Chapter 189: Taiqing Yin Body
Within the Vault of Scriptures, Xiao Nanfeng followed closely behind Elder Ku. The first floor of the Vault of Scriptures contained 48,000 scriptures, and Xiao Nanfeng was a familiar face here. After he began using jade tablets, however, it had been a long time since he last visited the Vault of Scriptures
The master and disciple quickly headed up to the second floor, where a few Ascension-realm disciples were tidying up countless scrolls. Xiao Nanfeng stepped forward and noted that they all seemed to be techniques and forms.
"There are over ten thousand cultivation techniques here, but none out of the ordinary. There's nothing much to look at. Come on," Elder Ku said.
Xiao Nanfeng was astounded. Ten thousand cultivation techniques? The Taiqing Immortal Sect really had a humongous collection!
Xiao Nanfeng followed Elder Ku up to the third floor. There were only three elders guarding the floor, and Xiao Nanfeng could feel immense strength seeping out of their auras.
"Three Spiritsong-realm elders," Xiao Nanfeng murmured.
"Elder Ku!" The three elders stood at attention and bowed toward Elder Ku.
"Elders, this is my official apprentice and a sectstarter. He may start perusing the techniques here; please allow him to do so," Elder Ku informed them.
"All the resources of the sect are open to sectstarters. We'll naturally support him to the best of our ability," one elder replied.
Xiao Nanfeng noticed that the third floor of the Vault of Scriptures contained no physical copies of scrolls, but rather countless jade tablets.
"The scriptures of the first floor and cultivation techniques of the second floor are stored here in duplicate in the form of jade tablets. In addition, there are a number of strong techniques on this floor. Have a look around at your convenience," Elder Ku instructed.
"Yes, Elder!" Xiao Nanfeng nodded.
Without any hesitation, Elder Ku continued onward to the fourth floor, his final destination. Xiao Nanfeng followed closely behind him, understanding that this was where the true treasures of the sect had to be kept.
No guards could be seen on the fourth floor; rather, there was a hemispherical barrier that blocked access onto it.
"This barrier is one of the greatest treasures of the sect, which even Immortals would have a hard time bypassing. Here, follow me in." Elder Ku placed a hand on the barrier.
He had a secret technique for unlocking this otherwise impermeable barrier. With a wave of his hand, a small slit opened up, allowing the two cultivators to walk in.
Xiao Nanfeng held his breath. He understood that a barrier that could block even Immortals had to be a treasure beyond compare. What could it be guarding within?
As they stepped inside, however, Xiao Nanfeng was shocked to find that it was empty save for a tattered praying mat.
"This is...?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.
"The foundation of the Taiqing Immortal Sect, the praying mat on which the Taiqing Grandmaster once sat," Elder Ku explained.
"Oh?" Xiao Nanfeng replied curiously.
Elder Ku bowed respectfully toward the mat, and Xiao Nanfeng emulated his actions.
"Grandmaster, disciple Ku Jiang and disciple's disciple Xiao Nanfeng greet the grandmaster. Xiao Nanfeng shoulders the burden of restoring the Taiqing sect. I humbly ask that he be allowed access to the sect's inheritance."
"Disciple Xiao Nanfeng greets the grandmaster," Xiao Nanfeng echoed.
However, the praying mat showed no sign of acknowledgment, causing Xiao Nanfeng to look around in confusion.
"Sit on the mat," Elder Ku continued. "You have ten days to select an appropriate technique, and you only have one such chance every decade."
Still somewhat perplexed, Xiao Nanfeng did as instructed.
Suddenly, red light burst from the praying mat.
Xiao Nanfeng felt himself sent flying by the red light. In a flash, he appeared atop the surface of a sea, one that stretched for thousands of kilometers in every direction. There seemed to be beacons of red light scattered all around, like stars that glowed with resplendent light. Above his head was a red moon that hung mysteriously in the air.
"This is an illusion," Xiao Nanfeng gasped.
As he floated on the surface of the sea, he looked all around himself, not understanding what made this illusory realm so special. Just then, a burst of starlight floated past him. The red light condensed into the form of characters in the air.
"This is... a cultivation technique!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
As he read the technique, he suddenly came to a realization. "I've seen this technique before. It was in Emperor Wei's inheritance!"
Xiao Nanfeng ran toward another starburst, revealing another technique. The new technique was equally deep and potent, no inferior to the first one, but this one wasn't recorded in Emperor Wei's inheritance.
Xiao Nanfeng glanced at the wide expanse of the sea. There had to be tens of thousands of starbursts floating around. Could each one be an equally impressive technique?
Xiao Nanfeng sucked in a deep breath. He suddenly understood why his master had told him not to focus on the cultivation techniques available on the second floor. Compared to this sea of arcane techniques, those ten thousand techniques of the second floor seemed meaningless.
"The Taiqing Immortal Sect's inheritance doesn't seem to pale in comparison to Emperor Wei's—no, it has far more cultivation techniques! Could the Taiqing Immortal Sect really have been a force even more potent than the divine empire of Great Wei?" Xiao Nanfeng gaped.
The sea was boundless, the starlight resplendent. Did each sectstarter have an opportunity to search for a technique suitable for them?
Xiao Nanfeng began his search in earnest. There were cultivation techniques for the body and for the spirit, and Xiao Nanfeng even found a technique to generate avatars of himself, which seemed to be the same one the Pestilence Sage cultivated.
Xiao Nanfeng memorized it, then headed off in search of other techniques.
He didn't care for all the techniques that he encountered; with Emperor Wei's inheritance in hand, his ability to discern true treasures had grown by leaps and bounds. Even 'ordinary' advanced techniques were of little interest to him; he only cared for certain extraordinary techniques.
Suddenly, Xiao Nanfeng stopped short. He had noticed how similar the illusory realm's sea and the red moon overhead were to something he had observed before, and at great length.
"A vast sea, and a red moon overhead—isn't this like the stellar lake and overhanging moon in my mindscape?" Xiao Nanfeng cried out.
He looked up at the sky, at the mysterious red moon above him. The moon in his mindscape boasted a purer and more intense spiritual power than his stellar lake. Could there be a treasure high above for him to find?
He stepped into the air, giving up on the sea, and began to travel toward the moon.
The moon was distant, surprisingly so. It took him three long days of travel to approach it. As he drew closer, Xiao Nanfeng found a striking similarity between the red moonlight and that in his mindscape. The only difference seemed to be the color.
He reached out toward the red moon, which trembled before bursting into radiant light, illuminating the entirety of the illusory realm.
Subsequently, text began to form by the side of the red moon, manifesting in the form of an arcane technique.
"The Taiqing Yin Body?" Xiao Nanfeng gasped.
There was no time to waste. He began to memorize it immediately. The scripture took him two full days to memorize.
"Why does this Taiqing Yin Body appear so similar to the Body of Yin that I cultivate? No—they're different, but there seems to be some mysterious relationship between them..."
Xiao Nanfeng sat cross-legged in meditation. He had lost any interest in returning to the sea below to pick out more cultivation techniques. Numerous though they were, they all paled in comparison to the Taiqing Yin Body.
Furthermore, it felt as though he could glean the contents of the Taiqing Yin Body at an accelerated rate by staying beside the red moon. He didn't want to give up such a rare opportunity, because he didn't have much time.
After a few days passed, Xiao Nanfeng suddenly felt his body shake. He was sent out of the illusory realm and woke up in his physical body in a jolt. Elder Ku had been guarding him all this time.
"Have you awoken? Thank the grandmaster for the gift of perusing the cultivation techniques," Elder Ku instructed.
Xiao Nanfeng immediately got up and bowed to the praying mat alongside Elder Ku.
"What did you think of the Taiqing sect's collection?" Elder Ku asked, smiling.
Xiao Nanfeng took a deep breath. "I understand now why the fourth floor of the Vault of Scriptures is accessible only to sectstarters. I benefited tremendously."
"What cultivation techniques did you obtain?" Elder Ku asked.
"I headed toward the red moon and learned the Taiqing Yin Body."
"Oh? That's surprisingly lucky of you." Elder Ku was surprised.
"But the red moon's visible to everyone. Surely it shouldn't be too difficult to access?"
Elder Ku shook his head. "Not all cultivators who approach the red moon can gain access to the technique. This is a peerless technique of the Taiqing Immortal Sect, and I was only able to receive it on my eighth visit into the realm."
"Do you know why, Master?"
"My hypothesis is that everyone's soul is different, and only those with compatible souls can learn and employ this technique. The red moon grants compatible techniques to cultivators who come its way. There must be some marker in your soul that's attuned to the Taiqing Yin Body in some manner."
Xiao Nanfeng nodded hesitantly.
"Yesterday, I told you that, two centuries ago, the Yuqing sect stepped forward to protect the final remnants of the Taiqing sect. The price that we had to pay was precisely the Taiqing Yin Body technique—but even after all these years, none from the Yuqing sect have been able to learn it." Elder Ku smiled.
"Are other sects interested in our techniques?"
"The Yuqing sect, which boasts a long and illustrious history like ours, is well aware of the lineage of the Taiqing sect, and of how precious the Taiqing Yin Body is."
"Oh?"
"Allegedly, tens of thousands of years ago, the Taiqing, Yuqing, and Shangqing grandmasters simultaneously received a technique of incomparable strength, known as Body of Yin. Unfortunately, after the three grandmasters learned the technique, they claimed that it possessed a sinister omen that would result in calamity on whoever learned the technique. As a result, they destroyed the copies they had obtained, then each produced a Taoist scripture encapsulating their insight into the technique: the Taiqing Yin Body, Yuqing Yin Body, and Shangqing Yin Body."
Xiao Nanfeng's frown deepened. His cultivation technique was precisely the Body of Yin. What was this sinister omen supposed to be? Surely Elder Ku wasn't attempting to trick him?
"Master, do you know who created this technique?" Xiao Nanfeng asked expectantly.
"I don't. Allegedly, the three grandmasters attempted to find out as well, but no information was forthcoming. They even interrogated countless cursed effigies, but even those effigies possessed no knowledge of the technique's mysterious creator."
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