Eternal God Emperor: Only I Am Emperor One

Chapter 44 The Four Symbols Heavenly Technique
Tianwu Mountain is a branch of Tianmo Ridge, stretching for thousands of miles and extending into the territory of Qianshui County.

At the foot of the mountain, a wide river, seven or eight hundred feet wide, flows eastward. This river is called Qinghe. Its source is located in the territory of Qianshui County. It passes through four counties, including Yunwu County, and finally merges into Tongming River south of Tianmo Ridge, flowing into the sea together.

Compared to the Tongming River, which is teeming with aquatic beasts, the Qinghe River has a much smaller water volume and area. It has also been cleaned up many times along its course, so there are very few wild beasts around. The waters are quite safe and it is a golden waterway.

Qinghe Town is located at the border of two major prefectures and kingdoms. After traveling thousands of miles, half of the merchants would choose to stay here.

Although nominally a town, it was in fact no different in size from a city, with all the necessary facilities, and was still brightly lit even at night.

Di Yi was still dressed in a black robe, his face covered with jade, and he held a long sword in his hand.

The people who came to Qinghe Town for entertainment were a mixed bag, and his attire wasn't particularly special. Occasionally, a few glances would pass by, but they would quickly look away, probably from spies planted by the Heroes' Association.

After wandering around the town and getting a feel for the terrain, Di Yi headed towards the entrance of the Heroes' Hall in the center of the town.

A massive mansion, large enough to accommodate thousands of people, was built in the center of Qinghe Town. The mansion's walls were inscribed with simple array formations. These formations were not sophisticated, with the highest being only third-rank, and could not serve any defensive function; at most, they could only provide warnings.

In the past few years, Di Yi has cultivated his mental realm, and his spiritual power has reached the peak of the thirty-fourth level. His array formation skills are close to those of a fourth-grade array master. With the True Source Demon Eye, these crude array formations of the Heroes' Gathering are useless to him.

After careful observation, he unleashed the perfected level of Flowing Light and Flying Clouds. After breaking through to the Earthly Realm, this movement technique, which reached the upper-level Spirit rank, gradually revealed its power in his hands.

Di Yi easily leaped over the wall, which was seven or eight zhang high, and disappeared into the mansion before the patrolling Heroes' Society disciples noticed.

The four presidents of the Heroes' Association are named Zhao Quanzhong, Zhao Quanxiao, Zhao Quanren, and Zhao Quanyi. Their cultivation levels had already reached the Great Perfection of the Earthly Realm many years ago.

Individually, each of the four is only slightly stronger than a typical peak Earth Realm martial artist, but when they join forces and rely on their mutual understanding, they possess the combat power to contend with a Heaven Realm expert, which is truly remarkable.

Given Di Yi's current cultivation level, his chances of winning against a Heavenly Realm martial artist are not high. Therefore, he is wary of the four leaders of the Heroes' Gathering and does not rashly alert them.

His martial arts skills were extremely advanced, even surpassing those of martial arts legends in the Heavenly Realm. He also cultivated the Heavenly Demon Stone Carving, allowing him to perfectly conceal his aura. Only a powerful individual who had cultivated a Martial Soul could sense it through the power of that Martial Soul.

A Martial Soul is the hallmark of a Heavenly Realm martial artist, but not every Heavenly Realm martial artist successfully cultivates a Martial Soul.

Those with high talent can cultivate a martial soul in the early stages of the Heavenly Realm, while those with poor talent may not succeed even in the middle or late stages of the Heavenly Realm.

Since there were no Heavenly Realm warriors within the Heroes' Gathering, naturally no one could detect Di Yi's whereabouts.

Soon, he approached the most central and magnificent hall, where the three characters 'Sihai Hall' were written in bold, elegant strokes.

All men are brothers under heaven. The four Zhao brothers harbored the ambition to recruit heroes from all corners of the world, hence the names Heroes' Gathering and Four Seas Hall.

There was no one outside the sandalwood gate, and no disciples were guarding it. The door was tightly closed. Di Yi carefully sensed the area with his spiritual power and detected four powerful auras inside the hall. These auras fluctuated greatly, indicating that they were not asleep and were cultivating.

"They're still practicing so late. Are these four guild leaders really that diligent?"

Curious, he used his Flowing Light Cloud technique to silently leap onto the roof, lay prone on the tiles, and used his True Source Demon Eye to peer into the hall through the tiles and beams.

Inside the hall, four figures sat together, their palms touching, and their inner energy flowed through their palms between them.

The martial arts true energy cultivated by martial artists varies. Even martial artists who cultivate the same technique will have subtle differences in their martial arts true energy due to their different circumstances. If a large amount of another person's true energy flows into one's own meridians, it can lead to a loss of control of the true energy and the severing of the meridians, or even death by explosion.

However, the four presidents of the Heroes' Guild allowed the true energy of the others to flow through their bodies without any hindrance. On the contrary, they felt as if they were in water, and their auras greatly increased.

Strangely enough, it was widely rumored that the four Zhao brothers were quadruplets born of the same mother, but what Emperor Di saw before him was that the four were of different heights, some tall, some short, some fat, and some thin, and their appearances were completely different. There was no trace of them being quadruplets.

The four individuals possessed different types of internal energy, some intense and others cold and icy, yet they achieved a profound balance that linked their energies together.

Di Yi seemed to understand why the four of them could unleash enough power to fight against a Heavenly Realm expert when they joined forces. It seemed that they were relying on the special technique they had cultivated.

However, such a profound technique is probably not only at the Ghost level, but at least at the Low-grade King level.

Not to mention King-level techniques, even Ghost-level techniques are extremely rare in Tianmo Ridge, and are held by the most powerful forces.

Zi Qian came from the Underworld Sect, and the cultivation technique she practiced was only the high-grade Spirit level [Heavenly Silkworm Technique]. The Zhao brothers had no sect or school, so where did they get such a technique?

Di Yi carefully recalled the events and found a similar technique in his memory.

The supreme martial art of the Four Symbols Sect in the Central Region: the Four Symbols Heaven-Reaching Technique.

The Four Symbols Sect, along with the Two Elements Sect and the Eight Trigrams Sect, are all branches of the Taiji Dao. After Empress Chi Yao unified the Five Regions, she has been suppressing the Taiji Dao and supporting the three major branch sects. After hundreds of years of development, the Four Symbols Sect has now become one of the top sects, not much weaker than the Taiji Dao headquarters.

The Four Symbols Heavenly Art is a supreme cultivation method derived from the Taiji Dao, and is one of the six great books of the Kunlun Realm, namely the [Innate Dao Method].

The Four Symbols refer to the four divine beasts of the four directions: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise. They correspond to Taiyin, Taiyang, Shaoyin, and Shaoyang. Martial artists who cultivate the Four Symbols Heaven-Reaching Technique will have their internal energy possessing all four attributes simultaneously. When combined, their power is unpredictable and is by no means weaker than the internal energy cultivated from the Heavenly Demon Stone Carving.

The four Zhao brothers each possessed different true qi attributes, which corresponded perfectly to the four elements, as if a cultivation technique had been divided into four parts, with each person cultivating a quarter of it.

The Four Symbols Heavenly Technique is such an important inheritance that even within the Four Symbols Sect, only a tiny fraction of the disciples are qualified to cultivate it. How could it have ended up in the hands of a small force in the Heavenly Demon Ridge?

Di Yi was filled with doubt and suspicion, and carefully observed the four people who were cultivating.

Under the True Source Demon Eye, the circulation of their true energy was clearly visible, with yin and yang complementing each other to form a complete cycle.

This method of circulating true qi is extremely profound, comparable to the Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings. If it were anyone else, they would find it extremely difficult to master. However, these four people were of one mind and acted as one, which actually allowed them to achieve great success in their cultivation.

But as time went on, Di Yi frowned slightly and discovered the flaw in the statement.

This technique seems incomplete, with more and more flaws as you progress. A martial artist at the Heavenly Realm might not be able to see it, but it cannot be hidden under his Demonic Eyes.

Inside the hall, the four people increased the speed of their true energy circulation to the extreme, unleashing a terrifying power that was enough to surpass that of a martial artist in the early stage of the Heavenly Realm. However, it then began to decline rapidly, like the tide receding.

The Emperor's eyes, which had been waiting for a long time, flashed with a sharp light.

"The perfect opportunity is now!"

(End of this chapter)