Spirit Realm

“What do you want to say?” Tang Siqi’s brow creased.

Qin Lie did not immediately respond and murmured to himself for a while. Just as Tang Siqi was running out of patience, he started, “Senior Sister Tang, we might have a misunderstanding between us.”

“Misunderstanding?” Tang Siqi returned her head to look at him, then sat down on a chair in the room. Her beautiful eyes were glimmering as she asked, “What misunderstanding are you talking about?”

“During the exam, I did not know you came before me to pick an assistant and was testing me on my composure.” Qin Lie phrased it carefully. “I thought you were purposefully disrupting me, so I wanted to focus on the purification of the artifact. That is why I threw sparks at you. I assumed you would dodge and then you would stop bothering me…”

Pausing for a moment, Qin Lie then continued, “I hadn’t expected for you to not dodge. I didn’t pay attention to the path of sparks and caused your clothes to catch fire.”

“So you didn’t do it on purpose?” Tang Siqi had an enchanting smile on her face. “You didn’t know that the newly admitted outer sect disciples would be chosen by inner sect disciples as assistants? You really know nothing about the customs of Armament Sect?”

“I’m truly completely ignorant,” Qin Lie nodded. “More accurately, I had no knowledge of Armament Sect before I came to Armament City. I’ve only heard of Armament Pavilion before…”

What he said was the truth.

At Icestone City, he only knew of a single Armament Pavilion and didn’t know that Armament Sect existed behind Armament Pavilion.

Only when Li Mu took him to Armament City and told him the connection between Armament Sect, Armament City, and Armament Pavilion did he understand that Armament Sect was a faction that was composed of artificer masters. It was similar to Dark Asura Hall and Seven Fiends Valley, a Black Iron power.

“You assume that I will believe you?” Tang Siqi raised her eyebrows. “Every person that comes to Armament Sect to participate in the exam would start preparing a year or two ahead of time. If you are truly ignorant of Armament Sect, how could you pass the exam?”

Qin Lie was silent. He had listened to Li Mu’s suggestion and had studied under Yao Tai’s for more than a year to get an understanding of the basics of forging. Then he had made it successfully through the exam.

But at the time, Li Mu had not spoken of Armament Sect and hadn’t told Qin Lie his thoughts.

He had cultivated beneath the Arctic Mountain Range for three months. After awakening, Li Mu took him directly to Armament Sect, said a few words, and then left with the Icestone Snow Wolf King soon after.

Everything happened too quickly. Qin Lie had reached Armament City almost instantaneously and truly did not come from Armament Sect.

“Where did you really come from?” Tang Siqi’s expression became focused. “I had people investigate you. Dark Asura Hall, Seven Fiends Valley, Dark Shadow Tower, and other factions nearby. Even their subordinate Limestone forces do not have a person named Qin Bing who cultivates frost power and understands artifact forging!

Qin Lie was shocked inside. He found that Tang Siqi’s presence was completely overpowering his and he was in a reactive state.

“Just now, when you were talking to yourself, my body was sealed in ice, but my mind was still there.” Qin Lie abruptly changed the topic of conversation. “I heard everything you said clearly. You think I have come to Armament Sect for you and have used all kinds of tactics to attract your attention in order to pursue you…”

A strange look appeared in Tang Siqi’s beautiful eyes. “You heard all of that?”

“I heard it.” Qin Lie inhaled deeply and calmly said, “Senior Sister Tang, you have overthought. I have come to Armament Sect because I am interested in artifact forging. I’m here to learn artifact forging, not for someone. Also, I have someone in my heart already. I once promised her that I will go find her one day.”

He looked at Tang Siqi and asserted with certainty, “Senior Sister Tang, please do not worry. I have not come to Armament Sect for you! So you do not need to be on your guard all the time with me or work against me! If Senior Sister Tang is still dissatisfied with me, you can tell Elder Tong and change assistants. You can even fire me, I will not object.”

While he was speaking, Tang Siqi did not interrupt him and listened very attentively. When he finished, Tang Siqi was silent.

A long while later, she nodded at Qin Lie and said, “I understand.”

Finished, she turned and pushed the stone door open .

Qin Lie was stunned. He didn’t know what decision Tang Siqi had made and did not know what she meant when she said she understood..

“Sister Rou, let’s go.” Tang Siqi went to Lian Rou’s side. Her expression was not well.

“What did he say?” Lian Rou instantly inquired.

“Nothing.” Tang Siqi’s brow creased. Before Lian Rou started to move, she started to proceed to Flame Volcano.

Lian Rou could only follow behind.

Yi Yuan looked in shock as the two females returned to the mountain. He scratched his head, his heart filled with curiosity—he turned and went to find Qin Lie.

“Brother Qin, how do you feel?” A short time later, Yi Yuan walked in and inquired with a smile, “What did you say to Senior Sister Tang? Her expression wasn’t too well just now, as though you had harassed her…”

“I didn’t say anything,” coldly responded Qin Lie.

……

A day later.

In Armament Sect’s outer sect, in Tong Jihua’s personal cultivation room, an Armament Sect martial practitioner came in and reported in a heavy voice, “Long He has died.”

Tong Jihua had been sitting with his eyes closed. Hearing this, he instantly opened his eyes and shouted, “How did he die?”

“Someone pierced his throat with a sword. He didn’t seem to have resisted before someone killed him.” The person bowed as he continued, “The one that killed Long He should have been someone he was familiar with, or he was talking with Long He and stabbed his throat when Long He had his guard down.

“In the last half year, only Long He came from the south. We have finished investigating. Long He did come back with some Eclipse Insects.” Tong Jihua’s brow creased. “We have just started investigating and Long He was already killed. So it must have been Long He who brought the Eclipse Insects. Keep investigating along this trail and find out who Long He recently interacted with, especially the disciples in the outer sect. Investigate them.”

“This subordinate understands.” This person nodded and retreated with a bow.

……

At night, the moon was round like a plate.

Qin Lie was like a piece of ice standing in the little cultivation room inside his tower. He was looking at the plaza from the window.

On the plaza, the twelve spirit pattern pillars gave off a slightly silver light under the moon. There were inner sect and outer sect disciples quietly sitting under each pillar.

Some were holding spirit tablets as they drew out the pictures on the spirit pattern pillars. There were also some who only gazed at the pictures and were in deep thought.

Ouyang Jingjing, Tian Jianhao and Liang Shaoyang were all under the spirit pattern pillars. They still had hopes for the pillars. They were trying to comprehend the wonders of the spirit pattern pillars, hoping to enter the inner sect in one fell swoop and receive the favor of the sect leader and all the elders to become a candidate for the next sect leader.

Yi Yuan had given up already.

“Who would want to get rid of me?”

Qin Lie’s face was cold as his eyes gleamed icily. Gazing at the disciples on the plaza, murderous intent gathered in his head.

If he hadn’t comprehend the essence of the frost concept and could manipulate the cold energy of the ice ball Natal Palaces to seal himself completely in ice at that critical moment, he would’ve already been dead now.

Someone was hiding in the darkness, ready to kill him at any moment, Qin Lie was unable to eat or sleep soundly.

He kept on feeling that someone was looking at him coldly from the shadows, waiting to attack again at a moment’s notice to deal a fatal blow!

This feeling was extremely discomforting to him.

“No matter who you are, if I find you, I will end this calamity!” Qin Lie watched for a while and did not find anything unusual. He took his gaze back and sat down inside the cultivation room.

The next moment, his eyes became icy and indifferent, devoid of any emotion.

Almost in an instant, he entered a wondrous state as though he was completely frozen and became a mountain of ice under the Arctic Mountain Range…

A bone-chilling coldness emanated from his body. After his frost concept formed, the frosty-white, cold mist gradually spread.

“Cra-cra-crack!”

In the cultivation room, the hard stone flood and walls were gradually frozen. The coldness inside the room increased.

Qin Lie experienced the wonders of the frost concept. He channelled the cold power of his Natal Palaces. The pores on his body opened and cold mist poured out.

“Ice Crystal Shield!”

The cold mist at his two hands quickly condensed and formed a crystal shield made from ice in front of him.

The ice crystal shield was about one meter wide and one finger thick. It glowed like crystal and its inside was filled with dazzling light.

“Frost Blade!”

As he mentally shouted and his cold energy shifted, the Ice Crystal Shield suddenly changed. It first scattered back into cold mist and then quickly condensed to form a blade more than a meter long.

The blade was formed from cold ice and appeared unusually sharp. The handle of the blade was connected to his arm as though they were one being.

The Ice Crystal Shield and Frost Blade were, respectively, the defensive and offensive moves he had slowly created after learning to channel the power of frost.

As his understanding of the frost concept deepened, his control of the cold power inside his Natal Palaces increased, so he started to form offensive spirit skills that used cold energy as its core to increase his combat capabilities.

Spirit arts of different attributes should be used in conjunction with corresponding spirit skills. Some spirit skills had to be specially purchased.

Yet if one had a very deep understanding of some kind of spirit art and they were creative, they could use their spirit art as the base to create unique spirit skills.

Many spirit skills were similar. As long as one was familiar with using the spirit art, they could easily perform the spirit skills they had seen before.

For example, the fireball skill was a spirit skill that anyone that cultivated fire spirit arts could easily master. As long as they had a deep understanding of the fire and flame spirit arts and used some effort, they could easily gather fire spirit energy into fireballs to attack their enemies.

In the stone woods before, it was the same case when Qin Lie gathered thunder and lightning into a Thunder Lightning Ball.

Spirit arts were the core and basis of a martial practitioner’s combat capabilities. Spirit skills were just side branches of the tree. If one had a deep understanding of spirit arts, spirit skills could be created based on one’s understanding and preferences.

Frost Blade and Ice Crystal Shield were formed based on his understanding of the frost concept and his control of the cold power.

“Tang Siqi has not come for three days. She must have understood and ended the relationship with me.” After cultivating for a while, Qin Lie stopped and said in a low voice as he looked outside.

Yet the next morning before he had completely woken up, Tang Siqi’s voice sounded at the door again. “Qin Bing, from today, you are my artifact forging assistant! Get up now and come to the artifact forging room with me. I need to smelt an artifact, and you are responsible for assisting me!”