The Nine Secrets

Clumsy Peak of the Taixuan Sect was home to one of the sect's principal immortal lineages, yet the mountain itself was utterly ordinary, with neither immortal mist drifting through the air nor spirit birds and exotic beasts.

Lu Chen had brought Zhang Wenchang to study under Li Ruoyu of Clumsy Peak several years ahead of time, sparing his honest, inarticulate fellow Earthling several years of humiliation.

With that, Lu Chen had repaid the "debt" of those three divine fruits in the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land. Though it had happened only along another timeline and did not exist in this life, settling it still left his heart much freer and more at peace.

On the Immortal Path, one had to cultivate not only boundless power, but also the heart.

If Lu Chen believed he owed a debt, he would settle it. If he believed he owed nothing, he would disregard what had happened. Everything followed his own heart.

Of course, his desire to make it up to the two of them might also have stemmed from their being modern people from Earth, as well as how pitiful Liu Yiyi and Zhang Wenchang had been in the early days.

The halls atop Clumsy Peak were as dilapidated as ever. Having one more disciple had changed nothing.

Although Lu Chen had declined to join Clumsy Peak, he did not leave immediately. Instead, he asked Li Ruoyu for guidance on several matters of cultivation.

The old man, a late bloomer who followed the natural Dao, did not refuse his questions. He cleared up various difficulties and explained key points in cultivation.

Of course, he did not teach Lu Chen any specific secret techniques or profound arts of Clumsy Peak, only insights gained along the path of cultivation. Even so, Lu Chen, who had only recently entered the Dao Palace Realm, benefited greatly.

Time passed, and a month went by. Lu Chen still had not left Clumsy Peak, naturally because he wanted the legendary Nine Secrets: Jie.

Outsiders could hardly verify when the Taixuan Sect had obtained Nine Secrets: Jie, but the holy lands and Desolate Ancient Families of the Eastern Wasteland all knew that this supreme secret technique, worthy of being called an immortal art, lay within Clumsy Peak.

Five hundred years ago, the master of Clumsy Peak had fought a bloody battle with a supreme elder of the Yaoguang Holy Land, and both had perished. It had happened so abruptly that the lineage of the natural Dao had been severed, and Nine Secrets: Jie had likewise been lost.

Over those five hundred years, Clumsy Peak had fallen into near abandonment, with only Li Ruoyu remaining to watch over the barren mountain.

Within the Taixuan Sect, even the most ordinary disciple could climb this once-glorious immortal mountain, and the old man had never objected.

Those coveting the legendary Nine Secrets: Jie were probably beyond counting. They included ordinary disciples of the Taixuan Sect, supreme elders, the sect master, and other powerful figures at the top, as well as people from the holy lands and Desolate Ancient Families.

With almost no one guarding Clumsy Peak, those who coveted Nine Secrets: Jie had long since turned the once-immortal mountain upside down.

Perhaps even Li Ruoyu himself had searched every inch of Clumsy Peak. Unfortunately, no one had obtained that legendary technique, one of Taoism's supreme Nine Secrets.

Given these circumstances, although Li Ruoyu noticed Lu Chen searching Clumsy Peak for the Nine Secrets, he had no intention of stopping him. Too many people had done the same before, but until Clumsy Peak's inheritance reappeared, no one could obtain the supreme secret technique.

One day, Li Ruoyu shook his head and said to Lu Chen, "You're searching for that legendary ancient art, aren't you? But until Clumsy Peak's inheritance manifests, there's no chance of finding it."

"To be honest, senior, I do wish to see that legendary supreme immortal art. Please forgive my presumption." Lu Chen smiled somewhat sheepishly.

"It's no matter." Li Ruoyu turned his seemingly clouded eyes toward the summit of Clumsy Peak and said, "Over these past several hundred years, countless people from within and outside the sect have come to investigate. I've always let them be. If you truly can find that secret technique, it will prove that you share a fated connection with it."

The old man who followed the natural Dao did not mind-or rather, he did not believe anyone could obtain that supreme secret technique before the inheritance manifested.

Then could Lu Chen find Nine Secrets: Jie?

He did not know either! Although the spiritually aware Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda could capture Dao Marks between heaven and earth and copy the spiritual imprints left at the sites of past sages.

The Taixuan Sect's method of passing down this inheritance, however, fused its scripture and secret technique with the entire immortal mountain, turning the mountain into a scripture. There should have been some condition that had to be met before the inheritance could open and reveal its profound arts and secret techniques.

The whole of Clumsy Peak was essentially a treasure vault, but one fitted with a secret lock. Without the key, opening it was nearly impossible.

Even Ye Fan, who possessed the Bodhi Seed, a Supreme Enlightenment Treasure, had only used it to comprehend Nine Secrets: Jie after Clumsy Peak's inheritance opened on its own.

Since Li Ruoyu did not stop Lu Chen from exploring Clumsy Peak, Lu Chen grew a little bolder. Of course, he could not expose an Immortal Treasure like the Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda. Human hearts, after all, were not something to put to the test.

In a secluded cave on Clumsy Peak, Lu Chen sat cross-legged and sank his entire awareness into his bitter sea, merging with the Spirit-Communicating Divine Pagoda within his Life Spring. He sent out wave after wave of purple ripples, which disappeared into the body of Clumsy Peak.

The entire immortal mountain was a scripture. In theory, one could comprehend its text from anywhere on Clumsy Peak.

Half a month later, Lu Chen awoke from his state of ethereal clarity, his face filled with irrepressible joy. To his surprise, he had truly used the Spirit-Communicating Divine Pagoda to forcibly capture the Dao Marks imprint of Nine Secrets: Jie and obtain Emperor Zun's unsurpassed secret technique.

The Nine Secrets: Jie Formula was not a foundational profound art of cultivation. It was a Divine Ability secret technique that could be integrated into one's core cultivation method to unleash unfathomable, supreme power.

Of course, unleashing the might of such an unsurpassed secret technique required the support of a powerful foundational cultivation method. Otherwise, it would be difficult to employ this supreme art. The same held true for those other world-shaking secret techniques.

Nine Secrets: Jie was peerless. When employed, it could only activate occasionally, but it could multiply one's battle prowess severalfold, or even tenfold. It was a supreme secret technique that even the enduring, undying holy lands and Desolate Ancient Families coveted.

One could imagine how utterly terrifying it would be to trigger Nine Secrets: Jie and gain a tenfold increase across the board—in divine abilities, artifact control, speed, physical strength, and more. No matter what Magic Treasures or divine abilities an opponent wielded, sheer power would crush them. This was Emperor Zun's art.

At that moment, Lu Chen loved his Divine Tower more than ever.

Ye Fan's Bodhi Seed could heighten a person's divine nature, allowing him to comprehend all manner of arts with extraordinary insight, but it could not bypass the restrictions and secret locks others had set.

An inheritance like Clumsy Peak's had to open on its own. Likewise, the Western Emperor Scripture of Ancient Yaochi required a "scripture guide" before Ye Fan could use the Bodhi Seed to comprehend its profound arts and secret techniques.

Lu Chen's spiritually aware Immortal Treasure—the Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda—was different. It could not help someone comprehend the Dao, but it could copy the Dao Marks of heaven and earth.

Even with the restrictions placed on an inheritance like Clumsy Peak's, it could forcibly capture the Dao resonance and scripture within the mountain and manifest them inside the Divine Tower.

Several days later, Lu Chen bid farewell to Zhang Wenchang and the elderly Li Ruoyu, then left the Taixuan Sect.

Buddhism's Six-Character True Words, one of Taoism's supreme Nine Secrets, and the Fire Clan Saint Spirit's secret technique—Divine Phoenix Slash. I need to study them properly. Bite off too much, and I won't be able to chew it all.

Lu Chen understood that what mattered with secret techniques was not quantity, but mastery.