Chapter 884: Secret Techniques!

The moment Li Yun appeared outside the Everlasting Pagoda, a wave of surprised voices rose from the cultivators gathered below.

Normally, a newcomer challenging the pagoda for the first time would be thrown out almost at once, and most could not last even a single breath. Li Yun, however, had stayed inside for seven or eight breaths.

That might not sound like much, but everyone there understood what it really meant. Many of them had been on Chronospace Island for decades, and some had cultivated here for centuries.

Even after all that time, plenty of them could still only survive a few breaths against the first-floor guardian.

For a newcomer to last seven or eight breaths on his first attempt was already extraordinary, and several people were already guessing that Li Yun might have enough talent to clear the first floor after some time spent cultivating.

“Li Yun, I didn’t expect you to be this strong,” Feng Xuan said as he walked over with a broad smile and patted him on the shoulder. “Stop looking so dazed. Lasting that long on your first try already puts you ahead of most people here.”

Li Yun blinked as the pat finally pulled him out of his thoughts, and a look of real excitement appeared in his eyes. That excitement had nothing to do with his victory on the first floor.

What truly thrilled him was the attack the Old Fisherman had used on the second floor. That single flick of the fishing line had finally shown him the direction he needed to fuse Fast Sword and Slow Sword.

Li Yun had already understood that extreme speed and extreme slowness both had a peculiar relationship with space, and he knew that this connection was probably the key to combining the two sword techniques.

However, knowing that a path existed and knowing how to walk it were two completely different things. He had the idea, but he had no clear method.

The Old Fisherman’s attack had changed that. The fishing line had crossed space in a way that ignored ordinary distance entirely, and watching it had finally let Li Yun see how Fast Sword and Slow Sword could begin to draw closer through spatial principles.

Actually fusing the two techniques would still be extremely difficult, of course. But as long as he had a clear direction, success was possible.

Just then, several strands of mysterious energy drifted away from the Everlasting Pagoda with a soft whoosh. They gathered in midair and, within moments, condensed into an ancient token. The token shot through the air and landed right in Li Yun’s hand.

Feng Xuan froze. The hand he had just been pulling back from Li Yun’s shoulder stopped halfway, and his mouth slowly fell open as he stared at the token as if he had seen something impossible.

“What?”

The same reaction spread through the crowd.

“How is that possible?”

“He passed?”

“No, that can’t be right.”

Some cultivators rubbed their eyes, while others could only stare. There was no mistaking the ancient token in Li Yun’s hand. It was the Everlasting Trial Token, which could only be earned by clearing the first floor of the Everlasting Pagoda.

Whoever held one had the right to exchange it for a middle-level secret technique. In all of Chronospace Island’s history among its current residents, only thirty-six people had ever obtained such a token, and now there was a thirty-seventh.

A collective gasp swept through the gathering, and even Feng Xuan could no longer hide his shock.

“He actually cleared the first floor on his very first attempt.”

“What kind of monster is he?”

“I’ve been trapped on Chronospace Island for twenty thousand years, and in all that time I’ve never heard of anyone doing this.”

One cultivator suddenly remembered something.

“Even Yuan Zhenhai, the only person here known to have passed the second floor, only lasted about ten breaths against the Golden-Armored Guardian on his first attempt. He wasn’t anywhere close to beating it.”

“Forget Yuan Zhenhai,” someone else replied at once. “Even the genius who cleared all three floors sixty thousand years ago didn’t show talent like this when he first arrived.”

Several people looked at Li Yun with more and more complicated expressions.

“If this keeps up, could we actually see someone clear the whole Everlasting Pagoda?”

“Maybe. With talent like his, the question might not be whether he can clear it. It might just be how long it’ll take him.”

The eyes around Li Yun were filled with a mix of envy, amazement, and jealousy. Most of the people here had been on Chronospace Island for hundreds or thousands of years, and some had been trapped for tens of thousands.

Even so, almost none of them had ever passed the first floor, and surviving more than ten breaths against the first guardian was considered impressive.

Li Yun, on the other hand, had only just arrived. He had not learned a single secret technique from the island or spent centuries studying its inheritances, yet he had passed the first floor immediately. The thought of what might happen once he started learning the island’s secret techniques made many of them uneasy.

Feng Xuan was perhaps the most shocked of all, since he had brought Li Yun here himself. During their journey, Li Yun had been calm, polite, and remarkably modest, and nothing about him had suggested arrogance.

Because of that, Feng Xuan had first thought of him as just another talented newcomer. Now he understood how wrong he had been. Li Yun was not merely talented. He was terrifying.

Feng Xuan stayed silent for a while before he finally calmed down, and then his expression turned serious.

“Li Yun, your talent might honestly be the best I’ve ever seen. Because of that, I need to give you an important piece of advice.”

Li Yun looked at him. “What advice?”

His attitude toward Feng Xuan had not changed in the slightest, and clearing the first floor had not made him arrogant. Feng Xuan nodded to himself in approval.

“Don’t exchange that token for a middle-level secret technique right away,” he said.

Li Yun’s eyes narrowed slightly, and Feng Xuan went on.

“I know the right to choose one is incredibly valuable, and most people here would do almost anything for that chance. But choosing one now could actually slow you down. Middle-level secret techniques are powerful, of course, but they’re also much harder to cultivate. Learning one properly can take a huge amount of time and focus.”

He pointed toward another part of the island.

“Chronospace Island also has plenty of low-level secret techniques. Don’t look down on them just because they’re called low level. For people at our stage, every one of them holds profound principles, and they can still improve your combat ability a great deal. My suggestion is simple. Study a few low-level secret techniques first and use them to broaden your understanding. Once you know which kind of path suits you best, exchange your Everlasting Trial Token for a middle-level technique. That way, it’ll be easier to learn, and you’ll be far less likely to waste such a rare opportunity on something that doesn’t fit you.”

Li Yun thought it over briefly and then nodded.

“That makes sense, Brother Feng.”

Feng Xuan had spoken sincerely, and more importantly, his reasoning was sound. The low-level secret techniques could be studied freely, so if Li Yun picked one that turned out not to suit him, he could simply move on to another without losing much. Middle-level secret techniques were different.

The chances to obtain them were limited, and a wrong choice could become a lasting regret.

“Then I’ll have to trouble you to take me to the Chronospace Jade Walls, Brother Feng.”

After fighting the Golden-Armored Guardian and experiencing the Old Fisherman’s attack, Li Yun had become more and more curious about the inheritances left on Chronospace Island.