

“Understood. Thank you, Senior Martial Brother!”

The disciple dressed in black robes nodded, then led Yan Liqiang up the mountain.

The difference between Tianji Peak and the other 35 peaks was that there weren’t any plants on Tianji Peak. The entire mountain was barren as far as the eyes could see and everything in sight looked very plain. There was only one path up the mountain and it was straight and steep. The entire path was open along the edge of the cliff and the steep slopes. The four-foot wide road was divided into two, one for going upward and the other going downward. It kind of reminded Yan Liqiang of the precipitous mountain path on Mount Hua which he had visited in his previous life.

After walking along the mountain path for more than twenty minutes and passing two more checkpoints, the servant in black brought Yan Liqiang to the Hall of Scriptures’ compound outside. After another round of inspections, he passed Yan Liqiang to another servant outside that later led Yan Liqiang inside the Hall of Scriptures. After taking a few turns left and right, they arrived at a small courtyard. In that small courtyard was a magnificent, nine-story pavilion. In the middle of the pavilion was a signboard with three huge golden characters inscribed vertically on it —’Hall of Scriptures’.

Disciples dressed in robes of various colors went in and out of the Hall of Scriptures. Every disciple of the Divine Sword Sect that entered this place was accompanied by an attendant disciple from the Hall of Scriptures. With someone following them around, most people rarely conversed here. Therefore, the atmosphere was silent and solemn.

There was a window high above the ground at the Hall of Scriptures’ entrance, like those in a pawnshop. As soon as Yan Liqiang entered the hall, he handed over his identity tag and the slip issued by Hall Master Su inside the window. After another inspection and verification, a key was issued from inside the window. The servant disciple who brought him here accepted the key, then led him further inside.

After turning into a corridor and taking another two turns, the servant from the Hall of Scriptures finally brought Yan Liqiang into a room.

It was a room about the size of two thousand square meters. Rows of bookshelves lined the room, and the secret manuals sat on those shelves.

Despite Yan Liqiang’s composure, even he had to gulp a mouthful of saliva at the sight of this scene as he took in the amazement which shook him to his core. He was feeling more intense than how Granny Liu felt when she visited the Grand View Garden for the first time [1] by tenfolds. Pingxi Prefecture was already remote to begin with, so things like secret manuals were very hard to come by. Therefore, Yan Liqiang never expected such valuable and secret martial arts manuals to appear before him like this.

“Wow, that’s a lot of secret manuals!” Yan Liqiang sighed in amazement with an exaggerated and half-sincere tone. He looked at the servant who brought him into the Hall of Scriptures. “Excuse me Senior Martial Brother, can I just pick any secret manual that is in here?”

The servant in black who brought him in smiled haughtily. “This collection of secret manuals has been built up for over a thousand years in the Divine Sword Sect through the painstaking efforts of countless seniors and founders in the sect. This is also one of the reasons behind the Divine Sword Sect’s recognition as one of the four major sects in the world. You may pick any one of the secret manuals here, Junior Martial Brother. But since Junior Martial Brother has just progressed into a Martial Warrior recently, I would advise you to not be dazzled by these secret manuals. It is of utmost importance to pick one practical secret internal cultivation manual. Take it slow and steady. You probably will still have another opportunity to come in here again to choose another one in the future!”

“Thank you for the advice, Senior Martial Brother.”

“Well, take note that some secret manuals here are incomplete. They will be indicated on the iron casings of those secret manuals. If you pick one of those incomplete secret manuals, you won’t be able to cultivate the technique to its highest realm as stated in the manual. However, those incomplete secret manuals which are still be stored here are top secret manuals. However, one shouldn’t underestimate them even if it is impossible to cultivate them to the highest realm because one can still master the remaining contents. They are stored here because the missing sections are the later parts!”

“Alright, I will take note of it!”

“You will be given fifteen minutes to make your selection. I will wait for you here. Bring the iron casing over after you have made your selection. If you are unable to make your selection within fifteen minutes, it will be treated as you have forfeited your opportunity this time.”

“Understood!”

After chatting with the servant at the entrance for a while, Yan Liqiang walked into the midst of those bookshelves and started browsing.

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Every bookshelf in this room was made out of iron. All the secret manuals were put in heavy and sturdy iron casings. They were arranged on the bookshelves and locked. Without a key, they couldn’t be opened.

On the label of each iron casing were the secret manual’s name, level, and whether the secret manual had missing pages or not.

Although there weren’t many people in the Hall of Scriptures, Yan Liqiang felt uneasy the moment he walked into the middle of those bookshelves. An indistinct aura filled the Hall of Scriptures and the aura kept making Yan Liqiang feel as though he was being watched so he didn’t dare to mess around.

Shrouded by this aura, Yan Liqiang could only act like the other disciples while he skimmed over the bookshelves.

Yan Liqiang took a rough look and noticed that although these secret manuals were stored in the Divine Sword Sect, many of them were not Divine Sword Sect’s exclusives. The Divine Sword Sect’s primary focus was on sword technique cultivation. However, there were all kinds of secret manuals here — an entire collection which encompassed all eighteen classes of martial arts, including swords, sabers, fists, and leg techniques. He could tell that many of them were not even the Divine Sword Sect’s as they were of totally different styles: for example, ‘Yang Clan’s Seven Deadly Fists’, ‘Five Tigers Breaking the Gate Saber’, ‘Peng Clan’s Spear Technique’, ‘Tan Clan’s Shadowless Kick’, ‘Qushan Eighteen Canes’ and ‘Tang Clan’s Weapon Throwing Technique’. The moment he saw these secret manuals, he knew that they didn’t originally belong to the sect. There were probably some stories behind their appearances in the Divine Sword Sect’s Hall of Scriptures.

The servant was right. An individual who had just progressed into a Martial Warrior would be able to begin their internal cultivation. Therefore, secret manuals on internal cultivation were usually top priority for everyone who managed to get in here.

Naturally, Yan Liqiang was no exception. Although the secret manuals here were a dazzling lineup, he merely browsed through them as though he were flower viewing on horseback before he directly went over to the row of bookshelves with the internal cultivation labels.

The internal cultivation that the Divine Sword Sect disciples cultivated was for the sake of assisting the sword techniques they’d be cultivating in the future. The three most cultivated internal cultivations were the ‘Violet Mist Divine Technique’, the ‘Origin Returning Divine Technique’ and the ‘Primordial Unity Geng Metal Internal Cultivation Technique’. Among the people who joined the Divine Sword Sect, 99 percent of them cultivated one of these three internal cultivation techniques. But of course, as a disciple who had just joined the Divine Sword Sect, even if they cultivated these three secret techniques, they wouldn’t be able to completely understand them. The iron casings of these three techniques were labeled with two obvious words —’Beginner Level’. This implied that these three cultivation techniques’ secret manuals were only good for Martial Warriors and Supreme Martial Warriors to cultivate. After these two stages, if one wished to still continue cultivating these techniques, then they would have to make enough contributions to the sect. These beginner level secret manuals were followed by three other levels — intermediate level, advanced level and expert level.

There were about more than a hundred secret manuals on other types of internal cultivation.

Yan Liqiang only took a single glance at these three secret manuals before he walked away. He didn’t pick these three secret manuals which were widely cultivated by everyone in the Divine Sword Sect. Instead, he spotted a very dusty iron casing chucked in a barely noticeable corner on the internal cultivation bookshelf. On that iron casing were two lines of text —

The first line of text read —’Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’.

The second line of the text read —’Critically missing pages. Highest realm limited to Supreme Martial Warrior only. Please consider carefully!’

After spotting this secret manual, Yan Liqiang pretended to pace around that row of bookshelves for a long while. After pondering and being indecisive for the longest time among those secret manuals, he clenched his teeth, picked up the iron casing which contained the ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’, and left the bookshelf when his time limit of fifteen minutes had almost expired.

“Junior Martial Brother, although this is a high level secret manual which has been passed down for over a few thousand years, it is incomplete. After progressing into Supreme Martial Warrior, there won’t be any more content to cultivate in this secret manual. Seniors in the Divine Sword Sect who have cultivated this secret manual in the past had no choice but to switch their cultivation to another secret manual after they progressed into Supreme Martial Warriors. Are you sure about it?”

“I am sure. I have a feeling that this secret manual is different from the others, so I would like to give it a try!”

“Alright. You will be given three days to memorize the contents of this secret manual. If you can’t memorize it all today, then you may come again tomorrow. You are only allowed to memorize the contents of this secret manual in your mind. You are prohibited from making a written copy, telling anyone else about it without permission, or deliberately damaging the secret manual. Otherwise, you will be severely punished according to the laws of the sect. I am sure you know well of the consequences!”

“I understand!”

Upon hearing Yan Liqiang’s response, the servant disciple immediately led Yan Liqiang to a lonely room of less than three square meters in size. He unlocked the fastening mechanism on the iron casing of the secret manual with the key in his hand and then left the room.

Shutting the door behind him, Yan Liqiang was left alone in that small room. He opened the iron casing and took out the secret manual.

From the looks of it, this ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’ was obviously a copy and not the original copy. Nearly every secret manual in the Hall of Scriptures was a copy. Their original copies were hidden in a more secret location by the sect, inaccessible to ordinary disciples.

Out of the entire Divine Sword Sect, aside from those of the Sect Guardian lineage, most people didn’t know that the original copy of this ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’ was complete and that the complete version of this secret manual was only passed down the Sect Guardian’s lineage.

The internal cultivation cultivated by the Sect Guardians of Divine Sword Sect was this ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Divine Technique’, which was deemed to be incomplete by most people…

This was a first-rate secret manual which could reach up to twenty layers of realms…