Chapter 435: The Great Affairs of the World Are Only Sacrifice and Cultivation

"You suspect Wan Wan Zhuliu came for you?"

Qin Li Shixian also caught on.

"It's not impossible."

The old man felt a measure of relief; though he'd suffered a great loss this time, it wasn't entirely without gain—at the very least, the girl had learned to think things through.

Qin Li Shixian was rather at a loss for words—did the old man really think she was slow-witted or something?

She simply sometimes didn't care to think things through; most of the time, her mind was plenty sharp.

"Without confirming whether this old man is alive or dead, they won't feel at ease. I'd wager the encirclement of the main headquarters may well have been meant in part to force this old man to show himself."

The old man only tossed that out casually; at this moment, his interest in Li Yuan was far greater!

"This boy may have some kind of special constitution. This old man was too far away to see clearly—bring him to the Eight Directions Tower…"

"That, I'm afraid, can't be taken away."

Qin Li Shixian frowned inwardly: "Setting aside whether Long Long Yingchan will release him, this boy himself is afraid."

After two years together, she had a fair idea of what sort of person Li Yuan was.

The boy was obsessed with martial arts to the point of madness, preferred stillness to activity, and without some outside push, she felt he could spend a lifetime without ever leaving the mountain.

"That's not up to him." The old man was unconcerned.

"Are you going to use force?"

Qin Li Shixian frowned.

"There's no need for force."

The old man gazed into the night, his eyes gleaming faintly:

"Wan Wan Zhuliu is a man of towering pride. Years ago I wounded him once and he still harbors a grudge over it—his blade-intent, which he used to temper his saber, has been pulled out one after another by someone. How could he let it rest?"

"Mm?"

Qin Li Shixian's heart chilled: "He'll come."

"Whether he comes or not, this old man can't say for certain. But as long as Long Long Yingchan and the others believe he won't let it rest—"

The old man smiled faintly: "Can't say for sure, but he might end up begging this old man to take this boy away?"

"How could that be possible?"

Qin Li Shixian wouldn't believe it—she knew all too well how tenacious those two old monks were. Just thinking about what happened that day made her head throb dully again.

"Let's go."

The old man didn't explain, urging her on:

"By the timing of it, those few minor deities should have been caught by now. Let's go watch the fun."

He was already used to it!

A 'whoosh' cut through the night wind.

Li Yuan followed the sound with his eyes and saw the little tiger cub dart swiftly into the night.

"This little night-cat…"

Li Yuan shook his head inwardly, not minding; the little fellow rarely stayed home.

He pushed open the door and went back inside; in the corner, the little mouse was fast asleep.

"Come to think of it, that Lei Quan is truly unruly and untamed. It's been quite a few days now—I should probably think of a way to handle it."

Li Yuan glanced back toward the direction of Hundred Beasts Mountain. In the night he could faintly hear wolves howling; he'd gone to check several times, and that Lei Quan had tormented Zhang Ah-Da so badly he'd lost a few jin of weight.

Spirit-beasts are easier to tame than wild beasts—after all, they have spiritual intelligence and understand fear and survival—but not every spirit-beast can be tamed.

Like that white crane of Xin Xin Wenhua's, which took several generations to breed and tame. A wild spirit-beast king is far too difficult to tame.

"If it really won't work, I'll just knock it over in the night, cut out that thunder-beast spirit pellet, then stitch its belly back up…"

Li Yuan muttered inwardly.

The night deepened. He went to the kitchen and made himself a stir-fried rice with Nuqing eggs, made do with a meal, then returned to his room and lay down, reviewing and sorting through the gains and losses of the day.

And taking stock of his harvest while he was at it.

First, naturally, was that Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing of the tenth-grade Great Sun Surveillance Mirror—a great haul second only to the Dragon-Tiger Longevity Furnace. The one flaw was that the conditions for wielding it could not be met.

"Only seven layers of the Half-Bai Shen Zheng Fa have been mastered; the ninth layer remains far out of reach. As for the Great Sun Form, among the jianghu, the only related technique is the 'Great Sun Golden Form' of the Three Emptiness Grotto."

On the gray Dingxin Dingxin Shitai, the bronze mirror radiated a faint glow.

"Great Sun God-Slaughter, Pure Yang Physique."

The wielding conditions for this mirror were excellent—one was a special constitution; the other, Li Yuan guessed, should be the spiritual-imaging method of that Dayun founding emperor.

It might well be some kind of killing move.

"A nine-faced, tenth-grade Great Sun Surveillance Mirror—could Pang Pang Wenlong have been trying to forge a Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing?"

Li Yuan could sense this man's ambition and grand designs.

A figure who single-handedly pacified a chaotic age, subdued the Wudadao Sect, and suppressed the myriad evil gods—such a person's will and achievements truly deserved the title of 'Great Sun.'

But clearly, he had failed.

"The materials of the Sea-Splitting Mystic Whale Hammer and the Dragon-Tiger Longevity Furnace are star-cores, cores of stars—these aren't something any heavenly treasure can compare with. And the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing is very likely connected to the Myriad Gods Sacrifice…"

Li Yuan guessed at the reason for his failure.

A founding emperor of a dynasty, master of all under heaven, at the height of his prestige, scouring the realm for every heavenly treasure—one can imagine this was the most grand-scale forging in several thousand years.

Even Old Daoist Nie's grand undertaking would pale beside this one's.

"The great affairs of the world are only sacrifice and cultivation—cultivate oneself, sacrifice to the gods…"

Recalling the contents of the Ji Shen Pian, Li Yuan's thoughts drifted. This saying may not have originated from Jin Linzi himself, but clearly, both he and Cang Huang Longzi deeply endorsed it!

It was even placed above cultivation.

Regarding this, Daoist Li understood it very thoroughly.

After all, even now, every time the Soldier Seal or the Sound Seal advanced, he would still hold a Heaven-Bestowing Investiture ceremony.

The effect of investiture on him was even greater than martial arts itself.

"There's a difference. What Daoist worships is Heaven, is the Patriarch, not outer gods."

Pressing down the scattered thoughts in his heart, Li Yuan was genuinely a bit drowsy, so he squinted his eyes and began his pre-sleep listening.

Killing the Ink Dragon had brought him quite a bit of incense.

"The advancement of the Sound Seal…"

Leaning against the headboard, Li Yuan listened. He actually cared far less about the advancement of the Sound Seal than the Soldier Seal, the reason being the latter showed obvious results.

Although he knew information was very important.

"Setting aside what's needed for merging weapons, I can begin the advancement."

Li Yuan's thoughts turned.

On the gray stone platform, the wooden slip glowed with a faint light. As wisps of incense were consumed, various sounds echoed in his ears.

"In a hidden place, the divine constables of the Jingping Bureau are searching the mountain, intending to find the Star-Plucking Tower people who fled into the mountains and disappeared."

"In the mountains of Dragon Tiger Temple, someone whispered that the Monitoring Heaven Instrument shook three times, suspected—"

"In the Hundred Beasts Mountain, Lei Quan is exhausted, lying prone in a pool, waiting for a chance to escape."

"The True Succession seat has changed hands. Many families in Mount Hengshan City have set banquets at the Guest-Greeting Tower to discuss various matters. Someone suggested they should look after the business of the Weapon-Forging Shop."

Based on the grade of the Sound Seal itself, the sounds obtained from first and second grade incense were actually not bad in grade, and there was no lack of useful intelligence—of course, one had to sift through them.

Li Yuan heard intelligence about the Star-Plucking Tower.

"Old Han hasn't sent word for so long, probably being hunted too? Good thing the imperial court seems unable to find him for now?"

Li Yuan focused his attention.

These past few days, he had actually gathered quite a bit of similar intelligence, but it was all more or less the same—the imperial court's arrests, and the Star-Plucking Tower's main rudder gone missing, that sort of thing.

The sounds heard through the Sound Seal had no pattern. He had listened to who knows how many, and still hadn't heard news of Old Han. Instead, there was a great pile of all sorts of nonsense, which at least broadened his horizons.

"Once that Star-Plucking Tower Master's injuries heal, the pursuit should be able to end. Old Han is an old hand too, he should be fine, right?"

Li Yuan muttered to himself.

After his previous refusal, that Tower Master never showed up again, seemingly already having left Dragon Tiger Temple, which put his mind considerably at ease.

As long as the Star-Plucking Tower Master didn't die, the so-called pursuit was meaningless.

"Switch to fourth-grade incense and try."

Li Yuan's thought stirred, and wisps of fourth-grade incense had already risen.

Up they rose, and immediately, the listening began: "Beyond people there are people, beyond heaven there is heaven. Someone sought an audience with the Qian Emperor, claiming to come from beyond heaven. The Qian Emperor was half-believing, half-doubting, and summoned the imperial disciples to meet him. That person shook his head, only saying the affinity was insufficient…"

"A person from beyond heaven?"

Li Yuan's spirit jolted—this was a fine start.

"Claims to come from beyond heaven—true or false?"

Li Yuan's sleepiness mostly vanished. Regarding beyond heaven, the only living thing currently known was that Hall-Bearing Spirit Turtle. Now it seemed it might not be the only one? He pondered in his heart and noted it down.

As the fourth-grade incense drifted, another listening sounded: "In certain mountains, from the darkness of an underground palace came painful roars. The Xie Shen Fa's Fayin Fayin Tongzi was severely wounded, growling and cursing at the old loach…"

Fayin Fayin Tongzi?

Li Yuan recalled the person who had been pinned dead by Daoist Priest Nie's sword in that rainy night before.

The incense drifted, bursting with light.

The randomness of listening was great. Li Yuan tried a dozen more times in succession and heard no further intelligence about that suspected person from beyond heaven. Instead, he heard a piece of secret news about the Xinyi Sect, related to the Divine Dragon Mustard Staff.

"The Xinyi Sect actually secretly got their hands on the Divine Dragon Mustard Staff?"

Li Yuan was slightly startled.

There were only so many ownerless Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing. The Sea-Calming Mystic Tortoise Armor fell into Wan Wan Zhuliu's hands, the Sea-Splitting Mystic Whale Hammer was with him, and the Divine Dragon Mustard Staff was obtained by the Xinyi Sect.

The only ownerless one left was the Da Huang Jia Hai Purple-Gold Spear?

"A martial artist who has achieved Great Success in Blood Exchange, whose physique is superhuman, and who cultivates an absolute divine art, can even transform into various beast forms—even dragons and tigers. And certain powerful spirit beasts that have lived for many years can also take human form!"

"In the North Sea, in Hengliu City, an old man props up a great black umbrella, setting up a fortune-telling stall. He is waiting, searching for such a dragon beast…"

"Dragon beast? Demon?"

Li Yuan was slightly startled.

Beast transformation into human form usually only appeared in legends, hard to tell true from false. At least none of the books he had read recorded it clearly, but the sounds obtained through the Sound Seal were undeniably real.

"North Sea's Hengliu City? That seems to be Azure Dragon Pavilion's territory?"

Li Yuan chewed on this; this listening made him think of many things.

In the Cloud-Relief Tower, there was a list of spirit beasts under heaven, enumerating the various spirit beasts that had appeared over several thousand years. In the North Sea region, there had once been a King Cang Dragon, rumored to have killed a Grand Master with a single bite.

On the list of spirit beasts under heaven, it ranked second, only after the Qianshan Qianshan Qilin.

"The North Sea Cang Dragon."

The first thing Li Yuan thought of was this Cang Dragon, and then he connected it to the intelligence he had heard previously while listening to the Heavenly Sound.