“Someday I’ll become such an impressive big shot too…” Xu Qi An envied inwardly, then cupped his fists and said:

“Last night, Taoist Jin Lian from the Earth Sect came to me. He didn’t harm me or take back the Earth Book. Instead, he invited me to join the Heaven and Earth Society.”

“The Heaven and Earth Society…” Wei Yuan turned around and walked into the tea room.

“The founder of the Heaven and Earth Society is precisely that Taoist Jin Lian from the Earth Sect, along with his behind-the-scenes Earth Sect members,” Xu Qi An said, seeing Wei Yuan adopt a posture of serious listening, knowing that the information he provided was very valuable.

“The core members of the Heaven and Earth Society are nine in total, who are also the holders of the ‘Earth Book’ fragments. They use the fragment numbers as their codenames, not revealing their true names.” Xu Qi An briefly recounted last night’s conversation:

“Currently, we only know that Number One is in the capital, backed by a considerable force; Number Two is in Cloud Province, passionate about suppressing bandits, possibly someone from the court.”

The Grand Eunuch with frost-white temples pondered for a long while, then asked, “They don’t know each other’s identities… What else did Jin Lian tell you?”

Xu Qi An answered truthfully, “He said there were problems in the Earth Sect, and he wanted to clean house, so he established the Heaven and Earth Society.”

As he said this, he saw the Grand Eunuch’s eyes, full of vicissitude, suddenly brighten, staring at him. His mellow voice was solemn:

“Tell me in detail.”

“The Sect Leader of the Earth Sect has fallen into demonic cultivation, affecting almost all the Earth Sect members. Only a few remained clear-minded and escaped from the sect. This is because of the protection of the Earth Book.” Xu Qi An completely sold out Taoist Jin Lian:

“So he formed the Heaven and Earth Society, gifting the Earth Book fragments to outstanding talents scattered across the world, supporting them in hopes of gaining assistance when it comes time to clean house in the future.”

The Sect Leader has fallen into demonic cultivation, could that be why Zilan became so sinister and evil… Wei Yuan’s elegant and handsome face showed no expression as he asked in a testing tone, “Why do you think Jin Lian told you all this?”

Xu Qi An was about to say he didn’t know, but meeting Wei Yuan’s deep gaze and hearing the testing tone in his voice, he swallowed his words.

With Wei Yuan’s cunning and scheming, he’s certainly not seeking answers from me… He’s testing my level.

Uh… If I had blurted out “I don’t know” just now, would I have become a not-so-smart, average-intelligence subordinate in this Grand Eunuch’s eyes?

Xu Qi An’s brain suddenly became active, and his expression relaxed into a smile:

“The abnormality in the Earth Sect is crystal clear to all members of the Heaven and Earth Society. Taoist Jin Lian telling me the truth is a way of showing sincerity to me.”

Wei Yuan nodded imperceptibly, “The Earth Sect’s whereabouts are hidden, and the Nightwatchmen still don’t know the inside story of the virtue turning into demonic cultivation.”

…Xu Qi An widened his eyes: “Does Lord Wei mean that Taoist Jin Lian is using me as a medium to secretly alliance with you?”

Wei Yuan finally nodded with satisfaction, not answering directly but saying gently, “From now on, you will be the Nightwatchmen’s spy in the Heaven and Earth Society, responsible for investigating the true identities of other members. When necessary, the office will provide you with some assistance.”

Xu Qi An cupped his fists and responded with a “Yes.”

If I had appeared a bit slower just now, would Lord Wei have taken back the Earth Book fragment and replaced me with an extremely intelligent subordinate to infiltrate the Heaven and Earth Society as a double agent?

The probing of great figures is like a gentle breeze sweeping across one’s face, one might make a mistake if not careful…

Wei Yuan said, “You’ve already reached the Qi Condensation realm, it’s time to try cultivating supreme skills. Go to the Scripture Pavilion and choose one.

“Do you prefer to use a saber or a sword?”

“Saber!” Xu Qi An answered.

When he was still a clerk, he wore a plain saber. Although he rarely had the opportunity to use it, he had carried it for many years, so his affinity with the saber was naturally stronger than with the sword.

Wei Yuan advised, “When choosing a supreme skill, remember to pick a simple and pure saber technique. Avoid anything too complex or flashy.

“Warriors are different from other systems, they don’t have many mystical abilities, only extraordinary strength. Therefore, the purer a warrior is, the better. When you reach the high-grade realm in the future, you’ll understand this principle.”

These simple words were worth more than thousands of gold. Xu Qi An was overjoyed, “Thank you for your guidance, Lord Wei.”

Backing from a large organization was just the beginning. If he could gain Wei Yuan’s appreciation and recognition, his official career and martial arts path would benefit immensely.

The Imperial Astronomical Bureau only accepted young boys, not young men. The Confucian path didn’t suit him either. Moreover, the first two weren’t warrior systems. To pursue the path of martial arts, he could only rely on the Nightwatchmen’s office, where warriors gathered.

…

With Wei Yuan’s written permission, Xu Qi An came to the Scripture Pavilion, accompanied by Li Yuchun.

Li Yuchun glanced at the clerk leading the way ahead, and said meaningfully, “When did you manage to latch onto Lord Wei’s big leg?”

“Lord Wei summoned me himself,” Xu Qi An said with an innocent expression.

Li Yuchun nodded slightly, showing neither displeasure nor further inquiry.

The top-grade aptitude was personally evaluated by Lord Wei, so it was natural for him to cultivate Xu Qi An.

Li Yuchun had long been aware of this and felt no dissatisfaction or jealousy about his subordinate bypassing him to curry favor with the higher-ups.

First, it was inevitable for someone with top-grade aptitude to be cultivated and noticed by Lord Wei. Second, Xu Qi An was a bronze badge under his command.

With this connection, he hoped Xu Qi An would rise as high as possible.

The clerk led them to a bookshelf and said, “There are 407 saber manuals in total, all here.”

After Xu Qi An and Li Yuchun nodded, he withdrew.

Li Yuchun looked at Xu Qi An and, before he could speak, smiled and said, “Are you going to ask me which saber technique is the strongest?”

Xu Qi An grinned.

Li Yuchun pondered, “Supreme skills are divided into two types: technique and dao. Don’t even think about the latter. As for the former, there’s no strong or weak, it depends on the person.”

The two slowly began to select saber manuals. Xu Qi An kept Wei Yuan’s advice in mind and didn’t pick those flashy saber techniques.

An hour later, Li Yuchun became a bit impatient: “Haven’t found anything satisfactory?”

…Chief, I forgot to tell you, I have choice paralysis! Xu Qi An smiled bitterly and nodded.

Li Yuchun thought for a moment, “Wait for me a bit.”

He called over a clerk and asked, “Have any new supreme skills been added to the collection recently? I mean saber manuals.”

The clerk pondered for a moment and said, “Yes, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau sent over a few supreme skills a few days ago, exchanged for several thousand taels of silver.”

Several thousand taels of silver… Li Yuchun was stunned, and then a smile appeared, “Xu Ning’an, you’re in luck.”

He explained, “Supreme skills worth several thousand taels of silver are of better quality than those inside. I estimate there might be a fragment of some saber dao manual.”

“Dao?” Xu Qi An’s eyes lit up.

“Supreme skills imbued with dao principles are usually created by high-grade warriors, containing their lifelong martial insights. If you want to become a high-grade warrior, you can’t touch these kinds of supreme skills, because that’s someone else’s Dao. But you can learn from fragments.” Li Yuchun instructed the clerk:

“Go fetch them.”

Shortly after, the clerk returned carrying several supreme skills, among which was indeed a fragmentary saber dao supreme skill.

“Heaven and Earth One Slash.”

The person who named this must either be Chunnibyou or obsessive… Xu Qi An judged inwardly, opening the thin book. The opening preface read:

There’s nothing in this world that can’t be cut with one slash. If there is, my advice is to run away.

…Xu Qi An resisted the urge to throw away the supreme skill manual and patiently turned to the second page.

After carefully reading the outline, his opinion of this supreme skill changed.

He wasn’t wrong; the author of this book was indeed an obsessive person. He believed that anything in the world could be cut with one slash, including heaven and earth.

The same applied to enemies.

Any superfluous moves or prolonged battles were an insult to the martial way.

I only strike once, either you die or I perish. Of course, being obsessive doesn’t mean losing rationality. The outline mentioned that when encountering a powerful enemy that couldn’t be defeated, the recommendation was to run away.

Xu Qi An silently finished reading the outline, mentally rewriting the preface for this supreme skill: Concentrate on one point, reach the pinnacle!

He closed the book, his eyes shining: “I’ll take this one.”