Chapter 2179: Qi Yue

"Oh, you seem very confident?" Upon hearing about the martial arts contest, Qi Weier didn't show any nervousness. Instead, a playful smile appeared on her face. "If I recall correctly, your performance in the Moonclear Pool back then was less than fifteen minutes, wasn't it?"

"Yes!" Qi Ling'er nodded. "I was less than fifteen minutes, while Sister Weier took half an hour. With your exceptional talent, a test of cultivating a martial art to assess aptitude should be nothing for you, right?"

"It's nothing, as long as you're not afraid of being humiliated!" Qi Weier chuckled softly and walked to the center of the hall. "Patriarch, I'm willing to compete with her. However, if she loses, I believe it will be intentional deception towards you, and I hope she will be imprisoned and stripped of her core disciple status!"

Stripping a core disciple of their status was equivalent to severing their bloodline ties, representing the most severe punishment for a family member.

This punishment was usually reserved for traitors. Once applied, not only the individual but their entire branch would be shamed indefinitely.

It seemed Qi Weier intended to completely prevent Qi Ling'er from ever recovering.

How ruthless!

"Since Sister Weier has proposed a wager, shouldn't I also mention that if I win, you should receive the same punishment?" Qi Ling'er asked.

"I haven't deceived the Patriarch, nor have I violated any family rules, like secretly returning without permission... Even if I lose, it would merely mean I'm unsuited for this martial art, and I shouldn't be punished for that!"

Qi Weier smiled faintly. "Besides, you think you can make me lose? With your talent?"

Unexpectedly, Qi Weier didn't fall for it at all. Qi Ling'er snorted and said, "If you dare to bet, there must be terms for the wager. Otherwise, if it's just a talent assessment and you want to expel me from the core, Sister Weier, you're being too presumptuous. Are you trying to make decisions for the Patriarch?"

"Insolent!" Qi Weier's expression changed, and just as she was about to speak further, the Patriarch frowned.

"Enough! Cultivating a martial art is indeed a way to test talent. Since you both agree, I will give you half an hour!"

As a powerful Divine King, with a lifespan of ten thousand years, he had plenty of time.

Although the two young women appeared to be close to his age, they were, in reality, separated by countless generations, and their familial ties were quite tenuous. For him, the so-called "talent improvement" was unreliable, but since both parties wanted to compete, there was no need to dissuade them. He might as well watch it for entertainment.

If it truly improved talent, that would be excellent; if not, there was nothing lost.

Having spoken, the Qi Patriarch turned and sat in his seat. With a flick of his wrist, a book appeared before everyone.

"This is a martial art I recently created. It has never been shown to outsiders, so fairness is guaranteed!"

He flicked his finger, and a long incense stick appeared before them. It began to burn, emitting a delicate fragrance.

"Begin!"

As he spoke, the book floated in the air, its pages rustling as they turned automatically.

Qi Ling'er and Qi Weier dared not waste any more words and concentrated fully on the book.

As High-rank Deities, both possessed strong mental faculties. The book turned quickly, and they read just as fast. In less than three minutes, they had not only finished reading the entire content but had also committed it to memory.

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

Sitting down simultaneously, both began to comprehend the mysteries of the martial art.

Zhang Xuan, standing to one side and suppressing his cultivation, cast his eyes over the book.

A book appeared in his mind.

He flipped through it, his face filled with helplessness. "There are too many errors..."

The cultivation technique in his mind was riddled with errors, nearly a hundred of them!

He had thought that a powerful expert of this caliber, with extraordinary insight, would surely create a technique with few errors, one better suited for cultivation. He never expected so many mistakes, rendering it almost impossible to complete.

"Perhaps it's his test... the more errors, the harder it is to cultivate!"

As he mused, a thought suddenly struck him.

While he felt the technique created by the other party was a bit outlandish, upon closer thought, it wasn't necessarily without reason.

Qi Ling'er and Qi Weier were competing on talent and comprehension of the technique. If they could even comprehend this flawed technique, their talent would undoubtedly be exceptional!

He considered studying whether he could cultivate it himself, but then felt a wave of nausea and couldn't help but stop.

This technique... it was truly unbearable to look at!

Having grown accustomed to cultivating Heaven's Path divine arts, it was like being used to imperial delicacies fit for an emperor. Suddenly being forced to eat food that beggars wouldn't even touch, it would be a miracle if he could swallow it.

"Never mind..."

He sighed inwardly. With a thought, countless books converged, and in the blink of an eye, the errors were corrected, forming a brand new Heaven's Path divine art.

The martial art the Patriarch presented wasn't too profound, suited for Qi Ling'er and Qi Weier's abilities. He had also read many related books in the Master Teacher Pavilion, so gathering the complete cultivation method wasn't difficult.

He glanced at the newly formed technique. With a thought, divine power flowed through his body, reaching a perfect state in an instant.

"Too simple..." he muttered to himself.

This is supposed to be an assessment?

Just a trick to fool people, right?

He couldn't help but look at Qi Ling'er, only to see her covered in sweat, apparently struggling to comprehend the technique and unable to cultivate it.

"So that's it..." Zhang Xuan suddenly understood.

He had just been lamenting how poor the technique created by the Divine King was, but now he realized it must have been intentional!

The purpose of creating a flawed technique wasn't for them to successfully cultivate it, but rather... for them to find a way to modify it, making the martial art more suitable for themselves.

Only those who could learn flexibly, not confined by written knowledge, could go further and be deemed highly talented!

Indeed worthy of someone who had lived for thousands of years; things were not as simple as they seemed.

"No, no, why can't I cultivate it? Is my talent really that poor?"

"A technique personally created by the Patriarch must have been tested. How could it be impossible to cultivate? I must be misunderstanding something..."

Both young women frowned deeply, filled with anxiety.

The stakes were too high; neither wanted to lose!

Yet, despite looking at the technique for so long, they felt nothing, couldn't even fully comprehend it. How could they cultivate it then?

Time passed quickly. With half an hour almost up, neither of them had made any progress, as if this technique was simply not meant for them.

"What a pity!"

Observing their performances, the Qi Patriarch shook his head.

His thoughts aligned with Zhang Xuan's guess. Although this technique was full of flaws, he had hidden them well. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to succeed. In half an hour, if someone could grasp this point, even if they hadn't cultivated anything, their talent would still be superior.

It's better to have no books than to completely believe in them.

He had deliberately claimed it was a technique he had personally created to put pressure on them, making them mistakenly believe it was genuine. Unexpectedly, they had indeed fallen for it and were still stuck in their rigid thinking.

After sighing with disappointment, he suddenly felt a jolt and looked towards Qi Weier, who was on one side.

He saw her furrowed brow relax, as if she had figured something out, and a slight smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

"Her talent is indeed superior..."

The Qi Patriarch nodded.

Anyone who could stay in the Moonclear Pool for half an hour was considered a family genius. This Qi Weier was indeed considerably stronger than Qi Ling'er.

She must have understood the trick behind this technique and was now trying to modify and cultivate it!

"At this rate, Qi Ling'er will lose..."

Zhang Xuan frowned.

Qi Ling'er was still completely clueless. Half an hour was almost up, and if she didn't realize the other party's intention soon, she would very likely lose and pay a much greater price.

"If she loses, I won't be able to see the Moonclear Pool..."

He felt a little nervous.

Although he had broken through to Heavenly God, the moment he saw the Qi Patriarch, he knew that forcibly entering to secretly use the Moonclear Pool was definitely out of the question!

A Divine King expert was simply too powerful. Even if his strength increased tenfold, he definitely wouldn't be a match!

At another time, he could secretly transmit a message to help her, to cheat. But here... Zhang Xuan was helpless.

Under the observation of a Divine King, let alone secretly transmitting a message, even a single superfluous movement would surely be detected, leading to disqualification...

"No, that's not right. Although I don't know much about Qi Ling'er, since she dared to challenge, she must have some confidence. How could there be no hope at all?"

A thought crossed his mind.

He hadn't known this girl for long, but she prepared in advance for everything. For example, when she faced him, she immediately saw the market for beauty pills and his potential, investing a large sum.

She even agreed without hesitation when he wanted to come here.

How could someone like her be completely unprepared? How could she propose a wager that would trap herself?

With a slight doubt, he looked at the girl. After a moment, he found nothing unusual; she truly hadn't understood the martial art. He then looked back at Qi Weier.

"Flaw!"

A book appeared in his mind.

The other party was cultivating the martial art, so he could borrow the Library of Heaven's Path at any time.

The book opened, and its contents appeared before his eyes.

"This..." After reading the flaws, Zhang Xuan's brows immediately furrowed.

He had been wondering why Qi Ling'er, who initiated the bet, was about to lose. It turned out that her opponent hadn't figured out the Qi Patriarch's true intention either!

The reason she was able to cultivate the martial art was that... the young man not far away had tampered with it.

As expected, this person was Qi Yue, the super genius Qi Ling'er had mentioned earlier!

Only someone with his talent could detect the problems in the cultivation technique, modify it, and even impart it to others, enabling them to understand.

"This fellow, his methods are truly ingenious!"

To impart his understanding right in front of a Divine King without being detected, this Qi Yue was indeed formidable.

To be honest, without using the Library to investigate, even he wouldn't have noticed.

It sounded difficult, but in essence, it was quite simple.

Qi Yue had tamed a particularly tiny 蠱虫 and secretly placed it inside his sister before coming here.

The 蠱虫 could communicate with him through their souls, a form of communication that even Divine Kings would find difficult to detect...

By controlling the 蠱虫 to trace a specific meridian path, even a slow-witted Qi Weier would surely understand that it was a Grand Cycle, and divine power following this path would certainly enable her to master the martial art!

Cheating right in front of a Divine King, and succeeding at that...

This Qi Yue was truly extraordinary!