Volume 1 Chapter 12: Mysterious Silk Without Worries

  Yi Garden, Yi Tian Pavilion. At this time, nine people were gathered here. These nine people were the leader of the sect, Xuan Yu Zhen Ren, and four pavilion masters. The remaining four people were disciples from each of the four pavilions: Li Hongfei from Qian Pavilion, Zhang Aoxue from Kun Pavilion, Lu Yun from Yang Pavilion, and Lin Yunfeng from Yin Pavilion.

  Xuan Yu Zhenren returned early this morning and learned about yesterday's events from Qian Yuan Zhenren. He immediately summoned the four courtyard masters of Yi Garden, as well as their four most outstanding disciples. Among them was Li Hongfei, who was around 24 or 25 years old, extremely handsome, with a hint of cold smile at the corner of his mouth, and an air of pride that made him seem exceptionally arrogant. He didn't even glance at Lu Yun and Lin Yunfeng, but instead kept his eyes fixed on Zhang Aoxue, his expression full of disdain.

  Looking at several people, Xuan Yu Zhenren said: "I didn't expect that as soon as I left yesterday, this thing happened. Maybe it's really the will of heaven. Yesterday, I went to Ru Garden and had a discussion with Haoyun Ju Shi. From the current situation of our two gardens, it seems that we still need to work hard this time. Otherwise, at next year's Martial Arts Conference, we may not be able to win easily. Moreover, Haoyun Ju Shi also revealed some news, according to the rumors from Dao Garden, recently the heavenly phenomenon has changed, and the North Dipper Seven Stars have started to reverse, a disaster is approaching the human world, everyone needs to raise their vigilance. From what happened here yesterday, it has already begun to hint that chaos is coming, we need to be careful to prevent it. Now do you have any opinions or ideas to propose? Just speak up and let's discuss together."

  "Master Jingyue said in a low voice, "I don't know if Brother has learned about the situation of the disciples under other institutes during this trip to Ru Garden. A year later, we will face opponents, which ones are more powerful? Also, please take a closer look at the treasure sword that Ao Xue obtained this time and see if you can tell its origin."

  Xuan Yu Zhen Ren said, "From the news I got from Hao Yun Ju Shi yesterday, this time in the six courtyards, each courtyard has many outstanding young masters. Among them, it is said that Tian Jian Yuan has three extremely outstanding talents, the most famous one being named Jian Wu Chen, who has already practiced the highest 'Tian Jian Jiu Jue' of Tian Jian Yuan to the eighth jue. It's likely that in a year, he will make great progress, which is extremely rare in the world. In addition, it is said that Pu Ti Xue Yuan also produced two young masters, both of whom are mysterious and possess the highest skills of Buddhism."

  As for the Dao Garden, Confucian Garden and Phoenix Academy, they also produced two or three extremely outstanding talents. Therefore, this Martial Arts Conference will be very intense. It's not easy to win a place in the conference. Among these five academies, except for Jian Wucheng of the Heavenly Sword Academy, Benyi of the Bodhi Academy, Wuwang of the Dao Garden, Bitian of the Confucian Garden, and Cangyue of the Phoenix Academy are all well-known young masters. Their cultivation is not inferior to those who have been practicing for hundreds of years, so we must be careful.

  As for the divine sword in Ao Xue's hand, I only took a glance and knew its origin. The sword was said to have been left behind by a fairy named Zhan Long 1,000 years ago, and it was called Zi Ying. It was said to be incredibly powerful, known as one of the three greatest divine swords in the world, alongside another sword called 'Xiao Yue Shen Jian'. In the cultivation world, it was considered the most legendary divine sword. The cultivation world referred to this pair of treasured swords as the Shadow Moon Twin Swords. Ao Xue being able to obtain this sword could be considered a supreme fate, and she would have to work hard in the future. As for the rest of you, not having a divine sword is not a big deal, the most important thing in the cultivation world is each individual's own cultivation. If you all work hard, you can also reach the highest realm. There is still one year until the Liu Yuan Martial Arts Tournament, and during this year, you should focus on your own cultivation. In the future, it will be easy to bring glory to Yi Garden.

  Master Jingyue's face lit up with joy upon hearing the words, while Zhang Aoxue remained calm and expressionless. The three young men beside him gazed at Aoxue's stunningly beautiful jade-like face, their eyes revealing different emotions. Lu Yun's eyes flashed with a hint of curiosity, thinking to himself that he should probably find a weapon for himself. Meanwhile, Li Hongfei's eyes burned with fervor, seemingly harboring a hint of adoration within.

  "Senior brother, yesterday I used the Soul-Shaking Seal to temporarily seal that cold pool. Now that you're back, when do you plan on re-sealing it properly? This matter is not ordinary and requires caution, lest unnecessary things happen in the future."

  The Purple Yang True Person beside him said, "This matter was decided by the four of us on the spot due to its urgency at the time and did not go through your approval, Senior Brother. We hope you can forgive us for this. At the same time, it's not suitable to leak out what happened this time, lest it causes unrest among the common people, which would be extremely unfavorable to us."

  Xuan Yu Zhen Ren thought for a moment, then said in a low voice: "This time, you handled it very correctly. How could I blame you? As for this matter, it's indeed not suitable to be revealed. We must handle it immediately. At the same time, Xuan Yin Shi Di will rush to Shu Nan tomorrow to properly handle the frequent appearance of ghosts and spirits there. You must handle this matter well and prevent it from spreading. The mortal world is about to fall into chaos. At this critical moment, we must be vigilant at all times and constantly improve our cultivation to deal with sudden disasters. Does anyone have anything else to say? If not, then each of you should return and intensify your practice to enhance your own cultivation."

  Qianyuan Zhenren asked, "A year later, how many people from our Yi Garden will participate in the Six Institutes' Martial Arts Conference? Thinking back to the past, it's already been fifty years. In each of the five previous competitions, we ended up in last place with a crushing defeat. I believe this time won't be like before." The crowd remained silent upon hearing his words. Yes, fifty years, how fleeting time is! These fifty years have been a source of shame for Yi Garden, a painful memory that has lingered on.

  Xuan Yu Zhen Ren let out a light sigh and said, "This time we'll send four people to participate, no need to go too many. The number of people is not important, what's important is their cultivation level. I hope that the four disciples standing here today will have another change in a year, each of your cultivations will be elevated by one stage, only then can you compete with the strong from other five institutes and bring glory to our Yi Garden. Work hard, don't let me down, now the four of you go down first."

  Out of the Easy Sky Pavilion, Lu Yun looked at Li Hongfei and said softly: "Hello, Senior Li, I'm Lu Yun, a newcomer this year. I hope you'll take care of me in the future." Li Hongfei nodded slightly but didn't respond, appearing extremely arrogant. He glanced at Zhang Aoxue before turning around and leaving.

  Watching him leave, Lin Yunfeng said discontentedly: "What's there to be proud of? It's just that he practiced for a few more years. Lu Yun, don't mind him, you've achieved so much in just one year, and after a few years, it won't be difficult to surpass him. What's he got to be proud of? Pretending to be aloof, I don't even want to bother with him. What's so great about him? To say something unpleasant, when it comes to catching demons and ghosts, he's far inferior to me."

  Lu Yun smiled and said, "You're just being impulsive. Perhaps Master Brother is like that by nature. Once we've met more times in the future and become familiar with each other, it won't be like this anymore. Let's go back on our own and cultivate well. I hope to make some progress within a year. Farewell, Ao Xue Shijie. Next time, I hope there will be another chance for us to work together to slay demons and eliminate evil."

  Zhang Aoxue glanced at the two of them and said softly, "I hope so. You two junior brothers take care and work hard. Compared to Li Shixiong, you still have a long way to go with your current cultivation. You will understand in the future." After finishing speaking, he turned around and floated away.

  Time, for cultivators, passes much faster than ordinary people. In the blink of an eye, three months have passed, and during these three months, Lu Yun has been under the supervision of Zi Yang Zhen Ren, diligently cultivating. After three months, Lu Yun's "Easy Heaven Twelve Secrets" has already entered the tenth secret, and the Lihuo Tiange Sword Secret can now exert ten layers of power. This made Zi Yang Zhen Ren extremely happy, constantly praising him, attaching great importance to him, and putting all his thoughts on him.

  For the past three months, Shu Nan has been constantly appearing in large numbers of ghosts and spirits. Xuan Yin Zhenren has gone there three times, but he can only temporarily suppress them for a while. As soon as he leaves, those ghosts and spirits appear again on a large scale, making it very difficult for Yi Garden. It wasn't until Xuan Yu Zhenren stepped in that the passage where the ghosts and spirits were appearing was sealed off, temporarily stopping this matter.

  In addition, frequent reports have been circulating from the Tianxia Xiuzhen realm about the emergence of evil spirits in various places. It seems that things have become very serious. At this time, the leader of the Six Institutes, the Tiānjiàn Institute, has sent a message to the entire Tianxia Xiuzhen realm, urging everyone to be vigilant and pay attention to any anomalies that may occur at any time. Many famous figures in the Xiuzhen realm have rushed to the places where evil spirits are emerging, doing their best to stop the rampant phenomenon of evil demons.

  In the Easy Garden, inside the Sunny Courtyard, Purple Yang True Person looked at Lu Yun with a smiling face and said: "Your achievements have surpassed my imagination, it's really amazing. As for your progress over the past three months, I haven't told anyone about it, I want to surprise them when the time comes, let them know that our Sunny Courtyard is not easy to deal with either. Now that your sword technique has been mastered, you just need to intensify your practice of the spell technique, and from now on, it's up to you. If you have any needs, feel free to tell me, I will definitely fulfill your wishes."

  Lu Yun looked at Zi Yang Zhen Ren and smiled slightly, saying: "I remember the last time in that Yin Soul Forest, Xuan Yin Shifu had once performed 'Easy Sky Shocking Soul Technique', it was very magical. I don't know if Master knows that technique? Disciple is very curious about that, I have heard Ao Xue Shifu say that our Yi Garden has four great secret skills, I wonder if Master can tell disciple some things about this?"

  Ziyang Zhenren's face turned slightly unsightly upon hearing this, and he let out a soft sigh as he gazed into the distance: "Since you want to know, I suppose it doesn't matter if I tell you. Indeed, there are four great secret techniques within the Yi Garden, with each of the four institutes possessing one. However, only our Yang Institute's technique has never been successfully cultivated by anyone in a thousand years. Therefore, it's not an exaggeration to say that among the four institutes of the Yi Garden, our Yang Institute is the weakest. Throughout history, the Yang Institute has never produced any outstanding talents, which is also why we've always ranked last among the Qiankun Yinyang Institutes."

  Lu Yun's face was full of surprise as he asked, "I don't know why this is. Could it be that our Yang Institute's secret technique or mantra is incomplete? Or is there another reason? Otherwise, why has no one been able to successfully cultivate it all along?"

  Zi Yang Zhen Ren let out a soft sigh and said, "After all these years, you are the most outstanding person in our Yang Institute. Since you're interested, I'll let you take a look at that manual. Hopefully, you can gain something from it and change the history of our Yang Institute, where no one has ever successfully practiced the secret technique. Come on, you'll understand once you see it." After finishing speaking, he led Lu Yun into his own room.

  In the room, Zi Yang Zhen Ren carefully took out a jade box from the inner house, only the size of a palm. Lightly opening the jade box, Lu Yun carefully looked at what was inside, and it turned out to be just a piece of dark red silk with countless patterns and texts drawn on it, unfortunately, they couldn't be seen clearly.

  Zi Yang Zhen Ren handed the silk to Lu Yun and said, "The secret technique recorded on this is our sect's ultimate skill - Wu Lei Zheng Tian Jue! For so many years, except for being able to see the five characters of Wu Lei Zheng Tian Jue clearly, everything else has been blurry and unclear. No matter how hard anyone tried, they couldn't decipher it, so for a thousand years, no one has successfully cultivated it. It's also never been cracked open, the mystery hidden on this silk. I hope you can gain something from it. Take it back with you to study, just don't lose it, and return it to me in three months."

  Lu Yun gazed at the silk in his hand, which kept changing colors, and fell into deep thought. He remembered that before coming here, his master had mentioned the "Five Thunder Heavenly Seal", saying it was a technique of extreme yang energy in the world, capable of suppressing all yin evil demons in the world, extremely mysterious. Now it seems that it indeed contains profound mysteries, not something ordinary people can decipher.

  Lu Yun said softly, "Thank you, Master. I'll go back and take a look first, hoping to find some clues to help you solve the silk mystery." After finishing speaking, he got up and left.

  Back in his own room, Lu Yun closed the door and window tightly, slowly taking out the mysterious silk. He carefully explored it, and the silk had a flowing light on its surface, with a layer of mysterious aura hiding something, making it unclear to see. Lu Yun gently grasped the silk, trying to input the true yuan of the Easy Sky Formula inside, to see if there would be any results. As the true yuan was inputted, he saw that the silk slowly emitted a dark blue light, but unfortunately, the patterns and texts on it were still unclear.

  Lu Yun withdrew his true yuan, and the silk fabric returned to its original state. It was truly strange. After thinking for a while, Lu Yun began to input the Taoist "Tai Xuan Lie Tian Dao" true yuan, carefully observing the changes in the silk fabric. Unfortunately, although the colors were slightly different, the result was still the same - nothing could be seen clearly. Next, Lu Yun again inputted the Buddhist, Confucian, Demon Sect, and Ghost Sect's mantra true yuan, but unfortunately, it was still the same, with no progress. This made Lu Yun somewhat shocked, as he had mastered the ultimate skills of six sects, yet he couldn't decipher the silk fabric. It seemed that this was indeed a mysterious and unparalleled enigma, no wonder Yi Yuan had been unable to unravel the mystery of the silk fabric for thousands of years.

  Lying quietly in bed, a sudden flash of black light flickered in Lu Yun's eyes, extremely eerie. At this moment, Lu Yun still did not want to give up and finally decided to use the "Heart Desire Without Trace" technique from the Demon Sect to detect the secrets of the silk with his mind waves. In an instant, Lu Yun released seven mind waves, each with a different frequency, ranging from 240 times per second to 18,000 times per second, divided into seven different segments, exploring at different frequencies.

  Lu Yun only felt that the seven strands of mental energy waves he emitted were instantly reflected back, with six of them returning. Only that one strand, which was vibrating at a frequency of 18,000 times per second, continued to probe rapidly. Lu Yun's heart skipped a beat as he realized that this method was effective, but he still needed to increase the frequency of his mental energy waves. He hadn't expected that there would be a layer of extremely high-frequency mental energy waves on the silk, completely isolating it from the world, no wonder he couldn't see the patterns and text on it clearly.

  Lu Yun calmed his mind, sat cross-legged, and faced the five peaks. In an instant, he raised that frequency to 24,000 times per breath, thinking that this should be able to detect some information. But what surprised him was that although there was a little progress this time, it still couldn't break through the defense of that layer of thought waves and enter inside. Lu Yun's face changed slightly, his unwillingness to give up made him raise the frequency again to 36,000 times per breath, but the result was still the same. In the end, Lu Yun raised the frequency of the thought wave to 108,000 times per breath before barely entering that layer of thought waves, seeing some patterns and text, but unfortunately, Lu Yun only supported it for a moment before he couldn't support it anymore and had to give up.

  Looking at himself drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through, Lu Yun was too exhausted to move. He had never thought that on this silk fabric, there would be such a layer of incredibly high-frequency mental waves. It made him exert all his strength just to enter for a moment, but he couldn't hold on any longer. It seemed his cultivation still needed effort. Originally, Lu Yun was already very satisfied with his current cultivation, but now that he tried it out, he found himself still far from sufficient. At this time, Lu Yun had already begun to enter the ninth level of the True Cultivation Realm - the initial stage of indestructibility. As for his cultivation, it was already incredibly astonishing, and compared to Zi Yang Zhen Ren, he was only stronger, not weaker, which should be very good. After all, he was still so young, yet had such cultivation, which was extremely rare in the entire True Cultivation Realm, unprecedented.

  Slowly operating to recover the consumed true yuan, only to see that around Lu Yun's body, countless five-colored spiritual energies had gathered in an instant, rapidly swarming towards him. If someone were to witness this scene, they would be utterly astonished. This was actually the Lu family's ultimate technique - Heaven and Earth Without Bounds. Heaven and Earth Without Bounds consisted of nine layers, with the fifth layer being the "Myriad Returns to One" realm. The greatest characteristic of this realm was that when recovering true yuan, one could directly absorb the hidden heavenly spiritual energy in the air, instantly restoring lost true yuan at a speed that no other technique could compare to.

  Lu Yun had now begun to enter the seventh realm of "Tian Di Wu Ji", "Tian Di Tong Chun", and his cultivation was extremely profound. At this moment, all that could be seen were the various colors of light around him, which were instantly absorbed by him, and the spiritual energy around him instantly disappeared into his body. Lu Yun also quickly recovered, once again looking at the mysterious silk in his hand.

  After that, Lu Yun devoted himself to solving the mystery of the silk, on the one hand cultivating his various techniques and on the other hand enhancing his mental wave. Three months passed in a flash, and at this time, Lu Yun had already solved the mystery of the silk and obtained the heart technique of "Five Thunder Heavenly Technique" hidden inside. At the same time, his mental wave also made a qualitative leap. Now he can emit a vibration frequency of 248,000 times per second to detect all things. This caused his spiritual awareness to increase by four times, which was extremely rare.

  Lu Yun returned the silk to Zi Yang Zhen Ren and said in a low voice, "This object is mysterious and cannot be solved in a short period of time. In the past three months, my disciple has already discovered some clues, but unfortunately, his ability is limited and he can't do anything about it." Zi Yang Zhen Ren's face lit up with joy upon hearing this, and he asked excitedly, "What did you say? You've discovered some clues? What are they? Tell me quickly!" Zi Yang Zhen Ren appeared extremely agitated, perhaps due to excessive excitement.

  "The disciple spoke in a soft voice: 'I have discovered that the flowing light on this silk is actually a layer of true yuan, or rather, a layer of extremely difficult to break through, high-speed rotating air flow waves. As long as one can break through this air flow wave, they can detect the patterns and texts inside, and thus learn the techniques above. This layer of air flow waves is likely to be a seal left behind by a predecessor, extremely difficult to decipher. The predecessor who left behind this seal is probably an immortal who has achieved enlightenment and ascension, otherwise their seal would not be so overbearing and difficult to solve. This is just my humble opinion, I do not dare to confirm that it is absolutely correct.'"

  Zi Yang's face showed a deep thinking expression after hearing the words. After a while, he muttered to himself: "It turns out that we have been wrong all along, and we thought that as long as we input our true yuan into it, this ever-changing light would slowly become clear, and then we could see the patterns and texts on it clearly. Who would have thought that we misunderstood it? It turns out that what we need to do is to break through this layer of light and make it disappear from here, so that we can see the patterns and texts above."

  Ziyang Zhenren suddenly raised his head and said, "Luyun, thank you for your insight. You can go down and cultivate now. I'll go find Shang Shi Xiong immediately." After finishing speaking, he hastily left the room and headed towards Yitian Pavilion.

  Lu Yun gazed at the receding back of Zi Yang Zhen Ren, a faint smile on his face. With a flip of his right palm, a ball of lightning suddenly appeared in his hand, radiating dazzling light. Another slight flip of his palm and the lightning ball vanished without a trace. Lu Yun smiled calmly and walked away slowly.

  Out of the room, Lu Yun glanced around and saw no one, couldn't help but smile slightly, his body instantly transformed into a green light, appearing at the cloud end, quietly standing in the sky thousands of feet above Yiyuan Garden. For the first time standing on empty space, Lu Yun had a strange feeling in his heart, as if heaven and earth were under his feet. With a wave of his hands, Lu Yun stopped in mid-air amidst the clouds, looking at the vast white cloud sea around him, couldn't help but let out a soft whistle that was extremely low yet extremely distant.

  Only to see Lu Yun's body suddenly burst out a cluster of light, first five-colored light, followed by a seven-colored rainbow light, instantly appearing on his body. At this time, Lu Yun was like a ball of light emitting seven-colored light, very beautiful and mysterious. The white clouds around him also instantly took on a layer of seven-colored rainbow light, very beautiful. Unfortunately, the time was extremely short, and it disappeared in just a moment.

  Lu Yun stood at the cloud's end, gazing at the beautiful scenery around him, feeling extremely delighted. He glanced down at Yi Garden below, and a hint of a calm smile first appeared in Lu Yun's eyes, but soon gave way to a contemplative expression as he carefully scrutinized Yi Garden. From this vantage point, many things that were normally invisible could be seen, so it was only now that Lu Yun discovered one of Yi Garden's secrets, something he had never noticed before.

  Looking down from here, Lu Yun saw the overall layout of Yi Garden clearly, which was something he had never noticed before. The entire Yi Garden was shrouded in a colorful glow that was invisible to ordinary people. But Lu Yun's cultivation was deep and had made great progress compared to when he first arrived, so at this moment, the glow appeared particularly clear.

  What surprised Lu Yun the most was not this halo of light, because Yi Garden, as one of the six most famous gardens in the world of cultivation, had set up an array around its location, which was a normal thing to do. What truly surprised Lu Yun was that hidden under the halo of light, even cultivators would find it extremely difficult to detect, was a thread of spiritual energy. At this moment, Lu Yun finally understood why Yi Garden was located here and had endured for thousands of years without decline. Because the location where Yi Garden was built was a place with a spiritual vein, although this spiritual energy was somewhat dispersed and appeared weak, but it was rarely seen in the world.

  At this moment, Lu Yun suddenly remembered his ancestor's words. He recalled that his ancestor had said that there were nine major spiritual veins in the world, except for the first three spiritual veins being the most concentrated and dense. The remaining six major spiritual veins were like the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, with countless branches spreading across the great spiritual mountains and beautiful waters. And this Yi Garden was located on the main trunk of one of these spiritual veins. No wonder that over the years, Yi Garden had been able to produce many outstanding talents every now and then. It seemed that the other five institutes of the Six Institutes probably also had similar situations, hiding beside the spiritual veins.

  With a slight lift of his head, Lu Yun looked at Tian Yu, and a hint of determination and a proud smile flowed out from his eyes, appearing on that handsome face. His hands slightly behind him, Lu Yun quietly stood among the white clouds, staring straight up at the sky. At this moment, he seemed to be defying the heavens. That slender figure, that cold and arrogant expression, was slowly revealing his determination to fight against the heavens.

  Lu Yun, a young man determined to defy the heavens, stood quietly amidst the sky and earth. The surrounding clouds and mist swirled around him, with rays of light flashing by, and a beam of sunlight shone on Lu Yun's body, reflecting seven different colors, extremely beautiful. Unfortunately, this beautiful moment was not seen by anyone.