Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 124 Follow the Heart
On the Qianli ship, Bao Ren continued to tell Ren Yuan the secrets of Taoism:
"I heard from Master that in addition to his Inner Alchemy School, there was another senior who founded the Talisman School, trying to use talismans instead of external elixirs. But he was not as ostentatious as him, so almost no one knew that talismans could also replace external elixirs."

Ren Yuan's eyes almost popped out when he heard this. He never expected that the talismans he thought were ordinary would be so precious in this era.

"But I joined too late, and by then the Fu Tu sect had already revealed its true colors. In order to protect that senior, Master never revealed their identities." Bao Ren finally apologized, "That's all I know."

"It's already a lot." Ren Yuan said gratefully, "Now I know why Master refused to reveal his identity. He also knows that we are the Talisman Sect, so it will be easier to find us. This is all thanks to the Taoist priest."

"Hehe..." Bao Ren smiled and was about to speak when suddenly a white light flashed before his eyes and a tall and burly man appeared on the boat.

He closed his mouth vigilantly, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ren Yuan knew the man.

Yang Zhong saw Ren Yuan and said in surprise: "Great, you are on the boat!"

"Brother, why are you here at this time?" Ren Yuan asked hurriedly. In front of Master Bao, he did not call him "Brother Yang".

"The situation is urgent. I had to take a nap to inform you." Yang Zhong also said quickly: "I was worried about what to do if you were not on the boat - run as far as you can. Our two masters are chasing you personally!"

Ren Yuan's heart tightened when he heard this, and he couldn't help but take a look at the three-headed bat perched on the mast. It seemed that there was indeed something there.

"Just two owners." Bao Ren sneered, "With the old Taoist here, there's no need to worry."

"Is this a new passenger?" Yang Zhong asked.

"The Taoist priest's situation is a little special. I will explain it to you in detail later." Ren Yuan said, "Anyway, he is someone you can trust."

"Okay." Yang Zhong introduced: "Our two masters have opened seven orifices and six orifices respectively. I wonder how many orifices the senior has opened?"

"Ah?" Bao Ren's arrogance faltered. "Is there someone with great magical powers? That old Taoist can't defeat him."

"The Yin Spirit of our fifth master is no longer afraid of the strong wind. Although it cannot be used in combat, it can travel around safely." Yang Zhong said in a deep voice.

"Then we have to hide well. No matter how powerful his Yin spirit is, he can't see what's going on in the cave." Bao Ren immediately said from the heart. It is true that the older you are in the martial arts world, the less courageous you are.

"You can't hide. Miss Lingzhi in the capital has already divined your approximate location!" Yang Zhong said in a deep voice: "After they arrive, Master Nangong will be able to see you through the eyes of all the mountain spirits and wild monsters."

"Oh my god..." The last bit of confidence that Master Bao had was worn away. "I've heard that the Gou Chen Division is very powerful, but I didn't expect it to be so terrifying."

"The two masters of the tower are our company's best partners at solving cases and arresting criminals. If the robbery of Donghunhou's tomb had not been known to the public, their superiors would not have sent them out to take action." Yang Zhong comforted Taoist Bao.

"Good fellow, brother, you have stirred up a hornet's nest." Master Bao smiled bitterly and said, "Let's run."

Ren Yuan thanked Yang Zhong. To be on the safe side, he gave the Three-Life Stone to Xiao Heizi for safekeeping, and then took Bao Ren away from the Qianli ship.

With Zu Chongzhi's authorization, he no longer needed to resort to self-harm in order to leave midway.

~~
Only half a day passed in the cave.

A Yao and the other two saw Ren Yuan and the old Taoist priest coming out of the Youxian Pillow hand in hand.

"How is it, did it work?" The three asked hurriedly, not caring about the eye-catching scene. "It worked, but now the trouble has come." Ren Yuan said seriously, "The masters of the Gou Chen Division are chasing us and will be here soon."

"How many people and what level?" asked Chen Baxian.

"It is said that there are two. One has six orifices, which is not bad, but there is also one with seven orifices." Bao Ren emphasized: "I may not be able to defeat him."

He didn't want to lose in front of Su Xiaoxiao, but everyone understood what he meant when he said this.

"I believe in my friend's judgment." Ren Yuan also said in a deep voice: "No matter how well we hide now, we will be caught in one fell swoop."

"Then let's run away!" Chen Baxian slapped his thigh and said, "With so many of us, we'll be too conspicuous and it'll be easier for us to be caught all at once on the road. Let's run separately, and as many as we can escape!"

"Well, what Ah Ba said makes sense, and I think so too." Bao Ren said in a deep voice: "I will lead away the Seven-orifice Man, and you two can escape separately."

"They have experts who can make people tell the truth, so don't tell them where you want to escape to." Ren Yuan said carefully, "Anyway, we can still contact each other on the ship. We can meet again after we are out of danger."

"Little girl, come with me." Chen Baxian took the initiative to invite.

Su Xiaoxiao smiled and said, "I am a ghost spirit. I can hide underground. Can you?"

"Okay, let's go our separate ways." Chen Baxian said unhappily.

"Okay!" Everyone was calm and composed, so after making up their minds, they left the cave.

As soon as they came out, they saw a clear light flying across the sky. Without time to investigate, everyone looked in one direction and disappeared into the dense forest.

Only Bao Ren turned into a gust of wind and flew to the highest peak here. He then sat cross-legged on a protruding rock, circulated his Qi around his body, and adjusted his condition to the best.

Thanks to Zu Chongzhi's move, he has already touched the threshold of breaking through to the Seven Apertures - and he did it by practicing internal alchemy alone without any external elixirs!
To put it simply, the art of inner alchemy is to use the human body as the cauldron of elixir and one's own essence and energy as medicine, which are refined within one's own body so that the essence, energy, and spirit do not dissipate and form an inner elixir, achieving the same or similar effects as external alchemy.

It is conceivable that this is countless times more difficult than external alchemy with the help of magical elixirs. In addition to refining the golden elixir internally and cultivating the physical body externally, the practitioner also needs extraordinary mental strength and willpower.

If Bao Ren had chosen to escape at this critical juncture of advancement, even if he had survived, there would have been no possibility of a breakthrough in the future.

So he took the initiative to meet the enemy. In addition to protecting his teammates, he also wanted to temper his own inner alchemy by facing an extremely powerful enemy!
~~
Dozens of miles away, on another hilltop.

The clear light from the sky suddenly fell and returned to the fifth dimension.

Seeing him open his eyes, Nangong, who was guarding beside him, asked hurriedly, "Did you find it?"

"Yes." The Fifth Dimension nodded and said, "They fled separately. Don't worry about the others. I have marked the couple with spiritual sand. You can go after them."

"What about you?" Nangong asked.

The Fifth Dimension pointed to the looming mountain in front of him and said with a smile: "There is a guy over there who challenged me."

(End of this chapter)