Green Gourd Sword Immortal - Chapter 16: An Invitation
-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread
Follow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-
Just as Liang Yan was wondering, another purple ray appeared in the spirit spring and shot toward him. This time Liang Yan was prepared and turned aside to dodge. Who knew that the purple ray seemed to have grown eyes; it turned in midair and came at him again, even faster. Liang Yan dodged hurriedly, but in the end the purple ray caught up with him.
As soon as the purple light entered his body, his whole body felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar. But this time Liang Yan observed carefully and actually discovered that the purple ray seemed to be guided, moving downward along his meridians and finally being absorbed by his dantian. To be precise, it was absorbed by the Heavenly Mystery Pearl inside his dantian.
After the Heavenly Mystery Pearl absorbed three purple rays in succession, it began to tremble slightly. After a moment, it spat out an extremely dense stream of spiritual energy, which slowly dispersed toward his limbs and bones.
Liang Yan was overjoyed. Although he still didn't fully understand why, how could he let such a fine opportunity slip by? He immediately sat cross-legged and began circulating his art to refine that pure spiritual energy.
After a night of this, the spiritual power in Liang Yan's body grew increasingly pure. Through his observation over the night, he drew a conclusion: these purple rays seemed to be attracted by the Heavenly Mystery Pearl and actively drawn out from the spirit spring. This could be confirmed from Sun Qianli's side, because he hadn't been affected by the purple rays at all.
'There is probably another mystery within this spirit spring,' Liang Yan thought to himself.
But this was only a thought. He had no ability to probe the mystery within. Being able to obtain the spiritual energy of this spirit spring and the purple rays was already an enormous benefit. Liang Yan secretly rejoiced. As long as he cultivated like this, in a few days he could probably attempt to break through the bottleneck at the peak of the second layer of Qi Refining and charge into the third layer.
By then the sky was already faintly whitening. Liang Yan stopped and stood up. Sun Qianli had also stopped and walked over to him.
"It seems Brother Liang reaped quite a harvest last night," Sun Qianli said, glancing at him with considerable surprise.
As low-level Qi Refining cultivators, they were only equivalent to inner-school grandmasters in the secular world; they still had to eat and sleep. After an entire night of training, although Sun Qianli's body wouldn't be harmed, his spirit was still very weary. At that moment his face was full of fatigue, just like what one saw during the day.
In contrast, Liang Yan's face was full of vigor and energy, with no trace of fatigue. Liang Yan knew this was the effect of the purple rays' nourishment, but he couldn't say so openly, so he could only nod vaguely in agreement.
Each had their own thoughts and neither would ask more. After searching the area together once, they returned to their dormitory.
For several days after that, Liang Yan worked and read books during the day, and whenever it was late at night, he would go to the cave with Sun Qianli to cultivate. That night, Liang Yan suddenly felt something. Spiritual energy circulated through his meridians for several cycles, but when it reached the Baihui acupoint at the top of his head, it began to move slowly, as if there were an invisible barrier secretly obstructing it.
Liang Yan knew that this was the bottleneck of the second layer of Qi Refining. Only by breaking through this bottleneck could he enter the third layer. So he calmed his mind and constantly mobilized the spiritual energy in his body, charging again and again toward the Baihui acupoint at the top of his head.
As the nameless chant circulated madly, the pure spiritual energy quickly gathered into a slender mass of energy and began charging the pass along his meridians.
No one knew how long had passed when a faint muffled sound rang out, and in the empty, silent cave it seemed as if a gentle breeze had risen out of nowhere. It made Sun Qianli open his eyes and cast a few suspicious glances toward Liang Yan, but he didn't notice anything unusual, so he closed his eyes again, sat cross-legged, and continued cultivating.
Only Liang Yan himself knew that just now he had successfully broken through and advanced to the third layer of Qi Refining. It was only because, at the same time he broke through the bottleneck, he secretly urged the Heavenly Mystery Pearl to conceal his aura, which caused almost no fluctuations to spread out.
Even Sun Qianli, who was right beside him, only faintly sensed something before there was nothing further.
Feeling the clearly increased pure spiritual power in his body, Liang Yan's heart was leaping with joy, but he didn't slack off. He silently continued to circulate his art to consolidate the realm he had just broken through.
When he opened his eyes again, the sky was already bright. Liang Yan looked to the side; Sun Qianli was no longer there. Clearly he had waited a long time without result, and didn't want to interrupt Liang Yan's cultivation, so he had gone back alone.
"Counting the time, it's about time to report to Wang Yuan," Liang Yan said to himself. But he still planned to return to the dormitory and wash up a little, because when he broke through to the third layer of Qi Refining the previous night, his body had unknowingly expelled some impurities, which were sticking to him and making him uncomfortable.
Liang Yan knew that every time one broke through a layer in the Qi Refining stage, it could improve a mortal's physique, wash the meridians, and expel some of the body's innate impurities, making the body more suitable for cultivation.
Liang Yan walked toward the dormitory, and before long he arrived in front of the thatched cottage in the apricot grove.
But at that moment, a person was standing in the courtyard, wearing a moon-white long robe, a sharp sword hanging at his waist, and a Confucian headband, looking extremely free and unrestrained.
Hearing footsteps, the man turned and looked over.
He looked at Liang Yan with a smile and said, "Junior Brother Liang, I've been waiting for you for a long time."
Liang Yan was puzzled and also secretly grew alert.
After all, he had been out all night, and he didn't know when this person had arrived. That spirit spring was of great benefit to his cultivation, and he couldn't reveal even the slightest clue.
Thinking this, Liang Yan saluted him and said, "Greetings, Senior Brother Zhuo." Then he added with a puzzled look, "Senior Brother Zhuo is one of the top elite disciples in the outer sect, while I, Liang, am only an ordinary Miscellaneous Duties Disciple. I didn't expect Senior Brother Zhuo to condescend to visit someone as insignificant as me. I truly don't deserve it."
Zhuo Bufan still wore a smile, one as pleasant as a spring breeze.
He answered lightly, "Not at all. Junior Brother Liang's attainments in the art of formations can be called naturally gifted and rarely seen in the world. Although I was born into the Pill Meridian, I'm also quite obsessed with the way of formations, which is why I came to seek an audience with you, Junior Brother. Please don't be stingy with your instruction."
Liang Yan felt a little embarrassed to be praised like that. He could only reply, "Mere trivial tricks. Once Senior Brother Zhuo draws his divine sword, these side-door and unorthodox methods can't withstand a single strike from you."
Zhuo Bufan's expression turned serious.
He said to Liang Yan, "Junior Brother must not belittle yourself. Among the three thousand great Daos, each has its own wondrous methods. Back then, the founding patriarch of our sect, Yi Xing Zhenren, was known as a double master of chess and formations. It was precisely by relying on formations that he entered the Dao and passed down a thousand-year great sect like Yi Xing Pavilion."
Liang Yan's face reddened slightly. He said, "Many thanks for Senior Brother Zhuo's guidance. I'll remember it in my heart."
Zhuo Bufan's expression softened, and he smiled at Liang Yan again. "Actually, I came today specifically to ask Brother Liang to set up a formation for me."
"What? Senior Brother, you still need me to set up a formation for you?"
"Correct," Zhuo Bufan said with a nod. "Actually, I've been refining a kind of pill, but this pill is extremely difficult to succeed. Especially during refinement, the materials' spiritual power can't gather, so when the pill is finally formed, the spiritual power dissipates and it ends up as a useless pill."
Liang Yan's mind lit up, and he blurted out, "Senior Brother, could it be that you want to set up a Spirit-Gathering Formation?"
Zhuo Bufan looked at him approvingly and nodded. "Correct. I want you, Junior Brother, to set up this Spirit-Gathering Formation for me during pill refinement, so that the materials' spiritual power can condense and not scatter, increasing the final chance of forming the pill."
Then he said with a somewhat embarrassed look, "To be honest, I, Zhuo, have studied some formations for this myself, but I could never grasp the essentials. I won't hide it from you: my demand for this kind of pill is huge, but so far I haven't successfully refined even one. If Junior Brother can help me form the pill, I, Zhuo, will definitely reward you generously."
As he spoke, he opened his right hand.
In his palm were three snow-white, flawless pills, and on the pills were cloud-like patterns.
"Spirit-Gathering Pills!" Liang Yan inhaled sharply.
These Spirit-Gathering Pills were rare and precious elixirs for Qi Refining cultivators. They could improve a cultivator's physique and increase the speed at which Qi Refining cultivators absorbed spiritual energy. For a cultivator like Liang Yan, whose spiritual roots were mixed and who absorbed spiritual energy very slowly, they were especially precious.
Originally, Miscellaneous Duties Disciples in the sect could also receive one Spirit-Gathering Pill every half year to assist their cultivation, but unfortunately the resources for Liang Yan and the other two had been intercepted by Wang Yuan. Now Zhuo Bufan had actually taken out three at once; the temptation was by no means small.
Liang Yan suppressed the shock in his heart and said to Zhuo Bufan, "My learning isn't deep, and I'm afraid I may fall short of Senior Brother Zhuo's high expectations."
"No matter. Just do your best. As the saying goes, planning affairs lies with man, completing affairs lies with Heaven. Success or failure depends on Heaven's will."
Liang Yan nodded slightly, then said, "Also, as a Miscellaneous Duties Disciple, I'm afraid I still need to wait until I finish my work before..."
Before he could finish, Zhuo Bufan interrupted, "You needn't worry about that. I've already spoken with Wang Yuan. From now on, whenever I'm refining pills, you may be excused from that day's miscellaneous duties and just come help me refine pills."
Liang Yan hadn't expected him to have such ability, to actually be able to direct the Miscellaneous Duties deacon disciple. But he remembered the discussion among the several Qin Dao disciples that day: this Zhuo Bufan seemed to have an uncle who was an Inner Cabinet Elder, so he must have some special privileges.
With no further concerns, Liang Yan said, "Since Senior Brother Zhuo has so warmly invited me, I, Liang, can hardly decline. Shall we set out right now?"
"Hahaha, Junior Brother Liang is indeed straightforward. Come! Follow me to Green Bamboo Peak." As he spoke, he formed a hand sign with his right hand. The Dingguang Sword circled out and then hovered quietly at chest height for the two of them. Zhuo Bufan pulled Liang Yan, and the two stepped onto the flying sword and flew toward Green Bamboo Peak.
Although the sect forbade low-rank disciples from flying through the air within the sect's territory, as a sign of respect for the sect, ordinary travel by controlling objects and flying close to the ground was allowed. After all, the sect's mountain valley was so large that relying on legs alone was inevitably inconvenient.
The two traveled by sword, and in the blink of an eye they arrived at the foot of Green Bamboo Peak. Green Bamboo Peak was where the outer disciples of the Pill Meridian usually cultivated. As one of the top-ranking outer disciples, Zhuo Bufan even had his own independent cave dwelling near the summit.
Liang Yan jumped down from the flying sword, still unable to hide the excitement in his eyes. He yearned deeply for the path of sword cultivation and was clearly very stirred by this first experience of flying on a sword.
Zhuo Bufan observed his expression and only smiled faintly. He formed a hand sign to put away the flying sword, and the two of them climbed the mountain path of Green Bamboo Peak step by step.
As its name implied, Green Bamboo Peak was lined with upright green bamboo on both sides of the path. When the breeze blew, the bamboo grove swayed and unexpectedly produced a subtle melody, like heavenly music.
"This Green Bamboo Forest, it's said, was personally planted by the founding patriarch back then. It hides the great Dao of musical tones. Those with destiny may even obtain from it the wondrous method of washing and refining the soul and nourishing the sea of consciousness."
"Such a thing? Then I truly am ignorant and ill-informed," Liang Yan said with a slight bitter smile.
"Haha, rumors are always rumors. At least in the more than ten years I, Zhuo, have cultivated here, I've never heard of anyone with such fortune. I was only sharing an amusing tale with you, Junior Brother; no need to take it seriously."
"Haha," Liang Yan laughed as well.
The two chatted and laughed, and before long they arrived in front of Zhuo Bufan's cave dwelling. Zhuo Bufan sent a spell formula flying into the courtyard, and the gate opened in response. Then he led Liang Yan inside.
-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread
Follow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-