Chapter 86: The Sect
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: AntiGod
Four sword beams were approaching from above. Wu Qi tilted his head up and looked at them, feeling surprised. Judging from the arrogant behavior of these four young men, he thought they were all having a pretty strong cultivation. Yet, when he looked at those sword beams, they didn’t seem powerful at all. Each sword beam was merely a few feet in length, and the speed they streaked through the sky was even slower than the body maneuvering technique of his.
If they wanted a fight, so be it! After spending so many days in Ji City, Wu Qi had more or less learned some details about all thirteen Immortal Sects of Great Yan Dynasty. When a fight broke out between apprentices and disciples, not only they wouldn’t be punished by the Sect rules, they were actually supported by the seniors in their Sect. As long as they were not poisoning someone secretly or ambushing from the back, if they fought in a face to face battle and even killed their fellow apprentices, the Sect wouldn’t punish them for their actions.
Wu Qi sneered. He was lazy to ponder about the background of these people. With a sway of his body, he dodged four sword beams and sprinted towards the four men. Like continuous thunderclaps, he thrust his leg forward, hitting forcefully right onto the crotch of all four young men. Out of these four men, one of them had the cultivation of Respiration tier while the other three only possessed the overall strength of peak Houtian realm. But, no matter what kind of cultivation they had attained, the weakest vital spot for any man was still the place that Wu Qi had just kicked.
The powerful kick knocked all four men over thirty feet away. It seemed like they had learned a pretty good body maneuvering technique, as they were able to land on the ground steadily. But, they were now holding and pressing on their crotch with a strange expression. Their knees were bent, and their back straight, while hissing noise could be heard coming from their mouth as they were drawing sharp cold breath. They were staring at Wu Qi with a weird look in their eyes. Slowly, their eyes starting to protrude from the socket.
The sword beams that missed its target were now hovering aimlessly and motionlessly above Wu Qi’s head. Without hesitation, Wu Qi stretched his arm out and grabbed all four lower tier flying swords in his palm, and casually shoved them into his storage ring. With much sympathy, he looked at four young men, who had their faces gradually turn pale. Then, he said softly, “If it is really that painful, just shout it out. I know it is very painful as your important part was just kicked by me. We’re fellow apprentices in the same sect, so I won’t laugh at you. If you want to shout, just do it!”
A series of miserable shrieks soared up high into the cloudy sky. Four young men held on their crotch, rolling and struggling on the ground. Their faces suddenly turned extremely red mixed with purple, as cold sweat kept oozing out from all over their body. Leisurely and gracefully, Wu Qi walked past them, striding along the stone slab path up toward the mountain. He didn’t use too much force in his kick just now. At most, these men would have their little brother swollen for a few days, and there wouldn’t be any permanent side effects. Just that they were experiencing a severe pain right now.
Wu Qi said a few words to the guide who led him here, asking him to wait outside the gate. Wu Qi then walked along the path up to the mountain for about a thousand feet. All of a sudden, he rested his eyes on a large rock placed on the side of the path and laughed, “Mister, it seems that you’ve been watching for a long while?” When he kicked away those four young men just now, he overheard someone draw in a deep breath near the rock. That was why he knew someone was hiding here.
A green light flashed, revealing a young man who was clad in the same white robe. He gazed at Wu Qi surprisingly, then bowed his head and looked at his palm, where a ‘Stealth Talisman’ that took the shape of a tree leaf sat firmly. He snorted coldly and leaped down from the rock. From his sleeve, he took out a small booklet whose cover was made using golden threads, and quickly wrote a few rows of words on it using a slim pen.
“The few of you! You can’t even defeat a newcomer who hasn’t even officially joined the sect, and you had learned so many skills and techniques in Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. You’ll now be punished with a demotion from Second Grade apprentice to Third Grade apprentice. After your task today, go report yourselves to the elders of Punishment Court.”
After giving the four young men who were struggling on the ground a stern scold, the young man tilted his lower jaw up and gazed at Wu Qi from the corner of his eyes, “So, you’re Wu Qi, the new apprentice accepted by Sect Leader? You’re pretty good in fighting, huh? Any newcomer will be given the status of Third Grade apprentice. But since you’ve defeated four Second Grade apprentices, from today onwards, your status will be promoted to Second Grade apprentice.”
He took out another booklet from his sleeve and threw it over to Wu Qi, then said with a cold voice, “My name is Haoying Fengying, the elder brother of Haoying Fenglong. In these three months, I’m in charge of recording every word and behavior of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect apprentices. This book contains the rules and things that you need to pay attention to in our sect. Memorize them and don’t violate any sect rules. If you do, no one is going to save you!”
A cold breeze shot out from his nostrils. Haoying Fengying glared disdainfully at Wu Qi, turned around and was about to leave.
Wu Qi hastened his pace and caught up with Haoying Fengying, stretched his arm and grabbed the man’s sleeve. Haoying Fengying’s face darkened instantly, turning around and snapping at Wu Qi, “Wu Qi, what are you trying to do?” A clanging sound burst out from the scene as the longsword hanging down on Haoying Fengying’s waist suddenly sprung nearly a foot out from its scabbard. The blade was glimmering bright green, sending forth a shivering breeze. It was a middle tier flying sword. Haoying Fengying also possessed a solid cultivation base, having attained the cultivation of Physique Strengthening tier. As he injected a powerful energy into the flying sword, a few inches thick sword energy immediately burst out from it.
Wu Qi ran his eyes over the shivering flying sword, then he smiled. He pulled Haoying Fengying over and asked, “You’re Haoying Fenglong’s elder brother?”
Haoying Fengying replied coolly, “Yes, what do you want?”
Wu Qi laughed again. After Lu Chengfeng had beaten Haoying Fengying in the floating restaurant, Yan Bugui he had learned all the ins and outs of the current situation of Haoying Clan. Indeed, Haoying Fengying was Haoying Fenglong’s eldest brother, but his status was that of a concubine’s son, and it was destined that he had no right to inherit the power of Haoying Clan. The best outcome for him would be owning a small piece of fief in the territory of Haoying Clan, and live the rest of his life without worrying about food and clothes.
Wu Qi’s face was beaming with a smile. He moved his palm and grabbed Haoying Fengying’s wrist. This had shocked Haoying Fengying, and his flying sword leaped out from the scabbard, turning into a feet long green beam that was about to thrust toward Wu Qi. Hastily Wu Qi shouted with a low voice, “Hold on, listen to me first. If you help me to gain a foothold in Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, I’ll help you in defeating Haoying Fenglong. Although only the eldest son of lineage can inherit the legacy of the clan, there is always an exception, don’t you think so?”
The sword beam returned to the scabbard. Haoying Fengying stared at Wu Qi sternly for a while, laughed coldly and said, “What help can you provide?”
Wu Qi said openly and straightforwardly, “The amount of help you can provide me, an equal amount me and my young master will provide to you. I know nothing about Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, and it has become an obstacle for me to keep a foothold here. As for you, according to the background of your birth mother, hehe… unless, you just want to be a wealthy man for the rest of your life.”
After pondering silently for a brief moment, Haoying Fengying suddenly laughed. He turned his palm over and grabbed onto Wu Qi’s, lowered his voice and said, “It looks like I’ve made a right decision by purposely exchanging my task with senior apprentice and wait for you here. Initially, I thought you’ll not be coming today. Your presence has indeed surprised me.”
Wu Qi gave Haoying Fengying’s hand a powerful shake, smiled and said, “You’ve waited for me here purposely? Since we’re both men with a witty mind, let’s save our breath. If you help me, I’ll help you. In the future, not only me, even my young master will need help from many friends in Ji City.”
Both men looked at each other and laughed. Needless to say too much, they already had their own plans and decisions in their minds. While holding hands together, they walked along the stone slab path intimately up towards Mount White Sun. On their way, Haoying Fengying told Wu Qi in detail about some situations of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, and these were the information that Wu Qi needed the most right now. After all, even in the secret information room of Scouting Office, he found no detailed information regarding all thirteen Immortal Sects of Great Yan Dynasty. Even if there were any, they would not be the kind that Yan Bugui could easily get in touch with, as those would be the strategic information for Great Yan Dynasty.
According to the introduction told by Haoying Fengying, the person who currently held the strongest power in Heaven Breaking Sword Sect was the Great Elder, Nie Yaonu and Yan Li. Nie Yaonu was the Founding Patriarch of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, and also the birth mother of Nie Baihong, the current Sect Leader. Nearly one hundred years ago, she had passed the position of Sect Leader over to Nie Baihong and entered a secluded cultivation at the back of the mountain. At that point in time, she had made the breakthrough and attained the cultivation of peak Gold Core realm.
As for Yan Li, he was actually the lineage grandson of Emperor Yan Dan, the third son of the Crown Prince Yan Qijun. Nie Yaonu and Yan Li got married at the second month after Nie Yaonu accidentally found the cave left behind by an Immortal. It was said that the relationship between this couple was not good. Besides Nie Yaonu as Yan Li’s legal wife, he also had no less than two hundred concubines.
Nie Yaonu was the Founding Patriarch and the spiritual leader of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. On the other side, Yan Li, together with many Sect Elders of Elder Council who were close to him, was the actual group of men that held power in the sect. The Elder Council of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect consisted of thirty-six elders. Each and every single one of them was a Human Immortal who had formed their Gold Core. Among them, twenty-seven elders were having a good relationship with Yan Li, and all of them came from either the Imperial Clan of Great Yan Dynasty, or Jin Clan, Qin Clan, Gao Clan and few other prestige clans.
As for why the current Sect Leader, Nie Baihong, was having the surname of Nie, it seemed like it was a forbidden topic. Haoying Fengying opened his mouth upon hearing the question, but he didn’t say anything to explain that. He quickly changed the topic and started to explain all the other matters regarding Heaven Breaking Sword Sect.
For example, he mentioned about the apprentices of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. For a newcomer like Wu Qi, they would usually be given the status of Third Grade apprentice. Unless they had contributed a great deed for the sect, or defeated other apprentices who were having a higher status than them, they didn’t have any chance to be promoted to a higher level. They could only cultivate with the most elementary technique of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, the Qi Circulating Technique of Five Elements.
Only after the apprentice promoted from Third Grade to the Second Grade, First Grade, and eventually became the inner disciple of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, would he have the chance to get in touch with the real cultivation script of the sect. In addition to that, only those core disciples could obtain the orthodox legacy of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect’s sword technique.
There were three thousand apprentices under Nie Baihong alone. However, out of these three thousand apprentices, less than three hundred of them were Second Grade apprentices, and only about seventy were First Grade. A total of thirteen were inner disciples. There wasn’t any core disciple under him. In addition to that, all these three thousand apprentices were rather important descendants from prestige clans of Great Yan Dynasty, and only a handful of them were someone like Wu Qi, who didn’t come from a prestigious background and joined the sect through connections.
Basically, the same situation existed throughout all thirteen Immortal Sects of Great Yan Dynasty. Both Imperial and noble clans with the surname of Yan held most of the actual power in their respective sects, and the apprentices were mostly from prestigious clans of Great Yan Dynasty. For ordinary civilians, unless they possessed a heaven-defying talent, it was impossible for them to be accepted into the sect. Even if there really were this kind of geniuses among civilians, whether they could survive until the day they mastered the cultivation in the sect would be something that only the Heavens would know.
At least, throughout the twenty years of history since Haoying Fengying joined the sect, he had personally witnessed more than one hundred so-called geniuses who came from civilian background ‘die accidentally’.
After listening to the situation of the sect, Wu Qi felt his heart sink. It seemed like he would have to face a huge risk in Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, and he had to be really careful.
While talking along their way, both men had traveled nearly an hour of journey. Finally, they arrived at the gateway of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, which was located in the heart of Mount White Sun. It was a flat land that was surrounded by ridged mountains with the circumference of nearly twenty miles. A couple dozens of palaces of different sizes were erected on this land, and this was the real base of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect.
Haoying Fengying grabbed Wu Qi’s hand, dragging him and running towards a palace located nearest to them.
There was still time before the lecture began, as the Sect Elders would only come at noon to give the lecture. The most important thing now was to let Wu Qi settle all the formalities, going through the process that every new apprentice had to go through. And the first thing Wu Qi needed to do was determine his potential and talent in cultivation.
