Deep Meditation

The carriage wheels rumbled over the long streets of Heaven Dou City, paved with blue-gray stone slabs.

Inside the carriage, an oil lamp casting a gentle glow hung quietly, dispelling the chill of the night.

Yang Fan leaned against the soft velvet backrest and let out a long breath. The nerves he had kept taut all night finally relaxed.

He had finally sent the little witch home.

With two Soul Douluo present, Ning Rongrong would never really have been in danger. But the killing earlier had left her feeling deeply insecure.

Yang Fan could only stay with her and tell her a few stories. Though his body was somewhat exhausted, his mood had eased considerably. It was just that he had noticed something increasingly strange about the way Ning Rongrong looked at him.

She was only eight or nine—how was she already so precocious? They had only known each other for a few days, right? Was this Romance Continent?

Then again, that San Wu couple had apparently shared a bed at six.

What perverts!

Yang Fan cursed inwardly, completely forgetting about himself and Na'er. All he could say was that everyone was equally hypocritical when it came to double standards.

After getting out of the luxurious carriage that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had specially sent to take him home, Yang Fan returned to Yang's Treasure Appraisal Pavilion.

"Ye Rou, A Wu, you worked hard tonight."

Yang Fan rubbed his brow and said to the two inside the pavilion, "We're closing early tonight. You should both head back and get some rest."

"Thank you, Pavilion Master."

The burly bodyguard A Wu answered in a muffled voice, yet he still stood beside the staircase like an iron tower, dutifully guarding the pavilion's safety.

Ye Rou, seated in her wheelchair, nodded slightly. There was concern for her pavilion master in her eyes. "His Majesty Qinghe already knows about what happened tonight. But don't worry, Pavilion Master. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has already taken an interest in this matter. It won't implicate our Treasure Appraisal Pavilion."

Yang Fan felt somewhat helpless. In this timeline, hadn't he theoretically only been working with Xue Qinghe for two days? And they were already laying their cards on the table?

"Ye Rou, you aren't even pretending anymore... I only just got back. How does it feel like you know more about this than I do, the person involved?"

Seeing Yang Fan's helpless expression, Ye Rou smiled sweetly and replied with a reason he could hardly refute. "Pavilion Master possesses the talents of Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick. Naturally, none of this could be hidden from you."

"Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick are good words, but I'm not worthy of them."

In this world, Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick were still compliments. According to unofficial histories, Heaven Dou had risen under the guidance of a sage with the Crouching Dragon Martial Soul, while Star Luo Empire had been aided by a sage with the Fledgling Phoenix Martial Soul.

Thus came the saying, "Gain either Crouching Dragon or Phoenix Chick, and you may gain the world."

In Heaven Dou, dragons were also symbols of emperors. Because of this, quite a few people spoke ill of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan before the Heaven Dou emperor.

Yang Fan smiled and waved the two away. Only after confirming that they had left did he close the shop doors and enter the secret chamber deep on the second floor alone.

Yang Fan sat cross-legged atop the stone bed and began to meditate.

His eyes were half-closed, his breathing long and even, like an old monk in meditation.

As his thoughts drew inward, the noise of the outside world gradually faded away until it was completely shut out of his senses.

He entered a state of deep meditation.

Within this sea of spiritual consciousness that belonged solely to him, there were no bizarre illusions, only boundless profundity and tranquility.

His Soul Power was no longer a rushing current within his meridians. It transformed into strands of warm, gentle luminous mist, softly washing through every part of his body.

He could clearly "see" the primal energy drifting between heaven and earth turning into glittering specks of light, streaming endlessly into his body through his pores, mouth, and nose.

They circulated along specific pathways through his meridians. Each time they passed an acupoint, they left behind a trace of pure energy before continuing onward, cycling endlessly without cease.

The exhaustion in his body was completely stripped away in that moment. His soul seemed to be soaking in a warm spring, every inch greedily absorbing nourishment.

Time lost all meaning here.

In that absolute stillness, Yang Fan's Soul Power and spiritual power grew like tender shoots breaking through the earth, slowly yet irresistibly reaching upward.

The methods of circulating Soul Power that had once been obscure and difficult to grasp now became incomparably clear in his mind, as though they had always been meant to work this way.

He could even sense that the mysterious aura belonging to the Monocle deep within his martial soul was becoming purer and more unfathomable with each breath of meditation.

There were no distracting thoughts, no external things—only the most primal connection between him and this world.

When the final trace of stray Soul Power was completely refined and merged into his dantian, Yang Fan slowly opened his eyes.

A glimmer seemed to flash through them before they returned to calmness.

His deep meditation had ended, and the Soul Power within him had silently crossed the invisible threshold between level 31 and level 32.

"So this is deep meditation?"

The life-and-death experiences of Legend of the Dragon King, combined with tonight's leisure, had allowed Yang Fan to enter the legendary state of deep meditation for the first time through the balance of tension and release.

Yang Fan could somewhat understand those cultivation protagonists addicted to closed-door training. The feeling of disregarding everything else and emptying one's mind truly was incredible.

He checked the sky outside. It was still somewhat dark, probably around the hour of the tiger.

Had he cultivated for four or five hours? It had felt like only a few minutes.

On the broad rosewood desk in the secret chamber lay two pieces of metal.

One of them was an iron block as black as ink, its surface covered in strange cloud patterns. It was the top-grade Magic Silver he had picked up cheaply at the auction.

Yang Fan's slender fingers lightly brushed across Magic Silver's icy surface, while his mind rapidly worked through his next plan.

He had Magic Silver now, but that was only the first step.

To truly forge a suitable weapon, he still lacked one crucial metal—Sinking Silver.

Sinking Silver possessed immense density, excellent toughness, and extraordinarily strong compatibility with Soul Power, making it the best choice for a primary material.

But the problem was that, in this era, rare metal veins were extremely well hidden and were almost entirely monopolized by Star Luo Empire. High-purity raw ore simply never reached the market.

This was also one of the reasons Star Luo Empire possessed greater military strength. It had a martial spirit in culture and military resources in material.

"Buying it on the black market would not only get me gouged, but I might easily end up with inferior goods mixed with impurities. Asking Xue Qinghe means I'd have to give him a gift, and as a crown prince, he probably wouldn't be stockpiling metals either..."

Yang Fan muttered to himself, his brows knitting slightly.

Just as he sank into thought, the quiet alley he had passed when leaving the auction house tonight, along with the half-open carved wooden window on the second floor, suddenly flashed through his mind.

Moonlight Pavilion! Tang Yuehua!

A thought struck his mind like lightning.

How had he forgotten this?

On the surface, Moonlight Pavilion was Heaven Dou City's most elegant music shop and a place where noble young women learned music. But behind it stood the Clear Sky Sect, hidden among the common people.

Others might not know, but how could he not?

The Clear Sky Sect had shut its gates and gone into seclusion several years ago after Qian Xunji's death. Yet its food, clothing, lodging, and daily necessities still needed to be arranged, and Moonlight Pavilion was that channel.

With the Clear Sky Sect's foundations and connections across the continent, even though it had long secluded itself from the world, it definitely still maintained some unknown channels for rare metals in secret.

But what could he use to persuade Tang Yuehua?

Tang Yuehua did not lack money. Behind her stood both the Clear Sky Sect and the Heaven Dou Imperial Family.