Ten Thousand Peaks Bow Their Heads, a Thousand Ranges Stand Guard

What big words...

Mo Shougui thought to himself. Yet his right hand, hidden in his voluminous sleeve, gave a sudden twitch without warning.

His expression changed abruptly, and doubt and alarm rose to his brows.

Why had the Qi dynamics of this world changed again?

Martial fortune permeated this world, shrouding its heavenly secrets in layer upon layer of mist, making them difficult to see through.

But now, it was as though a great, invisible wind had suddenly swept through heaven and earth, sending the martial fortune filling the skies roiling. For a brief moment, it allowed him to glimpse a trace of the heavenly signs behind the mist.

He could no longer spare Yu Tunzhou any attention. Rubbing his fingertips together, he used neither coins nor markings, neither ceremony nor prescribed procedure. With a mere movement of his thoughts, he cast a divination in the air, tracing the pattern of this world's heavenly secrets.

But when the reading appeared, Mo Shougui's brow furrowed even more deeply.

It was no different from the reading he had obtained before-

The mountains paid homage to a great peak.

This was a grand configuration in which ten thousand peaks bowed their heads and a thousand ranges stood guard. It was no surprise to find it here; after all, that person was still the ancestor of the martial path, a great peak that no martial artist under heaven could ever surpass.

But what if the great peak in the reading... wasn't that person?

Mo Shougui's face twitched. By the time he came to his senses and looked again, Yu Tunzhou had vanished without a trace. He could not help sighing.

Unfortunately, that boy Yu Tunzhou had never been willing to cooperate with him for a divination.

It was not impossible to forcibly divine someone's fate, but here in this grotto-heaven, it was ultimately less accurate than having the person's cooperation.

In his line of work, repeatedly checking a reading that had turned out wrong was a great taboo.

To put it plainly, divination was a glimpse of heaven's mandate. If you were lucky enough to glimpse it but refused to believe it, and insisted on checking it over and over again...

If the Heavenly Dao didn't punish you, whom would it punish?

He looked in a certain direction and shook his head gently.

Lu Huaiqing, oh Lu Huaiqing, I have done all that benevolence and duty require. I only did this much because I respect you as a true man...

While the Daoist's attention was drawn elsewhere and he had no time to spare for him, Yu Tunzhou went straight back up the mountain.

After returning to the mountain, Yu Tunzhou visibly relaxed. He practiced two sets of fist techniques in the courtyard.

Today's battle had ended in a great victory!

It was only a shame that his peerless fist technique had found no use at all.

Yu Tunzhou had to admit that sneak attacks really were the ultimate authority.

According to Old Xie and the others, the youth named Jiang Yungu was well versed in all sorts of martial arts. Unfortunately for him, faced with a brick, he hadn't gotten a single move out before being knocked flat!

The only thing that still bothered him somewhat was that inexplicable viciousness.

It had come without a trace and gone without a shadow, leaving him no clue as to its cause.

After putting down the Dragon Fish, Yu Tunzhou took advantage of the early hour to enter a meditative trance. He searched his Primordial Spirit world for a long time, but still found no clues whatsoever.

With no other choice, he could only set it aside for now. He got up and went to cook.

At the dinner table, Dingguang shoveled down his food and said, "Senior Brother, Senior Brother, Master said he's leaving at the beginning of next month. Martial Uncle Xuanzang will take over the post then."

Martial Uncle Xuanzang?

Was he another eminent monk of the Xuan generation?

Yu Tunzhou wondered whether the new Buddhist guardian would be easy to get along with.

After dinner.

Yu Tunzhou sorted through his belongings.

One copper coin, obtained from the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple.

One small wooden sword, acquired at the prompting of the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple's ancestral spirit. He still didn't know what it was for.

Two jade pendants: one contained the Heavenly Peng Daoist Temple's Qi Ingestion Method, and the other had come from Chen Xuanye.

There were also six ordinary copper coins, which he had originally used for divination.

Not counting the crude furnishings in the thatched hut, these were all his possessions at present.

How truly simple.

Yu Tunzhou focused his mind inward, feeling the internal Qi in his body circulate slowly, just one step short of the eighth layer.

As long as he continued steadily, one step at a time, he would one day possess things beyond his imagination.

Yu Tunzhou let out a soft breath, walked out of the thatched hut, and headed down the mountain.

For the past few days, he had been cultivating at the summit. The commotion caused by cultivating the seventh layer of the Spark Instruction was too great, making it unsuitable to practice indoors.

Tonight, however, he planned to go to the river at the foot of the mountain and try to draw in the Qi dynamics of water fortune.

The early spring night was still bitterly cold.

But ever since his internal Qi had grown stronger by the day and his Qi and Blood had grown full with it, he had long ceased to mind such a chill.

Arriving at the river, Yu Tunzhou found a shallow stretch and stepped into the water. He settled his mind into a trance and visualized Little Black.

At once, countless fine strands of the river's water-fortune Qi dynamics converged on him like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, lingering and circling around him.

Yu Tunzhou immediately circulated the Spark Instruction, trying to draw the water-fortune Qi dynamics into his body.

But before he could complete a single circulation of the Spark Instruction, the fine strands of water-fortune Qi dynamics had already vanished for no apparent reason.

Yu Tunzhou was startled. Soon, he sensed something traveling from his Primordial Spirit world, down through the Shendao Acupoint, to nourish his body in return...

In the past, Qi had always passed through the Great Spirit Courtyard before being refined into spirit at the Shendao Acupoint, nourishing his Primordial Spirit.

But today, it was the exact opposite.

It was simply Heavenly Gang turned on its head!

Yu Tunzhou was shocked. What was going on?

He immediately entered his Primordial Spirit world with his mind and saw Little Black rising to the surface, head raised as he breathed something in and out.

That was... water-fortune Qi dynamics?!

Yu Tunzhou stared in open-mouthed astonishment.

This little fellow could take in and expel water-fortune Qi dynamics on his own?

Since when?

He was baffled. Could a Primordial Spirit's inner manifestation absorb and expel Profound Qi of its own accord?

He had never heard of such a thing.

Had Senior Brother Zhou forgotten to tell me?

Yu Tunzhou stood stunned for quite a while.

Wagging his tail, Little Black swam happily up to him and presented a translucent white droplet of water, holding it out as though offering a treasure.

He reached out to take it, and his mind avatar instantly dispersed a little from the surge of emotion.

It really was a condensation of water-fortune Qi dynamics!

This little fellow really could absorb and expel Profound Qi on his own!

Yu Tunzhou immediately bent down and stroked Little Black's head, encouraging him, "Keep it up and suck all the water-fortune Qi dynamics out of this river!"

Little Black nodded earnestly.

A moment later.

A "dead fish" lay sprawled on the surface of the sea, belly up. No matter how many times Yu Tunzhou poked him, he didn't move an inch.

After a good long while, Little Black finally turned over and looked at him pitifully, as though he had been completely wrung dry.

Holding five water-fortune beads in his hand, Yu Tunzhou encouraged Little Black to keep it up.

He had just tried it himself. Compared with the clear Qi between heaven and earth, water-fortune Profound Qi was almost too "heavy." Every strand of it weighed far more than hundreds or thousands of strands of clear Qi.

His Spark Instruction had only just reached the seventh layer, and whether drawing the Qi in or absorbing and expelling it, his efficiency was extremely low. Compared with Little Black, it was simply embarrassing to look at.

Seeing Little Black exhaust himself so quickly, Yu Tunzhou pondered how he might make him stronger.

He suddenly remembered the Qi Ingestion Method Senior Brother Zhou had given him, the Heavenly Peng Essence-Devouring Instruction.

Little Black... counted as a Peng's precursor too, right?

Yu Tunzhou took out the jade pendant engraved with the Qi Ingestion Method. Before long, the core Method Formula and the true essence of the Qi Ingestion Method were fully imprinted in his mind.

The golden text, silent for a long time, slowly flowed through his mind toward the Cultivation Method.

Yu Tunzhou promptly expressed what he needed.

He wanted a Qi Ingestion Method that a Primordial Spirit's inner manifestation could cultivate as well, and one suited to Little Black's "constitution."

The golden text, which had been flowing restlessly, suddenly stopped, as though falling silent.

Soon, the golden text began flowing rapidly once more, merging into the Heavenly Peng Essence-Devouring Instruction, constantly rewriting, refining, and elevating it.

The next moment, the golden text once again entered the Primordial Spirit world and gently wrapped around Little Black, who was resting on the water's surface.

Little Black still had no idea what was happening. He raised his head and looked at Yu Tunzhou in bewilderment.

Yu Tunzhou's eyes were full of anticipation as he comforted him gently:

"It'll be over soon."

"Bear with it."