Chapter 660: Choice of Techniques, Secrets of Refining Demons

As an inner disciple, he was naturally permitted to pay respects to the Dao Lord.

Unlike nominal or auditing disciples, inner disciples, according to the rules of Mount Mount Dongxuan, were required to formally apprentice themselves and offer tea; however, the Dao Lord had been in closed-door cultivation for many years.

'This Demon-Slaying Sword is most likely a secret transmission of Mount Mount Dongxuan.'

Li Yuan guessed this in his heart. Seeing that Shu Shu Haoshou was unwilling to say more, he naturally stopped pressing the matter and instead inquired about the techniques listed on the register.

Shu Shu Haoshou was a seasoned bookworm, and the register he had compiled was naturally enormous. Even though it was tailored to the foundational art Li Yuan practiced, it still ran into the thousands, dazzling to the eye.

"The Kun Peng magic power takes the six great Heavenly Gang prohibitions—'Water,' 'Wind,' 'Sea,' 'Change,' 'Transformation,' and 'Gang'—as its core, and the choice of techniques lies entirely within these…"

Shu Shu Haoshou was, naturally, thoroughly familiar with the register he himself had compiled. After a brief moment of deliberation, he had already recommended four techniques for him.

"Mm… this old man believes you should choose Shan Xuan Gang Heavy Water, Kun Ming Ten Thousand Layers Armor, Tian Peng Dun Fa, and Tai Yin Sword Qi."

Shu Shu Haoshou waved a finger, and only these four techniques remained on the register. He introduced them:

"Cultivating techniques is no easy task, so what matters is refinement, not quantity. These four Gong Fa this old man recommends for you cover offense, defense, evasion, and support, and all are connected to the Ming Yuan Scripture. Their might is considerable, and their potential is great as well."

'Worthy of a seasoned bookworm—the 'Shan Xuan Gang Heavy Water' and 'Tai Yin Sword Qi' that Fayin Fayin Tongzi recommended are also among them…'

Li Yuan praised him inwardly, then slightly furrowed his brow:

"The price is steep too."

Techniques that caught the eye of a seasoned bookworm and a Dao Lord's attendant were naturally premium goods.

Shan Xuan Gang Heavy Water had the highest exchange price, requiring one hundred and seventy-two Xiao Gong; Tai Yin Sword Qi came next, also requiring one hundred and thirty Xiao Gong.

Tian Peng Dun Fa and Kun Ming Ten Thousand Layers Armor were somewhat cheaper, adding up to only eighty-two Xiao Gong in total.

"Expensive doesn't necessarily mean good, but what is good is inevitably expensive. The prices of the Gong Fa and scriptures in this Scripture Pavilion are not set arbitrarily."

Shu Shu Haoshou said meaningfully.

"Then, I'll take these four."

Li Yuan felt a twinge of heartache, but he selected them all the same.

"You've got nerve!"

Shu Shu Haoshou praised him, and was about to go fetch the books when Li Yuan called out to him again:

"Senior, wait a moment."

"What, having second thoughts?"

Shu Shu Haoshou frowned slightly.

"Naturally not. It's just that this junior still has some books I need to borrow."

Li Yuan had a plan in mind, and immediately told Shu Shu Haoshou all the books he needed.

Many of them were from the register he had compiled last time, some were recommended by Fayin, and a few others he had obtained from the intelligence of his fellow inner disciples when he had thoroughly searched through them in the Grand Void Myriad Forms.

"Mm?"

After hearing the titles, Shu Shu Haoshou could not help but be surprised: "These books… surely you're not planning to also cultivate the 'Dongji Green Emperor Longevity Scripture'?"

"When I entered the mountain, I was moved by the Sea of Divine Patterns and comprehended this great scripture."

Li Yuan did not conceal it.

In fact, he couldn't conceal it anyway—the Gong Fa and techniques practiced by Mount Mount Dongxuan disciples were all recorded in the disciple repository.

"You actually comprehended a great scripture!"

Shu Shu Haoshou was greatly shocked. He re-examined Li Yuan a few times:

"Most disciples who enter Mount Mount Dongxuan will see the Sea of Divine Patterns, but fewer than one in ten can comprehend a great scripture. This is truly—remarkable!"

"Senior is too kind."

Li Yuan smiled and cupped his hands.

Though he had only been on the mountain for twenty days, thanks to Fayin Fayin Tongzi and the General Comprehension Sphere, his understanding of cultivation had deepened considerably, and he now knew all the more tangibly the weight of Da Gong.

The Green Emperor Longevity Scripture, valued at 'six hundred and seventy Da Gong,' was in a sense already the most precious thing he possessed.

"Mm… the Dongji Green Emperor Longevity Art. Let this old man think, I'll gather about a hundred books for you. Reading through them should be of some help in penetrating this scripture…"

Shu Shu Haoshou muttered a few words, and before Li Yuan could respond, he had already vanished into the starry sky.

After a long while, he returned, carrying a full ninety-six books.

A single borrowing of a hundred books also included those four techniques.

"Thank you for your trouble, Senior."

Li Yuan swept a glance and noticed many bearing words like 'Insights' or 'Reflections,' and immediately reached out to take them.

"Many of these books require Shan Gong."

Shu Shu Haoshou reminded him.

"This junior understands."

After a brief calculation, Li Yuan very readily transferred the Shan Gong over.

These books leaned toward insights and reflections, and their prices were quite low—several dozen of them combined barely amounted to the price of Tian Peng Dun Fa.

"Remember to come find this old man next time!"

Shu Shu Haoshou nodded in satisfaction and waved his hand as he departed.

Li Yuan watched him go, and returned with a full load as well.

……

Hum~

In the bamboo tower, Li Yuan closed his eyes and sensed. Over a hundred scriptures shone brilliantly in his sea of consciousness, ready to be flipped through at the slightest thought.

This was naturally extremely convenient, but for Li Li Daoye, it was almost too convenient:

"Everything about Mount Mount Dongxuan is fine, it's just this transmission of Gong Fa—can't it be put down on paper or beast-hide?"

"There's no way to grasp it!"

Having grown accustomed to using the Soldier-Summoning Register to directly take over the insights of predecessors, Li Yuan was very unaccustomed to this method of transmitting the Dao, even though with his current talent he could comprehend spells very quickly.

But he wanted to be even faster.

"Transmissions written on paper, beast hide, or jade slips do exist in the San Yuan Fa Jie domain, but as for the Weeping Heaven Dao Sect... who knows whether those senior brothers might have any?"

With his thoughts churning, Daoist Li found himself rather missing Longhu Temple and the Divine Weapon Valley.

Having the Soldier-Summoning Register but nothing to take over — for him this was truly hard to adjust to. Back in the day, how much goodwill had he won from fellow disciples by using the old-for-new exchange method?

Besides, he could also rely on those broken old weapons to quickly raise his own Martial cultivation realm. He hadn't thought much of it back then, but looking back now, he was simply a genius!

"Perhaps I could learn from Li Li Xuanyong and take on the task of refining magic treasures for my senior brothers?"

Li Yuan suddenly thought of that White Bone Demon Mountain.

Refining magic treasures for others was a thankless task, but he felt that for himself it might not be — when asking someone to refine a magic treasure, one would have to grant access, wouldn't one?

"I'll need to learn the Treasure Refining Art too."

"But at my realm, I can't even get such a thankless task, so there's no rush for now..."

Letting his miscellaneous thoughts churn for a while, Li Yuan finally began to flip through the manuals in his mind.

First, Shan Xuan Gang Heavy Water.

Fayin Fayin Tongzi had mentioned that cultivators who practiced the North Pole Black Emperor Dark Abyss Method had to learn this spell — the reason was none other than that Shan Xuan Gang Heavy Water was the cornerstone of many high-grade spells, and even divine abilities.

【Shan Xuan Gang Heavy Water: Above it draws upon Heavenly Gang, below it draws upon the Nine Abysses, merging the waters of heaven into one, profoundly wondrous beyond measure... its color is dark and black, touching it is bone-piercingly cold, able to freeze divine souls, a single drop can become a river or sea...】

"Truly a top-grade spell!"

Li Yuan sensed it slightly and felt this method was extremely wondrous, and after flipping through the other three manuals, he became all the more certain of this.

This Shan Xuan Gang Heavy Water was practically a universal fit!

Whether it was the Great Yin Sword Qi or the Kunming Ten-Thousand-Layer Armor, both could make use of this spell, and combining them only added to the power.

Even more valuable was that while cultivating this Heavy Water, it could also accelerate the condensation of Kun Peng magic power, and even had tremendous benefits for comprehending the 'Black Emperor Dark Abyss Scripture.'

"This Sky Peng Dun Fa is also of great use to me — transforming into a great peng bird and then urging this method, the speed would likely be unrivaled among those of the same realm? Add to that the augmentation of the Soldier-Summoning Register..."

Li Yuan was very satisfied with these four spells, just as Shu Shu Haoshou had said — all were fine works.

"Buzz~"

Suddenly, he heard a strange sound.

"Is this... a Communication Orb?"

Li Yuan froze for a moment, took out the trembling Communication Orb, and with a shift of his mind, discovered that the Friends interface was flickering nonstop.

Someone was actually requesting to add him as a friend...

"Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen!"

Thinking of this senior sister, Li Yuan couldn't help but frown. He had no intention of accepting, but after thinking it over, he added her anyway.

"Congratulations, junior brother, on your success in refining the Dao!"

A wisp of light flickered before his eyes, projecting Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen in a robe of plain gauze. This senior sister was still brewing tea in that pavilion, a faint smile on her face, cupping her hands in congratulations.

"Many thanks, senior sister."

Li Yuan returned the courtesy.

After his conversation with Fayin Fayin Tongzi, although he was wary of this senior sister ranked fifth among the inner disciples, if she truly wanted to set him up, he wasn't afraid of falling out with her.

At worst, he simply wouldn't leave the mountain until he had refined a complete Dun Tian Zhou!

"Has junior brother gone to the Scripture Pavilion to choose spells? I happen to know a junior sister who cultivates the Black Emperor Dark Abyss Scripture, so she does know a thing or two about water arts."

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen asked with a smile, seeming to truly be a good senior sister who cared about her junior brother.

"Many thanks for senior sister's kind intentions, but junior brother has already chosen his spells."

Li Yuan politely declined.

"Is that so?"

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen didn't press the matter further, and instead said:

"Since junior brother has already refined magic power, the next step should be to seek top-grade magic power, and to forge a 'Divine Furnace,' shouldn't it?"

"Junior brother has only just refined magic power, so there's no rush."

Li Yuan shook his head.

There was no rushing it even if he wanted to — one copy of the Dark Abyss Scripture required six hundred and sixty Da Gong, and even if he used up his first-exchange opportunity, he was still short of nearly six Da Gong; he simply couldn't afford it.

"Is it that you don't have enough Shan Gong?"

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen asked with concern.

"..."

Li Yuan was quite speechless inside, yet couldn't help being a little curious about what Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen wanted to do, but he merely shook his head and didn't take the bait.

After several attempts, even the faint smile on Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen's face was getting hard to maintain.

'What a slippery little fox.'

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen was inwardly amused, and not annoyed. Seeing Li Yuan's cautious, wary manner actually reminded her of herself back when she had first joined Mount Mount Dongxuan.

"Senior sister won't hide it from you — I'm looking for you because there's an urgent matter."

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen stopped beating around the bush.

"... Junior brother's cultivation is shallow, I'm afraid I won't be of any help to senior sister."

Li Yuan still politely declined.

From the Weapon-Forging Shop to Mount Mount Dongxuan, the greatest risk he had ever taken in this life was that cluster of Guiding Divine Fire.

Seeing him refuse so decisively, Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen was genuinely somewhat surprised:

"Won't junior brother even ask about the payment?"

Loose cultivators are cautious, yet dare to take risks — such a cautious kid, was he really born of the loose-cultivator class?

"Senior Sister's fee — I'm afraid this junior brother wouldn't dare take it."

Li Yuan was somewhat curious, but wary all the more; the affairs of a Fifth-Realm powerhouse were truly something he didn't dare get involved in.

"Have you, junior brother, ever heard of the 'Demon-Slaying Immortal-Butchering Sword'?"

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen suddenly spoke.

"Mm?"

Li Yuan's heart jolted.

"The Demon-Slaying Swords come in five types. For any disciple of our Mount Mount Dongxuan, when refining their Natal Sword, the first choice is always a Demon-Slaying Sword — only those who cannot obtain one will choose another spirit treasure instead…"

Yu Yu Fa Huan Zhen's expression was calm. Looking at Li Yuan, who seemed utterly unmoved, she suddenly smiled:

"The Demon-Slaying Swords — only five are passed down in each generation. Junior brother, can you guess how many the Master has already passed down?"

(End of chapter)