"Stir up trouble?" Liu Ruoning stared blankly at Yang Zhen. "How?"
Eldest Senior Sister was beautiful and kindhearted, and no one knew how many admirers she had throughout the Shangyuan Sect. The Sword Attendant Sect's leader had brought Duan Langcai to ask for her hand, and many disciples, Yang Zhen among them, were cultivating desperately in hopes of preventing the marriage alliance between the two sects.
Yang Zhen feared Liu Ruoning might really do something foolish, so he had pulled her rather roughly. But Liu Ruoning had a beautiful face and a wonderful figure. How could a woman of such peerless beauty marry someone else, especially a scumbag among scumbags?
At any other time, Yang Zhen's rashness would probably have angered Liu Ruoning enough to draw her sword on him. But now, her mind was in turmoil, and his sudden tug left her stunned. Hearing his words in particular, she immediately seized on him as her last straw.
Yang Zhen stared into Liu Ruoning's eyes. Sensing her disordered breathing, he grew even more determined to ruin the marriage alliance.
"To help you defeat Duan Langcai, Senior Sister, I've been racking my brains these past few days. You said it yourself: only when you become strong can you take control of your own destiny."
"That's true!" Liu Ruoning smiled bitterly. "I know how you feel, Junior Brother, but I grew up in the Shangyuan Sect. Master has treated me as her own, and I cannot disobey the sect's orders. The only way is to defeat Duan Langcai and prove that I have the potential to break through the Transcendent Realm and enter the Celestial Person Realm. But defeating Duan Langcai is easier said than done."
There were four cultivation realms on the Youzhou Continent: the Transcendent Realm, the Celestial Person Realm, the Sage Realm, and the Great Emperor Realm. The Transcendent Realm was further divided into four levels: the Essence Condensation Stage, the Foundation Establishment Realm, the Lesser Vehicle Realm, and the Golden Core Realm. Only by breaking through the Golden Core Realm and entering the Celestial Person Realm could one become a true expert on the Youzhou Continent.
Yang Zhen blinked and looked at Liu Ruoning. "If I have a way, how will you thank me?"
"You have a way?" Liu Ruoning froze and exclaimed, "What way could you possibly have?"
Yang Zhen walked behind Liu Ruoning and pressed a finger to her forehead. When her body jolted and she tried to dodge, he hurriedly said, "Hold your breath and focus. Remember the path the true essence takes. I'll only teach you once!"
With that, a ball of true essence burst from the finger Yang Zhen had pressed to Liu Ruoning's forehead and entered her body.
"Condensing essence into the body?" Liu Ruoning exclaimed. Not daring to be careless, she hurriedly memorized the path Yang Zhen's true essence took through her meridians.
After only a few breaths, Yang Zhen withdrew his finger from Liu Ruoning's forehead, drenched in sweat and pale as a sheet.
He was only at the Essence Condensation Stage First Layer, and condensing essence into another's body was still too much of a strain for him. Seeing Liu Ruoning sink into an epiphany, deep in thought, he went to the side and sat on the ground to rest.
He had passed the cultivation method for the Great Evolution Wind and Thunder Sword on to Liu Ruoning, using the method of condensing essence into the body to imprint his own masterful understanding directly into her body.
How much Liu Ruoning could grasp would depend on her own fortune.
The Great Evolution Wind and Thunder Sword was only a Heaven Grade martial skill, not a cultivation method. Although Yang Zhen had mastered a tremendously powerful martial skill, he didn't have enough true essence to use it, which was rather frustrating. A thought occurred to him, and he recalled the Shangyuan Sect's basic cultivation method, the Supreme Origin Scripture.
The Supreme Origin Scripture was a mystic-grade cultivation method. Though it couldn't be considered a high-grade cultivation method, it was still an extremely rare cultivation art in the Shangyuan Sect. The founding patriarch was said to have obtained it in a mysterious place. It had been incomplete when he first acquired it, and he later refined a portion of it into the present Supreme Origin Scripture.
Yang Zhen silently recited the Supreme Origin Scripture's cultivation method and began cultivating as he usually did.
Boom!
A roar suddenly sounded in his mind, and a terrifying blast of Qi surged wildly toward him like storm-tossed waves. The impact was so powerful that Yang Zhen nearly spat blood.
Streams of obscure, indescribable information rearranged themselves in Yang Zhen's mind like a sky full of stars. In the blink of an eye, the Supreme Origin Scripture had been altered beyond recognition.
Ancient Scripture of Shangyuan!
Four enormous characters shone brightly in Yang Zhen's mind, coiling like a long dragon. Their terrifying presence made his heart quake.
It worked!
Yang Zhen rejoiced inwardly, but his face remained impassive. He took a deep breath and stopped meditating.
This brain is incredible. It can automatically maximize the attributes of cultivation methods and martial skills?
A sharp cry from Liu Ruoning suddenly reached his ears. Yang Zhen turned to look and froze.
Liu Ruoning's longsword moved like a dragon, its ringing cry echoing between heaven and earth.
Amid the terrifying gale, Liu Ruoning moved as lightly as a rainbow, her longsword darting up and down and her robes whipping about her. Terrifying thunder dragons roared and surged around her.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Terrifying thunder Gang howled and roared in the air. Sword-Rays shot out in every direction, and the Gang winds were piercing, but the Sword Qi was even fiercer.
Yang Zhen's eyes widened. "Heavens, a Heaven Grade martial skill is actually this terrifying?"
As heaven and earth thundered, surging waves of primal Qi gathered toward Changyue Peak. Thunder and lightning flashed, and boundless radiance set off Liu Ruoning's heroic bearing.
Inside the Shangyuan Sect's main hall on Heaven-Reaching Main Peak, True Person Changyue narrowed her phoenix eyes and looked coldly at an old man before her. "Eldest Senior Brother, are you determined to bring about this ill-fated match?"
Gou Shengtian, the Shangyuan Sect's grand elder, frowned. "Junior Sister, don't be angry. Our Shangyuan Sect is in decline. If we don't receive additional resources from the Sword Attendant Sect, I'm afraid we'll have no chance of attending the Youzhou Grand Assembly. When that happens, neither of us will be able to cover the Shangyuan Sect's daily expenses. Are we supposed to stand by and watch the founding patriarch's legacy come to an end in our hands?"
"Even so, we can't gamble with Ruoning's lifelong happiness. The Sword Attendant Sect has the ambitions of wolves. How could you not know that?"
"Junior Sister, you know perfectly well..."
"I don't!" True Person Changyue snorted coldly. "Ten days from now, if Ruoning still refuses, don't blame me for being ruthless and killing Duan Langcai outright!"
"You... you're being unreasonable!" The grand elder trembled with anger, pointing at True Person Changyue, unable to speak.
"Enough. Don't argue!" Sect Master Lu Chenghui said in a low voice. "Junior Brother, Junior Sister is right. In the end, this matter must be left to Ruoning herself to decide. But it's also an undeniable fact that the Shangyuan Sect needs additional support from the Sword Attendant Sect."
"Sect Master, you're wise, Senior Brother. Duan Langcai is merely young and headstrong. What's youth without a little recklessness? He's gifted and bright, and he's bound to accomplish great things someday. If Liu Ruoning becomes his dao companion, she'll never be wronged."
Lu Chenghui sighed and was about to speak when his expression suddenly shifted, and he gave a puzzled exclamation.
Gou Shengtian and True Person Changyue sensed it too and looked outside in confusion.
"This power..." Surprise flashed in Gou Shengtian's eyes. Then he said in sudden delight, "This is the power of a Heaven Grade martial skill. My disciple must have made a breakthrough! He's in Square Moon Cave comprehending Rushing Thunder Movement right now. Only a Heaven Grade cultivation method like Rushing Thunder Movement could unleash such tremendous power."
What Yang Zhen didn't know was that the Shangyuan Sect did have a Heaven Grade cultivation method. It was simply that no one could comprehend it now.
Beaming with delight, Gou Shengtian ran outside as he spoke. Partway there, he suddenly stopped and turned to Lu Chenghui. "Sect Master, Senior Brother, anyone capable of comprehending a Heaven Grade cultivation method must have supreme talent and will become a pillar of our Shangyuan Sect. We must do everything we can to nurture him!"
Lu Chenghui wore an odd expression. He nodded and said, "Naturally, but... this presence doesn't seem to be coming from Square Moon Cave. It's coming from Qiyun Peak."
What?
Gou Shengtian, who was turning around, stumbled and nearly fell flat on the ground.
Thunderlight flickered beneath True Person Changyue's feet, and she shot off toward Changyue Peak.
(End of chapter)