Chapter 659: Breakthrough

Wooo~

Beneath the Wang Yang, undercurrents surged. A beast far larger than any mountain range swam through the sea floor. Even watching from afar, the Miragesh Infant felt her hair stand on end.

She had seen many star-exotic beasts before, among them no few of enormous size. She had even seen one called the 'Origin Whale,' whose body rivaled a life-bearing star.

But even a beast of that caliber gave her a feeling utterly unlike what she sensed now.

"Kun Peng!"

The Miragesh Infant's heart was shaken beyond words.

She certainly knew that Li Yuan cultivated the True Form Diagram of the Kun Peng, and that the magic power he now sought to refine was also Kun Peng magic power. Yet even so, could refining magic power possibly turn oneself into a true Kun Peng?

But at this moment, she genuinely felt a pressure emanating from bloodline itself. In a daze, she felt as if a legendary Kun Peng truly stood beside her, making her heart tremble.

"Roar!"

The great beast bellowed, stirring up ten thousand waves and undercurrents.

That roar was like a whale's cry, like a dragon's chant, and like the combined voices of countless different exotic birds and beasts, imbued with a staggering, indescribable grandeur.

"Roar!"

The great beast's bellow burst forth from its throat.

Amid the waves and undercurrents, Li Yuan felt as if he had become the legendary great beast of the Northern Sea. With a casual flick of his body, he could unleash a terrifying force beyond imagination.

His perception spread boundlessly through this Wang Yang reflected by his Ni Wan sea. Not just this mountain, but the ranges and the earth, and even the entire lesser grotto-heaven, were all filled with waves.

And this was only the lesser grotto-heaven's limit, not the limit of his Ni Wan Shen Jing.

"Is this the Three Essences in One?"

The waves filling the lesser grotto-heaven seemed both illusory and real. Li Yuan swam through them, feeling an inexpressible sense of exhilaration welling up in his heart.

More than a decade ago, atop Dragon Mountain, he had watched Long Xi Xiang shatter the Heavenly Gang. At the time he had only felt it was incomparably profound and wondrous. But only now, having touched this realm himself, did he truly understand what the Three Essences in One meant.

At this moment, he had not become a Kun Peng. Though this great Kun had indeed transformed into a spirit-image, it was only a part of him.

This scene of Wang Yang waves, vast enough to fill this lesser grotto-heaven, was the manifestation of his will!

"Essence, Qi, and Spirit merge and flow as one, transforming freely. The body is the spirit, and the spirit is the body!"

Li Yuan had read and heard this saying more than once, but when he truly perceived it, he felt it fell far short of capturing the wonder of this moment!

This scene of Wang Yang was his spirit, his Qi, and likewise his blood!

"The next step is to refine magic power!"

Boom!

The instant this thought stirred in Li Yuan's mind, the Miragesh Infant, and indeed every spirit-puppet within this lesser grotto-heaven, trembled. They felt the sound pierce the deaf and shake the very marrow and soul.

"Roar!"

The next moment, under everyone's gaze.

The great beast lurking beneath the sea suddenly moved, churning up endless waves, and then—a fish leaping from the sea!

Splash splash splash!

Undercurrents, tides, and torrential rain—visions of every kind intertwined, until illusion and reality could no longer be told apart.

Boom!

The Wang Yang capsized; the sea boiled.

The Miragesh Infant focused intently, and saw the sea surface churning with waves, steam rising, waterspouts sucking up water and shooting skyward, gang winds howling and tearing the waves apart,

clouds and colored mists rising and weaving, shifting their forms…

At a single glance, every manner of wondrous sight appeared.

"These are divine patterns… no, they're divine prohibitions!"

Just as the Miragesh Infant's heart jolted, the great beast that had leapt from the sea opened its terrifying maw like a black hole. With a single gulp, it swallowed all those wondrous sights into its belly.

"Such a crude way of refining magic power?!"

The Miragesh Infant was dumbstruck.

She herself had never refined magic power, but she was, after all, a princess of the Miragedragon clan, and had seen others refine magic power before. Yet every one of them had been painstakingly careful, drawing out divine patterns bit by bit to transform them into prohibitions.

When had she ever seen a method as crude and overbearing as Li Yuan's?

"Roar!"

The Wang Yang boiled, the sea surged in unison. The great beast opened its maw and gulped down all manner of wondrous sights, leaping from the sea—but instead of falling back, it rose into the air!

Boom!

The great Kun vaulted from the abyss. The boundless Wang Yang instantly vaporized, and a staggering volume of water vapor rose to become an endless sea of clouds filling heaven and earth.

Then, under the Miragesh Infant's gaze, as if watching a myth unfold.

The great Kun that had vaulted from the abyss shifted its form amid the rolling clouds. At a speed visible to the naked eye, it grew a pair of golden wings vast enough to blot out the sun and moon!

Its pinions were like swords, blazing gold. Soaring in the high heavens, it shone like the sun—glorious as a god!

"Kun becomes Peng, water becomes mist, sea becomes sky!"

"Screech!"

High in the heavens, the great Peng spread its wings. Li Yuan let loose a long, soaring cry, his voice shaking far more than a thousand li:

"True Qi, transform into magic power!"

Magic power!

Magic power!

In that instant, earth-shaking changes were occurring within Li Yuan.

The Three Essences returning to the One was by no means as simple as 'essence, Qi, and spirit merging into one.'

In his perception, his fleshly body had completely vanished, and his spirit had vanished with it. Flesh, blood, and spirit had all merged into a 'true Qi' as ethereal as water-mist, as frail as a slender stream.

Spirit is body, body is spirit—both spirit and body become Qi!

"Swoooosh~"

True qi flowed like water, babbling as it went.

Li Yuan's body and spirit dwelt within it; he felt as if he had become cloud and mist, gathering and scattering without form, and within his perception, all manner of wondrous scenes wove and shifted.

In the end, under the reinforcement of his will, it transformed into eighteen categories of divine prohibitions!

With essence, qi, and spirit as the foundation, with the true form diagram as the medium, bearing the divine prohibitions formed by the various divine patterns, magic power was born!

"So this is magic power!"

Li Yuan praised and sighed within his heart, holding a lofty respect for the sage who had pioneered the path of magic power.

The Dao unfolds heaven and earth; heaven and earth contain the law; the law gives birth to divine patterns; therefore, divine patterns are the law!

The power that contains the law is magic power!

"This feeling…"

Li Yuan was even somewhat at a loss for words, unsure how to describe the feeling after refining magic power.

His true qi, which could be called majestic and vast, now had left only a single, insignificant wisp, yet this single wisp far surpassed the entire body of true qi he had possessed before.

This single wisp of his magic power contained eighteen divine prohibitions, possessing eighteen kinds of properties; even if there was only one wisp, it was endlessly profound.

Moreover…

"Screech!"

At a thought from Li Yuan, his body transformed into a great peng; with a single spread of both wings, he darted and swept through the small grotto-heaven. His speed was so fast that even the Mirage Infant, who had been watching all along, only saw a blur before its eyes.

When it focused its gaze again, the clouds and misty waves had all dispersed.

Only a single streak of 'Jin Guang' that was fast to the extreme tore across the long sky, leaving hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of crisscrossing golden lines everywhere in this small grotto-heaven!

At a glance, they covered the sky and the earth!

"This fast?!"

The Mirage Infant was shocked and wide-eyed — was this still He Yi Jing?

"Spirit phase, divine realm, magic power, three primordial!"

Li Yuan spread his wings and traveled the long sky, feeling a sense of exhilaration in his heart that he could not: not suppress, and could not help but let out a long, loud cry.

At this moment, his body had transformed into a great peng.

Yet it was not his divine will controlling the spirit phase; he had truly become a great peng. The profundity of magic power was beyond reckoning; borne by essence, qi, and spirit, the great peng he had become at this moment possessed true flesh and blood in every part, form and spirit both complete!

In other words, apart from lacking the legendary bloodline inheritance and various divine abilities of the Kun Peng and the great peng bird, he was a true Jin Chi great peng, a Kun Peng cub!

But he felt this was not only because of refining magic power, for the Kun Peng True Form Diagram did not record such a phenomenon.

"It should also be related to Wan Xing Ru Xue… My physique, my spirit, my true qi — none of them are comparable to those of ordinary Ru Dao cultivators…"

Li Yuan could roughly guess the reason.

That he could transform into a Kun Peng was certainly related to his Wan Xing Ru Xue; his flesh and blood had already undergone one transformation under the forging of that guiding divine fire.

"If I can use magic power to cultivate various divine abilities, I might even become a true Kun Peng…"

Li Yuan's heart was exceedingly joyful.

He spread his wings and roamed the small grotto-heaven. The world that had originally felt vast and enormous now, after transforming into the great peng bird, felt cramped and confining, unable to let him fully stretch his wings.

"When the great peng spreads its wings, it hates that the sky is too low!"

With a leisurely sigh, Li Yuan returned to the mountaintop.

"Whoosh!"

The Mirage Infant only saw a flash of Jin Guang before its eyes; Li Yuan had already retracted the great peng phase and transformed back into human form.

"You… refined magic power?"

Even though it was already certain, the Mirage Infant could not help but ask.

"Refined one wisp."

Li Yuan could hardly conceal his joy.

"One wisp?!"

The Mirage Infant's eyelids twitched wildly: "You, are you sure it's one wisp?"

"How could there be a mistake?"

Li Yuan knew why she was shocked.

The three introductory books record that for a cultivator of second-grade aptitude, without the aid of fortune or spirit pills, performing Yi Ri Xing Gong nine times a day, it would take ten years to obtain one wisp of low-grade magic power.

Kun Peng magic power belongs to Zhong Pin Fa; normally, even for a cultivator of third or fourth-grade aptitude, relying solely on their own inhalation and exhalation to refine qi, it would take at least a dozen or so years to refine one wisp.

In fact, his accumulation in the Ru Dao Jing was far from fully digested; he could condense several more wisps of magic power at the very least.

"Your foundation is truly too deep!"

The Mirage Infant's feelings were complicated — both envious and a little heartache.

Divine-demon aptitude, a disciple of the Great Luo Heaven Gate — these two combined were truly terrifying to the extreme; it had been less than a month since he began…

"Within this small grotto-heaven, you may come and go as you please; if you wish to establish a cave dwelling, just inform Li Yi…"

Having spoken, Li Yuan did not wait for the Mirage Infant to reply, and had already transformed into a streak of Jin Guang and vanished into his own bamboo tower.

The three primordials united, the body itself is qi, qi itself is spirit, truly gathering and scattering without form; with a slight movement of magic power, one could naturally transform into escape light, as if by instinct.

"Kun Peng magic power!"

In the bamboo tower, Li Yuan could not suppress the joy in his heart; he sat cross-legged, feeling the subtle changes in himself after refining magic power.

Hum~

He looked inward at his own body; the first thing he observed was that single wisp of magic power he had refined.

That single wisp of magic power was like mist, yet also like a living thing; its pale golden color was very distinct, sometimes spinning in his dantian, sometimes flowing into his viscera and meridians — very lively.

"Magic power nourishes the body far better than true qi."

Li Yuan focused his spirit and sensed.

Once the magic power was refined, his already astonishing physique underwent no small transformation; that surging, Wang Yang-like vitality needed no deliberate perception at all.

He had never cultivated any art for divining his own lifespan, but from this vitality alone, he could sense that his own limit of years had surely risen by a great margin.

"A thousand years is the absolute lifespan limit at He Yi Jing — I can live to at least a thousand!"

Li Li Daoye was in high spirits.

A thousand years!

Most dynasties of his past life lasted no more than two or three hundred years!

"In my past life, that would already count as an immortal!"

Sensing the various changes within his body, Li Yuan was quite satisfied.

But thinking of those senior brothers on Mount Mount Dongxuan, especially Yu Yu Xuanji whom he had just met, he immediately calmed down.

Compared with those senior brothers who had entered the sect at least several hundred years earlier than him, he was still far from enough.

"The greatest Da De Gong of magic power is not just nourishing the body and spirit…" Hum—

Under Li Yuan's gaze, that wisp of magic power trembled lightly, transforming into a miniature Kun Peng, taking shape within the dantian; as it lightly shook its body, eighteen points of light lit up within it.

Yu Yu Xuanji, an invisible strange power arose.

Li Yuan's body jolted; he felt every pore of his body open, as wisps of half-real, half-illusory qi came from the outside, passing through his tendons, bones, skin and flesh, finally sinking into the dantian and merging into the magic power.

This was Xing Gong of magic power.

"This is the world's spiritual Qi."

Li Yuan focused and discerned; as master of the magic power, he sensed subtly, and from those incoming qi, he felt something familiar.

Sensing again into which divine prohibitions those qi respectively sank, he also knew where these qi came from.

It was precisely the thirty-six wondrous scenes he had refined into his magic power!

Divine patterns are the foundation of Nai Tian Di Fa; refining divine patterns into prohibitions and infusing them into magic power can naturally draw upon the forces of heaven and earth; refining the art and Xing Gong to channel the qi of the corresponding wondrous scenes can strengthen the magic power.

"Once magic power is refined, it naturally draws upon the world's spiritual Qi; the more active the surrounding wondrous scenes, the faster the magic power condenses. Therefore Mount Mount Dongxuan, with its countless wondrous scenes constantly arising and perishing, is naturally a top-tier sacred ground for cultivation, hard to find in this world."

With magic power refined, many things became self-evident; Li Yuan immediately understood what a sacred cultivation ground was, and knew where in the four seas was most suitable for Kun Peng magic power.

He also understood the meaning of Fa Li Pin.

The divine patterns corresponding to Zhong Pin Fa are far more numerous than those of Bi Xia Pin Fa; they can draw more of the world's spiritual Qi, and the weight of a single wisp of magic power likewise differs.

The same holds for top-grade magic power.

Hum—

Following the Kun Peng method, Li Yuan completed one full Xing Gong; Gan Shou Zhu Fa the magic power's sprouting and growth, he calculated briefly in his heart:

"Even without the aid of spirit pills or anything, relying solely on my own refining and Xing Gong, in at most twelve years I can cultivate eighty-one strands of Kun Peng magic power!"

"This is the benefit of talent!"

Li Yuan was content, feeling more and more that his many years of Ku Gong in body-shaping had not been in vain; the level of talent affects not only the speed of Gong Fa cultivation, but also creates a huge gap in the speed of refining magic power.

Hum—

After one Xing Gong, Li Yuan split his attention; while continuing to refine magic power, a thought moved, and he had already entered the Mud Pill Palace:

"Once He Yi Jing is achieved, Sheng De Shen Jing arises of itself, and the spiritual image forms of itself!"

Li Yuan's divine sense descended, taking human form; he opened his eyes, feeling with his human body this newly born Shen Jing of his.

What met his eyes was a stretch of Wang Wang Yangdahai; compared with the previous Mud Pill Sea, whether in depth or area it had grown enormously — at least several times the increase.

It had quite the flavor of a boundless expanse.

Within the Wang Yang, a huge shadow could faintly be seen lying dormant — it was his Kun Peng spiritual image; in the sea it is Kun, soaring through the sky it is the great Peng.

And apart from the Kun Peng spiritual image, all that could be seen within the Wang Yang was that one 'soldier-nurturing ground', so small as to be negligible.

Whoo—

As if sensing Li Yuan's gaze, three phantoms appeared together.

The first was sword-shaped, with dragon and tiger upon it, obtained in years past from Nie Xianshan; the second was hammer-shaped, with a mystic whale upon it, originating from a mystic whale battle-hammer in the mystic whale Mi Jing.

The third was the remnant shadow of a blood-horned ox, originating from the 'Crimson Blood Demonic Ox Art'.

"By my present eye, Old Nie Nie Xianshan's Dragon-Tiger Sword still falls short by quite a bit; though it has no few divine patterns, they have not been formed into prohibitions — this should be wondrous scenes he gathered himself, not forming a system."

Li Yuan reached out a hand, and that Dragon-Tiger Sword shape fell into his grasp; after a brief examination, he could not help feeling some regret:

"Old Nie had the chance to refine magic power."

Divine prohibitions are combinations of divine patterns.

Only when divine patterns are formed into divine prohibitions, through the friction and collision between different divine patterns, can a cultivator fuse complete divine patterns into their own essence, qi and spirit, rather than letting them fall into the Shen Jing.

This was common knowledge on Mount Mount Dongxuan, and not much of a great secret in Tian Shi Yuan either, but in Da Yun, it truly was known by no one.

All systematic inheritances are the summary of countless predecessors' trial and error, bit by bit; Da Yun's sense of guild identity is very strong, and masters of the Rudao Sect are few; even with generation after generation of transmission, they cannot compile a detailed inheritance.

Li Li Daoye still had not forgotten those years he spent as an apprentice at the weapon-forging shop.

One inferior Wu Gong, the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer, actually had to be split into practice method, combat method, breathing method… split into pieces beyond counting!

If not for Heaven's bestowal of the register, he suspected he might not even have been able to fully learn the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer…

"It's not only Old Nie — Old Long Tou, Long Dao-zhu and other Dengda Sect masters all have the possibility of refining magic power; they simply lack the understanding of divine patterns and divine prohibitions…"

"In fact, if one refines magic power and also understands divine patterns and divine prohibitions, one can completely Zhong Su Wu Gong, refining prohibitions into Wu Gong — could it not become Zhen Zheng De Fa?"

Li Yuan noted this matter in his heart, and turned to look at the other two phantoms.

Among them, the mystic whale hammer shadow also had disordered divine patterns; but the Demonic Ox Art, which contained only a single kind of divine pattern — a single pattern cannot form a prohibition — yet conversely possessed a kind of completeness.

Fa arts differ from root arts; a single pattern can also be driven by magic power, but the vast majority of fa arts and dao arts likewise contain many divine prohibitions.

"Fa arts whose patterns do not form prohibitions are the fastest to cultivate, but their power is ultimately somewhat weaker."

Li Yuan was mainly observing the demonic ox phantom; after refining magic power, he now had the qualification to cultivate Zhen Zheng De Fa.

But looking at this Demon Ox Art again with his current eye, he felt it was truly ordinary...

"I can give it a try."

The moment Li Yuan's mind stirred, he felt his hands itching. He immediately gathered his concentration and pushed the second round of Xing Gong refining to completion. After his magic power grew a bit stronger, he slowly ended his session.

"Demon Ox Art!"

Li Yuan rose and went to the third-floor balcony, raised a hand and tapped. His magic power activated the Demon Ox divine pattern within the mud pellet.

"Moo!"

In the next instant, Li Yuan only felt a faint warmth at his fingertip. A crimson bull demon, over a zhang tall with knotted sinews, had already pounced out.

Its momentum was fierce and violent. In a single bound it had already pounced over a dozen li away. Only after its shadow dissipated did a 'boom' of sonic explosion ring out.

"The power is ordinary — probably because it only has one layer."

Li Yuan didn't care how strong this spell's power was; he was only feeling out the sensation of using magic power to drive a spell.

The entry-level of this Demon Ox Art was purely the divine-pattern light left behind after that strange beast's death, which he had picked up in You Jing. With only one layer, there was nothing to speak of in terms of power.

"Spells really do need magic power to drive them!"

Li Yuan tried a few more times.

He had one Dao Dao Fa of magic power; driving this Demon Ox Art only consumed a sliver. He could drive it over a hundred times in one breath without exhausting his magic power, so naturally he played with great relish.

After a bout of trying, he discovered he had still underestimated this spell.

This Demon Ox Art had only one divine pattern — the Demon Ox itself — but driving it could charge, could trample, could self-destruct, and could even briefly bestow upon oneself the strength of a Demon Ox.

"If cultivated to perfection, this Demon Ox Art isn't unusable either..."

Li Yuan was calculating in his heart.

The Demon Ox Art belonged to a first-realm spell — a spell of Ru Dao Jing cultivators. It had a maximum of Jiu Chong Fa prohibitions; the perfected layer was naturally ten times stronger than the first layer.

'I wonder if a spell at grand perfection can enhance one's innate talent and divine endowment?'

With such a thought turning in his mind, Li Yuan continued to sit cross-legged in meditation, Xing Gong refining Fa.

With a god-demon level talent, his Xing Gong speed was far beyond what second or third-tier talent people could compare to. In the time it took the latter to Xing Gong once, he could Xing Gong over ten times.

By the time he felt weary, his dantian already had three more Dao Dao Fa of magic power. Four strands of mist-like magic power wove and spiraled, and another wisp of magic power was being born.

"With my accumulation in the Ru Dao Jing, I can still refine three more strands of magic power Dao Methods in the short term. After that, progress will slow down."

He stretched lazily. Though he felt weary, Li Yuan's spirit was still very good, and he was already planning to purchase a batch of spirit pills.

"If aided by spirit pills, who knows, I might refine eighty-one Dao Dao Fa of magic power in three to five years!"

While calculating in his heart, Li Yuan went downstairs. Li Yi had already prepared the spirit meal — probably considering his realm breakthrough, Shi Shi Zuzu had made a whole large table of it.

Shen Ying'er was also there. After remolding her physical body she hadn't properly eaten spirit meal yet. Now, smelling the aroma, she was already swallowing her saliva.

"Food intake has grown several times larger again. But the bigger the appetite, the better my effect of absorbing spiritual Qi... though the efficacy of low-grade spirit meal seems to have dropped quite a bit?"

A whole table of spirit meal — Li Yuan ate nine-tenths of it before counting as full. Satisfied, he patted his own belly, then fished out the Tongshi Orb to contact Fayin Fayin Tongzi.

As the one who had guided him at entry, a realm breakthrough should logically be reported to him first.

Of course, he also wanted to ask a few things along the way.

Three days later.

Shen Ying'er walked out of her bamboo hut and looked toward the bamboo building where Li Yuan was.

She saw wisps and strands of mist gradually shrouding the entire bamboo building, and still spreading outward. When the wind blew from time to time, the clouds and mist churned, and one could even see all manner of wondrous scenes manifesting within them.

"So this is Qi-gathering Fa-refining!"

Shen Ying'er's face was full of envy. She had originally wanted to go out for a stroll, but upon seeing this scene she couldn't help gritting her teeth and turning back into her room.

She wanted to refine Fa too!

"Hoo!"

"Suck!"

On the third-floor balcony of the bamboo building, Li Yuan sat cross-legged, his five hearts facing the sky. Wisps and strands of mist seeped into his nose and mouth, and even into the pores of his entire body.

Passing through tendons, bones, skin, and flesh, and circulating through the viscera and meridians once, it had already seeped into his dantian.

Within the dantian, pale-golden clouds and mist billowed. One could faintly see the shadow of the Kun Peng ceaselessly swallowing and inhaling. Strand after strand of magic power wove together, already taking on some tangible quality.

"Nine strands of magic power Dao Methods—this is my entire accumulation in the Ru Dao Jing..."

A moment later, Li Yuan slowly ended his session. With his divided attention, he concluded his conversation with Fayin Fayin Tongzi, then took out his inner-disciple token from within his sleeve:

"Time to go pick spells!"

"Inner disciple Li Yuan requests Shu Shu Haoshou to appear and select Gong Fa on my behalf. I am willing to offer 'ten Xiao Gong' as thanks!"

Within the starry sky transformed from the Scripture Pavilion, Li Yuan cupped his hands and called out.

Not long after, Shu Shu Haoshou had already transformed into Bai Guang and arrived.

"Kid, why are you being so generous this time?"

Shu Shu Haoshou glanced at him: "A hundred books, and you've been reading them for almost twenty days?"

"The books Senior chose are truly fine works. This junior naturally must study them sentence by sentence, word by word."

Li Li Daoye, upon seeing the old man, couldn't resist coaxing him a bit. And facts proved Shu Shu Haoshou really fell for it — flattered until his face was all glowing red, his tone much improved.

"What books are you preparing to exchange?"

"Replying to Senior, this junior has had the good fortune to refine magic power. I came here wanting to pick a few suitable spells and Dao techniques."

Li Yuan hadn't wasted these three days either. Besides refining Fa to stabilize his realm, he had also been consulting Fayin Fayin Tongzi. Coming here, he naturally already had a draft plan.

"You've refined magic power?"

Shu Shu Haoshou's eyes went blank for a moment, as though consulting something, and shortly after he had it all clear in his mind:

"Kunpeng magic power, eh? This art originates from the nine great True Form Diagrams of the 'North Pole Black Emperor Abyssal Scripture'… hmm, think it over carefully before you choose!"

Shu Shu Haoshou raised a hand, and a vast curtain of interwoven light and shadow unfurled into a list.

"Thank you, senior."

Li Yuan focused his gaze and swept across it. Above were listed all manner of spells and Daoist arts—thousands upon thousands, perhaps tens of thousands—and the several kinds Fayin Fayin Tongzi had mentioned were all among them.

But he did not rush to choose; instead, he read through the list while chatting with Shu Shu Haoshou.

The latter was clearly a talkative sort, and as long as the subject didn't touch on specific cultivation manuals, he was willing to say a few words—including some about the Black Emperor Abyssal Scripture.

This great scripture's price was no less than that of the Green Emperor Longevity Scripture; even at a ninety-nine percent discount, Li Yuan still couldn't afford it, but that didn't stop him from learning about it first.

Shu Shu Haoshou didn't know much about it either—among all the bookworms in the entire Scripture Pavilion, only a handful had ever read a classic-level Gong Fa.

"…The Abyssal Scripture has nine great True Form Diagrams. Besides the Kunpeng, there are also the 'Great Fei,' 'Fire Chi,' 'Fuzhu,' 'Nine Infants,' and so on. Among them, the Kunpeng takes the lead…"

Shu Shu Haoshou tossed out a couple of lines offhandedly. Li Yuan noted them in his heart, then steered the conversation sideways to inquire about the 'Demon-Slaying Immortal-Severing Sword.'

But upon hearing the 'Demon-Slaying Immortal-Severing Sword,' Shu Shu Haoshou couldn't help but knit his brow.

"Mm… there are five kinds of Demon-Slaying Swords in total. They are said to be extremely fierce and violent—only a world-shaking prodigy may wield them. The art is right here in the Scripture Pavilion, but it can only be exchanged with the permission of the little lord Daoist Sovereign."

Shu Shu Haoshou still said a few things:

"You are an inner disciple. According to the rules of Mount Mount Dongxuan, you have one chance to meet the little lord Daoist Sovereign face to face—only, the little lord seems to be in seclusion…"

(End of chapter)