The Path to Another World

Meteors only have one chance to shine. In a mere quarter of an hour, this swarm of meteors, like locusts passing by, finally moved away, trailing long tails as they flew into the distance, burning themselves into ashes in the vast universe until their last breath. Tian Jun and Ye Fan were still standing there, mouths agape, completely unaware that the disaster was over. They were deeply stunned by the powerful yet beautiful force of the mysterious old Taoist priest who had appeared out of nowhere, oblivious to the drool slowly trickling down their chins.

Seeing the shooting star disappear into the distance, the old Taoist priest finally let out a long sigh of relief. Looking at his now somewhat dimmed body with a touch of heartache, he angrily roared at the two men, "What are you looking at? Don't you see such a handsome Taoist priest?" His words completely shattered his gentle and refined image, nearly causing Yu Fan and Ye Fan's jaws to drop. Damn, is this still a Taoist priest? He actually cares about whether he's handsome or not, especially since he's an enlightened old Taoist priest. Their faces twitched involuntarily. Ye Fan forced an awkward smile and asked, "May I ask your esteemed name, Immortal Master? Thank you for saving my life!"

The old Taoist priest, still immersed in his grief, replied irritably, "You probably haven't heard of my esteemed name. My true form is a dragon, so everyone calls me the Nine Dragons Master. Kid, do you know Jiang Ziya? I helped him a lot when he was bestowing titles upon the gods! Do you think I wanted to save you two bastards? Why did you run here for no reason? With your abilities, a mere brush against you would be enough to obliterate you. I live inside the Bagua (Eight Trigrams). If you accidentally die, I'll be forever wandering in this spatial turbulence, not knowing when I'll be able to reappear!"

The old Taoist priest kept swearing, making the two men repeatedly chant "Amitabha," a gesture of apology. His words were like a bombshell to them. Jiang Ziya was a figure of immense power in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, so this old Taoist priest… The two were shocked. However, they managed to glean some useful information from his words. Ye Fan quickly put on a fawning smile, bowing and scraping, even Tian Jun couldn't bear to look: "Immortal Master, we are both on the same path, I am also a cultivator. Isn't this your true form? And how come you live in that broken Bagua?"

Hearing Ye Fan's words, the old Taoist priest glanced at him casually and sneered, "Although your strength is pathetic, your aptitude is passable. You call yourself a cultivator? You haven't even reached the Foundation Establishment stage, so you can't be considered a cultivator. At most, you're just a Qi Refining martial artist. This body of mine was formed later using great magical power, containing only a wisp of my primordial spirit. My magical power is just average, nothing compared to my original body. If it were my original body, we wouldn't have had this much trouble. A single breath would have been enough to extinguish a meteor shower several times larger than this!" He then looked nostalgically at the somewhat worn-out bronze Bagua and explained, "Don't look down on it just because it looks old. It's a rare treasure. I spent a lot of effort to acquire it. The entire Bagua is imbued with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth..." Born from within, it is a complete Bagua (Eight Trigrams) formation, capable of calming the mind and dispelling inner demons. It can also be used as a protective armor, capable of withstanding all attacks if one is strong enough. Most importantly, this Bagua contains a vast space with three levels. The first level can be opened during the Foundation Establishment stage, the second level requires the Nascent Soul stage, and the third level can only be opened after reaching the Ascension stage. It can store all sorts of things, even living beings, forming a small world of its own. I once stored my treasures there for many years, such as various attribute manuals for different levels, all kinds of ores necessary for refining magical treasures, various elixirs and divine weapons—all priceless treasures!

Listening to the old man recount his treasured possessions with great familiarity—many of which were unheard of or ancient items recorded in ancient texts as extinct—Ye Fan's eyes lit up, his mouth watered. He was inwardly screaming with excitement, "I'm rich! I'm going to be rich!" Even his grandfather hadn't had the chance to see such things, and now they were right in front of him in this broken Bagua set. If it weren't for the vast difference in strength between himself and the old man, he probably would have pounced on it like a wolf and taken it all. The old man, on the other hand, wouldn't even need to lift a finger; a sneeze or a thought would be enough to kill him. Seemingly sensing Ye Fan's greedy gaze, the old man casually tossed over an old Bagua set, saying indifferently, "Take it. I don't need it anymore anyway. You need it more than I do!"

Seeing the old man so generously toss the Bagua over, Ye Fan quickly caught it with both hands and carefully hung it around his neck. Although this Bagua was incredibly hard, enough to withstand even divine weapons, thinking of everything stored inside, Ye Fan almost couldn't resist hugging the old man and kissing him. He patted his chest boastfully and said arrogantly, "Immortal Master, if you ever need my help, just ask! Your business is my business."

Hearing Ye Fan's boastful words, the old Taoist priest couldn't help but feel disdain, mercilessly silencing him: "With your meager cultivation, you think you can help me? You should spend more time practicing! My affairs require at least the Golden Immortal realm before you can participate. As for combat, you need to reach at least my level of cultivation..."

"Uh... never mind! Is there any other way to help you recover?" Hearing the old Taoist's words, Ye Fan could only roll his eyes and say helplessly. There was nothing he could do. Without enough strength, he would be a nobody who was ignored everywhere, just cannon fodder sent to his death.

After a moment's thought, the old man replied, "Boss, it's not that it's impossible, just quite difficult. I'll teach you an ancient Taoist cultivation method later. When you practice, you need to channel all your Taoist energy through this Bagua. This will not only nourish my soul but also increase your affinity with the Bagua, allowing you to master it sooner. Another way is to use external forces to collect some medicinal herbs that can nourish the soul and absorb their essence. This can also achieve the same goal. Actually, there are quite a few of these herbs within this Bagua, but unfortunately, we can't open it now. I'll just have to rely on your efforts on the journey ahead. Once I recover my cultivation, I'll take you as my disciple. What do you say?"

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