After My Rebirth, I Ended Up Happily Ever After with the Saintess - Chapter 8

The morning sun rose, scattering golden light that struggled to dispel the icy chill beneath the Night-Glaze stone walls.

After a night of cultivation and consolidation, her aura had stabilized completely. Her middle-stage Spirit Awakening Realm cultivation felt perfectly refined. Thanks to the unexpected aid of the Reincarnation Mirror fragment, her control over spiritual energy had advanced a step further, subtly touching upon the essence of “precision.”

Today was the day of the Family Grand Competition.

Fighting on the arena was not merely a contest of cultivation; martial skills, movement techniques, and real-time reactions were all indispensable. The original owner had no foundation, and the secret arts and techniques she had mastered in her past life required at least the Spiritual Palace Realm to even attempt. They were useless now.

She needed a technique suitable for her current realm that could maximize her combat consciousness.

Her destination: the Family Martial Skills Pavilion.

Arrival and Scrutiny

The Night Family’s Martial Skills Pavilion was located in the family’s core area, an ancient three-story tower with flying eaves and upturned corners, exuding an air of solemnity. Family elders took turns guarding the place, and ordinary disciples were not allowed to enter casually.

At this moment, the open space in front of the Martial Skills Pavilion was already crowded with young disciples. Most were participants in the upcoming Grand Competition, hoping to find a useful martial skill at the last minute or practice a hurried session. The atmosphere was a mix of noise and tension.

When Ye Li’s figure appeared before the Pavilion, the noise instantly paused, and various gazes focused on her.

Astonishment, disdain, curiosity, contempt… the mix of emotions was complex and hard to describe.

“She actually dares to come?”

“She can’t possibly still think she can enter the Martial Skills Pavilion, right? A collateral branch trash, even if she got lucky and reached the Spirit Awakening Realm, what right does she have to learn any profound martial skills?”

“What a joke. Is the Martial Skills Pavilion a place she can step into?”

The whispered discussions were utterly unconcealed.

Ye Li was expressionless, walking straight towards the heavy, black iron-wood main doors of the Pavilion. Seated at the entrance was a white-haired, drowsy elder in a gray elder’s robe. His aura was deep and restrained—he was the elder on duty today. His eyes were slightly narrowed, seemingly oblivious to the surrounding commotion.

Conflict Erupts

According to the rules, one needed to present their identity token and register to enter the Martial Skills Pavilion.

Ye Li had just arrived near the entrance and was about to salute the elder when several figures sarcastically blocked her path. Leading them was Ye Lang, his face sullen and his eyes filled with malice! Following him were Ye Ming, Ye Liang, and a few other staunch lackeys.

Having suffered a hidden defeat in the marketplace that day, Ye Lang had harbored resentment ever since and had sent people to monitor Ye Li’s movements, just waiting for her to show up.

“Stop!” Ye Lang’s voice was sharp and laced with undisguised ill-will. “Ye Li, what are you, this trash, doing here? Is the Martial Skills Pavilion a place you can tread?”

Ye Li halted, lifting her eyes to look at him calmly, as if looking at a barking dog.

This attitude of complete disregard thoroughly infuriated Ye Lang. He stepped closer, almost pointing at Ye Li’s nose as he cursed, “Don’t think that just because you stumbled into the Spirit Awakening Realm by some fluke you’re qualified to be arrogant! Which of the cultivation methods and martial skills in the Martial Skills Pavilion isn’t a precious family inheritance? How can low-bloodline collateral trash like you covet them? Even if we let you in, can you understand them? Can you practice them? Don’t waste the family’s resources!”

“Exactly! Brother Lang is right!” Ye Liang chimed in with a shrill voice. “You’ll just pollute the air in there! And who knows, maybe you’ll be light-fingered and steal something!”

“Hurry up and get lost! Don’t make a spectacle of yourself here!” Ye Ming loudly concurred.

Their words were extremely harsh, full of insults and degradation. Many nearby disciples wore expressions of anticipation, and no one stepped forward to intervene. The oppression of collateral disciples by the direct line was commonplace in the Night Family.

The white-haired elder on duty remained with his eyes slightly narrowed, as if truly asleep, ignoring the conflict before him. Elders typically wouldn’t interfere in internal family competition unless things got out of hand.

Invoking the Family Rules

Facing such humiliation and obstruction, Ye Li’s expression remained unchanged. She didn’t even spare a glance for Ye Lang and his group. Her gaze went past them, directly towards the elder who seemed to be dozing, and she spoke in a clear, calm voice: “Elder, disciple Ye Li, a middle-stage Spirit Awakening cultivator, is qualified by family rules to enter the first floor of the Martial Skills Pavilion and choose one martial skill. Please grant permission, Elder.”

She directly invoked the family rules, completely disregarding Ye Lang’s ravings.

Ye Lang’s face turned ashen with rage and he was about to start cursing again.

Just then, the white-haired elder, who had appeared half-asleep, seemed to move his eyelid ever so slightly. A voice as fine as silk was precisely transmitted into the ears of Ye Li and Ye Lang’s group: “The rules are as such. If you wish to enter, then enter. No clamor is allowed.”

The voice was old and flat, yet it carried an undeniable authority.

Ye Lang and his crew immediately stiffened as if choked. All the curses ceased abruptly, their faces flushing red, but they dared not be reckless anymore. They could oppress collateral disciples, but they would never openly defy an elder and the family rules.

Ye Li gave a slight bow: “Thank you, Elder.”

Then, without looking at the furious-faced Ye Lang and his group—who looked as though they had swallowed a dead fly—she walked straight through them, pushed open the heavy black iron-wood door, and disappeared inside.

“Damn it!” Ye Lang stared at the door that had closed again, his fists clenched and crackling, his eyes nearly spitting fire. “Bitch! Just wait! At the Grand Competition, I’ll make sure you pay!”

Discovering the Hidden Gem

Inside the Martial Skills Pavilion, the light was dim. The air was filled with the scent of old paper scrolls and a faint herbal aroma from moth repellents.

The first floor was quite spacious, with rows of tall bookshelves neatly organized, holding countless scrolls, jade slips, and even beast-skin books, all categorized. A few disciples sparsely moved between the shelves, focused on their selection.

Ye Li’s gaze quickly swept over the area.

The cultivation methods and martial skills here were mostly Human-tier Low-grade and Mid-grade, suitable for the Spirit Awakening Realm and early-stage Vein Condensing Realm cultivation. The neatly arranged, polished-looking ones were mostly common goods or ordinary techniques that had been repeatedly perused and modified by many.

She didn’t linger in these areas. Her powerful spiritual sense, like invisible tentacles, slowly spread out, carefully perceiving the energy fluctuations and the traces of time throughout the first floor.

She wasn’t looking for the “popular” goods chased by the masses, but rather an ancient, incomplete fragment, forgotten in a corner, dust-covered, yet potentially containing a unique profound meaning.

She walked past row after row of bookshelves, her fingers occasionally brushing against the dusty scrolls. Her perception skimmed over countless pieces of martial information, most of which were ordinary.

Suddenly, in the most remote, almost deserted corner of the northwest, on the bottom shelf, her spiritual sense was attracted by an extremely faint yet abnormally tenacious and steady energy fluctuation.

The fluctuation wasn’t powerful, but it carried an ancient resonance, as if it had endured the baptism of ages without being worn away.

She crouched down, brushing away a thick layer of dust, and found a dark-yellow beast-skin booklet pressed under several old sundries at the bottom. The edges of the booklet were severely damaged, and it didn’t even have a title. Only one corner of the cover was drawn with an extremely blurred, bizarre footprint pattern, as if melting into the wind.

She pulled the booklet out and blew off the dust. It felt heavy in her hand. The beast-skin material was special; though old, it hadn’t rotted. Upon opening it, the writing inside was done with some kind of ancient ink, some parts already blurred, and the content was clearly incomplete, amounting to only about one-third of the original.

The nearby tag read: “Nameless Movement Technique Fragment, unknown origin, severely incomplete, extremely difficult to practice, highly prone to injury to the meridians, Rating: Human-tier Low-grade (Incomplete).”

It was this rating and notation that caused it to be abandoned here, unwanted.

But Ye Li’s fingertips touched the coarse beast-skin, and her spiritual sense was fully immersed in that ancient and tenacious profound meaning. She vaguely saw a blurred figure walking leisurely amidst ten thousand attacks. With a shift of movement, the figure was like a ghost, untouched by a single leaf!

This was absolutely not some Human-tier Low-grade garbage! The profound meaning of the movement technique contained in this fragment was incomparably exquisite, far surpassing any Human-tier technique she had ever seen! It even touched upon a trace of the application of “potential” (Shi)! The complete version would be at least Earth-tier or higher!

The reason for its extremely low rating was twofold: first, it was too incomplete for future generations to mend; second, its requirement for the cultivator’s comprehension, physical coordination, and timing was unnaturally high! An ordinary person attempting to practice it would not only fail to grasp the basics but might also twist their meridians by forcibly imitating the obscure force-delivery method.

But for Ye Li, this was no problem at all!

She possessed the combat consciousness and experience of a former Supreme Being, her microscopic control over her body far exceeded that of ordinary people, and she had the occasional boost to comprehension and perception from the Reincarnation Mirror fragment! This extremely demanding fragment was precisely tailor-made for her!

“This is it.” Without hesitation, Ye Li tightly grasped the broken beast-skin booklet in her hand.

The Elder’s Gaze

When she brought the dusty, tattered “Nameless Fragment” to the registration desk at the door, she once again drew attention.

The white-haired elder on duty finally opened his eyes. They were a pair of seemingly cloudy, yet profoundly deep eyes. His gaze rested on the beast-skin booklet in Ye Li’s hand, pausing for a moment, and then he looked up at Ye Li, a faint, imperceptible hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

“Are you sure you choose this?” The elder’s voice was still flat. “This fragment is severely incomplete, and practicing it is dangerous. No one has succeeded in mastering it for many years, and some have even been injured because of it. Have you thought it through?”

“Yes, Elder, disciple is sure.” Ye Li’s tone was firm.

The elder said no more, took up his brush, noted “Ye Li, Nameless Movement Technique Fragment” in the register, and then waved his hand.

Ye Li bowed, took the booklet, and turned to leave.

After she walked out the door, the white-haired elder watched her retreating back, a thoughtful light flashing in his cloudy eyes. He muttered to himself: “Interesting… she can sense that thing… This little girl’s spiritual sense is unusual…”

Renewed Mockery

Outside the Martial Skills Pavilion, Ye Lang and his group hadn’t left, clearly waiting to continue mocking Ye Li. When they saw the tattered, almost unrecognizable old booklet in Ye Li’s hand, they were stunned for a moment, and then burst into even louder laughter.

“Hahahaha! What do I see? A piece of trash? Where did she dig that out from?”

“She really is trash! She’s only fit to pick up this kind of unwanted junk!”

“I’m dying of laughter! Treating a broken book like a treasure! Ye Li, are you that desperate?”

Ye Li was completely deaf to their mockery, as if they were just air. She carefully placed the beast-skin booklet into her clothes, as if she had acquired some peerless treasure, and walked straight past them toward the back mountain.

Her posture of complete disregard, as if they were the clowns, made Ye Lang and his group feel worse than any verbal rebuttal.

Ye Lang’s smile froze on his face. Staring at Ye Li’s distant figure, the malice in his eyes almost materialized.

“Arrogant! Keep being arrogant! Let’s see how you beg for mercy with that broken book of yours during the Grand Competition!” he hissed through clenched teeth, the intent to kill growing stronger in his heart.

And Ye Li had already begun to silently comprehend the profound steps contained within the incomplete fragment.

The wind, it seemed, began to gather beneath her feet.