Chapter 468: On the Road

Spirit pills, spirit rice, pots, pans, bowls, and basins.

A change of clothes, various weapons, and the obvious bundles.

Several days later, at dawn, Li Yuan packed up his bags, brought along Little Mouse, said goodbye to his brother and sister-in-law, as well as the two little ones playing in the yard, and stepped out the door.

Before leaving, he went to pay his respects to the Old Dragon Head.

In the small temple, Long Xi Xiang seemed to be waiting for him as well; regarding Li Yuan going down the mountain, he was glad to see it happen.

When he was at Li Yuan's age, he never stayed on the mountain, but traveled between various Dao and various provinces, either competing with others, or touring mountains and rivers, taking in the beautiful scenery!

"This booklet records the local customs and practices of various places from when I, old man, traveled down the mountain years ago. You can read it when you're free on the road!"

Long Xi Xiang was in a good mood, with a touch of sentimentality!

He recalled a hundred years ago, when he himself went down the mountain for the first time, the instructions from his own master!

"Thank you, Master!"

Li Yuan reached out to take it. Traveling the jianghu was nothing unusual for Zhou Sect disciples; he had only come to bid farewell to his master as a matter of routine!

"In the old days, when I, old man, went down the mountain, your Grandmaster gave me a saying: 'Where you can spare a man, spare him!'"

Long Xi Xiang paused slightly: "This saying, I don't intend to pass on to you!"

"Uh."

Li Yuan looked up!

"I, old man, am impatient and rigid, while you have a bit of timidity!"

Long Xi Xiang was somewhat uneasy, for no other reason than

his disciple's temperament truly did not resemble his own!

"When traveling the jianghu, don't deliberately stir up trouble,

but if you encounter trouble, deal with it decisively, and leave no future trouble behind!"

Long Xi Xiang instructed: "If you hesitate, you can quickly send a letter back,

and the Dragon Chant Hall has hidden agents everywhere; you may deploy them at will!"

"This disciple understands!"

Li Yuan lowered his head in acknowledgment, his expression somewhat strange!

He certainly did not consider himself timid, but the Old Dragon Head's words, he still deeply agreed with!

"Mm!"

Long Xi Xiang said nothing more, simply beckoned, took out the Cang Dragon Kasaya, and tossed it to Li Yuan!

"This kasaya, I, old man, have no use for anymore. You wear it; it might be of some use!"

The Old Dragon Head would brook no argument!

Li Yuan certainly had no intention of refusing either. Among the augmentation effects of this kasaya was the form of a Spirit Jiao, which was of some use to him!

"Go!

"

Long Xi Xiang waved his hand, watched Li Yuan leave the door, then turned, lit incense... and paid homage to the Ancestral Master!

Regarding Li Yuan going down the mountain, he was still at ease!

It wasn't that Li Yuan himself was so seasoned, but because of Qin Yun—with this one's accompaniment, unless the boy wanted to sneak into the imperial palace itself, there would be no danger to speak of!

But to be safe, he still sent the Cang Dragon Kasaya away. The kasaya itself wasn't important; what mattered was the true qi he had left on it!

The Dragon Tiger True Lineage going down the mountain was no big matter, and Li Yuan made no fanfare of it. He merely said a word to those he was acquainted with, then boarded the Xin Yi Jiao's

great ship!

After the Various Dao Martial Exhibition was halted, most sects dispersed,

and the people of Xinyi Sect also split into several batches; this was the last batch!

Leading the group was Monk Liaokong, and accompanying them were Wan Chuan and his master and disciple. The Seven Star Palace they belonged to was also part of Thunder Sound Great Province!

Nominally, the Zhou Sects did not subordinate to one another, but all the sects of Thunder Sound Great Province took the Xinyi Sect as their leader!

The Xinyi Sect's ship was quite grand, six decks up and down, with nearly a hundred rooms. Li Yuan was arranged on the topmost deck, next door to Monk Liaokong.

The view here was expansive; looking around, one could see most of the ships on the Grand Canal, as well as the magnificent giant city in the distance!

"Junior Brother Li, is this your first time going down the mountain?"

On the sixth deck, a large umbrella was propped up. Beneath it, Monk Liaokong had brought over a chess board, playing and chatting with Li Yuan!

"It's not really the first time; I've traveled the jianghu before!"

Li Yuan casually placed a piece!

From the Weapon Forging Shop to the Divine Weapon Valley to Delu Prefecture, and then to Dragon Tiger Temple, he could be considered to have traveled the jianghu to some extent!

"Junior Brother Li's disposition is steady; this little monk truly admires it!"

Monk Liaokong was making conversation out of nothing!

In fact, intelligence on Li Yuan had long since been placed on the desks of many forces, and he had reviewed it many times!

As for Li Yuan's many deeds, he also knew them like the back of his hand!

"Senior Brother Liaokong, you flatter me; I just don't like going out!"

Li Yuan chatted with him in fits and starts. Perhaps because he'd been in arduous cultivation for too long, going down the mountain this time, he felt his state of mind had broadened considerably!

The two weren't that familiar to begin with. After one game of chess, Liaokong took his leave; he still had to entertain Wan Chuan—a Divine Smith who had forged top-grade divine

weapons naturally had to be properly courted!

Li Yuan was happy to have some peace and quiet!

Beneath the big umbrella, he brought over a reclining chair, lay down leisurely, and flipped through the notes the Old Dragon Head had left him!

As he had said, this booklet recorded his early travels around the world. Compared to a travelogue, it was more like a diary!

"On the third day of the sixth month, the ship sailed to Youzhou. I heard that the Seven Shades Gate had produced a genius named Yun Yun Haisheng, so I went gladly, defeated him in ten moves, and left!"

"On the sixteenth day of the ninth month, I traveled on foot to Dingzhou. I heard that the master of Yellow Dragon Mountain Manor, Jin Jin Shengwu, had penetrated yin and yang and was a Rudao Sect master. I went to pay a visit, fought across realms, and lost!"

"On the twenty-seventh day of the first month, I rode alone to Huizhou. There was little to gain in Zhun Long Palace. Several people avoided battle, so I struck by night and won!"

"On the twenty-tenth day of the tenth month, I arrived at Mount Yunmeng Dao. Wei Wei Tianzuo of Changhong Sword Sect had attained the profound mysteries of the sword dao. He lost to my hand, what a pity. Shen Shen Qisheng had defected, so I had no chance to see his ultimate technique of sword-light splitting into garments,

How could there be any

local customs?

"

Li Yuan muttered to himself. The old dragon-head was purely keeping a record of battles. From the time he left Dragon Tiger Temple, wandering through various daos and states, he had done only one thing!

That was to challenge experts!

From the Daodao Sect down to the Fu Sect, anyone with a name abroad, he visited one by one, challenged one by one, and even challenged marquises of the imperial court!

Among them, the Star-Plucking Tower was also mentioned. He joined the Star-Plucking Tower also for the sake of dueling!

Those who were bounty targets, he fought; assassins of every stripe from the Star-Plucking Tower, he also fought!

Compared to his own record of zero missions, Long Xi Xiang had truly assassinated many scourges of the jianghu—of course, more of them were the mixed bag of assassins from the Star-Plucking Tower!

In the end, with the identity of a true transmission disciple of Dragon Tiger Temple and a dao-child of the Great Dragon Gate, he fought his way all the way to the Star-Plucking Tower's main altar, becoming one of the Heaven-rank assassins!

"No wonder Master-Grandfather told him to be merciful where mercy is due—this really is!"

Li Yuan clicked his tongue in amazement!

The span of this diary was as long as twenty-three years. Whether Long Xi Xiang had returned to the mountain during that time, he did not know!

But along this journey, he had broken through from the initial completion of meridian-opening all the way to penetrating yin and yang, and his fame spread throughout the world!

And spread throughout the world!

The fame of Zen Master Fu Long was forged exactly like this!

Of those recorded in his diary, those still alive today were all masters of the first rank, among whom even several Grand Masters were involved!

Wei Wei Tianzuo, Grand Master Master Dading, Tian Tian Shezi, True Person Feng Yuanqing.

"No wonder back then, many people thought the old dragon-head would become a Land Immortal and take charge of Dragon Tiger Temple!"

Li Yuan felt a touch of emotion!

Long Xi Xiang's records were very concise, but between the lines one could also see the high spirits of his younger days—traveling the jianghu, inviting the world to duel, so bold and unrestrained!

At the end of the booklet, Long Xi Xiang accepted Wang Wang Wenyuan's invitation and went to Shendu City; after that, the pages had been torn out!

"Too rigid, and one breaks easily!"

Li Yuan's heart chilled slightly. He also knew what happened afterward. Before the old dragon-head accepted the invitation to Shendu, he had been in high spirits, with hopes of becoming a Land Immortal, the foremost of the Three Heroes of Dragon Tiger!

When he returned, he was already gaunt and haggard, his qi and blood in decline, a living corpse who sat in stillness for over forty years without being able to leave the mountain!

"When wandering the jianghu, survival comes first!"

Heshangjuan Sect, Li Yuan paced the deck for a while. After eating, he only then returned

to his room!

Going down the mountain did not mean relaxing. The benefit of traveling with the caravan was that one need not toil over trivial matters, and could save time to practice martial arts!

"Hoo!"

In the small room, Li Yuan performed the Xu Tui stance-work!

With his current attainments in martial learning, even the most violent Wu Gong could be executed in the gentlest manner within the smallest space!

Even for a divine stance-work like the Dragon Tiger Great Stance!

"Without the augmentation of the Dragon Tiger Health-Preserving Furnace, it's still a bit hard to get used to!"

With half-closed eyes, Li Yuan muttered to himself!

The augmentation of the Dragon Tiger Health-Preserving Furnace was tremendous, especially the physical talent, which made his progress extremely fast when practicing stance-work and horizontal training!

But his current focus was never on horizontal training and stance-work to begin with!

Wielding all manner of divine weapons, altering talents, until gathering a thousand forms—that was the most pressing thing he wished to do at present!

The scene many days ago when Dao Lord Long activated the Health-Preserving Furnace was still unforgettable to him!

Admittedly, his true qi cultivation was far from comparable to Dao Lord Long's, but if he thoroughly mastered the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing, he could at least unleash part of it, right?

"A Grand Master, without a Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing to protect the body, may not necessarily survive a single hammer strike from me, right?"

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes. In the Weapon Registry, the Lie Wang Shen radiated a faint, ghostly light. Toward this, he held expectations in his heart!

The Health-Preserving Furnace, Tian Huo Yin, and the Azure Dragon Armor were not killing divine weapons, but the Whale Hammer was.

"Hoo."

After completing several sets of stance-work, Li Yuan wielded the Thunder Beast Spirit Pill, using it to accelerate the digestion of the Yi Bai Xing Dan!

At the same time, with single-minded focus, he mobilized the true qi throughout his body to flush

his organs, meridians, and bones!

The step from Great Accomplishment of Marrow Refinement to Blood Replacement carried a certain degree of danger, and even he had to be extremely cautious!

True qi entering the marrow was no safer than entering the brain. Within Dragon Tiger Temple, there was no lack of examples of genius disciples going wrong at this step and

having their martial dao path cut short!

"The essence of Blood Replacement lies in true qi—true qi entering the marrow, stimulating the generation of new blood, and new blood replacing the old. This process took the old dragon-head six months, and it is said that this step requires at least a hundred days!"

The Hundred-Day Blood Replacement Barrier was the process of new blood replacing the old. During this process, the tendons, bones, skin, flesh, organs, marrow, and even true qi itself would undergo a tremendous advancement!

The true state of casting off the old and being reborn, of qi and blood united—the peak state of the physical body…

"Hoo."

After a moment,

Li Yuan opened his eyes and switched out the Thunder Beast Spirit Pill. In the corner, the little mouse let out a "squeak squeak"!

Li Yuan suppressed his aura; the door was pushed open, and the little tiger cub poked its head in for a glance, looking somewhat suspicious!

For a fleeting moment, she felt as though a ferocious beast were baring its teeth inside the room!

Strange. After one glance, the little tiger cub turned and left. Li Yuan's room was small, but the ship was large; she had no desire to squeeze into the same room with that stinky boy!

"Three Yan Yan Sanxing have been added."

Loosening his muscles and bones, Li Yuan felt quite pleased. Seeing the little rat somewhat terrified and uneasy, he generously took out a Spirit Pill!

He still had two Longhu Longhu Dadan unused; the several hundred Spirit Pills on his person were temporarily unnecessary.

"Squeak."

The little rat widened its eyes, hugged the Spirit Pill, and forgot its fear entirely!

"Eat slowly, don't rush!"

Stroking the little rat's smooth fur, Li Yuan smiled slightly, lay down fully clothed, and listened to the sound of sleep!

Traveling itself must not disrupt his daily routine!

After a month of sailing, they switched to land travel!

Over the preceding two months, Li Yuan had reached the territory of the Great Lei Yin Province; the anticipated assassination never materialized.

Neither the imperial court nor the Xieshen Sect seemed to have remembered him!

Instead, some young knights and great heroes of the Jianghu, having heard of his whereabouts, came to visit or to challenge him!

To this, Li Yuan, despite his busy schedule, made time!

Unfortunately, among those who came, there were truly no experts; at best, they could match Old Han fifty-fifty, and were

suppressed by him with a casual gesture!

Afterwards, naturally, a wave of incense income was recorded!

Repeating this many times, during the two months after descending the mountain, he listened to the sound daily; the incense from the lower realms was even greater than before he descended!

That evening, before nightfall, the caravan arrived at a small city!

Upon entering the city, the monks of the Xinyi Sect went to seek out gambling houses, while Li Yuan pulled Zikong and Master Wan Chuan to a wine shop!

Fine food was one of the few pastimes Li Yuan had enjoyed on his journey down the mountain!