The world of martial arts, the immortal swordsman in the mortal realm.

Chapter 97, Episode 112: The Arrival of Tianlong! [Seeking Monthly Tickets!]

You can also enjoy a carefree day on Peach Blossom Island.

Therefore, Lu Chen decided not to cultivate all day and instead play happily with Rong'er.

"Huh? We have a day off today?"

When Master Rong heard Lu Chen say that he would spend the whole day playing with her, her eyes crinkled with joy:
"My birthday has already passed, is today some new holiday?"

She blinked and whispered:

"A festival from your world?"

"Well, it is."

Rong'er's birthday is August 22nd, which is more than a month ago. If we don't consider the lunar and solar calendars, if we were in her previous life in China, it would be during the National Day holiday.
Let's just assume that's the case.

So the two of them first went to the manor's livestock pen and got a white camel. Then they sent their silly aunt, who wanted to follow her aunt and uncle around, away to practice martial arts. They rode the tall and magnificent white camel around the island.

Before leaving the manor, to avoid upsetting Huang Yaoshi, Huang Rong rode the white camel while Lu Chen held the reins.

After leaving the manor and entering the peach grove, Lu Chen immediately leaped between the two camel humps and pulled Rong'er's soft and delicate body into his arms.

Huang Rong gently pressed down his mischievous hand, blushing and scolding:
"Stop fooling around, it's broad daylight."

Lu Chen chuckled and didn't make any more moves. He just gave her a light kiss on her earlobe. This light kiss made Rong'er shudder and a beautiful blush rise on her cheeks.

After riding the white camel for a while, Lu Chen suddenly said:

"I'm going to the new world again."

Huang Rong's eyes lit up:
"A new world? I want to go!"

Lu Chen said with a smile:

"I was going to take you there anyway."

Huang Rong chuckled, turned around, and gave Lu Chen a light peck on the lips.

After a leisurely day, the two made an excuse to go out for a stroll the next morning and sailed away from Peach Blossom Island in their small boat.

This trip to the new world is uncertain, and it's impossible to teleport directly from Peach Blossom Island since we don't know how long we'll stay there.

Otherwise, if they were gone for another six months or a year, Huang Yaoshi would probably think that his daughter and son-in-law had vanished into thin air.

They then sailed the small boat to the dock in Lin'an Prefecture and, familiar with the place, hired someone to watch over the boat. Learning from their previous experience, this time the two instructed the caretaker to hire someone to maintain the small boat every now and then, and if the boat returned in good condition, they would be greatly rewarded.

After arranging this matter, the two went back to the mountain forest they had visited before, and then held hands to activate the teleportation.

After the familiar dizziness and disorientation subsided.

Huang Rong snapped out of her daze, looked around, and after taking in her surroundings, exclaimed in surprise:
"Huh, it's underwater?"

The two were in a stone chamber. One wall of the chamber was inlaid with a piece of extremely pure and transparent crystal. Natural light shone through the crystal window, illuminating the chamber. Strangely, fish and shrimp would occasionally swim leisurely past the crystal window.

This clearly shows that the stone chamber was built underwater.

"An underwater stone chamber?"

Lu Chen glanced at the crystal window, then looked around thoughtfully.

Huang Rong skipped excitedly to the window, peered out for a while, and exclaimed in amazement:
"How amazing! The stone chamber is built underwater, with crystal windows, and even uses the reflected sunlight for lighting... It really feels like the Dragon King's Crystal Palace. The person who designed this stone chamber must be a master of mechanical engineering!"

Then he went to a stone table with a bronze mirror and some combs and hairpins on it. Seeing that the bronze mirror was covered in verdigris and the stone table was covered in dust, he said:

"Was there originally a woman living here? It looks like it's been vacant for many years."

Lu Chen nodded, already guessing where they were.

Then Huang Rong said:

"It seems someone beat us to it!"

Lu Chen looked in the direction she pointed and saw a stone door in a corner of the stone chamber that was half open, with a shallow footprint in front of it.

"Go over and take a look."

The two pushed open the half-open stone door, revealing a stone staircase. Descending more than ten steps, another stone door appeared ahead.

Through the slightly ajar door, one could hear loud banging sounds coming from the other side.

Huang Rong tiptoed to the crack in the door and curiously peeked inside. She saw a scholar in a blue robe kneeling before a jade statue of a woman holding a long sword, kowtowing repeatedly to the statue.

There were two prayer cushions in front of the jade statue, one large and one small. The scholar in the green robe knelt on the large prayer cushion, repeatedly banging his head against the small prayer cushion in front of him. It was unclear how long he had been doing this, but the small prayer cushion had already developed cracks.

Huang Rong turned around and whispered to Lu Chen behind her:

"Outside there is a jade statue of a woman, which at first glance looks like a living person, and is a masterpiece of craftsmanship. There is also a scholar with strange behavior who is kowtowing to the jade statue."

Hearing her say that, Lu Chen was now certain of where he was, and he found it amusing that he had unexpectedly run into that madwoman.

So, if that madman is still kowtowing, doesn't that mean the things in the prayer mat are still there?

……

Duan Yu kowtowed a thousand times in one breath, until he was exhausted and his back and legs ached. But he found that there seemed to be something hidden in the small prayer mat that he had kowtowed a thousand times. He immediately endured his fatigue, reached in and rummaged around for a while, and pulled out a white silk package.

He was now deeply fascinated by the jade statue, believing it to be a treasure bestowed upon him by a fairy maiden, a testament to his piety. Just as he was about to open it to examine it, he suddenly heard a gentle male voice behind him:
"Can you show it to me?"

Duan Yu was startled. Just as he was about to turn around, he saw that the man had already reached out and taken the silk pouch himself.

"This, this was given to me by the fairy sister..."

Duan Yu was about to argue when he suddenly saw the two people who had appeared behind him, and he was stunned again:
"Fairy Sister?"

But when they saw Huang Rong dressed in a white dress and with her hair tied up with a gold ring, they mistook her for a fairy.

However, he quickly shook his head. Although the girl was also extremely beautiful and had an otherworldly temperament, like a celestial being descended to earth, her features were not similar to those of the fairy sister. Each had her own unique beauty.

Although Duan Yu was a fool, he was well-versed in Confucian classics and knew the principle of "do not look at what is improper." He was actually a gentleman who observed the rules of propriety. It was just that he was obsessed with the "Fairy Sister."

Even if other women were as beautiful and elegant as a fairy, he dared not look at them too much since they had male companions.

He quickly averted his gaze, stood up, and bowed to the two of them.
"My name is Duan Yu. I greet you both. May I ask your honorable names?"

Lu Chen unwrapped the white silk package, glanced at Duan Yu, and said indifferently:
"My name is Lu Chen. This is my fiancée, Huang Rong. It is fate that we meet here. Young Master Duan, please do not stand on ceremony."

"It is indeed fate. I never expected to meet you two in such a secluded place." Duan Yu nodded in agreement, then looked at the silk pouch in Lu Chen's hand:

"Brother Lu, this silk pouch..."

“I know this was bestowed upon you by your fairy sister, Young Master Duan. Don’t worry, we’re just taking a look and won’t take what you love. But… take a look at this first.”

Lu Chen took out a silk scroll from the white silk wrapping and handed the white silk wrapping to Duan Yu.

Duan Yu took it and saw a message on it. The handwriting was delicate and beautiful, and it must have been written by the "Fairy Sister". He was initially delighted, but after reading the message, he was caught in a huge dilemma and fear.

It turned out that the message was telling him to learn martial arts and then kill all the disciples of the Free and Unfettered Sect.

Duan Yu had no interest in martial arts, and was unwilling to learn even his family's "One-Finger Divine Skill." He also avoided killing altogether.

He had already kowtowed to the Fairy Sister a thousand times, which was considered a promise to serve her. If he didn't practice martial arts or kill anyone, wouldn't that be disobeying the Fairy Sister's orders?
While he was struggling with this contradiction, Lu Chen had already unrolled the scroll and was reading it with Huang Rong.

This scroll contains two martial arts techniques: the "Northern Darkness Divine Skill" and the "Lingbo Steps".

The Lingbo Weibu manual was alright, but the Beiming Divine Art consisted of thirty-six nude female figures, each with a different posture, lifelike, and even showing the smallest details. Moreover, their appearance and figure were no different from the jade statue.

Lu Chen naturally knew that the Northern Darkness Divine Art Manual was drawn by Wu Yazi using Li Qiushui as a model, and he was deeply moved by the generosity of Wu Yazi and Li Qiushui.

Huang Rong blushed and felt hot as she looked at the portrait, praising the artist's skill as that of a master painter, while secretly cursing the woman in the painting for being so shameless.

Looking at Lu Chen again, I saw that he had only casually browsed through the thirty-six images before focusing on the Lingbo Weibu (a martial arts technique) manual. I couldn't help but feel quite smug. I thought to myself that although the woman in the painting was beautiful, her appearance and figure were no better than mine. Moreover, she was just a person in a painting. In Brother Lu Chen's eyes, she was even less comparable to me, a living person.

At this moment, Duan Yu stammered again:
"Um, Brother Lu, Miss Huang, may I take a look at this?"

Lu Chen glanced at Duan Yu and said:

"Don't worry, I'll make a copy and return it to you."

As he spoke, he walked up to the stone wall and began to carve on it.

When Duan Yu saw that when the finger fell, stone dust fell from the stone wall, revealing a thin engraving, he immediately knew that he had encountered a rare master. His heart was filled with unease and anxiety, wondering how they would treat him.

but……

One of them is heroic and tall with an extraordinary temperament, and the other is as beautiful as an angel, otherworldly and refined. They shouldn't be bad people, right?
As Duan Yu comforted himself in this way, Lu Chen was quickly copying the Lingbo Weibu (a martial arts technique) from the diagrams.

There are so many footsteps in Lingbo Weibu, numbering in the thousands, and each footstep is marked with the I Ching directions, as well as tiny arrows indicating changes in the direction of the footsteps.

With such a vast and complex amount of content, even if Rong'er had a photographic memory, it would be difficult for her to memorize it all in a short time. Forcing herself to memorize it would be too exhausting. Lu Chen didn't want her to worry about it, so it was best to record it.

Wang Chongyang couldn't carve words on stone with his fingers, but Lu Chen could. This doesn't necessarily mean that Lu Chen's current skill level is stronger than Wang Chongyang's. It just means that his technique is special, with his "sword qi" being sharp and his "sword light" being mysterious.

Of course, Wang Chongyang was a figure from more than 20 years ago.

Given Lu Chen's current martial arts skills, it's hard to say who would be superior if he were to face Wang Chongyang at the time.

It took nearly two hours to carve all the thousands of footprints, directional annotations, and arrow directions, consuming a considerable amount of true energy.

As for the "Northern Darkness Divine Skill," Lu Chen did not inscribe it. Firstly, because Huang Rong had already memorized the thirty-six pictures, and secondly, because the Northern Darkness Divine Skill was useless to him—the prerequisite for cultivating the Northern Darkness Divine Skill was either to have no internal energy or to dissipate one's old internal energy.

If one possesses inherent true qi and forcibly cultivates the Northern Darkness Qi, then one's own true qi will clash with the Northern Darkness Qi, leading to qi deviation and demonic possession.

Therefore, for someone with internal energy, the first step in cultivating the Northern Darkness Divine Art is to disperse their internal energy.

Li Qiushui probably didn't practice Beiming because of this—her "Xiaowuxiang Gong" is one of the three great divine skills of the Xiaoyao Sect, and her cultivation is already extremely profound, so naturally she doesn't need to practice Beiming.

Lu Chen had finally cultivated this pure and refined "Sword Dao True Qi," so why would he willingly disperse his power to absorb other people's miscellaneous and mediocre internal energy and slowly refine it into "Northern Darkness True Qi," which was completely inconsistent with his "Sword Dao True Qi"?
Isn't this putting the cart before the horse and cutting off our own future?
However, the Lingbo Weibu (a martial arts technique) was of great benefit to his "Sword Shadow Step" movement technique and even "Sword Two: Splitting Light and Transforming Shadow".

While Lu Chen was carving, Duan Yu watched eagerly as he did so. Seeing that he was carving footwork, Duan Yu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that it was good that this was not a skill for killing, but only a light footwork for escaping and saving his life. Learning this kind of skill was not against his nature.

Seeing that Lu Chen had finished carving the last stroke and was checking the silk scroll against it, as if he had already completed the task, Duan Yu couldn't help but feel a surge of energy. He looked at Lu Chen expectantly, hoping that he would not break his promise.

Lu Chen would certainly not break his promise.

After verifying that the inscription was correct, he tossed a scroll of silk to Duan Yu:

"Here you go."

Duan Yu was overjoyed, accepted the scroll, and bowed respectfully.
"Thank you, Brother Lu!"

He eagerly unfolded the scroll and took a look, his handsome face immediately turning red with embarrassment.

Well, for him, those portraits that were exactly the same as the jade statue of the fairy sister, with even more lifelike expressions and exquisite figures, were really too stimulating.

As his heart pounded, he remembered that Lu Chen had also seen these portraits, and a wave of indescribable sorrow welled up inside him, a bittersweet feeling of loss that his beloved had been exposed to others.

Yes, Duan Yu was completely captivated and obsessed with the jade statue from the moment he saw it, almost to the point of being possessed. Otherwise, what kind of good person would kowtow a thousand times to a jade statue?

Of course, although he was upset, he didn't dare to blame Lu Chen. He even thought about Lu Chen's good points—he was clearly a highly skilled martial artist who could kill him with a single finger, and he had monopolized the jade statue and silk scroll portrait of the fairy sister, yet Brother Lu still returned the silk scroll to him. This showed that he was indeed a chivalrous and upright man who kept his promises.

Just as he was lost in thought, he heard Lu Chen say:

"Does Young Master Duan intend to stay here and cultivate his martial arts?"

"Huh?" Duan Yu was taken aback and shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, I have important business to attend to, I need to deliver a message and rescue people..."

Lu Chen nodded:
"In that case..."

He pointed to one side of the stone chamber, where there was a set of stone steps leading upwards, and reminded him:

“That should be the exit. From there, we can leave this valley.”

Lu Chen knew that this deep valley in Wuliang Mountain was surrounded by cliffs on all sides, with no way out. The only way out was through a secret passage carved out of the cliff inside the stone chamber, which led to the outside world.

Duan Yu nodded gratefully at first, then paused slightly, and tentatively asked:

"Brother Lu and Miss Huang, aren't you leaving?"

Lu Chen smiled and said:
"The scenery here is beautiful, and it's a quiet and secluded place. We'd like to stay here for a while to cultivate ourselves. Farewell, Young Master Duan."

Duan Yu felt a pang of sadness again—he had originally planned to come and stay for a few months every year to keep the fairy sister company.

Seeing his expression, Lu Chen found it amusing and said:

"Young Master Duan, do you not want to leave again?"

With a bitter expression, Duan Yu tucked the scroll into his robes, bowed to Lu Chen and Huang Rong, said "We'll meet again someday," and then climbed up the stone steps.

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(End of this chapter)