Taiyi rose to his feet.
He had no intention of continuing his arduous cultivation and was ready to leave.
Since ancient times, great vessels such as bells, pagodas, and cauldrons had been far more difficult to forge than ordinary weapons such as sabers, spears, swords, halberds, staffs, and fans.
Still, he was not discouraged. He had enough patience and perseverance to hammer and forge it slowly with his divine sense.
"Heh heh, as expected of a Sun Body, a rarity throughout the ages..."
Just as Taiyi stepped out of his cave abode and was about to leave.
An aged voice suddenly echoed in his ears. "To break into the Life Spring Realm in less than two or three short months-what extraordinary talent. Truly astonishing!"
The sudden voice.
Made Taiyi's hair stand on end, startling him into a cold sweat.
His scalp prickled, and cold sweat streamed down.
"May I ask which senior you are? Please show yourself!"
He took a deep breath.
And suppressed the panic in his heart.
He cupped his hands and bowed, surveying his surroundings.
Yet he found no one, leaving him bewildered and uneasy.
The other person seemed to have been observing him for a long time. Otherwise, there was no way he could have known that Taiyi had broken into the Life Spring Realm within a few months.
He had even recognized his constitution as the Sun Body, a rarity throughout the ages.
Though in truth, Taiyi possessed the even more astonishing Sun Sacred Body.
Chapter 7: A Supreme Elder of the Yaoguang Holy Land?
Whoosh-
Suddenly.
A large hand reached out from the void.
Taiyi had no time to resist. His vision merely blurred.
And he was already seized and brought into a mysterious cave. Before him sat an old man whose face was covered in wrinkles, his hair snowy white, his teeth nearly all gone. An air of decay clung to him, and he was steeped in the gloom of his twilight years.
Though he had restrained his incomparable might, his aura, deep as an abyss and vast as the sea, still left Taiyi profoundly shaken and somewhat terrified.
"May I ask why you have brought me here, Senior?"
Studying the wrinkled old man before him.
Taiyi was uneasy and intensely nervous.
But he knew very well that he could never resist. The gulf between them was simply too great.
This decrepit old man clearly had little life left and was nearing his final passing. Quite possibly, he was a mighty cultivator whose power reached the heavens.
"The legendary Sun Body, with scripture manifesting spontaneously within the primordial spirit. It bears quite a resemblance to certain demonic beasts with powerful bloodlines, which can obtain secret arts passed down by their ancestors through their own blood..."
The stooped, doddering old man sat cross-legged there.
His cloudy eyes gleamed as he smiled at Taiyi before him. "If my guess is correct, you must be a descendant left behind by the Sun Saint Emperor, one of humanity's two most ancient Human Emperors!"
"Only a supreme expert whose achievements rivaled creation itself, whose cultivation reached through heaven and earth, could accomplish such a thing... Even after countless years, his descendants whose bloodlines reverted to their ancestral roots and inherited the Sun Physique could obtain the complete Sun True Scripture through this method and cultivate it!"
"..."
At those words-
Taiyi shuddered violently, breaking into a cold sweat.
The other man had indeed seen through all his secrets.
Clearly, this mysterious old man had been secretly observing him for a long time.
He had even discerned the secret of how Taiyi had inherited the Sun True Scripture.
"You needn't be nervous..."
Looking at the cold sweat beading on Taiyi's forehead, Danyangzi smiled faintly.
But his decrepit appearance and toothless mouth made that smile rather unsettling. "Had I encountered you with the Sun True Scripture while I was still young, I might truly have been tempted and resorted to any means necessary."
"But as you can see, I have little life remaining. Even if I obtained the Sun True Scripture, it would be of no use. It could not prolong my life... I had only intended to be buried here in peace. I never expected to encounter you, young friend!"
"Perhaps Heaven has shown me favor, knowing the unwillingness in my heart, and wishes to let this old man depart without regrets!"
Hearing this.
Taiyi still did not dare relax for even a moment.
But he steeled himself, bowed, and asked, "Is there anything I can do for you, Senior?"
"Though you possess the Sun Body and have inherited the Sun True Scripture, you are ultimately only an unaffiliated cultivator. Without resources or anyone to guide you, rising swiftly will be no easy task..."
Danyangzi did not answer directly, instead speaking calmly. "Moreover, from what I have observed these past days, the resources you require to break through likely fall little short of those needed by the legendary Desolate Ancient Sacred Body. Only powers with foundations as deep as the great holy lands and Desolate Ancient Families could afford to support you!"
"Not to mention that you possess the Sun True Scripture. In the future, you will inevitably face the covetous eyes of the major powers. They may even refuse to let a Sun Body like you rise and overshadow the successors they have so painstakingly nurtured, and seek to wipe you out!"
"You speak the truth, Senior. Since ancient times, the human heart has been unfathomable..."
Taiyi nodded helplessly.
Naturally, he knew that for an unaffiliated cultivator to rise was a journey of a thousand hardships and ten thousand obstacles.
Resources were one issue. It was not merely that the Great Dao was difficult to cultivate; calamities wrought by others were the hardest trial to survive.
He vaguely guessed what the other man meant and could not help bowing as he asked, "May I ask who you are, Senior?"
"I am Danyangzi, a Supreme Elder of the Yaoguang Holy Land. Are you willing to take me as your master?" Danyangzi stopped keeping him in suspense and asked directly in a solemn voice.
"The Yaoguang Holy Land?"
Taiyi's pupils contracted sharply.
A chill rushed to his head, leaving his entire body cold.
He stared blankly at the old man before him, disbelief written across his face.
He's a Supreme Elder of the Yaoguang Holy Land?
He's on the verge of his final passing, yet he isn't staying in the Yaoguang Holy Land.
Why would he come all the way here to wait for death alone?
He doesn't look like someone unwilling to accept his fate, hoping to seek an opportunity to prolong his life in the seven great Life Forbidden Zones, either.
"It seems you are not entirely ignorant of the cultivation world..." Keenly noticing Taiyi's unusual reaction, Danyangzi asked in some surprise, "But why are you so nervous? Do you have some grievance with the Yaoguang Holy Land?"
He had faintly sensed it.
Upon hearing that he was a Supreme Elder of the Yaoguang Holy Land.
The young man had become intensely nervous, even frightened and uneasy.
"To be honest with you, Senior, I actually ended up being inexplicably transported here by sheer accident..."
Faced with Danyangzi's question.
Taiyi broke into a cold sweat and gave a half-truth. "But my companions seem to have all been taken away by the six grotto-heavens under the Yaoguang Holy Land and accepted as disciples!"
"It was only because I mistakenly ate some strange fruits that my Sun Body awakened. Some scripture suddenly appeared in my mind, too, and I began cultivating according to it!"
"But because my whole body was glowing, I felt that attracting too much attention couldn't be a good thing, so I instinctively hid and avoided them!"
"I see..."
Danyangzi nodded slightly.
A living fossil like him had lived so long that even his eyelashes were hollow with cunning. What had he not seen?
Naturally, he knew Taiyi was probably still concealing something, but he did not care.
In that case, the young man's connection with the Yaoguang Holy Land ran even deeper.
Countless lesser sects of all sizes were affiliated with the Yaoguang Holy Land. Every year, those subordinate sects recommended their most gifted disciples to it.
Those who passed the assessment received permission to join the Yaoguang Holy Land and become its disciples.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this extraordinarily gifted Sun Body would surely have distinguished himself among those grotto-heavens and joined the Yaoguang Holy Land anyway.
"Leaving all that aside, are you willing to join the Yaoguang Holy Land?"
Danyangzi went straight to the point. "In years past, I too was a Holy Son of the Yaoguang Holy Land. In my youth, brimming with ambition, I competed for the position of Holy Lord against the previous Yaoguang Holy Lord, who was also a Holy Son at the time-the master of the current Yaoguang Holy Lord, Li Daoqing. In the end, I lost by a single move, narrowly missing the position of Holy Lord, and became a Supreme Elder of the Yaoguang Holy Land..."
"Several hundred years ago, for certain reasons, I left the Yaoguang Holy Land and retired here in seclusion!"
"I never imagined that before my final passing, I would encounter a peerless prodigy as astonishingly gifted as you!"
Had he not met Taiyi.
He might have reached his final passing in another six months or a year.
And so, upon encountering such an unrivaled prodigy, blessed with extraordinary talent and the Sun Body.
Danyangzi, who could not help cherishing such talent, had conceived the desire to take him as a disciple.
Chapter 8: Taking a Master! The Yaoguang Ancient Scripture
"Well..."
Taiyi's expression shifted, and he hesitated.
He already possessed a complete emperor scripture. All he lacked were resources.
But the Yaoguang Holy Land was truly a demons' den. Agreeing to join would be delivering himself to its doorstep to die.
Yet under the present circumstances, refusing was clearly difficult.
"If you join the Yaoguang Holy Land, I am willing to pour all my efforts and resources into nurturing you before my lifespan comes to an end..."
Danyangzi smiled.
Before you continue