Chapter 416: Heavy Snow, Wind and Cloud

On the grey stone platform, a faint light flickered on and off.

The Zhang Bing Lu hovered over the stone platform like a star chart, the surroundings pitch-black, like a bottomless abyss, unsettling to behold.

Li Yuan peered through the archway into the interior — nothing but darkness, not a glimmer of light.

Xing Xing Tongyou: able to walk within the You Jing. Reaching into the star chart to take down the Rift Sea Mystic Whale Hammer, Li Yuan was very curious:

"What exactly is this You Jing? Where does it lead?"

Li Yuan muttered to himself.

He had heard the words "You Jing" from three different places.

The Xing Tongyou Corridor was one; the second-tier Wu Gong effect "Xing Xing Tongyou" within the Rift Sea Mystic Whale Hammer was another; and the third was from the "Eight Directions Temple Golden Scripture of Sacrificial Gods" in the late Emperor's hands during his last listening session.

"It's deep."

He took another look at the bottomless corridor, Li Yuan muttered to himself.

After a long while, he set down the Mystic Whale Hammer and looked at the Pure Yang Dragon Scale Armor. The Dao of Strange Artifact Refinement was indeed wondrous, but Old Daoist Nie had a great deal of influence as well.

"Pure Yang True Qi."

Li Yuan was calculating — this condition wasn't hard for him to meet either. Many days ago, he had already comprehended two ultimate arts from the form chart of the Surging Wave Zhang Fa: "Pure Yang Finger" and "Surging Wave Palm."

Once Pure Yang Finger reached Great Completion, the condition would naturally be met.

The Fire Dragon Body — the three-spirit form, the Dragon of Illusion's Sash, couldn't be wielded for now, but he could first modify his body into the Fire Dragon Body…

Daoist Li was remarkably decisive. Speaking of stacking talents, these past days he had temporarily set aside his comprehension of several divine arts, focusing instead on middle- and lower-tier Wu Gong, and had modified four body forms.

In addition, he was also preparing to wield the Dragon of Illusion's Sash.

Of the three wielding conditions for this supreme divine weapon — the Dragon Form, the Flood Serpent Transformation, and the Wind and Cloud Form — he was only lacking the Wind and Cloud Form.

"The Earth Form is truly hard to comprehend."

Since stacking his talents, Li Yuan had barely encountered any Wu Gong he couldn't pick up — whether ultimate arts or divine arts,

he could enter the door quickly.

Only the Heaven and Earth Forms — he had comprehended only the Thunder and Lightning forms. As for the Wind and Cloud forms, he had just begun; to fully comprehend them, he estimated it would still take some time.

"No wonder every sect takes talent as the first standard for accepting disciples. Without sufficient talent, even with divine arts and ultimate arts, it's hard to even enter the door, let alone reach Great Completion."

Daoist Li sighed with some feeling.

He had spent nearly a month unable to comprehend the Wind and Cloud Form. With mid- or lower-tier bone constitution, he feared he'd blow the cold wind for a hundred years and still not grasp it. After pondering for a long while, Li Yuan finally set down the Pure Yang Dragon Scale Armor and instead walked into the Mystic Whale Mi Jing.

The inverted mountain formed by Mystic Whale True Qi was an excellent place for him to train martial arts, especially Wu Gong and techniques related to True Qi — practicing here doubled the results with half the effort.

"Weapon-Casting and Artifact-Refining Art."

Before the gate of Mystic Whale Mountain, Li Yuan sat cross-legged, reviewing in his mind.

After this attempt, he grew increasingly aware of the extraordinary nature of this artifact-refining art. Before this, his only understanding of divine patterns had come from the Divine Fire Weapon-Forging Platform.

Law contains divine patterns; divine patterns are law. This artifact-refining art likely also originated from the Mystic Whale Sect. Gazing at the tall archway before him, Li Yuan guessed who the previous master of the Mystic Whale Hammer was, but this artifact-refining art was clearly unlike any weapon-casting art in the world, bearing instead a certain style of the "Soldier-Nurturing Classic."

In the Zhang Bing Zuan's classification, it also didn't belong to "weapons," but to "treasures."

"Divine weapons, dharma treasures?"

His thoughts wandered for a long while before Li Yuan finally rose, walking slowly toward the Mystic Whale Gate to receive the True Transmission trial.

That thousand-year-class Grandmaster wielding the Fang Tian Halberd was ferociously overwhelming — he had suffered crushing defeats many times, but he was gradually becoming familiar with the opponent's moves and fighting style.

But the gap was simply too great; even if he wanted to use his Qing Gong to dance around, he was still far from it.

He needed to get some beast hides from Senior Sister Nie Ying… If he bought them, the gold needed for the Zhang Bing Zuan's advancement

wouldn't be enough. Should he… owe it for now?

He let out a long breath, suppressing his wandering thoughts. Li Yuan steadied his mind and walked into the dueling arena to face the giant wielding the Fang Tian Halberd.

A heavy snow swept in, the world bleak and desolate.

Almost overnight, mountains and rivers were cloaked in silver — another deep winter had arrived.

Whooosh!

The north wind howled.

Xin Xin Wenhua trudged through the snow to the rear mountain of Dragon Gate's main peak — the highest point of the Dragon Gate mountain range. The wind was too strong here, so there was barely any accumulated snow around.

But the morning mist didn't disperse, billowing like clouds, rising and falling with the wind.

Arriving at the cliff's edge, Xin Xin Wenhua stood still. Through the raging wind and mist, he could see a figure seated cross-legged in the air, drifting with the wind yet never falling.

"Junior Brother Li's True Qi grows more and more vigorous…"

Though it wasn't the first time he'd seen it, Xin Xin Wenhua was still somewhat shocked.

After forging Qi meridians within the body, True Qi could erupt outward and condense within ten zhang without dispersing. Therefore, martial artists who had forged multiple Qi meridians and possessed extremely vigorous True Qi could, to a certain extent, stand suspended in the air.

But that was only in theory.

He had reached Marrow Refinement Great Completion months ago, yet even now could only barely stand suspended for a moment. Someone like Li Yuan, who could stand in the air for hours on end — he truly had never seen.

"Hoo!"

"Hah!"

The wind at the cliff's edge was loud, but Xin Xin Wenhua could still hear those long, drawn-out breaths.

The intervals between breaths were long, yet each one was powerful — with every breath, the mist and gale on the cliff were pressed down. At a glance, it looked as though a great demon were inhaling and exhaling the mountain's essence.

Compared to the restrained aura when forging iron at the Surging Wave Hall, Li Yuan now radiated a terrifying presence. Staring too long, one even felt the urge to draw a sword.

"Is Junior Brother Li about to undergo Marrow Refinement?"

Xin Xin Wenhua's expression was complex. Long Long Xinglie's words two years ago, entrusting him to look after this boy, still seemed to echo in his ears — yet it felt like a dream.

In just two short years, this boy had gone from Body Transformation to nearly Marrow Refinement. When he himself had reached this stage, it had taken twelve years.

A manifold gap.

"Hoo!"

The wind blew and the clouds and mist stirred. Li Yuan sat quietly in midair, looking ethereal as an immortal, but in truth his spirit was wound tight to the highest degree; the qi and blood within his body, his true qi, churned violently, emitting a "whoosh whoosh" sound.

Relying on his six qi meridians, he had long been able to stand in midair by sheer effort, but this was extremely taxing on the spirit and consumed true qi enormously.

It was also only in recent days, with Tian Yi Nine Refinements cultivated to the fourth refinement, combined with the several lightness skills and footwork he practiced concurrently, the alteration of the Fire Dragon Body, and his initial comprehension of the Form of Wind and Cloud, that he could barely manage it.

But he still had to concentrate fully; before, he had fallen several times.

"Wind has no constancy, cloud has no form."

Li Yuan stretched out his hand, feeling the wind blow past his fingertips, as a ball of cloud and mist in his palm ceaselessly shifted into various shapes.

What the Dragon Dao Master said was exceedingly abstruse, but in truth, the essence of the Form of Wind and Cloud is change.

Perhaps because of martial arts terminology, perhaps because of habit, even the Dragon Dao Master, when mentioning the Form of Wind and Cloud, carried a certain ineffably mysterious flavor.

The so-called "wind has no constancy, cloud has no form," explained, means that wind and cloud are both natural phenomena without fixed shape, changing with the shifts of air currents.

Wind, cloud—neither is the core; change is.

It took two months in total; the Form of Heaven and Earth was even more laborious than a single ultimate art. Fortunately, he succeeded!

Amid the wind-blown mist, Li Yuan stood up. This period he had reaped great gains, including but not limited to overcoming his fear of heights—this cliff was roughly eight hundred meters, and he had free-fallen two or three times. With his physique, he only broke a little skin; with the medicinal power of the Dragon Tiger Great Pill in his body, he didn't even notice.

The Flood Dragon Form is a combination of six forms, the Lesser Dragon Form nine, the Greater Dragon Form three; the Form of Heaven and Earth does not pair with the beast forms, so let's count it as just one form. Even so, the number of forms I have altered has already reached two hundred!

Walking slowly through the air, Li Yuan took deep steps and shallow steps, his Mysterious Whale true qi spreading like wind to wrap around him. Watching the four great suns gradually rising on the horizon, his

mood was excellent.

In the days since unleashing the Pure Yang Dragon Scale Armor, he had reduced the number of times he went to the Jingtao Hall, focusing wholeheartedly on martial arts training and stacking talents.

Relying on the medicinal power of the Dragon Tiger Great Pill, the many Wu Gong he practiced concurrently had all reached Grand Completion, and the Cloud Dragon Nine Appearances, along with his comprehension of the Form of Wind and Cloud, had reached Grand Completion several days prior.

"Next, it's the Illusory Dragon Belt."

Touching the Illusory Dragon Belt at his waist, Li Yuan could not help but reveal a slight smile. Once he altered the Illusory Dragon Body, he would round out three hundred forms!

Next time he saw Old Han, he would surely let him witness the splendor of the Thousand Beasts Thunder Dragon!

Striding with the wind, Li Yuan landed on the cliff. Once his feet touched solid ground, his true qi withdrew inward, the Dragon Tiger Great Pill in his abdomen trembled, its medicinal power spread, and his true qi gradually filled up again.

"Congratulations, junior brother, on your great progress in Wu Gong."

Xin Xin Wenhua cupped his hands in congratulation, suppressing the complexity in his heart.

Every time he met Li Yuan, he would forget that he too was a top-tier genius of a prefecture, a dragon among men and phoenix among women as appraised by the Yangsheng Furnace.

"Just a small improvement."

Li Yuan habitually offered a modest remark, then decisively changed the subject—talking about this would hurt his senior brothers' feelings:

"The sect examination is about to begin?"

The Dragon Tiger Temple's sect examination had no fixed date; for many years it had been convened with the first heavy snow of deep winter. This year was naturally no exception.

It begins once the sun rises, but the true transmission examination won't be until the afternoon, so there's no rush.

Xin Xin Wenhua nodded. As for the sect examination, he didn't care much; after all, given his relationship with Li Yuan, the one to be knocked down would surely be someone else.

"Perfect timing, I need to go down the mountain for a trip."

Li Yuan didn't care much about the sect examination either; after all, apart from Xin Xin Wenhua and Long Long Xinglie, he really wasn't familiar with the other true transmissions.

A stroll down the mountain would be good too.

Xin Xin Wenhua quite agreed; stimulated by Li Yuan, he too hadn't gone down the mountain for many days.

"By the way, Senior Sister Nie hasn't come out of closed-door cultivation yet?"

Li Yuan inquired.

He had gone to look for Nie Ying many days earlier, wanting to buy some spirit beast hides, but the latter had gone straight into closed-door cultivation; if he wanted to find Old Daoist Nie, the latter had gone down the mountain.

Helplessly, it was delayed for some days.

"The Four Barriers of Dao Entry—sometimes a few days, sometimes half a year—there's no fixed number."

Xin Xin Wenhua sighed.

If it weren't for the Jiudatang masters all entering closed-door cultivation one after another, he wouldn't have been this busy.

As the two went down the mountain, the sect examination had not yet begun, but the inner and outer gates were already quite lively; in the heavy snow, disciples of the Dragon Tiger Temple were everywhere.