Xu Yiyun was stunned to receive the sword. It was indeed very important but she never had a chance of making enough money to buy it, at least in a short period.

“Young Noble, my fee isn’t this high.” She didn’t dare to accept it.

Though the sword wasn’t a dao lord weapon, it was still worth 210,000 Golden Sovereign Refined Jades. She found it expensive despite being a member of the ten sword prodigies. She thought that she had done nothing warranting this payment.

In reality, this gift was just outrageous. Even the geniuses from Sea Emperor wouldn’t enjoy this treatment.

“Take it, consider it a fortune.” Li Qiye waved his hand.

She composed herself and bowed deeply: “I will not forget your kindness today, Young Noble.” 

She was fully aware that this being “payment” was only an excuse. He simply wanted to give her the sword.

However, they didn’t know each other and their relationship was shallow at best. Thus, she was both grateful and confused regarding his generosity.

She gently touched the sword and felt a rough feeling. It wasn’t sharp either like in her imagination. All in all, she didn’t understand it yet but intuition told her that there were ties between the two.

“Do you know what’s special about this sword?” Li Qiye asked.

“I do not, it’s just that I was instantly captivated by it at first glance. I feel that there’s something similar between us.” She shook her head.

“That is indeed the case but to be exact, it has a similar source as your clan’s Eight-strike Sword Law.”

“Really?” She didn’t expect this. She attributed her strange feeling to fate, not something specific.

After all, this sword law was passed down by their matriarch. She left afterward and the descendants had no idea of where she went. Legend has it that she resided in an immortal realm.

“Your Eight-strike Sword Law is derived from the Grass Sword Attacking Immortal Law.” Li Qiye said: “Both belong to an ancient type of cultivation. In the present, techniques and merit laws along with mantras aren’t as distinctive. This wasn’t the case for the previous epoch. Techniques were techniques, mantras were mantras. There was no confusing them.”

“What your ancestor did was fusing a sword technique together with a mantra, resulting in the Eight-strike Sword Law.” He went on to say.

“In fact, this was rather clever. The fusion allowed for harmonization and simplicity, it’s a good merit law for cultivation.” He paused for a bit after the praise: “But, the flaws are obvious as well. Your ancestor’s innate abilities were limited and couldn’t fully reach the limit when deriving the sword technique. It couldn’t take the next step forward and turn into an impressive sword dao. Or perhaps she had other reasons to not fully pass down the real version and changed it to the Eight-strike Sword Law instead.”

“How are you so familiar with our technique, Young Noble?” She asked. As a member of the Xu, she practiced this technique before but didn’t know as much about its origin as Li Qiye. He seemed to know it like the palm of his hand.

“Our ancestor, the matriarch, is a supreme fairy capable of injuring immortals. It’s just that we descendants are foolish and can’t even understand one-tenth of her legacy.” She couldn’t help but add.

For the Xu, their matriarch was virtually their founder. Without her guidance, they might have disappeared long ago. After all, a mortal clan didn’t last that long. Several centuries were already impressive enough.

Thus, they had nothing but pride for their matriarch. Moreover, she was rumored to come from an immortal paradise as well. Therefore, Li Qiye’s evaluation wasn’t well-received. Yiyun had to defend the matriarch.

“Striker Heavenly Sovereign was unstoppable using the eight strikes.” Lu Qi was more impressed with the Xu’s technique than Li Qiye. The sovereign named Striker swept through Eight Desolaces in the past using this technique.

“We’re so incapable.” Yiyun smiled wryly. Putting the matriarch’s abilities aside, just their Striker Heavenly Sovereign displayed the potential of the sword technique. It’s just that no one else in the clan could do the same thing.

“If you can comprehend this grass sword, you’ll be just like your matriarch, capable of using a supreme sword technique.” Li Qiye smiled.

“What…?” Yiyun trembled after hearing this.

Their matriarch wasn’t a dao lord but in their heart, she was a supreme character. Yiyun never thought about reaching the same height. Her greatest aspiration was simple - being strong enough to revitalize the clan.

“Are you saying that I can obtain the Grass Sword Attacking Immortal Law?” Yiyun said in disbelief.

“Everything is possible through effort.” He said flatly.

She glanced down at the grass sword and didn’t know where to start.

“Fine, I’ll help you out again.” Li Qiye shook his head and took the sword then peeled it.

It was made from individual blades of grass bundled together in a complex manner. However, the bundling method eluded Yiyun and even Lu Qi. They couldn't see where the knots were or how to start the process. The entire blade looked to be one piece. They couldn’t disassemble it without cutting through the grass.

On the other hand, Li Qiye easily disassembled it in no time at all. Strangely enough, this didn’t leave a tangled mess. The individual grass seemed to be alive and started floating in the air.

“Watch carefully now.” He then touched her forehead with one finger.

She felt her heavenly gaze being activated by him and her eyes became resplendent. Her awareness reached the next level and she was able to see something else. 

She felt as if she was in the center of the universe, being as insignificant as a speck of dust. The stars around her flashed rhythmically, appearing to be characters of a grand dao.

A supreme chapter containing a supreme sword dao opened before her. She immediately became immersed in this learning process.