Li Yan had no idea that his exchange with Dong Fuyi, taking place in his spiritual space, was conducted entirely through consciousness. Though it seemed to cover a great deal, it had actually occurred in an extremely short amount of time. If not for the significant time Dong Fuyi had spent using his magical power to save his life and heal his injuries, the entire conversation would likely have been completed in just a few dozen breaths. Just as he was reeling from all these astonishing revelations, he suddenly felt a lightness in his body; that thing that felt like an eye had vanished from him.
Strategist Ji withdrew his divine sense, calmed himself, and smiled at Li Yan. "Disciple, you have completed the step of meridian cleansing with our sect's secret method and have now formally entered the first layer of the 'Woodyin Art.' Your teacher is very satisfied with your performance. Go back and rest for a while. After lunch, come and find me, and I will impart the first layer's incantation for the 'Woodyin Art' to you." After saying this, he looked at Li Yan.
Hearing these words, Li Yan, who was sitting on the ground, looked stunned for a moment, then a look of joy spread across his face. He pushed himself up from the ground with both hands and gave Strategist Ji a salute. "Thank you, Teacher!" A hint of gratitude shone in his eyes. He bowed once more and then turned, walking with a light step towards his stone house.
Strategist Ji watched his retreating back until it was out of sight, then slowly withdrew his gaze, a complex expression flashing in his eyes. He stood there for a short while longer before turning and walking back to his own room.
As Li Yan turned to walk towards the stone house, he distinctly felt that power watching him from behind again, like thorns on his back. It only disappeared a moment later. But he maintained the same smiling face and light-footed pace as when he had first turned, and walked into his stone house.
After entering the stone house, he closed the door behind him, and his expression immediately turned grim. He now knew that even this stone house and stone door could not block Strategist Ji's wisp of divine sense. However, after coming inside, he still felt his mind relax a great deal, and he was certain that the divine sense had been withdrawn.
He looked down at his soaking wet clothes and remembered the gentle voice and smile of Strategist Ji when he had just opened his eyes. His heart couldn't help but tighten, and then he sneered inwardly. 'Are you really that concerned about me? You're just afraid that this 'pig' of yours will die too soon and not be worth it. Otherwise, for a whole quarter of an hour, you'd let a physically weak person lie on the ground, completely soaked, when it's almost late autumn? Hmph! Or perhaps you were afraid the fire poison in my body wouldn't go away, so you used the cold water to suppress it. And all that talk before about forgoing complicated rites for joining the sect, making up the 'Woodshadow Sect' story, and even giving a detailed introduction to the major sects and martial arts realms of the current martial world—it was all just to make me believe that you are a noble hermit and that what you were passing on to me was a secret martial arts manual. You are truly meticulous, even making these small daily details so realistic. With all these actions, you've truly deceived people to their deaths without them even knowing.'
However, even the most perfect deception has its flaws. He remembered the day he had been accepted into Strategist Ji's tutelage. After he had kowtowed, Strategist Ji had immediately wanted to teach him the "Breath Guiding Technique," which had made him pause for a moment. Even if he wasn't a member of the martial world, he knew that even when starting at a private school, the teacher would first explain all the rules of the school. How much more so for a sect? After entering the sect, there was no talk of the sect's precepts, no mention of the rules and regulations. At that time, Strategist Ji had seemed impatient, as if he wished Li Yan would learn it immediately. Thinking back on it now, he knew that although Strategist Ji was full of schemes, he had still revealed some clues. It was just that he was only realizing it now.
He looked at his soaking wet appearance again. He could now smell a nauseating odor. Looking closely, he saw something dark sticking to his clothes under the water stains, faintly visible. He undid his clothes in confusion, and upon seeing what was underneath, he was stunned. His entire body under his clothes was covered in a greasy, black, viscous substance, as if he had been coated in a layer of black oil, which was now emitting a foul smell. He didn't know that this was because after cultivating to the first layer of the Qi Condensation stage, the spiritual qi had expelled some of the impurities and waste from his body through his pores. He thought for a moment and assumed it was some of the toxins that Dong Fuyi had helped him comb out.
These impurities were so greasy and sticky on his body, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. He needed to deal with it quickly. He opened the door again with a slight smile on his face, went out to get some hot water, and after a simple wash, he felt refreshed and his body felt light.
After changing into a clean set of clothes, he sat cross-legged on the wooden bed in his room, his eyes slightly closed, as if he were consolidating his recent cultivation.
Of course, Li Yan was not cultivating at this moment. After sitting cross-legged and regulating his breathing, he finally had the time to feel the condition of his body. Besides his senses being several times more sensitive than before, he also felt that his internal "power" was countless times stronger. He now, of course, knew that this should be spiritual power. During the stage of cultivating the "Breath Guiding Technique," he had already felt his body become lighter and his senses sharper, but it had never been like this, where his perception of the world was so unprecedentedly clear. His body felt extremely comfortable, as if every drop of his blood was joyfully and lively galloping.
He could not yet look inside himself and could only rely on his feelings to perceive his body's condition. He suddenly remembered what Dong Fuyi had said. The fire poison was still in his body. He must not cultivate the original "Woodyin Art"—no, it should be the "Night Curtain Art"—again, as it would trigger the fire poison to erupt again.
With a thought, he carefully began to circulate the technique of the "Night Curtain Art." His expression changed drastically. He had originally intended only to confirm if the old man's words were true. Another reason was a youth's curiosity. He wanted to circulate the "Night Curtain Art" to drive the spiritual power in his body for a bit. Who would have thought that just as he had mobilized his spiritual power to the path of the technique's circulation, before it had even had time to travel through his meridians, a monstrous heat in a corner of his dantian, like a fierce beast that had smelled blood, immediately became agitated, as if it were about to burst out of his body. This scared him so much that he immediately dispersed the technique.
Even so, it was a long time before the churning spiritual power in Li Yan's dantian slowly calmed down, and the monstrous heat in that corner of his dantian also slowly receded until he could no longer perceive it. Only then did Li Yan let out a long sigh of relief. 'So what Dong Fuyi said was all true. The fire poison in my body has really been suppressed and is entrenched here. In that case, what he said about the 'True Scripture of Gui Water' being in my Sea of Consciousness must also be true. But how do I enter this Sea of Consciousness?' For a rookie like him with no one to teach him, this was truly a complete mystery.
'Could it be by circulating spiritual power to the Baihui acupoint? No, that would require using spiritual power, and the only method I know to activate spiritual power is the 'Night Curtain Art.' Wouldn't that be suicide? Is it through meditation with my intent? Or is there some method to activate my divine sense?'
A moment later, he shook his head with a self-deprecating smile. "Since that Dong Fuyi said the immortal art was left in my Sea of Consciousness, and he knows my current situation, it definitely isn't opened using spiritual power. What am I even thinking about here? Besides, he also clearly stated that the Sea of Consciousness is a space of intent formed by spiritual power. Then it must be opened with intent, or spiritual power. The Sea of Consciousness must be in the head, no doubt in one of the major acupoints at the crown, forehead, or back of the head. There are only so many areas to try."
He stopped overthinking it. He slowly breathed in and out, calming his mind, and mobilized his intent to visualize the Baihui acupoint at the very center of the crown of his head. After a while, there was no movement. So, he tried moving his intent to the Shenting acupoint at the top of his forehead. After a while, there was still no reaction. He was not discouraged and once again moved his intent from the top of his forehead towards his eyebrows, preparing to check the Yintang acupoint between his eyebrows. But when his intent moved to the middle of his forehead, before it had even reached the Yintang acupoint, his vision blurred, and a dizzying series of images flashed before his eyes. A moment later, when the images stopped, he was stunned. He had once again arrived in the space where he had met Dong Fuyi. Below his feet was still the black lake, and the sky above was still dark and heavy. The lake was still calm, without wind or waves, as if he had been here all along. He was still floating above the surface of the lake.
He immediately understood. Dong Fuyi had said before that this was his Sea of Consciousness. Where else could it be? Could he be different from ordinary people and have many Seas of Consciousness?
He looked around. It was gray and hazy in all directions, with no objects in sight. He could see the whole picture at a glance, let alone any books or cultivation techniques.
Li Yan didn't think Dong Fuyi would go to such great lengths to save him just to deceive him. He knew he just hadn't found it yet. But there was indeed nothing here. He thought of looking further away. Just as he had this thought, his body flew forward. He was so startled that his body swayed in the air for a moment, and then he stopped.
Before, in this Sea of Consciousness, he had tried to move his body. At that time, no matter what he did, he could not take a step or move his body. Now, with just a single thought, he had flown forward on his own. How could he not be surprised? After the initial shock, he slowly calmed his mind and once again used his intent to move forward. He floated forward again, and then slowly accelerated, his flying speed gradually increasing. This discovery made him a little happy. Soon, he was flying around here as if playing. And his movements became more and more skilled, dodging left and right, up and down, having a great time.
After a long while, Li Yan hovered in the air, slowly calming the excitement in his heart. 'Flying is really great. It's fast, and you don't have to follow winding paths. It's a pity this is just an illusion. If only I could really fly,' he thought. At this thought, he couldn't help but feel a little reluctant to leave. He liked this feeling, this feeling of freedom.
Humans, since their birth, have longed to be able to soar freely in the sky like birds. This is a human dream, but it is just a dream. But a moment later, his eyes slowly lit up. Immortals, immortals can fly. Yes, after becoming an immortal, not to mention flying, even ascending to the heavens and burrowing into the earth would be an easy task. At this moment, his heart was filled with an incomparable desire to cultivate. But if Dong Fuyi knew of this thought, he would surely point at him and curse loudly. Before, when he had told him that cultivating could lead to longevity, he didn't want to cultivate and only wanted to go home and be a mortal. Now he wanted to cultivate, but only because he had accidentally discovered the fun of flying. This reason was truly something that made it impossible to remain calm.
Li Yan stood in place for a moment, then cast these thoughts aside. The most important thing now was to find the immortal art book here.
After half a cup of tea's time, he stopped. This space was not very vast, about five or six hundred zhang in size, like a hemisphere. Except for a small lake in the center, the rest of the place was gray and hazy. The ground was a grayish-green, and the sky was gloomy. When he flew to the edge, there seemed to be an invisible force that prevented him from getting any closer, no matter what. He wandered around here, occasionally landing to tap and search. Time passed bit by bit, but he found nothing.
Li Yan stood on the ground. The view before him was open and unobstructed. He could see the gray and hazy sky in the distance. He held his chin in one hand. "I've walked all over this several-hundred-zhang area, and I've searched every suspicious place, but there's nothing. Where is that immortal art book?"
A moment later, he suddenly slapped his forehead and exclaimed to himself, "Stupid." The only obvious thing in this space was the small lake in the center. Could it be that he had overlooked the most obvious place? Thinking this, he got up and flew towards the center.
In a short while, he had reached the small lake in the center. Looking down, the surface of the lake was calm and without waves, the black water like an abyss. Under the water seemed to be a black abyss. "Do I have to go down into the lake? If so, this old man has a really bad sense of humor, making me play a treasure hunt game." He had no choice but to descend into the lake. Hopefully, this lake was not too deep, and he wouldn't have to play any games of holding his breath and diving through winding caves.
But when he landed on the surface of the water, his expression froze again. He couldn't go down into this lake. The lake water was like a smooth black mirror. He could only stand on the surface of the water, unable to sink even half an inch.
Li Yan was completely frustrated. This was the only place that he felt was very likely to hide the book, but in the end, he couldn't go down into the lake. Could he only just look at the mirror-like surface of the lake? "A mirror-like lake surface," a flash of inspiration struck Li Yan's mind. He looked down at the lake surface under his feet again, but unfortunately, there was nothing. At this moment, the dark water surface was as black as Li Yan's face.
Li Yan stood for another moment, then suddenly rose into the air. After flying above the small lake, he narrowed his eyes and focused his spiritual power, probing down towards the lake surface below him. The moment his spiritual power touched the lake surface, the mirror-like black lake water suddenly shone with a golden light, and countless characters appeared densely on it. Li Yan was overjoyed. Before he could see the characters clearly, his weak spiritual power instantly dissipated, and the golden characters in his eyes vanished without a trace. Li Yan stood in the air and couldn't help but let out a long breath. He had finally found it.
He composed himself, gathered his spiritual power again, and probed down towards the lake surface below. Then, the dense golden characters appeared before his eyes again. At the very right edge of the lake, four shimmering golden characters: "True Scripture of Gui Water." To its left were rows of smaller characters arranged neatly in vertical lines. He knew his spiritual power was too weak, so he didn't dare to delay and immediately began to read carefully. This was a matter of his life and the flying he was very concerned about. He couldn't be careless in the slightest.