“Either way.” Li Qiye sat by the edge of the cliff with his hands as support while swinging his feet, enjoying the clouds beneath.

Wind G.o.d glared at him, thinking that Lucidity was such a great and invincible man yet his child was anything but. This might be a stain in Lucidity’s otherwise perfect life.

“What is your cultivation, and what merit laws are you learning?” He asked, still distant.

“The thirteenth level, and as for merit laws? Whichever ones, cultivation is too easy so no need to be picky.” Li Qiye casually answered.

Wind G.o.d almost vomited blood at this shameless brag. This brat was clearly as weak as can be, not any different from newly-admitted cultivators.

“There is no such thing as the thirteenth level!” Wind G.o.d coldly responded.

“Oh, then the third level then, it’s just that thirteenth level sounds much cooler and suit my style.” Li Qiye shrugged.

Wind King glared angrily at him. If this guy was a disciple of G.o.dstep, he would have stomped him right now.

Aggressive, arrogant, and ignorant - what a b.a.s.t.a.r.d of a brat.

“What? Want a taste of dou and zhe from War Saint Dynasty?” Li Qiye responded to the animosity. [1]

Wind G.o.d retorted with a sneer: “Dou and Zhe? You think someone like you can control them?” 

Nine Secrets System has nine words: Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Qian, Xing. This was a supreme mantra, rumored to be created by Nine Secrets Ancestor or left behind by Bao Pu. [2]

The entire system was built on this mantra; they acted as the foundation.

However, no lineage was in possession of all nine. Just grasping one was amazing enough.

For example, War Saint Dynasty had Dou and Zhe, hence its name. [3]

Another one was G.o.dstep Sect with the word Xing. 

To a certain extent, having two words allowed War Saint Dynasty to be so powerful. The only other to have two words was Waterfront Pavilion; the rest of the great powers only had one.

Few in War Saint Dynasty could touch these two words since they were the very foundation of the kingdom. Even a tyrant like Lucidity couldn’t just give these legacies to Li Qiye.

Because of this, Wind G.o.d didn’t expect for someone as weak as him to have the words. In fact, he couldn’t even look at them, let alone cultivating.

“That’s fine.” Li Qiye casually shrugged.

“Where were you staying before this?” The G.o.d asked.

In fact, he was very confused about Li Qiye. If he was Lucidity’s illegitimate son, then who was his mother? Someone like Lucidity wouldn’t have picked just any woman. It must have been an incredible woman with a great background.

Everyone knew that Lucidity only had a daughter - True Emperor Jiu Ning. [4]

Lucidity no longer had an heir after she was gone, no women around him either. Moreover, Li Qiye only looked a little more than twenty. This made people speculate about what he did twenty years ago.

“I fell from the sky.” Li Qiye pointed upward: “Have you never heard about the heaven’s favorite? I’m a person like that, so I naturally was hanging up there. Otherwise, why would I instantly become a king? The phrase - chosen by the heavens - was meant to describe me.”

“Nonsense.” Wind G.o.d wanted to give this guy a good kicking: “There’s no such thing.”

Li Qiye smiled: “I’m the perfect example. One day, I accidentally fell down and boom, there I was in the Silver Secret Legion’s camp. Lucidity saw me and instantly knew that I was chosen by the heavens, capable enough to make War Saint prospers, so he instantly made me the crown prince and handed the kingdom over.”

Wind G.o.d felt like slapping this nonsensical brat now. No one would believe this c.r.a.p.

Little did he know that Li Qiye was indeed telling the truth outside of the chosen by heavens part. He didn’t embellish anything else.

“Why aren’t you making this land better then? It is lost thanks to you, looks like you’re not really the chosen one by the heavens.” Wind G.o.d mocked him.

“You just don’t understand.” Li Qiye leisurely said: “You are looking at it from a close-minded and ignorant perspective, this is only a layer of mist, only a loss in appearance.”

Wind G.o.d was about to vomit some blood from anger. As one of the five supreme ancestors, he enjoyed a prestigious status in Nine Secrets.

People cowered before him, not daring to breathe loudly. Even other Eternals treated him with reverence.

However, this brat didn’t give a d.a.m.n and even called him closed-minded and ignorant! No one but Lucidity would dare to talk to him like this in Nine Secrets!

“Then enlighten me with your wisdom, Your Majesty.” Wind G.o.d sarcastically responded.

“Alright, since you are so sincere, I’ll give you some guidance.” Li Qiye seemed impervious to sarcasm and acted like an imperious king.

Wind G.o.d smiled wryly at this sight, thinking that this brat doesn’t have any self-awareness at all.

“Tell me, is Lucidity strong? Pretty much unbeatable?” Li Qiye asked with a smile.

Wind G.o.d didn’t expect this question. He nodded and said: “The late king’s fighting prowess is peerless, definitely number one in Nine Secrets, unbeatable in all of Imperial.”

This was indeed the truth. Supreme ancestors like them still didn’t dare to do anything in Lucidity’s presence since he was considerably stronger.

“What about his achievements? Still unmatched in Nine Secrets?” Li Qiye continued.

Wind G.o.d pondered for a bit before giving an objective opinion: “In terms of achievements, I believe he is number one as well. From a historical standpoint, I think he’s even with Emperor Zheng, or at least very, very close.”

He chose his words carefully to have a fair evaluation of Lucidity.

Though the five great powers had thoughts about opposing Lucidity, they had to admit that he contributed greatly to Nine Secrets System’s success, allowing it to be on the same level as the Mu and Li.

“Then what about if I become a virtuous king? Will that be enough to compare to Lucidity King?” Li Qiye asked.

“Impossible.” Wind G.o.d said decisively.

Lucidity’s achievements were comparable to Emperor Zheng - one of the most brilliant True Emperors. Taking another step to surpa.s.s Lucidity was harder than reaching the sky for future descendants.

“How about if the kingdom falls but I eventually rise and sweep through the world, creating a new dynasty wors.h.i.+pped by all. How will that compare to Lucidity?” Li Qiye smiled.

Wind G.o.d, despite his experiences, still became startled because this bold thought was simply insane. 

Li Qiye continued before hearing an answer: “This kingdom is useless if it can’t allow me to have a peerless contribution. It would be a waste of time for someone chosen by the heavens like me.”

After a while, Wind G.o.d stared at him and said: “Have you gone mad?”

“You tell me.” Li Qiye smiled.

In this particular juncture, Wind G.o.d found a similarity between Li Qiye and Lucidity, no in terms of appearance but rather their behavior. Both were as crazy as can be!

“You alone wants to start a new dynasty? I’m afraid that’s daydreaming, unless you are stronger than the late king.” Wind G.o.d responded.

“Nothing is impossible; it’s all dependent on my whim.” Li Qiye nonchalantly said.

1. This is my worst nightmare. I literally got up from my desk to lay down in my bed, questioning my life choices. The nine words mantra is back. It was challenging to translate it for the Nine Words True Bow, and I think the outcome was a mess because some of the words are connected. I can’t get a nine-word version in English to come out in a coherent manner; the grammatical forms are different while the order matters. For example, dou and zhe are actually connected - meaning a soldier/fighter. I can’t separate them and have it make sense because the first two words mean soldier/fighter as well. That’s 4 words meaning soldiers/fighters in the first four.  This time around, I’m just going to use pinyin. Trying to do an English version of them was too ambitious and I didn’t like the result

2. Lin (Overlook/celestial) Bing (Soldier) Dou (Soldier) Zhe (Man, modified by Dou so it’s Soldier) Jie (All) Zhen (Formation) Lie (Arrange, connected with Zhen) Qian (Front) Xing (Walk)  

3. Dou also means War; Zhe means man, so it can also be Saint.

4. Lucidity called her Jiu Ning without the full t.i.tle, so she could have the same name and t.i.tle. Might have to change this later if we get her real name.