Sun, Moon, Spring and Autumn

After midnight, the six, clad in black nightwear, sped through the forest.

Liu Yunshen's movement technique was not at all inferior to those five masters of the fourth Qi Refining realm! Sun Yunji secretly marveled and transmitted his voice, "Brother Liu possesses extraordinary cultivation talent, and an even rarer sincere heart!"

"Thank you for the praise, Senior. This junior's cultivation is still far too weak. I merely rely on sword techniques and weapons to make up for some of my shortcomings!" At first, Liu Yunshen had feared he would be unable to keep pace with the five masters. Yet when he set foot upon the trees, he suddenly discovered that the Yellow Sprout Giant Tree in his dantian was overjoyed. The forest trees seemed to lend strength beneath his feet. With only the slightest exertion, Liu Yunshen had already leaped a hundred zhang! His movement technique was incomparably swift!

"The secret realm Sect Master Ouyang is heading for this time is called Zhou Enclosure Deer Park. It is one of the five great secret realms of the Nine Provinces," Sun Yunji explained from the side. Cai Tingyue shook his head. "I seem to have heard that beyond the four great nations, in the wild territories, there are quite a few secret realms as well! They are called the Five Garments Secret Realms, I think..."

"The Book of Documents: Tribute of Yu records that the Son of Heaven's domain was bounded in five-hundred-li circles. East, south, west, and north formed rings. At the very center was the 'Field Garment.' Then, extending outward another five hundred li each time, ever larger circles were drawn: the Marquis Garment, the Pacification Garment, the Restraint Garment, and the outermost five hundred li were the Wild Garment!"

Liu Yunshen paused. Seeing everyone listening intently, he concluded, "The Wild Garment was a remote, uncultivated land beyond the Son of Heaven's jurisdiction. This was what was called the 'Five Garments'! But I do not know whether the secret realms correspond to the five great circles of the Five Garments."

Everyone clicked their tongues in amazement.

Cao Wuji laughed loudly. "I always said Little Brother Liu was refined. I never expected you to know so much. If you had not been born into these troubled times, you would surely have returned with the title of top scholar!"

Everyone chuckled softly.

"What my teacher taught in Peach Blossom Dreamland was not useless after all. I suppose the time simply had not come yet!"

Yang Qingchan's beauty, enough to topple kingdoms, seemed to be right before him. Liu Yunshen could not help closing his eyes. His head turned southwest, and Xun wind erupted within his dantian. The Yellow Sprout Giant Tree was deliriously delighted, swaying its waist to welcome the baptism of the gale!

"So sleep cultivation can be used like this too! No wonder the technique Teacher taught was truly miraculous!" With his eyes closed, Liu Yunshen actually began circulating his supreme dantian art while traveling. His fleshly body was driven by his will, and the speed of his movement technique gradually rose again!

Countless rays of moonlight gathered around him. The five Qi Refiners surrounded Liu Yunshen, their bodies and dantians nourished by the moonlight. The joy in their hearts was beyond words!

"This truly is a stroke of fortune for us!"

As one, everyone looked toward Liu Yunshen standing at the center of their formation. As they absorbed and exhaled moonlight while hurrying onward, their limbs and bones slowly strengthened at a rate visible to the naked eye!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Cai Tingyue, Cao Wuji, and Sun Yunji all broke through in succession!

Gong Haoyue gave a bitter smile. "Such a precious opportunity, yet we cannot properly consolidate our realms. What a pity!"

"You truly are greedy!" Lei Zhouyue smiled, yet suddenly discovered that Liu Yunshen's dantian power contained the mysteries of the Life Realm, secretly aligning with the enlightenment he had gained over many years. At once, he stopped and sat cross-legged!

Liu Yunshen's senses were extraordinarily keen. He swiftly halted, yet did not open his eyes or awaken. When his will swept over Lei Zhouyue, he was wildly ecstatic. Does not the vigorous vitality of the Yellow Sprout Giant Tree contain insight into the first layer of the Life Realm? I only discovered it today. I truly am foolish beyond measure!

Liu Yunshen could barely contain his excitement. Everyone quietly gathered around Lei Zhouyue, absorbing and exhaling moonlight!

In but a moment, a vast and majestic aura rose!

Lei Zhouyue rose with a great laugh. Sword Qi manifested at the tip of his left index finger—the first layer of the Life Realm—while his right index finger bore the first layer of the Overcoming Realm!

Cai Tingyue exclaimed in delight, "Old Zhou, try combining the two realms!"

Lei Zhouyue frowned. Suppressing the influence of immortal artifacts, dantian power, sword techniques, sword intent, and many other factors, he combined the Life and Overcoming Realms and produced only two zhang of Sword Qi!

"Without martial arts, it is one chi. Two zhang means twenty times? Isn't that a little too little?"

"Why are two layers of martial arts not a hundredfold increase?"

Everyone was deeply puzzled.

Sun Yunji smiled. "It seems different martial arts realms merely stack together. Only when realms within the same domain combine is multiplication possible!"

"Whatever. This old man is twice as strong now anyway!" Lei Zhouyue laughed loudly. Gathering all his power, his sword intent shot straight into the heavens and easily reached two thousand zhang away!

"Look at you, showing off like that!" Cai Tingyue and Gong Haoyue laughed.

Their confidence surged. They set out once more, and in less than half an hour, they had reached within ten li of the secret realm.

"It is up ahead!" Everyone leaped into the crowns of great trees and hid their figures.

At the border between Han and Zhou, figures continually darted into that barrier.

"Junior Brother Sun, is the information reliable?"

"Xiao Jinyu will definitely come!" Sun Yunji glanced at the moon.

"That is true! Xiao Jinyu may be arrogant and domineering, but he does have the capital for it. Whether by day or at night, whether he is 'doing good' or killing people, he always wears only that Golden Bell Palace Master's robe bestowed upon him by the Three Stars Sect Master!" Gong Haoyue smiled again.

"He truly is narcissistic enough!" Cao Wuji shook his head.

"How could he possibly do good?" Liu Yunshen laughed. "That fiend kills without blinking. He should have long since lost his humanity."

Cai Tingyue smiled. "Brother Liu, you do not know this. It is true that this villain kills as easily as hemp, but rumor has it that he has always been plagued by karmic debts and often suffers nightmares. For that reason, he even went to Patriarch Lü Temple to draw lots and donated money to Sakyamuni Temple. Sometimes, instead of abducting women, he sends robbed couples or young maidens back to their homes!"

"As for whether they are grateful or terrified, that is another matter!" Cao Wuji burst out laughing. "Of course, the women he saves are said to all be ugly. The beautiful ones..."

Liu Yunshen secretly shook his head. This fiend—if he had known this day would come, why had he acted that way in the first place?

"Not only that, even within the Three Stars Sect, the other six palace masters dislike him and often sabotage him!" Cai Tingyue paused, then smiled. "Especially Tian Jingzhong, the master of Tattooed Households Palace!"

"Something is wrong!"

As everyone chatted and laughed, Lei Zhouyue suddenly cried out, "Everyone, look! Is that Xiao Jinyu?"

He wore a blood-red long robe, its lapels and sleeves covered in gold thread. Even in the night, it was exceptionally eye-catching!

Everyone stared at the distant figure, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Sun Yunji was frantic and rushed over first!

That conspicuous figure seemed not to see Sun Yunji at all. He passed through the barrier first and darted into the gateway of the secret realm!

"Go!"

The six charged toward the gateway at top speed. Lei Zhouyue and Cai Tingyue entered first! Gong Haoyue, Cao Wuji, and Sun Yunji followed close behind! Liu Yunshen hurled himself forward, but the barrier crystal flashed and shut him outside!

"What is going on?!" Liu Yunshen was greatly astonished. He carefully examined the barrier and the crystals surrounding it. The courtyard pillars were rusted and mottled, their golden paint more than half peeled away. Their ruined appearance stirred the heart of any onlooker!

He stared at the invisible giant net flickering with lightning. Drawing his rusty iron sword, he gathered all his strength and slashed at it, only to be flung back again!

A Daoist phantom appeared in the air.

The Daoist wore a blue robe with open, upright bearing, his brows and eyes sharp as swords. Snow from Zhongnan gathered upon his sash, ice grains from the Yellow River filled his sleeves, and a Seven-Star treasure sword hung at his waist. Tortoise and serpent phantoms appeared beneath his feet. With a casual flourish, he held a gentle stream in his hand; when he condensed truth, his sword scattered the clouds of heaven. His robe rolled with the sound of ten li of pine waves. He smiled at the mountain sun and the frolicking cowherd boy; white cranes circled before Purple Sky Palace, green oxen welcomed him atop Doushuai Hall. Heaven and earth have no root, yet I bear them myself; Heaven's mouth has no heart, but the Dao has a heart!

"Esteemed Daoist, may I ask..." Liu Yunshen bowed in salute!

The Daoist phantom smiled. "Those below the fourth Qi Refining realm may not enter! Return to your sect quickly, or great calamity will descend!"

"Zhang the Sloppy, who allowed you to reveal heavenly secrets!"

Purple lightning crackled across the sky!

Liu Yunshen's expression changed drastically. "The might of Heaven has reached such a degree!"

The Daoist showed no fear whatsoever. He sneered at the sky. "The heartless and unjust are not of my kind! This poor Daoist will say whatever he wishes! If Your Majesty has the ability, cripple this poor Daoist's cultivation and cast me back into the mortal world!"

"Alas!"

A long sigh sounded from the heavens, and the purple lightning dispersed!

"Go quickly!" The Daoist phantom scattered into nothingness!

Liu Yunshen recalled the patches on the Daoist's robe and his disheveled beard and hair. Then he thought of the tortoise and serpent phantoms, and joy surged through him. Could he be True Person Zhang, who ascended to the upper realm during the Great Ning Dynasty several centuries ago?!

At that moment, a tyrannical blade force crashed down from above with savage power!

Dust and smoke shot a hundred zhang into the mountain air!

Blood Firmament!!

"Third Brother's strike is enough to take that boy's life!"

Several dozen figures stood atop great trees a hundred li away. The three leaders were experts above the fourth stage of the third Qi Refining realm, while the more than twenty behind them were all peak second-realm experts!

"What a pity!"

"Big Brother! You are still speaking up for him!"

"I am not speaking up for him. I am speaking for the countless innocent souls we have slain over the years! Because of the prophecy tied to the Han Emperor, we do not even know how many youths barely past twenty we have killed this month alone!"

The leader of the three great experts was named Mi Luohou. He carried saber and sword on his back, his aura restrained. His original name could no longer be traced.

The second was lean and wiry, named Ming Jiuxiao, with a five-chi-long sword at his waist;

The third was named Tu Chunqiu. In his hand, he gripped a gold-backed mountain-cleaving saber forged from meteoric iron! The blade technique Blood Firmament just now had been unleashed by him!

Tu Chunqiu turned to look behind him, where the twenty-odd men were all terrified.

"You all know what should be said and what should not. I need not remind you!" Tu Chunqiu snorted coldly.

"My eldest brother is kind-hearted. You wolf cubs all know how he has treated you in ordinary days!" A fierce glint flashed in Ming Jiuxiao's eyes! The people behind him cupped their fists. "We would not dare!"

"I will go collect the corpse! Wait here!" Mi Luohou leaped down from the tree!

The group waited several li away for some time, yet there was still no movement! Tu Chunqiu and Ming Jiuxiao suddenly shouted sharply, "Careful!!"

The Seven Stars abruptly rose, and three hundred zhang of Sword Qi swept across the sky! More than twenty experts died in a single strike!

"The boy is not dead?"

"It is not too late to send him on his way now!"

Tu Chunqiu and Ming Jiuxiao drew saber and sword! Sword Qi and blade radiance shot across the sky!

Liu Yunshen held his rusty iron sword and sent the two flying back with one strike. They glared at him in shock and fury. "This is completely different from what the intelligence said!"

"This boy is at least at the peak of the second realm! Perhaps even above the third realm!"

"That iron sword of his appears ordinary, yet it is not inferior to a divine weapon or immortal artifact at all!"

As Tu Chunqiu and Ming Jiuxiao communicated by voice transmission, they lowered their heads to stare at the chipped saber and sword in their hands. Their sword-like brows rose in fury!

Liu Yunshen looked at his own hands, equally astonished. When I fought Chang Yi fiercely a few days ago, I could at most release Sword Qi a hundred and fifty zhang long! The Yellow Sprout has risen one more stage, yet its power has doubled? Could my sword intent have improved as well... Liu Yunshen reached into his robes. The Meteoric Iron Sword Seal shone brilliantly, far brighter than it had days ago!

"This boy has so many treasures!" Tu Chunqiu and Ming Jiuxiao pointed at Liu Yunshen in shock and rage. "Relying on a divine weapon—what kind of hero does that make you!"

"And relying on cultivation makes you what kind of hero?" Liu Yunshen said coldly.

"You!" Tu Chunqiu flew into a rage. Ming Jiuxiao looked behind him. Mi Luohou was also standing atop a great tree twenty zhang behind Liu Yunshen!

"The three of you, come together!" Liu Yunshen focused his will.

"Boy! You said it, so do not blame us brothers for disregarding the codes of the martial world!" Ming Jiuxiao shouted, "Starfall!"

"Nine Netherbreak!" Tu Chunqiu shouted!

The Sword Qi was not hundreds of zhang of sharp force, but condensed into dots of starlight that rained chaotically from the sky. The blade force did not crush down like a mountain, but transformed into netherfire rising beneath his feet!

"You two are quite open and aboveboard!" Liu Yunshen sneered. With a flourish of his long sword, he took only several steps and nimbly evaded the net-like netherfire beneath his feet!

Tu Chunqiu roared in rage, "Let us see how you evade Second Brother's Sword Qi!"

The falling stars above could not be avoided, clinging like maggots to bone! Liu Yunshen deflected several strikes, yet his left shoulder was still pierced by a sword!

"Fall!" Ming Jiuxiao barked. The trajectory of Starfall shifted, revealing the true form of its savage Sword Qi!

The Dipper Points North, All Under Heaven Freezes! Liu Yunshen roared. Peerless cold pierced to the heart, freezing a thousand chi! The falling stars filling the sky disintegrated into ice!

"Moon Eclipse, combine with Sun Burial!" Ming Jiuxiao was enraged. His sword technique, with which he had roamed the world unhindered, had been broken. At once, he forcibly fused his two ultimate killing moves into one. Sword radiance shifted through nine phases of the moon, light and darkness alternating, confounding the eyes and heart! Then the image of the sun emerged, and blazing heat capable of scorching all things rose!

Impermanence's Laugh! A blade was not a blade, constancy was not constancy. The hard edge that cleaved upward in fury seemed to force open the gates of the netherworld. Countless currents of icy air and ghostly cries from the underworld appeared, while the fatal strike hid behind the chaos of the five metals!

Today, I have reached the brink between life and death! With wolves before him and tigers guarding behind, Liu Yunshen swept his fierce Sword Qi through the air, yet the pair's blade and Sword Qi struck his left waist and right ribs, sinking three fen into his flesh!!

Tu Chunqiu and Ming Jiuxiao heard the crack of bone and were overjoyed. Blood seeped from the corner of Liu Yunshen's mouth as he fled to the crown of a tree a thousand chi away. One hand pressed his waist as he rapidly absorbed and expelled stellar qi!

Benevolent Heart Ripples burst forth with water-mystery qi, accelerating his healing!

These two are too strong! In dantian arts and sword power, either one alone is only slightly inferior to Chang Yi! Yet the power and transformations of their saber and sword arts far surpass that Chang Yi, who knew only how to crush others through sheer force!

"Arrogant brat! Take another sword!"

The images of sun and moon reappeared! The gates of the netherworld opened again. Blade and sword qi enveloped a thousand chi and gradually contracted to surround him. Liu Yunshen's eyes widened. He had already fallen into a deathtrap!

Within the world of his dantian, the second blazing sun seemed to be stirred by the Sun Burial Sword Qi outside. It burst from the seabed and soared straight into the nine heavens!