Chapter 89

In the instant when the golden light burst forth, the gray mist rolled away.

Qin Xianyu's breath caught in his throat.

A chill and icy sensation instantly permeated his entire body.

His eyes narrowed, and everything in the world seemed to slow down.

The golden light, naturally, also slowed down significantly.

Qin Xianyu could clearly see the object within the golden light.

It was a small sword about a foot long.

A flying sword!

Qin Xianyu was greatly shocked, almost losing all other thoughts, and only swung his sword.

However, that sword strike was not as fast as the flying sword.

After his constitution was improved by the jade elixir, everything he saw became slow, allowing him to respond calmly. After reacting, his sword speed increased significantly, enabling him to resist various things. However, there was a limit, and this flying sword clearly exceeded that limit.

If the flying sword appeared slow to Qin Xianyu, like a turtle crawling, then his sword strike was like a snail moving.

The flying sword was too fast, much faster than the divine mechanism arrows and much faster than Qin Xianyu's sword speed. Even though it appeared extremely slow to Qin Xianyu, his sword speed still could not keep up with the flying sword.

A clear sword sound echoed.

The golden light struck Qin Xianyu's chest, and the young Taoist was thrown up as if riding the clouds, flying several yards high, and landed on the ground behind him, raising a lot of dust and stirring up much evil mist.

Qin Xianyu felt dizzy and saw stars, with intense pain in his chest. He coughed, spitting out a lot of blood.

"This must be the most serious injury I have ever sustained in my cultivation," Qin Xianyu thought, touching his chest lightly, only to find that his ribs had cracks.

"This sword is much more powerful than those divine mechanism arrows. If it weren't for the golden paper of the Sword Dao True Explanation, it would have surely pierced through me."

Qin Xianyu touched his chest and thought, "I wonder what material this golden paper is made of, that even a flying sword can't penetrate it?"

Clearing his mind of杂念, Qin Xianyu hurriedly took a small sip of the golden elixir, feeling much better. The true qi in his body began to circulate, gradually digesting the golden elixir. He sat cross-legged for about half an hour, stabilizing his injuries and sighing in relief.

He had long known that there were more profound realms beyond the external emission of true qi. He had seen Liu Quan and the sword immortal Lin Jingtang before. After experiencing the Immortal Map of the Mountains and Rivers, he understood the wonders of various realms and often recalled the style of the sword immortal Lin Jingtang.

But upon careful reflection, this was the first time he had seen the means of a cultivator.

The flying sword techniques recorded in the Taoist scriptures, and the magical techniques casually fabricated by many old storytellers, were once thought to be mere fantasies. Later, he learned that there were indeed flying sword techniques, but he had never seen them. He never expected to witness a flying sword today from a Taoist who had passed away long ago.

Qin Xianyu endured the intense pain, picked up the flying sword, and examined it carefully. The sword was about a foot long, with a clear and bright texture, but the blade was engraved with many grooves, forming some strange marks.

Perhaps they were talisman patterns, or perhaps they were array patterns.

But in Qin Xianyu's eyes, talisman techniques and array techniques were actually interconnected, both using mysterious trajectories to confine or trigger certain things in the world.

"Can this flying sword be used to cultivate the Sword Dao True Explanation?" Qin Xianyu wondered. "I wonder if the Dao Sword I will cultivate in the future can be more powerful than this flying sword technique? Perhaps the Dao Sword cultivated through the Sword Dao True Explanation is itself a kind of flying sword technique?"

"But this flying sword cannot penetrate the golden paper of the Sword Dao True Explanation, which means the quality of the golden paper is extremely high. Therefore, the Dao Sword recorded on it is likely to be of a higher grade than this flying sword."

He pondered for a while, put the small sword with strange marks in his chest, and then opened the Taoist's bag.

Inside the bag were a few pills of unknown use, which Qin Xianyu did not dare to touch, only putting them aside. In addition, there were two books.

One was a cultivation technique called "Qingyun Jue."

The other was "The Secret Canon of Talisman Dao."

Qin Xianyu briefly flipped through "Qingyun Jue" and saw that it contained methods of cultivating true qi, but the meridians, acupoints, and methods of imagining the birth of true qi recorded were completely different from his own "Zifu Shenting Hunyuan Zuqi True Technique." However, this book also recorded other methods, such as how to condense evil qi, how to form true qi, and how to find and subdue dragons and tigers.

But "Qingyun Jue" only went up to the dragon-tiger transformation, and there were no records of how to form a golden elixir.

"It seems this is a cultivation technique that only reaches the dragon-tiger realm, unlike my 'Zifu Shenting Hunyuan Zuqi True Technique,' which can be continuously cultivated and, after being improved by the senior of the Immortal Map of the Mountains and Rivers, added realm changes, leading directly to the path of immortality."

Although it was not as good as the "Zifu Shenting Hunyuan Zuqi True Technique," it was still useful to learn from it. If a cultivation technique were to be spread, it would cause countless cultivators to fight over it. After all, the dragon-tiger realm was already the peak of the mortal world, and there were not many techniques that could cultivate to the dragon-tiger realm.

This cultivation technique would be extremely precious if it were in the outside world.

He put "Qingyun Jue" back and then flipped through "The Secret Canon of Talisman Dao."

This book was only a dozen or so pages thick, with each page engraved with a talisman, and some text below explaining how to draw these talismans, where to start, and where to stop.

There were twelve pages, recording twelve talismans.

"Indeed, this book clearly explains how to draw talismans, the various ways to draw them, and the taboos. However, it does not explain in detail why different strokes form different effects," Qin Xianyu thought. "By obtaining this 'Secret Canon of Talisman Dao,' I can only memorize the talismans, not investigate why different strokes form different talismans."

These strokes, when drawn, form a fire talisman.

Those strokes, when drawn, form an exorcism talisman.

In this way, different strokes form different talismans with different effects.

Talisman Dao practitioners only memorize these strokes, knowing how to draw each talisman. But only the old Taoist Guanxu would seek the essence and investigate the principles.

"According to Master Guanxu, the different strokes form different marks, thus confining or triggering different changes. For example, a fire talisman or a water talisman, different strokes and different ways of drawing them can trigger water or fire, lightning or electricity, all of which can be traced," Qin Xianyu thought.

But these principles were still too far from Qin Xianyu. He put the "Secret Canon of Talisman Dao" back, planning to memorize the techniques of drawing talismans and the strokes of the talismans after he left.

This place was not suitable for focused study.

Qin Xianyu collected a flying sword, a bag containing two secret books and a few pills, and nothing else. Perhaps the Taoist's robe was of good quality, able to withstand the evil qi for so long without damage, and might be a treasure.

But if this young Taoist were to strip the robe and wear it himself, he would not do such a thing.

He took another sip of the golden elixir, waiting for his injuries to improve, and then bowed to the Taoist, saying, "I am the young Taoist Qin Xianyu. Although I was struck by your flying sword, it was because I took the bag first, showing disrespect. Now that I have obtained the flying sword and two secret books from you, I cannot leave your body here. I will bury you, please do not blame me."

Although he was injured by the flying sword, the Taoist was already dead and did not use it to kill him. Qin Xianyu thought it was better to bury the dead.

Just as Qin Xianyu was about to act, the gray mist in the depths of the passage rolled and surged like waves.

In the gray mist, a white-robed girl appeared.

The gray mist was dark and deep, but she was dressed in white, looking elegant and extraordinary.

Qin Xianyu recognized her; she was the girl he had met at the Gao Yun Inn, who was not particularly friendly to him. Given that this place was not a good place, the young Taoist tightened his grip on his sword, somewhat on guard.

"Quick, go!"

The white-robed girl's face was pale, and her figure moved as fast as the wind. Behind her, the gray mist surged like waves. As she passed by Qin Xianyu, she said only this much and grabbed his hand, pulling him away.

Qin Xianyu was on guard, but seeing the girl's pale and anxious face, he was stunned. When she grabbed his hand, he did not resist, allowing her to pull him away.

The soft and smooth feeling in his hand was cool and smooth.

Qin Xianyu subconsciously tightened his grip.

The white-robed girl, in her panic, did not notice and continued to pull him along.

Strangely, Qin Xianyu did not use the Cicada Wing Step, but the white-robed girl pulling him along was still as fast as the wind, showing that her body technique was also extremely profound.

Qin Xianyu had already speculated that she was a disciple of a major sect and thought, "No wonder she has a lineage; this body technique is probably of a high grade."

The white-robed girl and Qin Xianyu passed through several passages and turned many corners, but she did not stop.

Qin Xianyu turned his head to look back, and saw the gray mist surging like waves, chasing after them.

"What happened behind us? Why is the gray mist surging? Could it be that the underground has changed, and the evil qi cannot remain calm, so it surges up, and the evil qi has become harmful?"

Qin Xianyu was puzzled and was about to ask when the white-robed girl stopped.

The gray mist behind them also stopped.

But the situation was not optimistic.

They were in a spacious underground chamber, and in front of the chamber, a group of beasts were gathered, all with gray fur and red eyes.

Among these fierce creatures were wolves, tigers, leopards, apes, monkeys, sheep, deer, rabbits, and birds, all violent and bloodthirsty, like the gray apes.

There were over a hundred of these fierce beasts, gathered together, but they were not attacking each other, as if waiting for something.

A chill ran through Qin Xianyu's heart.

These over a hundred fierce beasts were waiting for their arrival.