Ye Baiyi interrupted him again. “Combine the fortes of the clans? In this world, strengths and weaknesses are interdependent. Nothing can be solely advantageous without its disadvantages--what he said is bullshit. Can the Vajra Palmstrike and E’Mei Barb be fused together? Can a burly and thickset man squeeze into a petite girl’s skirts? This is a logic that even children understand--if you can genuinely understand the true philosophy of martial arts, you can even glean insights from the falling leaves and flowers, or the rise and fall of waves. If you can't, even if you steal all the classic manuals under the sky, you're no more than one who copies from books."

Long Que did not speak, but only sighed a long sigh.

Among the few of them, the others might have no idea of this, but Zhou Zishu was very clear: whether it was stealing another clan’s secret manuals, or leaking the martial techniques of one’s own clan to outsiders, these were major taboos of the jianghu. Hearing this, he understood why Hero Zhao Jing had been expelled from his clan all those years ago, and could not help but ask, “Those few people that you mentioned, were they the succeeding generation of elites of the five major clans back then? For example, those of Zhao Jing, Gao Chong, and Shen Zhen’s generation?”

--No wonder Hero Zhao kept his mouth shut tight about the Lapis Armour, and talked about it in ambiguous terms even in the end.

Long Que nodded, and said with a dismal laugh, “Indeed. What’s laughable is that back then, we still thought ourselves trailblazers who were smashing all the boundaries between clans--and what Rong Xuan produced, was half of the Six Harmonies Cultivation Mantra.”

Unconsciously, the gazes of the others focused on Ye Baiyi. Zhou Zishu asked, “Senior, what is the Six Harmonies Cultivation Mantra?”

Ye Baiyi frowned, and for once, did not use it to lecture at length. “The Six Harmonies Cultivation Mantra is an ancient artefact of legend. The true Six Harmonies Cultivation Mantra has actually been lost. A...friend of mine obtained the remnants of it by chance, and spent twenty years supplementing the missing parts to produce a full copy on his own. It was divided into upper and lower scrolls; Rong Xuan stole the lower scroll, while the upper scroll remained on Changming Mountain back then, and he...we destroyed it.”

At once, Zhou Zishu obtained two pieces of information from his words. Firstly, there was a person of the same generation and who was close friends with Ye Baiyi on Changming Mountain. Secondly, this person had dared to restore this ancient artefact with supplementary material, and was thus definitely also an expert. He recalled Ye Baiyi’s words “When did I say I was the ancient monk[1]?”, and cocked his brow, thinking, Could that person be the true ancient monk of Changming Mountain?