VIP Volume, Chapter 151: Disappearance of the Grand Army

The old shepherd scratched his head in agitation, racking his brains for a long time before his eyes lit up. He said to Ye Xiaoxuan, "If you achieve good results, I can petition the Sect Master to grant you permission to enter the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion!"

Ye Xiaoxuan frowned and asked, "What on earth is that? What is it used for?"

The old shepherd said with a solemn expression, "It is the archive library of the Ancient Martial Arts Sect. Perhaps the answers to the questions in your heart can be found in there, even including the truth about your ancestry! Actually, I have seen that dark-iron tripod before; it is identical to the descriptions in the tortoise-shell secret scroll!"

Ye Xiaoxuan's eyes lit up. This condition was far too tempting for him! Nothing was more important than knowing who he was!

Staring intently at the old shepherd, Ye Xiaoxuan asked, "Does the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion really have records of my ancestry?"

The old shepherd's eyes flickered. "Well... ahem... the archives in the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion are comparable to a national archive. I'd say it's very likely..."

Knowing that the old codger was just talking off the top of his head and had no real certainty himself, Ye Xiaoxuan dared not pin too much hope on it. He smiled indifferently and said to the old shepherd, "Don't worry, I won't let any clues slip by. So, I agree to participate in the competition!"

Jiaran asked with some worry, "But you don't even know the rules. How are you going to fight?"

Xiaoyu said dismissively, "Learning those rotten rules a day in advance isn't too late! They're just a bunch of restrictions, easy to remember!"

The old shepherd laughed heartily and said to Xiaoyu, "Lass, you're wrong there! Jiaran is right. While those rules are simple for the likes of Da Jun to remember, they will be much more troublesome for this brat!"

Xiaoyu looked baffled, and the old shepherd explained to her, "A martial arts tournament is not a contest between immortals! This brat uses fire in one hand and ice in the other; wouldn't that scare people to death? Once he gets on stage, the moment he shows his hand, he'll immediately attract the attention of those ten old men!"

Xiaoyu said dismissively, "So what? It's all about relying on one's own abilities anyway. What does it matter if they notice?"

Ye Xiaoxuan made a wry face and said, "It matters because they'll kill me, that's what! Right now, I can't control the force of this technique at all. Either I can't use it at all, or if that little sphere inside my body starts spinning, whatever I unleash will be lethal—I can't even control it myself!"

"A little sphere?" The old shepherd and the two girls asked in astonishment.

Ye Xiaoxuan nodded, clutching his stomach, and said, "I just feel like there's a little sphere in my belly. That night down in my lower abdomen, it spun frantically, and those two currents of cold and hot Qi almost tore my body apart. When I released it, it killed a man!"

The old shepherd wore a look of utter disbelief. Pointing at Ye Xiaoxuan, he asked, "Y-you... what did you say? You have... a little sphere in your belly?"

Ye Xiaoxuan nodded, gave him a sideways glance, and said, "It's not a time bomb, look at how scared you are! Besides, even if it were a bomb, it wouldn't blow you up!"

The old shepherd bolted over like a startled rabbit, clamping a hand directly over Ye Xiaoxuan's mouth, which gave everyone a start!

Ye Xiaoxuan pushed and shoved to tear his hand away, spat on the ground several times, and cursed at him, "Are you out of your mind, old man? Smearing your hands all smelling of sheep dung onto my face..."

The old shepherd turned grave, pointed a finger at him, and said, "Never let anyone else know what you said today! Lassies, don't you dare tell a single soul a word of what this brat just said!"

Jiaran knitted her brows tightly and asked, "What on earth is going on?"

The old shepherd sighed and said, "A good-for-nothing who hasn't even reached the level of a martial initiate somehow possesses an inner elixir... Isn't that defying the heavens? Even among martial emperors, legends say they ascend the very instant they successfully forge an inner elixir; I've never heard of anyone on earth living with an inner elixir! If word of this gets out, you can imagine how miserably he'll end up!"

Xiaoyu and Jiaran's expressions changed. Xiaoyu forced a smile and said, "It's fine, my husband is invulnerable to blades and spears, no one can kill him!"

Ye Xiaoxuan shook his head and said, "If only that were true! In reality, as long as someone figures out my fatal weakness, scum like this old shepherd could easily finish me off! Let alone those ten old men—pinching me to death would be no harder than crushing an ant!"

The old shepherd's face darkened as his beard bristled with indignation. No matter what, he was still a martial king; although only a junior martial king, he was still regarded as a god and an idol in the eyes of most martial artists!

Yet, when he thought about how the brat before him actually possessed an inner elixir—a heaven-defying existence—his own meager skills were indeed not worth showing off in front of the kid. Therefore, he swallowed his pride and tolerated Ye Xiaoxuan's disrespect.

Xiaoyu said angrily, "Then what use is this inner elixir? It can't even protect people!"

The old shepherd glared at her and scolded, "If you don't understand, lass, don't talk nonsense! A hundred years of Qi is not worth a single elixir! That means spending a hundred years as a martial king, or even a martial sage, still falls short of a martial emperor who has forged an inner elixir! The inner elixir is the quintessence of human vital energy and spirit, complementing nature itself. For those who forge an inner elixir, all things in the world can be their teacher, and they can cultivate to the ends of the earth..."

"Bulls**t!" Ye Xiaoxuan cursed, glaring at the old shepherd as he asked, "Do you believe that? Is that more nonsense from your rotten tortoise-shell secret scroll? If cultivation were so easy, why can't a single immortal be seen nowadays?"

The old shepherd shot him a disdainful look and said, "Chatting with a martial arts idiot like you is too exhausting; everything requires an explanation! What people do nowadays is just practicing martial arts; having an inner elixir is what's called true cultivation. We martial artists need ordinary air, but those who cultivate require spiritual Qi!"

Jiaran asked curiously, "Where can you find spiritual Qi?"

The old shepherd spread his hands and said, "I have no idea! If I knew, I'd be an immortal myself! The mystery of a martial emperor's ascension isn't something everyone can understand!"

"Scram!" Ye Xiaoxuan and Xiaoyu both spat at him. As it turned out, this old codger was just a half-baked fraud who pretended to know what he didn't!

Jiaran's cell phone rang. She made a gesture for everyone to be quiet, smiled, and said, "Eldest sister, are you resting today? ... What? Eldest brother is missing from the hospital? ... You're kidding? Alright, don't panic, we're heading over right now!"

Hanging up the phone, Jiaran told the others, "Eldest brother has vanished. He was resting fine in his hospital room this morning, but by the afternoon he was nowhere to be found!"

Ye Xiaoxuan pulled out his phone and made a call: "Ergou, drive the car out of the orchard and head straight for the township!"

Xiaoyu also said anxiously, "Eldest brother is really something, running around while still injured. He just transferred back from the city hospital, and in a few days he would have been discharged. How can he be so restless?"

As she brushed the dirt off Ye Xiaoxuan's clothes, Jiaran said, "Eldest sister said she asked the nurse, and eldest brother bolted out of the hospital room when no one could stop him. It looks like he ran into some urgent matter. Although eldest brother has a fiery temper, he's not someone who loses his sense of priority!"

Walking away, Ye Xiaoxuan said to the two of them, "Stop guessing blindly, we'll know once we go take a look! You... why are you tagging along? Go herd your sheep!"

The old shepherd jutted out his beard and yelled, "My apprentice is missing, what mood do I have left for herding sheep! No matter what, I'm coming along to see what's happening! By the way, I can pick up some liquor in the township..."

Ye Xiaoxuan: "..."