Chapter 21: Opening the Book in the Wrong Way
Translator: Asuka
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Inside the room in the Flying Dragon Boat, Lu Ye kept looking around. When he came to his senses, he realised that Elder Tang was already seated on the futon. Hence, he quickly walked over and took a seat in front of him.
Sometimes, fate was truly intriguing. When Lu Ye met Elder Tang in the mine, he could not have expected that he would join the latter’s Sect one day. Whatever the case, he finally had a place to stay from now on. At the thought of this, he felt warm in his heart. He was left with no choice when he decided to join Crimson Blood Sect. However, if Elder Tang was also in the same Sect, it wasn’t so unacceptable after all.
“I’m Tang Yi Feng,” Elder Tang uttered. “The tenth Sect Master of Crimson Blood Sect.”
Upon hearing that, Lu Ye was startled. Although he didn’t know much about the cultivation world, he understood what a Sect Master was. Previously, he had speculated that Elder Tang held an important position within Crimson Blood Sect, but he had never expected that the latter was actually the Sect Master. Therefore, he quickly saluted him. “Sect Master.”
Elder Tang nodded. “Although I’ve taken you on as a disciple, we do have some rules in our Sect. At the moment, you’re just a disciple on paper, not a formal one yet. You have to go through some tests first. I’ll not talk about the tests now as you’ll find out about it after you join our Sect. Furthermore, given your cultivation now, you’re still far from being able to take part in the tests.”
Lu Ye listened carefully and nodded. “I understand.”
Previously, the mining slaves had to go through some tests if they wanted to join Evil Moon Valley, so Lu Ye wasn’t surprised to hear that from Elder Tang. Besides him, those who had been selected by the various Sects were also not formal disciples yet. Every Sect had their own tests to examine the disciples’ temperament, morality and other aspects. Only by passing the tests could they be considered formal disciples.
“Crimson Blood Sect is located on Mount Ao in Bing Zhou. The Sect has been around for a thousand years, and we’ve nurtured a total number of 63,662 disciples. As for Divine Ocean Realm Masters, there are…”
As Lu Ye listened to Elder Tang’s narration, the history of the Sect seemed to be unfolding like a scroll right in front of him, allowing him to understand the basic information of the Sect. At this moment, he still didn’t understand what these numbers meant. When he realised how incredible those numbers actually were in the future, he would be amazed.
A moment later, Elder Tang stared at him and uttered, “If there’s anything you want to know, just ask me straight away.”
Lu Ye randomly asked a question that he was curious about. “Sect Master, why didn’t I see other Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters from our Sect during the attack on Evil Moon Valley?”
He didn’t notice when Elder Tang went over to fetch him. However, upon learning that Elder Tang was the Sect Master of Crimson Blood Sect, he immediately realised something. Elder Tang seemed to be the only one who had come to this place. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been the one to fetch Lu Ye. Any disciple could do the job of welcoming a newbie, so it wouldn’t require a Sect Master to personally show up.
“Well…” Elder Tang coughed into his fist. “The thing is, we don’t have many people in the Sect.”
Upon hearing his explanation, Lu Ye replied, “It means that not many people have joined our Sect, and it’s on the decline currently.”
That seemed to be the case as a Ninth-Tier Sect was already at the bottom of the cultivation world in Jiu Zhou, so it was difficult for them to recruit any disciples. For example, of the more than one hundred mining slaves that had been rescued, only Lu Ye had chosen Crimson Blood Sect, and the reason he did that was due to Pang Da Hai’s advice.
“Well… you’re not wrong to say that.” Elder Tang appeared helpless.
“Then, how many disciples are there in the Sect now?”
Elder Tang uttered, “Change a topic.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t you have any questions regarding cultivation?”
“Yes!” Lu Ye nodded hurriedly. “Currently, my first Spiritual Point is full, but I can’t find the second one to unlock it. Please give me some guidance.”
Elder Tang nodded gently. “It’s a common problem facing new cultivators. However, if you want to unlock the second Spiritual Point, you have to obtain a suitable cultivation technique first.”
“I do have a manual.” As Lu Ye spoke, he started taking off his clothes, and under the shocked Elder Tang’s attention, he fished out his second Storage Bag from his undershirt.
This was Manager Yang’s Storage Bag. Before Lu Ye decided to leave the secret passageway, he had hidden it under his undershirt. There were many valuable things inside the bag, so he was worried that others might have their eyes on it. Since he had joined Crimson Blood Sect, it wasn’t necessary to hide it from the Sect Master anymore.
After taking a look at the Storage Bag on Lu Ye’s waist and then the one the young man had just fished out, Elder Tang immediately understood that Lu Ye had killed more than one person from Evil Moon Valley in the mine. “You’re such a cunning man!” he remarked.
With a smirk, Lu Ye took out a book from Manager Yang’s bag and passed it to Elder Tang. “I’ve obtained Golden Liberation Technique from an Evil Moon Valley’s cultivator, so I’m not sure if I should cultivate it.”
“Since this is a cultivation technique, you can definitely cultivate it. What are you worried about?” Elder Tang took the book and opened it.
“This is a technique from an Evil Moon Valley’s cultivator after all, so I’m worried that it might be some kind of evil technique…” Lu Ye was unable to finish his words because he suddenly heard some strange noises coming from Elder Tang. In this serene room, the noises sounded unpleasant to the ears.
While the corners of Lu Ye’s eyes twitched, Elder Tang appeared excited.
The noises became increasingly loud as some rhythmic moaning could be heard. There were also some strange conversations. If anyone outside the room heard it, they would think that the people inside the room were engaging in some kind of underhanded activity.
Unable to take it anymore, Lu Ye leaned closer to take a look at the book in Elder Tang’s hands. As Elder Tang infused his Spiritual Power into the book, the characters on the pages seemed to have come to life. The noises that Lu Ye could hear were from this book.
It wasn’t until this moment that he finally realised that he had taken out the wrong book.
There were three books in Manager Yang’s bag in total. One of them was ‘Biographies of Sword Saints’, and the other was ‘Golden Liberation Technique’. The last book was the one that was in Elder Tang’s hands. Lu Ye had randomly fished out a book, but he hadn’t expected that this was the one he had taken out.
When he went through the book in the past, he realised that the drawings were impeccable and the characters on the pages appeared vivid. However, it had never crossed his mind that the book was actually so amazing. [Did I open it in the wrong way previously?] That realisation made him stunned.
While he was in a dazed state, Elder Tang suddenly closed the book. At that instant, all the images and noises disappeared.
As their eyes met, Lu Ye uttered, “Sect Master, this book…”
A solemn Elder Tang replied, “This is a manual of dual cultivation technique, which is pretty useful. However, you’re still too young to learn it.”
“No, Sect Master. This isn’t my book. I obtained it from an Evil Moon Valley’s cultivator,” Lu Ye hurriedly explained.
Elder Tang nodded. “Alright. You’re still very young, so I’ll keep it for you now. I’ll give it back to you when you become older.”
For some reason, Lu Ye found Elder Tang’s words familiar.
Elder Tang had kept the amazing book, but there didn’t seem to be any Storage Bag around his body, so Lu Ye wasn’t sure where the old man had stored the book.