Xu Wen was also one of the true disciples of the Tianhe Sword Sect. He once relied on the Yuan Shen Technique and the Invisible Sword to roam the world for three hundred years without being invincible. Even the great supernatural beings of various sects who had cultivated their primordial spirits were wary of him. He was the number one person of this generation among the nine major sects of Taoism. For a time, no one could match his style.
However, in the end, due to the failure to cultivate the primordial spirit, the Yuan Shen Technique backfired, and he became a spirit in the illusion.
Immortality is like climbing a mountain; even if you move quickly ahead, you may not reach the summit.
As the old saying goes, he who laughs last laughs best.
Lin Yi said no more. He had come here not for the useless Yuan Shen Technique, nor for the half-finished second primordial spirit that had already merged with Xu Wen's essence and was cultivated based on the Invisible Sword.
Lin Yi came here only to find a spirit from the illusory realm of the primordial mirage and to ask a question.
"Does Fellow Daoist Xu know which fellow Daoist here is skilled in formations?" Lin Yi asked.
Xu Wen's spirit answered every question, saying, "The person most skilled in formations is none other than Ancestor Ziyun. Back then, I also used the Invisible Sword to sneak up to his side and then took his life with a single sword strike."
Ancestor Ziyun was a refined-looking middle-aged scholar. Lin Yi stepped forward and asked, "I would like to know if there is a place where you need to reinforce the seal every year."
The Purple Cloud Ancestor said with some surprise, "How do you know about this place, fellow Daoist? There is indeed such a place. It is said that our sect's founder sealed a great demon there, so it needs to be guarded frequently."
Lin Yi was overjoyed and pressed for an answer: "Where is it?"
Ancestor Ziyun said, "It's in Miao territory..."
Lin Yi confirmed it again, memorizing the place name. His first purpose in coming to the Seven Phoenix Realm was to collect and condense the Dao techniques of the seven innate true waters and true fires.
As for the second objective, it lies in the place mentioned by Ancestor Ziyun.
There lies the complete lineage of Tai Xuan Zhangren, one of the ten patriarchs of Taoism.
The origins of the Grandmaster Tai Xuan are mysterious, but Lin Yi knows that this Dao Ancestor is one of the Five Primordial Beings, a reincarnation of the He Luo Heavenly Book, a treasure of saintly virtue. He has long since stepped into the Ninth-Order Great Luo realm and attained the Immortal Dao Fruit. At the same time, he is one of the few who are closest to the Tenth-Order Primordial Chaos realm, the Dao Lord of Creation.
(Yes, Taiyuan Xingzun is probably crying his eyes out inside the "Gate to the Other Shore" right now.)
After getting the answer he wanted, Lin Yi selected several spirits in the Yuan Shen Illusion and collected several Dao techniques that interested him.
For example, the Fire Crow Formation, the Six Yang Sealing God Technique, the Yin Yang Divine Demon Technique, the Thirty-Six Heretical Talismans of the Lesser Heavens Cloud Escape True Method, and so on. These Taoist techniques will be introduced later, so I won't take up any more space here.
After Jiao Fei woke up, Lin Yi had already returned to the Shangyuan Eight Scenery Talisman.
In an attempt to escape, Jiao Fei shattered the Yuan Shen Illusion, but unexpectedly inherited the last wisp of mirage essence left behind by Xu Wen.
A few days later, on Su Zhen's recommendation, Jiao Fei went to help Chen Taizhen, another senior brother in the sect who cultivated the Heavenly River Orthodox Method, with alchemy. Not only did he learn the thirty-six inner talismans of the Lesser Heavenly Cloud Forbidden True Method, but he also had a strange encounter.
Three days later, Jiao Fei left Jin'ao Island on Chen Taizhen's orders to go out and collect herbs.
Having made a considerable profit, Lin Yi took the opportunity to leave the Eight Scenic Spots of Shangyuan.
Lin Yi escaped from a desolate mountain. Standing on the mountaintop, he could see cities, farmland, and roads in the distance.
After descending the mountain, Lin Yi went to the nearest small town and inquired about it. He learned that the town was called Tongtian Kingdom, which was divided into seven major prefectures, each controlled by one of the seven great clans.
There are no emperors or officials here, no taxes or levies, and no corvée labor. But if there are disputes, the seven major clans will discuss and resolve them. If the seven major clans still cannot resolve the issue, they will seek help from the Heavenly River Sword Sect, where any of its true disciples can make a decision.
The reason for this is that the people of Tongtian Kingdom have intricate connections with the disciples of Tianhe Sword Sect.
When the founder of the Tianhe Sword Sect, Master Guo, established the sect in Tongtian River, his disciples missed their families and gradually moved members of their clans there.
After a thousand years, a country was established on the upper reaches of the Tongtian River, and now it has a population of several hundred thousand.
The Tianhe Sword Sect occupied the Tongtian River. The land upstream was fertile, and the sect had been a great sect for thousands of years. They multiplied and thrived, eventually forming a country, which was an anomaly among the major sects of Buddhism and Taoism.
Lin Yi traveled through Tongtian Kingdom for several days, and on this day, he arrived at Songyang County, one of the seven major counties.
This county was controlled by the Yu family, one of the seven powerful clans. Although it wasn't exactly a place where people would pick up lost items or leave their doors unlocked at night, it was peaceful and prosperous, with children cared for and the elderly provided for.
Lin Yi's purpose in making this trip was to find two magical artifacts for himself.
At that time, in the illusory realm left by Xu Wen, he was so overjoyed that he ignored the more than one hundred magical artifacts. By the time he remembered them, they had all been inherited by Jiao Fei.
Lin Yi couldn't possibly go to Jiao Fei's ancestral aperture between his eyebrows just to find a suitable magical artifact.
For a cultivator, the ancestral aperture between the eyebrows is the most important place; once damaged, there is no hope of immortality.
There are plenty of opportunities in the world, so why gamble with other people's future?
------------
Chapter Fifty-Four: The Heavenly and Earthly Cauldron, the Jade Immortal Pillow
Several days later, on a desolate mountain outside Songyang County.
Lin Yi reached out and beckoned a small, ancient-looking bronze cauldron covered in rust, which flew up from the soil and landed in his hand.
After fiddling with it for a moment, Lin Yi reached out and slapped the lid of the cauldron, silently channeling the Three Lights Divine Water into it. In no time, he had refined the first layer of the restriction.
Then, he channeled his magic power, and the lid of the cauldron jumped up. Looking inside, he saw clusters of clouds.
Lin Yi pointed, and the clouds dispersed. He smiled and said, "Indeed, it contains a universe within. From now on, let's call it the Qiankun Cauldron."
Qiankun Ding is a very prestigious name.
Lin Yi finally possessed a decent void artifact. The spell used to refine this small cauldron was called the Lesser Universe Technique. This spell had only one function: to create void space.
Ancient cultivators could refine a magical artifact into a grotto-heaven, making it infinitely useful. For example, the Chun Jun Immortal Pot was an extremely rare item.
The next level is magical artifacts that are specially cultivated using a certain secret method and can hold countless things, such as the Five Yin Bag of Heshan Dao and the Sword Pouch of Tianhe Sword Sect.
These magical artifacts vary in power, with the most powerful ones capable of forming their own cave dwellings, accommodating several generations of disciples.
This small bronze cauldron could not possibly be the kind of magical treasure that could form a grotto-heaven, or even a second-level grotto-heaven, but the space inside was quite large, with more than a hundred acres of medicinal fields.