There Are Immortals in the World, and Immortals Pass Down Their Teachings!

"Boom!"

The instant Yang Xiao looked toward the golden light above the bamboo slip, his vision blurred, and a deafening roar rang beside his ears.

A towering mountain abruptly surfaced in his mind.

There was a youth in white robes whiter than snow, along with over a hundred youths dressed the same way, each carrying a longsword on his back. With faces full of admiration, they raised their heads and gazed up at the high platform ahead.

On the platform, a scholar in blue robes was practicing swordsmanship.

His sword technique was graceful and drifting, yet it contained a vast, surging edge.

"Swift!"

Suddenly, the blue-robed scholar let out a great shout. The longsword in his hand actually rose into the air, transforming into a dazzling white dragon that roared as it crashed toward the tall mountain to the side.

"Boom!"

The earth shook, and the mountains trembled.

That lofty mountain towering into the clouds was actually split in two in an instant beneath the blue-robed scholar's single strike, sliced cleanly into two halves alive!

"This sword art is named—Immortal-Slaying!"

"If you can cultivate it to minor mastery, you will be able, like me, to sever mountains and fill seas with a single sword strike from afar, and within ten li, slay all enemies through the air!"

"If you can cultivate it to major mastery, Sword Qi will crisscross a hundred thousand li. Wherever the sword's edge points, even if an immortal descends into this world, he too can be slain with one strike!"

The blue-robed scholar's majestic, booming voice instantly resounded through the heavens, clearly entering the ears of every white-robed youth.

It also entered Yang Xiao's ears!

"So there truly are immortals in this world. This incomplete scripture that even Great Yan's founding emperor could not comprehend, that caused generations of martial arts grandmasters to die sudden deaths, is actually—immortal arts?"

At once, Yang Xiao was indescribably excited.

The scenes in his mind continued...

After the blue-robed scholar displayed the Immortal-Slaying Sword Art, he did not explain this sword art.

Instead, he solemnly warned the disciples that when conducting themselves, they must never reach for what was beyond their grasp, and began explaining a foundational sword art called the Azure Cloud Sword Art.

At this, Yang Xiao could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.

But very soon, Yang Xiao grew excited again.

It turned out that although this Azure Cloud Sword Art was only the Azure Cloud Sect's foundational sword art...

Once cultivated to minor mastery, it could still send a flying sword a hundred paces, slaying enemies beyond one's rank. It was extremely domineering.

As for major mastery?

Just as Yang Xiao wanted to observe it carefully, all the images in his mind vanished.

Yang Xiao returned to reality once more.

The bamboo slip before him was dim and lightless. The words on it had completely disappeared, as if wiped away by some mighty power of heaven and earth.

"Could it be that when I observe the qi of bamboo slips recording martial techniques, it causes irreversible damage to them?"

"Or is it that this bamboo slip was a fragment, incomplete to begin with, and that was what caused the accident?"

Yang Xiao walked forward. The moment his hand touched the bamboo slip, it gradually scattered with the wind in an instant, turning into powder and vanishing completely.

Yang Xiao was immediately filled with confusion.

After thinking for a while, Yang Xiao still could not make heads or tails of it, so he simply stopped dwelling on it.

Yang Xiao sat cross-legged and began carefully sorting through the memories from just now.

It turned out that this so-called "inauspicious incomplete scripture" had originally been a "notebook" used by a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect named Li Wenyao to record his cultivation insights.

Li Wenyao's comprehension was lacking, his talent ordinary, and even his innate foundation was only lower-grade.

But his fortune was not bad. Because he was honest and straightforward, he caught the eye of a powerful figure of the Azure Cloud Sect, who took him in as a servant and brought him into the Azure Cloud Sect.

Not long after, Li Wenyao unintentionally saved this powerful figure's youngest daughter.

Unable to withstand the youngest daughter's bitter pleading, the powerful figure's heart softened for a moment. He made an exception and acted as a recommender, helping Li Wenyao become an official disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect.

However, Li Wenyao knew perfectly well that this favor could not last him a lifetime. Thus, he trained bitterly day and night, and recorded his cultivation insights every day.

After training so bitterly for a full sixty years, Li Wenyao finally bloomed late and successfully cultivated the Azure Cloud Sword Art to the realm of "minor mastery."

As for what happened to Li Wenyao afterward, and whether he brought the Azure Cloud Sword Art to major mastery, Yang Xiao did not know because the memories were incomplete.

But based on Yang Xiao's conjecture, Li Wenyao should have cultivated the Azure Cloud Sword Art to major mastery, and recorded it in other bamboo-slip fragments.

"As the saying goes, when the human heart is not content, the snake swallows the elephant. For me to obtain the Azure Cloud Sword Art at minor mastery is already a heaven-reaching opportunity."

"Together with Li Wenyao's sixty years of sword-cultivation insights, this is precious experience that even the martial arts grandmasters of this world could not hope to obtain. I was the one clinging to appearances."

Yang Xiao was fairly open-minded. He quickly calmed down, walked into the courtyard, casually picked up a tree branch, and began practicing the sword.

Through the Nine Cicada Auditory Arts and the Yellow Heaven Body Casting Scripture: Warrior Chapter, Yang Xiao already understood that max-level comprehension was heaven-defying, and the Qi-Observing Stealing Technique was also incredible.

Even if he knew another person's cultivation experience and understood how to activate martial techniques, it was still very difficult for Yang Xiao to become as formidable as they were.

Innate foundation and aptitude were just as important!

A moment later.

Something suddenly stirred in Yang Xiao's heart. The branch in his hand shot out like an arrow loosed from the string, piercing into a willow tree ten paces away in an instant.

Clang!

The blade entered the tree, a full three-tenths deep!

But Yang Xiao was not pleased. Instead, he sighed, his eyes filled with sorrow.

"My innate talent truly isn't good enough. I've now cultivated this Azure Cloud Sword Art to the minor accomplishment stage. By rights, I should be able to send a flying sword a hundred paces."

"And yet in truth, I can only send it ten paces, and its power is so weak that it probably isn't even one-tenth of Li Wenyao's."

Yang Xiao could not help recalling his battle with Wang Yulang back then.

At the time, he had clearly known how to dodge that saber strike, and he had also known how to counterattack.

Unfortunately, his speed, reactions, and movements simply could not keep up!

"Forget it. Even if it's only a ten-pace flying sword, if this sword art is used well, even a First Blood expert caught off guard would suffer a huge loss!"

Shaking his head, Yang Xiao adjusted his mindset and began regulating his breath.

After the time it took an incense stick to burn, Yang Xiao abruptly opened his eyes. He immediately felt full of vigor, as if his whole body held inexhaustible strength.

"This Azure Cloud Sect truly deserves to be a great immortal sect capable of giving birth to sword immortals. Even the basic breathing method practiced by ordinary disciples is actually this remarkable?"

Yang Xiao was somewhat shaken.

Uncle Old Liu's breathing method was extremely crude. It required him to breathe and regulate himself for a long time before he could barely recover his vitality, energy, and spirit.

But the Azure Cloud Sect's breathing method not only restored vitality, energy, and spirit quickly.

It also let Yang Xiao keenly sense that within the time it took an incense stick to burn, his vitality, energy, and spirit had actually gained an extremely faint increase.

"I'm a waiter at Vermilion Bird Tower. Every day, I stand outside the private rooms. Since I'm idle anyway, I might as well be idle."

"From now on, while I'm at work each day, I can openly slack off and regulate my breathing. Once enough time passes, the strength of my vitality, energy, and spirit will be something no martial artist of the same rank can imagine!"

The more Yang Xiao thought about it, the more excited he became. The foul mood brought by Zhao Hu's sneak attack last night was instantly swept clean away, and he walked out the door in high spirits.

"Good morning, Master Yang."

At the mouth of the alley, that old man Liu who sold soup dumplings immediately greeted Yang Xiao warmly, his face piled with smiles.

At Vermilion Bird Tower, Yang Xiao was only a bottom-rung waiter, but his monthly salary was as high as a hundred taels of silver, plus the tips from guests.

Even in the inner city of the Great Yan Kingdom's capital, he was a "high-earner" many ordinary people could only look up to.

Therefore, this "Master Yang" was naturally something Yang Xiao could bear.

"Old Liu, trouble you for three baskets of soup dumplings."

Yang Xiao was not arrogant or smug. Instead, he smiled very politely.

"Right away, Master Yang. Your soup dumplings. Careful, they're hot."

The smile on old man Liu's face grew even brighter. He carefully wrapped the soup dumplings in lotus leaves and respectfully handed them to Yang Xiao with both hands.

Yang Xiao picked up the soup dumplings, put down one tael of broken silver, turned, and left.

"Master Yang, this is too much money."

Behind him, old man Liu hurriedly caught up. "Master Yang, please wait a moment. I'll go find someone to change this into copper coins for you."

"No need to go to so much trouble. From now on, just prepare three baskets of soup dumplings for me every day. When the silver runs out, Old Liu, just say the word, and I'll add more."

Yang Xiao waved his hand and soon walked far away.

"Grandpa, this big brother is so silly. He actually gave you that much money."

At the soup-dumpling stall, a bright-eyed little girl with a sturdy, clever look giggled and made a face.

"Xiao He, you can't say that."

"We fled to the capital to escape disaster. Now we can't even afford to rent a house in the outer city, and we don't even have a place to settle down."

"Master Yang has a kind heart. He must have seen how hard things are for Grandpa and wanted to secretly help us, so he deliberately left one tael of broken silver."

Old Liu's face was stern as he warned her, "Remember, Master Yang is our family's great benefactor. In the future, you must not speak nonsense. You must respect Master Yang!"

"I know, Grandpa. When I grow up, I'll marry Master Yang. Then won't that repay him? Heehee."

Xiao He stuck out her tongue, but her small eyes were filled with unconcern.

"..."

Having walked into the distance, Yang Xiao listened to the conversation between grandfather and granddaughter. He could not help stumbling, nearly falling flat on the ground.