Chapter 417: Nine-Tier Soldier Commander, Xing Xing Tongyou

After nearly two years, the Weapon-Forging Shop had firmly established itself in Dao City; after several expansions, it now had over two hundred and thirty blacksmiths and fifteen hundred apprentices.

Naturally it couldn't compare to those old established shops in the city, but its business was actually somewhat better.

When Li Yuan arrived, quite a few customers were purchasing weapons. Seeing him come, Liu Zheng whispered a few words to those customers and hurried over to greet him.

"Business is pretty good?"

Li Yuan swept a glance around — most of the weapons in the shop were sharp weapons, and the only one or two famous weapons were ones he had left to anchor the shop. Compared to those establishments in the city, the foundation was far shallower!

"Pretty good? More than that."

Pulling a ledger from his bosom, Liu Zheng smiled wryly: "Can't handle it, truly can't handle it!"

Li Yuan flipped through it — the ledger recorded orders for at least top-grade sharp weapons, no fewer than three per order, as many as six or seven, and even quite a few famous weapons!

"The big families in the city — the Liu clan, the Yu clan, the Wang clan, and others — have also placed quite a few orders!"

Liu Zheng explained!

"Normal orders, take them as they come. No need to bother with anything extra!"

Li Yuan naturally understood these families' intentions. Ever since he joined the sect, he didn't know how many families inside and outside the city, or small sects, had tried every way to invite him to banquets!

If he were still in Chilong Prefecture or Dechang Prefecture, he would naturally accept all comers, befriending each family to earn silver, expand his enterprise!

But now, on the contrary, he couldn't do that!

As a quasi-true disciple of Longhu Temple and a quasi-Dao Child of the Great Dragon Gate, he was now someone qualified to be a backer. Precisely because of this, he had to be careful not to have people use his tiger-skin banner to behave recklessly!

"I understand!"

Liu Zheng nodded. His martial talent wasn't high, but over these years, his business ability had greatly improved!

As the two talked, they went to the rear courtyard. After chatting for a while, Li Yuan set down the account book and went into the warehouse alone!

"Five thousand jin of gold, three thousand taels of red gold!"

Before previous promotions of the Soldier Register, gold, silver, and iron materials had been piled high, but now it was just that one small pile. Li Yuan swept a glance and finished taking stock!

A ton and a half of gold really didn't take up much volume, and three hundred jin of red gold looked even smaller!

"My money!"

As usual, he set out the bottles and jars of beast blood. Before the Soldier Register's promotion, Daoist Li had already begun to feel the heartache!

Just in this life — in his previous life, let alone gold by the ton, he had never even seen it by the jin!

"Promote."

Taking a deep breath, Li Yuan extended his right hand. A flash of light, and all the gold materials had vanished!

"Go."

Almost simultaneously, Li Yuan dropped to the ground sitting, his body jolted. Before that thunderous roar exploded, he leapt upward, his spirit leaving his body!

Boom!

Even in the state of his spirit having left his body, Li Yuan heard that roar — as if the sound truly came from the depths of his soul. In just one instant, he felt himself shattered into powder!

He was dazed for quite a while before he pulled through, only to see his physical body sitting cross-legged on the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices, face up to the sky, completely knocked over!

"Too ferocious!"

Li Yuan was still shaken. Confirming the great roar had vanished, he returned to his body. The next moment, intense pain came flooding in like a tide!

This roar was far more violent than the previous few times. He only felt blackness flashing before his eyes, as if someone had smashed his forehead into a pulp head-on!

Fortunately, the medicinal power of the Longhu Great Pill dispersed in time, and the injuries healed rapidly!

"Hoo."

After sitting cross-legged and regulating his breath for quite a while, Li Yuan finally let out a long breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and closed his eyes!

Ninth-tier Soldier Master: Li Yuan.

Number of weapons that can be controlled: Nine — already opened: Divine Fire Platform Weapon Furnace (ninth-tier), Divine Fire Weapon-Forging Platform (ninth-tier), Xing Xing Tongyou Long Corridor (opened).

Li Yuan looked around. The Soldier Register hung like a river of stars, nine great stars shining among them!

Just like previous promotions, the gray stone platform expanded

several times over, appearing extremely vast. The Weapon Furnace and Weapon-Forging Platform were no longer at the edge!

Instead, that Xing Xing Tongyou Long Corridor was still at the edge!

"Could that great roar have come from this corridor?"

Li Yuan sensed his surroundings, his gaze falling on the Xing Xing Tongyou Long Corridor. Without hesitation, he took down the Cleaving Sea Dark Whale Hammer and walked toward that corridor.

Beyond the archway, it was still a stretch of darkness, but unlike the previous pure, colorless dark, this time he could barely make out some things!

The black path beneath the long corridor was faintly visible!

Even though it was opened, Li Yuan carefully touched the corridor. Then he heard a hum, as if a great swath of light and shadow flashed past his eyes!

Then, fragmented information flooded into his mind!

The You Jing is everywhere.

The You Jing contains everything.

The You Jing can only be entered by specific people or talents. Only the fire of the heart-spirit can illuminate the You Jing.

"And then, that's it?"

Li Yuan frowned!

This was even less, even more fragmentary than the information gained when the Weapon Furnace and Weapon-Forging Platform were opened — it didn't even mention how to use it or what it was for!

"Everywhere, containing everything, and only specific people can enter."

Li Yuan glanced at the Cleaving Sea Dark Whale Hammer — the master of a Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing was a specific person. He drew close to the archway and focused his perception. The darkness had faded considerably compared to before the corridor opened, but he could only see the path two steps ahead; beyond that was darkness again!

"This…"

Li Yuan's mind moved, and an unranked weapon fell into the corridor. The next moment, under his gaze, it vanished into thin air!

Like a drop of water seeping into the ground!

"How bizarre."

Li Yuan frowned inwardly—who would dare enter? He tried tossing a few unranked weapons in, focusing intently, but couldn't see how they vanished at all!

The sight gave him chills!

Next, he tried various items—copper coins, broken silver, bone fragments. After many attempts, he found that only a wisp of incense ash didn't disappear immediately upon entering the long corridor!

Instead, after flickering several times, it went out!

"The fire of the heart and spirit—does it mean incense ash?"

Li Yuan's thoughts stirred. He immediately fetched several wisps of incense ash of different ranks and tossed them in along with various weapons and items!

The moment the incense ash entered the long corridor, it lit up, and under its glow, those weapons and items remained untouched. But once the incense ash went out, they vanished into thin air once more!

"To walk this long corridor, one needs incense ash."

After several attempts, Li Yuan reached a conclusion: walking this long corridor—or rather, moving within You Jing—required incense ash, and a great deal of it!

Unranked incense ash lasted only three or four seconds; first-rank was slightly better, but still less than half a minute; second-rank barely exceeded a minute!

"How much incense ash would one trip take?"

Glancing into the pitch-black depths of the long corridor, Li Yuan immediately abandoned the thought of exploring. Incense ash couldn't be wasted like that!

Besides, he knew too little about this You Jing, and felt some apprehension!

The master of the Shan Xuan Whale Hammer could walk within You Jing—what about the masters of other Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing? If they all could, then surely the Dragon Seal and Patriarch Yan Chunyang had entered too?

Li Yuan mulled it over. Such a strange and treacherous place—without understanding it clearly, he wouldn't dare enter even if you beat him to death!

"Risking one's life is not to be done."

Letting out a long breath, Li Yuan opened his eyes, shook off the dust on his body, and pushed open the warehouse door!

"What heavy snow."

In the guest hall upstairs, Pei Pei Xingkong pushed open the window. The wind blew heavy snow, the whole city a blanket of white, and the distant Dragon Tiger mountains were a vast expanse of white!

"Senior Brother Pei, today is the Longhu Temple sect assessment. Sect Leader Long has sent people to invite the martial uncles to attend the ceremony—shall we go too?"

A handsome young man pushed open the door and walked in!

"Attend the ceremony?"

Pei Pei Xingkong was slightly startled: "A sect assessment is worth attending?"

"It's not just the sect assessment—there should also be Zen Master Master Fulong's disciple-acceptance ceremony!"

The young man said!

"Li Yuan."

Pei Pei Xingkong came back to himself, "He's not a true disciple yet."

"He joined the sect not long ago, and Zen Master Master Fulong has been seriously wounded for years—it must have been delayed."

The young man pulled a brand-new Heroes of the Dao Ranking from his robe: "I heard he hasn't even refined marrow, yet the Yunshu Tower has already placed him tenth among the younger generation of the various Daos."

"He killed Yan Yan Chunyang, so placing him in the top ten is no issue. If he hadn't yet refined marrow, he'd surely be higher than tenth!"

Pei Pei Xingkong beckoned, and the long sword in the corner hummed lightly, landing in his palm. Li Yuan's fame was immense—he had heard of it more than once on the road!

"I heard he had the aid of a top-grade divine weapon!"

The young man shook his head!

His name was Jia Jia Zhengxing, a true disciple of Yiqi Mountain Villa, second only to Pei Pei Xingkong among the current generation!

"Without the aid of a divine weapon, he'd have to be first!"

Pei Pei Xingkong shook his head inwardly, striding out the door: "Let's go—I'll see this Dragon Tiger prodigy for myself!"

The disciples of Yiqi Mountain Villa followed one after another!

The wind and snow were heavy, the streets deserted, but at the gates of Longhu Temple it grew lively again!

"People from Sanwei Cave and Changhong Sword Sect are here too!"

Jia Jia Zhengxing said softly!

The wind and snow were no light matter, yet before the gates of Longhu Temple quite a few people had gathered. Apart from Sanwei Cave and Changhong Sword Sect, there were also many sects from other Daozhou!

He swept his gaze across and recognized many!

Brother Zhongli Wang Luan, Yan Jiugong, Chu Hun Tian Zhu, Xie Xie Tongzhi, Pei Jiu, and so on…

"Even people from the Azure Dragon Pavilion are here!"

Pei Pei Xingkong seemed to sense something and looked back. From the far end of the long street, a group approached briskly. Through the wind and snow, he spotted Shi Shi Qingyi at a glance!

"Shi Shi Qingyi!"

Jia Jia Zhengxing's eyes lit up!

She was an exceptionally striking woman, tall and straight-backed, dressed in a blue robe, carrying nothing but a long spear. There was a dashing air to her stride!

She was none other than the current Dao Child of the Azure Dragon Pavilion—Shi Shi Qingyi!

There was a stir before the archway; the people from the other sects also turned to look at the Azure Dragon Pavilion group. As the only woman among the five great Dao Children, Shi Shi Qingyi's fame was truly considerable!

"Gate Master Nie, Brother Brother Tianying!"

Brother Zhongli Wang Luan cupped his hands from afar. What caught his attention was, at the very front of the crowd, Nie Xianshan chatting amiably with the Azure Dragon Pavilion's Vice Pavilion Master Tianyingzi!

"Brother Brother Zhongli, long time no see!"

Tianyingzi was a heroic-looking middle-aged man in a grand golden robe, greeting from afar: "Brother Xie is here too."

"Brother Brother Tianying!"

Xie Xie Tongzhi cupped his hands in return!

Nie Xianshan swept his gaze around briefly, his eyes falling on Pei Pei Xingkong: "Where are your elders?"

"Reporting to Gate Master Nie… Master is still on the way…"