Chapter 21: Saint Cavern
Ch 21: Saint Cavern
The next day after the preparations were completed, the elders invited Li Qiye to the Saint Cavern. Yu He personally became Li Qiye's chaperone to take him to the deepest location of the Nine Saint Demon Gate.
With Yu He's strength and cultivation, even in the entirety of Old Ox Country, he would be an influential powerhouse. However, he was now the chaperone of Li Qiye — no one would believe this even if rumors were to be spread.
At the end of the Nine Saint Demon Gate was a lone mountain, and under the mountain was a sealed cave. It was unknown how long the cave had been sealed for. This cave was covered with wild grass and mushrooms, and the front of the cave showed signs of being tested by time.
This was the forbidden zone of the Nine Saint Demon Gate, only elders and above could come here.
Legend states that although the Nine Saint Virtuous Paragon left behind his cultivation manuals for the sect, there were still certain treasures he stored in the cave. It goes on to say that because he feared that his descendants would be weak and vain, he created the Saint Cavern so that there would always be a chance for revival should the sect be destroyed.
One thing all the sect masters and elders were sure of, though, was that there existed at least one Immortal Emperor Life Treasure in there.
When Immortal Emperor Min Ren received the Heaven's Will, it was told that he gave the Nine Saint Virtuous Paragon an Immortal Emperor Life Treasure for his accomplishments as Min Ren's fate protector. However, the descendants of the Nine Saint Virtuous Paragon did not have it in their possession. This was why everyone believed that the treasure was located in the Saint Cavern.
The Immortal Emperor Life Treasure was a weapon that Min Ren personally created during his conquest of the Nine Worlds. This Life Treasure was many times stronger than even a Virtuous Paragon True Treasure.
Although this was not an Immortal Emperor True Treasure, a Life Treasure was enough to inspire greed from everyone and anyone. [1]
There were writings engraved on the side of the cave. The characters were radiant and alive in contrast to its surroundings.
Only Demon under the heavens — these words exerted a powerful and majestic atmosphere. Each vivid and vibrant word had its own spirit, highlighted by the impeccable penmanship. It was as if these heavenly words were ready to pierce the heavens at any moment like a flying dragon or dancing phoenix. Tested by the vicissitudes of time, the aura of the Virtuous Paragon remained even after many moons.
These words were left behind by the Nine Saint Virtuous Paragon himself. The descendants of the Nine Saint Demon Gate all believed that this was the key to opening the Saint Cavern.
To the left side was "Only Demon under the heavens", but the right side was left empty. That was why the descendants believed that if they could correctly match the wordplay on the left side, the cavern could be opened.
However, there were others who thought that the words "Only Demon under the heavens" was the real key. It hid untraceable mysterious truths. Each stroke involved supreme merit laws. As long as one could understand its meanings, they could open the cave by themselves.
Both of these predictions were tested by disciples throughout the ages. There was one disciple with very high innate aptitudes in the Nine Saint Demon Gate who cultivated next to these words in order to understand the true meanings. Another time, the sect master personally went to the mortal world; he found a peerless expert of literature, hoping that this person could write a matching prose to the right.
However, the cavern remained closed despite trying all of these methods throughout the years.
As for Li Qiye, after seeing the cavern and the words written to the left, he immediately knew how to open the cavern. However, because there were elders watching him, he couldn't immediately open it.
He stepped up to the wall, moving side to side. He randomly knocked on the walls, bent down to the ground, then dejectedly shook his head as if the answer was not where he thought it was. After a while, he focused on the words "Only Demon under the heavens."
Seeing Li Qiye's actions not bearing fruit made the elders restless. However, they didn't dare to say anything. They were all just holding their breaths while anxiously watching Li Qiye's every movement.
Eventually, Li Qiye sat in a meditative pose in front of the cave. Time slowly passed. From morning to noon and from noon to the fall of the sun in the west... The sun reddened the sky, but Li Qiye remained motionless.
Li Qiye meditating for a whole day made the elders lose their patience.
An elder spoke to himself: "Will he be successful?"
"Is this little devil just pretending?" Seeing that there was no connection between Li Qiye and the cave, their trust in him started to waver. Maybe his miracles with the Chaotic Heart Forest and the four Heavenly Guardians were just that — miracles.
"Hmmph, maybe he got lucky." This Elder didn't actually trust what he was saying. He knew Li Qiye had secrets, he was only voicing his dissatisfaction of having an outsider in their sacred ground.
When the elders were rambling among themselves, Li Qiye immediately stood up and said: "Pen and ink!" After having sat here for a whole day, his butt was in agonizing pain.
An elder brought him a calligraphy pen and a bottle of ink. Li Qiye then began to act mysteriously. He shook his head and lamented: "So that's how it is, that's how it is! The Nine Saint Virtuous Paragon is indeed unfathomable."
He then carefully dipped the pen into the ink while holding his sleeve gracefully and started writing on the right wall of the cave.
"Mere Chicken above the earth."
He was not an expert calligrapher, so he hastily wrote these words. They contained no aura at all in stark contrast to the words of the Virtuous Paragon.
"Only Demon under the heavens, Mere Chicken above the earth." [2]
The two lines had such conflicting meanings that they didn't mesh well together.
After Li Qiye was finished, the elders' faces went black because these words were simply dishonoring their patriarch. Li Qiye's words were not worthy to be paired with the phrase "Only Demon under the heavens."
An elder gave a deafening roar: "How bold, to shame our Nine Saint Demon Gate!"
Li Qiye glared at him and retorted: "You are only an ordinary cultivator, what do you know about the enigmatic meanings behind literature? You don't even know the thoughtfulness of your ancestor, yet you dare to stand there and scream?"
"You…" After hearing Li Qiye's response, the red-faced elder was ready to explode.
"Creak… creak… rumble..." Rumbles could be heard as the Saint Cavern started to open.
The elders rolled their eyes. They couldn't believe what they were seeing! How could the words "Mere Chicken above the earth" open the cave?
"How is this possible?"
Li Qiye perched his lips and explained: "Because your patriarch was a chicken that reached the apex to become a demon, that is why I wrote those words."
He naturally didn't tell them the real secret. The Nine Saint Virtuous Paragon didn't have this name in the beginning, he used to be known as the Nine Saint Heavenly Demon, a name of great arrogance. When the Dark Crow asked him to become a fate protector for Min Ren, he immediately refused. He praised himself as the "Only Demon under the heavens," which was why he chose not to be under anyone.
Li Qiye was angered since he dared to rudely refuse his invitation. Li Qiye beat up the Virtuous Paragon, forced him back to his original form, and plucked all of his feathers out of anger as he laughed: "Haha, Mere Chicken above the earth."
[1] This wasn't made explicitly clear before, but there are two types of treasures: True and Life. True is a much stronger version than Life because it is imbued with true energy from its master.
[2] This is a historical Chinese poetry play; each word has to either match or have an opposite meaning for their corresponding counterpart in the same order, and the two lines also need to have the same or opposite meaning as well.