Chapter 171: Immortal Cultivation Methods in the Scripture Hall!

In an instant, most of the people rushed toward the various bookshelves with glowing eyes, opening jade boxes in great excitement.

Aside from a few individuals like Zhao Shuhua, Gu Yunsheng, and Gu Yourong, everyone else present possessed a certain degree of martial obsession, and now they were like beggars who had entered a mountain of gold.

The development of martial arts has always been about discarding the old to make way for the new; through the painstaking efforts of generation after generation, each has become more exquisite and profound than the last.

Yet in the current era, because the Jin Dynasty once destroyed mountains and temples, burned books, and banned martial arts, it led to a massive generational gap and regression in the inheritance of folk martial arts; many absolute arts disappeared completely, and the number and level of folk experts decreased significantly, only showing slight improvement in recent years.

It is precisely because of this that folk martial arts are generally crude and inferior, and only the true-transmission martial arts of the previous dynasties or even older, destroyed sects can be considered absolute arts.

For martial practitioners like Li Junxian, Lin Xingchao, and Gu Kanshan, they had always only heard of and yearned for the true-transmission absolute arts of various sects; now that they could actually touch them at will, how could they not be ecstatic?

Of course, Lu Yuan's reaction to this was flat. After casually opening a few jade boxes and flipping through a few books, he had Chen Zhantang find him three manuals on Daoist Arts that were clearly different from martial arts by their names.

These three were titled "Soul-Awakening Art of the Primal Spirit," "Ascension Spirit Guidance," and "Great Yin Refining Form."

Lu Yuan flipped through the Soul-Awakening Art of the Primal Spirit roughly and immediately discovered that certain aspects of this Daoist cultivation method were similar in concept to the 【Guiding】 technique.

The cultivation of this Daoist Art relies on continuous visualization to remove distracting thoughts and condense the spirit; it takes at least three years to even enter the door.

Afterward, one must condense the seven souls: the Yin Soul, Essence Soul, Central Pivot Soul, Force Soul, Qi Soul, Spiritual Wisdom Soul, and Heavenly Rushing Soul. Once the Qi Soul is condensed, the practitioner's soul becomes incomparably powerful; with a single thought, the movement of wind and grass within dozens of feet is under their control. They can also use pure thoughts to manipulate Dao Soldiers and twist the wills of others, with means bordering on the supernatural.

Of course, this manual was obscure and profound just to look at, and its cultivation process was extremely complex and difficult; without ten or eight years, one would see no results at all, far surpassing any martial arts Lu Yuan had seen.

"No wonder Daoist Arts gradually went extinct; who could practice them when they are this difficult?"

He could not help but shake his head and chuckle, then placed the three manuals back into their original jade boxes.

At this moment, the others were still immersed in various divine arts and absolute techniques, unable to extricate themselves. Lu Yuan did not disturb them, but instead continued to stroll around the inner hall.

As a result, when he reached the innermost part of the inner hall, in front of a strange-looking, massive Shaman statue, he suddenly saw that the statue's hands were also holding a stone box, as if something were stored inside.

His heart stirred, and his figure immediately floated up; then, his Dharma Power transformed into a pair of large hands to open the stone box.

During this process, he was on guard for traps or the like, but his Sprout Sensing Technique had no reaction, and he very smoothly took out the items inside.

To his surprise, what was inside the stone box were actually a few ancient books that looked extremely old and appeared quite tattered.

After carefully flipping through them, Lu Yuan discovered these ancient books were titled "True Scripture of Rushing Void," "Yunjie Wuzhen Shu," and "Middle Dao Wonderful Dharma Lotus Sutra," while two others were too severely damaged to even make out their names.

Being placed here so solemnly by the Jin Dynasty, they clearly had a significant background. Out of curiosity, Lu Yuan immediately sat cross-legged on a prayer mat and began to read them in detail.

And this reading was no small matter.

After only a moment, his expression shifted slightly, revealing a look of disbelief.

Because he had shockingly discovered that these three roughly intact ancient books were neither martial arts nor Daoist Arts, but appeared to be legitimate methods for Qi-refining immortality cultivation!

For instance, the "True Scripture of Rushing Void" stated:

The practitioner must achieve a wondrous union of heart and breath, a harmony of spirit and Qi, and invite Heavenly harmony through human harmony. Once the innate is obtained, like snow melting and ice dissolving, a mass of Great Harmony Qi returns to fill and permeate, soaking and blending, melting away all Yin, and the Golden Core forms of itself.

Ordinary people would naturally be confused by this, but Lu Yuan, who was proficient in 【Guiding】, saw at a glance that this scripture described the method of consuming mists and eating Qi, refining the Spiritual Machine to wash and refine one's own body, thereby casting the foundation of the Great Dao, and ultimately achieving the cultivation of immortality through condensing the Golden Core and returning to one's true nature!

Although this scripture and the others were severely damaged, and their concepts, intentions, and achievement ceilings were not as high as the Guiding technique, and their cultivation methods were vastly different, the content was truly and undeniably a method of Qi-refining immortality, completely distinct from martial arts and Daoist Arts—it was definitely not fake!

"This world actually has methods for Qi-refining cultivation."

Lu Yuan fell into a moment of suspicion and surprise:

"Does this mean this world also had Immortals and gods in the past?"

Having traveled to this world for two years, he had always assumed that although there were some minor extraordinary powers, there were no Immortals, gods, or immortality cultivation.

After all, when he first practiced the 【Guiding Technique】, he discovered that the Spiritual Machine in this world was extremely thin, bordering on non-existent. If not for the existence of Ingestion, Medicine, and stone-boiling techniques, his Refining Essence into Qi would likely not have been completed even in dozens or a hundred years.

In such an environment, there was naturally no soil for so-called Qi-refining immortality cultivation.

However.

The few ancient books of unknown age now in his hands undoubtedly completely overturned his long-held understanding.

According to his knowledge, the history of Shenzhou is divided into three great eras: the Near Ancient, Middle Ancient, and Upper Ancient. The Near Ancient is within the last three thousand years; the Middle Ancient is from three thousand to six thousand years ago; and the Upper Ancient era is from six thousand years ago or even the beginning of the birth of the ancestors of Shenzhou.

However, most of the historical records circulating among the people only record the development trajectory of the Near Ancient era; records concerning the Middle Ancient era are already quite rare, and as for the Upper Ancient era, only fragments of deeds are passed down, and they appear entirely like myths and legends.

Judging by their age, these ancient books were at least relics from the early Middle Ancient era or even the Upper Ancient era. Based on various clues, he inferred that the environment of the world at that time might have been far superior to the present, sufficient to support the existence of the path of immortality!

"Looking at it this way, the path of immortality in this world did not never exist, but gradually died out."

"Xici and all the experts of the Jin Dynasty holding immortal methods but not practicing them, keeping them stored here, must be because they knew they could not succeed."

Various thoughts and inferences flashed by, and Lu Yuan's eyes grew brighter:

"Then why did the environment of this world degenerate, and where did the Qi Refiners and immortality cultivators who might have existed in the Middle and Upper Ancient eras go? Did they all die of old age, or did they find another way out?"

"Logically speaking, if Qi Refiners and immortality cultivators had existed in the Upper and Middle Ancient eras, there would inevitably be many inheritances and records passed down; how could it be that no one knows about it like today?"

"In the time from the Upper Ancient to the Near Ancient, what exactly happened to this world?"

The more he thought, the more Lu Yuan felt that this world was not that simple; it seemed to hold significant secrets. As his thoughts turned, harboring anticipation, he immediately stored these ancient books into his Pot Heaven Bag and then turned to walk out.

Seeing him come out, Chen Zhantang and the others finally regained their senses and said with excitement:

"Hall Master, how should these martial arts manuals be handled?"

"These are all the core absolute arts of various sects from the previous dynasties and even further back; any one of them taken out would stir up bloody storms in the pugilistic world!"

"Even though Firearm and Cannon now show their might, the value of these manuals is immeasurable!"

Lu Yuan had long had an idea and said:

"If you have any martial arts you like, you may copy them now. After copying, seal them all away. When the national system is re-established in the future, we can establish a Martial Academy, select poor children from all over the world to study inside, and serve the country."

Regarding Lu Yuan's arrangement, the crowd was both pleasantly surprised and filled with admiration; almost everyone immediately returned to the bookshelves to find the martial arts they were interested in, preparing to copy them.

As for Lu Yuan, he summoned Ba Biehai, who had been waiting on the side, and asked:

"In this Scripture Hall, besides these martial arts manuals, are there any other records of secret histories and ancient books concerning the Middle and Upper Ancient eras?"

Ba Biehai immediately bowed and said:

"Replying to the Immortal Master, the side halls of the Scripture Hall collect historical books and classics left behind by all dynasties in Shenzhou since history began. If you—"

"Lead the way!"

Just as Lu Yuan took control of the Imperial City and made discoveries within the Scripture Hall.

At the International Martial Arts Tournament, the news that the Immortal Lu Yuan had descended to the world, that the great powers and experts of all nations had been defeated, and that the demon queen Xici and all the Grandmasters of the Jin Clan had been executed on the spot, had already swept through the entire Tianjing City like a hurricane, simultaneously radiating to the surrounding provinces and stirring up monstrous waves.

The provinces surrounding Tianjing were the first to receive this news; upon hearing it, both the government and the populace's first reaction was that it was fake news and completely unbelievable, until after repeated confirmation that it was true, it caused a massive earthquake.

Especially the Jin Dynasty officials in these provinces; upon hearing of the death of Xici, some were terrified beyond words, some wept bitterly, and some even fainted on the spot, exposing their ugly true colors.

Most of the Golden Clan people knew that now, with the Great Powers surrounding them and facing a change unseen in a thousand years, Xici, who had held court from behind the curtain for sixty or seventy years, was the pillar supporting the sky for the imperial court; once she died, the Han people who had been suppressed for many years, and even all sorts of rebels and ambitious individuals, would inevitably take the opportunity to cause chaos, and the Jin Clan's empire would be in danger.

Especially.

When Prince personally dispatched envoys and even major governors to the surrounding provinces to stabilize the situation, the Golden Clan officials of each province, after learning the truth about the World Martial Arts Tournament through them, became extremely panicked and uneasy, even falling into despair.

Demanding the Emperor abdicate, return the empire, and allow representatives of the Han people from each province to enter the capital to re-establish the national system.

This was undoubtedly a revolution against the Great Jin; if this were allowed to happen, tens of millions of Golden Clan people who had been throwing their weight around would not only lose their empire and their good life, but it was even highly likely they would face a reckoning from the Han people!

The Golden Clan population was ten times smaller than the Han people, leading to a situation in these provinces where, whether in the military or the government, Han soldiers and Han officials were in the majority; once a reckoning began, the fate of millions of Golden Clan people would be simply unimaginable!

The key was that these people could not believe that there really were so-called Immortals in the world; therefore, although the Xuantong Emperor, Prince, and even more than ten powerful princes and ministers were faithfully executing Lu Yuan's instructions, under the shock of such earth-shattering news, the Golden Clan people in each province began to connect rapidly in their panic to seek self-preservation, causing the undercurrents to become extremely turbulent.

On the other hand.

Under the drastic change, the three major Great Power delegations that had failed completely at the World Martial Arts Tournament and become mere foils had also long since sent detailed news back to their countries, causing similar shocks among the high-level officials:

"What, that Lu Yuan is an Immortal? What is this thing?"

"Life Essence condensed into a giant light palm, injuring Abraham, Hellers, and the other two Great Powers plus a dozen top experts from various countries in one blow."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! How much Life Essence would that require to achieve? Even His Majesty the Pope..."

"General Alexeyevich and the others, everyone saw that Lu Yuan flying through the air, and he could even manifest a clone that could pass for the real thing?! Flying through the air is the domain of gods, this, this..."

"Preposterous, the Great Priest used the Budu Mitama Sword and joined forces with so many experts, yet was defeated by a single sword strike from the opponent; what level has this so-called Immortal cultivated to? Could it be that he has surpassed the Legendary Realm!?"

"Surpassing the Legendary Realm... that is approaching the domain of gods; it is impossible for such a thing to exist in today's world environment. How could the lowly Jin Dynasty people achieve this!"

"Damn it, how could such a figure emerge from this decaying dynasty that is on the verge of collapse at any moment? If this so-called Immortal is allowed to overthrow the Jin Dynasty, wouldn't the Empire's interests be severely damaged? No, absolutely not!"

"I don't believe this so-called Immortal can withstand our heavy artillery; if 100-caliber doesn't work, we'll build 500-caliber. As long as a single shot has the power to level a hill, the so-called Immortal will be blasted into mincemeat!"

"Wait first, His Majesty the Pope has sent an edict, requiring us to remain still, collect as much intelligence on this Lu Yuan as possible, and watch the development of the situation quietly."

"The Jin Dynasty is too big; its territory of over ten million square kilometers across thirty-six provinces is vast and boundless, and it cannot be controlled or changed by the individual might of one person. It is fine if he wants to coerce the Jin Dynasty Emperor to abdicate and yield, but wanting the Jin Dynasty to honestly return the power of the empire to the Han people is wishful thinking."

"Next, huge chaos and even war will likely break out in the provinces within the Jin Dynasty soon; we need to lay out our plans and investments early. After all, a chaotic and disordered Shenzhou better serves our interests."

"Historically, Shenzhou has appeared many times with two dynasties standing side by side in the north and south; now it seems the Golden Clan is clearly weak. If we do not intervene, the Jin Dynasty will likely perish soon. Perhaps we can provide them with strategic and weapon assistance as soon as possible to let them hold on for longer."

"In addition, this Lu Yuan has not only become the greatest obstacle and threat to our entry into Shenzhou, but there also seem to be huge secrets and opportunities on him. His Majesty the Pope has issued an order, requiring us to use all means and forces to collect intelligence on this person and observe to find the opponent's weaknesses."

"A flying expert who is suspected of having surpassed the Legendary Realm—his existence itself is a mistake. On this matter, I believe we should unite with the Sha'e and the Rizhao."

"Agreed."

"Seconded."

"In today's world, such an anomaly should not exist at all!"