The knowledge gained from books always seemed shallow; to understand this, one had to put it into practice.
"I've already experienced failure. Now I urgently need to succeed for real at least once, so I can fully grasp its mysteries."
Many crucial points along the path of cultivation were difficult to describe precisely in words. Often, the moment you tried to explain them, you got them wrong. They could only be understood, not expressed.
All Meng Nan could do for now was keep trying, relying on luck and hoping to succeed at least once.
Cang Mountain.
Meng Nan cultivated in seclusion on the mountain, never taking a single step away.
The years slipped by unnoticed in cultivation.
One day.
The moon hung high in the sky.
Meng Nan suddenly felt a jolt in his heart. For no reason, he grew somewhat uneasy.
"What's happening to me—"
Meng Nan froze, then quickly understood. "The Red Robe General has started!"
This strange sensation was likely the effect of the Red Robe General's spell.
Eighty-one days.
The symptoms would gradually worsen.
By the final day, once the Red Robe Nightmare Suppression Art was complete, Meng Nan would drop dead on the spot.
That had been the original course of events.
Back then, even Meng Nan, with third-layer Qi Refining and a century of magic power, hadn't been able to withstand it.
But this time—
That very night.
Not long after the unease began, a hazy remnant suddenly appeared in Meng Nan's mindscape, with stars of every size circling around it.
"Deprivation!"
"Red Robe Nightmare Suppression Art!"
At a single thought from Meng Nan, the remnant and the other stars quickly dimmed and vanished completely.
Only one star continued to shine.
[Deprivation: Elephant Armor Skill]
[Deprivation: Red Robe Nightmare Suppression Art]
"It worked!"
A smile appeared on Meng Nan's face.
After Lü Shiwu and the others had left, he had already used the "replay" in the Death Log to lock onto the Red Robe General through Deprivation visualization.
He had only been waiting for the man to die.
Now that the Red Robe General was dead, the prerequisite for Deprivation was immediately fulfilled. Meng Nan promptly deprived him of his renowned secret art, the Red Robe Nightmare Suppression Art, and claimed it for himself.
After experiencing it firsthand, Meng Nan's delight grew.
"The Red Robe Nightmare Suppression Art."
"Once you've trained soldiers and horses and set up camp, you can cast the spell and shoot arrows from the camp gates, cursing an enemy to death from afar."
Although it took eighty-one days to complete, the art was strange and uncanny, making it impossible to guard against.
Combined with Meng Nan's Deprivation art, from now on, whenever he took a liking to an enemy's ability, he would only need to set up camp and use the Red Robe Nightmare Suppression Art to curse them to death. Then he could strip that ability from them out of thin air.
How wonderful!
"The Red Robe General advanced to Qi Refining, and his mastery of the Red Robe Nightmare Suppression Art was extremely high. I only need to follow his example to wield some of its power. Perhaps I can even curse an ordinary Qi Refiner to death!"
Meng Nan sensed it and felt a surge of anticipation.
Another half month passed in a flash.
Meng Nan had now been in this life for four months.
He had spent this entire period cultivating on Cang Mountain. The spiritual energy here was abundant, and with spiritual sand to help him, Meng Nan smoothly returned to the peak of True Essence and once again reached the Three Cavities.
One day.
Meng Jian returned.
"The Red Robe General has been executed. Daoist Lü brought his head back to Qing Le Mountain."
As soon as Meng Jian returned, he recounted what had happened.
Their group had set out together and lain in wait around the Red Robe General's camp, keeping watch at all times.
After only a few months, the Red Robe General had indeed made his move—
He made a wooden effigy of Meng Nan, placed it at the camp gates, performed the spell, and shot arrows at it.
They had seen it with their own eyes.
The evidence was conclusive.
Meng Jian and the others immediately rushed forward and killed the Red Robe General along with all three hundred and thirty cavalrymen under his command, breaking the demonic spell.
There had only been one twist in the whole affair.
"So that's what the Star Picking Sect is like!"
"Even they can't escape the petty scheming and backstabbing!"
"It turns out that when the Red Robe General cast his spell this time, he was acting under orders from Tiansongzi, who serves under Immortal Master Ge. The target wasn't Father, but Daoist Lü."
Meng Jian shook his head.
As it happened, just as the Red Robe General had begun casting his spell, Meng Jian and the others burst out, startling him. He immediately cried, "Tiansongzi has ruined me!"
He thought Tiansongzi had set him up.
He had no grudge against Meng Nan. Why would he curse Meng Nan to death?
The only explanation was that Tiansongzi had commissioned him.
And now, he had only just begun the spell when these people came right to his door.
Otherwise, how could it have been such a coincidence?
Could they really have known the future?
Thus, in a farcical turn of events, the Red Robe General had sold out the mastermind behind it all, Tiansongzi.
As for Tiansongzi himself—
"Lü Shiwu and Tiansongzi are the two chief aides under Immortal Master Ge, his right and left hands."
"Because I'm close to Lü Shiwu, thirteen Qi Refiners from the Cang Mountain and Mirror Mountain lineages have pledged their support to him."
"Tiansongzi sought out the Red Robe General to kill me in order to weaken Lü Shiwu. That way, he'd have a better chance of competing for credit later."
Meng Nan understood at once.
Lü Shiwu.
Tiansongzi.
Two tigers fighting, with the fish caught in between.
Meng Nan had been caught in the crossfire for no reason.
"Infuriating!"
"Despicable!"
Meng Nan mentally added Tiansongzi's name to his list and underlined it.
There was no need to rush.
Just wait.
When this life was about to end, he would make sure that man paid!
Like Lü Shiwu, Tiansongzi was a bona fide immortal master of the Star Picking Sect. He had deep roots and many friends and family. He wasn't like the Red Robe General, whom you could kill whenever you pleased.
He would have to be dealt with strategically.
Now that the Red Robe General was dead and Tiansongzi had been exposed, Meng Nan would let Lü Shiwu deal with him.
Meng Nan wouldn't get involved.
He turned to Meng Jian.
Meng Jian wore simple clothes, a fan-shaped cloud crown, a water-colored robe, a silk sash around his waist, and straw sandals. He looked every bit the Daoist. His features were handsome and his expression kindly; one look at him made people feel warmly disposed toward him.
On closer inspection, his features—especially his brows and eyes—resembled Meng Nan's quite a bit.
Though three of their family of five had still been lost in this life, both Meng Nan and Meng Jian had successfully advanced to Qi Refining, and both had advanced using a Middle Method great medicine.
Meng Jian had advanced much later than Meng Nan.
One had advanced in the forty-seventh year of the Immortal Calendar.
The other in the ninety-fifth.
There were fifty years between them.
But in terms of combat strength and renown, Meng Jian had long since surpassed him.
"What realm are you at now, Second Son?"
Meng Nan asked.
"Fourth-layer magic power."
"Mystic Radiance in Dao attainment."
Meng Jian replied.
Fourth-layer magic power wasn't particularly high.
But his Dao attainment—
Ming Qi.
Heart Flame.
Mystic Radiance.
True Fire.
Of the four realms of Dao attainment, Meng Jian had reached the third after only forty-five years as a Qi Refiner. His progress was astonishingly fast.
"My son is quite impressive!"
Meng Nan marveled inwardly, then added, "Show your father that Heavenly Eye of yours."
"Yes."
Meng Jian knew Meng Nan had lost his memory, so he followed his every request.
At the sound of his voice, he brushed two fingers across his brow. A vertical eye opened at once.
Whoosh!
In an instant.
Meng Jian's originally handsome, composed appearance gained an air of immense authority, and an intense pressure radiated from the Heavenly Eye.
And this was with its power restrained.
If he unleashed its full might, Meng Nan's current cultivation would likely leave him so terrified that his heart and guts would burst, and he'd drop dead on the spot.
"When the Heavenly Eye opens, it sees in every direction as clearly as the palm of your hand."
"My Heavenly Eye was with me from birth, but only manifested when I came of age. It wasn't until I advanced to Qi Refining that it truly revealed its power. It can intimidate, see through illusions, and investigate, far surpassing all kinds of spells."
Meng Jian opened his eye a little wider. Once Meng Nan had seen it, he closed it again, then continued, "Back then, Father happened upon the Profound Spirit Treasure Ginseng of Ji You by chance and helped Mother refine it. She was carrying me at the time, and that's what gave me my extraordinary talent and this Heavenly Eye."
After Meng Jian advanced to Qi Refining, his Heavenly Eye was likely what had earned him some renown among Qi Refiners and made him such a formidable fighter.
When his Heavenly Eye opened,
ordinary Qi Refiners would be intimidated on the spot, their magic power sluggish, left entirely at Meng Jian's mercy.
If an immortal master or demon used illusions or other deceptive spells, Meng Jian could see through them with ease.
That single Heavenly Eye surpassed countless spells.
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