The Reappearance of Shu Mountain

Three months of time happened to be just right for summing up his cultivation and determining what magical treasures he could utilize. Knowing that getting into fights after heading out was unavoidable, Zhou Qing wanted to make plenty of preparations since being prepared prevented disaster.

A few dozen miles away from the city sat several handsome little hills. Although their spiritual qi was not particularly thick, it was at least much better than the increasingly polluted city. Zhou Qing also often came here to look around, and after bringing Liao Xiaojin to select an extremely secluded valley, Zhou Qing used a flying sword to carve out a small cave. He arranged a few concealment formations, then used several large rocks covered in cinnabar-brushed talismanic records to form a primitive Taiji Formation Diagram at the cave entrance, which was used to absorb the Taihua Power within the moonlight. Although it could not compare to the jade tablets Zhou Qing carefully refined, two months of time was still enough for Liao Xiaojin to evolve into a Count.

After delegating matters, Zhou Qing entered the cave and began his secluded cultivation. The path of formations conformed to the heavenly dao, stole momentum from the heavens, and emphasized a sudden flash of enlightenment. The formation records within the Refining Compendium were vast and boundless, consisting of dozens of chapters such as Demon Sealing, Artifact Refining, Talisman Refining, and Summoning Gods. To fully master them without hundreds of years of bitter toil was simply impossible.

This formation path is truly profound! But it uniquely lacks its own cultivation technique. No wonder our Refining Sect sank to such a state. Look! This Azure Lock Sword was also refined by a high-level expert of the Shu Mountain Transformation Stage; although powerful, in terms of formations, it falls far short of our Refining Sect. Why bother making such a fuss over a Demon Sealing Eight Trigrams Formation on the hilt? Yet their cultivation is profound! The Samadhi True Fire melts anything, forcefully succeeding just like that. Hmph! Borrowing the immense power of heaven and earth, although ingenious, is after all not one's own cultivation, and it has quite a few drawbacks. Especially since profound formations cannot be comprehended without profound cultivation, but now I possess the cultivation methods of a sword immortal, and the two complement each other perfectly! Relying on the Soaring Sword Qi Art and the Refining Sect's formations, the Heavenly Dao Sect I founded will flourish one day, and by then I shall be the founding grandmaster admired by all. A great man should establish achievements and build a career, or he would live his life in vain!

Having made up his mind, Zhou Qing summoned his flying sword. The Azure Lock Sword, refined from Prime Gold of Taiyi, transformed into a shroud of azure light that enveloped Zhou Qing's body. Large torrents of spiritual qi were drawn in by the Azure Lock Sword, transformed into his own True Essence, and fed into Zhou Qing's Dantian. Meanwhile, Zhou Qing's mind sank into what he had been pondering lately; bizarre yet grand, ancient, and desolately symbolic runes unfolded one by one in his mind. Talismans! The most fundamental laws of heaven and earth comprehended by countless Daoist predecessors and sages, utilizing simple symbols paired with one's own potential to drive stray energies in the universe and summon powerful entities from various parallel alternate spaces.

Liao Xiaojin's cultivation had also advanced by leaps and bounds recently, and in two months he had successfully evolved to a Count. In particular, he no longer needed to drink blood at all, breaking away from the most basic traits of the Vampire Clan. Pulling a piece of talisman paper from his bosom, Liao Xiaojin imitated the gestures in a very professional manner, shouting, "Heaven and earth metal spirits, heed my command, execute swiftly as ordered!" The yellow talisman shot out as a streak of fine golden light, and swish! A small piece was sliced right off the hard granite rock. Looking at the mirror-smooth cut, Liao Xiaojin burst into wild laughter, "Ha, ha, ha!"

"Boom!" A flash of lightning as thick as a water vat and of unknown length struck squarely at the entrance of the cave where Zhou Qing was in seclusion not far from Liao Xiaojin. Crash, rumble! Amidst a flurry of noise, the cave where Zhou Qing secluded himself was blasted to smithereens. Splintered rocks battered Liao Xiaojin until his face was bruised and swollen, wailing aloud. Liao Xiaojin hurriedly transformed into his original form, protecting his whole body with his wings. After the flying debris finally stopped a good while later, Liao Xiaojin looked at the rocks blasted to pieces over a radius of ten feet and the vanished cave entrance, his mouth wide open like a toad! Goodness! This power is a bit too great, ten times bigger than a grenade, and almost comparable to a bomb. Is Master alright? How did the lightning strike out of nowhere? Could it be the legendary heavenly tribulation? Just as his thoughts were running wild, a fierce and peerless sword qi burst forth from the shattered rubble of the collapsed cave. Covered in dust and looking utterly disheveled, Zhou Qing dropped down in front of Liao Xiaojin. Yet Zhou Qing's eyes flashed with a brilliant, piercing light that felt as tangible as reality, faintly radiating a sharp sword qi that made people shudder. Even Liao Xiaojin, an utter layman in Daoist arts, could tell that Zhou Qing's cultivation had advanced a huge step forward.

Zhou Qing pulled a fingernail-sized piece of dark green jade talisman from his bosom and swallowed it raw. Instantly, the brilliant light vanished from his eyes, and the vital energy across his body converged, making him no different from an ordinary person. Liao Xiaojin's mouth opened wider and wider as he watched. With a wave of Zhou Qing's hand, he said, "We'll talk back at the place. We've stirred up quite a few people just now." Without waiting for Liao Xiaojin to reply, he slapped a Swift Travel Talisman onto his leg and vanished in the blink of an eye. Cursing under his breath, Liao Xiaojin pushed his speed to the limit, surprisingly managing to stay closely pegged behind Zhou Qing.

Not long after Zhou Qing and Liao Xiaojin departed, a streak of sword light several yards long shot over from the distant horizon. The sword light came to a halt right above the valley where Zhou Qing had been in seclusion. An extremely handsome young man in white robes, stepping upon a golden great sword three feet long and four fingers wide, hovered in midair thirty feet above the ground. If Zhou Qing were still here, he would definitely recognize that this person also practiced the Soaring Sword Qi Art and possessed extremely profound cultivation, actually capable of flying on a sword and standing merely a hair's breadth away from the unfathomable Transformation Stage!

Hmph! Those old immortal elders spoil Junior Brother and Junior Sister far too much. They even gave away the Prime Gold of Taiyi. Now look at this—not only was the flying sword completely snatched away and people beaten to heavy injuries, but even our sect's cultivation mantra was plundered, forcing me to come and investigate clues. The young man's expression was exceptionally arrogant.

Carefully inspecting the valley blasted into a mess by the lightning, the young man's expression abruptly shifted. Gathering qi into a claw, he snatched up a piece of rock that had been grazed by Zhou Qing's sword qi, and transformed into a streak of golden light as he flew south.

"Master, why did the lightning suddenly strike like that?" Upon returning to their lodging, Liao Xiaojin asked with lingering fear. Zhou Qing also felt a lingering dread, saying with a solemn face, "I won't keep it from you. In my comprehension of our sect's supreme art these past two months, the Summoning Gods Chapter, one uses one's own heart to communicate with the heart of heaven, petitioning the deities of the upper realms and borrowing divine power. Just now, I happened to sense the power of the Nine Heavens Universal Transformation Thunder God in the nether void and borrowed a sliver of it. I didn't expect such immense power." Liao Xiaojin nodded and said, "Indeed, I was really startled just now. Hmph hmph! With just this move alone, ten Kuraks would be blasted into powder! Master, when can I learn this move?"

"You haven't even learned to walk yet, and you're already thinking about running." Zhou Qing said, "You should first master the various talismanic records; that is the foundation. Just like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in mathematics, or vocabulary words in English, the essence of our sect's Daoist magic lies in talismans and the techniques of wielding them, which are also the foundation of formations. Although the Summoning Gods Chapter is immensely powerful, its risk factor is extremely high. Master himself nearly got blasted to death by his own lightning just now. Do you still want to learn it?"

Liao Xiaojin chuckled with a silly grin: "If you're going to die, your feet point to the sky; if you don't die, you become an immortal. However, one must still be careful with power one cannot control oneself." Liao Xiaojin's eyes rolled around rapidly, God knows what schemes he was cooking up.

"Let's not talk more for now. Tomorrow we'll go handle the paperwork and head to Las Vegas to make a huge haul. With Master's cultivation greatly advanced now, are we still going to fear a few American hillbillies?"