From a Zhengyi Taoist Child to a Master of All Laws

Chapter 638 Advancement of the Southern Sea Sword

Dali, the imperial palace.

For a celestial being like Zhang Hengming, three days is but a blink of an eye. But for the royal family and ministers of the Great Li Dynasty, who are bound to the ground, every second is torture.

Most of them didn't know what had happened; they just watched helplessly as the imperial palace, the center of power of the Great Li Dynasty, was destroyed, and then they were captured and brought here like ants, like imprisoned pigs.

But tragically, for many ordinary people in this world, this is their fate.

After gaining control of the royal family and ministers of Dali, Zhang Hengming's first action was to seal off the city.

His blockade was a complete blockade; with a casual wave of his hand, vast swaths of leaden-black clouds surged from his sleeves, blotting out the sky and completely obscuring the entire city of Jianruo.

During these three days, he forbade anyone from entering or leaving Jianruo City.

At first, the residents of Jianruo City did not notice anything unusual, only thinking that a heavy rain was about to fall. However, they began to panic when they gradually discovered that the entire city of Jianruo was blocked by thick clouds and they could not enter or leave the city.

Then, someone discovered a ruined palace, along with the Great Li Emperor and his nobles bound within the ruins.

So this panic did not lead to hysterical anger and outburst, but instead turned into trembling fear. They closed their doors and locked themselves in their homes, praying that the tyrannical street guards would not target them.

A dozen kilometers away from Jianruo City, Li Qing, a slender figure carrying a large backpack, gazed at the thick fog in the distance, his heart filled with unprecedented worry.

"Immortal, are you alright?"

"Really... will we ever see each other again...?"

The wind rustled through the branches of the roadside trees. Li Qing squatted on the ground, feeling like crying again.
But I forced myself to stop the tears.
She wanted to run back to find the White Cloud Immortal, but she knew that going back now would only be a waste of her life and would only become a burden.

Looking back at Jianruo City, now shrouded in thick clouds, Li Qing adjusted her pack, wiped away her tears, and continued on her way.

However, at that moment, an extremely piercing roar suddenly rang out tens of thousands of meters in the sky.

A fiery cloud flew in from the south, like a crimson shooting star, and stopped in front of Jianruo City, which was shrouded in mist. It circled several times, illuminating the surrounding area with red light, which looked extremely mysterious and magnificent.

The moment Li Qing turned his head and saw the swirling fiery clouds, his face turned deathly pale, and he quickly lowered his head and quickened his pace.

However, the fiery cloud several thousand meters away still noticed her, because among the thousands of residents who had managed to escape Jianruo City, her innate cultivation level was extremely conspicuous.

"Whoosh!"

With a deafening roar, the fiery cloud suddenly flew towards Li Qing's direction, turning trees, flowers, and mortals along the way to ashes before they could even utter a scream.

"Hey, little Xiu, stop running away. I have some questions for you."

In the blink of an eye, the fiery cloud, several kilometers away, had stopped in front of Li Qing, blocking her path.
Anger, fear, helplessness, insignificance... a dozen emotions flowed through Li Qing's eyes. Gritting his teeth, Li Qing continued to flee in the opposite direction with his pack on his back.

"You country bumpkin, how dare you be so disrespectful to me?"

A small flame floated lightly out of the fire cloud at great speed, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a huge fireball that engulfed the fleeing Li Qing.

"Ah!" Li Qing still wanted to resist, but with her meager cultivation, she hadn't even learned a single Dao technique. After a violent explosion, the baggage on Li Qing's back was completely reduced to ashes, and Li Qing herself was also completely blackened. She was blasted more than ten meters away by the aftershocks of the explosion, crashing into and breaking several giant trees along the way.

"Ok?"

The fiery cloud seemed extremely surprised that Li Qing had survived the attack, and it contracted and changed rapidly, eventually transforming into a man dressed in red brocade.

The man was extremely handsome, even somewhat feminine, with a face as white as jade. A red mark between his eyebrows added a touch of evil to his effeminate features.

Upon seeing that red robe from his nightmare again, Li Qing, writhing in excruciating pain on the ground, didn't react with revenge, but with a desire to escape.
Without hesitation, they fled at all costs.

And that's exactly what she did, but the man in the red robe clearly wouldn't let him have his way.

Just as she struggled to her feet, a thin red thread bound Li Qing tightly. The more she struggled, the tighter the thread tightened, eventually cutting into her flesh.

"A lot has happened in your Great Li during this period."

"I am the Fire Crow Daoist under the Immortal Venerable of Purgatory Valley. If you won't tell me what's going on in the city, then I'll have to come and see for myself."

Fire Crow Daoist chuckled evilly, then his five fingers clenched into a fist, and Li Qing, who had been bound into a long strip, was now being held by the throat and lifted into the air.

Just as he was about to search Li Qing's soul, Huo Ya Dao Zi frowned slightly as he looked at Li Qing's face, which was covered in soot.
Just now, Li Qing's fair skin made him unrecognizable, but now that Li Qing was covered in black ash, it immediately stirred up some memories in him.

“I recognize you. You were that mortal from the village three months ago.”

"But you should be dead already..."

The Fire Crow Daozi, hovering in mid-air, squinted as he held Li Qing, who was about to faint from suffocation, in his hand, his gaze deep and unfathomable.
-
The Imperial Palace, an unnamed space.

The moment he saw the mural, a phantom mountain involuntarily appeared in Li Yang's palm. The mountain was yellowish-brown and possessed a power that seemed capable of crushing space itself.

Although it was only the size of a palm, its aura was incredibly majestic, manifesting in Li Yang's mind as strands of yellow energy continuously descended.

The "Ultimate Path Treasure Mirror" within Li Yang's body also manifested in response, with the image of the sun and moon appearing between his brows, causing Li Yang's aura to continuously rise.
By this point, even the slow-witted Li Yang would know exactly what this mural was.

This is actually a fundamental method! A method of consuming Qi of extremely high standard!
"So, Zhang Hengming spent the last ten years of his life on this fundamental method?"

"Zhang Hengming probably doesn't know that the root method cannot be received by a carrier. It is not a scripture in the traditional sense. It cannot be recorded with things like paper and jade slips. It can only be stored in heaven and earth, or be imparted by a master above the human immortal level..."

I never imagined it could be passed down through murals!

Li Yang stroked the huge crimson jade disc and the scratches on the mural, feeling a pang of regret. "It's a pity that this fundamental technique is incomplete. Someone destroyed part of it and lost many key parts. Even if one cultivates it, it will cause unimaginable consequences."

Even though it is incomplete, it is still a fundamental teaching. There are only twenty-eight fundamental teachings in the world, and they are still supreme treasures.

Although Li Yang had already cultivated the Sun and Moon Root Technique, collecting another one was never a bad thing.

Li Yang immediately sat cross-legged and began to study the incomplete root law beneath the jade disc.

With Li Yang's current cultivation level and talent, it didn't take him long to master and memorize all the root methods on the jade disc.

Li Yang's guess was correct. The jade disc was indeed engraved with one of the Five Elements Root Methods, the "Yinghuo Food Qi Method". Unfortunately, the jade disc was damaged, and Li Yang estimated that only 60% of the content remained.

"What a pity, what a pity! This precious land that the Bai family ancestors carefully prepared for their descendants has suddenly become a benefit for someone else!"

Along with the "Yinghuo Food Qi Method," which Li Yang deciphered, he also discovered the explanation of this space on the jade disc.

This space is the ancestral land of the Bai family of Dali. To open this space, one needs the dragon energy of Dali and a direct descendant of the Bai family.
Zhang Hengming clearly knew something; he couldn't possibly possess the dragon energy of the Great Li Dynasty. Therefore, he had remained in seclusion for a hundred years as the Grand Preceptor, secretly refining the dragon energy of the Great Li Emperor and the fortune of tens of thousands of mortals to create the "Myriad Spirits Blood Orb," which opened this place.

However, neither Zhang Hengming nor Li Yang are members of the Bai family. The place is guarded by a Vermilion Bird spirit with the strength of a top-tier Earth Immortal. Outsiders who enter will be instantly annihilated.

However, it is clear that someone had already entered this place and eliminated the Vermilion Bird Spirit. What Li Yang was just confronting was merely the afterimage left behind by that Vermilion Bird Spirit.

That person not only erased the spirit of the Vermilion Bird and destroyed the jade disc inscribed with the "Yinghuo Food Qi Method," but also took away all the treasures collected by the Bai family ancestors.
Li Yang slowly rose from beneath the jade wall and walked through the palace's various rooms: alchemy rooms, weapon-refining rooms, storage rooms, and sword racks. However, everything inside had vanished.
All that remained were some items that were too large to be taken with them, but even those were ruthlessly destroyed, turning them into scrap metal.

Li Yang stroked the dents on the surface of a pill furnace, feeling a deep pang of heartache.

"They've cleaned everything up so thoroughly, leaving nothing for anyone who comes after them... When did the Bai family offend such a master? They're absolutely insane!"

"At least leave some for this humble Taoist priest!!"

It's no wonder Li Yang felt distressed. Judging from the aura he sensed in the alchemy furnace and alchemy room, since the Bai family was able to leave behind a fundamental cultivation technique, the pills they left behind with it were definitely not ordinary. They could save Li Yang many years of arduous cultivation.

Just as Li Yang was filled with resentment, the Nanming Sword, which had been dormant, suddenly became active, throbbing incessantly between Li Yang's brows.

He summoned the Southern Sea Sword, and it miraculously detached itself from Li Yang's right hand, plunging into the alchemy furnace.
"Ode!"

In an instant, several cracks appeared on the once lustrous alchemy furnace, while on the other hand, a red line suddenly appeared on the deep blue blade of the Nanming Sword, flowing all the way to the tip.

Do you like these materials?

Li Yang was somewhat surprised. His Nanming Sword hadn't been fully utilized since its forging. It had previously refined and absorbed a Yin-Eroded spear, making it even more powerful, but since then it hadn't shown any inclination to devour other materials or weapons. He didn't expect it to appear on its own today.

"Is it because of the material properties? The Yin-Erosion spear is Yin, while the materials used in these alchemy furnaces and cauldrons are Yang. You need both Yin and Yang materials to absorb and strengthen it?"

The Southern Sea Sword did not respond. In an instant, it absorbed all the essence of the furnace body. The sword body was blazing with red light, and it began to absorb the cauldron.

"This is truly an unexpected delight..."

Li Yang felt instantly relieved. He stroked his chin, watching with the satisfaction of an old father as the Nanming Sword swung at the broken artifacts.

"Now that you've eaten your fill, I'm going to seek some good fortune as well."

Li Yang chuckled softly, then flew directly out of the Crimson Sky Flame Palace, standing at its edge, looking down at the surging sea of ​​lava and fire.
When he entered this treasure land, although the "Yinghuo Food Qi Method" was a supreme method, it was too incomplete and could not bring any increase in Li Yang's combat power.

But he could sense that beneath this magma, in its deepest depths, there was something else.

The three streams of Five Thunder Divine Qi within his body continued to surge. Li Yang could clearly sense that something deep within the magma was calling upon these three streams of Five Thunder Divine Qi.
Moreover, there is one more thing below.
It's not a law, but a technique, a very powerful technique!

If it weren't for the resonance of the three Five Thunder Divine Qi, even Li Yang wouldn't have been able to detect anything.

Without hesitation, Li Yang cast a Golden Body Spell and leaped into the lava.
-
Jianruo City, the Imperial Palace.

"Has the girl who escaped from Lanling Village to Jianruo City still not been caught?"

Zhang Hengming frowned slightly as he listened to the report from the soldiers on the ground.

"Reporting to the Immortal Lord, she must have escaped Jianruo City beforehand. We have searched the entire city but have not found any trace of her."

The leading Taoist soldier struggled to control his trembling legs and reported loudly.

The Dao soldiers below are a group of disciples that Zhang Hengming has raised over the past ten years. Their cultivation levels are not high, but they are all controlled by Zhang Hengming using Gu worms, and he uses them very skillfully.

"If you can't find him, then forget it. He's just an insignificant mortal. Capturing the entire Bai family and Bai Yingluo is enough."

Zhang Hengming waved his hand, and the Taoist soldiers below retreated with a sigh of relief.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and it was now the third day. A single "Myriad Spirit Blood Orb" could only sustain the opening for three days. Once that time was up, the portal would close.

The princes, ministers, emperor, and concubines, who had been trapped in the ruins of the palace for three days, were now barely breathing, many having fainted from exhaustion. Bai Yingluo, her lips peeling, stared at the entrance and Zhang Hengming sitting high above, feeling an unprecedented despair.
She knew that regardless of whether Li Yang could bring out the scripture Zhang Hengming mentioned, Zhang Hengming would definitely not let him go.
This was a dead end. Bai Yingluo had racked her brains for the past three days, but she couldn't think of a way to break the deadlock.
Her only prayer at that moment was that Li Yang wouldn't come out, or that he could escape Dali safely, lie low, and avenge them later.

As time ticked by, with only half an hour left until the three-day deadline, even Zhang Hengming's eyes flashed with anxiety.
He is unlikely to have another chance like this. This commotion is too great and will definitely be noticed by the Nine Sects. Once the Nine Sects send someone, he will definitely not get a share of the legendary cultivation technique below!

However, Bai Moro, on whom he had placed high hopes, did not disappoint him.

Amidst the intense anticipation of everyone, just a second before the portal closed, a pair of cloud-patterned boots finally stepped out slowly from the illusory portal...

(End of this chapter)