Cultivation Method

In the Rising Yang Mansion, the black sun that had suddenly erupted shattered into fragments across the floor as the "black sun" in the secret realm was forcibly suppressed by Jinping Mountain!

Big Fat Fish's eyes lit up at the sight of the black residue covering the floor. Without even waiting for Jiang Wangxuan's orders, she flung aside the broom and trash can in her hands and pounced on the pile, picking up the pieces and popping them into her mouth one after another.

She ate like a gale sweeping away the clouds. It tasted like chicken and crunched with every bite, and in the blink of an eye, all the residue on the floor had gone into her little belly.

Then a pitch-black phantom shifted from Big Fat Fish's body to the space beneath her, finally becoming her "shadow" in the Rising Yang Mansion.

"Master, this is bad. There's something wrong with this stuff. I'm a little dizzy."

Jiang Wangxuan helplessly slapped his forehead. Big Fat Fish was like a starving ghost reincarnated. Whenever she saw something she could "eat," she forgot everything else and rushed in to stuff herself.

Big Fat Fish immediately began staggering in circles around the Rising Yang Mansion, but Jiang Wangxuan paid no more attention to her upset stomach. Big Fat Fish's life and death were bound to his, and she was in better condition than ever.

Her dizzy, uncomfortable state translated to one thing: she had eaten too much!

As the black sun crumbled in the secret realm, the moon hanging in the western sky gradually turned illusory and dissipated. The pair of cicada wings that had blotted out the heavens and the sun turned into a streak of cold light and flew at Jiang Wangxuan.

Pure Grand Yin Law Power enveloped Jiang Wangxuan, and the Qi sea the "Cicada Immortal" had drained filled once more with true essence. Some mysterious patterns also appeared on the silver-white lunar disc.

In the Rising Yang Mansion, a silver-white speck of light rose from the Qi sea and became a silver-white jade scroll. Jiang Wangxuan swept his Divine Sense over it, and the scroll slowly unfurled at his will!

It was a Cultivation Method! A Cultivation Method left behind by the Cicada Immortal!

Its name was "Cicada Molting Under the Moon, Seeking Purity Epistle"!

All manner of mysterious seal characters arranged themselves in the Rising Yang Mansion like tadpoles looking for their mother. Jiang Wangxuan hurriedly closed the silver-white jade scroll. This was still far beyond the level of someone like him who had yet to break through to Foundation Establishment.

With only a brief examination, he learned that the Cultivation Method left by the Cicada Immortal was at least fifth grade or higher. In the recent ancient era, Dao lineage Cultivation Methods all possessed a spirit of their own.

Even if an ordinary person obtained a high-grade Cultivation Method, without a fitting destiny, it would be like playing a zither to a cow: they would possess a treasured gateway but be unable to enter!

In modern times, Qingheng Great Luo had pushed Huaqi into the Clear Ring Convention, allowing both Spirit Aperture and Spirit Root cultivators in Qinghuan to have Huaqi impart a Cultivation Method to them.

The Cultivation Method would be directly "engraved" into a cultivator's Rising Yang Mansion, allowing everyone to comprehend their respective method without any threshold and without needing a matching destiny.

It could be said that everything in present-day Qinghuan was built upon the supreme Huaqi.

Without Huaqi's help, comprehending a high-grade Cultivation Method like "Cicada Molting Under the Moon, Seeking Purity Epistle" was asking far too much of his present self!

After the Cicada Immortal faded away, the secret realm finally fell apart as well, and the illusory yet tangible world returned to its original appearance!

A blazing sun hung high over Jinping Mountain, and tourists climbed the mountain paths in twos and threes. Jiang Wangxuan stood at the edge of one of Jinping Mountain's peaks, looking at its two distinctive neighboring peaks.

Nothing remained there now. The "ancient tree," the Cicada Immortal, the Jiang clansmen, the Renewed Wood demonic path, and the Punishment Sacrifice lineage had all scattered with the wind.

Only fragments of "stories" remained, each one concealing a weight of history and burdens.

Jiang Wangxuan knew full well that this history still influenced the world today. Fortunately, this trip home had finally been a great success. The Black Tide that had troubled him for so long was now being digested and absorbed by Big Fat Fish!

It was time to return to Lüyu and break through to Foundation Establishment. At this moment, Jiang Wangxuan's confidence had swollen immensely. Even without the aid of pills, he could break through to Foundation Establishment without a hitch.

The only trouble was that his Immortal Foundation would definitely no longer be "Autumn Moon Osmanthus"! He could only take things one step at a time!

With that thought, Jiang Wangxuan opened his contacts. More than ninety-nine text messages began bombarding his phone screen. A glance showed that they were all relentless demands for answers from his beloved Teaching Assistant Lin!

He checked the time and felt a little ashamed. His trip into the secret realm had lasted a full five days, and Teaching Assistant Lin had received no word from him during that time.

Without blushing or his heart skipping a beat, Jiang Wangxuan sent back a smiling face. "Made a little progress. Coming back right away!"

An angry sticker came flying back at once, followed by a string of questions.

"Jiang Wangxuan, where the hell did you go? You bought your high-speed rail ticket five days ago, so where were you?!"

"Answer me! Do you know how badly Master has been chewing me out these past few days?!"

"A self-criticism, three thousand words. If it's a single word short, I'll hang you up and beat you..."

The barrage of texts lasted a full five or six minutes. As Jiang Wangxuan hurried to the high-speed rail station, he felt his phone vibrate every dozen seconds or so.

If he had known, he wouldn't have bought the ticket in advance. He had originally told his family that he would return to school on the afternoon Fang Lin went back, and to complete the act, he had even bought a ticket.

He hadn't expected to spend so many days in the secret realm, throwing the timing completely out of alignment. Teaching Assistant Lin had seen his booking information in the system and probably wanted to kill him.

It wasn't as though Luyu University had never lost Grand Yin cultivators outside for no apparent reason. Those had all been painful lessons.

Over the past few years, Teaching Assistant Lin had left everything else about him alone, with only one rule: don't go down and wander around for no reason; stay at school and cultivate!

"Beep, Lüyu card."

Jiang Wangxuan caught the next high-speed train to Wancheng. Judging by the time, he should still be able to make the last direct train to Luyu Port that day!

Only then did he find time to reply to the furious Teaching Assistant Lin, asking with deliberately malicious intent, "Teaching Assistant Lin, why can you send messages to the outside world whenever you want?"

With the rise of the internet, Qinghuan had imposed layer upon layer of restrictions on this "great weapon" that benefited the Three Witches Dao Lineage.

The various Xuantian realms and major universities in particular all used local networks. Students who wanted to contact the outside world had to dial up at designated times and places.

Every message sent outside was subject to strict monitoring and review. When the relevant university department reviewed Teaching Assistant Lin's barrage of texts, he would surely receive a summons for questioning!

"I'm the first assistant to Luyu University's president. It's my working hours right now, and I have an inherent right to communicate with the outside world."

Lin Tongjiang angrily tossed his phone onto his desk. That nasty brat had no sense of organization or discipline. He had gone out for a breath of fresh air and vanished just like that. If the brat's life plaque at school hadn't been safe and sound, he would have gone down to find him himself!

Worst of all, the old man had used his failure to keep watch as an excuse to punish him by making him handle this messy official business in the office again. He squeezed into every crack, making Lin Tongjiang stand in for him whenever he found a chance!

He was squeezing him like an ox or a horse! If this could be tolerated, what couldn't? No, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. It was all because that brat had no discipline, so he couldn't let him off.

At Luyu Station, twilight had fallen, and the sunset reflected in the Heavenly River, shimmering with flecks of color!

Jiang Wangxuan came out of the station empty-handed and in a lovely mood, only to run straight into Senior Teaching Assistant Lin, whose face was black as thunder!

"Well, look who's back from running wild!"

Lin Tongjiang's sarcastic voice brimmed with anger he couldn't hide.

Jiang Wangxuan involuntarily pulled back the right leg he had just stepped forward with and raised both hands. Oh no, why is he blocking me right at the station?!

But just as Jiang Wangxuan was waiting for Teaching Assistant Lin to rain scoldings down on his head, he was met with a long silence instead. The two stood at the station exit, staring wide-eyed at each other for quite some time.

Only then did Lin Tongjiang take Jiang Tongxuan by the wrist and stride out of the station, turning into an unnamed grove. "Why has every trace of Grand Yin presence disappeared from you?"

Hearing that, Jiang Wangxuan finally realized that although he had been home for only about half a month, he was no longer the person he had once been!

Lin Tongjiang was about to check Jiang Wangxuan's cultivation when a terrible premonition surfaced in his mind. No way! Has that "illusion" disappeared?

Then a milky-white moonlight lit up in his student's hand. It was as fine as silk at first, then blossomed to the width of a wrist. The moonlight left his hand, and a cool, secluded clarity suddenly swept through Lin Tongjiang's entire body!

Lin Tongjiang's eyes widened as he looked into Jiang Wangxuan's smiling peach-blossom eyes. "Moon-Worshipping Spirit-Calming Benediction?"

Jiang Wangxuan nodded casually. "That's what I gained from a few days in seclusion. Teaching Assistant Lin, the mysteries come first, Foundation Establishment comes after. I understand now!"

Lin Tongjiang's breathing became a little uneven, but after only a moment's thought, he immediately asked, "How do you feel right now?"

"Teaching Assistant, I want to establish my foundation immediately. I finally managed to master the 'Moon-Worshipping Spirit-Calming Benediction' and have grasped a little of the Immortal Foundation 'Autumn Moon Osmanthus's' mysteries. I should strike while the iron is hot and break through in one go!"

On the way back to school, Jiang Wangxuan had already planned his next steps: instead of returning directly to school, he would go into seclusion immediately and break through to Foundation Establishment as soon as possible, before anyone noticed.

Fang Lin's strange behavior that day had been all too obvious. He had clearly shown a profound distrust of Luyu University and had even tried hard to persuade Jiang Wangxuan not to establish his foundation in Lüyu.

If anyone else had said such things to him, Jiang Wangxuan would have treated it as a joke. Beneath a True Lord's feet, who would dare act so brazenly?!

But Fang Lin was different. Leaving aside the fact that Big Fat Fish had marked him as one hundred percent trouble, the uncanny feeling he gave off was enough to make Jiang Wangxuan keep a respectful distance!

There had to be a reason for his words! So Jiang Wangxuan had to be on guard against Luyu University. Since no one yet knew he had returned, he might as well go straight into seclusion and reduce any trouble he might encounter to a minimum!

For him now, the chance of successfully establishing his foundation was already ninety-nine percent!

"How confident are you?" Lin Tongjiang's agitated heart had calmed under the influence of the "Moon-Worshipping Spirit-Calming Benediction," and he was coolly weighing the gains and losses of doing this.

Luyu University had indeed been somewhat unsettled these past few days. Although those disturbances had nothing to do with Jiang Wangxuan, they were still trouble.

Jiang Wangxuan had been under his watch ever since entering the university, and he was destined to bear the label of True Person Chonghuan-Lin Tongjiang's own master!

Grand Yin was precious and would inevitably become a focal point of the storm. Since Jiang Wangxuan had already mastered the "Moon-Worshipping Spirit-Calming Benediction," he might as well establish his foundation immediately.

"Teaching Assistant Lin, I'm at least ninety percent confident!"

Seeing Jiang Wangxuan's resolute gaze, Lin Tongjiang hesitated no longer. "All right! We'll go to the Clear Frost Osmanthus Garden now!"