Upper Yang True Breath

Upper Yang True Breath

Over the past few days, Zhang Yu had persisted in practicing with the bamboo sword. Even without using the Xia Sword, he could make slight use of the Heart Lake Seal's perception. With this magical artifact now at his side, his senses had become extraordinarily keen.

After noticing the anomaly, he did not rashly enter. He considered it for a moment before telling the two attendants, "You may return to town and wait for me."

The two attendants clearly knew how to read the situation. Upon hearing his order, they did not waste a moment. They clasped their fists, turned their horses around, and headed back toward Xiaoshan Town.

Zhang Yu took a bone whistle strung with a thin cord from his pocket and wrapped it around his left wrist.

This was an item he used to communicate with Cai Weng and the others. It was made from the leg bone of a crane-like Strange Monster. Once blown, its sound could carry across an immense distance, allowing them to hear one another.

He swung down from the saddle and drove the horse some distance away. Then he raised both hands and slowly put on his hooded hat. Holding the Xia Sword, he walked into the ruins.

Just now, he had sensed an abnormally cold and violent aura within the ruins, one brimming with savagery. After crossing hands with Su Kuang, he had learned that the emotions reflected in the Heart Lake Seal could directly reveal certain traits of an opponent.

Thus, he judged that the other party might be a powerful beast, or perhaps simply a spiritual creature.

What was strange was that the aura had erupted for only a brief instant before disappearing. Yet he had already remembered its direction, so he strode forward without the slightest hesitation and headed straight there.

He moved extremely quickly and soon reached the place where that aura had appeared.

Before him stood a half-collapsed structure. It was clear that it had once been grand in scale. Though countless years had passed, many marble pillars still stubbornly stood where they were, while the exquisite murals on the walls remained faintly discernible.

Yet apart from that, there was nothing else within his field of vision.

Had it already left this place?

He stepped over the broken stone stairs and walked inside. Just as he passed a high wall, he suddenly sensed something. His feet halted, and he whirled around to look back. A huge, thick python was coiled there, its head resting atop a wall beam, its two vertical pupils fixed on him.

He merely watched quietly, without making any drastic reaction, because the great python was already dead. There was not the slightest trace of life in it. Only strands of seven-colored glow slowly drifted away from its body, enough to show that it had been a spiritual creature.

He could tell that the giant python had not been dead long, and that it had been killed in an instant. More than that, all its bodily functions had been destroyed at the same moment. That was why it still retained its appearance from before death, with no sign that it had struggled or writhed.

But...

Where was the person who had killed this Strange Monster?

Just as that thought crossed his mind, a sense of danger suddenly rose within the Heart Lake Seal. It was coming from the far side of the wall opposite him.

He immediately retreated. A crescent arc of light flashed past, slicing through the hard stone wall as though it were tofu. Then the entire towering wall toppled toward where he stood.

He swiftly withdrew and waved a hand, scattering the fragments of stone that fell from above.

Boom!

The stone wall crashed to the ground. Now, it could be seen that the severed surface was sleek and perfectly smooth.

Sharp whistling sounds rang out. Several strange objects suddenly shot toward him from within the dust.

Zhang Yu's gaze sharpened, and he instantly activated the Keen Thought Seal within his mind. In a heartbeat, everything in the outside world seemed to slow down.

He could see that they were merely tiny stones, but the force they carried was immensely powerful.

He did not draw his sword. Instead, he raised its sheath and calmly swung his arm several times before him, knocking the stones away one by one.

Boom!

This sound came from his right. A large broken section of stone pillar smashed through a cracked stone wall and flew toward him without losing momentum.

He still did not dodge. With a trigger of the Vitality Seal, the strength throughout his body surged several degrees higher. He reached out, lightly pressed against the massive incoming pillar, then guided and turned it aside.

He knew this was not the end. He lowered his body slightly and kept his center of gravity steady, while his other hand gripped the sword hilt and his eyes remained fixed ahead.

Suddenly, a point of light flashed through the swirling dust and raced straight toward him!

He drew in a breath, then unsheathed his sword. A streak of sword light struck the incoming silver gleam with flawless precision. A crisp clang rang out, and the flying object was blasted high into the sky by the force of the collision.

As the light from above streamed down, it clearly revealed its true form.

It was a longsword!

He looked up. Beyond the collapsed giant wall stood a relatively intact stone pillar, and atop it stood a handsome Daoist with a tall, straight figure and long brows slanting into his temples.

Watching the sword that had been knocked away fall back toward him, the man glanced at it, calmly reached out to catch it, then tossed it back with easy grace. With a clang, it returned to the scabbard on his back.

He smiled faintly at Zhang Yu. "Junior Brother Zhang, not bad at all. We have not seen each other for years. It seems you learned quite a few things from those Mystic Cultivators."

Zhang Yu straightened and returned his sword to its sheath. He did not seem particularly surprised by the man's appearance. "Senior Brother Tao, so it was indeed you. Weren't you following Master? Why have you come here?"

This man had been his senior brother when he studied under his Old Cultivator teacher. His name was Tao Dingfu, and the two had once gotten along fairly well.

In truth, Zhang Yu had already suspected as much. There had been no killing intent in the other man's sword momentum, only pure probing. He had tested Zhang Yu's reactions, speed, strength, and eyesight in turn. Zhang Yu was very familiar with that style.

Tao Dingfu leaped down from above, his robes fluttering. When he landed, his toes touched down lightly without making the faintest sound. His whole body seemed as weightless as a swan feather.

He walked over and said, "Master has already left this place."

Zhang Yu was surprised. "Left this place?"

Tao Dingfu said, "Do not ask me. I do not know where Master went either. What a pity—Master did not pass the method for the next stage of cultivation on to me. He merely told me to seek it out myself."

Zhang Yu did not find that very surprising. Cultivation in the Old Method was like this: everything depended on comprehending and seeking it out yourself. No one would explain the reasons to you. If you found it, you found it. If not, your fated opportunity was insufficient.

At that moment, Tao Dingfu swept a sleeve. A scorching aura spread out, and the bricks and stones between them suddenly burst into blazing flames. The fire rose more than a man's height, yet remained confined within a radius of three feet.

At the sight, a strange light flickered in Zhang Yu's eyes. "The True Flame Furnace?" He looked up. "Senior Brother Tao, have you mastered the Upper Yang True Breath Master passed down to you?"

Tao Dingfu watched the flames. "I have mastered it, but without the cultivation method for the next stage, I can proceed no further. After thinking it over and over, I could only come ask you for help."

Zhang Yu said, "How does Senior Brother want me to help?"

Tao Dingfu said, "Junior Brother, you should know about the battle sixty years ago, yes? Mystic Cultivators suffered grievous casualties in that battle, but perhaps you do not know that several of our True Cultivator seniors also died there. One of them, a senior known as Suyang, was skilled in this Upper Yang True Breath of mine. His remains should have fallen somewhere within the Boundless Jungle."

Zhang Yu immediately understood. "So Senior Brother wants my help finding Senior Suyang's remains?"

Tao Dingfu said, "We True Cultivators place importance on karmic affinities. The cultivation method I practice happens to be the same as that senior's, so I wish to search for him and see whether I can find an opportunity there."

He looked at Zhang Yu. "Junior Brother, I know you study Ancient Natural History and understand many languages and scripts of the native barbarians. This time, Senior Brother asks you for a favor. Whether or not we find an opportunity in the end, I can promise to do three things for you."

Zhang Yu was just about to speak when the distant sound of hoofbeats suddenly reached his ears.

Tao Dingfu said, "Someone is coming. Take this. Find me if you run into trouble." With a sweep of his sleeve, he tossed something toward Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu caught it in one hand and discovered that it was another bone whistle. When he looked again, Tao Dingfu was already nowhere to be seen.

He remained where he was, deep in thought.

He knew this Senior Brother Tao very well. The man had followed their teacher for over twenty years and had also picked up their teacher's habit of saying only half of what he meant, leaving the other half for others to comprehend themselves.

His promise to help Zhang Yu with three things was not without reason. He was likely hinting that this journey—or perhaps even Zhang Yu's surroundings—held some sort of danger.

If that was so, then he would have to be doubly cautious along the road ahead.

With that thought, he put away the bone whistle and walked out with his sword in hand.