Chapter 11: Exploring Lingyun Cave

On the second day after Nie Feng left, Duan Fengyun also went to bid farewell to Xiongba:

"Master, I have been in the World Society for ten years now. I haven't seen my younger brother for a long time, and Qingming is coming up soon. I would like to go and pay my respects to my father; I hope Master will grant me permission."

There had been little business in the World Society lately, so Xiongba approved his trip.

It was true that he was going to see Duan Lang, but the visit to pay respects was a lie; he had no intention of mourning this cheap father of his.

He was going to Lingyun Cave to search for the Fire Bodhi and the Qilin Sword. Xiongba was about to have Ni Pusa tell his fortune again, and he had to improve his personal strength as quickly as possible.

After taking leave of Xiongba, he immediately returned to his Tianwen Hall, packed his luggage, and quietly left the World Society alone.

His first destination was the Capital, where Duan Lang resided. Having not seen Duan Lang for a long time, he could not help but miss him, and he spurred his horse on, galloping toward the Capital.

For the past ten years, Duan Lang had kept up a correspondence with him, so he knew where Duan Lang lived.

Upon arriving in the Capital, he chose a few gifts for Duan Lang at the market and then went to Duan Lang's residence.

In their letters, although Duan Lang had constantly talked about his studies and his work as a teacher, when he arrived at Duan Lang's residence and saw the scene before him, he could not help but be greatly astonished.

He saw a man who looked eighty percent like him, dressed in white, holding a book in one hand and a teaching rod in the other, reciting poetry aloud.

He knew this man must be Duan Lang; after ten years of not seeing him, the change was too great.

Now that the two of them stood together, their appearances were no different, but their temperaments were worlds apart.

He had long been tempered in the Jianghu and carried an air of the martial world, while Duan Lang had long resided in the classroom and carried the air of a scholar.

He did not go in to interrupt Duan Lang's class, but waited silently outside for Duan Lang to finish.

When the bell for the end of class rang, Duan Lang walked out of the door and saw the person he had been thinking of day and night.

"Brother, why are you here? Why didn't you tell me?"

Duan Lang said to Duan Fengyun with excitement.

Duan Fengyun replied: "I just arrived, I wanted to give you a surprise."

Duan Lang finished his class and pulled Duan Fengyun toward a restaurant.

Over these years, half of the gold and treasures Duan Fengyun obtained were put into a bank, and he had taken a portion of the other half to give to Duan Lang.

Therefore, Duan Lang's life was extremely comfortable compared to other scholars.

Duan Lang pulled Duan Fengyun to a small shop he usually liked to drink at; the storefront was not large, but the dishes suited his taste quite well.

Duan Fengyun let Duan Lang order a few side dishes for the wine, then had the shopkeeper bring a few pots of good wine.

The two brothers, who had not seen each other for ten years, drank heartily. Duan Lang talked endlessly about his studies, and Duan Fengyun quietly acted as a listener.

After Duan Lang finished talking about the events of these years, he asked how Duan Fengyun had been doing all these years.

Duan Fengyun did not want Duan Lang to get involved in the Jianghu again, so he did not talk about his battles in the martial world, only telling stories about himself, Nie Feng, and Bu Jingyun.

Duan Lang knew his brother's thoughts and did not bring it up again.

After three rounds of drinks, Duan Fengyun declined Duan Lang's request for him to stay; time was tight, and he had important matters to attend to.

Seeing that he could not be persuaded, Duan Lang stopped insisting.

He thought for a moment, took a few pages of paper from his chest, and said to Duan Fengyun:

"Brother, this Eclipse Sun Sword Technique is already a useless move for me. I know you have forgotten it, so I specifically wrote it out. If you have one more trump card while walking the Jianghu, you have one more life. Take it."

Duan Fengyun took the Eclipse Sun Sword Technique from Duan Lang's hand and left. Between brothers, there is no need for formalities; he understood Duan Lang's intentions, and Duan Lang understood his thoughts.

History had already changed with Duan Lang's disappearance from the Jianghu. Duan Fengyun knew deeply that to survive in this turbulent era, he had to keep getting stronger.

After parting with Duan Lang, he sped toward Lingyun Cave; it was now time to grind this high-level dungeon.

Arriving outside Lingyun Cave, Duan Fengyun suddenly had the feeling of being reborn.

He had been in this world for ten years, and he had transformed from that ordinary college student into today's killing machine.

Since Heaven let him come to this place, he would achieve something and let Heaven see, Duan Fengyun thought firmly in his heart.

Gazing at the mysterious Lingyun Cave, he walked in resolutely, tensing his hands and feet to prepare for the unexpected.

It was as if lighting equipment had been installed in Lingyun Cave; one could walk through it without any obstruction without the help of any torches.

The more this was the case, the more Duan Fengyun felt the mystery of Lingyun Cave.

He walked cautiously through Lingyun Cave, fearing that he might disturb the terrifying Fire Qilin.

After walking for half an hour, he saw a pile of bones and quickly walked up to it.

He remembered that in the original story, this pile of bones was Duan Lang's father, Duan Shuai, and the Fire Scale Sword was buried deep in front of the bones.

Duan Fengyun looked at this cheap father before him without a shred of respect, and kicked the dirt in front of the bone pile, making a thumping sound; there was indeed something underneath.

He squatted down and began to dig, and before long, a sword appeared before his eyes.

The Fire Scale Sword was indeed worthy of its reputation. The first time Duan Fengyun saw it, he felt his own mind being affected by its evil nature.

But his mind was not ordinary, and he immediately reacted, took the Fire Scale Sword from the ground, held it in his left hand, and continued to walk in small steps deeper into the cave.

Before long, he saw another pile of skeletons, and next to the skeletons was a piece of writing recording the identity of the remains.

Duan Fengyun read it and discovered that this pile of skeletons was actually Nie Feng's ancestor, Nie Ying. He mocked: "It seems the Duan Family and the Nie Family really have a fate; even their ancestors are buried in Lingyun Cave like this."

Duan Fengyun was not interested in the Cold Pride Six Arts left by Nie Ying, but he did learn the Ice Heart Formula; this mental cultivation method was quite useful for things like preventing Qi deviation.

He glanced at the Snow Drink Saber and the Cold Pride beside it.

After staying for a short while, he continued to explore deeper into the cave, and after searching for a long time, he finally saw the goal of his trip.

Before his eyes was a vine, and on the vine grew fruits shining with red light; this was the Fire Bodhi, which legend said was formed from the blood left by the Fire Qilin.

He took two Fire Bodhi, sat cross-legged, swallowed the two fruits, and immediately began to circulate his Qi to regulate his breath.

This Fire Bodhi was truly miraculous. Duan Fengyun felt that the hidden injuries formed from training and fighting over the past ten years had all been healed, and his own internal energy had improved quite a bit.

Seeing that the fruit was so miraculous, he plucked two more, but this time eating them had no effect at all.

It seemed that this fruit had drug resistance, and eating more was useless.

The entire purpose of this trip had been completed, and he could return to the World Society. He wondered if anything had happened in the sect since he had been gone for so long.

This time, familiar with the road, he quickly exited Lingyun Cave. Once out of the cave, he immediately drew the Fire Scale Sword from his hand.

In the early stages of Wind and Cloud, this sword can still be considered a divine weapon; combined with the Eclipse Sun Sword Technique, it should still be able to help him increase his strength significantly.

He will just make do with it for now, and wait until the Peerless Sword comes into the world before going to contend for it.

The matter is finished, so he had better hurry back to the World Association.