Chapter 165: True Martial Pavilion

The atmosphere instantly turned cheerful, and the previous unpleasantness was brushed aside.

As for the culprit, Chen Guang, he had long since slunk away from the scene in utter disgrace.

He had lost face to an extreme degree; if he didn't run away now, he would probably be mocked for the entire day.

"You knew he had kidney deficiency all along, didn't you?" Ye Tian glanced sideways at Li Qingfeng, teasing him.

"Of course. That fellow leads a dissolute private life and always rushes to foot-massage parlors the moment he finishes a mission. People have run into him there several times," Li Qingfeng said, his tone reeking of contempt.

Skipping past the topic, the two chatted idly as they waited for the Dragon Squad's commander to return.

Over an hour passed.

An elite professional woman dressed like a secretary walked over and announced, "You can all stop waiting. The commander has an urgent matter to attend to. The welcome ceremony is temporarily canceled, so everyone go home."

"What is this supposed to mean?"

After waiting for the better part of a day, even getting into a fight midway, only to be stood up in the end?

This outcome left Ye Tian somewhat dissatisfied.

Seeming to notice his shift in mood, Li Qingfeng quickly asked the secretary, "The commander is always punctual. What happened today?"

"It's classified. I can't say. If you have questions, call and ask him yourself."

"I'm only here to relay the message. Don't ask me."

Without a trace of expression, the woman finished speaking and turned around to leave.

Damn it...

The Dragon Squad members present immediately felt an itch of frustration. This secretary's arrogant attitude wasn't just a one-day occurrence.

Truly annoying!

Yang Zhen, the vice captain of Team Three, wore an apologetic look. He was the one who brought Ye Tian here, only to have him make a wasted trip. He genuinely felt quite embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, Ye Tian. We didn't expect this outcome either."

"The commander always keeps his word. There must be an important matter he had to handle today, forcing him to break the appointment. I hope you won't misunderstand."

"Hmph."

Ye Tian let out a cold snort without flying into a rage.

Although he was dissatisfied inside, the other party at least provided a reason, so there was no need for him to throw a tantrum.

"We'll talk another day, then."

Dropping those words, he also intended to leave.

However, he ran into the secretary returning and calling out loudly, "Ye Tian, don't leave just yet."

"The commander wants you to go to the True Martial Pavilion in the back mountain."

***

True Martial Pavilion?

Just as Ye Tian was feeling puzzled, the Dragon Squad members cried out in shock: "The True Martial Pavilion? Isn't that place restricted to those who have officially joined the squad for at least a year and reached the peak of the Beidou Realm?!"

"The commander actually values Ye Tian this much?!"

The crowd was stunned.

Basically, every Dragon Squad member could only enter the True Martial Pavilion once in their lifetime and bring out a single martial technique.

The martial techniques collected in the True Martial Pavilion were ancient martial arts secret techniques of various schools that the commander had gathered during his travels across the land in his youth, and top-tier martial techniques were by no means lacking among them.

Martial techniques were graded in ascending order: Yellow, Xuan, Earth, and Heaven. The highest tier consisted of Heaven-grade techniques, and the higher the grade, the scarcer they were.

Generally speaking, anything above the Xuan grade was already a remarkably rare and powerfully amplifying martial technique. Warriors who integrated low-grade techniques could even manage to fight opponents of a higher rank.

As for Heaven-grade... not even the commander of their Dragon Squad had managed to successfully integrate one!

There were only three Heaven-grade martial techniques left in the contemporary world, and one of them was preserved right here in the True Martial Pavilion.

After listening to the senior sister's introduction, Ye Tian couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

It seemed the Dragon Squad commander was indeed quite generous. This was his very first visit, and without even meeting him yet, the man was willing to show such sincerity.

"Let's go, stop dawdling. I'll take you there right now."

The secretary urged him impatiently.

With that, she swayed her hips as she walked at the very front, leading Ye Tian toward the back mountain.

Upon arriving at the destination, he realized that the so-called True Martial Pavilion was just an ordinary small mountain cave, blocked off by a small wooden door and easily unlocked with a crudely made key.

It completely lacked any sense of high-class grandeur that he had imagined.

Ye Tian muttered inwardly that this person was far too eccentric. Since they claimed it held such important treasures, they wouldn't even install slightly expensive security measures.

However, he quickly changed his mind.

The moment the secretary touched the wooden door, several tyrannical auras flashed and vanished from the surrounding mountain peaks.

"Go on in. I'll wait for you outside."

"Remember, everyone's innate talent differs, so the grade of martial techniques you can integrate varies accordingly. Don't overestimate yourself; forcibly integrating a high-grade martial technique could lead to a cultivation deviation."

"Mn, I know my limits."

Ye Tian nodded and turned to step through the wooden door.

The first thing that came into view was a narrow, elongated corridor. While the width wasn't too restrictive, the height was somewhat uncomfortable.

To say nothing of Ye Tian's nearly 1.9-meter height, even someone standing at 1.7 meters would have to hunch over to move forward.

Fortunately, after walking a certain distance, the space ahead finally opened up brightly.

In the brightly lit cave, countless bamboo slip scrolls were displayed and worshiped on bronze stands. Ye Tian tried to open a bamboo slip, only to find it covered by a simple seal.

***

It was built on the principles of the esoteric arts.

Or rather, the Five Elements Earth Escape Technique?

A notice board hung in the center of the cave, bearing a line of delicate calligraphy: "Children who come in to learn martial techniques may prick their fingers and soak the bamboo slips. If a bamboo slip unfolds automatically, it indicates that you are compatible with the martial technique and qualified to learn it."

Oh, meaning this formation could identify innate talent through blood.

Ye Tian came to a sudden realization.

However, in his case, it didn't seem like he needed to go through all that trouble.

Simple Five Elements escape techniques could be broken using counter-active formations, and there was no real difficulty to it.

Therefore, he casually picked up a set of bamboo slips and, with a few swift moves, unsealed it.

"Lingbo Weibu?!"

Looking at the ancient textual introduction on the scroll, Ye Tian's eyes widened.

So the Lingbo Weibu truly existed.

Rumor had it that the Lingbo Weibu originated from the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching. Learners could move according to specific hexagram coordinates, and the entire set of footwork would trace out a perfect circle.

This set of footwork was also renowned for its eerie mysticism, hailed as the ultimate mastery of agility—graceful, fluid, and utterly unpredictable.

What surprised Ye Tian was that this long-lost martial art should actually be classified as a martial technique!

A brief browse through the introduction revealed that this martial technique required the supplementation of rare medicinal herbs used for lightening the body and circulating vital energy, absorbed through a fixed set of cultivation exercises.

Morning drills, bedtime medicinal baths, maintained for half a year to achieve mastery!

One had to admit, it was truly troublesome...

Ye Tian shook his head; this martial technique was not suited for him.

As someone already in the Harmony Realm, he could easily achieve body-lightening circulation, effortlessly running across water bodies, crossing rivers and streams without breaking a sweat.

Learning this Lingbo Weibu would simply be painting legs on a snake—a complete waste of time.

Glancing at the description on the bronze stand, this happened to be a Xuan-grade martial technique. What a pity.

Rolling it back up and re-applying the seal, Ye Tian decided to venture deeper inward.

The ones in the front were all Yellow and Xuan grade martial techniques, not worth studying.

If he was going to learn something, it had to be at least an Earth-grade martial technique or higher.

Bypassing the dense rows of bronze stands at the front, Ye Tian walked further into the back.