Chapter 59 - 57: The Three Major Pacts
"Of course it’s real!"
Weii Fei said decisively.
"However..." Weii Fei glanced at Kou Liang and Fu Zhizhou, then paused before continuing, "This Immortal Skill is far too precious, and it concerns the path to long life. I hope all three of you, my brothers, can swear an oath that after seeing this Immortal Skill, you will never share it with outsiders."
He knew that Fu Zhizhou and Kou Liang weren’t reckless men who didn’t understand the gravity of the situation; they wouldn’t just spread the Cultivation Technique around. But one must always prepare for the unexpected.
If they were swayed by family ties and passed the Immortal Skill to their relatives, causing the secret to leak—then as the one who disseminated it, disaster would surely befall him. That was a predictable outcome.
He had to guard against this possibility.
An oath was better than no oath.
Hearing this, Wei Tu, who was beside them, immediately responded. He raised his right hand and said, "I am willing to swear a deadly oath. If I leak the Immortal Skill without consulting my brothers, may I die a horrible death."
After swearing the deadly oath,
Wei Tu shared the thoughts he had prepared. "Eldest Brother, Fourth Brother," he persuaded, "if we achieve Cultivation Success with this Immortal Skill and become Immortals, we won’t have to worry about the disaster that could come from it being leaked, nor about our families being implicated."
"Conversely, if the four of us fail to achieve Cultivation Success, what chance does anyone we give it to have of succeeding?"
As his voice fell,
Kou Liang and Fu Zhizhou exchanged a look, nodded, and no longer hesitated. Just like Wei Tu, they also swore a deadly oath.
"This business with the Immortal Skill is just like what happened with Wuyun Tower. We both understand the stakes. If the secret gets out, with the Spirit Secret Techniques of Innate Martial Masters, our families would be impossible to protect..."
After swearing the oath, Fu Zhizhou shook his head and sighed.
Hearing this, Wei Tu and Weii Fei nodded.
The reason they were willing to share the Immortal Skill for Kou Liang and Fu Zhizhou to study with them was inseparable from the foundation of trust they had built during the Wuyun Tower incident.
When it came to important matters, everyone was clear-headed and forward-thinking, not some shortsighted fools.
At this, Weii Fei no longer held back. He took out three booklets from his robes and placed them on the Eight Immortals table.
Of the three booklets, one was yellowed with age, while the other two had brand-new pages.
"The yellowed booklet is the original. The other two new ones... are copies that Third Brother and I transcribed..."
"Eldest Brother and Fourth Brother, you can take a look."
Weii Fei pushed the three booklets in front of Fu Zhizhou and Kou Liang.
"Alright." Fu Zhizhou and Kou Liang didn’t say much more. They picked up the booklets and began to read them carefully.
「An hour later.」
As the sun was about to set,
Fu Zhizhou and Kou Liang reluctantly put down the Immortal Skill in their hands.
"My Fu Family also has an ancestral Inner Family True Skill, and this Cultivation Technique is indeed different from those. It’s possible that, just as Second Brother judged, this book is... an Immortal Skill."
Fu Zhizhou mused for a moment before sharing his thoughts on the Cultivation Technique, the *Five Elements Spirit Body*.
Kou Liang, on the other hand, said nothing.
Although his family wasn’t poor, they were merely well-off commoners. It was already a struggle for him to afford External Martial Arts Training, so how could he have had the chance to see an Inner Family True Skill?
"This Immortal Skill was obtained from a Wuyun Tower Martial Artist named Xie Qing. Fourth Brother, since you went to the Wuyun Tower headquarters to quell the rebellion, did you learn any inside information?"
Wei Tu asked.
After seeing the Immortal Skill, this was one of the main reasons he had persuaded Weii Fei to share it, so all four brothers could study and comprehend it together.
A crucial part of his reasoning was that Fu Zhizhou held a high official post and had gone to the Wuyun Tower headquarters to suppress the rebellion. He was bound to know more than the two of them.
By exchanging information, they wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.
As for the name of the giant man with the iron hammer, Wei Tu and the others had already learned it back in Siyang Town when they interrogated the captured Martial Artists from Liu Family Castle.
"Xie Qing?" Hearing the name, Fu Zhizhou frowned slightly. He pondered for a moment and said, "The Wuyun Tower headquarters has one Tower Master, two Vice Tower Masters, twelve Elders, and seven Banner Lords for the branches..."
"Among the High Level members of Wuyun Tower, there are three with the surname Xie: one Vice Tower Master and two Elders..."
"If I’m not mistaken, this Xie Qing from the Siyang Town branch should be related to those three. Or rather, it’s possible Xie Qing and those three are from the same clan..."
The day before the siege on the Wuyun Tower headquarters, the Governor’s Mansion had distributed intelligence on Wuyun Tower’s High Level members for the Imperial Guards to memorize.
Now, that information was proving useful.
Kou Liang mulled this over for a moment before concluding, "So, you’re saying that the other parts of this Immortal Skill might have been with the three people you mentioned, Eldest Brother?"
"Are those three alive or dead now?" he added, pressing urgently.
"They’re already dead." Fu Zhizhou shook his head. "After Governor Wangg issued the military order, he quickly commanded the army to besiege Wuyun Tower. Even if those three from the Xie Family had heaven-defying abilities, they couldn’t escape."
"Not to mention, to encircle and annihilate the Wuyun Tower headquarters, Governor Wangg specifically invited three Innate Martial Masters."
Fu Zhizhou revealed this piece of information.
Hearing this, Wei Tu and the other two sighed inwardly.
If they could have found those three High Level members of the Xie Family from Wuyun Tower, they might have had a chance to complete their copy of the *Five Elements Spirit Body*.
Now, hearing that the three Xie Family members were dead, that hope was undoubtedly shattered.
At this point, Fu Zhizhou’s gaze shifted to Wei Tu. He said pensively, "Most of Wuyun Tower’s High Level members were eliminated by those three Innate Martial Masters. If you, Third Brother, can become an Innate Martial Master, perhaps we’ll have a chance to complete the Cultivation Technique, and maybe even get a glimpse of other Immortal Skills..."
He guessed that those three Innate Martial Masters might also possess Immortal Skills similar to the *Five Elements Spirit Body*.
"An Innate Martial Master?" Hearing this, hope sparked in Wei Tu’s heart.
’According to the prompt from my Late Bloomer Destiny Chart, if I practice the *Bone Marrow Cultivation Scripture* fifteen times a day, I can master it and enter the realm of an Innate Martial Master.’
Thirty years.
’For me, that’s a long time, but it’s not entirely unacceptable.’
’Besides, once I become an Innate Martial Master, my lifespan will extend to two hundred years. Subtracting the years it takes to get there, I’ll have a full one hundred and fifty years to pursue this so-called Immortal Dao...’
Moreover,
As for the "Thick Earth Body" aspect of the *Five Elements Spirit Body*, although he hadn’t even reached the entry level or made any headway yet, it didn’t mean he would be stuck on it for the next thirty years.
After that,
the four men discussed some of the finer details of cultivating this Immortal Skill and established three new pacts.
Pact One: Every year on the thirteenth of the sixth month, the four of them would reunite at Xuanhe Tower to exchange their cultivation insights.
This included, but was not limited to, the Immortal Skill.
If anyone had a breakthrough, they didn’t have to wait for the thirteenth of the sixth month; they were to send a letter to the others immediately.
Pact Two: While attempting to practice the Immortal Skill, they would use their respective positions to inquire about legends of the Immortal Family, compile their findings into a volume, and share the information with each other.
Pact Three: If one of the four were to die unexpectedly but had kept the secret, the remaining three must look after his descendants.
Furthermore, if there was a suitable candidate among the descendants, they could also be brought into the Yee Society to practice the Immortal Skill.
After establishing the three great pacts,
Wei Tu and the other three exchanged smiles and raised their cups to drink heartily.
The four of them knew that if their last reunion at Xuanhe Tower was about establishing a foundation of trust,
then this reunion, where they shared an Immortal Skill... was what truly solidified their sworn brotherhood...
They were no longer just "brothers" on the surface.