Chapter 40: Meat Bone

  Yang Yun returned to the dock and ran into Meng Chao, Lian Pingyuan and others who were returning with their heads hung low in dejection, obviously having been subjected to a lot of humiliation at the Criminal Department.

  A few irritable islanders were muttering curses under their breath.

  "What kind of official is this, with nostrils reaching up to heaven? Truly detestable!"

  "A bunch of corrupt officials, it's clear that we bought this ship with our hard-earned money, but they just shut it down with a single word."

  Seeing Yang Yun, Meng Chao slightly shook his head, indicating that this trip had no results.

  "Don't even worry about your brother, I've already asked a noble person for help, and this matter should be resolved by tomorrow." Yang Yun said.

  "Really?" Lian Pingyuan asked in surprise, "Which noble person is it?"

  "You don't need to worry about this anymore, just wait for the boat to arrive tomorrow."

  Lian Pingyuan and a group of islanders were overjoyed, dragging Yang Yun and Meng Chao to the tavern for another round of cheers and drinks.

  When the wine was warm and the ears were red, several people discussed what to do after retrieving the boat.

  Yang Yun said that the nobleman's move was limited to this one time and couldn't be relied upon by everyone, leaving Ping Yuan and others slightly disappointed.

  "This time we've offended the small people, it seems that Fengming Prefecture can't be escaped." After these past few days' events, they already knew that the Four Seas Alliance had considerable influence in Fengming Prefecture. If they still wanted to run the Fengming Prefecture route, they feared there would be endless trouble in the future.

  "Let's run to Jinghai County then." This time it was Meng Chao's idea. "Although it's just a county, the market is quite prosperous, and the Four Seas Alliance hasn't reached that far into the county yet."

  Meng Chao was very familiar with the Jianghu forces in Jinghai County, after all, he was a local. Moreover, although his Meng family had declined, there were still some relatives and friends, fellow disciples and so on, which could be considered as a small snake head in Jinghai County, but he was broad-minded and never relied on this force.

  After having enough wine and food, everyone bid farewell. Yang Yun and Meng Chao returned to the Haitian Academy already at night.

  Meng Chao returned directly to his dormitory, while Yang Yun wanted to go up the mountain to practice the Moon Flower True Classic, so he went alone to the Xifeng Pavilion.

  Before practicing, Yang Yun thought for a moment. With the intervention of Duke Youfu, the matter of Changfeng Number should be settled. However, he still didn't know why the Four Seas Alliance targeted Lian Pingyuan and others.

  Yang Yun soon put the matter of Si Hai Meng behind him, what he was more concerned about was that even if he had settled the karma with Fu Guo Gong this time, there would be many entanglements in the future.

  Owing people favors is a very troublesome thing for cultivators, and if one isn't careful, they will be drawn into the worldly affairs and lose their Dao heart, wasting their cultivation.

  The wind rises from the end of Qing Ting, letting the cultivator hear the name and change the color of the three calamities of heaven, earth and man. In the human calamity, it often starts with some minor causes and consequences, eventually brewing into a great calamity.

  Yang Yun's path of cultivation may be worldly, but such matters must still be approached with utmost caution.

  "Alas, Duke Fuguo, why did you have to say that we won't need three thousand taels of silver in the future?" Yang Yun sighed and knew that wanting to understand cause and effect with silver was just his own extravagant hope.

  Yang Yun put aside all mundane thoughts and began to circulate the Moon Flower True Qi.

  Today he had two drinks, and the intoxicating effect still lingered. Yang Yun didn't deliberately use his internal energy to clear it out. He had long discovered that this slightly drunken state was actually beneficial for cultivating the Moon Flower True Classic.

  In the blink of an eye, three weeks had passed in cultivation, and the Moonlight True Qi had grown stronger by a thread. Yang Yun suddenly had an idea, today's events had made the Seven Emotions Pearl play a significant role, come to think of it, this thing was already his own life-bound treasure, shouldn't he try to refine it?

  The Seven Emotions Pearl is his own innate treasure, and it's also a rare treasure that can be refined by the heart. Coincidentally, he had opened up his Sea of Consciousness ahead of time, and under various conditions, Yang Yun was able to refine the Seven Emotions Pearl.

  These days, Jing Haitang has been replicating ancient books and studying in the Jingxuan Hall, while Zhenyuan has been deducing the method of refining the Seven Emotions Pearl. The small Zhou Tian Xuan Dou array had already been studied thoroughly, and based on past experiences, Zhenyuan deduced an even more efficient method of refinement, which was just completed today.

  The subtlety of Xin Lian's method is unmatched; as soon as Yang Yun's mind stirred, changes had already begun in the sea of consciousness.

  In the sea of recognition, the illusory moon and heavenly timing corresponded. At this time, it was a shape approaching full moon. The heart's refinement had just begun, and the round moonlight in the void shone brightly, casting its bright silver light on that ugly doghouse, thickly as if about to drip down.

  Before long, a silver mist enveloped the entire doghouse. The black dog, who was sleeping soundly, reacted by twitching its nose twice, opening one eye to observe for a moment, and finally using its two front legs to lift its body off the ground.

  The little black dog walked out of the kennel, wagging its tail, and stretched out its tongue to greedily lick the floating silver mist. Saliva dripped down one by one, making Yang Yun look on in dismay.

  A silver mist floated back and forth, a small black dog licked it for a while before becoming impatient, opening its mouth to bark twice, spitting out a white symbol.

  The runes flew into the air, and a silver mist formed a whirlwind around the runes, spinning faster and faster as more and more silver mist swirled in, until finally only a ball of silver light was seen revolving rapidly around a white point.

  A dense silver light condensed into a solid object, and with a loud thud, it fell to the ground. To Yang Yun's astonishment, it was actually a human femur, and his eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets.

  Alas, how could my own Heart Refining Technique turn out like this? Thinking back to when I used the technique in my past life, wasn't it always accompanied by auspicious energy, radiant light, dragons and phoenixes dancing together, and spiritual energy soaring into the sky? This time's Heart Refining Technique has actually turned into something that looks like feeding a skeleton, it's simply unbearable for even Uncle to tolerate, let alone Grandma.

  Change! Must change!

  But even in his own cognitive ocean, Yang Yun was not able to think whatever he wanted.

  Just like the illusory moon in the sky, Yang Yun can also do without the moon and hang a sun or a duck instead, but the cost is that it will be resisted by the subconscious, leading to stagnation of the sea of recognition, waste of true energy, and even the danger of walking into madness.

  Moreover, this black dog looks inconspicuous, but it is actually the true spirit of Tiangou Stone, and has become Yang Yun's natal magic treasure. In a sense, Yang Yun's sea of consciousness is no longer just his own, but should be shared by two people - no, it's one person and one dog.

  Digging to the root of the matter, it's clear that this incident with the bone stick is a result of that black dog's subconscious mischief. To resolve this issue, we must start from this root cause.

  Yang Yun smiled and walked up to the black dog, stroking the white fur on its head.

  "I say Xiao Hei - hmm, do you mind me calling you Xiao Hei? You're a heavenly dog after all, can't you have a bit more taste? Bones and sticks are what ordinary dogs like, can't we change it up a bit, how about this?"

  Yang Yun stretched out his right hand, and a small cluster of silver light shot out from the tip of his finger, condensing into the shape of a dan medicine. The dan medicine was round and flawless, with a faint silver glow flowing inside it.

  "Take a look at this! You're also a Taoist dog, you should be eating elixirs and drinking pure dew, forget about those bones."

  The black dog looked at the elixir that Yang Yun had conjured up and snorted in disdain, turning its head to face its buttocks towards Yang Yun.

  Yang Yun looked at Huo Da, almost kicking him with one foot. Just as he was about to kick, the black dog suddenly let out a loud howl towards the sky.

  "Woof woof — Woof woof woof"

  Dozens of white runes flew into the sky and transformed into dozens of flying skeletal bones after a moment.

  Yang Yun's finger tip's Dan medicine suddenly exploded, he opened his mouth wide and speechlessly stared at the dozens of meat bones falling from the sky, piling up a small mountain at his feet.

  The black dog still didn't give up and started barking wildly again.

  "Are you kidding me? You want the bones too?" Yang Yun cried out in dismay.

  Bones and sticks fell down like hailstones, and at the same time Yang Yun felt his Moon Flower True Qi leaving him like a mighty river.

  The illusory moon in the sky trembled, looking like a reflection on rippling water blown by the wind. This was due to the excessive consumption of Moon Essence True Qi that could no longer be supported.

  The little black dog barked more and more fiercely, and actually jumped onto a small hill made of bones, looking up at the moon with a long howl.

  "You're a dog, not a wolf." Yang Yun said in despair under the pile of bones.

  As the black dog let out a long howl, a huge golden character appeared in the sky, looking like it was ablaze with flames and had an extraordinary aura.

  Yang Yun hadn't even seen clearly, the golden runes had already flown onto Huan Yue and merged into her.

  The originally flat and mirror-like Fantasic Moon now has a faint moon spot, which upon closer inspection is the shape of an Osmanthus tree.

  Yang Yun's heart skipped a beat as he felt his physical body was slightly abnormal, and he hastily exited the sea of consciousness. To his astonishment, he found that a large amount of Moon Flower Spiritual Energy had gathered around his body, condensing into countless tiny silver light points that fluttered up and down like fireflies.

  These coalesced spiritual energies seemed to be attracted by the Seven Emotions Pearl, and from time to time, silver light dots disappeared into the bracelet.

  Why wouldn't one seize the opportunity to cultivate oneself when encountering such a good thing?

  Just after operating the Moon Flower True Classic, the small dots of condensed moonlight flew into the already successful Qihai hole like moths to a flame. Under the impact of the surging spiritual energy, the true energy of the moon in the meridians grew rapidly and became strong. The stream that was about to dry up suddenly turned into a raging river. With the powerful impact of the true energy, the Zong Palace Hole was successfully condensed at once. Yang Yun felt his heart clear, as if a tightly closed door had been opened in his chest, allowing fresh air to penetrate directly into his heart and lungs.

  The mind returned to the sea of consciousness, and the illusory moon in the sky was emitting a faint glow, illuminating the space of the sea of consciousness with a bright light.

  Yang Yun suddenly changed from great sorrow to great joy.

  "Baby, you're such a good baby."

  Yang Yun couldn't help but want to hug the black dog and give it a kiss.

  What kind of treasure is most precious to a cultivator? Undoubtedly, it's something that can assist in cultivation and enhance one's cultivation level. Who would have thought that this Tian Gou stone actually has the effect of condensing Moonlight Spiritual Energy.

  Although it can only gather spiritual energy within a range of several hundred meters at this stage, during the Qi Refining and Pores Condensing period, this is an against-the-sky treasure.

  When Yang Yun came to, he found that the little black dog and the mountain-like bone were all gone. After searching for a while, he finally discovered that the little black dog had returned to its kennel, snoring loudly, but compared to before, its belly was noticeably rounder.

  Is this all you're going to eat?

  Yang Yun stared with his mouth agape and after a long while, he sighed: "This guy can eat even more than me!"