Chapter 9

In the dense foliage beneath the northern cliff of Immortal Peak, Xiaoyi opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

This... Is this the 'inner vision' that Master spoke of, which only appears after deep cultivation of internal skills? The only cultivation technique I have practiced is the *Xuan Yuan Incantation*. Could it be... Xiaoyi quickly sat down in a meditative posture, formed the heart seal with his hands, and silently recited the *Xuan Yuan Incantation*, guiding the breath according to the technique.

The *Xuan Yuan Incantation*, which had shown no signs of progress in eight years, finally stirred within him with his breathing!

Xiaoyi felt as if a subtle and elusive vital energy from the universe was being drawn into his body through every pore, swirling into the small energy mass in his dantian, and then flowing through his meridians to his entire body, circulating endlessly.

Xiaoyi was overwhelmed with surprise! This was the sign of the first level of the *Xuan Yuan Incantation* being fully mastered!

For thousands of years, no one in the Xuan Yuan Temple had ever understood the *Xuan Yuan Incantation*, yet he had managed to master the first level. The sudden good fortune left him dazed!

He stopped meditating, his mouth half-open, and his dirty little face lit up with joy in his black eyes. Xiaoyi felt his body filled with strength, as if he could kill a wild wolf with one punch and leap into the sky with a single step.

He joyfully felt the tremendous changes within his body, from head to toe, from the inside out...

Suddenly, Xiaoyi's expression changed, and he pulled out the delicate brocade pouch he had picked up from the skeleton in the stone room. He had just seen something inside it, but now he couldn't feel it anymore.

Xiaoyi calmed his mind, recalled the moment, and focused his thoughts on the brocade pouch. A grayish space appeared in his mind, a peculiar world about ten feet in size, where several items were quietly suspended. There were three small white jade tablets, two tiny jade bottles, a foot-long unsheathed small sword, four small flags, and a few sparkling small stones.

The series of strange events made Xiaoyi much calmer. He first became interested in the small sword and wanted to play with it. As he thought about it, the small sword suddenly appeared in his hand.

He was still startled, but with surprise, he examined the small sword. The small sword was golden, heavy in his hand, and the blade and hilt were seamlessly integrated. The blade was adorned with dragon tail patterns, which looked very beautiful, but it had no edge. The hilt was shaped like a dragon's head, embedded with a gemstone-like round bead, like the eye of a golden dragon.

Xiaoyi shook his head, feeling that the sword was a bit ornate and not practical, without even an edge, and it wouldn't be useful for skinning wild goats. He wanted to put the small sword back.

He softly said to the small sword, "Go back, little sword, go back!" He repeated it several times, and he also thought it several times, but the small sword didn't move at all. It had been so obedient just now! What was going on? After some thought, he nodded slightly, as if he understood something.

He refocused his mind, locked onto the small sword and the brocade pouch, and with a thought, the small sword disappeared from his hand. Xiaoyi's eyes lit up, and he quickly tried the same trick again, seeing the small sword lying quietly in the grayish space inside the brocade pouch.

So that's how it works! Overjoyed, Xiaoyi tried it a few more times.

Xiaoyi sat in the cave, looking happy and mischievous. The small sword would appear in his hand one moment and vanish the next. After playing for a while, he took out the remaining items from the brocade pouch.

There were two jade bottles, one with the words 'Detoxifying Pill' finely carved on it, containing five or six pills, which should be for detoxification, and the other containing three 'Jin Shui Pills', whose use he didn't know.

Xiaoyi put down the jade bottles and picked up a jade tablet. The jade tablet in his hand was smooth and warm. What was it for? He wondered, and his mind involuntarily immersed in the jade tablet.

"..."

Texts began to flood Xiaoyi's mind... The jade tablet contained words! Xiaoyi was amazed! He quickly calmed his mind and carefully read the text on the jade tablet.

The text on the jade tablet made Xiaoyi, who had already experienced a series of strange events, lose his composure again...

Among the three jade tablets in the brocade pouch, one was titled *Miscellaneous Records of the Eastern Journey*, written by the Xuan Yuan Immortal, recording interesting stories and observations from his eastern journey for cultivation.

*Miscellaneous Records of the Eastern Journey* also mentioned that beyond the eastern sea of the Shang Dynasty, there were cultivators who practiced the path of immortality and had their own cultivation sects. These cultivators had different levels of cultivation, namely Qi Practitioner, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core. Those who reached the Qi Practitioner level could live for a hundred years; those who reached the Foundation Establishment level could live for over two hundred years; and those who reached the Golden Core level could live a carefree life like an Immortal, with the ability to fly and live for five hundred years. Above the Golden Core level was the Nascent Soul stage, with a lifespan of a thousand years and the great power to move mountains and seas, like an Earth Immortal.

*Miscellaneous Records of the Eastern Journey* also described the spiritual stones, magical tools, spirit artifacts, and magical treasures used by cultivators, as well as talismans, arrays, spirit medicines, and alchemy. Additionally, it recorded some stories of extraordinary people and strange creatures...