Chapter 315: Third Time Listening to Heavenly Sounds (Supplement)

"It is said that the Great Yun Imperial Family places the utmost importance on bloodline purity and has not intermarried with foreign clans for nearly a thousand years. Many high officials and nobles follow suit, so rumors of many freaks in the capital have been banned repeatedly yet never cease..."

"Liu San, a Constable in the Third Room of the Dao Bureau, is searching for his missing younger sister..."

"In the Liu family of Chengxi, the highly respected family head Liu De, fearing his wife, dares not acknowledge his illegitimate son who wandered abroad in his early years and has a willful temperament. He can only make a grand display, taking him in as his sole disciple and nurturing him with great care..."

"Inside the Space of Commanding Weapons, light flickered on the Listening Wood Talisman, and segments of text refreshed endlessly like a waterfall.

Since activating the Listening Talisman, Li Yuan had developed the habit of listening to sounds every day. With the Yun Xiang Ding in hand, incense was no longer lacking, so he listened for a long time each day.

The intelligence obtained from the Listening Talisman was chaotic and disordered, with very little being useful, yet Li Yuan still memorized each piece in his heart, recording the important ones in the Listening Book.

'Not marrying outsiders; does that not mean the Great Yun Imperial Family has many deformed children?'

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes, listening to various pieces of intelligence while sorting and analyzing whether any contained something he could use.

'No wonder the Great Yun Imperial Family has had few descendants for many years; it would be a ghost if they were flourishing...'

'However, the Great Yun has existed for over fourteen hundred years, yet the Listening mentions nearly a thousand years. Could this be a rule established only after Pang Pang Wenlong's death?'

Li Yuan muttered to himself but did not pay much attention.

No matter how chaotic the Great Yun Imperial Family was, it was not his place as a wild Daoist Priest to educate them.

Holding a large handful of incense, Li Yuan was willing to spend it. After listening to several dozen more items, he finally waited for one that was slightly familiar:

'The Divine Thief Brother Sikong Xing, disguised and in disguise, is crouching in a certain inn in Chengnan, preparing to seize a big opportunity...'

'What an audacious thief.'

Li Yuan clicked his tongue in amazement.

'Having committed such a huge crime, Brother Sikong Xing not only does not flee but is preparing to seize a large sum.'

'Before the Listening Talisman ascends, I must use up the remaining 'Listening to Heavenly Sounds' counts.'

As Li Yuan focused his mind, the Listening Wood Talisman flickered with light continuously, and various sounds rang ceaselessly by his ears. Soon, he had gathered enough to meet the conditions for the Listening Talisman to ascend four tiers.

Listening to sounds of the third tier two hundred times.

'Indeed, a fat sheep like Brother Sikong Xing is something one can encounter but not seek.'

Li Yuan sorted through the listened sounds, recording the more important intelligence. Among them, one item caught his attention:

'Late at night, in the Dragon and Tiger Tower, Shi Shi Yu Shu climbs with difficulty, determined to make a name for himself this way, but his mood is somewhat low, as if he has suffered a tremendous blow...'

'This Senior Brother Shi truly has perseverance; he is still climbing.'

Li Yuan felt a certain respect; indeed, the hardworking were not limited to just him.

'However, divine weapons cannot be used inside the Dragon and Tiger Tower; at most, he can only stop at the fifth floor.'

After recording all the listened sounds, Li Yuan yawned, closed his eyes again, and without hesitation:

'Listen to Heavenly Sounds!'

Buzz~

Inside the Space of Commanding Weapons, light suddenly burst forth.

Li Yuan concentrated intensely. With the experience of the previous two times, he was fully prepared and wanted to experience the separation of spirit and soul once more.

However, after that light engulfed his mind and heart, he did not feel the sensation of floating in ecstasy.

Instead, within a short while, the light had dimmed.

'Hmm? This time seems somewhat different?'

Li Yuan's heart stirred, and a voice, ancient and desolate, drifting from an unknown place, rang simultaneously by his ears and in his heart:

'The world is vast, the star river is boundless...'

Different!

The instant that voice exploded in his heart, Li Yuan had keenly sensed something was wrong. He was certain this voice was not the Great Yun official language, nor any local dialect he had ever learned.

Yet he naturally understood the meaning contained within that voice.

Buzz~

Li Yuan felt a momentary trance. As that voice echoed, he felt a sensation of spirit and soul separating from the body, but unlike the previous two times, vast swaths of light and shadow seemed to appear directly within his heart.

Wuu~

After the momentary trance, Li Yuan focused his gaze. The blurry light and shadow gradually became clear; it was a small room. The room was empty, with no tables or chairs, only two rush mats.

An old man with white beard and hair, possessing a certain scholarly elegance, sat cross-legged between them. On the wall behind him hung a mural of extremely high craftsmanship.

The painting depicted towering mountains, surging seas of clouds, and ten thousand beasts racing within them. In the sea of clouds, a green dragon lowered its head, indifferent and cold.

'Dragons and phoenixes among men...'

The old man's self-talk came from within the light and shadow.

'This old man...'

Li Yuan focused his gaze and recognized the person: 'It is that old teacher who taught Pang Pang Wenlong the Bai Shen Zheng Fa when I listened to Heavenly Sounds for the second time!'

Li Yuan's heart shook. Focusing his gaze, he could clearly see the exhaustion on the old teacher's face.

'Dragons and phoenixes among men.'

In the light and shadow, that old teacher raised his palm while muttering to himself, and a drop of blood resembling red gold dripped from his fingertip.

Through the light curtain, Li Yuan saw that drop of blood fall to the ground, making a 'ding' sound, and then bounce up into the air.

'This drop of blood!'

Li Yuan's body shuddered, and he almost woke up.

Under his gaze, that single drop of blood truly resembled red gold, emitting a substantial glow. Focusing his gaze, he seemed to feel that drop of blood trembling.

'Thump!'

From within the light curtain, the sound of a heartbeat came.

Under Li Yuan's incredulous gaze, a pair of wings extended from within that drop of blood. In the blink of an eye, it actually transformed into a miniature white crane?

"Cry!"

The white crane chirped softly, its eyes full of innocence and adoration, like a newborn life.

"Blood forming into shape?"

In the light screen, the old scholar gave a light tap, and the finger-sized white crane let out a wail, burst apart and scattered, but before it hit the ground it had already transformed into an equally miniature grey eagle.

Then came a fierce tiger, a violent ape, a lion, an elephant…

In the blink of an eye, the old scholar tapped nine times in succession, and that drop of blood changed nine times along with it, finally transforming into a tiny golden dragon.

"Pop!"

The old scholar reached out and tapped for the tenth time.

The little dragon wailed once, glanced back at him with reluctance, fell to the ground and became a blood-egg, rolled once on the floor, and from within came the sound of a baby crying.

A pitifully small, wrinkled little fellow walked out of the blood-egg, tottering unsteadily for the first step or two, but by the third or fourth step had already grown a size larger.

After a dozen or so steps, he had clearly grown into a tall, eight-foot youth with a handsome face.

"Father, I'm going!"

The youth bowed reluctantly toward the old scholar.

"Put on your clothes."

The old scholar pulled out a garment from his sleeve and handed it to the youth, who received it respectfully, put it on, and then, with a look of one resigned to death, walked toward the wall directly facing him.

"This…"

Li Yuan watched in some bewilderment, and only then did he notice that on the wall facing the old scholar hung an ancient painting.

In the ancient painting, sunlight was bright, and amid swirling clouds and mist, a quaint little temple could faintly be seen rising and falling…

A sudden thought popped into Li Yuan's mind—he remembered that during his last listening to the Heavenly Sound, he had seen this old scholar pursuing a strange place called the Temple of Eight Directions.

The heroic youth formed from that drop of blood strode into the painting, and then, a scream was heard, and the clouds and mist in the painting turned faintly red.

"Not a dragon among men."

The old scholar muttered to himself, then extended his finger again, and a drop of fresh blood fell: "A peerless talent!"

Watching that drop of blood, it changed into various beast forms just like the previous drop.

In the end it likewise transformed into a heroic youth who walked toward the painting as if going to his death.

Only now did Li Yuan react.

"The 'dragon among men' and 'peerless talent' this old scholar spoke of—does he mean, talent?"

Li Yuan caught on, his heart both shocked and doubtful: He wants to use this ancient painting to enter the temple within the painting?

"That can work too?"

Watching the youth in the light screen walking toward the painting as if going to his death, Li Yuan felt an inexplicable tension in his heart, as if infected by some unnamed emotion.

The peerless-talented youth held on longer within the painting; Li Yuan even saw him struggling to trudge through the sea of clouds.

But in less than a moment, accompanied by a scream, that youth too dissolved into a faint Longhu Longhu Dandan of red, merging into the painting.

"Not even a peerless talent is enough?"

The old scholar sighed softly, seemingly saddened for the two youths as well, but without hesitation, he extended his finger for the third time:

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The old scholar gave a bitter smile; there was not a trace of color left on his face, only a deep, heavy air of twilight years.

Even through the light screen, Li Yuan could feel it.

An Earthly Immortal, with a lifespan of two hundred years, is still flesh and blood—even Wuxin must die.

This…

"Thump!"

"Thump thump thump!"

The sound of a heartbeat went from slow to urgent, and then, just like the previous three, transformed into a stalwart youth.

This youth stood in the room, dazzling like a blazing sun; his physique was slender yet perfect, every inch brimming with astonishing explosive power.

In the end, this youth too vanished into the clouds and mist, only no scream was heard—instead he dissolved into a streak of blood-light and fell before that ancient temple.

"Even a world-shaking talent won't do…"

Silence fell over the room. Li Yuan felt a powerful unwillingness and melancholy—so intense was this emotion that he could not help but shed tears.

"I wonder if this old man will succeed or not…"

The old man with the hollow chest stood up and placed his hairpin, bracelet, thumb ring, a small bow, and two manuals written on unnamed beast-hide beside the meditation cushion.

Only then did he straighten his robes and walk slowly into that ancient painting.

Crack!

The light screen shattered and vanished at this moment.

"Hoo!"

Inside the room, Li Yuan frantically wiped at his tears. His tear ducts seemed to have burst their dam—no matter how he wiped, he couldn't finish, so he could only resign himself to burying his head and sobbing wildly, while the little mouse in the corner stared, dumbstruck.

After quite a while, Daoist Li felt he had cried out tears enough for eight lifetimes, and lay down with a face utterly devoid of interest in living; an inexplicable sorrow still lingered in his heart.

"That old man was too ruthless—almost cried Daoist Ye to death!"

Li Yuan sat up and wiped his nose, then lay back down again. With his eyes closed, he recalled the scene just before the light screen shattered.

He had recognized who this old man was.

The two manuals he set down last—the one on top was unmistakably the "Ten Thousand Beasts Sitting-Forgetting Dragon Demon Heart Scripture"!

Star-Plucking Tower Master, the Dragon Demon Daoist!