Chapter 556: Five Beasts Together

Screech~

The feathered eagle let out a long cry amidst the mountain ranges, stirring up gusts of wind that made the grass and trees in the mountains rustle 'rustle'.

The Mount Yunmeng Mountain Range has countless mountains and dense forests, stretching for over ten thousand li; even with the King of Feathered Eagles, finding someone within it is extremely difficult.

Until nightfall, the King of Feathered Eagles had exhausted its strength yet still found no trace.

Li Yuan was also concentrating on the search.

Yet even after the Military Talisman promoted ten ranks, allowing him to sense the glow of weapons within three hundred and sixty meters, amidst mountains and rivers spanning ten thousand li, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Not to mention, if a divine weapon is refined to the He Yi Jing realm, it can be hidden within the Yi Shen Jing; unless one is extremely close, changing the bone ornament combination cannot sense it.

"Screech!"

The King of Feathered Eagles let out a light cry, its body trembling as if unable to bear the burden.

"Shall we search again tomorrow?"

Li Yuan sighed inwardly, knowing he could not be too hasty.

He looked at Old Daoist Nie; the latter stood with hands behind his back, overlooking the mountain ranges, maintaining this posture for several hours already.

"No rush."

Nie Xianshan withdrew his gaze; the Pure Yang Longhu Sword on his back unsheathed one foot, its chilling aura spreading, causing the King of Feathered Eagles to let out another mournful cry.

"What are you doing?"

Li Yuan's heart stirred; this Pure Yang Sword was forged by his own hands, and its sword form currently resides in the Nurturing Soldier Ground within the Niwan, so naturally it would not be intimidated by this sword light.

"The Mount Yunmeng Mountains stretch for over ten thousand li and are layered with heavy miasma; finding someone is naturally difficult, yet there is not no way."

Nie Xianshan smiled faintly; only the sound 'clang' was heard as the Pure Yang Sword leaped from its sheath, hovering empty before the two of them.

"You..."

"Rest here for a moment..."

Nie Xianshan offered no explanation; he stepped down from the eagle's back, and the Pure Yang Sword emitted a trembling hum, transforming from a solid sword into a sword light that was half-real, half-illusory, enveloping him within.

Zing~

Li Yuan felt a burst of light before his eyes; in a brief daze, he saw a sword light sweep across a hundred li after another hundred li, leaving behind lingering airflow trails and the sound of air explosions booming like rolling thunder.

It had already vanished from sight, moving at an unimaginable speed.

"Sword-riding flight!"

Li Yuan's eyelid twitched; the air above had just transmitted Nie Xianshan's joyful laughter:

"This old man will be back shortly!"

'... Does this old Daoist have such high aptitude?!'

Paying no mind to Nie Xianshan's deliberately loud laughter, Li Yuan was deeply shocked in his heart.

He had discussed sword-riding flight with Old Daoist Nie only two or three years ago, yet this old Daoist had actually deduced the Xing Zhi Fa of sword-riding flight?!

"This speed..."

Suppressing the throbbing in his heart, Li Yuan recalled what he had just witnessed.

This old Daoist was not standing upon the sword body to borrow the sword for flight; rather, he had refined this Pure Yang Sword, which perfectly matched his spiritual aspect, to the He Yi Jing realm.

The instant he stepped, the sword light split, enveloping him like outward-projecting true qi, resembling a human-shaped flying sword breaking through the void...

"Matching the spiritual aspect with a divine weapon, thus possessing both real and illusory transformations?"

Letting the King of Feathered Eagles land on a desolate mountain, Li Yuan remained immersed in the scene of Nie Xianshan transforming into sword light and departing.

"Gathering the world's rare wonders to form the Yi Shen Jing, nourishing the spiritual aspect with the Yi Shen Jing, and matching the spiritual aspect with a divine weapon..."

Li Yuan murmured to himself; this phrase came from the Art of Treasuring, which he had also found in the libraries of Longhu Temple and the Star-Picking Tower.

This is the cultivation path for Grand Masters and Supreme Grand Masters of the Soldier-Nurturing spiritual aspect.

According to his understanding, it involves continuously absorbing the divine patterns contained within the world's rare wonders to strengthen the Yi Shen Jing and the spiritual aspect, using the divine weapon as a medium to unleash the power of the Yi Shen Jing.

"What about the form of the spiritual beast?"

When Li Yuan came to his senses, the night was already deep; he did not pace, but swept the dust from his sleeves with a flick and sat on the ground, waiting for Nie Xianshan.

Hum~

He closed his eyes and sensed.

Within his brow, the Nine Palaces of Niwan shone brilliantly; inside the First Palace, light and shadow intertwined, visualizing the Long Kun transforming into his spiritual self, landing upon that Nurturing Soldier Ground.

Compared to the beginning, his Nurturing Soldier Ground had not changed much; only when he concentrated could he see two distinct divine patterns.

One was the Pure Yang Longhu Sword, the other the Dark Whale Battle Hammer.

The two divine patterns coexisted within the Nurturing Soldier Ground, yet were clearly separated, unable to rotate at will; this was the First Level of the Soldier-Nurturing Sutra.

Forcing the Battle Hammer to the Chi Dao Wu Zhong realm could not last in the end; it was merely a shortcut method to control the Splitting Sea Dark Whale Hammer.

"Normally, reaching the Fifth Level of the Soldier-Nurturing Sutra requires at least eighty-one divine patterns to nourish and support... without a spiritual aspect, this is simply impossible."

As Li Yuan's thoughts turned, the form of the Pure Yang Sword moved accordingly, transforming into sword light drifting within the realm of spiritual light, half-real, half-illusory.

The benefits of the Zhao Zhao Tianxing-level aptitude were everywhere; though it was merely a fleeting glimpse, he could perfectly replicate the scene of Nie Xianshan riding the sword.

Of course, that required a sword-form spiritual aspect and a divine sword refined to the He Yi Jing realm.

"Will the hammer work?"

As Li Yuan thought, the Dark Whale divine pattern also rose into the air, scattering into a sheet of hammer light, chasing after that sword light.

"A hammer form works too, but as for the speed..."

Li Yuan frowned; riding the sword compared to riding the hammer, under equal conditions, was more than three times faster.

Though not unexpected, this gap was still too large.

Buzzing~

Within the realm of spiritual light, the hammer and sword lights shone together; Li Yuan multitasked, analyzing sword-riding flight while also contemplating the Art of Treasuring.

The tiers of the Treasure-Forging Art are much the same as the Soldier-Nurturing Sutra, equally simple and crude; entry requires only perfectly forging one divine pattern into a magical treasure.

The second tier requires three, and so on; at the sixth tier of the Treasure-Forging Art, one must possess the ability to forge two hundred and forty-three divine patterns into a single magical treasure!

"Two hundred and forty-three divine patterns, perfectly fused into one magical treasure—is this still a magical treasure?"

Li Yuan shook his head inwardly.

He had long had his sights set on Dong Dong Ershisan, especially after obtaining the Spirit Puppet Heart, but the threshold for Spirit Puppet Mastery was simply too high.

This sixth tier of the Treasure-Forging Art, even with his Ru Dao Gong accomplished, could not be cultivated in a single day or night.

Searching for and harvesting rare scenes, outlining divine realms, nourishing spiritual forms... it was complex and precise; haste was impossible.

Moreover, the combination and application of divine patterns were far more difficult and complicated than the combinations of Shape-Shifting...

"I must increase the intensity of collecting bone ornaments."

Li Yuan muttered to himself; the collection and combination of divine patterns were clearly related to the strength of the divine soul.

Regarding Old Daoist Nie, Li Yuan still placed his trust.

Although this old Daoist had become somewhat unrestrained after breaking through the Great Dipper, he was ultimately the master of a sect, a terrestrial immortal.

Whether in combat and killing, or in searching for people, he was naturally far stronger than Li Yuan was now.

"With the connection of True Person Yuan Qing, this old Daoist surely wouldn't truly bully the weak, would he?"

Gazing at the sunrise on the horizon, Li Yuan, who had waited two days on the desolate mountain, felt a certain degree of worry in his heart.

The story of Yun Yun Xianyu and Daoist Yuan Qing was widely circulated, thanks to Daoist Yuan Qing supporting a large number of storytellers.

In the legendary first half of this True Person's life, there were several beautiful confidantes; Yun Yun Xianyu was one of them, and possibly the first.

Had her status not been so special, the One Qi Villa would not have been blocked at its gates for half a year...

"Logically, that shouldn't be the case."

Pinching the space between his eyebrows, Li Yuan rose to his full height and, amidst the swirling mists, practiced the Xu Tui stance, concentrating his spirit and visualizing.

This wait lasted another two and a half days; on the evening of the fifth day at Mount Yunmeng Mountain, just as Li Yuan was practicing the stance, he suddenly heard a dull thunderous explosion from afar.

He gazed into the distance and saw a streak of crimson-gold sword light erupt from a forest far away; with a single turn, it sheared off half a mountain peak.

"They're really fighting?"

Li Yuan leaped into the air; the Plumed Eagle King circling outside the mountain dove down, caught him, and sped rapidly toward the place where the sword light had appeared.

The Plumed Eagle King's speed was extremely fast, but the distant battle ended even faster; that sword light flashed once and then vanished.

When the Plumed Eagle King flapped its wings and dove closer, Li Yuan focused his gaze, yet felt a sigh of relief in his heart.

Beneath the mountain peak that had been sheared off, or rather shredded by the sword light, lay an ironwood forest shrouded in miasma.

Several small houses stood within the forest.

At this moment, outside the ironwood forest, Nie Xianshan stood with his hands behind his back; amidst the swirling crimson-gold sword light, he possessed quite the aura of a Daoist Sword Immortal.

"..."

Li Yuan's gaze was immediately drawn to him; this appearance truly made his eyes burn with desire; a Daoist priest should look exactly like this.

"Screech!"

The Plumed Eagle King dared not approach at all; from ten li away, it let out an urgent cry.

Li Yuan did not urge it; he dropped a spirit pill, descended from the high sky, projected his true qi, and landed steadily outside the ironwood forest.

Only then did he see, before the ironwood forest, a woman holding a dragon-head cane, her hair already white, yet showing no trace of old age on her face.

Li Yuan sighed with relief and, after landing, bowed in greeting:

"Junior Li Yuan pays respects to Senior Yun."

He bowed once, but his gaze was immediately drawn to the earthen jar at Nie Xianshan's feet; with just one glance, his heart trembled:

'The old Daoist is still reliable.'

"This is the blood you wanted."

Nie Xianshan flicked his sleeve, and the earthen jar flew toward Li Yuan; the latter caught it with both hands, held it carefully, and thanked him:

"Thank you, Junior Uncle; thank you, Senior Yun."

This was the benefit of bringing someone along.

With the final type of Five-Beast Blood obtained, the heavy stone in Li Yuan's heart settled, yet he understood that without Old Daoist Nie's sword strike, that senior covered in murderous aura clearly would not have been so easy to talk to.

"Enough nonsense!"

Yun Yun Xianyu's voice was low, her brows filled with resentment and killing intent:

"Nie Xianshan said you could take me to see that old beast; you better truly have that ability, otherwise I..."

"Otherwise what?"

Nie Xianshan sneered: "If not for that old beast you speak of, this Daoist would either have cut you down with a single sword strike or bound you before speaking!"

'A shrew.'

Li Yuan felt his teeth ache; if not for gathering the Five-Beast Blood, he would never have involved himself in the love and hate dramas of these old men and women, even if beaten to death.

At this moment, he naturally nodded repeatedly:

"This junior learned of your whereabouts from the True Person's own mouth; I imagine he also wishes to see you, otherwise, how could he have revealed your location?"

With the blood obtained, Li Yuan only wanted to find a place to perform the Heaven's Bestowal of Talisman ritual and had no desire to create unnecessary trouble.

"He would wish to see me?"

Yun Yun Xianyu's expression changed.

Li Yuan did not reply; he merely bowed slightly and took out the Eight-Directions Token.

Buzz~

Within You Jing, light and shadow interwove.

Activating the token to send Yun Yun Xianyu into the Eight Directions Temple, Li Yuan did not linger for even a moment, not even wanting to watch the excitement. He turned and left You Jing at once, returning to Cloud Dream Mountain.

The moonlight hung overhead. Li Yuan found a cave in a shaded spot on the mountain and took out the blood of the five sacrificial animals:

"Heaven bestows the register…"