Chapter 81: Pot Heaven Art, Profound Dharma Power

He did not consider it for too long.

For his tenth Earthly Fiend Art, Lu Yuan chose 【Pot Heaven】.

【Pot Heaven】: Containing Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed, hiding the sun and moon within a pot; one can use their own Dharma Power to open up space or a cave dwelling, and after achieving the Supernatural Power, one can even open up a world-like cave heaven.

According to the Heavenly Book's annotations, this art is a spatial Supernatural Power similar to "Universe in the Sleeve," capable of using Dharma Power to open up a mustard seed space that can contain Mount Sumeru. At a profound level of cultivation, one can contain seas and rivers within a square inch, or even open up a portable cave heaven that forms a world of its own!

Not to mention the realm of immortals and gods capable of opening up a world-like cave heaven.

Even the most basic storage function of containing Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed was a technique Lu Yuan had to master.

It was precisely because he was in a relatively low-level world; otherwise, as a cultivator, not having a basic necessity or function like a Storage Bag would make it embarrassing to greet anyone.

And so, with a slight movement of his mind.

The Heavenly Book in his mind bloomed with boundless light, and information regarding this profound technique surged into his mind.

The information was mysterious and unfathomable; even with the Heavenly Book's empowerment, it took Lu Yuan a full while to digest and roughly comprehend the art.

At the elementary stage, 【Pot Heaven】 can contain Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed depending on the practitioner's Dharma Power and cultivation, though it requires an object to serve as a vessel.

After comprehending it, he rose eagerly and came to the table, lined up several teacups, then formed hand seals and chanted softly:

"Sumeru contained in a mustard, obey the order with haste!"

Hum!

As he reached out and pointed, a clear light of Dharma Power bloomed from his hand and landed on a teacup, and then—

Crack!

The teacup shattered abruptly, signifying that his first attempt had failed.

It was perfectly normal for his first attempt at casting 【Pot Heaven】 to fail just after comprehending it. Lu Yuan calmed his mind slightly, then chanted and formed seals again, clear light blooming from his fingertip as he pointed at another intact teacup.

Hum.

This time, as the clear radiance of Dharma Power enveloped it, the palm-sized teacup merely trembled rapidly and did not shatter.

Did it work?

Lu Yuan picked it up with slight excitement and looked into the cup, only to find that its interior seemed unchanged.

But as the angle of the light shifted, the inside of the cup gave one a faint sense of visual distortion and surrealism.

He immediately grabbed the teapot nearby and poured it into the enchanted cup.

The result.

The water poured from the spout, but as it fell into the cup, it was as if it had entered a bottomless pit; not a trace of the tea could be seen. Furthermore, even after the teapot—which was full enough to pour over a dozen cups—was completely emptied, the teacup showed no signs of being filled!

"Interesting, interesting."

Lu Yuan felt as if he had just invented a new toy. After picking up the cup again and finding that its weight seemed unchanged, he raised the cup to drink.

Gulp, gulp.

A large amount of tea surged in. He drank for a while before finishing the entire pot of tea contained within the tiny cup. He then reached his hand directly into the teacup and discovered that the tiny mouth of the cup was eerily capable of accommodating his entire arm; the space inside the teacup seemed to have been expanded dozens of times over!

He sensed it slightly and pondered:

"The space inside is about four or five feet square, but I only used less than one-fifth of my Dharma Power to cast this art. If I master Pot Heaven more proficiently and output more Dharma Power, I should be able to open up a larger space."

"Additionally, at this stage, the mustard seed space opened up seems to only be able to contain inanimate objects. To contain living things, one must at least reach a more profound level of the art."

"But even so, this art can exert unimaginably huge utility!"

The more Lu Yuan thought about it, the more tempted he became.

A space four or five feet square was enough to store many things; whether it was blades, weapons, gold, silver, treasures, or his pill furnace, all could be placed inside and carried with him, which was incredibly convenient.

However, the Pot Heaven Art was not just a storage technique that brought great convenience; if utilized well, it was also a destructive art with immense lethality.

To put it simply, if he were to carry a large amount of gunpowder and explosives using the "Sumeru contained in a mustard" effect, and coordinate it with Earth Travel and Invisibility techniques, the destruction and lethality caused to any expert or faction would be unimaginable!

"But there is still one problem, and that is the duration for which this Pot Heaven Art can be maintained..."

Speak of the devil.

Just as Lu Yuan thought of this, there was a *crack* sound, the teacup shattered abruptly, and his entire arm that had been inserted inside was suddenly revealed in thin air.

Regarding this situation, he was not surprised; instead, he raised an eyebrow:

"Still not enough Dharma Power..."

After all, he had just mastered the Pot Heaven Art, and he hadn't poured much Dharma Power into it when casting, so the duration of the "Sumeru contained in a mustard" effect was relatively short.

To extend the duration, one way was naturally diligent practice, and the second was to further improve his cultivation and Dharma Power; otherwise, it would be difficult to fully exert the effect of this art.

Once he thought of this.

He immediately collected his thoughts and began practicing again.

Time flew like a shuttle.

In the time that followed, Lu Yuan, who had basically abandoned the Qingyike persona, lived a life that became incredibly peaceful, fulfilling, and regular.

During the day, he would spend half the day practicing martial arts to temper his physique, while also practicing 【Sword Technique】; the remaining half of the day was spent in his room practicing the Pot Heaven Art.

He prepared many leather pouches to serve as vessels for the Pot Heaven Art, and with his daily diligent practice, he soon mastered this Earthly Fiend Art. Both the size of the mustard seed space opened by his Dharma Power and the duration the mustard seed space could be maintained were steadily improving bit by bit.

First was the size of the mustard seed space; the initial four or five feet soon increased to six feet, and at his limit, he could even reach nearly a zhang, though the maintenance time was extremely short.

And if it were a normal five or six-foot space, the maintenance time also increased from less than one stick of incense to over two hours.

Of course, to maintain it for such a long time, he had to consume at least half of his Dharma Power when casting the Pot Heaven Art. If he reduced the size of the mustard seed space and disregarded the consumption of Dharma Power entirely, he could even keep the Pot Heaven effect maintained for four or five hours, almost half a day!

And after four or five hours, if the Pot Heaven Art was not cast in time to maintain it, the vessel would collapse, and the items stored inside would spill out.

But this was only the result of Lu Yuan's research of less than a month; there was still huge room for improvement.

And besides the Pot Heaven Art.

His great undertaking of alchemy had not fallen behind either. As he went to the secret base to fire up the furnace every night when it was quiet, his mastery of the 【Stone Boiling】 art progressed in tandem, and his success rate improved rapidly, gradually breaking through eighty percent.

During this period, he even attempted the re-refining method, which was twice as difficult, and after ruining two batches of materials in a row, he finally succeeded once!

Once the furnace was opened after this re-refining, Lu Yuan harvested a full three Bait Stone Pills at once.

Although the medicinal power refined at such a great cost was no different from that refined alone, it was still a tremendous improvement.

After all, if he could fully master the re-refining process, he would only need to fire up the furnace three or four times a month to satisfy his cultivation needs, saving a vast amount of time that could be used for cultivation.

Just like that.

With the powerful Bait Stone Pill assisting his cultivation, although Lu Yuan still had to devote a significant amount of energy to other matters, his progress in Immortal Dao cultivation was not slow but fast; in just one month, he surged by twelve strands of True Qi, causing the Dharma Power within his body to break through the thirty-strand mark.

The rapid growth of his cultivation base was gratifying and addictive, and it also directly meant that the might and efficacy of the vast majority of his Earthly Fiend Arts rose accordingly.

Take 【Generating Light】, with which he had established many battle merits, for example; originally, the golden lightning he emitted needed to be within twenty paces to pierce metal and crack stone, exerting its maximum power.

But now, this maximum effective distance had surged by more than fifty percent, and even at a distance of thirty paces, it could pierce through an iron plate one finger thick!

There were also Invisibility, Earth Travel, and Medicine; the duration and number of usable times for all these Earthly Fiend Arts had increased significantly.

And even though Lu Yuan was biding his time, his progress was flying.

During this period, he did not forget to keep an eye on the outside world.

The turmoil brought about by the more than forty victims who had met with foul play, plus the assassination of Commandant Suo Helie of the Jingwu Division, had not ceased in Fengyang Prefecture; instead, it showed a trend of intensifying.

Less than half a month after the news spread, not only was the Governor of Yuan Province greatly shocked upon hearing the news, but he also dispatched an Inspector to lead a team of elite soldiers to Fengyang Prefecture in person to hold them accountable;

The General Headquarters of the Jingwu Division, far away in Tianjing, was also greatly stirred and enraged, directly dispatching a veteran Commander whose Martial Arts had reached the Sixth Realm level, leading many elites to rush to Fengyang Prefecture in person to temporarily take over the post of Commandant, investigate and handle the case, and simultaneously issue a wanted notice to hunt down Qingyike.

The Sixth Realm of Martial Arts is the Embrace Dan Realm.

When a martial artist has finished tempering their tendons, bones, skin, membranes, internal organs, and even marrow and blood, the body's Qi, blood, and spirit are condensed into a single point in the dantian; this is the Embrace Dan.

At this realm, one can control their own Qi, blood, tendons, bones, and muscles at will; every gesture can unleash a terrifying force of over ten thousand jin, and throwing an elephant with one hand or crushing iron into mud is nothing difficult.

This level can already be called a Martial Arts Master; when wearing armor, they have the ability to fight hundreds of elites, and without high-level experts or terrain to contain them, it is difficult for even large numbers of Firearm soldiers to do anything to them. They are extremely rare in the entire Great Jin, and are powerful figures second only to a Grandmaster.

Sending such a figure shows the rage and importance attached to it by the Grandmaster in the Capital of the Jingwu Division.

However.

Although the lineup sent by the Jin Dynasty was powerful, whether it was the Inspector sent by the Governor or the Commander of the Jingwu Division, after coming to Fengyang Prefecture and investigating, laying traps, and baiting for over a month, they all ended up doing useless work.

This was not only because Lu Yuan was biding his time and no longer acting in the name of Qingyike, but also because of Li Zhenguang, who had completely become his inside man and eyes and ears.

Upon hearing that these two groups of people had arrived in Fengyang Prefecture, he paid a late-night visit and easily learned all the circumstances from Li Zhenguang's mouth.

The investigation direction of the Governor's Inspector and others, the name and appearance of the Commander temporarily acting as Commandant of the Jingwu Division, and even the subordinates under his command, etc., etc., were all crystal clear.

After understanding this, Lu Yuan let it be and ignored it.

Of course, this visit of his also made Li Zhenguang even more fearful, and he did not dare to have any thoughts of informing or leaking information at all.

After all, with the various strange and terrifying means displayed by Qingyike, he seriously doubted that even this Sixth Realm Commander sent by the General Headquarters would be an opponent.

For the sake of his own life, he simply lay flat and slacked off, turning a deaf ear to matters outside the window, and dragged his feet in all kinds of investigations, layouts, and baiting, seeking to get through this turmoil as quickly as possible.

On the other side, Lu Yuan was actually not worried at all that Li Zhenguang would leak anything.

After all, from the moment he put on the mask of Qingyike, he had never revealed his tracks or left any survivors; it was only after killing Chen Chuanying at the end that he had revealed his form in front of Li Zhenguang.

But just a form—let alone that Li Zhenguang would not dare to reveal it, even if he did, unless an immortal were alive and could calculate the future, who could find him?

Just like that.

Time flew like an arrow, time passed, winter went, spring passed, and summer arrived.

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed.

Qingyike had completely vanished, and the Sixth Realm Commander from the Jingwu Division General Headquarters was equally helpless; the so-called investigation had long since been left unsettled.

Of course, the temporary Commandant claimed to the outside world that Qingyike was cowed by the imperial court's rage and had long since fled in terror.

Having not heard of any deeds of Qingyike acting for a full half-year, the thousands of commoners had to believe this statement, inevitably feeling disappointed;

As for those landlords and powerful families in the city who had previously fled, upon learning the news, they celebrated as if they had been promoted, almost weeping with joy.

The vast majority of these people returned to Fengyang Prefecture, and they jointly hosted a banquet for that temporary Commandant to show their gratitude, as if they themselves had achieved victory.

The return of these people, plus the fact that other landlords, powerful families, and corrupt officials who had previously kept their tails between their legs felt a heavy weight lifted from their hearts, led to various phenomena of doing evil and bullying the market emerging again. The entire Fengyang Prefecture, which had been thoroughly purged because of the name of Qingyike, seemed to have become foul and murky once more.

Regarding this, Lu Yuan only watched with cold eyes.

He had long anticipated this situation.

He understood that the world under the rule of the Jin Dynasty had completely rotted and decayed; unless it was completely overthrown and rebuilt, no matter how many people were killed, it would only be a constant repetition of this process.

Whether it was Qingyike or a White-Clothed Guest, neither could change this point.

And this morning, in his own room.

The light of Heaven had just dawned, and the room was still dim; Lu Yuan sat cross-legged on the bed, like a sculpture.

One could see that his whole body was faintly suffused with spiritual light, setting off his skin as if it were made of jade, like a banished immortal from Heaven, unstained by a speck of dust.

Hum.

Then, with a sudden light vibration, the nimble aura on his body suddenly boiled; he slowly opened his eyes, joy appearing in them:

"The ninety-sixth strand of True Qi, it is done..."

After half a year.

With the help of the Bait Stone Pill, he had advanced by leaps and bounds with the astonishing efficiency of condensing twelve or thirteen strands of Dharma Power per month, and now he was about to break through to the goal of one hundred strands of Dharma Power he had set for himself.

Of course, in the major stage of Refining Essence into Qi, there was not much difference between ninety-six and one hundred strands of Dharma Power, but compared to himself half a year ago, it could be called a vast sea of Dharma Power, a difference between clouds and mud!

Thinking of this, Lu Yuan exhaled a breath and communicated with the Heavenly Book:

【Supernatural Power Master】: Lu Yuan

【Mastered Arts】:

Earthly Fiend-Ingestion (Proficiency: 67%); Earthly Fiend-Guidance (Proficiency: 56%); Earthly Fiend-Invisibility (Proficiency: 15%);

Earthly Fiend-Sending Staff (Proficiency: 10%); Earthly Fiend-Medicine (Proficiency: 29%); Earthly Fiend-Earth Travel (Proficiency: 13%);

Earthly Fiend-Generating Light (Proficiency: 22%); Earthly Fiend-Sword Art (Proficiency: 24%); Earth Fiend-Stone Boiling (Proficiency: 18%);

Earthly Fiend-Pot Heaven (Proficiency: 17%)

【Luck Power】: 183 units

(End of chapter)