Li Qingshan and Xiaobai continued deeper into the Mount Kunlun Range, where the sights along the way grew ever more magnificent and mysterious,
though they were still only in the shallow reaches of the outermost region.
An ancient presence permeated every inch of the air.
"Xiaobai, can you feel it? That utterly yang, utterly fierce presence seems to be growing stronger."
Li Qingshan asked softly, gazing into the distance, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.
Xiaobai flicked their tongue and hissed, a trace of excitement and wariness showing in their emerald eyes,
as though they too had sensed that unusual presence.
"Easy. We'll approach slowly. This place is no ordinary place, so we mustn't be careless."
Li Qingshan reassured Xiaobai while raising his own guard.
After passing through an ancient maze formation of mist, where light and shadow twisted and murderous intent lurked, the view suddenly opened before them.
Li Qingshan felt his body lighten as the ever-present pressure of the formation abruptly vanished.
Standing on a high slope, he looked out, his heart shaken by what he saw.
The scene ahead was magnificent and vast. Several enormous mountain ranges lay coiled like dragons, converging on the central region.
At their ends, the mountains resembled dragon heads raised to the sky in a cry, as though drawing in and breathing out the essence of sun and moon cascading down from the nine heavens,
while hazy, radiant light swirled around them and gathered toward the ruins of a vast Immortal Pool at the center, whose former splendor could still be imagined even though it had run dry.
The essence Qi had reached its greatest concentration here. A single breath made the pores all over his body relax and his divine power circulate faster of its own accord.
"Hiss! Hiss!"
Xiaobai slithered ahead of him, but their emerald eyes showed unprecedented awe and a trace of instinctive fear. They went no farther,
only pointing the tip of their tail toward the Immortal Pool at the center.
"Is this the limit of what you can sense? You can't go any farther?"
Li Qingshan understood.
Xiaobai nodded vigorously, conveying a vague thought: ahead lay a pressure that made their soul tremble, as well as even more terrifying remnant restrictions.
"It's all right. You've already rendered a great service.
Wait for me here. If there's danger, hide yourself."
Li Qingshan gave the instructions and gently patted Xiaobai's little head.
Xiaobai obediently curled up behind a rock and concealed their presence.
Li Qingshan took a deep breath, his eyes shining as he stepped forward.
He did not head straight for the Immortal Pool at the center. That place felt the most dangerous to him, as though a prehistoric behemoth lay sleeping there.
He searched around the edge, his divine sense sweeping meticulously over the ground like mercury spilling across it.
In an inconspicuous crevice in the belly of a crimson mountain, he found something.
He entered and found traces of a small space carved out by human hands, with numerous ancient characters engraved on the stone walls.
"A Qi-drawing method from the Dao Scripture: Sea of Bitterness Volume?"
Li Qingshan studied the characters carefully, his heart stirring.
This was indeed part of the opening section of the Dao Scripture, explaining how to draw in essence Qi and strike at the Bitter Sea.
Unfortunately, not only was it badly incomplete, containing just a few hundred characters of the most rudimentary material,
it also seemed to have been copied and carved here by someone of a later generation, losing its true essence and much of its value.
For him, it had long since ceased to be of any use.
"So the rumors of fragments of the Dao Scripture circulating on Earth weren't wind from an empty cave. It's a pity this is too incomplete and not what I need."
With a touch of regret, he withdrew from the mountain.
His goal was clear: the place where that utterly yang, utterly fierce presence lay!
He calmed his mind, focused, and summoned the solar essence Qi he had absorbed in his past cultivation,
a faint golden halo rising around him as he imitated that utterly yang, utterly sacred presence.
"Hum."
A moment later,
a faint sensation of being drawn came from the southeast!
There, a hidden, boundless expanse of Solar Sacred Force lay,
dormant, yet of an exceedingly exalted nature, answering him from afar.
"Over there!"
Li Qingshan's spirits surged. He became a faint streak of light and sped away.
He crossed a desolate river valley and arrived before a mountain that, while not among the tallest, was dark red from top to bottom and radiated scorching residual heat.
There, the sensation reached its peak.
At the foot of the mountain stood an ancient altar.
It had been built of divine earth in five colors and still had not collapsed after countless ages.
Ancient patterns of the sun, moon, and stars covered the altar, along with scenes of three-legged golden crows patrolling the heavens. Its Dao resonance was ancient and unadorned.
The center of the altar was not empty. A divine stele stood there, crimson as jade and roughly a zhang tall!
The stele was made of neither metal nor stone. Its warmth carried a presence unchanged since time immemorial,
and its smooth surface was densely inscribed with ancient characters by some inconceivable means.
The characters belonged to no script in the world today.
They resembled bird-and-insect seal script, yet also the paths of the sun, moon, and stars, profoundly mysterious beyond measure.
A single glance brought a scorching, vast, and supremely exalted and sacred will rushing toward him!
It was as though he stood face-to-face with the eternal sun in the starry sky that nourished all things!
Li Qingshan's heart began to race. He drew a deep breath, suppressed his excitement, and hurried up onto the altar.
The closer he came, the more extraordinary the crimson jade stele felt.
It seemed to be the source of all light and heat, sealed here,
making even the surrounding void warp slightly.
He focused and held his breath, slowly extending his powerful divine sense toward the stele in an attempt to decipher the ancient scripture.
Boom!
The instant his divine sense touched the inscription, it was as though a real sun exploded in his sea of consciousness!
Boundless information, mixed with utterly yang Dao principles, surged into his mind.
"Sun True Scripture!"
Wheel Sea Scroll, Dao Palace Scroll, Four Extremes Scroll, Dragon Transformation Scroll!
Complete cultivation methods for the four great secret realms, far surpassing any inheritance he had obtained before!
The intricacy of its methods, the loftiness of its vision,
and its explanation and application of Solar Sacred Force had reached an extreme.
Even his initial understanding gave him an unprecedentedly clear grasp of the road ahead, and much of the fog that had clouded his past cultivation instantly dispersed.
"Hahaha! Good! What a Sun True Scripture! An Emperor Scripture truly deserves its name!"
Li Qingshan could not help throwing back his head in laughter, his heart surging with excitement.
This was the core inheritance he had dreamed of!
A solid foundation for his future path of cultivation!
This one gain alone made his journey to Earth worthwhile!
He fought down the urge to immerse himself in cultivation at once and continued deciphering the inscriptions.
Beside the divine stele stood several shorter auxiliary steles, also cast from extraordinary divine metal.
What they recorded was not the main cultivation method, but several powerful secret techniques included in the Sun True Scripture.
"The opening form of the Sun Emperor Fist,"
"a fragment of the Golden Crow Rainbow Transformation Technique,"
"the Sun True Fire Essence Refinement Method."
Though most were incomplete or consisted only of their opening sections, a glimpse of the leopard through a tube was enough to show that their power would surely shake the world.
They were supreme arts for killing and preserving one's life!
Yet just as Li Qingshan was immersed in the joy of obtaining the supreme ancient scripture,
devoting his whole mind to absorbing and comprehending that vast information, faint golden Solar Sacred Force spreading unconsciously around him,
Rumble!
A muffled roar suddenly came from within the dark red mountain behind the altar, as though some ancient mechanism had been triggered.
Immediately afterward, a cold, deathly still fluctuation filled with killing intent erupted!
"Crack, crack."
The mountainside split open, and broken stones tumbled down.
A towering figure stepped out from within, one stride at a time.
Dark gold from head to toe, it seemed to have been cast from some unknown divine copper mixed with other divine materials.
Its design was ancient and unadorned. It was seemingly humanoid, but taller and more powerfully built, its lines cold and hard.
Two dim red lights burned where its eyes should have been, devoid of all emotion, containing only a pure will to destroy.
Thick dust covered its body, and many places bore obvious signs of damage.
One arm had been crudely reattached with some unknown metal, making its movements somewhat stiff.
Yet the energy fluctuations it emitted made Li Qingshan's heart tighten at once!
"A powerful opponent!"
It was an ancient battle puppet guarding this place!
Clearly, too much time had passed. Its energy core had long since been mostly exhausted, and its body was badly damaged, no longer at its peak.
Even so, its remaining pressure was far beyond what an ordinary cultivator could withstand!
The puppet's dark red eyes instantly locked onto Li Qingshan on the altar,
Solar Sacred Force spreading around him, Li Qingshan was identified as an intruder.
"Trespass... forbidden ground... covet... Emperor Scripture... must die."
A halting, emotionless fluctuation of divine sense rushed at Li Qingshan.
At the same time, its massive metal body moved. Seemingly slow, it actually crossed dozens of zhang in an instant,
and its intact metal hand spread its five fingers and slammed straight down at Li Qingshan's head with terrifying force enough to shatter mountains!
The air exploded, and even the void seemed ready to collapse!
The blow was simple and brutal, yet it contained terrifying power!
Li Qingshan's expression turned solemn, his joy vanishing in an instant.
As expected, a Great Emperor's inheritance was not something easily obtained.
Even though time had worn away so much, a safeguard still remained.
"Come on! Just in time to test my current skills!"
Far from being afraid, he felt a fierce fighting spirit blaze in his eyes.
The delight of obtaining the Sun True Scripture needed a battle to vent and consolidate it!
Facing the enormous metal palm that seemed to blot out the sky and sun, he gave a sharp cry and advanced instead of retreating!
The Qi and blood throughout his body boiled in an instant, surging and roaring as endless divine power erupted from him.
He did not use his newly acquired solar secret arts. Instead, he employed the techniques most familiar to him,
the Guoshu skills from the Dragon and Snake World, combining them with this world's divine power as he punched upward!
His fist struck like a dragon, not meeting force with force but using the supremely soft Silk-Reeling Jin of Taiji Cloud Hands to deftly lead and draw the blow aside.
Boom!
Amid the thunderous crash, he actually diverted the tremendous force that could have shattered a mountain peak by a fraction.
It brushed past him and smashed into the ground, blasting a deep pit near the altar and sending rocks flying through the air.
Li Qingshan used the momentum to spin around like a golden peng turning over, closing in on the puppet's side in an instant.
He joined his fingers like a sword, highly compressed golden divine power gathering at their tips,
and with a sharp hiss, thrust them at the joint of the puppet's reattached arm!
That was clearly a relatively vulnerable spot!
Clang!
A piercing clash of metal rang out, scattering sparks.
The puppet's body shuddered violently, and the connection at its arm gave an ear-grating creak.
Cracks spread through it, and it nearly broke off again.
It let out a soundless roar and swept its other, intact arm across, whipping up a vicious wind.
Li Qingshan moved like a ghost, stepping through the Bagua and dodging by a hair's breadth.
His footwork was exquisitely subtle-the footwork principles of Baguazhang taught to him personally by Tang Zichen.
Driven by this world's divine power, he moved faster and faster, leaving afterimages in his wake.
He darted around the puppet's massive body, his fists at times striking like the Xingyi Drilling Fist, concentrating on a single point;
at times charging with the overbearing force of Baji Leaning Against the Mountain, crashing into the vital points of its joints;
and at times transforming into the fierce and violent Taiji Hammer.
The booming never ceased.
The battle puppet's power was on an extremely high level, but it was ultimately too old, lacking agility and using rigid moves.
Li Qingshan combined the technical finesse of Guoshu with this world's divine power,
and fought the puppet with considerable skill.
The more he fought, the more exhilarated he became. His control over his own power grew ever more refined, and insights of all kinds welled up in his mind.
Roar!
Unable to overcome him after a prolonged assault, the puppet seemed to have been enraged.
A dim rune on its chest suddenly lit up, and a surge of dangerous energy began to gather.
Li Qingshan's brow twitched. The Divine Seed was warning him!
Without hesitation, he pushed off and shot backward.
"Whoosh!"
A scorching beam grazed the tip of his nose and instantly vaporized a distant hilltop!
"I can't drag this out any longer!"
Li Qingshan's gaze sharpened. He could see that the battle puppet was a spent crossbow bolt, and that its last attack had cost it dearly.
He decided to take a risk.
The next moment, he deliberately left an opening, slowing down slightly.
The battle puppet took the bait. Its enormous metal palm came crashing down again.
The instant the palm descended upon him, Li Qingshan abruptly ducked, flying almost flush with the ground as he narrowly avoided it.
At the same time, the Wheel Sea Scroll's method from the Sun True Scripture began circulating on its own within him,
and the phantom of the golden sun inside his divine body erupted!
"Solar Sacred Force, bolster my body!"
He let out a low roar, and his entire right arm instantly turned golden, as though cast from divine metal,
concentrating most of his divine power and the sliver of the sun's true intent he had just comprehended.
It was no longer a deftly applied force,
but a fist of utmost firmness and utmost yang, tyrannical beyond compare!
Sun Emperor Fist!
Boom!
The punch landed squarely and with pinpoint accuracy on the joint of the battle puppet's arm, where his earlier blows had left cracks!
Crack!
A piercing snap rang out!
The metal arm, which had barely been holding together, broke off and flew through the air!
The battle puppet's body rocked violently, the red light in its eyes flickering wildly as its presence weakened drastically in an instant.
It tried to move again.
But Li Qingshan would give it no further chance.
He followed like lightning, his fingers joined into a blade, concentrating all his strength into a dazzling golden edge,
and drove it viciously into the rune on the puppet's chest, which had just fired the beam and had yet to dim completely!
"Pfft!"
Like a hot knife through butter, his fingers plunged straight in!
A vast surge of divine power poured inside and erupted!
The battle puppet's movements came to an abrupt halt.
The red light in its eyes flickered rapidly a few times before finally going dark.
"Rumble!"
Its enormous metal body toppled like a golden mountain and fell like a jade pillar, crashing heavily to the ground and sending dust billowing into the sky.
It lay completely still.
Li Qingshan panted softly as he looked at the fallen battle puppet, calming his roiling blood and Qi.
The battle had not lasted long, but it had been fraught with danger.
He had won!
Though the battle puppet had not been at its peak, it was still an astonishing feat!
He walked over to the battle puppet's remains and examined them closely. Its core had shattered completely and was no longer of any value.
The material it had been forged from was extraordinary, but unfortunately, it had fused with the formations inside. Separating and refining it would be difficult, so he could only give up.
He turned, his gaze burning as it fell once more on the divine red jade stele.
Nothing stood in his way now!
He sat cross-legged before the divine stele and immersed his mind entirely in the vast text of the Sun True Scripture.
Like a starving man, he absorbed and comprehended the words of this supreme scripture of the Great Dao.
Holy power of utmost yang circled him of its own accord, making him look like a young deity.