A Martial God’s Bloodline - Chapter 44
Chapter 44: On the Eve of the Prodigy Summit
A Standard-Grade Yellow Rank Sword!
Li Ye inhaled sharply. He originally wanted to go there to choose a better-quality premium sword, but little did he expect to encounter a Standard-Grade Yellow Rank item!
“Shopkeeper, what is the price of this sword?”
Suppressing the surprise and excitement in his heart, Li Ye looked calmer on the surface and did not reveal his impassioned look.
“Twenty-two thousand coins!”
Twenty-two thousand?!! Upon hearing that figure, Li Ye shook his head in his heart and thought, “It really is unaffordable compared to mediocre and premium products.”
In Cloudveil Continent, one hundred gold coins was enough for a family of three to live a well-off life for one year. Few small families could even fork out ten thousand gold coins! With a price of twenty-two thousand gold coins, almost no one in Wu Prefecture City could spend such a large amount of money without batting an eye!
Seeing Li Ye’s silence, the shopkeeper smiled and said, “Of course, if you really like it, Young Master, the price can be lowered. Twenty thousand gold coins!”
Twenty thousand gold coins? Li Ye shook his head with a bitter smile, he could not even fork out two thousand gold coins, let alone twenty thousand!
The Li clan, as one of the Three Great Clans in Wu Prefecture City, treated their inner disciples well. Since he was also part of the top ten, the clan would allocate a thousand gold coins to him as his monthly allowance.
A cultivator’s expenses were usually very high. He had just only made it as an inner disciple that month, so he had no money on hand yet.
After calculating the gold coins on hand, Li Ye found less than a thousand. It was a one-time reward for making it into the inner disciples.
“It seems like I’m not fated to be with the Pure Wind Sword.”
He stopped looking at it and turned to look at the other items. There was more than one sword in the little room, as well as other weapons displayed on the wall.
Among those weapons were a set of flying sabers that caught Li Ye’s attention. His eyes lit up and he was drawn to them.
On closer inspection, it was discovered to be a set of six flying sabers. Each one was dainty, delicate, and possessed a cool energy to them.
Li Ye took a liking to it with that one glance. “Although I can’t afford a flying sword, the Sword Control Technique might be able to strengthen the abilities of these flying sabers!”
The shopkeeper was slightly taken aback to see Li Ye heading elsewhere, but he continued to introduce Li Ye to those weapons without showing his surprise.
“Young Master, your eyes are quite special. This set of flying sabers is also the work of the master blacksmith. Although it’s not in any rank yet, it’s still a premium product! It’s made with century-old cold iron and there’s no need to doubt its sharpness. This can cut through ordinary weapons like a knife to mud. Even ordinary premium weapons are easily slashed into half!”
Once the shopkeeper finished speaking, he grabbed an ordinary weapon from beside and took out one flying saber. With a gentle chop, the ordinary weapon was sliced in half without the slightest resistance!
“So sharp!”
Li Ye was amazed!
In Cloudveil Continent, the difference between ordinary weapons and premium ones lie in the craftsmanship of the craftsman. Only weapons that were ranked can achieve such sharpness.
“Although this flying saber isn’t ranked yet, it is just as sharp as a Standard-Grade Yellow Rank weapon!”
Li Ye wanted to use the Sword Control Technique to bring down his enemies, so the ability to cut through steel like butter was something he placed a lot of importance in!
Before Li Ye inquired about the price, the shopkeeper continued to explain, “Although this set of flying knives aren’t ranked weapons, they’re not inferior to any ranked weapon. And, because it has the addition of century-old cold iron, the price is ten-thousand-and-five-hundred gold coins per set!”
Ten-thousand-and-five-hundred gold coins! Li Ye had absolutely no idea whether to praise his good eye or his good luck.
Both weapons that he fancied were so expensive that they were far out of his budget.
Shaking his head, Li Ye reluctantly looked away and glanced across the room. He suddenly realized that it was very difficult to find a weapon there that he could wield.
“The weapons here are all premium goods. With my current social status, it’s hard for me to afford anything.”
Li Ye dismissed ordinary weapons though. Ordinary weapons, and even some premium ones, could not fully reflect the Sword Control Technique, perhaps even hindering it to some extent.
The shopkeeper’s eyes were like that of a hawk. He could immediately see the shyness coming from the interesting teenager before him.
He would certainly show contempt on other days, even to the point of mockery. That day was different however, and he had no idea why. He looked at the boy in front of him and felt that something was off. He was not stupid either—Li Ye’s energy was by no means ordinary, despite the plain clothes that were worn.
“His energy seems to suggest he’s from a great clan.”
Of course, even though he was a child of a great clan, ordinary members could not possibly afford premium weapons, unless they were the clan’s elite.
In the end, Li Ye picked an ordinary premium sword. It was also made of hundredfold-refined steel, leaving Li Ye quite content with it. After paying three hundred gold coins, Li Ye returned to the Li home.
“I don’t think I thought it through just now. No wonder those martial cultivators are so depressingly poor. It’s so easy to just spend money.”
As the seventh inner disciple, Li Ye was unfortunate to only receive a thousand gold coins a month from the clan. Any other expenses had to be borne by himself.
Of course, he could always choose to go out and take some jobs to make money, just like those mercenary adventurers. Li Ye immediately shook his head and rejected that idea.
Jobs that could be solved alone and easily usually had little monetary reward, while higher-paying jobs rewards usually require a lot of people to form a team and casualties may even be suffered. It took a lot of time too, which meant that it was impossible for him to complete it before the Prodigy Summit.
The next day, Li Ye started familiarizing himself with the Sword Control Technique in order to control the sword. It was not smooth at first. Although he could move it through the air, it always fell short of his expectations.
However, it did not take long for Li Ye to be capable of controlling his sword, sending it flying in all directions with extreme nimbleness.
“My distance of control is currently limited to ten meters. Beyond this, the consumption of my spiritual strength will increase exponentially. The precision of control will also decrease and the power will be insufficient.”
After much experimentation, Li Ye found that his current strength was utilized best when the flying sword was within the range of ten meters!
Wow! A cold ray of light sliced past and directly cut a piece of solid granite that was about seven or eight meters away!
“This power might even be fatal for an unprepared Eminent Master! A serious injury would be inflicted at the barest minimum!”
Li Ye was very satisfied with the result. As of then, his own strength was no weaker than an Eminent Master. Paired with the spiritual strength and illusionary techniques of his bloodpupils, the Sword Control Technique he had in hand made him a formidable opponent for an ordinary Eminent Master!
“Well, it’s still going to be a difficult task to actually intimidate a true Eminent Master!”
He was well aware that there were few talented people in Wu Prefecture City. As was seen on Li Mo one or two aberrant individuals could reach the level of Grandmaster! If Li Ye used his current strength without holding back, his odds of winning against a Grandmaster were less than fifty percent!
“Such a pity! If I had the set of flying sabers or the Pure Wind Sword, I might even have a forty of fifty percent chance of killing a Grandmaster using the Sword Control Technique!”
Shaking his head, Li Ye shelved all those thoughts for the time being.
“There’s still a lot of room for me to improve in the Footstep Mirage, my one and only physical technique. I have the Ice Crystal Fist as my fist technique and the Windstorm Kick as my kick technique, but I still need to work on the Cloudflip Palm.”
If anyone knew that Li Ye had learned so many battle techniques, they would certainly laugh at him. A martial artist had limited energy, and instead of learning too much, one would be better off specializing in one of them!
Prodigies like Li Xuan and the others only managed to learn and master one Yellow Rank Advanced technique. The most they could add to that were a few ordinary Yellow Rank Intermediate techniques.
As for Li Ye, he learned three Yellow Rank Advanced battle techniques and one Yellow Rank Advanced physical technique, in addition to the unranked Sword Control Technique. He was either an arrogant lunatic or a transcendent genius!
Whether Li Ye was a madman or a prodigy was still too difficult to say. With his bloodpupils however, a Yellow Rank Advanced battle technique might even be a walk in the park for Li Ye to learn!
“Couldflip Palm!”
Boom! A wave of intense energy was shot out directly. In the near distance, a tree that was just big enough to be hugged by a person split into four or five pieces at once.
“Its power is stronger than the Ice Crystal Fist and Windstorm Kick!”
Li Ye silently analyzed the three battle techniques he learned. The Windstorm Kick was most ethereal—it was the fastest and covered the largest area, but its power was not strong enough. The Ice Crystal Fist was well-formed and moderately powerful, with the intense chilliness affecting the opponent’s movement directly. The Cloudflip Palm was the most powerful because each thrust of the palm was filled with pure offensive force.
After another two days, Li Ye managed to train all three techniques to lesser attainment. Battle techniques and physical techniques were generally divided into introductory, lesser attainment, greater attainment, mastery and perfection. Most of the time, lesser attainment allowed the martial cultivator to exert about thirty to forty percent of the technique’s overall power. It usually took several months, perhaps even years, of practice to reach that state.
Li Ye however, achieved the introductory stage simply by reading the technique. Two days later, he had already achieved lesser attainment in what could only be described as absolutely freakish! Li Ye was completely oblivious to it though, believing instead that it was a normal phenomenon.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Continuous bursts of air were heard, filling the entire courtyard with about seven or eight doppelgangers.
“The Footstep Mirage really is a remnant of a Black Rank psychical technique. Although it’s incomplete, it’s far more impressive than other ordinary Yellow Rank Advanced physical techniques!”
Li Ye’s practice of the Footstep Mirage went extremely smoothly for some reason. Lesser attainment was reached in less than a day and he then went on to greater attainment!
As of then, Li Ye was trying his best to create more than ten doppelgangers in an instant. Each one was more genuine and more confusing than the one that Li Gei exhibited back then.
During those few days, Li Yating and Xiao Qing had already left after saying their goodbyes.
At the same time, the Prodigy Summit was getting closer and closer. Each great family in Wu Prefecture City, as well as some rogue cultivators, flexed their muscles and were eager to show their strength at the event!
However, something happened on the eve of the Prodigy Summit!
