Chapter Ten Flowing Years Five

  Until the sky was bright, Ji Ruochen finally barely suppressed the surging spiritual power in his meridians. However, he knew that the trouble had not been eliminated yet. At this time, it was not only the meridians, but even his Zifu, Mudan, and Huating were all affected by the Dingqi, with a faint green light appearing, and a solidifying and condensing phenomenon.

  He didn't know how many times he regretted it later, and shouldn't have casually dismantled that unremarkable bronze cauldron. But since having the precedent of the Purple Crystal Oracle, Ji Ruochen knew that the magical artifacts given by true people were all named and surnamed objects, and absolutely couldn't be casually dismantled. It's not like he could just lose things in the Tai Shang Dao De Palace, right? But this way, relying solely on his own cultivation, how could Ji Ruochen catch up to a genius like Ji Bingxian? In desperation, he had no choice but to think of the bronze cauldron.

  Fortunately, Ji Ruochen's luck was not bad, and this half month it was Zi Yang Zhenren's turn to teach. Zi Yang Zhenren did not teach him any lessons, but only reminded him to diligently cultivate the Three Pure True Method, occasionally calling him over for a casual chat about the vastness of the world. As a result, he now had time to calmly merge with the Copper Cauldron Spirit.

  Ji Ruochen hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign at the gate of the courtyard, indicating that he would be in seclusion for several days to cultivate himself. As it turned out, being the top scorer in the imperial examination was not entirely without its benefits. When Zi Yang Zhenren was pleased, he allocated a quiet and secluded small courtyard with three rooms to him as a place for cultivation.

  Ji Ruochen spent seven days in closed cultivation, experiencing many dangers and hardships before finally completing his training. When he opened his eyes, the window outside was bathed in a cold, clear moonlight, already at midnight. As soon as he opened his mouth, he let out a loud whooshing sound and spat out a mouthful of emerald blood, which contained an object that made a crisp sound when it hit the ground.

  Ji Ruocheng's face was pale and he looked very weak. He struggled to get out of bed, picked up the small objects on the bloody floor, and examined them carefully. It was a bronze tripod, with an ancient style, and there were many tiny characters on it that were almost invisible. From its shape, it was clearly the same as the bronze ancient tripod that Ji Ruocheng had disintegrated, only smaller by dozens of times. This small tripod was only a few inches in size, with a faint blue glow, and except for its size, it was no different from the original bronze ancient tripod. The small tripod had a thread of almost imperceptible spiritual energy connected to Ji Ruocheng's body.

  Ji Ruocheng could only smile bitterly. In order to eliminate future troubles, he took a risk and activated the "Li Huo Zhen Jue" (Separating Fire True Method) passed down by Tai Wei Zhen Ren to dissipate the furnace energy. Unexpectedly, he used his own body as the furnace, refining the excess furnace energy into this copper tripod. This was actually the first magical artifact he had refined using only his own strength, without borrowing any precious materials or moving the furnace. Unfortunately, this small tripod seemed completely useless, and Ji Ruocheng's heart was filled with trepidation, not daring to show it to anyone.

  He played with the small tripod for half a day before reluctantly putting it away. Ji Ruochen's retreat this time was quite effective, and the stagnant energy in his meridians had all dissipated. Although the critical areas of Zifu and Nima still had intentions to condense gold, they had also alleviated somewhat. Given more time, he should be able to completely dissolve the tripod energy within his body.

  The moon is already in the west.

  Ziyang Zhenren sat in front of the desk, holding *** Cang, reading with great interest. His Taoist practice had reached this level, he could have gone without sleep or food and still lived a long life.

  At this time, the door creaked softly and Yunfeng walked in, saying: "Master, Yufei has already left the pass. It's strange to say that with his current cultivation level, it's impossible for him to close the pass for seven days. Moreover, I feel that after Yufei left the pass, his true yuan has changed, and there is no vitality around his body, which doesn't seem like the realm that can be achieved by practicing the Three Clear Secrets. That feeling... seems like an object that has been imbued with spiritual energy over time."

  Ziyang Zhenren waved his hand and smiled, "If Chen is a fallen immortal, how can we mortals understand the affairs of immortals? It's normal for him to have some strange things on his body. Moreover, even if we're wrong, would Ziwu Zhenren also be mistaken? Perhaps this is a secret cultivation that has been perfected by one of the true persons, and he secretly passed it on to Ru Chen. However, this matter can't be asked openly. Don't worry, go down."

  Yun Fengdao didn't say anything more and after making a bow, he left the room.

  After Yunfeng left, Ziyang True Person's smile disappeared. He picked up the Taoist scripture in his hand and put it down again, unable to read more than a few lines each time. Ziyang True Person simply threw the scripture aside and got up to pace back and forth. After pacing for dozens of rounds, he finally stood in front of the window, let out a sigh, and thought to himself: "The banished immortal came, the demon left, although it seems that one entering and one leaving is in harmony with the heavenly way, why do I still feel so uneasy? Now that the chaos has appeared in our sect, Ziyang's younger brother, I can only hope that your calculations are correct. Alas, the future of our entire sect depends on you alone... this isn't a good thing."

  Seven days later, Ji Ruochen had just dissipated the initial aura of the tripod. He had refined a mysterious ancient tripod, although unintentionally turning its aura into small bronze tripods, but what was left was not trivial, greatly advancing his True Yuan. Unfortunately, his current cultivation level was too low, and only one in a thousand of the tripod's original energy could be used by him, this waste was simply beyond description.

  After this, the various true immortals were indeed invigorated, and they all praised him for his exceptional natural talent and quick comprehension. Some bestowed magical treasures upon him, while others transmitted secret techniques to him, causing Ji Rufeng to become busy and flustered for a time.

  That night, the monster left, and the entire Taishang Daode Palace was in an uproar, but strangely, there was no movement from the true people afterwards. As time passed, this matter slowly faded away.

  Time flies like a white horse passing through a crevice, Mount Xuanwu is having a heavy snowfall, and another year's end is approaching.

  On the top of Taixuan Peak, a group of busy figures could be seen. The disciples who were still in the Taiqing realm were practicing their swords and cultivating their Dao, completely absorbed in their work. Jingxiao Zhenren and his wife had also put down their miscellaneous tasks and were guiding several young disciples together with some senior brothers and sisters. In the over ten years since Jingxiao Zhenren took charge of Taixuan Peak, Taixuan Palace had become increasingly prosperous. Last year during the annual assessment, it was only narrowly defeated by Yuexu Zhenren's Xuanming Palace, ranking second.

  This year, Jing Xuan Zhenren is determined to make a comeback and plans to take back the first place from Xuanyu Palace, so that he can humiliate Yu Xuan Zhenren.

  On this day, at midnight, a long whistle suddenly sounded on the top of Taixu Peak. The sound was clear and melodious, lingering for a long time without dispersing, and could be heard within a radius of hundreds of feet. Huang Xinglan and Jingxiao Zhenren were playing chess under the lamp when they heard it, and immediately showed joy on their faces, saying: "This is the voice of Yin! Let's go and take a look!"

  The sound of Qi rises, directly reaching the ninth heaven, which is a sign that only appears when the true scripture of the Three Purities has been cultivated to the realm of the True Saint of Taiqing.

  In the blink of an eye, Jing Xiang and his wife appeared in the courtyard where Zhang Yin lived. They happened to see several maids rushing out of the house in disarray, followed by a large vase flying out of the house, whizzing past them. On Taixuan Peak, even ordinary maids had some skills, so they dodged slightly to let the vase pass. However, since Zhang Yin wanted to smash things, no one dared to stop her, watching with their eyes wide open as the valuable antique vase shattered into pieces on the bluestone road.

  "Get out! All of you get out!" Zhang Yin-yin in the room was apparently furious.

  Huang Xinglan hastily walked into the main room and saw Zhang Yin holding a red wooden bookshelf weighing over 100 kilograms with one hand, about to smash it towards the door.

  Zhang Yin saw that it was Huang Xinglan who had entered, and she first froze, then threw the red wooden desk and rushed into her arms, bursting into tears.

  Huang Xinglan was shocked and heartbroken, quickly embracing Zhang Yin-yin tightly and asking urgently: "Yin-yin, what happened? Was someone bullying you? Tell Mom, Mom will help you get revenge! Even if it's Yu Xu's disciple who provoked you, Mom will first catch him and lock him up in the Taixuan Peak for half a month before saying anything! Hmm, no need to say, I think it's probably Yu Xu's doing again! The disciples of other palaces wouldn't dare bully you! You wait, I'll go reason with Yu Xu right now!"

  She grew angrier with each word, and by the last sentence, her voice had taken on a hint of murderous intent.

  Jing Xuan Zhenren, although not a monk, is still the majority of Taoist disciples on Tai Xuan Peak. Huang Xinglan was furious and scolded left and right, almost cursing everyone on Tai Xuan Peak from top to bottom. Not to mention others, just the few fellow disciples standing in the courtyard were all Taoists. Hearing Huang Xinglan's words, they looked at each other, smiled wryly, and no one dared to say another word.

  On this Taixuan Peak, it has always been possible to offend Zhenren Jingxiao, but never provoke Lady Xinglan.

  It was strange that as soon as Zhang Yin heard Huang Xinglan's words, she suddenly stopped crying and only clung to her tightly, refusing to let go. Huang Xinglan immediately sensed something unusual and first chased everyone out of the room before quietly asking Zhang Yin what was wrong.

  Zhang Yin-yin supported herself on her elbow for half a day and then said: "Mom, there's only one month left before the annual examination..."

  Huang Xinglan gazed at Zhang Yin, quietly waiting for her to continue. Zhang Yin's eyes shifted to the side, as if she didn't dare meet Huang Xinglan's gaze directly. She was not good at telling lies or hiding the truth, so she either told the truth or refused to speak altogether. After hesitating for a long time, she finally said: "Uh... I've entered the Taiqing True Saint Realm..."

  Huang Xinglan was taken aback, thinking to herself that this was a good thing. Why would Zhang Yin be so angry and want to cry? Had she made some kind of mistake in her cultivation? She quickly took a closer look, and saw that Zhang Yin's energy and blood were full, her spirit was complete and her intentions were perfect, her condition was as good as it could possibly be.

  At this time, Huang Xinglan asked again in detail, but no matter what, she couldn't get anything out of her. She was even more suspicious in her heart, so after comforting Zhang Yin for a while, she left to find Zhang Jingjiao and discuss it with him carefully to see if there were any problems.

  The college entrance examination arrived as scheduled.

  This year's four major tournaments were quite stable, with not much to talk about. The only thing worth watching was the thrilling matches between Mingyun, Li Xuánzhēn and Shàng Qiūshuǐ. This year's wins and losses turned out to be a reversal of last year's, with Li Xuánzhēn defeating Mingyun, Mingyun defeating Shàng Qiūshuǐ, and Shàng Qiūshuǐ defeating Li Xuánzhēn.

  Ji Ruochen initially entered the sacred realm of Taiqing, and was not favored by others. However, he had many ways to restrain other sects' disciples. For those from Beiji and Xuanming palaces who did not have special Daoist techniques to restrain him, he also had clever methods, either relying on a large number of high-grade talismans to suppress them or relying on the pre-heavenly trigrams to defend himself.

  Compared to his talismanic warfare and endless Taoist secret techniques, the disciples of the other palaces were more afraid of Ji Ruochen's innate hexagrams. Once they encountered this kind of defensive and unyielding battle strategy, the disciples of the other palaces had no choice but to retreat in defeat. The process was truly unbearable. Moreover, Ji Ruochen suddenly made great progress in his Taoist cultivation before the annual examination, and compared to the disciples of the other palaces, he didn't lose out in terms of true yuan either.

  Ming Xin had just entered the realm of Taiqing's divine sacredness, and when he compared his skills with Ji Ruochen, Ji Ruochen was too lazy to bother, raised his hand and struck him unconscious with a Thunder Concealing Lightning Talisman.

  However, Zhang Yin's progress had taken another step forward, and he no longer had the opportunity to meet her with a relatively even skill. In the moment when he knocked down his last opponent, Ji Ruochen somehow felt a sense of loss in his heart.

  This year's exam, Ji Ruocheng won every battle without exception.

  At the end of the first month, Li Xuanzhen suddenly arrived at Tai Chang Palace, excitedly pulling Ji Ruochen to leave, saying that he had finally found the right time to introduce him to Shang Qiushui. Ji Ruochen was confused and hadn't had time to think before being dragged out of the room by Li Xuanzhen, rushing towards the back mountain of Tai Shang Dao De Palace.

  It has been almost a year since Li Xuanzhen first mentioned introducing Shang Qiushui, but in the mountains, there is no concept of day and month, and cultivating the Tao can lead to longevity, so one year is actually nothing.

  On the stone platform on the back mountain, a figure had already stood with a graceful posture. On the platform, an octagonal tour desk was placed, with two evergreen chairs, and several plates of fruit were placed on it, along with a blue porcelain wine jug.

  He sensed that Li Xuanzhen had arrived, and the man immediately turned around, smiling: "Elder Brother Xuanzhen, you've made me wait a whole year for this wine gathering!"

  He suddenly saw that there was another person beside Li Xuanzhen and couldn't help but pause for a moment, his face immediately showing some signs of unease.

  Ji Ruocheng was also taken aback when he saw him at this time.

  Although he wore a Taoist robe, his face was as smooth as cream, and his lips were like cherry blossoms; His eyebrows were like swords, with a hint of elegance in their resolute appearance; His eyes shone like morning stars, revealing a subtle charm that seemed to ripple like waves. Every gesture, every movement, left people savoring the memory, his smile was like a flower blooming at dawn, and when he didn't speak, he seemed like a jade plate covered with frost.

  Ji Ruochen really couldn't have imagined that there would be such a person in the world, and for a moment, he was stunned.

  Li Xuanzhen smiled and said, "Autumn Water Shidi, come, let me introduce you. This is Ji Ruochen, Ji Shixiong. Although he started on the path late, he has a great talent that can be considered as having a profound impact on the world. Just by looking at how the Eight True People look at him differently, you can imagine his abilities. What's even more rare is that Shixiong Ruochen has a spirit like jade and a heart like the sea, with an aura that can swallow mountains and rivers. I really feel inferior compared to him."

  Ji Ruochen's face was thick-skinned, but after listening to Li Xuanzhen's harsh and naked praise, his old face couldn't help but turn red. He hastily shook his hand and said: "My skills are lowly, how can I be worthy of Xuanzhen Master's praise? Autumn Water Master will surely laugh at me."

  Shang Qiu Shui gazed at Ji Ruochen with a pair of starry eyes for a moment before smiling and saying, "Xuan Zhen is right, although Brother Ruochen's cultivation level is low, it's because he started too late. However, his Taoist skills are mysterious and wonderful, originating from the Sanqing True Method, but within the true yuan, there is a great deal of simplicity and elegance. This realm is beyond my comprehension. Brother Ruochen is indeed a great talent! Come on, today the sky is clear and sunny, let's drink wine by the cliff, we won't leave until we're drunk!"

  Li Xuanzhen immediately sat down, picked up the wine jug and sniffed it, laughing: "This jug of Jade Dew Heavenly Wine seems to be at least sixty years old, you really spent a lot! Autumn Water, you stole Tai Yin Zhenren's wine, aren't you afraid of being punished when you go back? But now it's too late for regrets, haha, haha!"

  Ji Ruochen's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and he had a faint feeling that something was off. Although he was young, he was already quite experienced in human relationships and could be considered cunning. He had noticed that after Li Xuancheng's bright laughter, there was a hint of relief.

  Shang Qiushui smiled and said, "Xuan Zhen, you're wrong about this. This year I finally managed to break out of the encirclement and took first place in the annual exam, and only then did Ta Yin's master grant me this jug of wine. Snatching first place from your two hands is a matter of luck, and it's not much different from stealing a pearl from a dragon's mouth."

  On the stone platform, there were only two chairs. Shang Qiushui yielded one chair to Ji Ruochen and with a wave of his sleeve, a gentle breeze brought over a huge stone from afar. He used the stone as a chair and sat down calmly.

  Three people talked and laughed, talking about some legendary stories of gods and immortals, and anecdotes within the sect. Ji Ru Xuan picked up a few interesting things before going up the mountain and told them, also letting Shang Li, who had never been down to Xi Xuan Mountain, listen with relish.

  In an instant, the sun had set behind the western hills, the wine was all gone and the dishes were empty. Only then did the three of them disperse.

  Ji Ruoxuan walked alone towards Taichang Peak, when a gust of mountain wind blew over, and he suddenly felt a chill run down his body. Only then did he realize that his undergarments were soaked through, sticking to his skin with an unbearable cold clamminess.

  Under those watery eyes, he had unknowingly sweated through his heavy clothes.