Chapter Eighteen: The Mysterious Figure

  In the mysterious cave, a mysterious figure suddenly appeared in front of Lu Yun, which made Lu Yun extremely surprised. A person who can easily traverse space and appear at will, Lu Yun had never seen before, and his heart was filled with curiosity about this person.

  He carefully sized up the man, who was about thirty-six or seven years old and extremely handsome. He wore a silver long shirt that flashed with silver light from time to time, looking very beautiful. The man had a smile on his face, giving people a very kind feeling, and his eyes flickered with a hint of strange light, with an inexplicable mystery. This person was also sizing up Lu Yun, and a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.

  "You're a mysterious person, your cultivation is very deep. I can only roughly sense the situation, which is quite astonishing to me. You can easily come here from another space, this is extremely rare. Can you tell me about these things?"

  "That person laughed and said: 'You can just call me Xiao Tian, what about you? What's your name? You're not very old, but your cultivation is deep, which also surprises me. Your body subtly contains several different techniques, this is a very strange thing. Generally, people are unable to simultaneously cultivate several techniques, especially techniques that mutually exclude each other. But you have mastered multiple schools of thought, this might be the place where you differ from ordinary people.'"

  Lu Yun was shocked in his heart, unexpectedly he could see through himself, with several methods hidden on his body. Lu Yun said softly: "My name is Lu Yun, I came here unintentionally, how did you end up here? Looking at your body, it seems to be hiding a hint of evil and strange aura, what's going on, can you tell me?"

  Xiao Tian's eyes flashed with a hint of divine light as he stared straight at him. Xiao Tian chuckled and said, "Your eyes are quite sharp, aren't they? If I told you that I've been staying here for too long and naturally picked up some demonic aura, would you believe me? Or if I said I'm actually a demon, would you believe that either? In any case, what's important is the connection between us. Like now, we're all happy to be together, so why bother with my identity? Just like how I don't ask you why you have multiple techniques on your body, right?"

  Lu Yun thought for a moment and smiled, "That's right, meeting each other is fate. You specially came from another space to see me, that's also a kind of fate. No matter what happens between us in the future, at least now we can get along peacefully and be a pair of strange yet familiar friends."

  Xi Tian's face lit up with joy, and he laughed: "After all these years, I've finally found someone to talk to. It's been a long wait! Now let me take you somewhere else to sit for a while, we can have a good chat. Remember to follow closely behind me, don't fall behind. Be careful, let's go." As Xi Tian finished speaking, he parted his hands to the left and right, and another spatial gate suddenly appeared in the mountain cave.

  Only to see the body of Xi Tian turn into a silver light, like moonlight, and instantly shoot into that door. Lu Yun, on the other hand, transformed into a dark blue light, closely following behind, and also disappeared in an instant. The light flashed, and that space door disappeared instantly.

  When Lu Yun reappeared, he was already in a very bright and dry cave. Looking around carefully, Lu Yun knew that this was where Xiao Tian lived, but didn't know why he lived here. This point left Lu Yun guessing for a moment.

  "Sit down, are you guessing why I live in a place like this? Actually, there's nothing special about it. If you carefully explore, you'll find that this cave is different from others. It's filled with spiritual energy and is the gathering place of spiritual energy in the entire Absolute Yin Valley. If you're interested, you can try to see if you can absorb some spiritual energy to enhance your cultivation."

  Lu Yun hesitated for a moment, looking at Xiao Tian, with a strange thought in his mind. In Lu Yun's heart, he had a weird feeling towards Xiao Tian. He knew that his own Intentional Wave would never be wrong, and the information he had detected from Xiao Tian was that Xiao Tian's body contained extremely strong demonic energy. However, this demonic energy had slowly transformed into another kind of aura. Nevertheless, relying on Lu Yun's sensitive "Tian Di Wu Ji" technique, he could still determine that Xiao Tian's body contained demonic energy, and perhaps it was just as Xiao Tian himself said - maybe he was a demon or maybe not.

  If he's a demon, is it okay to be with him? At this moment, Lu Yun's mind was racing with thoughts. Suddenly, he remembered his master's words from years ago. He recalled that his master had said that in this world, the so-called demons and monsters weren't all bad, just like how people have good and evil sides. If that's the case, why should he worry too much? As long as he didn't have ill intentions towards him, that was enough, wasn't it? Thinking of this, Lu Yun smiled.

  Lu Yun smiled and said, "Although I sense some things about you, since we're here, we're friends. Thank you for your kindness, I'll try it now and see what kind of spiritual energy is here and whether it's abundant." As soon as Lu Yun finished speaking, a seven-colored light burst forth from his body, and the "Wan Yuan Gui Yi" technique was suddenly executed without warning. In an instant, countless sparkling gas clusters of various colors appeared in the cave, five colors six colors, very beautiful. These different colored spiritual energies instantly flew to Lu Yun's side, rapidly rotating around him, constantly being absorbed into his body.

  Xiao Tian's expression changed slightly, and a hint of contemplation appeared in his eyes. He seemed to be thinking about the technique that Lu Yun was using at this moment, what kind of technique it was, and why he had never seen or heard of it before. Watching Lu Yun continuously absorb those spiritual energies, Xiao Tian didn't mind at all, and smiled as he said: "I didn't expect you to possess an unparalleled ultimate skill, truly mysterious and unmatched. With your current cultivation level, you've already reached a bottleneck, and wanting to further improve your cultivation is no longer that easy. Since you consider me a friend, I'll share some of my own insights with you. At this point, simply cultivating is not enough for you to advance; the only way is to enter the world and face tribulations. In the mortal world, through various methods such as trials, martial battles, exploring the mysteries of nature's power, it's possible to increase your cultivation level. Cultivating the truth isn't easy, but it's also not that difficult - it mainly depends on how one cultivates. The further you go, the more you can only rely on yourself; no one else can help you. Work hard, at such a young age, having such cultivation is rare in this world."

  Lu Yun's body shone with a dazzling light, and he was extremely fond of the cold and gloomy spiritual energy that permeated this place. Because he had absorbed a large amount of fierce fire true yuan when he subdued the dragon soul earlier, his body's yin and yang were out of balance. At this moment, seeing this cold and gloomy spiritual energy, he naturally felt extremely fond of it, and his body involuntarily went crazy absorbing it.

  After a while, Lu Yun smiled and said: "Thank you, the spiritual energy here is very helpful to me. You've been here all along, no wonder your cultivation is so deep. Now we can have a good talk. You said this place is where the spiritual energy in the entire Absolute Yin Valley is the strongest. I don't know what kind of place this is, can you tell me?"

  "Ah, don't worry about that for now," Xiao Tian said with a faint smile. "I'll tell you later. Let's talk about something else first. I'd like to ask, where are you from? Are you from Yi Garden?"

  Lu Yun was slightly stunned, and smiled: "You're also very impressive, guessing correctly that I'm from Yi Garden. Are you wondering why I have multiple techniques on me?"

  "Indeed, I was thinking of asking you. If you're willing to say, then say it; if not, then forget it. The Easy Garden's Easy Heavenly Method, I'm extremely familiar with, so at a glance, I can see that your body carries the aura of Easy Garden. As for the other methods on your body, I dare not confirm them for now."

  Lu Yun smiled and said, "I can tell you, but you have to promise to keep it a secret. If you agree, I'll let you know." Xiao Tian smiled and said, "You can rest assured on this point. For two thousand years, you are the first person I've met, and also my only friend, I suppose. In another two or three days, I will be leaving here, and by then, even if you want to see me, it's unlikely that you'll have the chance. So, I won't tell anyone your secret."

  Lu Yun heard this and a hint of puzzlement flashed in his eyes, but he didn't ask. Lu Yun said: "Actually, I came to Yi Garden to find a place to cultivate my own techniques. When I was young, I met a master who taught me many techniques. I came here to learn the ultimate skills of Yi Garden while cultivating my own techniques at the same time. In today's cultivation world, without an appropriate identity, it is easy to be misunderstood. I have been in Yi Garden for two years now, and this time I came here because Yi Garden will participate in the Six Institutes' Martial Arts Conference. We have four people participating from Yi Garden. To increase our actual combat experience, the garden master specially ordered us to come here to slay demons and monsters, thereby increasing our own combat experience."

  The sound of the sky heard the words, his face changed slightly, but quickly returned to normal, and smiled: "So, are you willing to tell me about the Six Institutes' Martial Arts Conference? Anyway, I have nothing to do, and I also want to hear."

  Lu Yun said in a soft voice, "Actually, I'm not very clear about this matter either. After all, I've only been here for two years. For the past two years, I've been cultivating the E Garden's techniques and secretly cultivating my own techniques, so I don't know much about that matter. Let's just say that this time, the E Garden is divided into four institutes: Qian, Kun, Yin, and Yang. Each institute has one participant, and I'm probably the worst among all of them in everyone's eyes. Because when I first came here, I didn't have any cultivation base at all in their eyes, completely starting from scratch. Two years is indeed too short a time, isn't it? The other three people each have different levels of cultivation. Especially Li Hongfei from the Qian Institute, who has the reputation as the number one person among the younger generation of E Garden. And Zhang Aoxue Shijie from the Kun Institute, who unintentionally obtained the legendary divine artifact, the Purple Shadow Divine Sword, one of the Shadow Moon Twin Swords, and her cultivation base is rapidly advancing, making it even harder to catch up with her. Lin Yunfeng from the Yin Institute came to E Garden together with me, he has a natural talent for slaying demons and capturing ghosts, his yin-yang techniques are boundless, and can be said to be hard to find in the world. Only I don't know if I will bring shame to E Garden or not? However, it's also said that regarding those empty reputations, I won't pay attention to them either. In the future, there will come a day when I will make the heavens and earth spirits all know my name, Lu Yun. I want to surpass the nine heavens and contend with the heavens." The last sentence was spoken by Lu Yun with great ambition and heroism, his body suddenly bursting out with an aura of invincibility that could shake everything. At this moment, he seemed as if the world was under his feet, and he could do whatever he wanted at will. That kind of majestic aura deeply shocked Xiao Tian.

  "Good, you have spirit! Since you've walked this path, you must be prepared to fight against the heavens. Although you said your three companions are stronger than you, in reality, they probably don't match up to your profound cultivation. From the fact that you were able to arrive here, it's clear that you're stronger than those three. There are only two entrances to get here: one is the sealed entrance of the forbidden realm, and the other is a very mysterious place called the Black Domain Secret Realm. If I'm not mistaken, you entered from the Black Domain Secret Realm before arriving here, right?"

  Lu Yun smiled and said, "You really know everything, I don't even know what to say. Indeed, I did come from there, can you tell me something about the Black Domain Secret Realm? Until now, I still don't understand it very well."

  A faint smile spread across his face, and he said with a hint of mystery: "That place is just like this one, the two most mysterious places in the Absolute Yin Valley. When I first arrived here, that mysterious space already existed. I've tried many ways to get in, but it wasn't until 300 years ago that I was able to enter using my powerful cultivation. Inside, I found a strange red energy mass, which I later discovered was a dragon soul. I once thought of subduing it, but unfortunately, due to some reason, I ultimately failed. Who would have thought that you entered from there and then came here? Even more astonishing is that I now sense the aura of that dragon soul in the sword on your head, truly surprising."

  Lu Yun's eyes revealed a hint of surprise, unexpectedly this matter he could see through, after all his cultivation had reached what level. Lu Yun said with some astonishment: "The Dragon Soul is indeed in this sword, it was I who spent a lot of effort, using the Gui Sect's Soul Transformation Great Method, to seal it within this divine sword. Unexpectedly you saw through it at a glance, truly admirable."

  "Actually, this is nothing. Once your cultivation reaches the next stage, you will naturally understand many things. I'm glad to have met you this time, and you were just thinking of asking me how to break through space from one space to another, right? Now I'll teach you, let's consider it a little friendship between us. Because I will be leaving here soon, if I don't pass it on to you, it will be lost, so I'll pass it on to you. This is actually my unique skill that I have developed over the past 2,000 years, and others cannot do this even if their cultivation is as strong as mine." After finishing speaking, Xiao Tian's hands were slightly clasped together, and a strange silver light enveloped Lu Yun's head, which was absorbed by him in an instant.

  Lu Yun looked at him, nodded slightly and thanked: "Thank you for passing this to me. I don't know how to repay you. Since you said you're leaving, I'll come see you off when the time comes, hoping I still have time. Because we four agreed to meet at the valley entrance seven days after arriving here, then head to the Youyue Cave Heaven together. After entering the Black Domain Secret Realm, I lost track of time, so next I need to go back to the valley entrance first. If time permits, I will come here to see you off."

  "Ah, we will meet again, I hope you won't be surprised then. It's not easy to meet like this, and I'll treasure this friendship in my heart, hoping you will too. For now, practice the technique I taught you, and you'll be able to traverse space directly back to the valley entrance. I'll leave here on the night of the full moon three days from now, and we'll meet again then. Practice well for now, I'm off, see you in three days."

  Lu Yun watched as he slowly disappeared, and suddenly felt a sense of loss in his heart. From childhood to adulthood, apart from his parents and master, there was only Lin Yunfeng as a friend. If Zhang Aoxue is counted, then it's just two people. The others, such as Zi Yang Zhenren and Xuan Yu Zhenren, were nothing more than another kind of feeling, not very intimate. But today, here, this Ao Tian gave Lu Yun a very familiar feeling.

  At this time, Xi Tian left, and in his heart, he had already regarded him as a good friend, with an unbearable feeling of reluctance. A slight sense of loss remained in his heart, which could also be considered a kind of nostalgia. With a soft sigh, Lu Yun sat cross-legged in mid-air, beginning to cultivate the mysterious technique that Xi Tian had imparted to him. Around Lu Yun's body, countless colorful energy clusters began to gather, slowly revolving around him. Those orbs spun faster and faster, gradually obscuring Lu Yun's silhouette. Meanwhile, a silver glow was intensifying, enveloping Lu Yun's rotating body in an extremely powerful silver radiance that shrouded his entire being.

  In the space of the cave, countless silver lights revolved with Lu Yun, and for a time, the entire cave was filled with a layer of silver light, very mysterious and beautiful. It's unknown how long it took to rotate. The silver light around Lu Yun flashed, and all the silver lights around him instantly disappeared into his body, being completely absorbed by him. Lu Yun opened his eyes, looked around, and smiled: "Xiao Tian, thank you, I've already grasped the key. You can see that I'm leaving now, we'll meet again in three days. Take care."

  Lu Yun's body slightly turned, a flash of silver light, and he instantly lost his trace on the spot. What a wonderful and mysterious technique, it's really unbelievable. In the bright cave, the tranquility was restored in an instant, but Xiao Tian's shadow reappeared out of thin air. Looking up at the top of the cave, Xiao Tian said softly: "Take care, you are the only friend I have had in this life, and I will bless you. Next time we meet, we will probably be enemies, I hope you can still remember this friendship, that's all I ask!" A soft sigh echoed quietly in the cave, slowly disappearing into the vast space.

  In the depths of the valley, the mysterious and elusive True Person stood quietly, surrounded by three others - Li Hongfei, Zhang Aoxue, and Lin Yunfeng. Today was already the seventh day, the final day of their agreed meeting, yet there was still no news from Lu Yun, leaving the True Person with a sense of foreboding. Among the four disciples this time, Lu Yun was the last to join, with only two years of cultivation under his belt. Even if he were incredibly strong, his experience would still be lacking; if anything unexpected happened, it's likely that Purple Sun True Person would come after him with a vengeance.

  Lin Yunfeng's face was also heavy, with a worried expression. If something happened to Lu Yun, it would be dangerous, so at this moment, although he didn't seem anxious on the surface, in his heart, he was already extremely anxious. Zhang Aoxue's eyes also showed a faint concern, and she was somewhat worried about Lu Yun too. Only Li Hongfei had a calm expression, with no discernible emotions.

  Among the three disciples, Li Hongfei was the first to return, rushing back on the afternoon of the sixth day. Zhang Aoxue was the second, rushing back early this morning. Not long after, Lin Yunfeng also rushed back. At this time, it was already sunset, and if Lu Yun didn't come back, it would mean that something had happened to him. This made Xuan Yin Zhenren's heart anxious beyond measure, but he couldn't show it in front of the three disciples, lest they become even more uneasy.

  At this moment, in a secluded corner hundreds of feet away from the valley entrance, a silver light suddenly appeared, very mysterious. The cluster of silver light flickered with a faint glow, rotating around the surroundings for a circle, as if sensing that there was no one around, and then suddenly flashed, and Lu Yun's figure appeared out of thin air. Lu Yun carefully looked around, a smile on his face. With a turn of his mind, the scene of the four people at the valley entrance clearly appeared in his mind. Lu Yun smiled calmly, looking at the divine sword in his hand, smiling and saying: "As you wish, heart and soul, as I wish. Now, retract your power, don't let them know, otherwise it will be another troublesome thing." After finishing speaking, the divine sword in his hand suddenly flashed with a bright light, and then dimmed down immediately.

  Lu Yun rode his sword and moved forward, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared at the entrance of the valley. The four people there immediately let out a sigh of relief and looked at him with surprise and joy. Lin Yunfeng even rushed up to him and hugged him tightly, scolding him loudly: "Lu Yun, why didn't you come back earlier? You worried everyone to death, thinking that something had happened to you. I cried so much because of you, it's infuriating! What should we do to punish you?"

  Lu Yun looked at him and smiled, "You'll cry? I'm afraid pigs will climb trees before that happens. You'd better stop talking nonsense. Is the time up? I've been beaten until my head is spinning and I can't even remember what time it is." After that, Lu Yun greeted the other three people one by one, and they all slowly started discussing their experience this time.

  "You're all back safely, and I can finally put my mind at ease. Tonight, let's rest here at the valley entrance, find something to eat, and tomorrow morning, I'll take you into the depths of this Absolute Yin Valley - the most perilous place, the Wailing Moon Cave Heaven. When we get there, everyone must be cautious, as the Wailing Moon Sky Wolves are rare and formidable creatures in the world, extremely overbearing, and almost impossible to eliminate. This time, I'm taking you there just to broaden your horizons, so you can understand that there's always someone stronger out there. Let's not talk about this now, tell me instead, what did you gain from this trip?" The True Person of Mysterious Yin's gaze swept across the four individuals in turn.

  Li Hongfei calmly said, "There are many demons inside, among which there are not a few powerful demons. This time I killed a lot of demons, and the gain is that I have gained some understanding of various demons. I believe that in the future when I encounter these demons again, I can eliminate them more quickly and accurately, and rid the world of evil. In addition, it can also be considered as a training exercise, and my swordsmanship has improved to some extent."

  Zhang Aoxue took over the conversation, saying lightly: "These monsters are very cunning. In just a few days, apart from relying on their strength to deal with them, they also spent a lot of energy to eliminate some of the more powerful and sinister monsters. As for themselves, their mastery of magic and control over swordsmanship have both improved significantly, making it a worthwhile gain."

  Xuanyin Zhenren nodded slightly, turned his head and took a glance at Lin Yunfeng who was whispering to Lu Yun, then asked: "Yunfeng, how about you? Have you gained anything in the past few days?"

  Lin Yunfeng slightly raised his head and smiled, looking at everyone, and said with a smile: "I've gained a lot, hehe. This time, I've subdued many monsters and eliminated them all, and I also got a lot of good things, hehe." After finishing speaking, he lightly took out the scorpion bead from his bosom and showed it off to everyone, proudly saying: "See that? That's a great thing, hehe, what a treasure!"

  The True Person of Profound Darkness's eyes lit up with joy, and he smiled slightly: "Although you've obtained this thing, do you know its purpose? Don't pretend to understand when you don't, only to waste this treasure in vain?"

  Lin Yunfeng glared at him and said, "Master, you also underestimate me too much. How to use this thing, I don't know? I just need to refine the demon energy on it and take it to cultivate, in a short period of time, I can increase my cultivation by one hundred years. Am I wrong, Master?" Lin Yunfeng looked at Xuan Yin Zhenren with a smug face.

  Xuanyin Zhenren smiled and said, "Well done, young one, you haven't forgotten my teachings. You're a good student, remember that. Now go back and slowly refine the demonic energy." Lin Yunfeng's face changed as he said, "Master, don't talk nonsense, what 'good student', your teachings are just empty words. I knew all this myself, when did you ever teach me?" Everyone present couldn't help but smile, who would have thought that their master and disciple were so interesting?

  Xuanyin Zhenren gave him a fierce stare, as if blaming him for not giving himself some face in front of others. Looking at Lu Yun, Xuanyin Zhenren asked: "Lu Yun, this time you finally returned, did you gain anything? Your sword is no longer the original one, how did you get this sword, its style is very unusual?" As soon as he said this, the other three people noticed that Lu Yun's sword was indeed not the original one. At this moment, everyone suddenly realized that an old ginger is still spicy after all.

  "The disciple smiled and said: 'This time when I went inside, I encountered many monsters along the way. Among them was a wolf demon that had been cultivating for thousands of years, which was very fierce. Its body hid two other different breaths, it was three in one. It took me a lot of effort to destroy that wolf demon, but unfortunately, the other two primordial spirits escaped. I chased after them relentlessly and ended up trapped in a huge underground maze. I don't know how long I wandered inside or how many monsters I encountered. In the end, my long sword was destroyed, and I unintentionally obtained this sword, which is very sharp and handy. That's why I brought it out. This time I came back late also because of getting lost.'"

  The True Person of Profound Darkness's eyes revealed a hint of doubt, and he glanced at Lu Yun before speaking in a soft voice: "It's good that you're back. However, I seem to sense an extremely powerful aura hidden within your sword. That's why I'm asking. Remember to cultivate diligently from now on, ideally reaching the realm where man and sword become one. This will greatly enhance your cultivation, and your weapon won't be easily destroyed. Alright, everyone should rest for a while. Tomorrow, we'll continue with the final and most perilous trial. I wish you all success in passing it."