Chapter 42: Searching for the Ancient Tomb

After Su Fan left, he traveled another ten miles before turning again, heading rapidly in the direction of Zhongnan Mountain. Returning this time, he could just as well visit the Ancient Tomb Ruins to see if he could find anything, provided he could truly locate the Chongyang Inscription.

For him, this was no small supplement, and for the Huashan Sect, it was also a fine addition; the martial arts "Tendon Changing and Bone Forging Chapter" from the Chongyang Inscription was comparable to the Primordial Skill, and even possessed some characteristics that surpassed it.

For the Huashan Sect, this was a good thing that would increase their foundation.

Why has Shaolin been able to endure for a thousand years? Besides having the Imperial Court as a backer, it is also because of their incomparably profound martial arts foundation.

Their martial arts are so numerous that even after experiencing several destructions, a portion of their martial arts still remains, allowing them to recover quickly.

In this regard, the Huashan Sect cannot compare no matter what.

A few days later, Su Fan finally groped his way to the ruins of the Quanzhen Sect. Looking at the gray, dilapidated ruins of the Quanzhen Sect, with its broken walls and crumbling remains, Su Fan sighed; the erosion of time is the most formidable weapon.

Shaking his head, he cast away the emotions in his heart; the most important thing now was to find the Ancient Tomb Ruins, as that was the priority.

It has been over a hundred years since the Ancient Tomb Sect existed, and he did not know if there were still any successors.

It was a pity that the Huashan Sect had no records of the Ancient Tomb Sect; otherwise, he would not have had to go through such hardship.

Thus, he could only search in the back mountains of the Quanzhen Sect. The back mountains of the Quanzhen Sect were too vast, and with the vicissitudes of time, if no one lived there, it would certainly be difficult to find; Su Fan was mentally prepared for this.

However, this search took a full half-month before Su Fan finally discovered the ruins of the Ancient Tomb, and it was even the main entrance, though unfortunately, it was sealed by the Duanlong Stone, making it impossible to enter.

Therefore, Su Fan could only transform into a little bee once more, laboriously searching for that underground river.

This method was even more arduous, but he still managed to find it; although the original underground river had dried up somewhat, it did not prevent him from finding the secret chamber.

Naturally, he also discovered the Chongyang Inscription; the martial arts carved on the stone walls inside were, unfortunately, partially blurred due to dampness and erosion.

But even so, it could be considered a bumper harvest. In terms of Internal Energy manuals, there was half of the Nine Yin Manual. In Su Fan's estimation, its profundity absolutely surpassed the Primordial Skill, and it was not even a whit inferior to the Zixia Divine Skill.

This Qi-nurturing and Qi-refining method contained the mysteries of Taoist health cultivation, and the Tendon Changing and Bone Forging Chapter was the definitive work on cultivating tendons and bones.

This method alone surpassed all the martial arts of the Huashan Sect; although it was considered auxiliary, in the future, it could increase the combat power of Huashan Sect disciples by thirty percent.

One could imagine that the Sanskrit general outline was likely even more remarkable, perhaps concerning the cultivation of the Innate realm.

It was a bit of a pity, but Su Fan did not dwell on it too much.

Instead, he continued to record the martial arts below, such as the lightness skill "Spiral Nine Shadows," "Horizontal Space Shift," and the auxiliary Healing Chapter, Dianxue Chapter, Shoujin Suogu Method, Soul Moving Great Method, and the Breath Holding Secret Technique.

Of course, there was also a set of Great Demon Subduing Fist, which was not at all inferior to the Huashan Sect's Broken Jade Fist.

This half-manual of martial arts alone could serve as the foundation for a sect.

It must be said that the Nine Yin Manual is worthy of being one of the treasures of Taoism; in terms of breadth alone, few can compare to it.

Huang Shang is also worthy of being a martial arts Grandmaster second only to Zhang Sanfeng.

Regarding the merit of creating the Nine Yin Manual alone, there are few in the entire Jin-style martial arts world who can compare to him.

One word: powerful.

Of course, Su Fan also yearned for Sanfeng Zhenren even more; after all, Zhang Sanfeng was still above him.

His Taiji Dao was likely even more mysterious and profound, but unfortunately, he could not get a glimpse of it.

"However, the manuscripts for the Taiji Fist were snatched away by the Sun Moon Holy Cult. Will there be an opportunity in the future? Those are the manuscripts of a Grandmaster; the cultivation insights within are absolutely precious beyond measure."

Su Fan knew that the Demonic Cult snatching the Wudang manuscripts was certainly to break through to the Innate realm; after all, that person was the only expert at the end of the Yuan Dynasty to break through to the Innate realm.

As for the others, they were all a bit lacking; even Cult Leader Zhang, who had mastered the Nine Yang Divine Skill, might have been a few points short, though perhaps he broke through later.

But he lived in seclusion, so who knows? On the surface, there was only Sanfeng Zhenren.

However, all of this had nothing to do with Su Fan for the time being; right now, not to mention him, even the Huashan Sect did not have the ability to clash with the Demonic Cult.

Unless they waited for the Sword Saint Feng Qingyang to rise. If one asked who was the most formidable in the Huashan Sect, it was naturally Feng Qingyang, who practiced the Dugu Nine Swords. As long as he broke through to the Top-tier, his Sword Bone combined with the Dugu Nine Swords would allow him to hold off Dugu Sheng, even if he could not defeat him.

Moreover, as he practiced the Huashan Sect's Internal Energy manual, his internal energy was continuous and endless, so he would not fear being exhausted to death.

In the future, as long as one more person breaks through to the Top-tier, then the Huashan Sect, united with the Five Mountains, would not even need to fear Shaolin.

This might require twenty or thirty years of accumulation, and that is assuming the Sword-Qi Conflict does not occur.

Of course, Su Fan believed that with Fang Ye captured, it would not be too difficult for Ning Qingyu to catch the traitor, given his ability.

After all, there were only so many people; by slowly weeding them out, the traitor could eventually be found.

When that time comes, the Sword-Qi Conflict will be very difficult to trigger.

The decline of the Huashan Sect would also be hard to cause, unless another righteous-demonic war occurred. However, the Huashan Sect had already experienced two righteous-demonic wars and had not declined; instead, it had become even more prosperous.

This allowed Su Fan to develop in Liaodong with more peace of mind, and he even began to provide some support to the other branches.

A few days later, Su Fan, disguised as a beggar, left Zhongnan Mountain. This trip to Zhongnan Mountain was indeed very fruitful, and he was very happy.

It was practically like being a protagonist; although it consumed a month of time, Su Fan could accept it.

On the return journey, everything was peaceful, and a few days later, he finally returned to the familiar Qipan Mountain.

Here, he felt as if he had returned home.

With Su Fan's return, everyone in the branch felt as if they had found their backbone.

Yet he did not know that because of him, certain forces in the Jianghu had fallen into a state of undercurrents.

Fang Ye was, after all, a high-level martial monk of Shaolin's next-generation Arhat Hall, and even had the opportunity to compete for the position of Head of the Arhat Hall.

The fact that he suddenly disappeared like this could not help but shock Shaolin, especially since the other party was still executing some of Shaolin's secret missions.

Therefore, while Su Fan was running to Zhongnan Mountain, Shaolin once again took some secret actions, constantly provoking the Huashan Sect.

They even went so far as to sacrifice several forces they had planted in the Shaanxi region, but unfortunately, they were all ignored by the Huashan Sect.

No matter how they provoked, the Huashan Sect responded to all changes with constancy. As a result, Shaolin was left somewhat confused, not knowing what the Huashan Sect's plans were, or whether Fang Ye's disappearance had anything to do with the Huashan Sect.

Of course, Su Fan did not know any of this. When he returned to Liaodong, it seemed that because of the Huashan Sect's silence, Shaolin did not dare to go too far.

Moreover, with the emergence of Dugu Sheng of the Demonic Cult, a great stir was caused in the Jianghu.