Fulfillment

"Just these two sheets of paper?"

Yan Yongjie looked at the two pages in his hands and asked.

The pages had yellowed with age.

"They certainly look like they've been around for quite a few years."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over the pages. At first, he seemed rather casual, but his expression swiftly changed, his eyes turning grave. Then, to Qiu Yan's surprise, he set the papers down and looked up at him.

"Th-this... really was passed down through your family?" he asked uncertainly.

Qiu Yan nodded. "That's right. It's just that no one in my family could make sense of it. We only knew it contained methods for tempering the body and strengthening one's health."

"This is no ordinary body-tempering method," Yan Yongjie said, shaking his head as he handed the pages back to Qiu Yan. "Or rather, it is indeed a body-tempering method, but compared to it, the methods found in the martial world are mere fireflies beside the moon! The difference is heaven and earth!"

"Brother Yan, what do you mean?"

"This thing is far too precious. Once word gets out, it will immediately stir up a bloody storm in the martial world. You must never reveal it," Yan Yongjie said, giving Qiu Yan a deep look. "Brother Qiu, you possess martial skills as well. You should be able to understand it, shouldn't you?"

Qiu Yan did not take the papers. He merely said, "The reason I possess these skills is not because I trained bitterly, but because of a fortunate chance."

"I see. It seems Brother Qiu is a man of great fortune," Yan Yongjie said, pointing at the pages in his hand. "What is recorded on these pages is no trivial matter. Even several of the foremost experts in the martial world would be tempted upon seeing them. To be honest, after merely reading a few lines, I was already deeply stirred. If I were to keep reading..." He shook his head.

"Are they truly that precious? Can they help you too, Brother Yan?" Qiu Yan knowingly asked. The contents on those pages had been written by him, incorporating certain training methods from the Life Cultivation portion of The Way of Nature and Life. They already touched upon the path of Life Cultivation. In the hands of someone like Yan Yongjie, who stood at the peak of Foundation Establishment, they were enough to let him break past his limits and step into a higher realm. How could any secret manual of the mortal martial world compare?

"The value of these two pages, to Yan..." Yan Yongjie hesitated, then took out the booklet from yesterday from his robes. "It is no less than this travelogue."

"This travelogue records an immortal's fated opportunity. How could my family's two pages possibly be mentioned in the same breath as it?" Qiu Yan was genuinely surprised this time. He had not examined that travelogue closely yesterday, but the picture on its final page alone had given him quite a shock.

The training method I wrote down is not precious within The Way of Nature and Life. Even in the cultivation world, it likely would not rank at all. Several incomplete methods from Zhan Yuan's memories surpass it by far. It is clearly only a foundational method, so how could it compare to this travelogue? The illustration on the final page of the travelogue alone is exquisitely profound, and the mysteries it contains vastly surpass this training method.

In terms of value, the two pages he had written were far inferior to the travelogue. Although Yan Yongjie did not understand Life Cultivation methods, his martial arts were formidable, and he could still tell as much. Qiu Yan had no intention of taking advantage of him.

Yet Yan Yongjie shook his head and explained, "Though this travelogue concerns an immortal's fated opportunity, it is lofty and elusive. Yan has spent his life seeking immortal opportunity in order to break through the limits of martial arts and ascend to a higher level. Thus, year after year, I have searched and investigated, sparing no effort as I traveled across more than half of Great Rui. But now..." He raised his hand and shook the two pages. "That goal is in my hands."

Hearing this, Qiu Yan's heart stirred, and he recalled several lines from The Way of Nature and Life.

"The Great Dao is elusive and cannot be achieved overnight. One must take nature and life as the foundation, cultivate nature and life first, strengthen the roots and nourish the source, only then may one seek the Dao."

"What was that, little brother?" Yan Yongjie asked in confusion.

"Nothing," Qiu Yan said, changing the subject and returning to their earlier discussion. "In that case, Brother Yan may as well study it. If it allows you to break through the shackles of martial arts, would that not be a joyous thing?"

"You know the value of these two pages, yet you are still willing to let Yan study them?" Yan Yongjie's expression turned serious.

"Of course. I invited Brother Yan here in the first place because I hoped that, after reading them, you could tell me their true meaning." As Qiu Yan spoke, he turned and walked out of the study. "Brother Yan, please study them here. I'll go to the tavern at the street corner and fetch some wine and dishes." Without waiting for Yan Yongjie's reply, he had already left.

Watching Qiu Yan's retreating back, Yan Yongjie opened his mouth as if to speak, but in the end, it became a sigh. He glanced at the two pages in his hand and gave a bitter smile. "This debt of gratitude is too great. I spent half my life seeking immortality, never expecting this immortal opportunity to fall upon a seemingly ordinary scholar. So be it. He has treated me with sincerity; I naturally must repay him..."

With that, Yan Yongjie's gaze returned to the pages. A trace of fervor appeared in his eyes, and before long, he had become wholly absorbed in reading.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

When Qiu Yan returned carrying wine and food, he saw from afar that the craftsmen he had hired were standing outside the courtyard with panicked faces. Several neighbors had gathered around them, while the courtyard gate, only half installed, trembled again and again.

"Scholar Qiu, you're finally back! We don't know what happened to your courtyard, but it suddenly started shaking! Isn't that strange?"

The craftsmen rushed over the moment they saw Qiu Yan.

"No need to panic. Just wait a moment." Qiu Yan was not surprised in the least and remained calm and composed. He first reassured the two craftsmen, then dispersed the curious neighbors before stepping into the courtyard.

Strangely enough, the moment he entered, the shaking of the courtyard and the ground abruptly ceased.

Afterward, urged on by Qiu Yan, the craftsmen hastily finished their work and eagerly took their leave. Qiu Yan paid them no mind. He made a circuit of the courtyard, then finally came to the study door and pushed it open.

The door flew open at his touch!

Whoosh!

A fierce gust burst out through the doorway, whipping Qiu Yan's clothes about. Then a tall figure stepped out from within, heat churning around his body. His clothes had been stretched taut and swollen, and from a distance, he looked like an enormous balloon.

Crash! Crash! Crash!

A sound like raging waves battering the shore came from within the "balloon," an unceasing roar of rushing water filling the air.

"What is this?" Though he had been prepared, Qiu Yan's pupils still contracted at the sight.

"Marrow cleansing and blood renewal! Rebirth through transformation!" A voice came from within the "balloon," each word striking like a tremor and making the entire study quiver.

The figure flashed, and the man had already stepped out of the study into the courtyard. Then explosions rang from within his body outward, sounding like silk ripping apart as shredded cloth scattered through the air.

A strange pattern emerged over the man's chest, crimson as blood and faintly twisting. It gradually formed an image. Behind him, a phantom shadow rose up, expanding and contracting before swiftly shrinking back and vanishing.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Immediately afterward, every joint in the man's body shook. His blood roared like waves, and surging heat poured forth, reaching a full zhang around him.

Feeling the heat wave strike his face, Qiu Yan narrowed his eyes.

"That phantom shadow is... a Soul Shadow! Yan Yongjie has refined one soul!"