Chapter 42 Ten Years
Three days later, Lyu Xinyun officially became a disciple of the Xuan Nyu Sect. At the same time, she would also be the registered disciple of the Xuan Nyu Fairy.
On the night before Lyu Xinyun left for Xuan Nyu Sect, Lyu Liang went to visit her secretly. The siblings chatted for nearly the whole night. At the same time, he asked his sister to bring a Bottleneck-breaking Pill to Shangguan Ying. When Lyu Xinyun departed the next day, Lyu Liang did not go to bid her farewell.
Xu Mubai also left the Sword Character Immortal Palace on the day of Lyu Xinyun’s departure. Before leaving, Lyu Liang and Li Wuyi bade him farewell, and the three promised to meet at the entrance of the Sword Character Immortal Palace twenty years later.
By now, Lyu Liang had spent all his energy on cultivation. Before he started his closed-door meditation, Lyu Liang had informed all his acquaintances including Yu Jun, and also told them that he would compete for the qualifications to enter the Land of Origin in the Demon Realm. Of course, there were only a few people who knew about his possession of the Demon Emperor Horn which allowed him to enter the core area.
After knowing Lyu Liang’s plan, the Sword Character Immortal Palace deliberately opened up a new cave residence with a small world inside just for Lyu Liang’s closed-door meditation. The founding father of Sword Character set it up at a forbidden place of the Immortal Palace that had the most abundant Primordial Qi, and only the eight Fairy Immortals had the permission to enter. This was done in a secretive way, and only the founding father of Sword Character and his four pro-disciples knew about it.
Lyu Liang was ecstatic! This was not only beneficial to his own cultivation, but also to the recovery of the Feiling sword and the Huanglei Five-dragon sword!
Finally, the Immortal Zhenyuan set up a formation outside Lyu Liang’s cave residence. The formation could prevent exploration and interruption from other people and also resist the internal earth-shaking vibration that Lyu Liang might cause when he had his breakthrough.
Everything was arranged properly, and Lyu Liang officially started his closed-door meditation.
Ten years passed in a flash.
In the past ten years, Lyu Liang created ‘Xuanyuan Swordsmanship II’, which was combined from Xuanyuan Swordsmanship and his own experience on the Sword Tao domain. Lyu Liang had made his achievements in the Sword Tao by leaps and bounds.
Of course, this was also due to the abundant Primordial Qi in the new cave residence. Although the amount was not as much as what the Virtual Land had, it was definitely top quality in the Mortal Realm.
With the help of Black, his Devil Reshaping Technique had also improved, but was not significant compared to the Xuanyuan Mantra and Sword Tao. After all, Lyu Liang also had to put in his Divine Sense to maintain the Shadow-devil Domain which meant he was multitasking. His constitution of the five elements allowed him to practice several Mind Mantras and Cultivation Methods at the same time. Therefore, Lyu Liang was satisfied with what he had achieved. At most, he could go back to the Virtual Land and make up for it at the southern side.
During the closed-door meditation, every other year, the Hunyuan Sword Immortal would come to the door of Lyu Liang’s cave residence, and each time he threw in a voice note and left. The content was regarding the people and things related to Lyu Liang.
…
Time flies like water, and in the blink of an eye, ten years had passed.
One morning, the Hunyuan Sword Immortal threw in a voice note but did not leave as usual. Instead, he smiled and waited for something.
After a while, lights flashed at the entrance of the cave residence and Lyu Liang’s figure emerged. Compared with ten years ago, there was not much difference in his appearance, his aura was stable, and people could not see through his cultivation level. However, the look in his eyes was more determined than before. At the same time, he had become more mature in his temperament.
Seeing the Hunyuan Sword Immortal, Lyu Liang made a deep bow, “Thank you, chief Ancestor, for your care! Now that ten years have passed, I want to leave the Immortal Palace for the time being and go to the place where my hometown is, and return after a year!”
“Well, before you leave, don’t forget to tell the Master,” the Hunyuan Sword Immortal smiled and nodded. He waved his hand and disappeared with Lyu Liang at the same time.
When he reappeared, Lyu Liang was already in his cave residence.
Lyu Liang grinned, closed his eyes and began to recollect the bits and pieces that happened in the past ten years.
About himself, after taking nearly a hundred Foundation Establishment Pills and a Bottleneck-breaking Pill, he broke through to the Early-stage of Gold Core a year ago.
His Xuanyuan Mantra had now touched the threshold of the Gold Core Realm. In terms of the strength of his Divine Soul, Lyu Liang was about the same level as the Peak of Nascent Soul!
He could now skillfully use the sixth tier of Xuanyuan Swordsmanship, Ocean-splitting Move.
In terms of Heart Swordsmanship, Lyu Liang felt most satisfied. Although he only realized one style, its power was the strongest among all of his current moves, and the style was named ‘Tranquility Sword Essence’.
The Devil Reshaping Technique was only upgraded to the fifth tier. After Lyu Liang returned to the Virtual Land, he needed to hurry and upgrade another level.
The most depressing one was the Kun Peng Skill. Since he had reached the third tier, he could never even touch the edge of promotion. Lyu Liang always felt that there was an invisible layer hindering him, and there was no clue to be found. Finally, he asked Black, and the answer he got was dumbfounding: Because Lyu Liang was not from the Demon Clan, there was no Demon Core and Demon Qi in his body…
Regarding the others, Lyu Liang was concerned about the news of Shangguan Ying.
In the past ten years, Shangguan Ying lived up to her reputation as a blessed girl with a special constitution. At present, she has reached the Late-stage of Gold Core. It was hopeful that in the next ten years, she would be able to reach the Peak of Gold Core. This made Lyu Liang so happy that he could not stop smiling.
As for the others, Li Wuyi started closed-door meditation when Lyu Liang started his. During this period, he asked Zhang Youshan to go to the market place and bought something for him, and there was no news from then on. He had not come out of his meditation yet.
Zhao Tianding who also received a bottle of Foundation Establishment Pills from Lyu Liang earlier on had reached the Middle-stage of Foundation Establishment.
The most pleasant surprise for Lyu Liang was that the blue-eyed Giant Tiger which had been quietly upgrading itself to the Peak of Great Demon Level. It was said that the tiger had touched the threshold of the Early-stage of Demon Spirit. However, the most important thing was that it had actually awakened its inborn talent!
Lyu Liang only had two Bottleneck-breaking Pills left, and he deliberately set one aside for the Giant Tiger. After all, it was currently his most trusted helper.
Among the demon beasts, there were also grades. Normal creatures that became demon beasts were just ordinary existences. However, for some demon beasts like the blue-eyed Giant Tiger and its former boss, the four-winged flying snake, they were Extraordinary Beasts with innate spirits. They were generally born with talents and would be awakened sooner or later. After the Extraordinary Beast had its cultivation, it would be stronger than an ordinary demon beast of the same level.
Lyu Liang also scanned through the others’ information. For example, Yu Jun and Qi Ling had already reached the Middle-stage of Foundation Establishment, and they were following two immortal ancestors respectively to practice.
Zhang Ran left the back mountain eight years ago and was currently practicing under Immortal Tianfang.
In the past five years, Immortal Danyuan, who had not appeared again, reappeared in the Elixir-refining Room at the back mountain which was originally under his jurisdiction. It seemed that his physical condition had mostly recovered. Since the return of Immortal Danyuan, the old herb man was nowhere to be seen. As for where he went, no one knows.
Lyu Liang couldn’t help but sigh at the thought of the happy trio at the back mountain. Regardless of the future, he believed that even after a long time, he would never forget the scene of the old man and the two young men sitting around a table, drinking and chatting freely.
After recollecting everything that happened in the past ten years, Lyu Liang messaged the founding father of Sword Character through the jade and explained his intention to return to the Virtual Land to practice for a year.
The founding father of Sword Character immediately let Lyu Liang go to the main hall of the Immortal Palace to see him, saying that there were still some things that needed to be entrusted to him.
When Lyu Liang reached the entrance of the main hall of the Immortal Palace, the Hunyuan Sword Immortal had already waited for him for a long time. Seeing that Lyu Liang had arrived, he waved his hands and the two disappeared from the place.
When they reappeared, Lyu Liang was in a spacious secret room. In front of him, there was a standing virtual shadow. Judging from its appearance, it was the founding father of Sword Character.
“Little Liang, are you preparing to return to the Virtual Land now?”
“Yes, Master, I was indeed planning to do so. The environment here is good, but there is no Devil Qi. After everything, my Devil Reshaping Technique has only made an upgrade of one tier. This time I am going back for a better practice on it.”
“Well, the Reshaping Technique is also critical. Your thoughts are correct. In that case, in the ten years before the opening of the Land of Origin of the Demon Realm, you will spend it in the Virtual Land. You just have to remember, you must come back here two months before the end of the decade, and it will be fine.”
“Ah? Master, I thought any Gold Core stage disciple has to return within one year after he goes out of Tianshui Country? Can I stay outside for ten years?!”
“Haha, you don’t know. Every time, a hundred years before the Land of Origin is opened, the disciples in the Immortal Palace above the Gold Core stage do not have to abide by this rule. After all, each person has his own fate. To compete for the qualification to enter the Land of Origin, some disciples will go outside to seek a breakthrough. Therefore, a hundred years before the opening of the Land of Origin, the Immortal Palace will not limit such disciples.”
“If that is the case, Master, thank you!” Lyu Liang was overjoyed! Initially, according to his previous plan, it was estimated that he would take two months to go back and forth between the two places, and his cultivation time would only be left with ten months, thus the time was really tight. But now, his initial worry of breaking through to the Middle-stage of Gold Core was dismissed. Even if he wanted to break through to the Late-stage of Gold Core, there should be enough time!
“Oh, yes, Shangguan Ying began her closed-door meditation a year ago. This time, you will probably not see her when you leave. However, before she started her meditation, she asked me to inform you that the fifth person you are looking for should be in the vicinity of your hometown. It is said to be related to fire. You should consider it yourself.” The founding father of Sword Character was obviously optimistic about the results of Shangguan Ying’s prediction. Finally, he did not forget to add on, “Her heavenly deduction ability is almost the same as Xuan Nyu Fairy, you should pay more attention to it.”
Lyu Liang stunned for a moment and then felt happy. This fifth person has always bothered Lyu Liang. Although if he could not find that person in the end, the founding father of Sword Character could help him choose an Immortal Palace disciple. But in that case, he was concerned that he would not know about the person’s strength, and also, he would not know the person well. Moreover, everyone would be scrupulous when they team up.
However, since Shangguan Ying predicted that the fifth person was near his hometown, Lyu Liang had put his mind at ease. Although he did not know what her special constitution was, he could guess most of it, and it should be something related to the heavenly deduction.
After bidding farewell to the founding father of Sword Character and the Hunyuan Sword Immortal, Lyu Liang left the Sword Character Immortal Palace. Before leaving, he also took over the Feiling sword and the Gold-thunder Five-dragon Sword from the hands of the Hunyuan Sword Immortal. After all, the Primordial Qi in the Virtual Land was much more abundant than here. After that, Lyu Liang began to fly to his hometown, Siji Village in Qingluo Town.
Lyu Liang still remembered that when he went to the Immortal Palace to participate in the disciple registering ceremony, he was only at the Early-stage of Foundation Establishment, and in order to cover that up, he flew in accordance with the speed of the Qi Refining stage, and then spent a month and a half on the trip.
Now, on the trip back, he could freely show his cultivation at the Early-stage of Gold Core and fly. It was indeed much faster. It took less than a month to return to the Siji Village.
His first stop was obviously the Lyu family house.
“Dad! I am back!” The moment his figure emerged in the yard, Lyu Liang shouted eagerly.
Then, the door opened, and Lyu Liren’s old figure appeared. Looking at his father’s two whitened sideburns and his gradually curved back, Lyu Liang couldn’t stop his tears and rushed to kneel in front of his father.
Lyu Liren helped Lyu Liang up and checked him up and down. His expression turned delightful, “You have lived up to the name of a Lyu family man. I haven’t seen you for ten years. Although your appearance remains the same as when you left, your cultivation and momentum are not!”
“Hey Dad, I don’t want to it hide from you. I ate a Youth-retaining Elixir five years ago, or I guess I will look older than now,” Lyu Liang was embarrassed and scratched his head. In fact, his little worry was simple. It was said that the Mind Mantra of the Xuan Nyu Sect could help to retain one’s young look, so he had to think of ways to not be too old. If not, how could he be a match with Shangguan Ying!
“Haha, silly boy, how cunning. But you can rest assured, do I look old to you? In fact, I deliberately pretended to be old. After all, this is a village of the mortals. If I never grow old, they will treat me as a monster!” Lyu Liren changed his tired look, and his whole person exuded a vigorous aura.
The father-son duo hadn’t seen each other for ten years, so they had endless things to tell one another. Basically, Lyu Liang was the one speaking. After all, Siji Village had not changed much in the past ten years, but Lyu Liang’s encounters were extraordinarily amazing.
For three days, the father-son duo did not move anywhere. As the son spoke in detail, the father listened in pleasure. Until the morning of the fourth day, because Lyu Liren had to go to school to teach, Lyu Liang had to stop talking. At the same time, Lyu Liang also handed the Emperor Devil Pearl to his father. He knew that it had been ten years and that his father must have had a lot to say to his mother.
After staying at home for more than ten days, Lyu Liang decided to enter the Virtual Land. Packing up the Emperor Devil Pearl, he reluctantly bid farewell to his father and went to the Great Supreme Elderly Lord Temple at the back of the village.
Originally, Lyu Liang wanted to take a look at the big monkey family, but after his Divine Sense swept through it, there were no auras of the monkey family in the area.
“They had the Life-prolonging Elixir that I gave them and should not be dead. Then they should have moved elsewhere. Alas, I hope that we will still meet in the future,” Lyu Liang slightly pondered and then felt relieved.
After that, he did not hesitate to activate the jade talisman in his sea of consciousness. The next moment, with ripples in the rock behind the Great Supreme Elderly Lord temple, Lyu Liang’s aura disappeared entirely between heaven and earth.