The Daoist Seal

Lin Quan and Tang You wanted to jump for joy and scream in elation upon their breakthrough, Lin Quan in particular. He had stayed at the third heaven of Micro Realm for far too long, but at last, he finally broke through two heavens today. To him, this all seemed like a dream.

"You two will continue to break through and reach higher levels!" Jiang Xiaofan encouraged.

They nodded and replied, "Definitely, Boss! We believe that if we continue to follow you, we can journey farther on our paths to Dao. We will no longer halt at just the Micro Realm! Those main peaks mean nothing to us!"

Although they were giddy with excitement, they had nonetheless spoken the truth. Once aggrieved by the prolonged scorn of the disciples from the main peaks, Jiang Xiaofan"s arrival to Standstill Peak had completely changed them. They were filled with confidence once more!

On the next day, the sky was sunny and bright, just like Jiang Xiaofan"s mood. After all, Lin Quan was already at the fifth heaven while Tang You was at the fourth. As for Old Man Liu, his complexion appeared rosier, and after consuming the gold core pill, many of his wrinkles seemed to have diminished, looking livelier overall.

At the base of the Heavenly Maiden Peak, two female disciples spotted Jiang Xiaofan humming a light tune while walking towards them. They teasingly inquired, "Perverted Wolf, you appear to be in a good mood. What"s the occasion? Tell us!"

Jiang Xiaofan rolled his eyes and grew disheartened. Please, sisters. Can you stop calling me Perverted Wolf so casually? I have a name, alright? You can call me Charming Jiang or Jiang the Handsome but not Perverted Wolf!

He glanced around before whispering, "Xiao Xue"er promised to marry me!"

This was what had gone through his mind. Many relationships begin with a rumor. At first, they"ll say "A" and "B" has something going on between them. Once that rumor spreads, "A" and "B" will eventually be lumped together and love will naturally blossom. Not a bad idea, huh?

Astounded, the girls stared at Jiang Xiaofan with widened eyes. They knew that he and Ye Yuanxue had an intimate relationship and that they would frequently visit each other"s peak. However, this was progressing too fast! How can this guy steal our precious princess just like that?!

Feeling exultant, this was the response that Jiang Xiaofan had wanted to elicit from them. At this time, a piece of rock was shot down from the top of the mountain. Startled, Jiang Xiaofan quickly dodged to the side.

From atop the peak, she loudly ground her teeth, glowered at Jiang Xiaofan, and fumed, "Pft! Perverted Wolf, you are so shameless! Who promised to marry you?! Dream on!"

He immediately felt embarra.s.sed. d.a.m.n it, I got caught red-handed! How sad! He then turned around only to notice the two girls staring back at him with mean eyes and scowls.

"Uh, it was all a big joke. Don"t mind it."

Jiang Xiaofan awkwardly laughed before sprinting up the peak like a bolt of lightning.

Up above, Ye Yuanxue forcefully tugged Jiang Xiaofan"s earlobe as she angrily listed all of his offenses against her, prompting Jiang Xiaofan to continuously roll his eyes in frustration. Seriously, how unlucky am I? How could I have been caught at that moment?!

Ye Qiuyu stood to the side and glanced at her baby sister tugging Jiang Xiaofan"s earlobe. After a light giggle, she resumed to elegantly sipping her tea.

The feeling that she exuded to Jiang Xiaofan was enigmatic. Even though she appeared placid like water, he could sense, with his unusually accurate spiritual instinct, that Ye Qiuyu"s cultivation was much stronger than Ying Tianyang"s.

"I heard Xue"er say that you have reached the Realm of Dust. Congratulations."

Ye Qiuyu beamed at him. Because of Ye Yuanxue, she was now on very friendly terms with Jiang Xiaofan and no longer addressed him Jiang Gongzi, becoming a lot more casual.

In fact, the disciples of the Heavenly Maiden Peak were all familiar with Jiang Xiaofan. After frequent contacts with him, they had discovered that this man was quite decent and goodhearted. The reason for letting him enter the Heavenly Maiden Peak was now no longer solely because he had the first-generation leader"s jade pendant. It was also because they had sincerely accepted him from the bottom of their hearts. Otherwise, there would"ve been no way that Jiang Xiaofan could have joked in that manner with the two disciples at the base.

"It"s just good fortune."

Jiang Xiaofan modestly answered as he welcomed Ye Yuanxue"s hara.s.sment.

Ye Qiuyu merely smiled, not intending to interfere.

At nightfall, Jiang Xiaofan finally left the Heavenly Maiden Peak.  When he arrived at Standstill Peak, he realized that Lin Quan and Tang You had already begun to absorb the surrounding spiritual qi in the air and cultivate the Jade Purity Cultivation Method. Jiang Xiaofan nodded in satisfaction.

Old Man Liu had already gone to bed. Jiang Xiaofan didn"t bother to wake him up, nor did he interrupt Lin Quan"s and Tang You"s cultivation. Instead, he went up to the top of the mountain and sat in a lotus position on the rock below the precipice.

The booklet that Liu Cheng"an had given him was indeed a work of art. There were annotations written everywhere which thoroughly detailed and a.n.a.lyzed the four realms from the Micro Realm to the Realm of Dust, Phantom Saint, and Human Emperor. Jiang Xiaofan was very grateful because there were many details which he hadn"t known of before, and after studying this booklet, he immediately felt like a new world was opening up to him.

What surprised him the most was that the perceptions of cultivation noted down reached as far as the ninth heaven of Human Emperor. Jiang Xiaofan speculated that prior to Liu Cheng"an"s qi deviation, the old man had cultivation at the ninth heaven of Human Emperor. Wow, insanely powerful!

Based on what he knew, only the sect leader and the supreme elder of the Emperor"s Heaven Sect had cultivation beyond the ninth heaven of Human Emperor and were at Mystic Immortal. Those two were the pillars of the sect. However, he had never thought that Liu Cheng"an was once a ninth heaven Human Emperor cultivator. Now that he pondered over it, something had to have gone wrong when Liu Cheng"an had aimed for the realm of Mystic Immortal which led to a loss of all his cultivation.

Jiang Xiaofan could only lament. The G.o.ds have no mercy! How could a nice, good-natured old man like him not overcome that hurdle to the higher realm? How could he succ.u.mb to the instability of his cultivation base, and lose everything that he had worked so hard for? Heaven is so unfair!

He shook his head and put away the booklet. Jiang Xiaofan then activated his Buddhist Sutra and channeled his spiritual awareness throughout his body. Because of his recent breakthrough to the Realm of Dust, he needed to further stabilize his cultivation base.

As the Buddhist Sutra channeled qi, the golden spiritual energy perfused every inch of his blood and flesh. This would make his body stronger and anchor his cultivation base like an indestructible diamond.

After his battles at the Forest of Scorching Flames, with Ying Tianyang, and with that disciple from Ziyang Sect, he discovered numerous problems with his cultivation. His Buddhist Sutra was indeed peerlessly powerful and mystical because written in it were countless methods and their techniques. However, other than the Shadow Steps, he could not activate the other methods by will due to the over uniqueness of his golden spiritual energy. There were no records of any person on Planet Ziwei who had possessed this color of spiritual energy before.

Being unique wasn"t always a good thing. Jiang Xiaofan was deeply aware of this. Ye Yuanxue was the only one who knew the color of his spiritual energy. He even told her to keep it a secret from Ye Qiuyu.

Dipankara, Buddha of the Past, had warned him that unless he was facing special circ.u.mstances, he should never expose the Buddhist Sutra and his bra.s.s piece to anyone. Otherwise, it would only bring about unnecessary trouble.

He was someone whom Jiang Xiaofan had heartfelt admiration and respect for because Dipankara was considered a holy being in Buddhism Therefore, whatever the Buddha had said, regardless of the reasoning, Jiang Xiaofan had obeyed.

Whenever he battled someone, punches and Shadow Steps were his default attack moves. Of course, he had earlier learned the Thirteen Swords of the Clear Moon and recently, s.p.a.ce spirit channeling. Despite them all, he still didn"t think that they weren"t enough.

"Forget it. Let"s just take it one step at a time."

Jiang Xiaofan sighed. Being a.s.signed to Standstill Peak corresponded to being labeled as a waste. Thus, the sect wouldn"t provide him with any advanced cultivation method scrolls, but he didn"t care since he didn"t want them anyway.

He already had the primordial Buddhist Sutra. Its mystical cultivation methods weren"t any less inferior to the greatest cultivation methods of the other sects. In fact, the Buddhist cultivation methods were far superior to them. He believed that his cultivation methods could overpower all others on the planet.

He cleared his mind again and combed through his body with his spiritual awareness as the Buddhist Sutra continuously channeled qi. His Diamond Sutra had been activated as well. His inner body glowed brighter than before, and each cell sparkled with life and immense energy. He could feel the tremendous might from within himself and felt that with one punch, he could break the ground.

With the Buddhist Sutra as his foundation, his spiritual awareness was far more powerful than anyone else"s in the same realm. Now that he was a Realm of Dust cultivator, he could fight a Phantom Saint cultivator nearly match for match. This was the ultimate trick up his sleeve!

He continued to sweep his spiritual awareness throughout his body and finally arrived at the multicolored, small lake. It was mysterious and tranquil as if it was a sacred land that was isolated from the rest of the world. In the middle of that lake was the unmoving palm-sized, silver-colored bra.s.s piece on top of the water, akin to a pillar of the sky that supported the Heaven and Earth.

Suddenly, something blurred before his eyes. He sensed that the silver bra.s.s piece had moved, but he soon ignored it. This bra.s.s piece is stubborn as an ox, so why would it randomly move? He refused to believe it no matter what. That was just a trick of his eyes because of his intense yearning to hold that bra.s.s piece in his hands.

As he continued to channel his Buddhist Sutra, the spiritual energy steadily coursed through his body, and not long after, body temperature rose. Jiang Xiaofan gradually widened his eyes. This time, he had seen it. That bra.s.s piece had definitely trembled!

His Buddhist Sutra began to automatically channel spiritual energy and increased the speed of the flow. The bra.s.s piece trembled again and emitted a thin stream of multicolored light. It shook once more before disappearing from the inside of his body and suddenly appearing right in front of his eyes.

Jiang Xiaofan"s eyes bulged in response, and waves of emotions washed him over.

Ever since he had gotten that bra.s.s piece and experienced multiple incidents afterward, he learned of one thing. If there was nothing special happening, that bra.s.s piece wouldn"t budge no matter what. This time though, not only had it vibrated and emitted light, it was now hovering outside of his body! Too abnormal! Too weird! Extremely weird!

Just then, Jiang Xiaofan keenly sensed that this world had somewhat changed. All was silent. The stars were unmoving, and the sky was still. There was a large-scale evolution taking place. The budding and the decaying, creation and destruction, and all living things were affected. The pa.s.sage of life continuously flowed. Everything was in the hands of reincarnation.

Editor: Vis