Chapter 655

Li Yuan had no intention of challenging these senior brothers now; the realm gap was too vast, offering no benefit for tempering—only pure suffering.

Still, he recorded all the information about these senior brothers; who knew when it might come in handy.

He exited the Combat Hall and opened the "Tai Xu Wan Xiang."

Wu~

On the stone platform's cushion, Li Yuan sensed the starry expanse manifested by Tai Xu Wan Xiang, his mind turning as he combed through countless pieces of information within it.

Not only had the Combat Hall changed significantly, but Tai Xu Wan Xiang had too—most notably, some information he previously could not uncover was now visible.

For instance, Du Long Shen.

Each search cost one hundred yuan coins, but last time his search yielded: 【Per the Universal Knowledge Law of the Multiverse, some search results are withheld.】

This time…

【…Detecting searcher's authorization: Mount Dongxuan Mountain's Inner Disciple rank, partial content accessible…】

【Du Long Shen: True name concealed, known as Du Long Zun Shen, a celestial beast of the "Poison Flame Dragon Snake" that attained the Dao; influenced by his Zhi Gen Ben Fa and cultivated Gu Gu Shentong, his nature is exceedingly ferocious…】

【Du Long Shen cultivates the Zhi Gen Ben Fa "Bai Yan Wan Du Jing," has forged the Gu Gu Shentong "Bai Long Wang Luan Fa" and "Wan Du Mo Yan"… attained the Dao before the fall of the Yuanqi Divine Dynasty…】

【His "Daochang" lies within "Gui Xu Layer Three"; due to his extreme lifespan nearing its end, he rarely leaves his Daochang, and unless a grand sacrifice is held, he almost never manifests in the mortal realm…】

【…His Du Long Daochang is divided into Gold, Green, Yellow, Red, White… each generation has five Dao Zun, five Dao Zi, forty-five True Transmissions, nine disciples per lineage…】

【One generation per thousand years, one cycle comprises one hundred twenty generations; nearly two cycles have passed, and all disciples who died of old age after surviving the Dao Ascension Tribulation reside within his Daochang…】

…

Compared to last time's utter silence, this search result was downright detailed!

"Is this the true value of a Da Luo Tianmen disciple?!"

Li Yuan's spirit surged, yet he strangely felt it was normal.

The Du Long Academy had existed for only two cycles; Da Luo Tian had endured at least seventy-three cycles—their foundational disparity was likely far greater than he'd imagined.

"Huang Longzi lied—he said Du Long Shen wasn't a ferocious deity, but if he isn't, then there are barely any ferocious deities across the myriad realms…"

Li Yuan memorized every detail from the search, realizing he'd vastly underestimated the true value of Da Luo Tianmen disciples.

The Laozu of the Du Long Academy, an ancient monster who attained the Dao two cycles ago, cultivated only a "Jing-level" Zhi Gen Ben Fa—yet Da Luo Tian's Inner Disciples studied almost exclusively Jing-level Gong Fa.

Take Yu Yu Wangxian, the top Inner Disciple—he cultivates a "Dao-level" Gong Fa!

"Search: Yang Yang Wu Ji Dao!"

Li Yuan's mind stirred.

【One search costs one hundred yuan coins. Proceed?】

"Yes!"

【Per the Universal Knowledge Law of the Multiverse, some search results are withheld.】

"…"

Li Yuan frowned slightly: "Tai Xu Ge… no, this must be the will of Da Luo Tian…"

"Inner Disciples normally have no authority to access Dao-level Gong Fa…"

Li Yuan's mind was clear—he decisively searched for "He Lian Mo Zhu Xian Yang Jian," and the result was identical: withheld.

He wasn't angered; he searched for "Yu Yu Wangxian" again—still withheld.

"This isn't right!"

Li Yuan realized: someone had blocked Yu Yu Wangxian's information—and who that was went without saying.

"The true worth of ninth place on the Wei Tian Yan Wu monthly list."

Only now did Li Yuan truly grasp the weight of the Wei Tian Yan Wu list—within Tai Xu Wan Xiang, Yu Yu Wangxian's information carried far greater weight than even Du Long Zun Shen's.

After this, Li Yuan ceased attempting to probe the top Inner Disciple, instead targeting his searches based on the hundred books he'd previously read.

"Search: Detailed explanations of magical techniques…"

"Search: Artifacts crafting!"

"Search: White Bone Dao Bing!"

"Search: All True Transmissions of Mount Dongxuan Mountain…"

"Search: Eight Directions Temple…"

"Search: How to break the 'Heavenly Sun Calamity' brought by the Eight Directions Temple…"

"…How to relocate a life-star?"

…

This search lasted a full Shi Shi Zuzu day.

Li Yuan had spent nearly one hundred thousand yuan coins, yet after asking all his questions, he had less than two thousand yuan coins left.

"The Tong Shi Ball is a wonderful tool…"

Li Yuan snapped out of his trance, recalling he'd burned nine strands of seventh-grade incense—his heart ached: "This is too fast."

Yet he reconsidered: one Xiao Gong could be exchanged for one hundred strands of Yuan Fire—perhaps it wasn't so excessive after all…

"Bullshit!"

Li Yuan decisively crushed this extravagant thought.

Shan Gong was far harder to obtain than incense; Inner Disciples received only Shi Er Xiao Gong per year—and that's for Inner Disciples; visiting disciples got half, and nominal disciples got half again.

"The expenditure is great, but so is the gain."

In the bamboo pavilion, Li Yuan still hadn't opened his eyes; he wielded the "Five Senses Set," rapidly digesting his recent gains.

The Tong Shi Ball's utility was immense—especially for him now; in just half a night, he felt his grasp of basic common knowledge surpassed that of the female dragon who'd lived in Tian Shi Yuan for a hundred years.

"Li…"

Li Yuan opened his eyes—the female dragon had drawn near, her mouth opening, yet she suddenly felt awkward, instinctively restraining herself from her usual loudness:

"Could you help me buy a Tongshi Orb?"

"Why so polite?"

Li Yuan sensed something was off, and with a slight shift of thought already knew what this little female dragon was thinking, but he had no intention of correcting her.

The Dayun Dynasty's hierarchy was strict, but in the San Yuan Fa Jie, even in the myriad realms of the heavens, where was it not strict?

No other reason—high status often meant high cultivation!

Like his senior disciples, not to mention the two senior brothers who had entered the Weitian Martial Ranking, the others were also fierce people above the San Si Jing.

If it were them here, the little female dragon probably wouldn't even dare to breathe!

"No…"

The little female dragon had long lost the thought of asking Li Yuan to help her rebuild her physical body:

"Could you help me buy a Tongshi Orb? I, I want to contact my family's Laozu Sect first…"

"What is it?"

Li Yuan glanced at her, still somewhat unaccustomed to her being so obedient, but although he had no intention of correcting her attitude, he never did the thing of arbitrarily correcting other people's ways of handling matters.

But once he had agreed to something, he would not go back on his word:

"You don't need me to rebuild your physical body anymore?"

"Ah?"

Seeing his attitude as usual, and even remembering their agreement, the little female dragon was even somewhat flattered:

"Th-thank you!"

She had never had contact with the Weitian Dao Sect, but from Li Yuan's casual narration, she also vaguely knew that this Mount Mount Dongxuan was at least an existence no inferior to the Poison Dragon Academy.

And she had seen inner disciples of the Poison Dragon Academy back in the day, that sort of arrogance and overbearingness, she still could not forget.

"When it gets light, I'll go to the spirit beast area to take a look."

Li Yuan looked at the brightening sky, rose and went downstairs.

Outside the bamboo building, a faint aroma of spirit rice had already drifted over. Li Yuan was somewhat curious about Li Yi's process of preparing spirit cuisine, so he went out to take a look.

At first glance, it was not much different from an ordinary household cooking.

But on closer inspection, Li Yuan sensed something was off—the fire in that stove used charcoal made from spirit wood, and the fire that rose carried the aura of magic power.

Li Yi concentrated fully, using magic power to control the fire from afar, the temperature control was exquisite, and the spirit rice in the pot changed accordingly. Only a very small portion of the aroma escaped; the vast majority of spirit Qi, through the action of spirit water and magic power, was firmly locked within the spirit rice.

The little female dragon watched curiously; even without a physical body, that faint aroma still made her somewhat drool.

"This process has a bit of the meaning of alchemy and refining treasures!"

With the enhancement of the Five Senses Set, Li Yuan's perception was deeper, and he could faintly sense the changes in the divine pattern aura within the spirit rice—spirit cuisine preparation was actually also related to divine patterns.

"No wonder many books say divine patterns are the foundation of cultivation, truly involving every aspect!"

Not wanting to disturb Li Yi's preparation of spirit cuisine, Li Yuan walked out of the small courtyard.

One night had passed, and the barren mountain where he was had already undergone great changes.

With his small courtyard as the center, the spirit puppets had built several two-story bamboo buildings. In the distance, the tangled trees had all been cut down, and even the mountaintop had been leveled.

"Master."

Li Er bowed and reported:

"Following your instructions, the small building where you reside has not been expanded. The Qi-gathering Platform is built at the edge of the cliff. As for the others, such as the Dao Soldier Residence, it is estimated that they will have to be built down the mountain, or in other mountains…"

"Mm."

Li Yuan responded casually, following him toward the cliff edge.

The mountain peak he had chosen occupied a large area, and was of the kind that was narrow at the bottom and thick at the top, so after the mountaintop was leveled, the area was quite considerable. He swept a glance—the Qi-gathering Platform had a radius of at least ten miles.

"There's no rush to build the Dao Soldier Residence; first open up spirit fields. The terrain between the mountains need not be greatly altered; later it can be used to pen spirit beasts."

Li Yuan gave a few instructions, dismissed Li Er, and himself came to the cliff edge.

From here, one could see the surging phenomena. Although there was no scene of the great sun rising in the east, looking out, the various scenes within the cave heaven were not lacking—wind and clouds rolling, mists rising, thunder rumbling, lightning flashing, and so on.

"There are quite a few wonders packed into your little cave heaven!"

The little female dragon poked her head out to observe for a long time, but still could not hold back her curiosity.

Sea of clouds, rosy clouds, gathering wind and clouds, thunder rumbling and lightning flashing… these seemingly ordinary natural phenomena gathered together, and it became somewhat abnormal.

"Inside and outside Mount Mount Dongxuan gather who knows how many divine prohibition arrays, so it's natural that the internal wonders are more concentrated than outside."

Li Yuan answered casually.

In the day since entering the sect, he had been both reading books and exhaustively searching the Grand Void Myriad Phenomena, and had come to understand various common cultivation knowledge quite well.

For example, the Qi-gathering Platform.

Sitting in meditation here, one could harvest the divine patterns contained in all the wonders within this small cave heaven. Most small cave heavens had such a platform.

"Then wouldn't harvesting wonders within this Mount Mount Dongxuan be very easy?"

The little female dragon very much wanted to leave this small cave heaven to see the true Mount Mount Dongxuan, and she was also very curious about the appearance of these legendary ancient holy lands. "No rush, after eating I'll take you to have a look."

Li Yuan observed the scenery at the cliff edge.

He discovered that the small cave heaven chosen for him by Fayin Fayin Tongzi was indeed quite good. Apart from lacking the sun, moon, and great sea, ordinary scenery was not lacking.

"Once I refine magic power, I won't need to go out. Right here at the Qi-gathering Platform, I can refine the 'Mount Dongxuan Nine-Smoke Gauze.'"

Li Yuan nodded inwardly, quite satisfied.

The Mount Dongxuan Nine-Smoke Gauze was a kind of cloud-mist magic treasure that all disciples of Mount Mount Dongxuan would refine. Its appearance was like clouds, could carry a person in flight, and its speed was very fast.

One needed to harvest nine kinds of divine patterns—cloud, rosy clouds, mist, haze, rainbow, falling mist, deep mist, fine drizzle—from the wonders, and evolve three kinds of divine prohibitions, then use magic power to refine them until they merged into one, and it would be complete.

This treasure was simple to refine. Once refined, it could travel ten thousand miles in a day, and consumed little magic power. It was one of the cloud-mist magic treasures most beloved by disciples of Mount Mount Dongxuan through the ages.

"It is said that among the inner disciples, Senior Brother 'Fang Fang Jiuan' liked this cloud the most. He expended tremendous effort to refine it to the equivalent of a top-grade spirit treasure's Bai Ling Ba Zhong weapon prohibitions—in one breath it could shift three hundred sixty thousand miles!"

Li Yuan was somewhat lost in longing.

Perhaps because he had spent years smithing, although he had yet to cultivate magic power, he was already thinking of taking up the art of refining treasures after reaching He Yi Jing.

Of course, beyond the refining itself, one had to perform daily sacrificial refinement and tempering, otherwise one could never reach perfection.

But…

"I heard that those senior disciples of mine, inside the sect, would hire auditing or registered disciples to help with the sacrificial refinement and tempering of treasures, while outside Mount Mount Dongxuan they would train their own disciples and followers.

If only I could get Dayun out…"

Li Yuan thought it through, then felt a headache coming on again.

The gains from this exhaustive search were great; although he had not found a way to break the Calamity of the Heavenly Sun, he had found a way to shift a life-bearing star.

However…

"According to the records in the Grand Void Myriad Images, sinking or shattering a life-bearing star is easy—a four-realm cultivator who has refined a top-grade Jin Dan can already manage it—but shifting a star is far harder; even an ordinary five-realm cultivator cannot do it…"

Li Yuan sighed inwardly.

To shift a star, one first had to choose a suitable starfield, and second, one needed magic power to sustain the star's operation—otherwise the planet could withstand the shift, but people could not.

There were more than ten such precautions besides…

"If even ordinary five-realm cultivators can't do it, then those senior disciples of mine shouldn't be inside either, right?"

Li Yuan was already mulling over how to get in touch with those senior brothers, when Li Yi had already come up behind him, bowed, and said:

"Master, the spirit-meal is ready."

……

……

Mount Mount Dongxuan, a quiet bamboo grove.

The Lingshu Dao Fayin Tongzi was tending the herb fields—now and then forming hand-seals to summon spirit rain for watering, now and then flicking his fingers to conjure a sheet of divine light, now and then splitting that divine light into sword-forms to slay the various insects and birds in and around the herb fields.

At last, he spread his five fingers wide, and streams of magic power poured forth, shrouding the entire herb field like a veil of cloud and mist.

Hum—

Hum~~

One only heard wave upon wave of trembling hums; the various herbs within the mist stretched their stems and leaves as if they were living things, greedily drawing in the cloud-mist, growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Hah!"

After a long while, the Lingshu Dao Fayin Tongzi withdrew his magic power; even for him, at the peak of the five-realm, the exertion left him somewhat weary, yet a smile rose to his face:

"Growing splendidly—it's possible they'll be fully grown before the young master emerges from seclusion. When the time comes, if the young master refines a divine pill and bestows one upon me, I can refine another Fayin Fayin Tongzi!"

Three hundred years of hard work were about to bear fruit; naturally, the Lingshu Dao Fayin Tongzi was in a fine mood.

After observing a while longer and seeing nothing amiss, he at last let out a long breath, returned to the depths of the bamboo grove, sat cross-legged outside the bamboo tower, and stood guard over the young master's cultivation.

"Boy, I'm here—this place needs no guarding from you!"

A low, deep sound issued from the Grandfather Grandfather Kuhai bell.

"Grandfather Grandfather Kuhai."

Lingshu hurriedly paid his respects; the latter only sent out a ripple of bell-waves, driving him away from before the bamboo tower.

"Yes."

Lingshu guessed the young master must be about to emerge from seclusion—otherwise the Grandfather Grandfather Kuhai bell would not have driven him away. Sighing inwardly that he could not be the first to pay his respects to the young master, he could only leave in low spirits.

"Sigh."

In the bamboo grove, the Lingshu Dao Fayin Tongzi sat cross-legged.

He casually pulled a 'Tongshi Orb' from his sleeve; ever since his cultivation had hit a bottleneck, he had relied entirely on this orb for amusement.

The Grand Void Myriad Images contained travelogues uploaded by cultivators from all realms—lavishly illustrated, vivid and lifelike; immersed in viewing them, one felt as if actually present.

"Oh?"

The moment Lingshu pulled out the Tongshi Orb, he suddenly noticed the 'Visit Friends' interface flickering; opening it, he saw someone was requesting to add him as a friend.

"Li Yuan?"

Lingshu didn't think twice and agreed straight away. Toward this exceptionally courteous new disciple, he still had quite a bit of goodwill—especially compared with that Yu Yu Wangxian.

"What is it?"

Because he was in the quiet bamboo grove, Lingshu naturally did not dare to project any light or image, communicating only through divine sense.

The voice of the Lingshu Fayin Tongzi came through the Tongshi Orb.

"Is this how we're communicating?"

For a fleeting instant, Li Yuan was dazed; scenes from his past life, untouched in his memory for years, surged back into his heart.

He steadied himself, first offering greetings, then thanking the immortal child for his guidance, remarking that the White-Bone Human Demon Dao Soldier was of excellent quality and so on; finally, sensing that the immortal child was in a good mood, he inquired about the spirit-beast area.

"Mount Mount Dongxuan raises over ten thousand kinds of spirit beasts—which are you asking about? Oh, you want to pick out a spirit-beast cub?"

"Here, take a look yourself!"

Hum—

The Lingshu Dao Fayin Tongzi replied very quickly; Li Yuan only felt the Tongshi Orb tremble, and at once streams of flowing light wove themselves into images before his eyes, with text scrolling amid vivid, lifelike illustrations of spirit beasts.

【Your friend Lingshu Immortal Child has gifted you a 'Mount Mount Dongxuan Spirit Beast Catalogue'】

How generous!

Li Yuan did not rush to look at the catalogue; first he respectfully gave thanks, then mentioned that he was preparing to gather wondrous sights, and asked whether the immortal child had any taboos to observe.

"What magic power are you preparing to refine? Oh, you've already cultivated the true form of the Kun Peng—you must be planning to refine Kun Peng magic power, right?"

"Within Dong Shan Xuan Da Fa Jie there are many wondrous sights, more than enough for you to refine Kun Peng magic power, but when you see places covered in divine light, do not approach—those are places where someone is refining a technique. Also, there are certain forbidden grounds you must not approach…"

"Mm, Kun Peng magic power requires gathering thirty-six kinds of divine patterns from various wondrous sights, evolving into twelve Earth-Fiend Divine Prohibitions and six Heaven-Fiend Divine Prohibitions; it ranks among Zhong Pin Fa,

Once you've refined it, remember to go to the Scripture Pavilion and learn the 'North Pole Black Emperor Dark Abyss Scripture'…"

The Lingshu Immortal Child's divine sense moved with extraordinary speed; Li Yuan had asked one question, and he had already answered dozens, even a hundred.

He recounted everything: the precautions for picking rare plants within Mount Mount Dongxuan, the forbidden zones one must not approach, even the magic power of the Kunpeng and its advancement stages... and so on.

"... Many thanks, Immortal Child."

Li Yuan had no time to marvel at how good it was for his divine sense to turn so quickly; he hurriedly memorized every word the child had spoken, and only after confirming nothing was omitted did he end the inquiry.

Fayin Fayin Tongzi was quite fond of playing the teacher; in the end, he tossed over a true form map of the Kunpeng from within the Scripture Repository. The Kunpeng on it was lifelike, and it also contained various precautions for cultivating magic power.

"Truly worthy of being a child under the Dao Lord's gate; this foundation is indeed immensely profound."

Li Yuan felt moved by Fayin Fayin Tongzi's generosity. Having made up his mind to greet him daily henceforth, he memorized this true form map of the Kunpeng as well.

This true form map was almost identical to the one he had obtained from the human-headed monster bird, yet its annotations were far more detailed.

For instance, where to pick the divine patterns required for the Kunpeng true form map, the sequence for condensing the divine prohibitions, and what to pay attention to when finally uniting the three origins.

"Hah!"

Li Yuan pondered it several times in his heart, confirmed he had memorized it all, and only then began to view that beast atlas of Mount Mount Dongxuan.

As Fayin Fayin Tongzi had said, Mount Mount Dongxuan raised over ten thousand types of spiritual beasts; only half were within the spiritual beast zone, while the other half were in the small heavenly caves of various disciples.

There were even a few types raised by the Dao Lord himself.

Of course, Fayin Fayin Tongzi had erased these few types; regarding information on the Dao Lord, even if it involved just a few spiritual beasts, he dared not leak a single bit.

"The Five Livestock category..."

Li Yuan's thoughts turned, searching through these tens of thousands of spiritual beasts for the ones he needed.

Before long, he had selected one hundred and sixty categories of spiritual beasts, all directly related to the Five Livestock!

"Dragon-Horned Deer, Crimson Blood Demon Ox, Zhuo Luo..."

"Ao Hen, Jing Su, Dark-Eyed Spiritual Chicken, Eight Treasures Chicken..."

"Qian Sheep, Bo Yi, Feng Xi, Black Sky Dog, Star Mastiff Divine Dog, Illusion Pup..."

"So many!"

Li Yuan did not expect it to go so smoothly; his spirits lifted. He continued filtering, excluding those raised by other Inner Sect disciples or even True Transmission disciples, and finally obtained forty-six types.

He picked and chose, excluding those of extremely high rank, such as the Star Mastiff Divine Dog, and in the end, twenty-three types remained, still covering the Five Livestock.

"The resources of Mount Mount Dongxuan are truly abundant; perhaps next time, or the time after, I won't need to look elsewhere for the flesh and blood of the Five Livestock?"

With a mix of slight excitement and apprehension, Li Yuan went to the small heavenly cave corresponding to the spiritual beast marked in the atlas.

This time he encountered no fellow disciples; within each spiritual beast small heavenly cave, it was mostly spiritual puppets doing the receiving. Just as Fayin Fayin Tongzi had said, most disciples of Mount Mount Dongxuan were simply not on the mountain.

Those remaining on the mountain were mostly hired by other fellow disciples to refine magical treasures for them; one could hardly see a person.

"I have come to select spiritual beast cubs."

Li Yuan held his disciple token and visited many spiritual beast small heavenly caves.

Because each small heavenly cave raised different types of spiritual beasts, the scenery within differed too: some had rolling mountain ranges, some had surging great rivers, and some even had a patch covered in thunderclouds...

Li Yuan did not go directly to purchase the Five Livestock; instead, he chose to purchase flesh and blood. Of course, he did not buy only the flesh and blood of Five Livestock-type spiritual beasts; he bought a large batch of various kinds.

Afterwards, he bought a batch of spiritual beast bones for the White Bone Demon, and only then, still feeling unsatisfied, selected a spiritual beast cub from the Inner Sect disciple benefits.

Although spiritual beast cubs were not his purpose for coming here, Li Yuan still selected carefully; the one he finally chose was a cub of an extraterrestrial beast named 'Shan Xuan Teng She'.

This was one of the dozen or so spiritual beasts marked by Fayin Fayin Tongzi in the spiritual beast record, with immense potential.

Before nightfall, Li Yuan, having spent twenty-five Xiao Gong, returned fully loaded.

With his expression unchanged, he handed over all the spiritual beast meat and bones to Li Yi, and only then leisurely returned to the bamboo tower.

"It was actually this easy?!"

Entering the bamboo tower and sitting in meditation, feeling the various flesh and blood of Five Livestock spiritual beasts on Dingxin Dingxin Shitai, Li Yuan felt the smoothness was somewhat incredible:

"When I was at Dragon Tiger Mountain, I couldn't find the flesh and blood of even a single extraterrestrial beast; I never expected that after only two days in Mount Mount Dongxuan, I would have gathered them all!"

(End of this chapter)