Ancient and Secret Arts

Li Tongya made his way down the mountain, turning Xiao Chuting's words over in his mind as he pondered silently: *What did he mean by that? Even the Xiao family knows the Tangjin Sect is marching south. Why is the Qingchi Sect remaining indifferent, letting the Tangjin Sect run rampant across the Xunlin Plain?* With that thought, Li Tongya's heart skipped a beat, and he muttered inwardly: *Not good. Once the Wan family is wiped out, the Ji family will bottle my Li family up inside Mount Dali. When the lips are gone, the teeth are cold. Xiangping will surely deploy the magical mirror and take action. Who knows how things stand right now? I should return home as fast as possible.* *Yet the Xunlin Plain is engulfed in flames of war everywhere. A detour would take an enormous distance—it might actually be faster to wait two or three days.* As these thoughts weighed on him, Li Tongya's brows knit together. Then he heard a loud call: "Brother Tongya!" Li Tongya turned in surprise to see Xiao Yongling hurriedly catching up from behind. With a broad grin, Xiao Yongling took Li Tongya by the hand and exclaimed: "We haven't seen each other in years! Now that you've arrived at the Xiao family, why didn't you come looking for me? I patrolled around that shabby tavern for days without spotting either of you." "By the way, where is Brother Wan?" Li Tongya let out a soft sigh and replied: "When I left home, I passed by the Wan family and found Wan Yuankai nowhere to be seen. I also heard the Tangjin Sect was driving south. By now, they have likely breached Mount Huaqian. Brother Wan... is probably already in mortal peril." Xiao Yongling froze, his expression turning somber, and he heaved a long sigh. "Alas, fortunes change in an evening, and storms come without warning. There is truly nothing one can do." Strolling with Li Tongya through the market town at the foot of the mountain, Xiao Yongling made small talk for a while before turning serious: "I heard that Brother Tongya reached Yujing years ago and stands merely a step away from the Lingchu Wheel at the pinnacle of Embryonic Breathing. Have you prepared a Qi Refinement cultivation art, and what kind of heaven-and-earth spirit qi do you intend to ingest?" Li Tongya offered a bitter smile and said softly: "To be honest with you, Brother Xiao, my family possesses only a single second-rank cultivation method, the *Tianyuan Qi Refinement Art*. This art requires ingesting Xiaoqing spirit qi, but our household has no method for gathering qi. I will likely have to purchase Xiaoqing spirit qi from the market, which is quite a headache." Xiao Yongling was visibly taken aback. All his life, he had taken pills according to the accumulation of pill toxins, custom-ordered magical implements to his liking, and chosen cultivation methods and secret arts at whim. Li Tongya's answer far exceeded the imagination of someone accustomed to such luxury, leaving him speechless in shock for a moment. Li Tongya, however, paid it no mind. He quietly calculated this year's harvest: aside from the two hundred jin paid as tribute, his storage bag held over two hundred and sixty jin of spirit rice and seven Baiyuan fruits, worth roughly four spirit stones in total. The three Wuzuo worms at home had spun silk twelve times over five years, which had been processed into three pieces of silk floss worth half a spirit stone. As for the Lingzhong Talisman Art Li Chijing had left behind, Li Tongya had studied it for five years, but had only just grasped some of its tricks and produced one or two successful pieces; he had not yet dared to draw on actual talisman paper. Li Tongya and Li Xiangping managed the household with careful calculation. A single spirit stone could buy only thirty sheets of talisman paper, while Embryonic Breathing talismans usually sold at three for a spirit stone. One had to succeed at least once in ten attempts just to break even on the paper alone, not to mention the talisman ink, so he naturally did not dare squander them on casual practice. Just as Li Tongya was considering finding a place to sell his spiritual goods, Xiao Yongling spoke up with a complicated look: "Xiaoqing spirit qi usually costs around thirty spirit stones. Has Brother Tongya prepared the spirit stones?" Li Tongya shook his head and smiled: "I'm in no rush. Xiaoqing spirit qi is exorbitantly priced, equivalent to decades of my family's income. I'll save up spirit stones and see. Embryonic Breathing cultivators often live up to a hundred and twenty years, so I have plenty of time." Xiao Yongling stared blankly at him before murmuring: "Brother Tongya broke through to Yujing at thirty, and Qi Refinement is within sight. Your talent is certainly respectable, yet you are burdened by your clan... It is truly a pity. Were you born into an established clan, you would surely surpass Yongling a hundredfold!" Li Tongya raised an eyebrow. Seeing how moved Xiao Yongling was, he chuckled: "Hahaha, what kind of talk is that? The world is harsh, and people have always huddled together for warmth. Do not look down on our Li family's current straits; it was only through a century of our ancestors' accumulated savings that we grasped this sliver of opportunity to step through the immortal gate. It cannot be called a burden from my clan—rather, it was my clan that made me who I am." Xiao Yongling nodded thoughtfully and smiled: "Yongling has learned much from your words." Li Tongya smiled and shook his head. Letting his gaze drift across the stalls, he turned serious: "Brother Yongling, these Qi Refinement cultivation arts... what might they cost?" "If it's those seven or eight common rogue cultivator arts, they probably cost no more than a few spirit stones; you can find them right on roadside stalls." Xiao Yongling pointed toward the pavilion ahead and explained: "If you want to buy an orthodox art of the second rank or higher, you must visit established shops. They generally run anywhere from several dozen to a hundred spirit stones. Some shops sell the art packaged together with the heaven-and-earth spirit qi, saving the time spent searching and gathering qi, but that costs far more." "Of course, there are also ancient arts and secret arts, whose prices fluctuate wildly, depending entirely on the buyer." Li Tongya frowned, asking in confusion: "Ancient arts and secret arts?" Xiao Yongling smiled faintly and explained: "All arts originate from a single qi. If one cannot find the qi required by a manual, the art cannot be cultivated. Often, as times change and the world shifts, either the qi-gathering method is lost or the environment that gives birth to that heaven-and-earth spirit qi is destroyed. Some types of heaven-and-earth spirit qi can no longer be found anywhere. Thus, many corresponding manuals, lacking their requisite qi, become useless. Such arts are called ancient arts." Seeing Li Tongya listening intently, Xiao Yongling nodded and smiled: "There is another kind of manual, called secret arts." "Some clans or sects inherited miraculous ancient arts, but lacking the necessary qi to cultivate them, they gradually altered the manuals, substituting another qi or two in its place. These are called secret arts." Li Tongya came to a sudden understanding and chimed in following his train of thought: "That's a clever solution." Xiao Yongling shook his head, his desire to confide flaring up as he laughed: "How could arts hastily altered by later generations be as secure as those tempered over centuries and millennia by the ancients? Not only are such secret arts a step below the originals, but they also tend to harbor flaws of all kinds. My Xiao family has a few enforcers who cultivated secret arts. Slow cultivation is the best-case scenario; some even need pills just to stay alive." "So that's how it is." Li Tongya nodded and smiled: "Be they ancient arts, secret arts, or orthodox arts, my pockets are empty, so I can't afford any of them anyway." Xiao Yongling shook his head solemnly: "Brother Tongya must not belittle yourself. Your younger brother in the sect possesses transcendent talent, and within your clan, you manage the household with such frugality and care. In just a few years, the name of the Lijing Li family will ring across this Guli Road." Li Tongya shook his head with a bitter smile, exchanged a few polite pleasantries, and thought silently to himself: *The Qingchi Sect's conduct is eerie and treacherous, and there are many secrets behind the ambush and slaughter of the Immortal Mansion's successor. I only hope Jing'er stays safe and sound within the sect, and does not get dragged into those whirlpools.*