Chapter 20

Having joined the Lingxu Dongtian for three months now, Jiang Xuan had cultivated to the Divine Bridge Realm, a speed that could not be called anything but fast.

"Hmm, the Hongmeng Treasure Mirror refreshed again, only a day or two since the last refresh, truly a stroke of exploding luck, let's see what good stuff can be captured this time."

Jiang Xuan, who was comprehending the Zhoulu Liu Xu Gong and the Bagua Lu Yin, finished his cultivation, his mind sinking into the Hongmeng Treasure Mirror, his thoughts circulating, and in the darkness a single thread of faint light flashed by, entering some unknown world.

"A coordinate, the Fengyun World."

Regarding this world, Jiang Xuan was full of expectation; the last time he captured a world coordinate was back when he was on Earth.

Although the Fengyun World is a wuxia world, its martial arts power is extremely formidable, even involving the cultivation of the Primordial Spirit, making it quite remarkable even among some xuanhuan worlds.

Using training as a pretext, he asked the Sect Master for a leave of absence, and Sect Master Li naturally granted permission.

Jiang Xuan drove a streak of divine light and flew out of the Lingxu Dongtian; after a hundred li he vanished in a flash.

When he appeared again, Jiang Xuan was already in the Fengyun World.

Jiang Xuan stood atop a cliff, the howling airflow in the sky roaring, rushing along both sides of the cliff with the speed of wind and lightning.

The raging gale surged toward Jiang Xuan incessantly, yet his silhouette stood still, his black long hair dancing wildly, his bearing heroic and spirited.

His gaze dropped from the steep mountain peaks, passed through the dense forest, and looked toward a certain direction.

"Didn't expect the first stop of this trip would land me in this world's forbidden zone."

Jiang Xuan drove divine light, performed Void Flight, and rushed toward that giant Buddha Image ahead.

In just a few breaths' time, the Lingshan Buddha hundreds of zhang away was right before his eyes.

The Great Buddha towered like a mountain, sitting with knees crossed, eyes lowered, back facing the ceaselessly flowing great river, containing a sense of compassionate affinity.

Jiang Xuan's jade-like bearing floated down from the Tianqiong above and settled atop the Great Buddha's head; looking down, the river waters surged past, as if washing away all the heroes under heaven.

Water submerges the Great Buddha's knees, fire burns the Lingyun Grotto.

Actually, when he learned this world's background, his very first thought was the various opportunities of this world. Besides all kinds of marvelous martial arts, this world also has the Four Great Auspicious Beasts.

The Divine Dragon, the Phoenix, the Dragon Turtle, the Fire Qilin.

Among them the Phoenix and the Dragon Turtle were respectively hunted and killed by Di Shi Tian and Xiao Sanxiao, who even seized their essence blood, thereby gaining longevity and a surge in internal force.

So between heaven and earth only the Divine Dragon and the Fire Qilin, two kinds of auspicious beasts, remain.

Or rather, they are ferocious beasts.

Among the Four Great Auspicious Beasts, whether the Divine Dragon or the Phoenix and Dragon Turtle, all possess incomparably powerful strength; absorbing their essence blood and true essence can grant an extremely long lifespan, but this Fire Qilin's performance relative to the former three is truly rather lackluster; the Fire Qilin's combat power is not bad, but compared to the Divine Dragon, Phoenix, and Dragon Turtle it is obviously inferior by more than a whole tier; absorbing its essence blood also grants no longevity, only causing one to fall into a demonic frenzy state.

Strolling atop the Great Buddha's head, faint traces of saber and sword marks could be seen, presumably the battle traces left by Nie Renwang and Xiong Ba contending for the strongman's standard-issue Yan Ying; in the Fengyun World, anyone who has never possessed Yan Ying is unqualified to call themselves a strongman, truly a strongman quality inspector.

"Found the entrance, hope it doesn't disappoint me."

Jiang Xuan stepped down from atop the Great Buddha's head and walked into a cave opening inside the Lingyun Grotto.

"Surveying the entire Fengyun timeline, the Lingyun Grotto can be called the protagonist's great rear base; whenever they fall into dire straits, coming to the Lingyun Grotto always yields gains."

Upon entering the Lingyun Grotto, the crisscrossing forked paths twisted and turned nine bends and eighteen curves. Ordinary martial arts masters who fall into the Lingyun Grotto find it very hard to find a single correct passage out; no wonder Nie Feng couldn't excavate all the opportunities of the Lingyun Grotto in one go.

But for Jiang Xuan, under the Primordial Spirit's scan, everything would have nowhere to hide.

Jiang Xuan walked unhurriedly, appreciating the cave walls with great interest. He could stroll so leisurely precisely because his Primordial Spirit had already expanded in all directions; he could find the passage leading to where the opportunities lay.

Stone walls that the physical body cannot penetrate, the Primordial Spirit passes through without any hindrance; the entire Lingyun Grotto's passage map fed back into Jiang Xuan's mind.

"Hmm, found it, the Blood Bodhi and the stone wall recording the Ao Han Six Jue."

In half a cup of tea's time, Jiang Xuan found the first opportunity inside the Lingyun Grotto.

Strolling along, Jiang Xuan soon saw strands of black vines, on which grew red fruits like small tomatoes.

"This should be the Blood Bodhi."

Five fingers slightly spread, suction force originating from his palm, he captured one Blood Bodhi into his palm, held it up to examine; the fruit was crystal clear transparent, with a faint blood-red glow, emitting a delicate fragrance.

"Wonder how much Life Essence Qi it contains."

Placing the Blood Bodhi into his mouth, the Eight Trigrams Furnace flame inside his body rose slightly, Jiang Xuan's divine power seemed like boiling water, as if it had a reaction.

"Taste not bad, has a murderous qi that clears the mind, eating it feels a bit like mint."

"The Life Essence Qi contained is ordinary, less than one-tenth of a bottle of Hundred Herb Liquid."

Jiang Xuan sighed slightly; the Blood Bodhi counts as a treasure in the wuxia world, but to the current him it only counts as a snack.

On second thought, he found it quite reasonable; the Blood Bodhi is merely fruit formed from the Fire Qilin's blood dripping onto the ground, the energy contained wouldn't be much.

For ordinary martial artists, the Blood Bodhi has the miraculous effect of healing injuries when injured and increasing power when uninjured, but to Jiang Xuan this effect is minuscule; the boost from a single Blood Bodhi doesn't even compare to half a day of his cultivation.

The Blood Bodhi on these vines number only a hundred or so; even if he absorbed them all, it would only equal ten or so bottles of Hundred Herb Liquid.

"Of no great use to me, I'll just take ten, leave the rest for those who come later."

Jiang Xuan flipped his palm, a formless force rolling.

Hualala!

The vines seemed to come alive, crawling and rolling like snakes, shifting to one side, while ten Blood Bodhi on the vines were captured by a formless giant hand, flying into Jiang Xuan's hands one after another, then stored by him into the Hongmeng Treasure Mirror for preservation.

As the vines were peeled away, the Ao Han Six Jue carved on the stone wall and the records left by Nie Ying were also revealed; not far away there was a skeleton locked by iron chains.

"I am Nie Ying; with the Ao Han Six Jue paired with the Snow Drinking Mad Saber I shook the martial world; because the Fire Qilin ran rampant harming the world, to save the common people I resolutely went to battle."

"I fought the Fire Qilin in the Lingyun Grotto for six days and six nights, finally wounding it, but inadvertently swallowed its blood."

"And my killing nature grew heavier by the day, fearing I would harm the innocent, I used iron chains to lock myself in the Lingyun Grotto's underground cavern."

Jiang Xuan halted in place, reading Nie Ying's life record word by word, his expression solemn.

"Poor, one keeps one's own integrity; successful, one benefits all under heaven — truly admirable."

Turning to walk toward the stone wall engraved with the Ao Han Six Jue, after reading the whole text, Jiang Xuan used his palm in place of a saber to practice.

"Startling Cold One Glance"

"Peach Branches Yao Yao"

"Cold Blade Ice Heart"

With Jiang Xuan's realm as of today, learning the Ao Han Six Jue was merely half a cup of tea's time; his purpose was not to master this martial art, but to let this martial art become provisions for his own path.

As Jiang Xuan practiced, stones shattered not far away, and a snow-white long saber flew up, slanting into the ground before Jiang Xuan.

Snow Drinking Mad Saber!

"The Fire Qilin on the southern mountain peak is fierce; the Snow Drinker in the northern sea depths is cold. The martial arts of the two can only be considered not bad."

Martial arts such as the Ao Han Six Decisions, placed in the martial world of the Fengyun World, are enough to make the major sects vie for them; if in a world like Heavenly Dragon or Laughing Proudly, they could even draw the entire jianghu into slaughter.

But with Jiang Xuan's current perspective, they can only be considered still acceptable.

(Chapter End)