From a loser to an immortal sage

Chapter 481 The Secret of the Immortal Realm's Scripture Pavilion

We walked along the light of the boundary stone for about half an incense stick's time when the crack above our heads suddenly emitted a deafening roar.

I looked up and saw that the gaps in the clouds that had previously let in golden light were now filled with thick, inky fog, like an inverted vortex, frantically devouring the surrounding spiritual energy.

"Watch out!" Wen Chen suddenly spun around, his sword energy slashing to the left like a silver chain.

I then realized that, without my noticing, three wisps of black mist had bypassed our barrier and were coiling around Ling'er's ankles like snakes.

Xue Po leaped off his shoulder, her body radiating white light, and with one bite, dispersed the black mist.

Ling'er shrank into Wen Chen's arms in fright, her little fingers clutching his clothes tightly: "Brother Chen, these black bugs smell terrible, like burnt talismans."

I gripped the boundary stone tightly; the heat of the stone surface almost burned my palm.

Previously in the ruins, this stone only occasionally got hot, but now it's so hot that my fingertips are trembling—it's warning of danger.

Wen Chen lowered his head and touched Ling'er's head with his forehead, his voice softening: "Don't be afraid, we'll go back to the Primordial Immortal Sect. There, the Myriad Spirits Array set up by our master can temporarily block these evil things."

I was taken aback: "Qingqiu?"

“The Phoenix Lord of Qingqiu has been asleep for a thousand years. This unusual movement may not be a good omen.” He turned his head to look at me, the red mole at the corner of his eye standing out vividly in the black mist. “The immortal sects have accumulated ancient texts over the generations. Perhaps they can find a solution.”

I suddenly remembered the illusory figure in blue robes I saw in the ruins—was that the previous generation's guardian?

He once said, "The future is in your hands." Perhaps the clues were not in Qingqiu, but in the Scripture Pavilion of the Immortal Sect.

"Okay." I nodded vigorously, the plum blossom print on my palm resonating with the boundary stone, so hot that my eyes stung.

This warmth is like Wen Chen's hand when he taught me how to hold a sword—so steady, so warm.

We turned northwest and headed towards the Primordial Immortal Gate.

The black fog on the road grew thicker and thicker, and Wen Chen's sword energy barrier almost solidified into a tangible form. With each step, a sizzling burning sound could be heard.

Ling'er gradually fell asleep in his arms, Xuepo curled up into a ball of fur and pressed against her wrist, her fur still bearing the scorch marks of lingering black mist.

When the vermilion gates of the Immortal Sect came into view, I almost knelt down.

It wasn't because he was tired, but because he felt at ease—the two characters "Taichu" on the lintel were carved by Wen Chen himself, and every stroke was imbued with the hard work he put into guarding the mountain back then.

"Yao Yao!"

A familiar female voice pierced through the fog.

Zi Ling rushed in from inside the door, her moon-white skirt stained with specks of ink, and she didn't even bother to straighten the jade hairpin in her hair that had fallen askew.

She ran up to me, grabbed my wrist to check: "Are you hurt? I was observing the stars in the formation, and when I saw the star orbits in the northwest were all messed up, I knew you were coming back."

I shook my head and grasped her cold fingertips in my hand: "Ziling, we're in big trouble. The cracks in the sky are spewing black mist, and even the boundary-suppressing stone can't hold it down."

“I know.” She pursed her lips and looked at Ling’er in Wen Chen’s arms. “Just now, Uncle Qingfeng came to deliver a message, saying that the ancient books on the top floor of the Scripture Pavilion suddenly turned pages on their own, revealing several sealed cultivation techniques. He said…” She paused, looking at me intently, “that it might give you inspiration to create new cultivation techniques.”

My heart suddenly started racing.

Since transmigrating to this world, what I resent most is being called a "useless person without spiritual roots"; but over the years, I've been determined to prove that people without spiritual roots can also carve out a path in the cultivation world with innovative techniques.

Now, faced with this unprecedented crisis of black mist, perhaps traditional techniques are truly insufficient.

"Go to the Sutra Repository." I turned to look at Wen Chen, who was tidying Ling'er's wind-blown hair. Hearing this, he looked up and saw the familiar look in his eyes that said, "Whatever you want to do, I'll be there for you."

Zi Ling smiled and tugged at my sleeve: "I already had the junior disciples clean the top floor and prepared spiritual tea. Brother Wen Chen, take Ling'er to the side hall to rest. We'll take care of things here."

Wen Chen looked down at the sleeping Ling'er, then at me: "I'll take her there, then come back."

I nodded.

Seeing him carry Ling'er away, Xuepo jumped and skipped after him before following Ziling toward the Sutra Repository.

The door to the library is made of sandalwood. When you push it open, it creaks open, and the scent of ink from old books wafts out.

The top floor was brighter than I remembered—Ziling had probably replaced the lamps with night-shining pearl lamps, and the warm yellow light spilled over the entire bookshelf, making every bamboo scroll and every silk book glow with a gentle light.

"Look here." Zi Ling tiptoed and pulled out an ancient book that glowed with a blue light. The three characters "Nine Luminaries Technique" on the cover were somewhat blurred. "Uncle-Master Qingfeng said that this is an ancient cultivation technique that was later sealed because it consumed too much spiritual energy. But you always say that 'cultivation techniques should be used by people, not used to trap people to death.' Perhaps you can change it?"

As soon as I took the book and my fingertips touched the cover, a surge of spiritual energy rushed into my consciousness.

A scene flashed before my eyes: a white-robed cultivator was wielding his sword in a thunderstorm. His sword moves contained both metal and wood spiritual energy at the same time, but the next moment he coughed up blood—it turned out that the Nine Luminaries Technique forcibly fused multiple attributes, which would backfire on his meridians.

“As expected,” I murmured. “Traditional cultivation methods always think about ‘inclusiveness,’ but they ignore the limits of the human body’s meridians. If we divide multiple attributes into different stages, first stabilize a single attribute, and then gradually integrate them…”

"Yaoyao, look!" Ziling pulled out another black silk book. "This is a fragment of the 'Mysterious Ice Guide.' Originally, it could only be cultivated up to the Nascent Soul stage, but the last few pages say 'Break through and then build up,' without specifying the method. Perhaps you could try using your plum blossom seal as a guide to stimulate the meridians at the bottleneck?"

I took the tattered piece of paper, turned to the last page, and sure enough, there were a few lines of crooked small characters: "Ice freezes and becomes stiff, fire melts and melts, if you break it with a strange force..." The words after that were eaten away by insects, leaving only half a blurry handprint—which was surprisingly similar to the outline of the plum blossom print on my palm!

“This is…” I looked up at Zi Ling, whose eyes shone like stars.

“Uncle-Master Qingfeng said he found this fragment in a hidden compartment at the bottom of the pavilion, and the cover has the seal of the Primordial Ancestor.” She lowered her voice, “Perhaps the Ancestor was also trying to create a new cultivation method back then, but he didn’t have time to complete it?”

As I touched the half-handprint, I suddenly remembered the blue-robed phantom I had seen in the ruins—the jade pendant at his waist was exactly the same as the jade pendant in the portrait of the Primordial Ancestor!

It turns out that the secret of the library is related to the guardian of the ruins.

Wen Chen's footsteps came from the stairs, carrying a faint scent of agarwood.

He stood in the doorway, his gaze sweeping over the ancient books spread out on my table, a slight smile playing on his lips: "What are you thinking about?"

“I’m thinking, it turns out I’m not the only one struggling.” I held up the scroll of the Nine Luminaries Technique. “Ancient cultivators tried it, the Primordial Ancestor tried it, and now it’s my turn.”

He walked over and gently brushed his fingertips across the wrinkles between my brows: "You've never been alone."

I suddenly felt my eyes getting hot.

Over the years, I've always been afraid that I'm not strong enough, afraid that I can't protect the people who are important to me; but at this moment, looking at the ancient books on the table, looking at the ends of Zi Ling's hair sticking up as she rummages through another bookshelf, looking at the trust in Wen Chen's eyes... I suddenly understand that the confidence to innovate techniques has never been my own persistence, but rather the spark left behind by all those who are unwilling to be bound by rules in the past.

"Yaoyao, look at this!" Ziling's voice came from the innermost bookshelf, "The Thousand Transformations! A legendary cultivation technique that can automatically adjust according to a cultivator's physique. I used to think it was just a fabrication..."

Just as I was about to get up, I suddenly heard footsteps, very slow and light, as if someone was wearing cloth boots and stepping on the floor covered with a century of dust.

I looked up—

The footsteps, mingled with the scents of sandalwood and ink, carried the weight of time, like a piece of old jade brushing against a rough stone surface.

When I looked up, I met Qingfeng Daoist's calm and unwavering eyes—he was wearing a moon-white Daoist robe, with a string of sandalwood prayer beads hanging from his waist, and a half-broken jade slip hanging from a silver hairpin in his hair, just as Ziling had described when he found the ancient book in the hidden compartment.

“Young friend Xiao.” He stroked his long, gray beard, his gaze sweeping over the ancient books spread out on half of my desk. “I could smell the turbulent spiritual energy emanating from the top floor from downstairs—it turns out you were flipping through these old relics.”

Zi Ling peeked out from behind the bookshelf, a piece of paper stuck to the end of her hair: "Uncle-Master, you've come at the perfect time!"

Yao Yao was reading fragments of "Nine Luminaries Technique" and "Mysterious Ice Guide," and she had a bold idea...

“Innovative techniques.” I finished her sentence for her.

The plum blossom print on my palm suddenly became hot, as if in response to something.

I pushed the "Nine Luminaries Technique" towards him, "Senior, do you know why ancient cultivators forcibly fused multiple elemental energies?"

Master Qingfeng's fingers paused on the page.

In his youth, he traveled through the Thirty-Three Heavens to study ancient techniques. I once saw him annotate a fragmented sword move for three days and three nights.

At this moment, he raised an eyebrow, as if he had heard an interesting topic: "In pursuit of greater combat power, we've forgotten that the human body's meridians are like streams; forcibly filling them will only cause the dam to burst."

“But what if we widen the stream?” I pressed my fingertip on the half-handprint of the incomplete “Mysterious Ice Guide”. “I’ve stimulated my meridians with the plum blossom seal—last month at Sword Testing Peak, I was able to simultaneously activate the wood and fire spirits, though only for three breaths, but my meridians didn’t rupture.”

His pupils contracted slightly.

I know what this data means to him—in traditional understanding, those without spiritual roots can hardly even activate a single attribute, let alone fuse two attributes.

“The risk is too great.” He suddenly withdrew his hand, the prayer beads clicking between his knuckles. “Back then, the creator of the Nine Luminaries Technique went mad, and the incomplete version of the Primordial Ancestor’s work ended at ‘destruction before construction’.”

Do you know that if the cultivation technique is not mastered, at best, one's cultivation will be completely ruined, and at worst...?

“In severe cases, the soul will be scattered.” I finished speaking for him, my throat tightening.

Last night at the Qingqiu Ruins, when the black mist wrapped around my wrist, I clearly saw the spiritual energy in my meridians tearing at me frantically, as if trying to shred me into pieces.

But then Wen Chen's sword aura enveloped me, and Ling'er's cries pierced through the black mist. I suddenly felt, "Someone has to try."

Otherwise, by the time the black mist reaches the gates of Taichu Mountain and the Phoenix Lord awakens, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth will have already depleted. How will we protect those we care about then?

Zi Ling came over at some point and took my hand.

Her palms still bore traces of ink from ancient books, like a pale ink flower: "Uncle-Master, have you forgotten?"

Three years ago, when Yao Yao revised the "Qingling Technique," everyone said that those without spiritual roots couldn't learn it. But she used the plum blossom seal as a guide, and now even Brother Wen Chen says her spiritual power is more stable than that of ordinary Golden Core cultivators.

Master Qingfeng's gaze swept over the faint plum blossom mark on my wrist—a mark I had brought with me when I transmigrated, which I had used to draw upon spiritual energy over the years and had long since become one with my flesh and blood.

He suddenly chuckled softly, tapping the cover of the "Nine Luminaries Technique" with his knuckles: "Young friend, you just mentioned 'phased integration,' how exactly is that phased?"

I felt my heart skip a beat.

This is a sign that he's giving in.

I pulled a jade tablet from my sleeve, made from the meteorite iron Wen Chen had given me. It was engraved with the meridian data recorded over the past six months: "The first stage is to stabilize a single attribute, using the plum blossom seal to smooth the meridians; the second stage is to select two mutually reinforcing attributes, such as wood and fire, and use the 'Break' technique of the 'Mysterious Ice Guide' to break through the bottleneck; the third stage..."

“The third stage requires an even more ancient induction technique.” Master Qingfeng suddenly stood up and walked towards the innermost bookshelf.

His Taoist robe swept away the accumulated dust, leaving a faint white mark on the ground. "Last month, I found a scroll of the 'Primordial Secret Record' in a secret compartment, which contains the old ancestor's handwritten notes from back then."

He said he had seen a cultivation technique on a fairy island overseas that allowed meridians to grow like living things...

His hand stopped at the far left of the third floor.

There lay a black-covered ancient book, the gold lacquer on the cover almost completely faded, leaving only the remnants of the two characters "Thousand Machines"—the very "Thousand Machine Transformation" that Zi Ling had just shouted out!

"This book is sealed with three layers of magic." Master Qingfeng's fingertips brushed across the cover, and a flash of azure light appeared. "It took me seven days to break the first two layers; the third layer requires resonance with the book's spirit..."

The moment I reached out and touched the scroll, my mind resounded.

Countless scenes flashed before my eyes: on the azure sea, a gray-robed cultivator sat cross-legged on a piece of driftwood, his meridians gleaming with silver light, each one contracting and expanding in rhythm with the waves; atop a snow-capped mountain, a red-clad girl's fingertips emitted seven-colored spiritual light, each color corresponding to a different attribute, yet perfectly blended together...

"This..." My throat tightened, "It's a cultivation technique that automatically adjusts according to the cultivator's physique!"

The gray-clad man possessed water-attribute energy, hence his meridians flowed with the current; the red-clad girl had mixed spiritual roots, thus she was compatible with multiple attributes…

“Exactly.” Master Qingfeng’s voice was tinged with excitement; this was the first time I’d seen him so flustered. “The ancestor said in his notes that the core of this technique is ‘the meridians possessing spirit’—not making spiritual energy adapt to the meridians, but rather making the meridians learn to adapt to spiritual energy.”

Zi Ling leaned closer to look, and the jade hairpin in her hair finally fell onto the table with a "clink".

She crouched down to pick up the hairpin, her voice muffled yet tinged with laughter: "So Yao Yao's plum blossom seal is actually the key to 'bringing her meridians back to life'?"

"Perhaps." I touched the faint patterns on the cover, feeling the plum blossom print on my palm burning intensely, as if it were becoming one with the book. "I need more time to study it."

"Let's go back to our cultivation cave." Wen Chen's voice came from the top of the stairs.

He had finished dealing with Ling'er's matter sometime earlier and was leaning against the doorframe looking at me. The red mole at the corner of his eye gleamed warmly in the candlelight. "I had the kitchen prepare some 'wake-up soup.' Ziling said you didn't sleep a wink last night."

Master Qingfeng carefully wrapped the "Thousand Transformations" scroll in yellow silk and handed it to me. "I made a copy of this scroll and kept it in the pavilion, but the original..." He paused, his gaze becoming more solemn, "...it needs someone who can bring it to life."

I took the book; it felt warm to the touch.

The black fog outside the window seemed to have thinned a bit, and a few rays of moonlight shone through the window frame, falling on the cover of "The Twins Effect".

Wen Chen walked over and carefully put the book into my Qiankun bag, gently touching my burning palm with his fingertips: "Let's go."

Zi Ling followed, carrying the few tattered scrolls she had just unearthed, the jade hairpin in her hair still askew: "I'll bring Ling Cha to see you tomorrow morning!"

I glanced back at the top floor of the library.

Under the moonlight, those ancient books that had been sleeping for hundreds of years gleamed with a warm light, like countless eyes watching me.

Suddenly I remembered the words of the phantom in blue robes in the ruins: "The future is in your hands"—it turns out that this future is a road paved by the fragments and blood of our predecessors, and I am standing on this road.

Wen Chen's palm covered my back, carrying the familiar scent of agarwood.

We walked through the moonlight and the shadows of books toward the cultivation cave.

The "Thousand Transformations" book in the Qiankun Bag was still burning hot, like a beating heart.

I know tonight will be another sleepless night—but it doesn't matter, because some sparks are meant to shine brighter in the darkness.