Chapter 191

The Dao Master looked at the young man before him, lifted his gaze slightly, performed a brief calculation, and understood what had happened—yet said nothing, only spoke:

"Come, try it."

He took Li Guanyi to an open field outside the city and ordered the youth to demonstrate his Wu Gong.

Li Guanyi circulated his internal Qi, activated his Yuan Shen, and summoned all his strength; dragon roars and tiger roars echoed at his ears, his hands opened—one upward, one downward—like the turning of all things, as a vast force gathered invisibly.

The Dao Master lifted his gaze slightly and flicked a finger, sending forth a streak of force.

Li Guanyi felt his palm suddenly grow heavy.

As if a massive weight had pressed down, yet he still held it.

The Dao Master nodded; in the air, the force condensed into sharp, refined beams of Qi, like multiple martial artists wielding weapons, unleashing continuous sword and saber slashes that rained down—Li Guanyi grunted, feeling his Great Zai Qian Yuan firmly resisting this onslaught.

His hands churned like a vortex storm.

With his Yuan Shen, he pulled and deflected the incoming Qi beams along an exquisitely subtle path, avoiding self-harm; accumulating thus, he finally reached a level his physical body could no longer contain—he flicked his wrist and hurled that immense force outward.

Boom!!!

The several trees, each as thick as two arms could encircle, and the green stones were obliterated in an instant.

Not merely broken, but reduced directly to fine powder.

A deep crater appeared in the ground.

Li Guanyi gasped for breath.

The Dao Master fell silent, then said softly: "Second Heaven?"

Li Guanyi stared at the ground, scarred as if by a monster's rampage—the large slab of hard green stone had been leveled, the towering trees reduced to stumps, their broken ends torn open by some unnatural force, leaving stark, jagged marks.

The crater's surface was entirely covered in fine, powdery sand.

Li Guanyi gasped again, then affirmed:

"It's Second Heaven!"

"No problem!"

After being swept off his feet by the Dao Master's sleeve, Li Guanyi sat panting, leaning back against the ground, his chest heaving violently, unwilling to rise—this technique was immensely powerful; he suspected it could blast a crater straight through the city wall.

It was nearly as potent as Mo Family's siege machinery.

Both offensive and defensive.

The Dao Master spoke calmly: "You've merely barely learned it."

"You're still far from mastering it completely."

"But even so, it's enough for you to use."

Li Guanyi laughed: "Senior, we still have a long way to Beicheng."

The Dao Master said: "Had it not been for that Miss, your talent for odd arts would have taken ten days to reach this point—ten days' progress achieved in one night. You owe her a proper thanks."

"Of course."

The Dao Master raised his hand; Qi gathered in the air, forming a divination cylinder, and he said casually:

"As before, draw a slip, then choose your next art."

Though divination by slips was merely one method of the Dao sect—not a fixed fate—

Those destined to become Wang Hou or generals often had excellent destiny; yet countless nobles, destroyed in clans or slain on battlefield and court, were as numerous as river silt.

Still, he felt a flicker of curiosity.

Li Guanyi drew a slip.

The Dao Master looked: the thirtieth hexagram.

Li Hexagram.

He recalculated.

Commentary: "Bright light doubles, Li; it continues illumination to the four directions."

He gazed at the youth lying on the ground, gasping heavily, clearly exhausted.

"Both inner and outer are Li; within lies Dui and Xun; above and below are bright—all under heaven rejoice in its radiance."

Again, absurd.

The Dao Master snapped and erased the slip, as he had the day before, then taught Li Guanyi the corresponding Wu Gong; the ox cart creaked slowly toward Beicheng, Li Guanyi scowling, the silver-haired girl driving the cart herself—somehow, the old ox cart moved with agonizing slowness.

Slower than usual, yet still far from Beicheng.

By day, the Dao Master taught Li Guanyi Wu Gong.

At night, Yao Guang helped Li Guanyi resolve difficulties in odd arts.

The third art learned was the Ze Hexagram.

Both the Li Fire Hexagram and the Ze Marsh Hexagram required Great Zai Qian Yuan as foundation to unleash their full power—one an offensive strike, the other a defensive technique; Li Guanyi was thrown off the cart.

Each step forward had to be taken with his own Wu Gong; his speed was not slow, but his Qi drained severely.

The Dao Master spoke calmly: "Great Zai Qian Yuan is the summary of The Book of Imperial Supreme."

"The more robust your internal Qi, the greater the power this technique can unleash; only when Great Zai Qian Yuan is sufficiently refined can other techniques reach their proper level—and your internal Qi is precisely your weakness. Train it diligently."

"Once your internal Qi is established, open the seven orifices."

"Flowing water does not compete for the lead, but for unceasing momentum."

On the seventh day, the Dao Master had Li Guanyi draw another slip; this time, he finally sighed, his fingers tracing the hexagram on the wooden slip.

Hexagram—

Forty-nine.

Called: Ge.

A technique born from the transformation of both Fire and Marsh hexagrams.

The silver-haired Dao Master watched the youth below the cart—Li Guanyi's Qi exhausted, yet still forcing his internal Qi to surge, each movement and strike propelling him forward with techniques of mountain-shattering, peak-breaking force.

The Daoist muttered: "Ge means change. Water and fire extinguish each other yet take turns to act."

"Like a king receiving mandate, he corrects the calendar and changes robes and colors."

The Daoist flicked his hand and erased this hexagram, then thought of the old man forever left behind in Chen's heavy rain: "Zu Wenyuan, your vision was truly too excellent."

Hexagrams are not merely about seeing the future; what they reveal is more often the breadth of one's inner spirit.

He looked at Li Guanyi and said: "Qian, Fire, Ze, Ge."

"What a 'rebel' heart."

Originally, the journey from the Yin-Yang Cycle Sect's branch to Zhenxi Xiongcheng was not far, but for some reason, a road that should have taken days stretched painfully into nearly a month.

The silver-haired girl simply drove the ox-cart in silence.

The ox-cart approached Zhenxi Xiongcheng along a subtle curved arc, winding its way forward.

With Yao Guang's quiet interference, seven or eight days were stretched into nearly a month.

They had not deceived the Daoist—they were nearing Zhenxi Pass, not lying.

But when the Daoist said he would teach along the road to Zhenxi Pass, he never specified how they would reach Zhenxi Pass.

Yao Guang seized this loophole.

During this month, the Daoist taught Li Guanyi the *Book of Imperial Supreme Cosmic Order*.

Qian was the first hexagram; with each new Wu Gong taught afterward, it had to align with Qian. The more new techniques he mastered, the more the previously learned ones transformed, becoming ten times more complex and vast.

Li Guanyi excelled in Wu Gong and strategy, but was unskilled in strange arts and arrays.

With his foundation in strange arts, even stretched to a month, he could still master only one hexagram: Qian.

Yet even so, because of Yao Guang, the Daoist was forced to break his vows again and again.

Each time he glanced toward the source of Li Guanyi's sudden breakthrough.

The silver-haired girl sat quietly, her face exquisitely inhuman, expressionless. Her eyes were wide open; even without expression, she seemed innocent, so the Daoist could only sigh helplessly.

Roughly every five days, he had to teach a new one.

Originally, he intended to teach only one, as he had once done in the rain-soaked night with Zu Wenyuan.

Yet he ended up teaching five full chapters.

Qian is Heaven, Li is Fire, Ze is Marsh.

Ze Fire Ge.

Ze Heaven Guai.

On this day, the old ox-cart creaked slowly; even though the silver-haired girl had delayed as long as she could, forcing the ox to wind its path, this stretch of road could be no longer—far ahead, the shadow of Chen's northern first great city, Zhenxi Xiongcheng, was visible.

The city gate towered extremely high; Li Guanyi looked up and saw it was dozens of zhang tall, like a sheer cliff. A person standing beneath it seemed no larger than an ant. Giant mechanical carts and crossbows crowned it, magnificent and awe-inspiring, yet the gate itself remained merely ordinary in size.

This sheer pass that had shattered the steel teeth of countless famed generals.

It was the foremost great pass under heaven.

One of the greatest achievements of Mo Jia mechanical arts, forged over decades during the Chen Wu Di era, consuming boundless silver, its design completed personally by the Grand Master of the Yin-Yang School—before he broke with Chen Wu Di—and realized by the First Mo Juzi.

It dominated this position, terrifying the north.

Extremely easy to defend, nearly impossible to attack.

When the Turkic Iron Futu saw it, they sighed and turned their forces away.

With this pass guarding the north, Chen's northern border was as solid as a rock.

This was also the direct reason why the world's greatest general, the Grand Tutor of Ying, chose to take light cavalry around the rear and ambush Chen's Ducheng—because to breach this city would demand the cost of a meat grinder, and at that time, the Grand Tutor of Ying did not deem it a worthwhile bargain.

The Daoist raised his gaze to the distant city, watching Li Guanyi perform Ze Tian Guai.

This hexagram is Lower Qian, Upper Ze.

Qian is Heaven, representing strength; Ze is Marsh, representing joy. The marsh's qi rises, condenses into rain, falls upon the earth, nourishes all things—it is a divine technique for rapid healing and restoring qi, especially useful for Li Guanyi, whose martial arts consume immense qi.

It can also be used to heal others with one's own internal qi.

Li Guanyi performed it with mastery; the Daoist suddenly stopped him and said: "Come here."

Li Guanyi leapt up and sat on the ox-cart. "Elder, what is it?"

The Daoist looked at the young boy before him. His internal qi remained at the Second Heaven, yet it was at least twice as robust as before. Still, he had not attempted to break through any acupoints—only accumulating qi. The Daoist said: "Our connection ends here."

Li Guanyi was startled.

Yet he merely bowed, saying nothing about Zhenxi Xiongcheng still being unattained.

He simply said with ease: "No feast lasts forever. Thank you, Elder, for these days."

The Daoist was surprised by his composure at this moment, then nodded, his tone light: "I must go visit the Academy. You two, go to Zhenxi Xiongcheng—it is the foremost great pass under heaven. Be careful. If fate allows, you may one day come to the Academy—you may find opportunity."

The Daoist glanced at the Fire Qilin lying there, snoring loudly.

Li Guanyi whispered: "I was always meant to return the Ancestor's Lu to the Academy."

The youth held a pouch hanging at his waist, inside which lay Zu Wenyuan's Lu—the symbol of the Twenty-Four Sacrificial Masters of the Dao. He said: "I must carry back my Master's words."

"So the Dao Sect and the Six Masters of the Academy may know."

"My Master's deeds were worthy of his life."

Li Guanyi paused, then asked: "Elder, are you also of the Academy?"

The silver-haired Daoist lowered his gaze. After a long silence, he answered:

"Once, I was."

He looked toward the southeast, his eyes calm yet holding a thread of anger. Li Guanyi stared into his pupils and froze slightly—the man's gaze seemed to show the sky, clouds, seas, Qianshan and myriad waters; and among them, a figure in blue robes walked slowly toward them.

The Blue-Robed Immortal!

The Daoist's eyes returned to their calm, profound depth. He said: "Between people, grudges, debts, love, hatred—they are impossible to untangle. I have left the world, yet I must meet old friends."

"He has already invited me."

"I cannot refuse."

The Daoist rose and said, "The arts I taught you before were all orthodox Daoist Wu Gong. Now I will teach you one final move—a killing technique."

"It is also our fate."

A strand of silver hair at his temple lifted slightly; his qi surged. He raised a finger, and a thread of flame began to spin—then swelled violently, blazing with unbearable intensity. Even the Fire Qilin stirred, snapping its head up to stare at the rising fire.

The Daoist clenched his five fingers, simultaneously activating Great Zai Qian Yuan and the Li Fire trigram.

A vast, terrifying surge of fire energy erupted.

Li Guanyi saw the Daoist's figure dissolve, and the heavens suddenly transformed—the clouds and auroras above melted as if burned, the entire sky turning into a brilliant gold-red expanse, stretching a thousand li in radiant, flame-like brilliance.

The essence of this technique settled into Li Guanyi's and the Fire Qilin's eyes.

The Daoist's calm voice fell:

"Fire above heaven—Great Possession. The noble person restrains evil and promotes good, aligning with the Mandate of Heaven."

"This technique is called 【Fire Above Heaven, Great Possession, Aligning with the Mandate of Heaven】."

"Your Wu Gong is not yet strong enough to wield it alone—but you may borrow the Fire Qilin's power."

"Li Guanyi, act wisely. If you use the methods I've taught you to do evil or inflict suffering, I will come here myself and reclaim the Wu Gong I bestowed upon you."

By the time his voice faded, the Daoist had vanished without a trace.

Li Guanyi rose and bowed deeply toward the direction the Daoist had departed, remaining bowed for a long while before rising.

"The elder has left."

Li Guanyi spoke, but received no reply. He turned to see the silver-haired girl seated at the front of the ox cart, her hand gripping the reins.

Her head nodded, slowly, again and again.

For the past month, she had come every night to explain the difficult points to Li Guanyi, then spent her days driving the ox cart, tracing arcs to approach Zhenxi Xiongcheng, sleeping less than two hours each day.

She was not Li Guanyi.

Li Guanyi's physique was extraordinarily strong. Even though he had slept less than two hours daily for a month, he remained as vigorous as a dragon, as fierce as a tiger—still able to lift weapons and fight endlessly. The dragon-tendon, tiger-bone nature of his body, usually unremarkable, now revealed a terrifying quality.

Legend says the first Confucian Master was surrounded by armies from two states, and together with his disciples, went a month without lighting a fire or cooking, barely sleeping.

Yet the Master still played his qin and sang aloud.

Li Guanyi felt his own physique was drawing near that legend.

Though he could not go without food or drink, a month of little sleep had no effect on him.

But Yao Guang could not endure it. After the Daoist left, she seemed to relax inwardly—her head nodded, then tipped forward, collapsing.

Li Guanyi flashed to her side and reached out, catching her forehead.

Then he carefully helped her over.

Yao Guang opened her eyes, her face expressionless.

Her eyes, no longer wise and serene as before, were clouded with confusion.

She saw Li Guanyi, then closed her eyes again.

As if reassured, her small hand gripped the cuff of his sleeve and slumped sideways.

Her head rested against his shoulder.

The boy's shoulder, the wind brushing his sleeve—far more comfortable than the pile of weeds beside them.

The girl rested her head on the boy's shoulder, her breath light and shallow, falling gently asleep.

Li Guanyi suddenly recalled their first meeting—aside from when she had grasped his hand to confirm his destiny, this cold, silver-haired girl had always kept a certain distance from him.

He smiled, suddenly thinking: the world was vast. Heroes of the Western Regions clashed on battlefields; martial artists in the Jianghu plotted their schemes; the Emperor of Ying raised his sword and gazed upon the realm—all heroes rushed toward this chaotic, turbulent age.

He, however, rode an ox cart, walking slowly through the Jianghu, just like the silver-haired girl.

It seemed… not bad.

He thought.

Far off, the towering, massive first fortress of the world was already visible—but the ox cart would not reach it until late afternoon, nearly dusk. Yao Guang had slept the whole way and was only half-awake, dazed.

Yet she still managed to barely summon a strange technique.

Li Guanyi thus carried the deadly general-grade Tie Futu heavy armor.

Leisurely, he entered the first fortress of the world.

"This is Zhenxi Xiongcheng."

Li Guanyi looked at the place—the great fortress of the world, no less prosperous than Jiangzhou or Yicheng, yet radiating a fierce, martial spirit. He saw many martial artists wielding swords and blades, and many young women.

Curious, he asked a passerby. The man, seeing a handsome, refined young Daoist with great manners—not like the brutish military clans—did not take offense, but smiled and returned the greeting: "Young Daoist, is this your first time in Zhenxi Pass?"

"There's a grand ceremony every year."

Li Guanyi smiled: "Yes, I am Daoist Li Yao, having left my master to wander the world."

"I've never seen a fortress as grand as Zhenxi Pass."

"The many martial artists with swords and blades I understand—but so many beautifully dressed women? That's rare…"

The man laughed heartily: "Ah, it's all because of Lady Huarui!"

Lady Huarui?

The young Daoist still smiled, but his eyes grew calm and sharp.

With a hint of curiosity, he asked: "Lady Huarui?"

The man beamed with pride: "Yes, you don't know? Lady Huarui is an unparalleled beauty—and her heart is kind. She knows how hard life is for common folk; many families cannot afford to raise daughters."

"Lady Huarui takes them in."

"She teaches them song, dance, and music—who doesn't know this?"

"They say Lady Huarui's beauty hasn't changed in thirty years—she still looks like a girl of sixteen or seventeen…"

"Everyone says it's because her heart is good, so the Immortals bless her."

A chill flashed in Li Guanyi's eyes.

Adopting a girl…

He could probably guess why this woman adopted these girls.

Li Guanyi looked around and saw that all who had come here were daughters of poor families; they had washed their faces clean and worn their best clothes, their eyes pure, filled with hope, fear, and longing, speaking of Lady Huarui's kindness.

Hoping to live a stable life.

That would be good.

They were all someone's daughter, someone's sister, a neighbor's Miss, the girl in some young man's dreams.

Li Guanyi suddenly remembered the letter he had found in the Yin-Yang Cycle Sect.

The two characters 【Medicinal Person】 written on it, when placed beside these girls with timid smiles and simple, innocent faces, suddenly became brutally glaring; around Li Guanyi, as if dragon roars and tiger roars could no longer be contained, claws sharpening in agony.

Li Guanyi lowered his gaze.

【One hundred and sixty-six pure yin girls born at yin hours, yin months, yin days, their first menstrual blood sprayed upon decapitation, boiled to make a concoction that preserves beauty uncorrupted and unblemished for one year.】

【Thirty years】

A teenage war general who had fought his way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Already regarded as a future famed general.

Yet now he felt a surge of nausea.

Li Guanyi suppressed his killing intent, determined to learn her identity and location before acting.

He was no longer as reckless as before.

He smiled and took his leave, boarded a ox cart, and Yao Guang sat quietly beside him, looking still somewhat exhausted; Li Guanyi thought a moment, saw a stall selling sweet soup ahead, and figured that if she was this tired, adding some sugar would help her feel better.

He pulled the girl down and went to the sweet soup stall.

Ordered two portions of sweet potato sweet soup, and some pastries too.

Zhenxi Xiongcheng, a fortified city near the border, attracted many martial and fierce men; there were few major farming towns nearby, so most goods had to be imported, and prices had risen thirty percent compared to last month.

Li Guanyi pinched his money pouch.

Much emptier.

This month he encountered no bandits or thieves, and the pouch had shrunk considerably.

He needed to get some money.

Xue Lao, I miss you so much!

Li Guanyi thought, wiped the spoon, and handed it to the dazed girl; Yao Guang, wearing her hood, bowed her head and sipped the sweet soup slowly, too exhausted to activate her usual occult arts to conceal her aura and appearance.

At least not to the level where others could overlook her entirely.

Li Guanyi placed the Songwen Ancient Sword on the table.

Much quieter.

The young man told jokes to cheer Yao Guang, then suddenly sensed someone approaching—an old woman hurrying from beside a luxurious carriage; though only the girl's chin was visible, the woman's eyes lit up immediately, and she cried urgently:

"This girl, is she also here for Lady Huarui's gathering?"

"Such a flower-like face, moon-like beauty—quickly, come, no need to compete."

"Come with Granny quickly, Her Majesty wishes to adopt you as her foster daughter."

She reached out to grab the girl's wrist.

Before she could come within three feet.

Suddenly, a sword's cry rang out—the Songwen Ancient Sword leapt from its sheath, pressing against the old woman's wrist.

Bone-chilling killing intent surged.

The young Daoist's eyes were cold, his killing intent like an ocean.

"Go."