Nine Secrets: Jie

On Zhuo Peak, that day.

An illusory realm appeared out of thin air above the summit, unfolding scenes of fish, insects, birds, beasts, flying sand, tumbling stones, and flowers blooming in profusion.

Simple, natural Dao principles manifested without many wondrous phenomena. This was precisely the essence of Zhuo Peak's natural Dao: true wisdom appeared foolish, and true skill appeared clumsy.

Li Ruoyu and Ye Fan, one old and one young, were on Zhuo Peak. They were the first to notice the inheritance opening and began trying to comprehend its Dao resonance.

Having cultivated Zhuo Peak's techniques for hundreds upon hundreds of years, Li Ruoyu was the first to grasp the true meaning of the natural Dao. With faltering steps, he entered a palace within the illusory realm.

Ye Fan was only a Divine Bridge Realm cultivator and had little understanding of Zhuo Peak's natural Dao. Later, however, he used the Bodhi Seed to gain enlightenment and managed to comprehend Nine Secrets: Jie, which lay hidden within the natural transformations.

Fang Yang remained hidden, watching all manner of natural transformations flash before his eyes. The complete inheritance of the natural Dao, Zhuo Peak's fundamental cultivation method, had already revealed itself.

He compared it with the Yaoguang Scripture, but for a moment, he could not tell which of the two methods was superior.

Time was short.

Fang Yang stopped contemplating the natural Dao and focused instead on the natural transformations atop Zhuo Peak, unraveling them thread by thread to extract the inheritance of Nine Secrets: Jie.

However profound the natural Dao might be, it could not be an Emperor Scripture. Since his primary cultivation method was already the Yaoguang Scripture, this inheritance was of little importance to him.

Gentle breezes, sand and stones, withered trees, old crows, flowing water, wooden huts...

Everything on Zhuo Peak served as a vessel for Nine Secrets: Jie, which was deeply concealed and buried within them.

Fang Yang realized that relying on his own comprehension alone would take a long time to fully uncover the inheritance of Nine Secrets: Jie.

So he chose to cheat.

He placed the Bodhi Leaf in his mouth. This leaf from the Bodhi Tree on Mars had already lost much of its divine essence after being soaked in the Divine Spring many times.

Fang Yang began chewing. The juices of the Bodhi Leaf mingled with the refreshing sweetness of the Divine Spring, instantly making the scenes before his eyes more vivid.

Nine Secrets: Jie was right before him.

Twelve hours passed before Fang Yang finally comprehended the complete Nine Secrets: Jie from Zhuo Peak's natural transformations.

Yet his expression was grave, without much sign of joy.

The reason was simple.

An old man stood before him, his gaze unfocused and his face filled with puzzlement. Immense pressure enveloped the area, as though a thunderous strike might descend at any moment.

"Greetings, Senior Li."

Fang Yang rose and bowed, dispelling the Snake Talisman's invisibility to reveal himself before Li Ruoyu.

"An impressive trick. Had I not become one with Zhuo Peak, I might never have detected your presence."

Seeing a handsome, distinguished young man appear, Li Ruoyu could not help marveling. Even face-to-face, he had naturally failed to discern the slightest flaw in his concealment.

He pondered for a moment, then asked:

"Do you have a master, young friend?"

"I would not dare conceal it from you, Senior. I am a Candidate Holy Son of the Yao Guang Sacred Land, a disciple of Li Daoming. The Holy Lord of Yaoguang is my martial uncle."

Fang Yang knew full well that the previous Master of Zhuo Peak had perished together with a Supreme Elder of the Yao Guang Sacred Land, yet he still chose to be honest with this old man.

For one thing, the Yao Guang Sacred Land had many Supreme Elders. The one who had perished with the Master of Zhuo Peak had little connection to the Holy Lord Lineage.

For another, Li Ruoyu cultivated the natural Dao. Compared with ordinary cultivators, he harbored very little killing intent and would never kill someone to vent his anger over that matter.

Li Ruoyu apparently had not expected the young man before him to be so candid. For a moment, he did not know how to handle the situation.

In his eyes, Fang Yang was a promising talent. His vitality blazed like the morning sun, and his appearance matched his true age: he really was a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old Four Extremities Realm cultivator.

If he had no master, everyone would have been happy, and Zhuo Peak would have gained an outstanding successor.

Unfortunately, he came from the Yao Guang Sacred Land.

"Regardless of how much you have comprehended, you must never pass Zhuo Peak's inheritance on to outsiders."

In the end, Li Ruoyu could not bring himself to keep this young man who had secretly learned Zhuo Peak's inheritance on the mountain forever.

He was wary of the Yao Guang Sacred Land behind Fang Yang, but he also believed that Fang Yang could not have comprehended much of the inheritance in just a few hours. At most, he could have gained a superficial understanding of the natural Dao.

"Thank you for your generosity, Senior."

Fang Yang bowed deeply.

"Do not thank me just yet. I am merely choosing not to make things difficult for you. That does not mean this matter is settled."

"Our Taixuan Sect may not compare to the Yao Guang Sacred Land, but there must still be an accounting for your secretly learning Zhuo Peak's inheritance. You will remain in the Taixuan Sect for now and wait for the Yao Guang Sacred Land to ransom you."

With a sweep of his broad sleeve, Li Ruoyu enveloped Fang Yang and transported him from the side peak to Zhuo Peak.

A teacher was at fault for failing to discipline his pupil.

Now that he had become an Immortal Second Realm Mighty Figure, he had the confidence to demand an explanation from the Yao Guang Sacred Land.

As for how much ransom to demand...

Forget it. Let the Taixuan Sect Master worry about that.

I am just an old man. All I want is to cultivate in peace and train a few outstanding disciples for Zhuo Peak along the way.

At that thought, Li Ruoyu could not help sighing.

Such a fine young man. Why did he have to be a disciple of the Yao Guang Sacred Land?

Because Fang Yang's case involved the Yao Guang Sacred Land, a dominant power in the Eastern Wasteland, the Taixuan Sect Master hurried over immediately upon receiving Li Ruoyu's message, followed by a large group of elders.

"Do you have anything that can prove your identity?"

The Taixuan Sect Master asked.

He asked as a precaution. Being fooled by some green young brat would make them a laughingstock.

"Would this jade token count?"

Fang Yang took out his Candidate Holy Son Token and showed it to the Taixuan Sect Master and the many elders gathered around him.

"It is a token from the Yao Guang Sacred Land."

"Yes, it is genuine."

"He is indeed a Candidate Holy Son of Yaoguang."

The elders of the Taixuan Sect spoke up one after another, confirming Fang Yang's identity as a Candidate Holy Son beyond doubt.

His identity had been confirmed.

That only made the matter harder to handle.

The Yao Guang Sacred Land was not to be trifled with.

Five hundred years earlier, a Supreme Elder of the Yao Guang Sacred Land had provoked a conflict that led to the death of the Master of Zhuo Peak at the time.

By rights, the Yao Guang Sacred Land had been in the wrong.

But in terms of strength, the Taixuan Sect was weaker.

In the end, the matter had come to nothing.

No one had spoken a word in defense of the Master of Zhuo Peak. Some even thought it was an enormous blessing that the Yao Guang Sacred Land had not come looking for trouble.

Might made right.

The Taixuan Sect Master hesitated.

In truth, he did not want to follow Li Ruoyu's plan of detaining Fang Yang and making the Yao Guang Sacred Land ransom him.

If they did that and the Yao Guang Sacred Land sent an overbearing elder, the situation could easily spiral out of control.

Besides, Fang Yang's cultivation was still shallow. He could not possibly have comprehended Zhuo Peak's fundamental secret art. At most, he could have learned a little of the basics, so the Yao Guang Sacred Land would not offer much compensation.

Most importantly, even if they obtained compensation, it would not go to the Taixuan Sect as a whole. It would have to be handed over to Li Ruoyu of Zhuo Peak.

Better to let the younger generation settle it.

At that thought, the Taixuan Sect Master came up with a good idea.

It would give them a reasonable excuse to release Fang Yang without offending the Holy Lord Lineage of the Yao Guang Sacred Land.

It would also preserve a little dignity for the Taixuan Sect.

"Young friend, I can see that yours was an inadvertent mistake. How about this?"

"Our Taixuan Sect will select six disciples. As long as you can defeat one of them, we will consider this matter settled. What do you say?"

The Taixuan Sect Master spoke.

He had already discerned Fang Yang's cultivation: only the first heaven of the Four Extremities Realm.

The disciples he intended to send, however, were at the fourth heaven of the Four Extremities Realm!

They were all cultivators of the Four Extremities Secret Realm. Who could call that bullying a junior?

They would defeat Fang Yang five times in the first five matches, using his reputation as a Candidate Holy Son to bolster the prestige of the Taixuan Sect's younger generation. That would serve as the price for secretly learning their inheritance.

Then, in the final match, they would go a little easy on him and get rid of this hot potato.

With that, everything would be neatly resolved!