Chapter 402: The Strongest Pagoda Guardian in History

Hmm~

Long Long Yingchan flicked a finger, and Li Yuan felt a faint coolness at his brow. In the instant, a swirl of mist rose up from the place of spirit-light, and within the weaving of the mist, dragon and tiger danced together.

"Within this wisp of cloud-qi is the first half of the Wind Tiger Cloud Dragon. Once you enter the Dao, I will pass on to you the second half."

"Many thanks, Dao… Master."

Li Yuan came back to himself with a start and bowed in thanks. He had not expected that the Cang Xing Zhi Fa he had sought for so long had already been learned long ago.

"The essence of Wind Tiger Cloud Dragon lies in union, but its foundation lies in the four forms—wind, tiger, cloud, dragon. To enter the door, you must thoroughly comprehend the four shapes of wind, cloud, dragon, and tiger."

Long Long Yingchan gave a brief explanation. Given Li Yuan's talent, this was not difficult:

"Cloud Dragon's Nine Appearances also requires the two forms of cloud and dragon to reach great perfection. Besides, the Mysterious Yin White Tiger Palm is also within the cloud-qi. If you cultivate it alongside, it will be of immense benefit to your later cultivation of Wind Tiger Cloud Dragon."

The foundation of divine Wu Gong lies in the spiritual form, and Wind Tiger Cloud Dragon is no exception.

"This disciple understands."

Li Yuan was still digesting that wisp of cloud-qi. Qi merging with spirit—the transmission methods of a great grandmaster were truly wondrous.

"Besides, you may temporarily slow the cultivation of divine Wu Gong. Before entering the Dao, cultivate a few more martial arts. You may go to the library and choose for yourself. All root charts and form charts are at your disposal to borrow."

Long Long Yingchan paused briefly:

"Your rooting out of the lurking Red Flame old thief in the city is a great meritorious deed. This is a reward, not the treatment given to this old man's disciple."

"This disciple understands."

Li Yuan had lost count of how many times he had thanked him. Dao Master Long's sudden generosity left him rather overwhelmed by the favor.

Sure enough, a junior brother's disciple and one's own disciple were indeed different…

"Mm."

Long Long Yingchan was in a good mood. After a few more pointers, the surrounding clouds and mist rose up, and with a single surge and retreat, they were already at the seventh floor of the Dragon Tiger Pagoda.

This place, Li Yuan knew quite well.

The surroundings resembled the inside of a pill furnace. A spiral heavenly stairway led straight upward; at a glance one could not tell how many steps there were. Amid the swirling clouds and mist, layer upon layer of human shadows could be seen.

At an extreme height, the shadows of dragon and tiger coiled.

"This place is?"

Li Yuan steadied himself.

"For more than two thousand years, all who challenged the pagoda—from the two patriarchs Long Yin and Chun Yang above, down to every outstanding talent who reached the fifth floor."

Long Long Yingchan blew with an open mouth, and a hurricane suddenly appeared. In an instant, large swathes of clouds and mist had been blown away.

Li Yuan looked up, and his heart gave a sudden tremor.

Above the sixty-eight thousand steps, everyone looked down at once, sending a chill down one's spine.

"This stairway is the recognition stairway of the Dragon Tiger Nurturing Furnace. If one can climb to the very top, one may initially take command of this Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing."

This, however, was a sect secret.

Li Yuan had long had his guesses, but even so his expression shifted slightly:

"How many years and months would that take?"

"This old man climbed for a hundred years and still hasn't reached the top."

Long Long Yingchan pinched his long brows.

"You haven't reached the top either? Over a hundred years?"

Li Yuan's teeth ached at the thought. Thinking of the Mysterious Whale Hammer, he felt a sudden surge of relief—after all, this hammer had been lost for many years, and only a handful of people had climbed the stairway.

"The Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing itself, it seems, does not permit inheritance. The longer it is passed down, the harder it is to recognize a master. We are like this, and those other several families are about the same."

Long Long Yingchan spoke, then could not help but sigh:

"According to the records of the patriarchs' daily life, there were originally only twelve steps here, corresponding to the twelve floors behind the Dragon Tiger Pagoda…

"Now, although it still corresponds to twelve floors, each floor corresponds to nearly five or six thousand steps…"

"So, almost no one below Grandmaster can climb to the seventh floor?"

Li Yuan's expression turned strange—this mechanism was rather odd.

Now, he had also challenged the pagoda. So those who came after would have to break through this stairway, fighting those of the same rank and defeating themselves?

"Whether reasonable or not, the rules are the rules. Fortunately, the patriarchs left a contingency that allows one to leap directly across the stairway. Before, you have also gone a few times."

What this referred to was naturally the Nurturing Life Gate.

"You may climb this stairway a bit. It is an extremely superior trial ground."

Long Long Yingchan had no interest in climbing the stairway himself, but for Li Yuan, he still held some expectations—this boy was no inferior to Wan Wan Zhuliu within the same rank.

If he could endure the temperament, perhaps he could climb very high.

"Reaching here counts as the seventh floor?"

Li Yuan was thinking about the initial selection.

"Five thousand steps counts as the seventh floor."

"……"

No wonder no one below Grandmaster had climbed to the seventh floor. The eighteen battles on the sixth floor were only the beginning; after that there were still five thousand battles…

"You reaching here, the first place in the initial selection should be no problem."

Long Long Yingchan saw what was on his mind, but did not much care. To him, the money from the gambling pool was at most a couple of taels of broken silver.

"Then the final guardian of the sixth floor?"

Li Yuan caught on, his expression turning strange.

"Mm, it's you."

Long Long Yingchan's expression was subtle. He had originally planned to activate the Nurturing Furnace and move over one of those patriarchs to guard the sixth floor, but naturally that was no longer needed.

"Then in that case, the gambling pool…"

Li Yuan wanted to draw an advance.

"No."

Long Long Yingchan was very rule-abiding, insisting on waiting until after the preliminary selection.

"Eh?"

The two were chatting when Long Long Yingchan seemed to sense something, his face showing both surprise and a strange expression.

"What is this?"

Li Yuan was somewhat startled.

"Speak of the devil and he appears."

Long Long Yingchan laughed, seeing the bewilderment on his face, flicked a finger, and streams of light wove in from all around, in an instant forming a light-shadow screen as tall as a person.

"?!"

Li Yuan's pupils contracted, suddenly feeling a chill; he knew the Dragon Dao Master had methods to monitor the entire sect, but he hadn't expected it to be in such high definition.

Within this light-shadow was reflected the sixth floor of the Dragon Tiger Pagoda—precisely the creek where he had just been.

At this moment, a rather burly fat monk was swallowing a spiritual pill, sitting cross-legged in meditation; he focused his gaze and could even see the fine hairs on Monk Liaokong's arms.

"This, this…"

Li Yuan felt a chill rise from his tailbone straight into the back of his head—this old fellow had been watching him like this too?!

Long Long Yingchan read his thoughts; he himself had been this shocked back in the day, and casually repeated the words his master had once used to comfort him:

"Once outside the Dragon Tiger Pagoda, other places won't be this clear."

"Really?"

Li Yuan felt somewhat relieved, but in his heart, 'Wind Tiger Cloud Dragon' instantly shot up to the very top of his priority list.

The Dragon Dao Master was one thing, but what if other Grand Masters had similar methods?

'Real-time surveillance, this is unreasonable…'

Li Yuan was startled for quite a while before being drawn to the scene within the light-shadow.

Clang!

A sound came from the light screen, like a bronze bell being struck.

Monk Liaokong pressed his palms together, and a deep, resonant bell-like sound issued from his mouth.

Blinding golden light surged out from beneath his skin; at first glance, it resembled a golden sun, its radiance cascading like a waterfall, weaving and rolling behind him.

Faintly, there seemed to be a Jin Mianfu image.

"This is the Xinyi Sect's signature Wu Gong."

Before the light screen, Long Long Yingchan spoke, explaining for him:

"The founder of the Xinyi Sect was an extraordinary person. He cultivated the Bai Shen Zheng Fa, yet did not suffer qi deviation; instead, using the Bai Shen Zheng Fa as his foundation, he created another divine art—namely, the Buddha-I-Alone-Revere Art."

"This divine art comes from the Bai Shen Zheng Fa?"

Li Yuan's heart stirred slightly; recalling the incense ash on these monks, could it be that they cultivated Wu Gong through incense offerings?

"The Buddha-I-Alone-Revere Art emphasizes worshipping the Buddha as worshipping oneself, worshipping oneself as worshipping the Buddha; one cultivates the Buddha, proves the self. Every disciple who learns this divine art must first carve a statue of themselves, then visualize it—using a false Buddha-image to prove the true self."

Long Long Yingchan's words held much praise; his evaluation of this divine art was very high, and he was very interested.

"Worship the Buddha as worship oneself?"

Li Yuan chewed on it once, finding that this phrase indeed fit the Bai Shen Zheng Fa perfectly.

"Mm, they're about to make a move."

After chatting casually for a bit, the two had already turned their gaze to the light screen.

As Monk Liaokong finished regulating his breath and stood up, from the valley opposite, someone slowly walked out, footsteps like drumbeats, low and rhythmic.

Then, under Li Yuan's gaze.

A tall youth in a Daoist robe, shouldering a long-handled heavy hammer, slowly walked out—none other than himself!

"The me who has achieved Great Perfection of Blood Exchange."

Watching himself in the light screen, Li Yuan's expression turned strange; the him condensed from the Yang Sheng Qi, all his Wu Gong were the same as his current self,

and, at Great Perfection of Blood Exchange.

……

"Who is this?"

On the sixth floor of the Dragon Tiger Pagoda, Monk Liaokong's expression was solemn; across a distance of about a li, he felt a chill surge into his heart, as if what was walking toward him was not a person but a vicious dragon!

When he clearly saw who the person opposite was, his face instantly became extraordinarily colorful:

"Li Yuan?!"

Monk Liaokong nearly thought he was seeing things; he looked carefully and found that the approaching figure's aura was bold and fierce, differing in no way from the Li Yuan who had received him outside the pagoda except for appearance.

【Pagoda Challenger: Xinyi Sect's Liaokong; Pagoda Defender: Li Yuan (Great Perfection of Blood Exchange)】

Glancing at the stone tablet rising beneath his feet, Monk Liaokong's heart was instantly filled with astonishment.

This was his first time ascending the Dragon Tiger Pagoda, but he was no stranger to it; along the way he had read dozens of similar intelligence reports.

The so-called Dragon Tiger Pagoda is the recognition site of the Dragon Tiger Yang Sheng Furnace; the so-called pagoda defenders in these eighteen floors are all challengers recorded by the furnace spirit.

Condensed from Yang Sheng Qi, they change according to the challenger's cultivation level.

"The Dragon Tiger Pagoda doesn't allow the use of top-grade divine weapons, this kid…"

After his initial shock, Liaokong became even more cautious; Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing doesn't play by human rules—placing this kid last on the sixth floor must have its reasons.

"So be it, I'll subdue you first, then fight Long Long Xinglie!"

A thought turning in his mind, Monk Liaokong rose to his feet; the blinding golden light flashed, and in an instant he had crossed about a li, his speed extreme.

He spread both arms, his ten fingers flicking and trembling in the air in succession, forming various mudras; meanwhile, the three-zhang-tall Jin Mianfu image behind him simultaneously struck out two palms,

One in front, one behind, their force surged like the tide, climbing layer upon layer.

Every strike was a killing move, with no thought of a prolonged battle here—he wanted to take this person down as fast as possible, then fight Long Long Xinglie.

"This Buddha wants both fame and fortune!"

After dozens of consecutive victories, Liao Kong's momentum had climbed to an extreme peak, but Yu Yu Xuanji—his pupils contracted sharply, and he whipped around.

He saw a streak of dark light surge up like a black cloud, and a domineering, ferocious thunder-dragon came roaring in with the speed of a sudden clap of thunder!

It was a heavy warhammer, moving at tremendous speed, like a thunderbolt:

"The Tower Guardian would still launch a sneak attack?!"