Chapter 125 - 85: Past Events of Xuanzhen Temple

Chapter 125: Chapter 85: Past Events of Xuanzhen Temple

In the afternoon, inside Junior Martial Uncle Jiang’s bedroom.

Shangguan Ling’Er had been squatting in the corner all along, completely ignoring Li Yinsheng and Jiang Ningzhi. Li Yinsheng simply sat by the bed, attempting to use the Celestial Cyan Sword’s Wood Qi to nourish his Martial Uncle’s body. During their previous conversation, he had generally told his Martial Uncle about the events that transpired on Bamboo Forest Peak, including Lang Gan gifting him the Celestial Cyan Bamboo.

Perhaps because he had nurtured the Celestial Cyan Sword for a hundred years, its Wood Qi was extremely pure and gentle. The effect of nourishing her body was much better than he had anticipated. Of course, what he told his Martial Uncle was that the Celestial Cyan Bamboo gifted by Lang Gan inherently possessed such pure Wood Qi. It was a pity that he couldn’t currently split the Wood Qi into Yin and Yang, transforming it into Jia Wood and B Wood. Otherwise, using Wood Qi to nourish his Martial Uncle’s body would yield even better results.

While nourishing her body, his Martial Uncle also told him that Elder Shangguan had brought a method that might help her recover. However, just as Shangguan Ling’Er mentioned that this method was related to another Dharma Vein—the Bixiao Dharma Vein—she sensed Li Yinsheng’s aura and was subsequently interrupted.

Li Yinsheng didn’t know much about the other Dharma Veins. He only knew that under the entire Taihao Immortal Sect, there was a total of twelve Dharma Veins, and they were nominally equal to one another. Only after his Martial Uncle explained did he learn that the relationship between the Bixiao Dharma Vein and the Zhengyang Dharma Vein was quite estranged. The twelve Dharma Veins of the Taihao Immortal Sect belonged to three different Daoist Palaces. One Daoist Palace commanded four Dharma Veins, and those under the same Daoist Palace were relatively closer to each other.

The Zhengyang Dharma Vein belonged to the Yin Yang Daoist Palace. The other three Dharma Veins in the same palace were the Sun Dharma Vein, the Taiyin Dharma Vein, and the True Yin Dharma Vein. The Bixiao Dharma Vein belonged to another Daoist Palace, the Shenxiao Daoist Palace, which also included the Jade Sky Dharma Vein, the Danxiao Dharma Vein, and the Purple Sky Dharma Vein. Since the Zhengyang Dharma Vein and the Bixiao Dharma Vein belonged to different Daoist Palaces, naturally, it was difficult for their relationship to be very close.

Therefore, his Martial Uncle was quite worried. No matter what the method from the Bixiao Dharma Vein was that could help her recover her Cultivation, she feared it wouldn’t be so easy to obtain. Li Yinsheng shared her concerns, but he continually offered verbal comfort to his Martial Uncle. Besides, they couldn’t make any detailed plans until Elder Shangguan explained the specifics.

After Li Yinsheng finished nourishing his Martial Uncle’s body, leaving her feeling noticeably more comfortable than usual, Shangguan Ling’Er finally lifted the Glazed Cup.

"Oh? Finally figured it out?" Jiang Ningzhi covered her mouth and chuckled.

There was no trace of embarrassment on Shangguan Ling’Er’s face. She simply looked at Li Yinsheng and Jiang Ningzhi, who were sitting relatively close but without any intimate behavior, and shook her head in sheer pity. "Sigh. I locked myself up for so long, yet you two have been completely well-behaved. It seems you really aren’t Dao Companions."

Jiang Ningzhi’s cheeks, which had just regained their pale complexion, instantly flushed red. "You dared to trick me!"

Shangguan Ling’Er looked incredibly smug.

"Wait, no. You don’t have that kind of scheming mind, and that Glazed Cup of yours doesn’t block your own Divine Sense." Jiang Ningzhi furrowed her brows slightly. "Even if you truly thought Yin Sheng and I were Dao Companions, you shouldn’t have used it to trick me. No matter how foolish you are, you wouldn’t think I’d fall for something like that, would you?"

She stared at Shangguan Ling’Er, her eyes narrowing slightly as the corners of her mouth curled up. "You actually just lost your composure, and you’re trying to use these excuses to save face, aren’t you?"

The smugness on Shangguan Ling’Er’s face froze.

"Hmph!" A smug look now appeared on Jiang Ningzhi’s face.

Sitting to the side, Li Yinsheng remained expressionless, his heart completely undisturbed. He sighed inwardly, "Is this the mind games between Grand Daoists? How sinister. Although there are three Grand Daoists in this room, I am the only normal person here."

At the same time, his Divine Sense landed on his junior martial sister. Enduring the burning pain of the Blood Refining Core, she had finished today’s Cultivation. At this moment, she was sitting in front of the copper mirror, drenched in sweat. Looking at her still slender and delicate reflection in the mirror, she revealed a relieved smile. Then, seeing her prepare to draw water for a bath, Li Yinsheng withdrew his Divine Sense and looked at Shangguan Ling’Er.

"Ahem. Although you might indeed be Ningzhi’s martial nephew, you should still just call me Fellow Daoist. Let’s stick to our own titles," Shangguan Ling’Er said.

Since Shangguan Ling’Er insisted, Li Yinsheng didn’t dwell on it and directly changed his address to Fellow Daoist. Seeing Li Yinsheng act so tactfully, Shangguan Ling’Er’s gaze toward him instantly became much friendlier.

"Li, when I tested your age earlier..." She examined Li Yinsheng’s flawless face, her gaze growing more solemn. "You seem to have Minor Cultivation in the True Blood Secret Scripture, and you should have already reached the Ninth Layer or even the Tenth Layer?"

"It’s currently the Eleventh Layer," Li Yinsheng said candidly.

Since his Martial Uncle had said that Shangguan before him was her life-and-death friend, there was no need to hide it from her. Moreover, while he said it was the Eleventh Layer, he honestly couldn’t say if it would become the Twelfth Layer in a few days.

"Eleventh Layer!" Jiang Ningzhi’s eyes widened. "Isn’t your Refining Body a Minor Cultivation?! How could it be the Eleventh Layer?!"

Li Yinsheng had long told her that he had Minor Cultivation in Refining Body. However, the Eighth Layer of the True Blood Secret Scripture already provided the capital to break through to become a Daoist. An Eleventh Layer True Blood Secret Scripture could not possibly be considered a Minor Cultivation!

"It hadn’t reached the Eleventh Layer previously; I only accomplished it recently," Li Yinsheng explained.

Shangguan Ling’Er, however, looked perfectly normal, showing no loss of composure. After all, she had already finished losing her composure while inside the Glazed Cup. In reality, the main reason she had gotten so defensive was that when she tested Li Yinsheng’s age, she discovered he was actually a Body Cultivator with an extremely formidable Flesh Body Cultivation! A twenty-two-year-old Grand Daoist was already something completely unheard of to her, let alone a Body Cultivator Grand Daoist!

She thought, "Are you even human?"

However, upon hearing Jiang Ningzhi mention Minor Cultivation, she raised an eyebrow, looked at Li Yinsheng, and asked, "Refining Body is your Minor Cultivation?"

Li Yinsheng nodded.

"Bull... absolute nonsense!" Shangguan Ling’Er bluntly corrected him. "You clearly have Major Cultivation in Refining Body and Minor Cultivation in Qi Refining!"

"Why do you say that, Shangguan?" Li Yinsheng wondered.

"I recognize the Cultivation Technique you practice for your Major Cultivation; it’s clearly the Qingxuan Scripture!" Shangguan Ling’Er asked unceremoniously, "The limit of the Qingxuan Scripture is much worse than that of the True Blood Secret Scripture, yet you’re telling me your Major Cultivation is the Qingxuan Scripture?"

Li Yinsheng fell silent. It seemed there was nothing wrong with Shangguan Ling’Er’s reasoning? Although in terms of overall grade, the Qingxuan Scripture and the True Blood Secret Scripture were roughly on the same level, the gap between their upper limits was indeed vast. His Qingxuan Scripture had reached its peak at two hundred years of Cultivation. When breaking through to the Divine Travel Realm later, he had relied purely on the Cultivation he had accumulated, powering through with sheer brute force.

To be specific, if one were to compare the Qingxuan Scripture and the True Blood Secret Scripture, before successfully becoming a Daoist, the Qingxuan Scripture had always been better than the True Blood Secret Scripture. But after successfully becoming a Daoist, the Qingxuan Scripture and the True Blood Secret Scripture each had their own merits. However, for him, who was already a Grand Daoist, the True Blood Secret Scripture was undoubtedly far superior to the Qingxuan Scripture. Therefore, he couldn’t refute what Shangguan Ling’Er had said. Since the Qingxuan Scripture could no longer keep up with him, it was indeed true that the True Blood Secret Scripture was now more like his Major Cultivation, while the Qingxuan Scripture had instead been reduced to a Minor Cultivation.

"What you say, Shangguan, is not unreasonable. It’s just..." Li Yinsheng shook his head helplessly. "My temple’s Town Guardian Technique has been lost, and I can’t find a Cultivation Technique higher than the Qingxuan Scripture."

"Are you talking about the Treasure Illumination Scripture?" Shangguan Ling’Er said. "It’s indeed decent, but that’s about it. It can’t compare to my Five Elements Reincarnation Scripture.

"Every Daoist Temple treats their core legacy as important as their own lives, refusing to leak even a bit of it to the Dharma Veins. But in reality, most of them are just mediocre. Better than the worst, but falling short of the best."

As she spoke, she even poked Jiang Ningzhi’s cheek. "If you had been willing to leave the Xuanzhen Temple and join a Dharma Vein with me, you wouldn’t have to practice that broken Sword Scripture all day, and you might have achieved the Dharma Aspect long ago.

"Although the Zhengyang Dharma Vein doesn’t have many Sword Cultivators, it wouldn’t be hard to find a couple of Sword Cultivator Cultivation Techniques on the same level as your Treasure Illumination Scripture."

Jiang Ningzhi poked Shangguan Ling’Er right back in the face. "I cultivate Sword Intent! The Cultivation Technique has never had that big of an impact on me!

"A Daoist Temple’s legacy naturally can’t be compared with a Dharma Vein, but at the very least, it’s stronger than the Qingxuan Scripture."

Li Yinsheng gave a bitter smile and looked at Jiang Ningzhi. "Martial Uncle, why didn’t our Xuanzhen Temple know to make a backup of our Town Guardian legacy?"

"Making a backup of the Treasure Illumination Scripture wouldn’t have meant anything. With only the Cultivation Technique, it is impossible to practice," she shook her head.

"Huh?" Li Yinsheng paused in surprise.

After confirming that the Treasure Illumination Scripture was completely lost, he had never asked too much about it. After all, there was no point in crying over spilled milk. But hearing his Martial Uncle mention it now, it seemed the Treasure Illumination Scripture was a rather unique Cultivation Technique?

Jiang Ningzhi remained silent for a moment, organizing her words before speaking seriously. "Yin Sheng, since you are already a Grand Daoist, it is time I told you everything about what the Xuanzhen Temple previously encountered, as well as the loss of the Treasure Illumination Scripture."

"So you haven’t told him yet," Shangguan Ling’Er said, somewhat surprised. "Even I know about these things, but he actually doesn’t?"

"For some matters, if one’s Cultivation is insufficient, mentioning them prematurely only adds to their worries and brings no benefits," Jiang Ningzhi shook her head.

Li Yinsheng immediately turned serious.

"However, what I know isn’t completely comprehensive either," Jiang Ningzhi said with a bitter smile. "Although I experienced it personally, to put it plainly, I merely narrowly escaped death. Naturally, there are many parts I am unclear about.

"This matter must start from a great battle thirty years ago between the Zhengyang Dharma Vein and the Demon Path Celestial Demon Hall. Although this Celestial Demon Hall has a grandiose name, it wasn’t considered an outrageously massive entity.

"In terms of power, it should have been about the same as the Thousand Insects Valley you encountered before, or perhaps even slightly inferior.

"Therefore, for a very long time after the war started, the Dharma Vein and the Celestial Demon Hall were evenly matched, locked in a continuous stalemate."

Jiang Ningzhi continued, "It wasn’t until our Xuanzhen Temple joined forces with the Jade Altar Temple, venturing deep into the Celestial Demon Hall’s Array to launch a sneak attack and destroying a small portion of the Array, that the Dharma Vein used it as a breakthrough point to achieve a great victory over the Celestial Demon Hall."

"Did the Dharma Vein give any rewards?" Li Yinsheng asked curiously.

"Of course they did. Both the Xuanzhen Temple and the Jade Altar Temple were rewarded with quite a few good things," Shangguan Ling’Er sighed softly. "It’s just a pity that you guys didn’t have the luck to enjoy them."

Jiang Ningzhi gave a bitter smile. "The rewards from the Dharma Vein at that time were indeed incredibly generous, but the other Daoists in the temple and I had no time to pay attention to those things.

"All of our Heart Power was focused on a Magical Treasure we intercepted from within when we ventured deep into the Celestial Demon Hall’s territory to destroy the core of the Array."

"A Magical Treasure?" Li Yinsheng was curious. "What kind of Magical Treasure could be much more important than the Dharma Vein’s rewards?"

"Calling this item a Magical Treasure is no longer quite accurate. It was already practically half a Spirit Treasure," Jiang Ningzhi said softly.

"A Spirit Treasure?" Li Yinsheng asked. "Is it an existence a level higher than a Magical Treasure?"

"Mhm," Shangguan Ling’Er said. "What a Daoist uses is a Magical Treasure, while what an Immortal uses is a Spirit Treasure."

"An Immortal!" Li Yinsheng’s expression immediately turned solemn.

He knew there were true Immortals within the Dharma Veins, but aside from this legend, he had no further understanding of Immortals.