After giving Li Feng a few instructions, Zhao Yue'er turned and headed back the way she had come. "Be careful. If you want to get out, just walk in any direction. As long as you cover that much distance, you'll definitely be thrown out. There's no one at Qingyun Flat right now, and as your master, I can't stay here with you. I still need to go outside and take a look. Although the Great Five Elements Exterminating God Array is covering us, I'd better activate the Rivers and Mountains Painting as well, lest someone take this chance to invade. The two of us are no match for them."
Zhao Yue'er's figure gradually disappeared into the darkness. Li Feng scratched his messy hair and muttered, "Rivers and Mountains Painting? That sounds like one of those famous magic treasures from the Investiture of the Gods I heard about when listening to storytellers in teahouses... Damn, the Yiyuan Sect really has a lot of treasures."
After shaking his head and sighing for a while, Li Feng casually walked into a room, grabbed a golden bamboo scroll, and began reading. On the first bamboo slip, a line of large ancient tadpole-like divine script read: "Torrential World... preserved by the Gonggong Clan." Li Feng shuddered all over. "Damn, Gonggong? Wasn't that the legendary Water God?" He hurriedly read on. The further he read, the more sweat poured over his body, and the more violently he trembled.
"Water is the utmost softness; water is the utmost yin. In its utmost softness, it enters through every crevice and reaches everywhere. In its utmost yin, it merges vastness with grandeur and dissolves all things." This was the general outline of Torrential World.
What followed was a string of spell formulas, brutally straightforward formulas. There was not a single method for cultivating oneself. They were entirely about how, once the user already possessed deep and abundant True Essence, to better control water and make the water under their command unleash its greatest destructive power. If the Water Control Art, without profound cultivation, could at most raise a small wave in a river, then Torrential World was different: regardless of one's level of cultivation, either one could not use it at all, or one would directly raise raging waves and stormy seas. Worse still, after one forced the technique into activation, it would often drain the user's final scrap of strength. Being sucked dry into a corpse was not impossible.
Li Feng shrieked, "Damn, is this Daoist Magic or a demonic art? How could there be such a freakish formula? Damn it, damn it." There were only thirteen hand seals and six lines of incantation. Li Feng now had a memory that never forgot what it saw, so he quickly memorized them.
He picked up another bamboo scroll. It was the Thunderous World Zhao Yue'er had once mentioned. Li Feng's heart went cold again... The Lightning Control Art allowed one to control the Heavenly Lightning one summoned as one pleased, but Thunderous World... Li Feng swallowed, his eyes widening as he said fearfully, "How can there be a formula like this? It's practically like carrying a red-clad cannon into someone's home and lighting the fuse right there. Lightning crashing wildly over ten miles—wouldn't that strike the caster right along with everyone else? Would there even be any survivors?"
Li Feng shook his head. Once he had memorized the formulas, he carefully tossed the scroll away as though throwing poison. He muttered to himself, "These are all suicide spells. If your cultivation isn't above the Nascent Soul stage, you might kill yourself before killing the enemy." But then Li Feng's eyes suddenly lit up. "Damn it, once I have money and power someday, I'll find a few fearless men and send them charging into Mount Emei. If they activate every one of these formulas once, wouldn't that be glorious?"
Like a monkey, Li Feng leapt about within the Purple Palace Abode, reading through the Heavenly Mansion Daoist Scriptures, scroll after scroll, each possessing boundless power. One spell after another entered his head—each immensely powerful, but each demanding conditions so freakish they defied reason. Li Feng had only one regret. "Sure enough, there isn't a single word about cultivating oneself. I was hoping to find a few Daoist Scriptures that would let me form a Nascent Soul by tomorrow... Sigh, Master and the others are too stingy. I'm already at Early Qi Condensation, yet they haven't even taught me a single line about how to cultivate a Golden Core. They keep saying that aiming too high harms cultivation. Eh, what exactly does aiming too high mean? I've forgotten."
While Li Feng desperately memorized spell formulas inside the Purple Palace Abode, Zhao Yue'er had already arrived at Qingyun Flat. She flew into the cave on Lingtian Peak that Li Feng had seen upon first arriving at Qingyun Flat, the one emanating a faint purple glow. Zhao Yue'er entered the cave directly. After undoing eighteen layers of restrictions, she revealed a small stone chamber. Within stood an incense table, with several eternal lamps placed atop it. Three straw prayer mats lay before the table, and directly ahead of them hung a portrait of an old Daoist on the wall. In the painting, the old Daoist's long beard flew in the wind. His right hand brandished a huge treasured sword, while his mount was unmistakably a five-clawed yellow dragon.
Zhao Yue'er knelt on the middle prayer mat. After kowtowing three times, she respectfully said, "Patriarch above, all members of the Yiyuan Sect have been injured. To ensure Qingyun Flat's safety, this disciple Zhao Yue'er begs to borrow the Rivers and Mountains Painting. I hope Patriarch will forgive this offense." With that, Zhao Yue'er rose and respectfully extended both hands, grasping at the old man's waist in the painting. The scroll tucked at the old Daoist's waist immediately emitted golden light and fell into Zhao Yue'er's hands.
Zhao Yue'er hurriedly prayed, "Thank you for your mercy, Patriarch. This disciple uses this magic treasure only to protect the Yiyuan Sect's foundation. Once my senior brothers emerge from seclusion, I will certainly return it." After speaking, Zhao Yue'er turned toward the stone chamber's entrance. She had walked less than a yard when she suddenly slapped her forehead hard and turned back with a face full of surprise. Sticking out her tongue, she carefully gave the portrait a Daoist salute and said helplessly, "Please forgive me, Patriarch. Um, our sect's new disciple, Li Fengzi, has not yet paid respects to you. Once this matter is settled, this disciple will certainly bring him here to pay respects and enter his name into the Yiyuan Sect's genealogical register."
After glancing at a bamboo scroll on the incense table, Zhao Yue'er shrugged. She swiftly restored the restrictions, then leapt down from Lingtian Peak. She muttered, "This really makes no sense. Every one of us forgot the most important matter. Fengzi has been on the mountain for more than four years, nearly five—how did we forget to bring him to pay respects to the Patriarch? His name isn't even in the sect register. It would be embarrassing if word got out, and Patriarch in the Immortal Realm would probably be furious enough to cough blood."
"Sigh, it isn't really our fault. Hmm, it's all those three old fellows' fault for refusing to return to the mountain. If they were living at Qingyun Flat, seeing them would surely remind us that there was a Patriarch to pay respects to. Now that not one old fellow remains, who would remember such a thing?... Ah, damn it. In that case, last year was Patriarch's full eight-thousandth birthday. It seems we forgot to offer sacrifices then too. Father and the others were still in seclusion at the time... We're finished, we're finished. When we reach the Immortal Realm later, Patriarch will beat us to death."
Zhao Yue'er nagged for a long while, then looked bitterly at the stone grotto containing Yellow Dragon True Man's portrait. She heavily shook her head and murmured, "It seems our Yiyuan Sect cannot go on like this. We're all going to become a pack of lazybones." Amid her sighs, she untied the golden silk ribbon around the scroll, casually tossed it into the sky, then pointed repeatedly at it and spat out a stream of white True Essence directly onto it.
Gentle breezes blew in from nowhere. Subtle music drifted through the air, gradually giving way to the roar of surging waves. Then came the fragrance of a hundred flowers, the scent of fallen pine needles, and all kinds of strange aromas rushing into the nostrils. The scroll fluttered open in the air, revealing a vast painting of rivers and mountains. Several breezes twisted over its surface, and the painting immediately scattered into a stream of clear light that enveloped all of Qingyun Flat.
From outside Qingyun Flat, one would see that Qingyun Flat had vanished completely. In its place stood a towering, precipitous mountain wreathed in cloud and mist, utterly barren, without even a single tree growing upon it. The mountains outside Qingyun Flat had likewise changed their shapes and positions. Lofty peaks stood in rows, bands of white mist tangling around them. Between the mountains, a great river surged and roared, dotted with fishing boats and wheeling river gulls. Within the forests, woodcutters sang and white apes fought. Now and then, two huge scaled pythons tumbled past while battling several giant tigers, crushing countless ancient trees that had stood for a thousand years...
In the blink of an eye, the landscape within ten miles had changed completely. Had this not been deep within Mount Hua, Zhao Yue'er's move would certainly have shaken the entire world.
Zhao Yue'er raised her head to look at the faint illusion above and could not help smiling. "During the Investiture of the Gods War, even that Great Sage Monkeyhead of Mount Mei could not escape the Rivers and Mountains Painting's power. Though my magic power is shallow and I can only bring out one or two percent of its strength, it should be enough to conceal Qingyun Flat's location, right? Hmm... But if someone who knows where our Yiyuan Sect's entrance lies comes, it will be difficult to deceive them."
Zhao Yue'er bit her lip and pondered for a long time. Then, with nothing ventured, nothing gained, she rushed into her father's Alchemy Room and turned it upside down until she found the powerful magic treasure True Water Realm that True Man Qingquan had refined. Once Zhao Yue'er added the True Water Realm—a bowl-shaped treasure containing half a lampful of sparkling liquid—to the Rivers and Mountains Painting, the illusory great river immediately gained immeasurable spiritual vitality, and its grandeur became even more astonishing.
"Hehe, it truly is an ancient strange treasure, entirely another world. The magic treasure I offered can actually merge perfectly with its power. Not bad, not bad. Hehe, next time I should simply ask the Patriarch and give this Rivers and Mountains Painting to Fengzi." As she spoke, Zhao Yue'er thought of something vicious. "Hmm, if Fengzi used this treasure to cover all of Mount Emei, then activated it with the 'Shatter' and 'Break' formulas, wouldn't all of Mount Emei be ground into powder?... Wah, cultivators cannot be too cruel. Infinite Life Buddha, what a sin, what a sin."
Just as Zhao Yue'er finished sending out the Rivers and Mountains Painting, a shadow had already drifted near the Mount Hua Sword Sect's grounds. This man wore a green robe and was extremely thin and tall. His waist was barely a foot wide, yet he stood around nine feet high. His body resembled a bamboo pole, as though the biting mountain wind might blow him away at any moment. His face was sinister as a hawk's, covered by a faint layer of black smoke. He was like a ghostly shadow—standing there in broad daylight, he seemed not to exist at all.
"Supreme Lord Lao, Hasten as the Law Commands..." The Mount Hua Sword Sect was holding another great ritual. Incense smoke curled everywhere, bald monks and crown-wearing Daoists scurried chaotically through the courtyard. The cause was Li Feng's furtive second visit half a month earlier. Wei Ziqun had even decided that if such strange happenings occurred again, he would move the entire Mount Hua Sect into Xi'an Prefecture.
The man in green drifted into the courtyard. Watching the yellow-robed old Daoists and red-robed monks endlessly mumbling scriptures, he frowned and murmured, "Strange. The Yiyuan Sect's entrance does not seem to be here. The Yiyuan Sect is a famous orthodox sect of cultivators—why would they invite these ox-nosed Daoists and bald donkeys, who lack even a trace of cultivation, to drive out ghosts?... Yet that does not seem right either. Near the Yiyuan Sect's entrance, heh, how would petty demons and little monsters dare show themselves?"
His hooked eagle-like nose took several deep sniffs. The man in green shook his head. "No, no. There is not the slightest scent of demons, ghosts, or monsters. How strange. Do these people have so much money they don't know where to spend it, that they set up a ritual ground just to watch the excitement? Hmph..." As the wind rose, his body drifted away with it. Several hundred people were moving about in the courtyard, yet not one noticed his arrival or departure.
The mountain wind howled. In an instant, the man in green circled all of Mount Hua several times, then shot like lightning toward Qingyun Flat. He neither rode a sword nor used any magic treasure. He appeared to be a bird, flying casually through the air, and at astonishing speed—far faster than ordinary sword light. He muttered, "Good, good. There are traces of magic power fluctuations over there. This must be the place. I never heard of any other cultivation sect near the Yiyuan Sect."
The man in green seemed accustomed to talking to himself, muttering endlessly. "Lord Right Saint said that the Blazing Flame Archway is an ancient strange treasure, now kept by the Yiyuan Sect. Hmm, that should be right. The woman who used that archway to destroy a mountain must have been from the Yiyuan Sect. Yet the Yiyuan Sect's entrance is so difficult to find. I finally killed several people and forced them to tell me it was on Mount Hua. Hmph, hmph."
"That damned Cat Demon, with barely over a hundred years of cultivation, actually dared rob us. Hmph, in the end Old Ninth ate its brains clean. Who would have thought Old Ninth would get a Chiyou Banner from that meal? Hmm, the Chiyou Banner the Cat Demon had heard of—could it truly be that legendary object? That would be wonderful. An ancient demonic divine artifact, hehe. If it falls into our hands, that would be marvelous, marvelous. Once the Chiyou Banner emerges, so long as no ancient pure-yang treasure such as the Xuanyuan Sword restrains it, who else could stand against us?"
"Hehe, the Xuanyuan Sword, Pangu Axe, Nine Provinces Cauldron—those Nine Provinces divine artifacts have already become part of the Nine Provinces barrier. Hehe, where could they possibly find such divine artifacts now? Hehe, once we have the Chiyou Banner, hehe... Master will surely be pleased... We're here. This is the place."
The man in green floated above Qingyun Flat, staring blankly at the scene below. After a while, he suddenly split into more than a hundred figures. Each seemed to possess an independent consciousness as they circled the land within ten miles for a long time, only then gathering together again. He said coldly, "Strange. What magic treasure is this? The scenery before my eyes is certainly false, yet I cannot see through it or find the slightest flaw. Everything seems real—even those savage beasts can attack people."
After pondering for a while, the man in green suddenly reached down toward the great river below and shouted, "Topple mountains and overturn seas... Ah, rise for me!" A burst of black brilliance flared from his hand, and the entire river rolled backward into the sky. The man in green muttered, "Strange, this seems to be real river water?" Seeing the overturned fishing boats and the fishermen struggling and crying desperately in the water, he could no longer distinguish reality from illusion.
Before he could react and decide whether to release the spell, streams of emerald-green waterlight suddenly flashed from within the backward-flowing waters. The entire heaven and earth seemed to be enveloped within an enormous bubble of water. Caught off guard, the man in green was swept wholly into a world of water.
Raging waves were everywhere. Steep icebergs were everywhere. Frigid winds lashed at him, while beneath the water, countless ancient colossal beasts eyed the man in green like tigers eyeing prey, as though they would not rest until they had devoured him.
The man in green suddenly understood. He cried out, "Damn it, this must be the Rivers and Mountains Painting! And damn the person who activated it—they actually added another strange magic treasure inside it." For a moment, the man in green was at a loss, his hands and feet in disorder. Knowing the Rivers and Mountains Painting's true nature, he had been frightened by its resounding reputation. As for the True Water Realm before him, he did not care much about it.
A monstrous wave surged over, sweeping the man in green into it. Several beasts immediately charged toward him. The man in green sneered, rapidly striking with both hands. The instant those beasts touched his palms, they were sucked into dried corpses. He sneered. "These things are not even worth this Divine Lord's notice. But I must get out quickly. Otherwise, once the Rivers and Mountains Painting unfolds its transformations, even if the Three Saints came, they would not escape unscathed."
He swiftly pulled a small pitch-black flag from his robes and casually tossed it into the sky. Black smoke spread out, blocking the frenzied collisions of countless icebergs all around. The man in green closed his eyes and stilled his mind, leading spirit with qi, comprehending emptiness with spirit, penetrating the origin within nothingness. He murmured, "Everything before my eyes is illusion."
In an instant, his body appeared above Qingyun Flat. The man in green wiped cold sweat from his forehead and muttered, "Forget it, forget it. What a pity to lose one fine magic treasure. Fortunately, Master's Hundred Treasures Scroll of the Heavens contains annotations on the Rivers and Mountains Painting. Otherwise, this Divine Lord would have returned to his rightful place today... Hmph, hmph, Yiyuan Sect. If you have done nothing shameful, why are you sealing your gates with such a powerful magic treasure in broad daylight? But the person you used to activate this treasure has cultivation far too weak, hasn't she? Had Yellow Dragon True Man activated it personally as in the legends, this Divine Lord would already have been flesh and bone ground into mud. Heh, heh..."
A cloud of black smoke enveloped the man in green. As though without any weight at all, his body trailed black vapor as it swiftly flew southwest. His grating laughter lingered in the air. "Hehe, Yiyuan Sect... Hehe... This Divine Lord has rendered such a great service. I must certainly ask for a handsome reward. The Rivers and Mountains Painting should belong to this Divine Lord."
The wind passed, and the great river returned to calm, as though nothing had ever happened...
PS: Evil Wind Melody would be released today, and some saved chapters would be posted. I hope everyone will show their support. Three free chapters would be released to repay the many VIP readers for their long-standing support :)
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