Chapter 81

After a night of cultivation, when Shen Lian finished his practice, he only heard the sound of the drizzling rain.

The sound of the rain was a spontaneous symphony of heaven and earth, from which different people could hear different melodies.

Shen Lian not only heard the rain but also the breathing of Lu Shouyi.

His breath was like the wind, stirring the window lattice.

There was no need to guess; Lu Shouyi had already entered the state of cultivation.

Shen Lian, now at a higher level, quickly understood the reason.

Last night, Lu Shouyi's mind was exhausted, and his body was weak, reaching a critical point.

"When the body is weak, the qi flows; when the heart is dead, the spirit lives."

Last night, when Lu Shouyi went to rest, he followed the natural course, allowing the residual true qi in his body to flow naturally. With his mental strength exhausted, it was even harder for杂念 to arise, and his spirit naturally came alive.

This was effective only because Lu Shouyi had not been stuck in a dead end.

Cultivation truly had unpredictable gains and losses; what you seek may be obtained, or it may not, or it might be obtained without seeking.

Shen Lian shook his head and smiled, then left the lower courtyard and stepped into the drizzling rain. The sky in the distance was hazy, and the bamboo forest nearby was deep and serene.

Shen Lian originally planned to continue to the Taiwei Pavilion, but because of the rain, he decided to explore the Bamboo Forest instead.

Do not listen to the sound of raindrops on the leaves; why not hum and walk slowly?

Shen Lian let out a long, leisurely whistle, shaking off many bamboo leaves. They fell one after another, with rainwater on them, sliding to the side just before reaching him, as if there were an invisible, smooth shield in front of him.

The bamboo forest seemed endless, its depth unknown.

But Shen Lian still walked slowly in the rain.

He had no particular purpose, just wanting to walk and enjoy the scenery of the mountain.

Perhaps few people came here, so there was no real path. The ground was loose, and with the rain soaking through, an ordinary person would have been covered in mud long ago.

Shen Lian's qi rose from his feet, repelling any mud and water that tried to stick to him, so he remained clean and tidy.

Shen Lian was not afraid of getting dirty, but he did not want to get dirty.

If one could remain unstained by the mud, why mix with the mire? He had always thought and acted this way.

The acupoints in the human body, especially those in the feet, were the hardest to control. The feet had many acupoints that were very sensitive.

Controlling the true qi to flow into the feet was much more difficult than normal walking, but he spent a lot of effort and true qi doing just that.

But he was not the most wasteful, for suddenly, in the rain and wind, he saw a clear patch of ground in the bamboo forest, completely dry, without a single drop of rain.

The ground was dry, and there was no wind or rain.

It was as if a place had suddenly appeared, isolated from the world.

Or perhaps this place was favored by heaven and earth, spared from the wind and rain.

Inside the clear patch was a table and a bearded man, truly like a generous and chivalrous man from the north, inspiring admiration at first sight.

There was wine on the table, but no cup. The wine flowed from the wine pot in a stream, directly into the man's mouth.

After a mouthful of wine, the bearded man saw Shen Lian and laughed loudly, "Boy, come in and have a drink."

It seemed that no one in the world liked to drink alone, unless they couldn't find anyone to drink with.

The man had not found anyone to drink with, so he invited Shen Lian as soon as he saw him.

Even if the man were a demon, he would be a demon of Qingxuan. If he were human, he would be Shen Lian's senior, or perhaps even a teacher.

Qingxuan seemed to have no strict defenses, but it was not easy for outsiders to intrude, let alone impossible.

Not to mention the hidden restrictions in the mountains, even Zhang Ruoxu's Heavenly Mirror could thoroughly inspect the entire Qingxuan Mountain without missing anything.

Once a trace was missed, it would be impossible to hide in heaven or on earth.

The clear patch seemed to be wrapped in an invisible membrane. Shen Lian could feel the flow of primordial energy, which was not chaotic but followed a certain pattern.

Shen Lian stepped in and felt no obstruction, as if he had entered a bubble, but this large bubble did not burst.

A bit of wind and rain followed him in, but not much.

The man smiled and said, "Good boy, your aura is so solid."

"Do you recognize me?" Shen Lian asked.

"You drank my wine for two months, do you think I wouldn't recognize you?" the bearded man smiled, his beard and mustache truly thick, and his body robust. If he were a bandit, he wouldn't need a weapon; his appearance alone would scare people.

"Are you Yan Bugui?" Shen Lian didn't expect the innkeeper from the small town to be on Qingliang Peak. What was his relationship with Qingxuan, or was he originally a disciple of Qingxuan?

"Are you surprised?"

"Not really, your personality matches your name, very much like a man of the world," Shen Lian said, looking at Yan Bugui, his beard, and thinking of his name, he couldn't help but smile.

"I am a man of the world, what's so strange about that? Someone forced me to cultivate, and I couldn't beat him, so I followed him into the mountains. Who knew the mountains would be so boring, so I opened an inn in Nankuo Town. Actually, I have something else to tell you," the bearded man said, looking at Shen Lian as he walked up, then drew something in the air and pointed at Shen Lian's side, smiling.

Shen Lian suddenly looked down; a wooden stool had appeared next to him, just right for sitting, as if it had grown out of the ground.

Shen Lian understood that Yan Bugui had drawn something in the air, invoking the primordial energy of heaven and earth to create a growing force that sprouted the wooden stool from the ground.

The mystique of Daoist techniques truly broadened Shen Lian's horizons.

"What?" Shen Lian sat down.

"The wine you drank was actually just water. It's just an old well, but I planted a spirit talisman in it, so the water tastes like fine wine when it enters your mouth," the bearded man smiled.

"Actually, that's better. It has the taste of wine without harming the body, and I already knew it was fake wine," Shen Lian said, looking at the bearded man seriously.

"Excellent, excellent, let's have a drink," the bearded man said, pointing at the air, and a stream of wine flew out, paused in mid-air, coiled into a ball, and was then swallowed by him.

The primordial energy of heaven and earth was like his own, at his command.

Shen Lian could not guess the man's cultivation level, only that it was very high, and not just because of his cultivation.

"This is real wine, I'm inviting you to drink," the man said after a mouthful of wine.

Shen Lian did not use any true qi or techniques like Controlling the Crane to draw the wine, for fear that if the bearded man played a trick and made him fail, it would be embarrassing. So he directly picked up the wine pot and drank the wine. Initially, it was warm and smooth, but then it turned into a flame, as if about to ignite his internal true qi.

He activated the "Supreme Clarity Spirit Treasure Natural Heart Locking and Spirit Stabilizing True Explanation," and his soul power, hungry and thirsty, roamed through his meridians, devouring the flame.

PS: Thank you to Shi Huan Shi Meng, Yang Zhengze, and Earth Village Zhouyan for your support.

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