Chapter 690: Twenty-Three Year Cicada, The Academy

South of Chang'an, beneath a great mountain, there is an Academy.

It is that very place which has weathered a thousand years of storms, has never had a name, is older than the history of the Tang Empire, has cultivated countless sages and famous ministers for the Tang and the lands under heaven, and is an Academy that is not considered mysterious yet is nearly sacred.

Under the illumination of the morning sun's clear and beautiful light, the foot of the mountain is a vast, gently sloping area composed of lush green meadows and hills; the green grass undulates like sea waves, and among the grass, more than a dozen complex, intersecting paths appear and disappear, with a few flowering trees planted at intervals along the paths, and in the center of the meadow, the flowering trees are even more clustered, with white and pink peach blossoms and apricot blossoms, as if a master of calligraphy and painting had casually brushed them across the hillside, appearing extremely beautiful.

"The Academy..."

A black figure had already stepped into the Academy.

There are many students in the Academy, as well as instructors from various countries, among whom there is no lack of top-tier practitioners, and even existences on the level of Divine Talisman Masters, but no one noticed this figure, allowing them to walk freely through the Academy.

Yu Liancheng walked along the mountain path and finally arrived in front of a three-story old wooden building amidst the green forest at the foot of the mountain.

This three-story wooden building was built against the mountain, its exterior ordinary and plain, without upturned eaves or ornate decorations. The wooden building showed traces left by years of wind and rain, and it is unknown how many years it had stood quietly in the depths of the Academy. And above the wooden building hung a plaque that read "Old Book Building," quite casually.

The second floor of the Old Book Building.

By the bright desk near the window sat a middle-aged woman wearing a professor's robe, her demeanor quiet and refined, her appearance extremely beautiful, as she was concentrating on practicing her small regular script calligraphy on the desk.

Suddenly, the middle-aged woman raised her delicate eyebrows, looked up at Yu Liancheng, who was slowly walking up from the first floor, and suddenly covered her mouth and smiled, quiet and skillful, saying softly: "Is Mister Yu here to find the Fuzi? The Fuzi is right here on the second floor; he has been waiting for you for several days."

Yu Liancheng first nodded slightly, then shook his head.

The quiet woman frowned slightly and said: "What does Mister mean by this? Yu Lian does not understand."

"I am indeed here to find the Fuzi, but I am not only here to find the Fuzi. I am actually also quite interested in you, or more accurately, in your cultivation technique."

Yu Liancheng smiled slightly and said: "The Sha Scroll and the collection in this Old Book Building cover almost all the cultivation techniques in the world, but they do not include the 'Twenty-Three Year Cicada' practiced by the Sect Leader. I have long heard that the Sect Leader is free-spirited and transcendent, a person of the Dao, so I trust you will not make me return in vain."

"Twenty-Three Year Cicada!" The quiet woman lowered her head, her tone gradually becoming low: "Mister Yu truly knows quite a lot; I never expected that besides the Fuzi, there would be someone else in the world who knows my true identity."

The Twenty-Three Year Cicada is the most bizarre and difficult technique to cultivate in the Demon Sect; since the founding of the Demon Sect, almost no one has been able to master it.

The Twenty-Three Year Cicada also represents a person, the most mysterious Demon Sect Leader in the world, because he is the one who practiced this strange and bizarre technique.

Back then, when the Demon Sect's mountain gate was destroyed by Ke Haoran, this force that had once stirred up blood and storms in the world had already withered, but no one dared to underestimate this Demon Sect Leader.

This Demon Sect Leader had not walked the world for a long time; some said he had suffered a cultivation deviation from practicing the Twenty-Three Year Cicada and had long since turned into a pile of white bones, but others said this generation's Demon Sect Leader was hiding somewhere in the world, coldly watching the storms of the world, and might appear at any time to stir up wind and rain once again.

But no one could have imagined.

The Demon Sect Leader was hiding in the Academy.

And had become the Fuzi's third disciple.

And had been practicing small regular script calligraphy in the Old Book Building for who knows how many years.

"I also found out by chance; the Sect Leader need not mind."

Yu Liancheng said calmly: "Back to the main topic, the Twenty-Three Year Cicada is one of the most incredible techniques in the world, and I will not borrow it for nothing; I can exchange it for another Demon Sect technique, and I will certainly not let Third Mister suffer a loss."

The former Demon Sect Leader Lin Wu, now the Academy's Third Mister Yu Lian, suddenly revealed a hint of a crafty smile: "As a guest of the Fuzi, a mere 'Twenty-Three Year Cicada' is nothing worth mentioning. It is just that this technique is too obscure and profound, requiring at least twenty-three years to reach great success. This junior has a method that can help Mister Yu quickly grasp the mysteries of the Twenty-Three Year Cicada."

"Oh? Could it be to personally place myself within the Cicada Wing Barrier?" Yu Liancheng raised an eyebrow and said.

"Mister is indeed wise beyond measure."

Yu Lian covered her mouth and smiled, her beautiful face flushing, more stunning and moving than the vast majority of women in the world.

And when these words fell, a sharp and shrill cicada cry suddenly rang out on the quiet second floor of the Old Book Building.

The Academy is spring all year round, and there is no real autumn. But it is still early spring, so how could there be cicada cries?

The moment the cicada cry sounded, Yu Lian's aura also began to change; originally she was a gentle and mature woman who had seen all the affairs of the world, but at this moment the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes faded, transforming into a young girl with a delicate appearance, and her figure also became petite. More importantly, her realm was rising; originally only at the Cave Profound Realm middle grade, she quickly climbed to the peak of the Cave Profound Realm.

The cicada sounds became increasingly mournful, as if tens or hundreds of autumn cicadas were crying out miserably. Yu Lian's appearance became increasingly young, even to the point of being described as childish, and she broke through the threshold of the Cave Profound Realm with ease, entering the level of the Knowing Destiny Realm. A moment later, her aura had already climbed to... the peak of the Knowing Destiny Realm.

"In the arid lands of the far north, there are cicadas. They hide in the mud for twenty-three years, waiting for the snow mountains to melt and the floods to arrive, only then do they awaken, bathing in the muddy water, drying their wings in the cold wind, and shaking them to fly and break through the void." Yu Lian had completely turned into a little girl of twelve or thirteen, looking extremely cute, with a head of black hair draped down to her thighs.

She stood up, her realm rising again in an incredible manner, having already crossed the Five Realms and reached the level of the Demon Sect's Demon Realm.

Yu Lian picked up the brush still stained with ink and wrote a few small regular script characters in the air; the cicada cries in the void grew louder and louder.

The moment these small regular script characters were written, the entire second floor seemed to have an extra transparent barrier, almost impossible to distinguish with the naked eye, yet it completely isolated the second floor from the outside world.

"Today, encountering Mister Yu is like the snow mountain flood, the first cry of the season."

Whoosh!

On the second floor, it felt as if a gust of wind had blown through.

All the bookshelves in the building began to tremble, and all the books seemed to have come alive.

Every page of a book was a cicada.

The cicada sounds became denser and more shrill, as if tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of cicadas were crying together, emitting a deafening buzzing sound, causing one's heartbeat to resonate with it, accelerating, beating rapidly, as if it were about to jump out of one's chest.

Yu Lian's expression was solemn.

She knew that the person before her was a top-tier existence in the world, perhaps not higher than the Fuzi, but at least several stories higher.

She really wanted to see just how strong this most famous Demon Sect expert of recent years was, and whether he could surpass her, the Demon Sect Leader.

At the same time, Yu Lian was also excited; ever since she became the Fuzi's third disciple, she had not truly fought in a long time.

And now that the Twenty-Three Year Cicada had reached great success, the first opponent being an expert like Yu Liancheng made her ignite with a long-lost fighting spirit.

Yu Liancheng stood on the second floor with his hands behind his back.

He was in the world of cicadas.

"Good, you let me see the Twenty-Three Year Cicada, then I will also let you see this 'Supreme Art of Heaven and Earth'!"

Facing the millions of cicadas, Yu Liancheng stood calmly. An aura that transcended all matter in the human world permeated the air, like an abyss, like the sea.

The technique he had originally intended to use for the exchange was the "Sunflower Manual," also found in "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils: Child Elder of Tianshan."

That was the Sunflower Manual from a high-martial world; once one reached "great success," one could achieve Heavenly Human transformation, and for Yu Lian, who was already a man turned into a woman, it would surely exert even greater power.

However, since the other party was testing him with the "Twenty-Three Year Cicada," he naturally had to strike with the technique he was going to exchange. But he had not practiced the "Sunflower Manual," so he chose the "Supreme Art of Heaven and Earth," which he was only slightly familiar with. This technique could also transform a young woman into a little girl.

On the second floor, the cicada cries became even more mournful.

After the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, a black figure drifted down from the second floor.

After another while, an elderly instructor came up to the second floor to find a book, but was startled by the situation before him.

Rows of bookshelves had fallen, and books were scattered all over the floor, in a state of utter chaos. Most of these books were related to cultivation, and any one of them would be worth a fortune, enough to make countless practitioners outside break their heads over, but now many were damaged, and the instructor felt heartbroken, nearly cursing out loud, while at the same time feeling both shocked and worried in his heart.

Although the Academy is not guarded with a sentry every three steps and a post every five like the Imperial Palace, the strictness of its guards and the number of experts it possesses are by no means comparable to the Imperial Palace. Who on earth could have broken into the Old Book Building and caused such a scene of devastation?

The instructor suddenly seemed to remember something.

He hurried a few steps to look toward the window by the side of the building; the long table was broken, and the female instructor who usually practiced small regular script calligraphy was gone, but a young girl wearing an instructor's robe was sitting slumped on the ground, her face pale, a wisp of blood still spilling from the corner of her mouth, her large eyes dazed and vacant.

"Little girl, little girl, who are you? Where is the instructor who was here?" The elderly instructor hurried toward the young girl.

The young girl finally came to her senses, wiped the wisp of blood from the corner of her mouth, and muttered to herself: "What a Supreme Art of Heaven and Earth; this person's cultivation is, I fear, by no means inferior to the Temple Head. I wonder how the Master will handle this?"

……

On the other side, Yu Liancheng passed through a side alley next to the Old Book Building and arrived before the Back Mountain of the Academy.

He stopped his steps, performed a divination with the Xuanji Dao for a moment, and then strode into the mountain mist, which was so thick one could not see one's own fingers.

After walking no more than a dozen steps and brushing away the last few wisps of thin mist before him, he saw an extremely flat cliff terrace.

On the cliff terrace, there was a small lake like a mirror, wild flowers in full bloom, lush green grass, and towering ancient trees.

There were thousands of types of flowers, among which were Peach Blossom, but they were inconspicuous tucked in between. Under the towering trees, there were more than ten houses of simple design, and cooking smoke was rising in wisps.

Between the cliffs behind the houses, a silver thread poured down, and a rumbling sound was faintly heard; it was actually a waterfall in the far distance, with flying pearls and splashing jade.

This place was the true second floor of the Academy, one of the Four Unknowable Places.

In fact, do not be deceived by how easily Yu Liancheng came up; if it were an ordinary expert, even a powerhouse of the Knowing Destiny Realm, they would have perished in the mountain mist.

"The scenery is not bad, but that fellow Fuzi is truly impolite; with a guest at the door, he does not even come out to welcome them from afar." Yu Liancheng shook his head, and then a mischievous smile hung from the corner of his mouth: "It is said that the twelve students taught by Fuzi all have great talent; today is a good chance to see them." After speaking, he turned into a stream of light and headed toward the Academy.

Consequently, a commotion broke out within the tranquil Academy.

……

Among the tall ancient trees, there were melodious sounds of zithers and flutes in the forest.

The ones playing the flute and zither were two handsome men; they wore modified white spring robes, the sleeves and hems of which were quite wide, and when brushed by the spring breeze, they appeared even more like immortal hermits.

The one playing the flute was the Ninth Student, Beigong Weiyang, and the one playing the zither was the Tenth Student, Ximen Buhuo. Both men were from an Island in the far south and were world-class masters of music.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and Ximen Buhuo felt the zither on his lap disappear; a strange young man in black appeared before them and smiled at them with ease: "The two of you play well, but you are a bit restrained; come and listen to mine."

Having said that, the black-clad young man's hands danced wildly on the zither, his ten fingers flying; a round of zither music rang out, like a mountain collapsing and the sea overturning, like crashing waves against the shore, and there was an indescribable, dashing spirit within it, like a hero of the Edo roaming the world, leaving Beigong Weiyang and Ximen Buhuo listening in a trance.

"This 'Sea-Crossing Laughter' is a gift for you two little friends."

The zither had stopped, the lingering sound still echoing.

The black-clad young man had already disappeared.

……

Under the ancient trees on the cliff terrace, there was a house; outside the house was a waterwheel, inside the house was a furnace, and both inside and outside were filled with white steam. Water droplets falling on the red Iron made a sizzling sound, and the Hammer striking the red Iron made a thumping sound. Inside the house was a naked, brawny man, who was forging with a mixture of roughness and the delicacy of a lover.

This was the Sixth Student of the Academy, who entered the Dao through forging; his casting skills were the best in the world, and his own strength was at the Cave Profound Realm, but when truly fighting, he would by no means lose to an ordinary Knowing Destiny Realm expert.

Suddenly, the Sixth Student felt his hand lighten; the heavy Hammer had been snatched away by someone, and the one who snatched it was a handsome young man.

The black-clad young man smiled slightly: "Apologies, my hands were itching, let me strike a few blows."

Having said that, the Hammer turned into a wildly dancing black lightning, constantly striking the refined Iron. With every swing of the hammer, the power increased compared to the previous one, and impurities were constantly knocked out. After eighty-one strikes, it had turned into a piece of true refined Iron, perfect and flawless, without a single defect.

"This..." The Sixth Student was completely immersed in the hammer technique. After carefully examining the refined Iron, he said in a tone full of reverence: "There is actually such a hammer technique in the world; it is simply unheard of and unseen. May I ask if this hammer technique has a name?"

The black-clad young man thought for a moment, a mischievous smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique."

When these words fell, the black-clad young man disappeared like a gust of wind. Fortunately, the Sixth Student was fully focused on the refined Iron, otherwise, he would certainly have been startled.

And the commotion in the Back Mountain had only just begun.

……