Chapter 65

Nie Li's eyes narrowed slightly as the hoarse voice echoed through the Heavenly Sacred Border. He had sensed the wandering soul observing him for a while but had paid it no mind, given that it posed no real threat. However, the sudden interjection into his conversation with Xiao Ning'er piqued his interest.

"Brat, using the Heavenly Sacred Border to pick up girls?" the voice mocked with a hint of amusement.

Nie Li turned his attention toward the source and responded calmly, "Who are you?" His voice carried neither hostility nor reverence—just a mild curiosity.

The voice snorted. "Hmph! You're quite the undisciplined one. I have been asleep in the Heavenly Sacred Border for centuries, and I've seen many so-called geniuses come and go. None of them ever caught my eye. But you... and that girl over there... You both have quite the talent."

Xiao Ning'er stiffened slightly, lowering her gaze, but the slight blush on her cheeks betrayed her emotions.

"I asked that small lady to be my disciple before, but she rejected me," the voice continued. "Now I understand why. It seems she has already chosen feelings over cultivation."

Xiao Ning'er's face turned an even deeper shade of red, and she quickly shook her head. "It's not like that, senior. I simply—"

"Talented kids like you should focus on cultivation. Romance can come later."

Nie Li raised an eyebrow, his lips twitching with amusement. "Lord Ancestor, please accept my respects," he said, cupping his hands and bowing slightly. "But I must request that you refrain from meddling in the lives of juniors. That is rather unbecoming of a senior, don't you think?"

The voice let out a loud laugh, clearly entertained by Nie Li's words. "Hah! Brat, do you even know who I am?"

Nie Li remained silent, waiting for the figure to continue.

"I am Ye Yan!" The voice boomed with pride. "After the Age of Darkness, I was one of the five Legend Rank Demon Spiritualists who led tens of thousands of survivors to Glory City. We stood against the demon beast hordes and built the city that still stands today! I am also the founder of the Snow Wind Family! Brat, are you scared straight after hearing my name?"

Nie Li's gaze flickered toward Xiao Ning'er, noticing the look of familiarity in her eyes. It seemed she had already known about Ye Yan's existence.

"We apologize for disturbing your rest, Lord Ancestor," Nie Li said politely.

"It's fine," Ye Yan said. "But instead of wasting time on frivolous matters, you should both focus on your cultivation. Your talent is exceptional. I have never heard of anyone being able to merge with multiple demon spirits before. Why don't the two of you become my disciples?"

Nie Li smiled slightly. "I will have to decline respectfully."

Ye Yan was taken aback. "Not interested? You're actually refusing to be my disciple?" His voice turned sharp with disbelief. "Brat, do you even understand what you're giving up? With my guidance, you could become a Legend Rank Demon Spiritualist in your lifetime! At the very least, a Black Gold Rank expert!"

Nie Li didn't respond. Instead, he calmly released his aura.

The moment his soul force erupted, the ground trembled. Waves of golden energy surged outward like a mighty tide, and behind Nie Li, three pairs of massive, ethereal wings spread wide—six enormous wings that seemed to shimmer with a divine radiance.

Ye Yan was stunned.

"Gold Rank?! Soul Forming?" His voice was filled with shock. "But you're barely thirteen or fourteen years old! Such monstrous talent—!"

Xiao Ning'er, who had never seen Nie Li's true strength before, found herself mesmerized by the sight of his soul force forming into such powerful wings. Compared to her own soul wings, Nie Li's were much larger and carried an undeniable pressure.

Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the aura disappeared. The wings folded in and vanished, and Nie Li returned to his previous Silver Rank presence as if nothing had happened.

Ye Yan was left speechless, even he couldn't discern Nie Li's true cultivation till he released his aura, he had wrongly gauged him to be a One-Star Silver Rank Demon Spiritualist. His disguise technique is so advanced, it was mind blowing for even him.

Nie Li bowed slightly. "I apologize, but I cannot accept you as my master. However, if Senior is willing to impart knowledge, I would gladly learn from you."

Ye Yan let out a heavy sigh. "Sigh… Times have certainly changed."

After a moment of silence, he spoke again, this time with a hint of pride. "Well, since you insist, I won't force you. But as a Legend Rank expert, I am well-versed in nearly everything—the history of the continent, combat techniques, inscription patterns, and even some of the most powerful heritage cultivation techniques. I have five such techniques in my possession. Take a look and choose one. With your talent, switching to one of them might make your path to Legend Rank much smoother."

Five glowing books materialized in the air before Nie Li, each radiating an ancient aura.

Nie Li's eyes flickered with interest as he examined them.

'You think these can compare to my Heavenly Anarchy Meditation Techniques? These techniques barely reach Black Gold Rank, and they're riddled with flaws…' He shook his head inwardly. 'Still, they have potential. With a few modifications, I can turn them into proper foundational techniques for the students of the Holy Orchid Academy.'

"A.I. Chip, record and analyze these techniques. Optimize them into better basic meditation methods."

Nie Li had already decided that he would provide a few basic meditation techniques for the academy students to cultivate, but they would only be effective up to Silver Rank. After that, if they wished to advance further, they would have to exchange merit points for higher-level techniques. Nothing would come for free.

He glanced at Xiao Ning'er. She, Du Ze and Lu Piao were fortunate—Nie Li considered them his friends and liked them. If not, they wouldn't be receiving any special treatment either.

Ye Yan watched him silently before asking, "Do you like them? With these, your path to Legend Rank would be much smoother."

Nie Li turned to Ye Yan's astral form with an unimpressed look.

"They are... decent," he said with a polite smile.

Ye Yan's astral body flickered as though it was about to explode in frustration.

"Brat! Do you know how many people would kill to receive these techniques? You—"

Nie Li casually lifted one of the floating books and said, "[Revolving Spiritual Wood] cultivation technique right?"

"The foundation of this technique is flawed. It requires an excessive amount of soul force circulation just to stabilize the first stage, which will create long-term energy wastage. Not only that, but the core method for breaking into higher ranks depends on external wood-attribute resources. If a cultivator doesn't have access to those, their progress would be permanently stuck."

Ye Yan's astral form flickered as he cleared his throat. "Uh… I must have picked the wrong one." With a wave of his ethereal hand, the book vanished.

Nie Li reached for another. "This one Lord ancestor, [Yang Spiritual] cultivation technique?" He exhaled sharply. "This method focuses too much on stability at the cost of speed. The core principle relies on gradual accumulation rather than refinement, meaning the practitioner would take twice as long to reach each new rank. By the time someone mastered it, other cultivators would have long surpassed them. And look at this section—forcing the user to maintain a continuous circulation under direct sunlight? That's not just inefficient, it's completely impractical! What kind of hopeless person would willingly limit themselves like this?"

Ye Yan remained silent, his expression unreadable.

Nie Li moved on, picking up another book and flipping through its contents. "[Ash Wolves] technique?" He arched an eyebrow. "I see… so this one forces the cultivator into a strict contract with a single type of demon spirit. That's fine in theory, but the issue is that wolf-type demon spirits have extreme variations in their bloodlines. A weaker bloodline means a hard cap on the cultivator's potential, and this technique doesn't account for that. It's essentially gambling on luck rather than skill. A proper method should have adaptability, not lock a person into a fixed path."

Ye Yan's spirit flickered with a bit of excitement but before he could say anything.

Nie Li glanced at him continuing, "The biggest flaw here is that it only provides instructions up to 3-star Legend rank. After that, the cultivator is forced to piece together their own methods. With such a tyrannical cultivation technique if anyone wants to change it, it's as good as saying good bye to Legend rank itself."

Ye Yan was stunned into silence. His astral form trembled slightly as if struggling to process what he had just heard.

For centuries, he had been a keeper of knowledge, a guide to the brightest talents of Glory City. He had seen prodigies and geniuses rise and fall, but none had ever dismissed his techniques so elegantly.

While Xiao Ning'er looked at Nie Li with respect and pride, the depth of knowledge that Nie Li has even surpasses an existence like Ye Yan. Just how erudite is he.

His voice wavered slightly. "Just… just who are you, brat?"

"Pardon the late introduction, My name is Nie Li, I am a descendant of Heavenly Marks Family." Nie Li said, looking at Ye Yan carefully to see if he knows about the family.

As far as he's aware Heavenly Marks Family has been around longer than the ruling Snow Wind Family.

"Heavenly Marks Family, I remembered them. When I built Glory City, the Heavenly Marks Family was only a small family. I admit that your ancestors were all extremely powerful. Seems that you have received some of that heritage from your family! Good, I guess the future of Glory City is bright." Ye Yan said as his figure disappeared, although he was depressed he couldn't take a disciple he also unwilling admit that Nie Li's knowledge is wider than him. He wanted to get out immediately unless this brat ask for any more knowledge from him and embarrass him further.

Nie Li only smiled, his mind already moving forward to the next step.

Meanwhile, Xiao Ning'er, still holding the Twin-Star Tempestfang Dragon Demon Spirit, stole a glance at Nie Li. Her heart pounded as she thought about what he had said earlier—how the demon spirit would synchronize their cultivations if they trained together.

'Cultivating together…'

She clenched the spirit stone tighter, feeling a warmth spread through her chest.

Even though she knew Nie Li wasn't thinking that way, she couldn't stop herself from blushing.

Unaware of her thoughts, Nie Li turned to her with his usual confident grin. "Come on, let's start merging with the spirit stone."

Xiao Ning'er nodded quickly, following him to sit down cross legged, her fingers still gently stroking the spirit stone.

Watching them, Ye Yan muttered, ' I'll see how special this demon spirit actually is.'