Chapter 274: Palm Controlling, Sea-Splitting Profound Whale (Part 1)

Over these ten-plus days, Li Yuan had listened to sounds nearly ten times each day; whether the intelligence was useful or not, he had already pushed the Palm Sound Talisman to the brink of advancement.

The "Sound-Listening Ledger" recording the messages grew even thicker, now over sixty pages, containing quite a bit of valuable intelligence.

Incense below the third tier was easy to obtain; after reserving enough for merging the weapons, he used the rest to familiarize himself with this new talisman.

After the Palm Sound Talisman advanced, not only was the cooldown for listening to heavenly sounds halved, but the Wooden Sound-Listening Talisman also ascended in tier.

Through his trials, after reaching the second tier, even using first-tier incense, the value of the sounds heard was fully comparable to the sounds heard when using second-tier incense as a medium during the first tier.

Advancement was, naturally, very necessary.

It was just...

"After the Palm Sound Talisman reaches the third tier, advancing further will not be easy."

Third-tier incense was already quite scarce; Li Yuan turned his thoughts and returned to his dwelling along the mountain path.

His small courtyard actually occupied a considerable area; though there were only two courtyards front and back, there were many rooms, and both the front and back courtyards were large, piled with various iron materials and weapons.

When he returned, Liu Zheng was moving six-sided hammers; in the courtyard, the hammer weapons were stacked as high as an old wall, and a single glance revealed at least one or two thousand of them.

"Brother Li, the shop is still rushing production; by tomorrow, we should be able to gather the quantity you need."

After placing the last few hammers in the courtyard, Liu Zheng was covered in sweat, looking full of energy.

With Li Yuan's step-by-step guidance, a few days ago he and Wang Wang Peiyao had both successfully guided internal force inward, achieving internal strengthening.

"After gathering this quantity, we can put the hammer forging on hold for a while, speed up the collection of spiritual beast leather, bones, and blood, or perhaps start recruiting some leatherworkers."

Li Yuan glanced with his peripheral vision, already knowing the number of hammer weapons needed to merge the third Thunder Dragon–Heavenly Hammer; after a brief calculation, he gave his orders.

"Wang Peiyao has already recruited quite a few leatherworkers and is preparing to open her own leather shop."

Liu Zheng felt a sense of relief; over the past half-year, the rapid expansion and rush production of the weapon forge had truly left him overwhelmed.

"Hmm, opening a leather shop is fine, but there's no rush to open for business; just focus on making shoes."

Li Yuan naturally had no objections; if he hadn't been in such a hurry to gather enough for the Palm-Controlling, Sea-Splitting Profound Whale Hammer, he would have opened the leather shop half a year ago.

After all, there were far, far more blacksmiths than shoemakers, yet the latter were equally important to him.

"Has there been any further word from the Hundred Weapons Pavilion?"

Li Yuan asked.

The rapid expansion of the weapon forge was naturally not without obstacles; the weapon shops that had blacksmiths poached from them were not without background either.

Among them, the Hundred Weapons Pavilion was the most troublesome; it was the property of a true transmission disciple of Longhu, the fourth person on the Dragon List, Lin Lin Fangzhui.

"After dismissing the few blacksmiths who came from the Hundred Weapons Pavilion, they didn't say anything more."

Liu Zheng gave a bitter smile: "I was not thoughtful enough; I nearly ruined everything."

Liu Zheng felt a bit of lingering fear; the complex powers within Hengshan City far exceeded those of Zhe Long Prefecture.

It wasn't just the current generation of disciples; previous generations, the generations before that, inner sect members, true transmission disciples, helmsmen, elders, and even vice hall masters and hall masters—did any of them not possess vast estates?

If it weren't for Li Yuan standing behind him, he wouldn't have even been able to open for business, let alone expand; opening at all would have been a stroke of heavenly luck.

"Don't blame yourself; I pushed too hard."

Li Yuan naturally knew he couldn't blame Liu Zheng; the main reason was that he had urged him too urgently.

"Slow down appropriately afterwards; for now, there's no need to compete with any shop. Harmony brings wealth; earning a little less is fine."

"I understand."

Liu Zheng nodded.

"Don't rush to leave yet; have a meal before you go back."

Li Yuan rolled up his sleeves, went to the kitchen, and simmered a huge pot of Red Jade Spiritual Rice; fully two thousand jin of spiritual rice filled an entire room, so he naturally had to eat a huge meal.

"This is spiritual rice?"

Liu Zheng had intended to decline, but upon smelling the fragrance, he immediately found himself unable to move.

He had naturally heard of spiritual rice; in Hengshan City, only a few top-tier restaurants had it, costing ten taels of gold per jin, an extremely high price.

"So much?"

Liu Zheng helped with the preparation, his peripheral vision sweeping over the bags of spiritual rice piled in the corner, utterly shocked; how much gold must this be?

"Inner sect disciples don't buy spiritual rice that expensively, but not much, it's not much."

Li Yuan's mouth watered.

Over the past half-year, he had altered his forms, his physique had advanced greatly through horizontal training, and his appetite had grown larger and larger; even with Wang Shan Xuan's share, he couldn't eat to his heart's content.

"In a moment, take some back; keep a portion for yourself and deliver a portion to Young Lady Wang."

Spiritual rice didn't need side dishes, but having them naturally made it taste better; Li Yuan was just too lazy to prepare them, whereas Liu Zheng was very diligent, quickly stir-frying several dishes.

Both men ate with great appetite; the full pot of spiritual rice was quickly emptied, Liu Zheng ate until his belly was round, and carried a bag of spiritual rice down the mountain.

"Spiritual rice is truly a good thing; I've heard there are several grades, and what inner sect disciples eat is the lowest grade..."

Li Yuan stood in a stance to aid digestion; the spreading heat flow within his body made him feel slightly tipsy. The nourishment of spiritual rice differed from that of spiritual pills; it was softer, more gentle and pure, and easier to absorb.

His thoughts wandered; the forty on the Dragon List seemed not low, yet he still could not touch the true secrets of the Longhu Temple.

Long Dan, Tiger Dan, Great Return Pill, Longhu Longhu Dadan, high-grade spiritual rice, complete supreme arts, and the legendary Zhong De Shen Gong... and so on.

"And incense."

Li Yuan muttered to himself.

He had always been curious about how the imperial court actually utilized incense, but even within the Longhu Temple, this was a secret; ordinary disciples could not access it at all.

"It must be a true transmission disciple."

In the courtyard, Li Yuan practiced the Dragon Zen Stance for a long time, fully digesting the effects of the spiritual rice, before washing up and returning to his room.

On the way, he also retracted the piled hammers in the courtyard and the spiritual rice in the kitchen into his Weapon-Controlling Space.

"Hoo!"

Inside the room, Li Yuan lit an oil lamp, took out the "Sound-Listening Ledger," and began to read.

He had listened to the sounds four hundred times; although most of the intelligence was of little use, there was no lack of valuable information. In these ten-plus days, he had not failed to visit Hundred Beasts Mountain.

He obtained more than a dozen spiritual herbs, along with several pieces of unknown spiritual beast skeletons, which counted as a small harvest.

"The turmoil at Hundred Beasts Mountain is indeed related to that little tiger cub..."

Slowly flipping through the Sound-Listening Ledger, Li Yuan's thoughts flashed through his mind.

These past days, having entered and exited Hundred Beasts Mountain several times, he was now certain that the turmoil there was caused by the little tiger cub.

Once this little fellow entered the mountain forest, he was truly like a dragon entering the vast ocean; relying on his own extreme speed, he had stolen countless spiritual herbs and plants, drawing the Hundred Beasts Hall into several chases and intercepts.

"It is just that this little fellow's rank must be very high; I have listened to the sounds four hundred times, yet there is nothing related to him?"

Regarding this, Daoist Li held some expectation in his heart.

This was the mount he had selected for himself; although it was very wild and often did not give him face, after all, it was still young, and could be trained slowly over time.

After flipping through the Sound-Listening Ledger once, Li Yuan marked out several pieces of intelligence related to himself:

"Outer Sect Disciple Jiang Yinyin is actively contacting several senior brothers from the Inner Sect, competing with many female disciples for the position of Dragon-Tiger Rising Star and the duty of the Voice-Mastering Attendant Maid..."

This was a small trouble.

Recalling the few female disciples he had secretly visited in the Outer Sect previously, Daoist Li's expression was blank, though there was something somewhat strange in his heart.

The Outer Sect disciples of Dragon-Tiger Temple, regardless of talent, background, or anything else, were all extremely good...

But he had many secrets, and being a newcomer, he truly had no intention of recruiting an attendant maid for now; after all, these female disciples were each ambitious, clearly aiming to marry him.

"The trouble of having too much talent."

Li Yuan felt a small amount of trouble.

As he is now, he is a direct disciple of the Great Dragon Sect Master, a Dragon-Tiger Rising Star whose talent rivals Long Long Xinglie, not yet twenty years old, and the finest stallion in the eyes of many families.

Following several such pieces of intelligence were reports concerning the interior of Dragon-Tiger Temple and the city of Mount Hengshan, among which the Hundred Weapons Pavilion was mentioned:

"The Hundred Weapons Pavilion has a batch of fine weapons to transport to Thunder Sound Dao; Lin Lin Fangzhui noticed a newly appeared weapon forge..."

It was upon learning this intelligence that Li Yuan instructed Liu Zheng to slow down the expansion and dismiss many of the blacksmiths he had recruited; it was not out of fear of Lin Lin Fangzhui, but mainly because it was troublesome.

Mastering the Splitting Sea Dark Whale Hammer is the Top priority; regarding other matters, he had no heart to get involved.

Furthermore...

Li Yuan looked at the final piece of intelligence, which he had specifically marked in red:

"A group of mysterious people contacted Chu Shan Xuan Kong, who was Suffering heavy injuries, and it seems they are plotting something..."

The intelligence obtained from listening to the sounds was not detailed, appearing vague and unclear, but recalling the carriage he had seen earlier in the city of Mount Hengshan, and the rumor that 'Li Li Yuanba is within Dragon-Tiger Temple', he could not help but feel newly alert.

"The ghost lingers on."

Li Yuan sighed; he truly only wanted to quietly nestle within the sect, forging iron and practicing Wu Gong.

Putting away the Sound-Listening Ledger, Li Yuan continued his daily practice; while visualizing, he also forged his meridians. In these days, whether in hammer techniques or weapon-forging arts, he had made considerable progress.

Under the nourishment of the Jin Shendan and Jade Body Pills, his various Wu Gong also progressed in an orderly manner, and the sixth meridian had already taken shape.

Only the Divine Worship Visualization Method and the Divine Foot Sutra progressed slowly due to the lack of subsequent parts.

"Hoo!"

As the night deepened, Li Yuan opened his eyes. On the windowsill, the little tiger cub bathed in the moonlight, emitting a soft snoring sound. In the corner, the little mouse also lay in the moonlight, sleeping 'hoo-hoo' soundly.

After casting a glance, Li Yuan concentrated his spirit again, entered the Dark Whale Mi Jing, and began to contemplate the Splitting Sea Dark Whale Diagram.

These days, these past half-year, these past few years, his routine was basically the same; if he did not practice it completely once a day, he felt he was being negligent.

Vmm~

Within the Dark Whale Mi Jing, on the Upside-Down Mountain, Li Yuan placed his hand on the stone tablet, drawing forth the omnipresent Dark Whale True Qi, and on the stone tablet, he outlined a seemingly illusory and phantom-like Dark Whale Diagram.

As his mental power strengthened, the Dark Whale Diagram he outlined became increasingly complete and real; gradually, he also comprehended some things.

"Splitting Sea Dark Whale; perhaps it can be divided into two parts: Splitting Sea and Dark Whale..."

Li Yuan pondered in his heart.

He had once heard Old Han speak of the process of creating the Hundred Beasts Thunder Dragon; matching this in his mind, he now had some clues.

The essence of a supreme art lies in its form.

The form of Dragon-Tiger Hun Tian is Dragon and Tiger; the form of Dragon Zen Vajra is Dragon; the form of Hundred Beasts Thunder Dragon is Thunder Dragon. Extending from this, he knew clearly that to comprehend the Splitting Sea Dark Whale Diagram,

he must grasp the 'Dark Whale'.

"Theoretically, I must be able to transform internal Qi into the form of a Dark Whale before I can create a visualization method from it. As for how to structure the Dark Whale and combine the various forms..."

This step is very difficult.

Even with the same Dragon form, due to different Wu Gong and different combined forms, there are still huge differences. Without reference, outlining a Dark Whale from nothing to something is a difficulty that needs no explanation.

In Daoist Li's own understanding, this is like a puzzle; the fifty-one forms he possesses are the parts, and creating an art means using these parts to piece together the complete form of the Dark Whale.

"Cannot rush; rushing easily leads to mistakes. Old Han took sixty or seventy years to create the Hundred Beasts Thunder Dragon..."

Li Yuan comforted himself in his heart.

After a long while, Li Yuan finished his practice for the day. His mind shifted, and he landed on the Sound-Listening Wooden Talisman atop the gray stone tablet:

"Listen to the Heavenly Sounds!"

Before promoting, he naturally had to use this opportunity to listen to the Heavenly Sounds; otherwise, if the cooldown occurred after promotion, would he not be equivalent to losing an opportunity?

Vmm~

Light surged from the Wooden Talisman, drowning Li Yuan's mind and spirit.

"Voice-Mastering Talisman..."

Li Yuan concentrated intensely, but before he could sense anything, he had once again 'left his body', drifting out, floating as if ascending to the clouds.

"Swish!"

The tiger cub resting on the windowsill seemed to sense something and turned its head; a hint of suspicion flashed in its golden eyes. It looked carefully for a moment, then lay back down.

Hum!

It seemed like a long time, or perhaps just an instant.

Li Yuan only blinked, feeling as though he had crossed Qianshan and ten thousand waters; countless lights and shadows flowed like slides, and he wanted to see something, yet saw nothing.

When he came to his senses, he found himself in a brightly lit "Academy."

"Where is this again?"

Having had the first experience, Li Yuan appeared very composed; he surveyed the surroundings, feeling slightly surprised in his heart.

The Academy's standards were very high.

The space inside the Academy was vast; there were as many as six pillars that required three people to embrace, and the scholars seated within were all handsome and upright; just by looking at their clothing, one could tell they were either wealthy or noble.

"Strange, I detect no gleam from weapons?"

Li Yuan scanned the Academy; he could see that many of these scholars were carrying weapons, and with his eye as a great weapon-smith, among them were not lacking famous artifacts, Even superior-grade famous artifacts.

What was strange was that he detected no light at all.

"Today's lesson!"

Li Yuan heard a voice; he slowly turned his head. An old man with white beard and hair walked slowly onto the lecture platform, coughed lightly, and the many scholars immediately rose, bowing to pay their respects.

"Today's lesson..."

The old man waved slightly, signaling the group of scholars to sit down, and then began the lecture.

"Could this Heavenly Sound be this old man's lecture?"

Li Yuan surveyed the surroundings, full of suspicion, but was soon drawn in by this old man.

This old man was obviously possessed of high Wu Gong; when he spoke, true energy surged around his body, transforming into characters as large as the character 'dou', clear even to those in the very last row.

At times, the characters transformed into various pictures, vivid and lifelike.

"... This is indeed convenient."

Li Yuan had truly never thought true energy could be used for lecturing, but after listening for a while, he lost interest; this was clearly the classics, history, philosophy, and collections of this world.

Li Yuan looked around; until the entire lesson was finished and the group of apprentices had dispersed, he detected nothing unusual.

"Wen Long."

After the group of scholars bowed and dispersed, the old teacher suddenly spoke, calling out to one of the scholars; he was an unremarkable-looking youth who appeared somewhat simple and honest.

"Teacher."

The youth bowed slightly.

"Today, there is a question."

The old teacher raised his hand and pointed out the window:

"What is in the sky?"