Chapter 542

"Finally finished."

Lu Yang stretched his back. After the guidance of the Transmission Elder, their learning progress was rapid, and the Five Elements Combat Art had achieved some initial success.

The Transmission Elder stroked his white beard and nodded slightly: "Not bad. I have nothing left to teach you."

Among the disciples he had taught, Lu Yang and the other four were the fastest to master the Five Elements Combat Art. Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou's powerful spiritual sense played a part in this, taking a leading role in their cultivation.

There was another important point: the five of them were quite united, making their learning twice as effective with half the effort.

"The Five Elements Combat Art is indeed very powerful."

Li Haoran nodded secretly. If the Jiuyou Sect had mastered the Five Elements Combat Art, Qin Haoran and the four Vice Sect Masters joining forces might have been able to repel the debt collectors.

Of course, this was on the condition that the four Vice Sect Masters knew about the Jiuyou Sect's current deficit and could remain united in the future.

"Speaking of which, this Five Elements Combat Art is so miraculous. Which predecessor invented it to have such heaven-shaking and earth-shattering talent?" Lu Yang asked curiously.

"This Five Elements Combat Art was created by the founder of our Wuxing Sect, Mr. Tian Kui. He was a generation of genius who left behind many foundations for our Wuxing Sect, and the Five Elements Combat Art is one of them."

Mr. Tian Kui was famous in the Great Xia. Ten thousand years ago, he was a contemporary great power on par with the Guiyuan Heavenly Venerable of the Congwendao Sect, and he promoted the establishment of the Five Great Xian Sects.

The Transmission Elder revealed a look of reminiscence, recalling the stories passed down by word of mouth in the Wuxing Sect.

"Mr. Tian Kui came from a scholarly family in the late Great Yu period and was deeply influenced by the theory of 'let the ruler be a ruler, the minister a minister, the father a father, and the son a son.' He originally wanted to pass the imperial examinations and join the army to lay the foundation for a future rebellion. When the time came, a single call would bring a hundred responses, and he would establish himself as king—wouldn't that be wonderful... These last two sentences are Mr. Tian Kui's original words, not mine."

"It's a pity. Before he could pass the imperial examinations, the Great Yu Emperor was gone, executed on the throne. His path to joining the army and rebelling collapsed."

"... Elder, wait a moment. You just said Mr. Tian Kui was deeply influenced by the theory of 'let the ruler be a ruler, the minister a minister, the father a father, and the son a son,' and then he rebelled?" Although one shouldn't interrupt when an elder is speaking, Meng Jingzhou really couldn't help it.

"That's right. Mr. Tian Kui got tired of studying that set of 'ruler, minister, father, son' theories, so he wanted to see what would happen if he didn't do it that way."

Man Gu suddenly realized. So there were Confucian cultivators who did things this way—not just reading books to death, but using practice to verify whether what was in the books was correct. He had been too rigid in his previous studies.

"When the world was in chaos, Mr. Tian Kui's cultivation was not enough, and he was not qualified to compete for the world. He practiced honestly, cultivating through killing on the battlefield, and his cultivation grew rapidly."

"Although Mr. Tian Kui's talent was rare and his cultivation speed was fast enough, by the time he became an overlord of one side, the Jiang family had already won and declared themselves emperors. He was one step late."

"Mr. Tian Kui was depressed all day and traveled around the world to relax. One day, he accidentally entered an immortal realm and obtained a great opportunity."

"Immortal realm?" Lu Yang was influenced by the word 'immortal.' Generally speaking, they were called secret realms. Anything qualified to be called an immortal realm must be related to immortals.

"It's just related to immortals. Look at how startled you are. In front of this immortal, what is an immortal realm?" the Decayed Fairy said lazily, not caring at all. She was an immortal, so everything she did was related to immortals.

Lu Yang looked at the Decayed Fairy suspiciously, as if she knew the location of an immortal realm.

If only you knew the location of one immortal realm.

The Decayed Fairy felt despised by Lu Yang's gaze and proudly proved her own value: "This immortal is staying in your spiritual world, so the place where this immortal stays is the immortal's spiritual world. Simply put, this is the Immortal Realm!"

It was the first time Lu Yang had heard the Immortal Realm explained this way.

He rolled his eyes, regained his composure, and continued to listen to the Transmission Elder tell the story.

"According to Mr. Tian Kui's records, that secret realm had an immortal's layout, plotting for ten thousand ages, with mysteries hidden everywhere. He even saw the shadow of an immortal remaining for ten thousand ages, as if ancient history was replaying before him, but the immortal's face was invisible, completely blurred!"

"Two immortals were playing chess with a chessboard. The chess pieces were black and white, the layout was exquisite, and every step was planned before being decided. They only made one move every few months, as if they weren't playing chess, but playing with ten thousand ages and the common people of the world!"

"During the chess game, a third immortal transformed into a woodcutter and came to watch the game."

"Mr. Tian Kui was immersed in it, and when he came to his senses, a hundred years had passed!"

"He saw the black and white pieces fighting on the chessboard, struggling to connect five pieces, and had an epiphany."

"Mr. Tian Kui believed that the five pieces corresponded to the five elements. Connecting five pieces in a line could obtain the final victory, meaning the unity of the five elements, possessing immense power that even made the immortals move."

"He went into seclusion on the spot, and based on this, he created the Five Elements Combat Art and founded the Wuxing Sect after coming out of seclusion."

"It is a pity that as Mr. Tian Kui came out of seclusion, the shadow of the immortal disappeared and could never be reproduced again."

"Mr. Tian Kui claimed to be dull-witted and only realized one or two out of ten. That chess game should have had deeper things he didn't discover, such as why the third immortal woodcutter came to watch the game, and what was the meaning of chopping wood? Was it using all living beings as firewood, or was it to indicate his neutral stance?"

The Transmission Elder shook his head with regret. There were too many things that could not be explained clearly. Ancient times were mysterious, and even now, their understanding of ancient times was only a glimpse.

Lu Yang: "..."

He remembered the Decayed Fairy saying that the Ying Tian Immortal and the Qilin Immortal, in order not to eat the food cooked by the Decayed Fairy, used playing chess as an excuse and refused to go. The Decayed Fairy asked the Jiu Chong Immortal to chop wood to facilitate cooking, and after the Jiu Chong Immortal finished chopping wood, he went to watch the chess game. The three immortals actually played chess for a hundred years.

Lu Yang originally thought that anyone who could play chess for a hundred years must be playing something like Go, which contained the heaven and earth.

It turns out you two were playing Gomoku!

"Look at what this immortal said. The Jiu Chong Immortal integrated yin, yang, and the five elements into the chessboard to provide inspiration for future generations. Isn't this a ready-made example?" the Decayed Fairy said righteously, finally encountering an example that could prove she was telling the truth.

"By the way, Elder, is that immortal realm still there?"

"It is. Although the shadow of the immortal disappeared and no one could realize anything from it anymore, Mr. Tian Kui felt that it was an immortal realm after all, so he moved it back to the sect."

Lu Yang thought to himself, no wonder the first-generation Gold Vein Elder moved several mines back to the sect. Your first-generation Sect Master even moved an immortal realm.

But now was not the time to complain about this.

"Can we enter the secret realm to observe the immortal chess game?"

It was a place where three immortals stayed, so there might be some clues.

Hearing Lu Yang say this, Meng Jingzhou and the others also became interested. This was something related to immortals, so they had to see it no matter what.

The Transmission Elder pondered for a moment: "I need to consult the Sect Master about this matter. I think the Sect Master will agree."

(The side story will be updated at twelve midnight)

(End of chapter)