Chapter 14: Tai Yuan Emerges

The 'Tai Yuan Auxiliary System' had actually activated at this moment!

But what on earth were this automatic protection mechanism and overclocking synchronization mode? When he was taking classes at the Blue Star base, no one told him there was this function!

And what about the dodging just now? It wasn't him making that move at all, and the pain in his shoulder and arm seemed to have disappeared inexplicably.

At this moment, his consciousness was very clear, yet he had lost control and sensation of his body, as if another "himself" was controlling his limbs, just like the situation when he first entered the dream otherworld.

"... Host's self-defense weapon detection in progress... One low-grade steel long saber, 4 feet 3 inches long... Long saber usage technique search in progress... No relevant techniques found in host... Blue Star Martial Arts Alliance Grand Armory discovered... Armory incomplete... 17th edition practical weapon killing technique 'Blade Drawing Art' discovered, meets host's current conditions... Blade Drawing Art technique loading..."

Wang Yu listened to the series of subsequent sounds in his mind, feeling somewhat dazed. But before he could think further, his body had already inserted the long saber into the left side of his waist, his right hand gripping the hilt, his left hand pressing on the back of the blade. He walked toward the young man in white opposite him with large strides, walking faster and faster until he finally broke into a jog.

"A bit strange."

Seeing Wang Yu, who had clearly been half-dead a moment ago, suddenly become lively and charge over with such imposing momentum, the young man in white's expression turned to surprise. After a mutter, he began to chant, and a strange pattern in the center of the fan in his hand began to glow with white light, becoming brighter and brighter. Just at this moment, 'Wang Yu' had already charged to within two zhang.

"Swift!"

The young man in white shouted, and the silver folding fan in his hand was swung fiercely toward 'Wang Yu'.

"Whoosh!"

A gust of yellowish gale surged out from the silver fan, engulfing 'Wang Yu'. Within a radius of several zhang, sand and stones flew instantly, making it impossible to open one's eyes to look directly.

The young man in white patted his waist with his other hand, drawing a gleaming silver thin sword, three feet long and as slender as a rope. With a flick of his wrist, dense sword shadows emerged, covering the figure looming in the wind.

Wang Yu's mind echoed with the wooden mechanical voice:

"... 17th edition 'Blade Drawing Art' has a total of 125 blade-drawing angles, the 54th is the best choice, probability of wounding the enemy in one move: 89.5%, probability of self-injury: 100%... Adrenaline doubled, duration 3 seconds, legs beginning to store power, power storage magnitude 85%, right-hand strength limit burst, burst magnitude 120%..."

"Slash!"

An emotionless voice came from the wind. A figure vaguely leaped up, and a bright white light suddenly lit up in the gale. After a flash, the dense sword shadows dissipated like foam, and 'Wang Yu' appeared ghost-like behind the young man in white.

"Impossible, you..."

The young man in white was full of disbelief. He suddenly threw away the fan and silver sword in his hands, clutching his throat tightly with both hands. But a moment later, a blood line appeared at his neck, his head rolled down, and his headless body swayed before falling into a pool of blood.

'Wang Yu' stood straight in place. The long saber that had been inserted at his waist was pulled out at some unknown time, held in a reverse grip with the blade facing up. The five fingers gripping the hilt were torn and bleeding from the excessive force used earlier, and there were three or four shallow, slender wounds on his chest.

"... Crisis resolved... Adrenaline returning to normal, heart rate returning to normal, neural blocking lifted... Host advised to seek treatment as soon as possible... Overclocking synchronization mode lifted... System self-protection mechanism lifting... Drip... Drip... Insufficient energy... System automatically entering sleep state..."

Wang Yu's legs went soft, and he sat on the ground. Only then did he realize he had regained control of his body, but the wounds all over his body began to ache with a burning pain again. His head became unusually heavy, his thoughts slowed down, and even thinking became very difficult—clearly the signs of excessive mental exhaustion that Master Chongyun had spoken of, nearing depletion.

He rested in place for a good while before he could barely recover his ability to move. Too preoccupied to think of anything else, he first forced himself to muster some spirit to stab the corpses of the several masked men a few more times to ensure they were truly dead. Only then did he cut several clean strips of cloth from their bodies and hurriedly bandaged the wounds on his body and fingers; otherwise, if he continued to lose blood, his life would truly be in jeopardy.

Only then did he have time to rummage through the items on the enemies' corpses.

As it turned out, he only found a few taels of broken silver and some copper coins on the four masked men's corpses, with nothing else of value.

When he went to search the headless body of the young man in white, he had quite a harvest. Besides finding two golden little ingots, he also found three identical yellow talismans and a piece of close-fitting soft armor.

The yellow talismans had identical patterns drawn on their surfaces. They looked simple, but after a careful look, he felt dizzy. He knew they must be items of a cultivator, so he naturally put them away.

As for the soft armor, it was a simple ring armor made of many yellow metal rings connected by silver threads.

He slashed the soft armor hard with the long saber in his hand, but the long saber bounced off, leaving only a shallow mark where it was slashed.

Wang Yu knew it was a good item and immediately wore the soft armor inside his underwear. At the same time, he secretly rejoiced that when his body was controlled earlier, it had slashed the young man in white's neck; otherwise, if it had been any other part of the body, it might not have been able to kill the enemy in one strike.

Next, he picked up the silver folding fan and the thin sword.

The edges of the silver fan were unusually sharp, and there was a bumpy, strange pattern on the surface of the fan. The thin sword was only as thick as a finger but unusually tough and elastic; even if bent into a ring, it would become straight again as soon as he let go.

He discovered that the young man in white's belt was made of leather, with a flat gap in the middle, just right for inserting the thin sword.

Wang Yu tore the belt off the corpse, inserted the thin sword into it, and wrapped it around his waist. The tip and hilt of the sword were just right to be buckled together, and from the outside, there was no sign of anything unusual.

The silver folding fan had been able to fan out a gale earlier; it was so magical that it must be the cultivator's magic tool that Master Chongyun had mentioned. It was of even greater value, so he carefully tucked it into his bosom as well.

Afterward, Wang Yu did not dare to linger any longer, nor did he dare to return to the Daoist temple. Carrying the long saber, he jogged down the mountain, intending to find a safe place to hide for a period of time. Anyway, once the time was up, his consciousness would be able to return to Blue Star.

But just as he ran to the foot of the mountain in one breath and was considering where to go, a sound of breaking through the air came from the sky, and a Daoist descended directly from the sky, landing steadily in front of him.

"Master, you're okay, that's great!"

Wang Yu looked closely and said with great joy.

The person who landed was Master Chongyun, only his originally clean Daoist robe was mostly scorched black, there was a large patch of clotted blood on his chest, and his face was unusually pale, but there were wisps of white clouds circling around his body, looking very magical.

"If you have anything to say, let's talk after leaving here. Master used a 'Dancing Sky Talisman' to find you so quickly. Hold onto Master's arm." Master Chongyun didn't say much, grabbed Wang Yu by the collar of his chest, and after chanting, the white clouds on his body rotated, and he soared into the sky again.

Wang Yu was shocked, threw away the long saber in his hand, and held onto the Daoist's arm tightly with both hands. After the two were seven or eight zhang off the ground, they broke through the air in a certain direction.

Even though the Daoist's body blocked the front, he still felt the gale whistling in his ears, and the speed was quite astonishing.

"Mas... Master, Dongyue and I ran in... separate directions, he should be nearby too." Wang Yu suddenly remembered something and, resisting the gale blowing into his mouth, said intermittently.

"Dongyue is just an ordinary person, and his family has some background in Huang Shi City, so he will be fine." Master Chongyun replied calmly.

Hearing this, Wang Yu felt relieved and said no more.

After flying for a full two hours, when the white clouds on the Daoist's body were almost invisible, the two landed on a small hill near a town.

The Daoist took Wang Yu directly to a cliff face. After feeling around on the surface of the cliff for a moment, a rumbling sound came, and the cliff slowly cracked open, revealing a cave entrance that could accommodate people.

Wang Yu followed the Daoist inside in surprise. Not long after, the cliff wall recovered as before, and there was no sign of anything unusual from the outside.

After walking through a dim passage ten steps long, there was a huge natural stone grotto. There were several small holes at the top, and faint white light shone in. In the center of the grotto floor, there was a bronze tripod half a person high, and a thick smell of oil came out.

Just as Wang Yu was wondering what the bronze tripod was for, the Daoist had already walked to the side of the tripod, reached out and took out something like a fire starter, flicked it in the wind, and after it self-ignited, threw it directly into the tripod.

"Whoosh!"

The fire in the bronze tripod soared into the sky, and a raging fire rose, instantly illuminating the entire grotto as bright as day.

Only then did Wang Yu discover that there was an adult-sized relief carved on the walls in the four directions of the grotto.

This is...

Wang Yu subconsciously leaned over to take a look. The four reliefs were carved with patterns of a wolf, a tiger, a bear, and an ape, each with different movements, lifelike, as if they were living things.

"This place was not built by me, but a secret place I discovered by accident. When I discovered it, these four beast pictures were already here. These pictures are quite magical and should contain some kind of cultivation technique. The original owner should also be a cultivator, but unfortunately, I have studied it for a long time and gained nothing. I only saw that one should start practicing from that wolf-running picture. If you have time, you can try to comprehend it. In addition, I have hidden some dry rations here, enough to eat for a period of time. There is also a small stream not far outside, where you can take some water to drink. In this way, we don't have to leave this place for a while." Master Chongyun said calmly to Wang Yu, then rummaged out a large bag of hard dry rations from a corner of the grotto, but before he could open it, he "wow" opened his mouth and spat out a large mass of filthy blood onto the ground, the blood containing black silk, and the fishy smell was pungent.

"Master, you are injured." Wang Yu was shocked and hurriedly walked over to support the Daoist.

"Master was poisoned when I went out this time. Although I took medicine to suppress the toxicity at the time, I was besieged by many strong enemies together. Not only was Qiuye implicated and killed, but I am also at the end of my rope and probably won't live long." As soon as Master Chongyun opened his mouth, Wang Yu felt cold in his heart and hurriedly asked:

"Master, your cultivation technique is profound and you know magic, is there no way to save yourself?"

"There are ways, of course, but unless a master above Foundation Establishment takes action or there is a legendary spiritual pill, it is already a fluke that I have persisted until now." The Daoist shook his head, pushed Wang Yu away, walked shakily to another corner of the grotto, and tapped the ground lightly with his toe.

With a "Bang!" sound, dust flew, and a small pit appeared on the ground.

The Daoist bent down and fished out a package from inside, opening it on the spot. Inside were four things: a thick black-skinned book, a rectangular iron box, a bright green gourd, and a white jade pendant. ===== CHAPTER 15 =====