Chapter 2161.2: Senior Brother
There was an interesting saying in the three thousand worlds.
Catching strays.
Indeed, the current heavenly dao and Lu Yun’s three senior brothers had caught strays. They were denounced by tongue and pen for no reason at all.
In contrast, Lu Yun admired those who respected neither heaven nor earth—they believed in only themselves. Those kinds of people possessed enormous confidence and felt that they could overcome everything with personal strength alone. They would never grouse about defying the heavens.
Although they held no heavenly dao in their minds and followed their own hearts, their wills were resolute. They would never blame others for their difficulties.
Sky shook his head with a smile. “There are some things that you’ll only understand later on.”
“Senior brother, you didn’t bring me here just to say these things, did you?” A merry Lu Yun sipped the paramount rank immortal tea and shoved the full jade pot into his storage ring.
Sky pretended not to see Lu Yun’s motions.
“Of course not.” He changed to a solemn expression. “The Dao Chapters are a cultivation method from the great dao. Progressing through all nine chapters will enable you to perfect your own great dao.”
“So it’s about cultivation!” Lu Yun brightened. The Dao Chapters that the sky spoke of were the Nine Chapters of Dao that he practiced. It was quite a perverse method as the Hongmeng qi that resulted from training its first chapter was much higher quality than the true origin of cultivators. However, the cultivation process was exceedingly hard.
Lu Yun’s current cultivation was but the initial first turn of the Seeing Dao chapter. He’d need to toil for at least ten years if he wished to break through to mid first turn, and that was just the three minor levels of the first turn!
The rest of the cultivation to come didn’t bear thinking about.
Having experienced three thousand worlds, Lu Yun wouldn’t run into bottlenecks when it came to cultivation experience and the understanding of various cultivation realms. The key issue was that the amount of energy it took to practice all nine chapters was too enormous to consider.
“You are a physical body and a mortal soul in the end. Although you possess a heavenly spirit root, you will fail to reach the second chapter of Knowing Dao without outside aid,” Sky said slowly.
A heavenly spirit root was Lu Yun’s spirit root. It wasn’t a perversely strong one, but it was the only instance to ever appear within the world of cultivation and all three realms.
A heavenly spirit root was named after the heavens. The Lu Yun of three months ago had never truly tried to cultivate, but his cultivation level steadily grew nonetheless until he reached seventh level qi refinement. This ludicrous feat would cause an uproar through the world if anyone else knew of it.
This was the reason that the heavenly dao gave when it wanted Lu Yun for a disciple. Of course, Lu Yun understood that there must be other reasons for the heavenly dao to physically manifest and take a human mortal for a disciple. It couldn’t just be for a rare spirit root.
He looked raptly at Sky, silently waiting for his senior brother to continue.
Sky lifted his right hand in the void, slowly coalescing a green seal that was one meter long on each side.
“This is the Seal of the Mult.i.tude. It is a treasure formed of the will of all people. Although it isn’t a connate treasure, it might possibly be stronger than one,” Sky explained solemnly. “The seal can collect the will of the people and help you with cultivating the Dao Chapters. You will see twice the results with half the effort.”
“A treasure stronger than a connate treasure?” Lu Yun beamed at it.
Sky said no more and waved it into his junior brother’s body in a streak of green light.
“Remember, the rules cannot be flouted. I will be returning to my place now.” As Sky looked at Lu Yun, he suddenly said, “I know that you’re very interested in the memories sealed at the bottom of your heart and wish to delve into them—but remember, you’re the one who sealed them away!
“You don’t wish to recall those memories at present and they will resurface when the time is right. You will know the cause and effect of everything then. The answer lies within you.”
Lu Yun started, then quickly nodded with gravity. He was indeed very curious about what the three thousand reincarnations had sealed away and wanted to break through the seal, but a certain instinct always kept him at bay.
It must be the past him who’d personally set the seal.
Lu Yun could be much more relaxed when it came to facing his senior brother. As the physical manifestation of the rules, Sky wouldn’t harbor so many layers of thought. If he’d brought out the Seal of the Mult.i.tude when Lu Yun asked for a greeting gift, he would’ve saved the expenditure of a leaf from the Builder Tree.
The young man well understood how precious the leaf was; it was likely on par with the seal. The Builder Tree was rumored to be the first spirit root among the six realms and six daos, the unparalleled divine tree that connected the realms. It’d disappeared from existence, however, and no one knew where it’d gone. Even the mightiest immortal would fight over one of its leaves.
Sky’s body began to fade away and the scene morphed in front of Lu Yun’s eyes again. He returned to his little yard, whereupon Sky rematerialized where they’d just conversed.
“Indeed, the greatest worry of living beings is wisdom, and the source of wisdom is thought.” Sky smiled ruefully as he looked at where Lu Yun had vanished. “The heavenly dao wished to give him the seal and the last leaf of the Builder Tree, but I gave him the leaf as a greeting gift and made it so that he owes me a favor…ｆ????e???ѵe?. c??
“Ai, worries, thoughts, and wisdom. It’s better to be an emotionless rule that lacks desire…” The man faded away again.
……
The moon’s radiance spilled forth like water, the night was as silent as a dream.
Lu Yun sat quietly in his yard, having kept the same position as before. If it wasn’t for the appearance of a tremendous amount of vitality in his body and the Seal of the Mult.i.tude in his dantian, he would’ve thought everything was just a dream.
He slowly closed his eyes and focused on his dantian.
A hazy “dao” character still occupied the center, emanating a marvelously profound presence. The green seal hovered silently beneath it, as if it was an altar table hoisting the character up for wors.h.i.+p.
Lu Yun’s consciousness could clearly sense a green current flowing from the seal into the character.
“My senior brother… really gave me the seal and didn’t tell me how to use it. Collecting the will of the people can help with my cultivation? What is the will of the people?” Lu Yun chuckled ruefully. Regardless, the addition of the seal caused a bizarre power to form within his body. It came from the seal and melded into the Hongmeng true qi of his body. When stimulated by the burst of new power, his Hongmeng qi of initial first turn seemed ready to enter mid stage.
Lu Yun still didn’t know how to use the seal after he studied it for a bit. Meanwhile, the leaf from the Builder Tree completely disappeared after entering his body. Apart from a ma.s.sive vitality coursing through his being, he couldn’t find any trace of it.
Lu Yun sighed and took out a piece of upper rank spirit stone from his spirit stone, returning to his usual schedule of cultivation.
Dao methods followed nature, which was why Sky hadn’t told his junior brother how to use the seal. He wanted Lu Yun to progress naturally and to come to results as a matter of course.
As for the memories that’d been sealed away, Lu Yun felt that his senior brother made a lot of sense. It was highly likely that he was the one who’d sealed them away. Otherwise, his instincts wouldn’t react like they did whenever he tried to access them.
……
Dawn. The first rays of sunlight in the east.
Bam!
A terrible collision broke the tranquility of early morning.
“Hand over Lu Yun and pay for my son’s life, old fart Lu, or I—Ouyang Baitian—will raze your complex today!” A commanding shout erupted in the air as a golden hammer the size of a house descended from the sky. It smashed into the defensive formation around the Lu residence and made the entire complex shudder.
Lu Yun was startled awake from his meditation and lifted his eyes to see three towering bodies standing in the air.
“Ouyang Baitian?” Lu Tianling gracefully rose into the air. He was dressed in blue robes with white hair framing a face that was forty years old. “You’re here for your son, but what are you here for, Yuwen Zonglin?”
“Shengmu and my daughter are betrothed. I see him as my son-in-law, so why do you think I’m here?” Yuwen Zonglin snorted and unsheathed his sword. “Hand over Lu Yun, old fart, or Brother Ouyang and I will see what the strongest of Dark City is capable of!”
Lu Yun couldn’t help but snort with laughter as he listened on the ground. Yuwen Zonglin wouldn’t even dare breathe too loudly in front of a Lu Tianling in perfect condition. Kick in the Lu front door? Why, of course when the old man was gravely injured!
Of the seven families in the city, Yuwen Zonglin was the weakest out of all the patriarchs.
“Hahaha, how dare a mere Yuwen Zonglin talk to me like this!” Lu Tianling threw his head back with laughter and waved a ray of fiery sword light at the patriarch.
Whoos.h.!.+
Although he was the weakest, Yuwen Zonglin was still a latter nascent soul cultivator. He sneered at Lu Tianling’s attack and sent out an answering ray of sword radiance to intercept it.
“Hahaha, Lu Tianling, your lower rank spirit weapon Brightfire Slayer is unmatched in third rank cultivation empires. Why don’t you bring it out now?”
Spirit weapons were a rarity in third rank cultivation empires. Even lower ranked ones were exceedingly valuable. The ultimate treasure of the Darklake imperial family was also a lower rank spirit weapon.
The other six families only possessed ordinary paramount rank treasures, yet a newly risen clan possessed a spirit weapon! It made them green with envy and was the reason why the Yuwens, Ouyangs, and Lings hidden in the shadows were so eager to attack the Lus.
Ouyang Baitian beckoned and sent his hammer streaking toward Lu Tianling.
“Since you wish to see Brightfire Slayer, I’ll show you its capabilities!”
Ouyang Baitian and Yuwen Zonglin brightened. If the old man used his spirit weapon, he would have to call upon his full force. Whether or not he’d taken the poison pill, it was beyond what his current condition could endure.
Lu Tianling placed his hands together and summoned a s.h.i.+ning swortsword between them. It blazed with fire and affected the flow of qi in the environment around it. The air exuded a suffocating heat.
Spirit weapons shouldn’t appear in third rank cultivation empires. Not even Dark Orchid Empire—a fourth rank one—often saw one!
Whoos.h.!.+
Brightfire Slayer abruptly transformed into a ma.s.sive blade nine meters tall and shot at the golden hammer.