Chapter 312

Quiet!

Before Long Long Yunfeng's words had fully faded, the back courtyard had fallen silent, save for the wind rustling through grass and trees.

Feeling the gaze of the three great masters, Long Long Yunfeng finally calmed down—he knew, by propriety, he shouldn't have barged in so directly.

"Number Two on the Dragon List, sixth level of the Dragon-Tiger Pagoda—you mean Li Yuan?"

Jin Jin Shengwu frowned and asked: "Which Li Yuan?"

Long Long Yunfeng froze, turning to Long Xi Xiang, still lost in some emotion.

"My master's disciple—Li Yuan, Brother Li…"

"That kid?"

Jin Jin Shengwu's expression shifted instantly; Long Xi Xiang, belatedly, looked up: "Li Yuan cleared the sixth level of the Dragon-Tiger Pagoda?"

Long Long Yunfeng suddenly felt nervous, swallowing hard.

"Yes!"

"Shhh!"

Before Long Long Yunfeng could even swallow, he felt a gust of wind howling—where had the two figures gone?

Only his own master sat calmly, sipping tea, as if he'd expected this all along.

"Master, you…"

"Looks like the boy gained quite a bit there."

Long Long Yingchan slowly turned his teacup, his long eyebrows stirring with the wind, his expression subtle.

He had some sense of Li Yuan's progress, but now it seemed he'd underestimated him—had Qin, the lord of Qin Tower, really invested so heavily?

"Where?" Long Long Yunfeng asked instinctively—then got shoved out the door with a glare.

Inside the courtyard, Long Long Yingchan rose slowly, pacing leisurely; listening closely, he seemed to hear the clamor and bustle beyond the Mi Jing, within Long Mountain.

"The younger generation is formidable indeed."

Stroke his long beard, Long Long Yingchan's brow relaxed; he picked up the book on the table—'Biography of the Pacifying Martial King'—and strolled out slowly, his mood suddenly bright.

…

Hum~

Clouds churned and dispersed; before him lay the same plain and mountains—but now, it was the sixth level of the Dragon-Tiger Pagoda.

"A bit tired."

By a stream, Li Yuan sat cross-legged, swallowing several pills, adjusting his blood and true qi.

From the first level onward, the pagoda guardians increased by three per level; the fifth level had only fifteen vice-chiefs guarding it—he'd fought through them repeatedly, and he was truly worn out.

After all, before the fifth level, he'd already cleared thirty in a row—forty-five battles total; even an iron man needed a breather.

"But the gains are substantial."

Li Yuan closed his eyes; after every battle, he sat briefly to assimilate what he'd learned.

The pagoda guardians were all top-tier geniuses; from bottom to top, forty-five battles had subtly elevated Li Yuan's understanding and perception of every Wu Gong.

His already solid foundation felt as if it had been compacted anew, becoming even more stable.

"This furnace is surprisingly considerate."

Moments later, after finishing his adjustment, a low, rhythmic footstep echoed through the valley.

The man was tall and broad, his strides like mountains, massive and heavy, draped in a kasaya, his skin a pale yellow like old elephant tusks—it was Dou Yue.

Unlike what he'd shown outside, now he carried a hammer so enormous it was absurd.

"Brother Dou Yue?"

Li Yuan wasn't surprised; among the senior brothers under Old Dragon's tutelage, Dou Yue had the best talent and was the only one who'd brought Long Xiang Heliu to an extremely high realm.

Merely hearing his footsteps approach, Li Yuan already felt a faint pressure.

"Brother Dou Yue can at least take forty-five strikes!"

The thought flashed through Li Yuan's mind—then he felt it was wrong.

Dou Yue excelled in hardening arts, which could be fully expressed within the Yangsheng Mi Jing—but in the Bronze Divine Realm, it might not hold.

"Without hardening, maybe thirty strikes at most?"

Li Yuan muttered inwardly; whether thirty or forty-five, the difficulty of the sixth level had skyrocketed compared to the fifth.

"No wonder only six people have broken into the seventh level of the Dragon-Tiger Pagoda—the difficulty is too great."

There were eighteen guardians like Dou Yue on the sixth level, plus the previous forty-five—trying to clear them all in one go… the challenge…

"Brother, please instruct me!"

His thoughts shifted and then stilled; Li Yuan bowed respectfully, then drew a heavy hammer from the weapon rack beside him.

In the fifteen battles of the fifth level, excluding the first, he always chose the same weapon as the guardian to hone his martial skill.

Now that Dou Yue came with a hammer, he naturally drew one in response.

"Is this using the enemy's own method against him?"

Li Yuan stood with hammer in hand; a thunderous boom rang out, like a meteor striking earth—the plain beneath his feet shook violently.

He snapped his head up—Dou Yue's Zhang Zhong Zhong had crashed down, his aura surging, blood and true qi rising like oceans and mountains.

In an instant, Li Yuan saw only golden yellow.

As if nothing else existed in heaven and earth—Dou Yue, within the Jin Guang, stood like a legendary Buddha of this age, solid as mountains, immovable as peaks.

"Long Chan Golden Scripture perfected, Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Hammer perfected, Long Xiang Heliu at least fourfold perfected!"

Boom!

As the thought crossed Li Yuan's mind, darkness fell again—before him, the massive hammer, larger than his entire body, appeared with terrifying force.

"Aaang!"

The sound of a dragon's roar and an elephant's trumpet exploded in his heart.

Having broken through the tower for so long, Li Yuan felt such pure and similar power for the first time. The hammer technique, his eyes flickered; in a trance, he felt as if a giant elephant was swinging its trunk and a vast dragon was whipping its tail.

The ferocity and dominance of this hammer strike was already nearly catching up to his own!

"Good!"

Daoist Li shouted his approval. His uncalmed blood and qi seemed ignited at once; he loved this kind of masculine collision, this life-and-death struggle without the crisis of life or death.

Boom!

He stomped his foot, and a heavy hammer flashed before him like lightning, clashing with that heavy hammer several times its size.

Bang!

Strength against strength, hardness against hardness!

Li Yuan's body shuddered as if struck by electricity; his clothes, blown by a hurricane, rustled "whoosh" as they flew backward. Dou Yue, carrying the power of dragon and elephant to strike horizontally, let out a muffled groan. His huge body trembled and retreated uncontrollably.

One step, two steps, three steps...

The Dragon Zen Vajra Sutra at Great Perfection, combined with at least ten horizontal training Wu Gong, and born with immense strength—Dou Yue the Monk, in pure strength alone, was already inferior to Li Yuan!

But Dou Yue was not only born with divine strength; his entire hammer technique and combat skills had already reached a Gao De Jing Fa Jie. As he retreated, his long hammer moved like wind, churning up Feng Feng Mantian air currents, forcibly blocking Li Yuan from approaching.

Crack!

The ground split open; the river water in the small stream seemed severed by immense force, shooting up to the sky.

The wildly fierce rebounding force could not harm Li Yuan, whose Wan Ren Spirit Dragon Body was at Great Perfection, even by a hair. He stepped forward, the heavy hammer trailing behind, drawing a violently burning white line.

With just one strike, he shattered the vast array of hammer shadows left by Dou Yue the Monk. Accompanied by the thunderous roar, the heavy hammer fell with a boom, in an even more wild and dominant posture!

"Good!!"

Long Xi Xiang, Jin Shengwu's pace was incredibly fast. By the time they arrived at the sixteenth floor of the Dragon Tiger Tower from another location, they heard a shout of approval before even entering the door.

Pushing the door open, they saw Brother Helian Feng, supported by two legs of true qi, his face flushed red like he had drunk a jar of strong wine, clapping his hands and shouting approval.

Before him, within a light curtain formed of true qi, the sounds of dragon roars, elephant trumpets, and thunderous explosions echoed.

The two steadied their gaze. Amidst the interweaving Lei Guang and Jin Guang, a thunder dragon whipped its tail, emitting a crack like lightning. A burly figure soared into the air; before him, a dragon and an elephant formed of true qi, meant to protect, were both pierced through by the thunder dragon!

"Good!"

Jin Shengwu blurted it out, startling Brother Helian Feng from his immersion.

"Who?"

Brother Helian Feng instinctively wanted to disperse the light curtain. He turned his head, discovered Long Xi Xiang was also there, and then awkwardly stopped.

"Li Yuan?"

Long Xi Xiang had no time to deal with this old fellow; he stared fixedly at that patch of light.

After the Lei Guang and Jin Guang dissipated, on the messy grass, only a youth in a Daoist robe slowly turned around, a heavy hammer resting on his shoulder.

"Whoosh~"

The light curtain dispersed at that moment.

"Brother Helian Feng!"

Long Xi Xiang stomped his foot, glaring at the equally stunned Brother Helian Feng. The latter reacted quickly and hurriedly explained:

"He chose to withdraw himself."

"Withdrew himself?"

Long Xi Xiang muttered the words. Brother Helian Feng's face also darkened, but he looked toward Jin Shengwu:

"The sect's forbidden ground; outsiders are not allowed to enter!"

"It was Tang Tu on my part."

Jin Shengwu's expression tightened slightly. He immediately bowed and stepped back, glanced at Long Xi Xiang, then turned and left.

"He..."

Long Xi Xiang was somewhat dazed at the moment, but he understood Jin Shengwu's meaning. He immediately extended his hand:

"Hand it over."

"What?"

Brother Helian Feng was stunned first, then Yu Yu Xuanji reacted. He turned, grabbed a handful from the Life-Nourishing Furnace, and carefully handed a few strands of qi mechanism to Long Xi Xiang.

A Grandmaster is one whose qi and spirit merge; spirit contains qi, and qi contains spirit. Thus, they possess the ability to observe qi, and from a single strand of qi mechanism, they can glimpse all manner of scenes.

"Your disciple..."

Long Xi Xiang turned to leave, but Brother Helian Feng could not help but speak: "This old man remembers the master-disciple ceremony has not yet been performed?"

"Get lost!"

Long Xi Xiang instantly flew into a rage, scolded him, and swept his sleeve away.

"That old fellow is truly petty..."

Pacing before the Life-Nourishing Furnace, Brother Helian Feng's heart was truly unable to settle.

He had witnessed the entire process of Li Yuan killing from the fifth floor to the sixth floor. The things contained within made his heart tremble as well.

At this moment, Li Yuan, in terms of Wu Gong cultivation, might be slightly inferior to Long Long Xinglie, but in terms of talent...

Woosh~

A beat late, Long Yingchan walked over slowly. Before he could open his mouth, Brother Helian Feng, dragging two legs formed of true qi, stepped forward, bowed, and saluted:

"Senior Brother, this junior brother has sat here in a half-crippled state for decades, yet has never once asked you for anything. Today, this junior brother..."

"Wait!"

Before Brother Helian Feng could finish, Long Yingchan's two long eyebrows were flailing wildly. He raised a hand to stop his words:

"This elder brother still has matters to attend to. We will speak later..."

Before his words had even finished drifting, giving Brother Helian Feng no time to react, Long Long Yingchan turned and vanished without a trace.

"You?!"

……

Hum—

Hammer against hammer, shattering Dou Yue, Li Yuan had not yet had time to digest his gains when a hum exploded by his ear.

Then the mist churned and swallowed him within it.

"Wait, this is the—?"

Li Yuan froze, then Yu Yu Xuanji sensed something was off. The surrounding clouds had not dispersed, and a dazzling streak of profound-colored light had already appeared before his eyes.

【Dragon Tiger Longevity Furnace (Tier 11)】

【……Star Core……Sea-Splitting Star Core……Spirit of Dragon and Tiger……??? ……】

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But his attention at this moment was not on the Longevity Furnace, nor on the profound-colored radiance flickering before his eyes, nor even on the "Extended Lifespan" effect of the furnace's control that he most craved.

It was on……

"Sea-Splitting Star Core?"

Li Yuan murmured inwardly. First the Mysterious Whale Hammer, then the Longevity Furnace—both of these Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing contained the Sea-Splitting Star Core.

This Sea-Splitting Star—

Li Yuan's heart stirred as he reached out to the Sea-Splitting Mysterious Whale Hammer.

Since being controlled by the Soldier Register, this hammer had fallen silent, showing no fluctuation whatsoever. And now, even though he was inside the Longevity Furnace, the hammer still showed no response.

"Could it be that the Soldier Register is blocking the connection?"

Li Yuan felt that, aside from other Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing, these two must share an extremely deep origin.

Hum—

Li Yuan's thoughts wandered, but the bronze stele did not pause. After a blaze of fire-like radiance, new text appeared upon it:

【Since the previous master of the Longevity Furnace, a total of more than sixty-eight thousand four hundred people……】

Hm?

Li Yuan froze.

But behind the bronze stele, a colossal bronze-colored "Heavenly Ladder" had suddenly appeared. Each step was at least several hundred zhang long, rising layer upon layer, seemingly stretching all the way to the "top of the furnace."

"That number—could it be the number of people?"

Looking at the faintly visible figures on those steps, Li Yuan's eyelids twitched wildly as he finally realized something.

The Sea-Splitting Mysterious Whale Hammer had been lost beneath the Divine Weapon Valley. Though people had gone to challenge the mountain over the past thousand-plus years, the number was not large.

But the Longevity Furnace was different. This furnace had been displayed in Dragon Tiger Temple for over two thousand years, with hundreds or thousands of disciples attempting the tower each generation……

"I've seen wheel battles, but never a wheel like this……"

Li Yuan's mouth twitched. He realized this "Extended Lifespan" was truly not easy to obtain. His eyesight was excellent, and among the faintly visible figures on that Heavenly Ladder, he saw familiar silhouettes.

Xin Xin Wenhua, Dou Yue, Long Long Xinglie, as well as those hall masters, vice sect leaders he had met once or twice—Long Xi Xiang, Nie Xianshan, Cang Cang Xianzhi, Brother Helian Feng, and other sect giants were all among them.

Besides, at an extremely high point, he even saw a dragon and a tiger……

"One against sixty-eight thousand……"

Gazing up at that Heavenly Ladder, Li Yuan murmured inwardly:

"If I can fight through this, Dao Ye would probably be invincible, right?"