Feng Tiancheng heard Lu Chen's call and hurried out of the Twin Fish Token's world. But when he saw the stone stele, his eyes narrowed sharply.
Lu Chen looked at Feng Tiancheng. It was obvious that he recognized the stele's origins, so Lu Chen hurriedly asked him about it.
Feng Tiancheng explained, "I told you before that when my true body became an emperor, he was granted the honorific 'Azure.' That 'Azure' came from here. Our bodies carry the bloodline of the Azure Emperor from the dawn of heaven and earth. Though it is already exceedingly sparse, its effects remain immense."
"This stone stele is called the Seven Slips of the Cloud Scroll. Legend says it was left behind by the Azure Emperor. Beneath the Azure Emperor were nine attendants, all bearing the name Azure Emperor. They were each mighty figures of ancient times. It is said that this stele records the ancient secrets they left behind."
"My true body searched for them his entire life and found not a single one, even by the time he ascended. I never expected to find one here today. Perhaps it is fated to be with you. Since you also carry the Azure Emperor's bloodline, you can try collecting them and see what secrets lie within."
With that, Feng Tiancheng tossed it to Lu Chen and returned to the Twin Fish Token's space. Since his true body was absent, the stele was of no use to him. Perhaps Lu Chen could gather them all and tell his true body about them someday.
Lu Chen looked at the stone stele tossed his way and had no solution either. Just as he prepared to store it in his space, the Divine Tree Tentacles in the Heavenly Pool reacted. They pointed at Lu Chen's abdomen, then at themselves, drawing an image on the ground of a divine tree wrapping around the stone stele.
Lu Chen understood the drawing at once. The Azure Emperor Divine Tree wanted this stone stele. The moment Lu Chen placed it into the Heavenly Pool, the Azure Emperor Divine Tree immediately set the stone beneath itself and slowly wrapped its roots around the stele.
Lu Chen found this astonishing, but even Feng Tiancheng had no way to resolve it, much less him. He could only wait until he gathered them all before investigating further.
Lu Chen then recalled the Secret Realm mentioned by some cultivators a few days ago. Perhaps this stone stele had drifted out from there. If he had the chance, he could go in and take a look. But for now, cultivation was more important.
Then, under cover of night, Lu Chen resumed hunting demonic beasts. He also discovered that the outskirts of the Demonic Beast Forest were populated only by low-level demonic beasts, which could no longer pose much of a threat to him.
He planned to rest and venture deeper into the Demonic Beast Forest tomorrow to challenge stronger demonic beasts. His grandfather was still waiting for him to save him. He had to work even harder.
Several days passed, and Lu Chen had reached the middle regions of the Demonic Beast Forest. Cultivators were now rarely seen here.
Lu Chen had already completed half of his demonic beast hunting plan. On this day, he encountered the lifelong friend he would one day have—Nantian Yijian.
Lu Chen was facing a seventh-layer Qi Gathering Realm Sky-Shaking Bear. He used Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds to appear above the Sky-Shaking Bear's head, unleashed a tentacle attack, then hurled two consecutive Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens at its head, cleaving the Sky-Shaking Bear to death. He then cleaned up the battlefield, every movement flowing as smoothly as drifting clouds and running water.
By now, Lu Chen was extremely familiar with his own strength. He had mastered the coordination of his techniques and the evasions of his Movement Technique. During this process, he had also comprehended the third transformation of the Nine Transformations of the Golden Serpent—Flood Dragon Entering the Sea. He could create and control three phantoms to attack on their own, and those attacks could persist for a long time.
Moreover, after these past few days, Lu Chen could unleash more than ten Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens in succession, and their power was even more vigorous than before.
Lu Chen was preparing to move elsewhere in search of demonic beasts when a cry for help rang out from the mountain forest ahead. He had not wanted to meddle in others' affairs, but the voice sounded remarkably like Little Doggy's.
Lu Chen hurried over and saw an Earth-Shaking Tiger and a boy of fourteen or fifteen. The boy had his back to Lu Chen and was crying for help.
The Earth-Shaking Tiger advanced on the boy step by step. It was merely a fifth-stage Qi Gathering Realm demonic beast. Lu Chen charged forward with Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds and struck the Earth-Shaking Tiger's vulnerable neck with a hand chop, killing it outright.
But when Lu Chen turned around, he found that the person before him looked almost exactly like Little Doggy. Lu Chen hurriedly called out Little Doggy's name, but the boy opposite him seemed frightened out of his wits. He did not answer and collapsed directly to the ground.
Lu Chen helped the boy sit against a nearby rock, then placed his hand against the boy's waist and abdomen, helping him recover his spiritual qi.
During this process, he realized that this was merely a fifth-layer Qi Gathering Realm cultivator, not his Little Doggy. Lu Chen knew it was utterly impossible for Little Doggy to be alive and appear here, yet he still hoped for such a possibility.
Half an hour passed before the boy slowly woke up. Lu Chen hurried forward and helped him up.
The boy looked at Lu Chen and quickly thanked him. Perhaps he was still shaken and had not recovered yet, for he introduced himself stiffly as Nantian Yijian, a cultivator who had only recently entered the fifth layer of the Qi Gathering Realm.
As Nantian Yijian spoke, he took a rusty ancient qin from a storage bag and offered it to Lu Chen. He said that he had been an orphan living at the border between the Nantian Region and the Jianghai Region. At the age of nine, he had undergone the Baptismal Test and entered a local sect to cultivate, reaching the fifth layer of the Qi Gathering Realm.
Later, while traveling outside, he found a storage bag in a Secret Realm. It contained some cultivation resources and this magical treasure. But after the sect elders learned of it, they falsely accused him of stealing the sect's treasures and forced him to hand it over. Left with no choice, he could only flee.
He had evaded pursuit all the way from the Nantian Region and escaped into the Demonic Beast Forest. But ever since entering the Demonic Beast Forest, he had found himself lost.
He had been circling around here these past few days. He could still handle demonic beasts of lower realms, but when faced with stronger ones, he could only flee all the way. Today, he had accidentally encountered a demonic beast here. Fortunately, he had met Lu Chen and been saved.
Nantian Yijian said that although he was an orphan, he knew how to repay kindness. If not for Lu Chen, he might have died here today. He had nothing else to give Lu Chen, so he only wanted to offer him this treasure and insisted that Lu Chen accept it.
Inside the Twin Fish Token, Feng Tiancheng saw the ancient qin and instantly thought of that person again—the Palace Front Ceremony Official. He had been an exceedingly refined man, dressed in plain robes all day as he played the ancient qin with his eyes closed. But whenever he opened his eyes, behind him would inevitably remain a sea of blood and a mountain of corpses.
This ancient qin was the magical treasure Feng Tiancheng had crafted for him back then: the Qiankun Thirty-Six Sword Qin. Feng Tiancheng had never imagined they would meet again in such a manner.
"Take the qin." Feng Tiancheng's voice entered Lu Chen's mind. He wanted the ancient qin to regain its spiritual power. He did not know whether that man was dead or alive, but allowing his legacy to remain in the human world could be considered a remembrance of an old friend.
Feng Tiancheng instructed Lu Chen to use a special hand seal and inject spiritual power into the ancient qin. Lu Chen straightened the middle finger of his right hand toward the center of his palm, pinched the back of the first joint crease of his middle finger with the tip of his index finger, pressed the inner side of that crease with his thumb, held his thumb and index fingertips opposite each other, and curled his ring finger and little finger into his palm. At the same time, he recited an obscure and incomprehensible incantation.
Feng Tiancheng said that this set of hand seals was called the Lingguan Art. It was a cultivation gesture that could invite King Lingguan to protect one's body and oversee one's cultivation. Now, it could also be used to inject pure spiritual qi into the ancient qin and wield it.
Slowly, the ancient qin began to shine. Bursts of sword cries sounded from within it, and then its side suddenly opened. Tiny swords flew out one after another, gathering into a sword dragon that circled Lu Chen in flight, as though thanking him for setting them free. The small swords changed into different formations in the air, sometimes merging into one, sometimes scattering apart in flight.
Lu Chen watched the tiny swords dance through the sky, then returned the ancient qin to Nantian Yijian and directly taught him the Lingguan Art for controlling the small swords. "This is a treasure you found, so it should belong to you. Besides, as long as a person has a goal, he can succeed no matter what. It has nothing to do with one's origins."
As Lu Chen looked at Nantian Yijian, he thought of Little Doggy again. He still remembered that Little Doggy had already entered the Qi Gathering Realm at around this age, only to die because he had wanted to cultivate. Now, seeing Nantian Yijian, Lu Chen felt as though Little Doggy were still alive.
Nantian Yijian looked at Lu Chen, then at the ancient qin. No one had ever said such things to him before. Ever since he had become aware of the world, he had been alone.
Without family to protect him, he had been bullied everywhere. Ever since childhood, whenever he had money or food, others would snatch it from him. With no other choice, he could only go out at night to rummage through garbage for food. But now Lu Chen was telling him that his own things should belong to him, and that as long as he had a goal, he could succeed no matter what.
Tears began to stream down Nantian Yijian's face as he loudly said to Lu Chen, "Thank you. Thank you."
This was the first time anyone had cared about him. At that moment, a seed was buried deep in Nantian Yijian's heart—a seed that strove for its goal, a seed that would follow Lu Chen for all eternity.
Lu Chen said to Nantian Yijian, "I still need to cultivate here for the time being. If you truly have nowhere to go, you can follow me for now. Once we leave in the future, you can go your own way."
Hearing Lu Chen's words, Nantian Yijian put away the ancient qin and wiped away his tears. Suddenly, he became cheerful again. He ran to Lu Chen's side, wrapped him in a hug, and kissed him on the cheek before bursting into loud laughter. "Hahaha! No need to leave! I, Nantian Yijian, have decided that from today onward, you are my boss. I will follow you."
Decades of life as an orphan had left Nantian Yijian without anyone to rely on, but they had also given him a lively, cheerful, and grateful disposition. He had seemed unnatural while still reeling from his fright earlier, but now that he had gradually calmed down, his naturally sociable side began to show.
Lu Chen looked at the boy before him. He truly had not expected that someone who had just been filled with sorrow would suddenly start treating him like a brother and insist on following him.
But Lu Chen thought that Nantian Yijian looked so much like Little Doggy and was also an orphan. He might as well keep him by his side and cultivate with him from now on. It would also fulfill Little Doggy's dream.
With that thought, Lu Chen became even more determined to keep Nantian Yijian.
"Then stay. But you must continue cultivating diligently, so that we can improve together."
"Yes, Boss." Nantian Yijian scratched his head.
Lu Chen decided to stop for the day. He would find a cave and let Nantian Yijian rest well for the night, then continue hunting demonic beasts tomorrow.
Before you continue