Chapter 70: 5 Poisons True Scripture
The pages of the *Gale Sword Skill* manual were old and yellowed, showing their age. It looked to be the original copy.
Ye Xing opened the manual to the first page, and a line of text immediately met his eyes—
"The wind is formless, its moods ever-changing... In its fury, it rages, snapping a hundred trees... Drinking and singing, I travel with the wind... I, the Wood Daoist, roamed the world and, upon a sudden insight, created the *Gale Sword Skill*. I buried it in this ancient cave deep in the mountains. I hope that the fated one who finds it will learn these Sword Techniques to protect the weak, aid the helpless, and perform many good deeds..."
It was clear that the *Gale Sword Skill* had been created by the Wood Daoist. As for who this Wood Daoist was, Ye Xing had no idea. ’He must have been some senior expert with profound Martial Arts,’ he thought. ’After all, you couldn’t create an Earth tier Top Grade Secret Manual like the *Gale Sword Skill* without immense skill. As for Zhao Tianxuan... he must have stumbled into some dogshit luck to get his hands on it. What a waste of the Wood Daoist’s wish. After obtaining the *Gale Sword Skill*, not only did Zhao Tianxuan fail to do good deeds, he became a bloodthirsty killer, even slaughtering a village just to test his new Sword Techniques.’
Fortunately, evil begets evil. In the end, Zhao Tianxuan didn’t get a good death—Ye Xing had shattered his skull with a single spear thrust.
As he continued to read, line after line, Ye Xing found the *Gale Sword Skill*’s Sword Technique Manual to be incredibly profound and abstruse. It was as if it possessed an invisible, magical power that completely captivated him. Before he knew it, more than an hour had passed.
"The *Gale Sword Skill* is an Earth tier Top Grade Cultivation Skill!" Ye Xing exclaimed, closing the Secret Manual. His eyes were filled with an excitement he could barely contain.
’An Earth tier Top Grade Secret Manual... What does that even imply?’ Martial Arts Secret Manuals were divided into the four great tiers: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. Celestial Level Martial Arts were the absolute highest tier and were exceedingly rare. One would be hard-pressed to find even a handful of them in the entire Tang Country.
’In other words, the Earth tier Top Grade *Gale Sword Skill* is an incredibly powerful Secret Manual,’ Ye Xing realized. ’No wonder Zhao Tianxuan was able to rank on the Tang Country’s Wind and Cloud List. With a manual of this caliber, just reaching the Minor Achievement Realm would make someone formidable. If I could cultivate it to the Great Success Realm... that would be something else entirely.’
After all, the auctions at the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower only ever went as high as Profound Level Secret Manuals. Earth Tier Secret Manuals were never put up for auction. For many of the Major Sects in the Tang Country, a manual of the Earth-tier Level was considered a foundational treasure. The only way to get a chance to cultivate one was typically to join a Major Sect and become an elite disciple.
Ye Xing had been lamenting that the Yellow-tier Manuals he had were too low-level. To now suddenly obtain an Earth tier Top Grade Sword Skill like the *Gale Sword Skill*... he was absolutely ecstatic.
In the Martial Dao, the grade of a Secret Manual was paramount. A Yellow-tier Level Secret Manual might be sufficient for someone with poor comprehension, but for someone like Ye Xing, whose aptitude was high, it was far from enough. Take *Flying Spin Step*, for example, a Yellow Rank Lower Grade Cultivation Skill. Ye Xing had already cultivated it to the Great Success Realm and was confident he could reach the Perfect Realm before long. But once he reached the Perfect Realm, there would be no room for further advancement. Moreover, even the *Flying Spin Step* at the Perfect Realm was only equivalent in power to a Profound Level Lower Grade skill at the Entry Level. This was the downside of low-grade Secret Manuals: though they were easy to cultivate and inexpensive, their power was mediocre, preventing one from ever becoming a true master.
Placing the *Gale Sword Skill* Secret Manual back into the Qiankun Bag, Ye Xing began to rummage through the other manuals.
Zhao Tianxuan’s Qiankun Cloth Bag contained over twenty Martial Arts Manuals. Most of them were Profound Level, spanning the Upper, Middle, and Lower Three Grades. As Ye Xing sorted through them, he was thrilled to discover that in addition to the *Gale Sword Skill*, there were four other Earth Tier Secret Manuals. They were: the Earth tier Middle Grade Stepping Skill, *Wind Shadow Step*; the Earth tier Middle Grade Body Skill, *Floating Leaves*; the Earth tier Middle Grade *Clear Wind Technique*; and the Earth tier Lower Grade *Spirit Moon Sword Skill*.
In addition to the Martial Arts Manuals, there were also gold Tickets and Gold Coins. A quick tally estimated their worth to be between ten and twenty thousand Gold Coins. Of course, besides the manuals and money, there were plenty of other treasures like Elixirs and weapons, along with a large amount of miscellaneous junk. There was even a Demon Beast Egg, though Ye Xing didn’t take a closer look at it.
’Even if this Demon Beast Egg hatches, the young Demon Beast would have to be raised slowly,’ he mused. ’It’d be faster to just buy a powerful Demon Beast from the Beast Taming Pavilion.’ Of course, Ye Xing had no idea what kind of Demon Beast the egg contained. He had been too far away in the forest earlier to overhear the conversation between Zhao Tianxuan and the man in gray. Therefore, he didn’t pay much mind to the purple Demon Beast Egg. ’There’s a lot of other junk in this Qiankun Bag. I’ll have to go through it later when I have time. It’s not like any of it is going anywhere.’
He put away Zhao Tianxuan’s Qiankun Bag and proceeded to open the one belonging to Miao Wuxie of the Five Poison Sect.
He had no idea what to expect, but one look gave him a shock.
Miao Wuxie’s Qiankun Bag contained far more items than Zhao Tianxuan’s; the entire space was practically stuffed to the brim. A closer look revealed that it was filled with poisonous items like toxic herbs and Poisonous Insects. There were venomous scorpions, poisonous spiders, centipedes, and more—a horrifying collection. In addition to the poisonous flora and fauna, there were numerous bottles and jars filled with unidentifiable powders.
Ye Xing wasn’t particularly interested in these powders and poisons. Rummaging through the Qiankun Bag, he found over a dozen Secret Manuals, two of which were also Earth tier Lower Grade. However, among them, one particular tome immediately captured his attention.
’*Five Poison Scripture*?’ Ye Xing’s eyes glinted with curiosity. ’What grade is this Secret Manual? It isn’t marked. Huh, it looks like it’s only the first volume?’ Filled with questions, he immediately opened the *Five Poison Scripture* and started reading.
As he read on, Ye Xing’s expression shifted from confusion to surprise, then to shock, and finally, to utter ecstasy.
"Hahaha, this *Five Poison Scripture* is practically a handbook on how to ambush people! The poison recipes are insane, and their toxicity is ferocious. One careless slip-up, and you’re done for. No wonder that guy in gray was able to injure and poison Zhao Tianxuan, despite his advanced Martial Arts. Not only does it have methods for setting people up, but it even has a terrifying Heart-devouring Gu that can control people!" Ye Xing’s eyes lit up. Vaguely, he could already see a golden path to success unfolding before him.
The night was as black as ink. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves on the branches.
On a thick branch of the Big Banyan Tree, Ye Xing sat cross-legged in the Five Hearts Facing Heaven posture, cultivating the Earth tier Middle Grade Inner Power Manual, the *Clear Wind Technique*.
HAAA—
INHALE—
He slowly inhaled, then gently exhaled. Pure qi in, turbid qi out. The cycle of breath was continuous and unending.
After cultivating for about a quarter of an hour, Ye Xing suddenly opened his eyes, a hint of confusion in his gaze.
’That’s strange...’ A look of astonishment flashed through Ye Xing’s eyes. ’The *Clear Wind Technique* is an Earth tier Middle Grade Inner Strength manual. Why is its cultivation effect even worse than the *Innate Skill*’s? This... could it be that the *Innate Skill* Miss Mengxue gave me is—’