Chapter Eleven On A Desolate Road

  Years of examination, all the true people to Ji Ruocheng are more praise, even the too hidden true person who is not easy to encourage also encouraged him a few sentences. In the eyes of the too hidden true person, Ji Ruocheng's progress in Tao and secret methods are not worth mentioning, only his turtle shrinkage method developed from the prenatal hexagram is indeed unprecedented, quite difficult and precious.

  The Taoist sect can actually be traced back over three thousand years, accumulating thickly and bursting forth thinly. The disciples under the gate have been cultivating the true method of Sanqing for a long time, and their sharp attacking techniques are unknown in number. When they enter the realm of Shangqing, if Ji Rufei still guards like this and doesn't come out, he won't know how many holes he has been pierced by the opponent's flying sword artifacts.

  Ji Ruochen had another plan in mind, and as soon as the annual examination ended, he devoted himself to studying alchemy and the Xiantian Bagua. The Purple Cloud True Person and the Guardian of Truth True Person were overjoyed, and after carefully instructing him, they also gave him a large number of rare treasures from heaven and earth for use in divination and alchemy. The study of alchemy is not to be taken lightly, as it requires a vast array of medicines to succeed. Although even with deep spiritual practice, one can use true fire to ignite the process, allowing the spiritual energy to enter the medicine, this type of elixir, once refined, would surely cause the winds and clouds to change color and the heavens and earth to tremble. However, this method of refining elixirs was not even dared to be attempted by the Purple Cloud True Person, let alone Ji Ruochen, who had no idea when he could master it. As a beginner in alchemy, he naturally needed to consume large quantities of materials.

  The congenital Bagua image of Zhenzhen True Man is thoroughly explored to the deepest place, and it can really break through the heavenly mechanism. The materials and immortal products spent on this are not less than those of Dan Ding's learning. Therefore, unless one is like Xiangziyun True Man and Shouzhen True Man who spend their whole life studying carefully, just collecting materials alone would be enough to make many Daoist practitioners hesitant to take the step.

  At this time, Ji Ruochen was infatuated with this, and the two true men naturally had to respond. Although he failed many times, but the two palaces had been treasured for thousands of years, and this material was just a tiny bit, how could it be taken seriously?

  Actually, Ji Ruochen was very perceptive in terms of the trigrams and alchemy, not as clumsy as he appeared. Otherwise, how could he have figured out the turtle shell technique from the pre-heavenly trigrams? But despite being able to successfully refine the elixir and divine the trigrams once, he insisted on dividing it into three attempts. Most of the raw materials that failed in the first two attempts had actually been quietly dissolved by him to replenish his own yuanqi.

  All the materials given to Ji Ruochen by the various True Ones were not things that exuded spiritual energy. With these supplements, Ji Ruochen's cultivation progress slowly caught up. However, looking back, although he had countless disciples behind him, in front of him, Ji Bingxian and others seemed to be getting farther and farther away. The gap in their cultivation progress was actually widening bit by bit.

  Knowing that everyone's natural talent and opportunities are different, this matter cannot be forced. In the end, I can only let out a long sigh.

  Every day passed in a flurry of activity until the snowflakes fell again, and Ji Ruoxue suddenly realized that another year had passed.

  The years are approaching in the calm, repetitive and somewhat dull days. Ji Ruocheng sat up at night, his heart was like a lake under the moonlight, clear as a mirror, without any ripples.

  Suddenly, a girl's figure slowly rose from the lake. She hung her head and didn't dare to look up, her hands twisting in front of her body, obviously in a state of extreme anxiety. And Ji Ruochen was standing behind her, the wooden sword in his hand trembling slightly, unsure whether he should strike or not.

  A bright moon slowly rises, casting a silver glow over the lake's surface.

  Ji Ruochen finally struck down with one sword, but under the moonlight by the lake, she was so gentle and elegant, where was even a hint of arrogance and recklessness? And in that slender figure, there seemed to be something else. Ji Ruochen's heart skipped a beat, his hand trembled, the wooden sword initially sharp, later weak, finally hitting her buttocks with a slap, what was originally a 100% punishment, turned into 10% punishment and 90% flirtation.

  She was struck as if by lightning, suddenly turning her head back, their eyes met, and it seemed like a flash of lightning. The girl didn't say a word, suddenly turned around and ran away, her flustered appearance was like that of a startled white rabbit.

  Only Ji Ruocheng stood still, holding his sword.

  He suddenly woke up from his illusion and realized that he was still in meditation, nourishing his true yuan, and must not move or have any distracting thoughts.

  Ji Ruochen let out a soft sigh, and upon careful calculation, he realized that two years had already passed. In those two years, Zhang Yinyin never appeared before him again, and he was also at odds with the disciples of Taixuan Peak, so he didn't have any excuse to visit Taixuan Peak. The Tai Shang Dao De Palace covered a vast area, not smaller than a large city in the mortal world, making it almost impossible to run into someone by chance on the road.

  As soon as Ji Ruocheng thought of this, his heart surged uncontrollably. The calm lake under the moon suddenly churned and foamed, transforming into a massive wave in an instant! Suddenly, the mud pellet moved, and a drop of emerald green liquid emerged, slowly falling onto the mysterious aperture. In that instant, Ji Ruocheng's body was filled with a strange fragrance, his eyes shone brightly, and the true yuan in his chest surged like a tidal wave. Uncontrollably, he let out a long whistle, its sound like a dragon's roar, accompanied by the faint sound of bells tolling and cauldrons ringing. The whistling sound pierced through the clouds, shocking everyone in the Taichang Palace!

  The Taichang Palace had many disciples, and after hearing the midnight whistle, they knew that another person had entered the realm of Taiqing Zhen Sheng. This was something that everyone was already used to, and no one paid attention to it, each going about their own business.

  In the Taiyuan Palace, there were two other veteran elders who were the younger brothers of the Ziyang True Man. One was reading a book and the other was refining elixirs. After hearing the whistling sound, they both had a look of doubt on their faces, but after thinking for a moment, they continued to read and refine, without further investigation.

  Yun Feng Dao Chang was originally in the quiet room for quiet cultivation, but was suddenly awakened by Ji Ruocheng's whistle, and also had a surprised expression. He seemed to be thinking of something, put on his clothes and got out of bed, came to the outer room, and began to carefully search through the shelves full of Taoist scriptures, after a moment he pulled out a book called "The Chronicles of the Earthly Immortals", and started reading it carefully.

  Ziyang Zhenren was holding *** Cang, pacing back and forth on one side while reading it carefully. When the sound of a dragon's roar entered through the window, he looked shocked, and the Taoist scripture in his hand fell to the ground with a "pa" sound.

  There were still three days until the college entrance examination.

  Ji Ruochen did not expect to run into Zhang Yin at the first exam of the year. It wasn't until Ji Ruochen stepped into the examination hall that Zhang Yin realized she hadn't misheard the examiner's announcement of his name.

  Two people stood facing each other, staring at each other for a long time, and for a moment, neither of them remembered to make a move. Before they knew it, some matches in the nearby arena had already produced winners and losers, but Ji Ruochen and Zhang Yinyin were still standing motionless. The chief examiner noticed something was amiss here and furrowed his brow. But one was a senior disciple taught by the Eight Trigrams True Person, and the other was the beloved daughter of the Jingxiao True Person - neither of whom he wanted to offend. So he cleared his throat several times, as a reminder.

  Ji Ruochen suddenly realized his mistake and immediately drew his sword and bowed with a fist, saying: "Yin Yin..."

  But before he could finish his greeting, Zhang Yin suddenly raised her wooden sword as if startled, and it shook nine times in an instant. Each time it shook, a layer of blue light appeared on the sword, and by the ninth shake, the entire sword was enveloped in a blue glow.

  Ji Ruochen was shocked, completely not expecting that she had already cultivated such a powerful Aquarius sword energy. Before he could even react, his entire field of vision was filled with a blue glow, and Zhang Yinyin suddenly charged forward with her sword, merging with it! The sword hadn't even arrived yet, but the fierce killing intent had already caused Ji Ruochen's hair to stand on end!

  Ji Ruocheng never thought that two years later, they would meet again, and Zhang Yin would actually use a desperate stance as soon as they met!

  He didn't think twice, acting on instinct, and with a slight nod, he let Zhang Yin's wooden sword pass by. Then, his figure was like smoke, silently and quietly moving to her back, the wooden sword swung in a circle, and struck down at the back of her head!

  Just as the wooden sword was about to touch Zhang Yin's occipital bone, Ji Ruochen finally came to his senses and hastily applied a fierce force to stop the momentum of the wooden sword.

  Mu Jian was a hair's breadth away from Zhang, her black hair tied up with a purple gold flying phoenix hairpin, and in the mouth of the phoenix, a round pearl lightly touched the blade of Mu Jian's sword and then bounced back.

  Zhang Yin's momentum didn't stop, despite finding that Ji Rufei's figure had already disappeared from view. She continued to charge forward for several meters before finally stopping in her tracks. She turned around in shock, and the pearl hairpin on her head suddenly broke into over a dozen pieces. Her beautiful hair cascaded down like a waterfall.

  Zhang Yin's small mouth was slightly ajar, her lips had lost all color, and the corners of her eyes were already welling up with tears. Ji Ruochen hadn't expected Zhang Yin to fall in just one move either, and for a moment he stood there frozen in shock.

  Zhang Yin suddenly threw down the wooden sword, turned around and ran quickly. Her hair flew in the air, her skirt sleeves fluttered, like a colorful cloud, slowly disappearing into the distance.

  The referee shouted loudly: "Ji Ruochen wins! The next match begins!"

  Another disciple came down to the scene, bowed his fist and saluted Ji Ruochen, calling out "Shi Xiong" several times before Ji Ruochen, who was in a daze, heard him. As soon as Ji Ruochen turned around, he saw that although this disciple's etiquette was impeccable, there was a hint of disdain in his eyes, and his smile seemed to carry a mocking tone.

  "Please spare my life, Brother Dust..." the disciple said. But was there even a hint of humility in his words? As he spoke, he took out a talisman. The talisman had a dark yellow color and was clearly made from high-quality symbol paper infused with heavenly machine grass. The symbols on it were quite complex, and at first glance, one could tell that it was a powerful Heavenly Heart Talisman.

  Ji Ruoxin's mind was in a mess, seeing this person being so arrogant and full of hostility, her anger surged up instantly. Without saying much, she also returned the courtesy, then pulled out a talisman from her bosom.

  The talisman was golden yellow in color, with blue borders, and was covered with dense, crimson cinnabar characters. In the center, a dark red seal was affixed. On the surface of the talisman, blood-like streaks flowed, and flames flickered faintly.

  The younger brother was greatly shocked and immediately cried out: "Spare your life, Brother Dust!..."

  A flash of fire streaked across.

  "Ji Ruocheng wins!" The chief examiner shouted loudly, then walked to Ji Ruocheng's side and said in a low voice: "Ruocheng, it's better not to use these imperial golden tokens, this is just the Taiqing True Saint Realm's annual exam!"

  Ji Ruocheng looked at the disciple who was carried out of the field with a charred body and said woodenly, "The Imperial Golden Token can't be used? That's fine, I still have over a dozen Guardian Jade Tokens."

  The host was shocked again and hurriedly said: "This can't be used either! If you get hit once more, you might suffer a relapse!"

  This time it was Ji Ruochen's turn to be slightly shocked, and he asked back: "What, can't even a True Saint realm disciple withstand the Guardian Void Jade Symbol?"

  The master scolded him secretly, thinking that since you are favored by the true people, of course, you can bear the burden of guarding the void seal. What other young disciples could possibly be like you, covered in protective artifacts all over their body?

  But he still wore a calm smile on his face, stroking his beard and saying: "Ruoxuan, I know you have exceptional talent in the Symbol Record, but to be on the safe side, it's best if you only use the Heavenly Heart Seal."

  Ji Ruo nodded in response. But when the next opponent entered, his face was as cold as frost, and the killing aura on his body rose again.

  This year's age examination, Ji Ruocheng was injured in seventeen places, but still won every battle.

  After the age exam, Ji Ruochen's materials for making artifacts had increased a lot, and the courtyard with three rooms was somewhat cramped.

  At the end of the first month, Ji Ruocheng was ordered by Zi Yang Zhenren to deliver a small box of medicinal materials to Yu Xuan Zhenren in Dan Yuan Palace. After receiving the medicine, Yu Xuan Zhenren was overjoyed and had one of his disciples take Ji Ruocheng on a tour of the entire Dan Yuan Palace.

  The Dan Yuan Palace's water pavilion and tower were exquisitely beautiful, but that was not the most unique aspect of this place. What made it truly stand out was the numerous strange birds and beasts roaming about the flower clusters and stone edges, their names unknown to him. Compared to these exotic creatures, even the lovely young female disciples flitting about seemed somewhat unremarkable to him.

  After Yu Da's big tour of Dan Yuan Palace, it was already dusk. Ji Ruocheng bid farewell to Yu Xuan Zhenren and returned to Tai Chang Peak alone. However, during this visit to Dan Yuan Palace, Han Yan was in closed retreat for purification and did not meet him.

  Ji Ruochen felt a sense of loss in his heart, and as he walked into the Dan Yuan Palace for the first time, he wasn't paying attention and took a wrong turn. He turned around and around but couldn't find the main gate, and instead went deeper into the palace. After walking for a while, he realized something was off, and just as he was about to ask a nearby Dan Yuan Palace disciple for directions, he suddenly caught a whiff of a faint, strange fragrance. The scent was unusual, like the smell of flowers, but it floated around him in a way that was different from ordinary flower scents. Moreover, the fragrance seemed to have a consciousness, touching Ji Ruochen's body and then retreating, circling around him from afar and continuing to probe behind him.

  At this moment, a white shadow flashed on the distant road, and a small beast like a cat or a weasel crossed the road, following a thread of fragrance, and darted into a garden. In an instant, all the strange fragrances quickly retreated, looking at the source, it was in the garden where the little beast disappeared. Before Ji Yichen could react, the little beast's anger suddenly disappeared.

  Ji Ruochen was startled and ran along the main road to the side of the garden, looking around in a daze.

  On the other side of the garden is a row of houses, which seems to be the residence of Tan Yuan Palace disciples. The garden is full of rare flowers and trees, with artificial hills standing upright, and there is also a pool of clear water, very elegant.

  Under a fake mountain rock, a man in green clothes was standing upright, holding the small beast in his hand. The small beast didn't move at all, as if it were asleep. However, Ji Ruocheng's spiritual awareness was extremely sharp and he already knew that the small beast had long been dead. For some reason, the man's figure was blurry and unclear.

  That man locked eyes with Ji Ruochen, and suddenly let out a cry of surprise. Ji Ruochen's vision blurred for an instant, and then his neck tightened as if it was being constricted by an iron hoop. It turned out that the man had already lifted him up with one hand.

  Ji Ruocheng was shocked in his heart, knowing that his own cultivation and the opponent's were really worlds apart. Even at this distance, the man's figure was sometimes clear and sometimes blurry. On the surface, he seemed to be a middle-aged man with a gentle face and no distinctive features, but when Ji Ruocheng concentrated his gaze, he would occasionally see another face under that appearance - one with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, majestic and awe-inspiring.

  "Can you see me?" The man asked slowly.

  Ji Ruocheng's throat was choked by him, and he couldn't even speak, let alone answer. The man didn't wait for his response and said directly: "Your Tao is so lowly, yet you can see me, your spiritual awareness is sharp, I'm afraid that even if we searched the entire sect, we wouldn't find many people like you. What a pity! If it wasn't for this spiritual awareness, you wouldn't have interfered in other people's business and fallen into my hands."

  Ji Ruofa heard the murderous intent in his words, and was extremely shocked. However, he didn't have any strength left in his body, not even enough to move a single finger. Moreover, the man's grip had sealed off the air within a radius of ten feet, making it impossible for Ji Ruofa to even stir up his true yuan or activate the magical artifacts on his body to seek help.

  The man said, "You can rest assured, I won't kill you. The methods of the true men are mysterious and profound; if I were to kill you, they would definitely be able to track me down. It's not time for me to leave the Dao De Sect yet... however..."

  He smiled and said, "Since you've fallen into my hands, your fate will probably be worse than death."

  That man stood leisurely in the courtyard of Dan Yuan Palace, talking incessantly, completely disregarding the disciples of Dan Yuan Palace who came and went not far away. It was also strange that those disciples were just dozens of feet away, but no one noticed the eerie man standing in the garden.

  Ji Ruocheng thus already knew that the man's Taoist practice was extremely high, although his face was sometimes hidden and sometimes revealed, looking very young and handsome. However, those who have achieved success in their cultivation all have techniques to stop aging, so it is impossible to tell their age from their appearance.

  He looked at Ji Ruochen for a while, then suddenly smiled and said: "So you're that Ji Ruochen? In that case, I definitely can't kill you. But don't worry, I'm a man of great benevolence and righteousness, before your downfall, I'll let you enjoy some romantic warmth. However, if that girl's temper is fierce enough to pierce you with one sword, it has nothing to do with me! If you're lucky enough not to die, that's also fine. Let me tell you, my current appearance and voice are all transformed by my Taoist skills, even if your cultivation advances another ten levels, you still won't be able to see my true face."

  As they spoke, the man suddenly reached out and untied Ji Ruochen's robe, pulling his shirt and pants down to his knees. Then, a fine stream of heat flowed from his right hand, tracing along Ji Ruochen's throat all the way down to his lower body. In an instant, Ji Ruochen's lower body was erect like a spear, and he felt an unspeakable pain and discomfort.

  The man laughed and said: "Go and enjoy yourself!" As he spoke, he had already thrown Ji Ruochen out!

  Ji Ruochen still couldn't speak or move, and could only watch as he flew tens of feet away, towards the winged house where the Dan Yuan Palace disciples lived. When he flew to a small room at the side, the window opened by itself without any wind, and he entered through it.

  The room was filled with misty vapor, and in the center of it stood a huge wooden tub. In the tub was a young woman, bathing and wiping her body.

  She came as silently as dust, without warning or omen, and it was not until she flew directly over the wooden tub that she became aware of anything.

  With a bang, the window closed by itself, and all the restraints on Ji Ruochen's body were gone. He fell straight down and landed in the wooden bucket with a thud, pressing himself tightly against the woman's body, embracing her warmly for a moment.

  The girl was shocked and let out a sharp cry. Ji Ruochen, in his panic, stretched out his hand to support himself and tried to climb out of the bathtub, but unexpectedly, his hands landed on her chest, and instead of pulling her up, he ended up pushing her underwater, and her cry was muffled by the water.

  The bathtub is narrow, and for a moment it's like dust on **the skin, all over is a warm and smooth feeling.

  In the midst of chaos, a powerful force suddenly came from under the water and heavily struck Ji Ruochen's abdomen. His body involuntarily flew out of the bathtub, and as soon as he was out, he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

  The bathtub burst into pieces in an instant. The woman held a wooden stick, using the wood as a sword, and rushed towards Ji Ruochen who was suspended in mid-air!

  Ji Ruochen's chest and abdomen hurt like a knife twisting, in the midst of danger, he manipulated his true yuan, barely dodging to the side with great difficulty, narrowly avoiding this fatal sword. She rushed past his head, but still stretched out her foot and stepped on Ji Ruochen's waist. Ji Ruochen let out another muffled groan, feeling as if he had been trampled by a giant beast tens of meters high, heavily falling to the ground. As he felt dizzy, he also felt like there were thorns on his back, knowing that the woman had turned around and was killing him again. This time, no matter what, he couldn't dodge it anymore.

  Helpless, he had no choice but to stretch out his hand and crush a pearl that was hanging from his neck.

  At the moment of life and death, Ji Ruocheng's heart suddenly let out a bitter smile. It turned out that this grand Tai Shang Daode Palace was not a peaceful place either.