Within the secret pavilion, which was as expansive as more than a dozen acres of land, in one corner stood a small writing desk, a soft stool, and a pot of clear tea with some snacks.
Lu Yun sat beside the desk, flipping through volume after volume of expert external training manuals that represented the pinnacle of martial cultivation in the Dayin Martial Dynasty.
As the name suggests, the Dayin Martial Dynasty was founded on the strength of martial prowess.
When the dynasty's founding ancestor established the empire, he gathered martial arts from across the land.
Before Lu Yun lay a small mountain of martial training texts, including the commonly practiced “Root Binding Mountain Skill” used by the imperial guards, as well as the advanced upgraded version “Immovable Xumi Peak” favored by their higher-ranking commanders.
Also present were the “Mountain-Crushing Suanni Skill,” widely practiced by the Feathered Forest troops, along with their senior officers’ upgraded version, the “Hundred Calamity Barbarian Dragon Body.”
Lu Yun carefully studied all these martial manuals, his spirit and soul dancing with brilliance as he memorized every single word by heart.
Each person’s physique was different, so the suitable cultivation method would naturally vary.
For example, even when practicing the same “Root Binding Mountain Skill,” some imperial guards would reach several thousand jin of strength in just two or three years, while others might only achieve a few hundred jin after seven or eight years.
Lu Yun had no idea which manual might suit Ah Hu’s constitution best, so he planned to memorize as many as possible and have Ah Hu try each one after he returned.
Not to mention, besides Ah Hu, there were so many brothers in the ‘Hundred Tigers Hall.’
Anyway, now that his spirit soul was awakened to a shining brilliance, Lu Yun possessed a photographic memory; memorizing hundreds of manuals was as easy as turning over a page.
Just then, a little eunuch dressed in a red robe rushed over, beaming with a smile as bright as a little hen clucking happily.
“Oh, Lord Tianyang! Look what I found! Hehe, I’m sure you’ll love this treasure!”
Lu Yun put down the manual titled “Swift Wind Azure Wolf Body” and looked toward the grinning little eunuch, who was clearly trying to flatter him.
“Oh? Little eunuch, what good thing have you brought?”
By the way, the “Swift Wind Azure Wolf Body” was the primary cultivation method for the Azure Wolf Cavalry under General Lu Tai of the Heavenly Favor.
Cultivating it enhanced tendon strength, greatly increasing one’s speed and endurance.
The little eunuch giggled as he slipped closer to Lu Yun, giving a thumbs-up and gesturing behind him.
“This is the ‘Town-Protector Three Martial Arts’ of the Duke of Lai’s Mansion, including the ‘Jieshi Skill.’ Look, you can’t be wrong about this.”
Behind the little eunuch, several eunuchs dressed in blue robes, each with cultivation at the Vessel Opening realm or above, were red-faced from the exertion as they carefully carried a stone tablet using iron rods.
“Jieshi Skill?”
Suddenly, Lu Yun sprang to his feet and rushed over to the eunuchs.
He gently took the stone tablet from them and carefully placed it on the ground.
The little eunuch watched in surprise as Lu Yun effortlessly picked up the heavy stone tablet, covering his mouth to chuckle admiringly.
“Wow, Lord Tianyang, your power is truly formidable, tsk tsk.”
Lu Yun paid no mind to the flattery; his eyes studied the stone tablet with care, his spirit’s light on the rise.
He sensed that a great opportunity might lie within this very tablet.
The “Canghai Skill” of the Duke of Lai’s Mansion was a foundational Yuan Gang cultivation method; the “Jingtau Hand” was a brutal offensive combat art.
As for the founding Duke of Lai’s ability to fight unafraid on the battlefield, no doubt he also possessed a top-tier external training method—the “Jieshi Skill.” It was by refining his body through the Jieshi Skill that he could endure sword, spear, and arrow onslaughts and earn great military honors.
Lu Yun had studied the “Canghai Skill” and the “Jingtau Hand,” and his proficiency was quite good.
But the “Jieshi Skill” had been lost within the Duke of Lai’s Mansion for over five generations.
It was said that the Duke of Lai five generations ago had a beloved son who trained the “Jieshi Skill” but rushed too eagerly and shattered all his bones and meridians, becoming a complete cripple.
In wrath, that Duke of Lai labeled the “Jieshi Skill” a dangerous, evil sorcery and ordered his retainers to permanently destroy the engraved stone tablet of the “Jieshi Skill,” placed in front of the ancestral shrine.
Subsequent Dukes of Lai paid no mind to this—after all, they didn’t bother to painstakingly cultivate their bodies.
By this current generation with Lu Yu, who focused on being a ‘refined’ scholar, it was likely forgotten that their ancestors once possessed such a supreme external training method.
Thus, Lu Yun vaguely knew about the Duke of Lai’s heirloom secret skill but never had a chance to practice it.
Stored in the Historic Records Bureau was the original “Town Protector Three Martial Arts” of the Jingyang Lu clan—a stone tablet three inches thick, one foot wide, and about six feet tall.
This small stone slab weighed over thirty thousand jin, which was why several Vessel Opening eunuchs had struggled to carry it from the secret pavilion’s deepest shelves labeled “Military Merits.”
The heavy stone’s surface bore clear ripples like layers of water, as if it had been endlessly washed by countless crashing waves deep underwater for millions of years.
If one stared too long, it even felt as if those water ripples transformed into a vast ocean raging with waves ready to sweep away and pulverize all things in the world.
On the stone’s surface lay a shallow engraving.
The fine characters, tens of thousands in number, precisely recorded the cultivation methods for the “Canghai Skill,” “Jingtau Hand,” and “Jieshi Skill.”
The script on the tablet slightly differed from today’s commonly used Dayin characters; it was a very ancient script.
Thanks to Lu Yun’s steady and low-profile dedication to study at the clan academy and his photographic memory, he could recognize these ancient characters.
His spirit’s light quivered in his mind as he placed a hand on the stone tablet.
A faint roar of crashing waves sounded in his ears.
From within the stone, a vast, heavy, layered, continuous and majestic power swept out, echoing the Yuan Gang force of the Canghai Skill in Lu Yun’s body.
The “Jieshi Skill” was an external training method designed to complement the “Canghai Skill.”
Only when one perfected the Canghai Yuan Gang could one use layered Yuan Gang “latent forces” to repeatedly chisel and strengthen the tendons, bones, muscles, and skin—like how huge sea waves year after year repeatedly wash over offshore reefs, gradually smoothing them into round, solid rock.
Without the Canghai Skill, one could never cultivate the Jieshi Skill.
Other external training methods likewise could not harmonize with Canghai to unleash their full power.
Lu Yun recalled the tale of that former Duke of Lai who ordered the ancestral stone tablet smashed in front of the shrine.
“What a prodigal son. Truly a prodigal son!”
Footsteps approached, carrying an older eunuch followed by a group of little eunuchs.
They held in their arms various objects—beast bones, stone tablets, beast hides, carved statues—each decorated with colorful patterns or dense text.
These were all stored in the lower secret pavilions, relics of various medieval and ancient external training arts.
“Oh, Lord Tianyang, this stone tablet has always been a treasure of the Jingyang Lu clan,” the older eunuch said brightly.
“I often read the secret archives. When the Dayin Dynasty was founded, the world was still unstable for a few decades. The first Duke of Lai feared this treasure might be damaged or lost, so he petitioned the founding ancestor to have the stone tablet stored safely here, in the Historic Records Bureau—the most secure place in Haoking City.”
“Later, the Duke of Lai carved another stone tablet and placed it in front of the family shrine, thinking this would protect the family’s martial heritage. The original stone tablet has thus remained stored in the Records Bureau for over a thousand years.”
Lu Yun caressed the stone tablet softly.
“The texture of this stone is very unusual.”
The older eunuch smiled and nodded in agreement.
“Indeed, unusual. I’ve lived many years and have seen many things in the Records Bureau, but nothing with the same material. Well, it makes sense—the Jingyang Lu clan boasts a long heritage. The records in this Bureau trace the clan’s ancestors back over twelve dynasties before the current era.”
“This stone tablet has been in the Jingyang Lu clan’s hands for at least tens of thousands of years—it’s truly a priceless item.”
Lu Yun smiled faintly.
A clan with roots reaching back beyond twelve dynasties surely was no mere few thousand years old.
For such a relic to be their passed-down treasure, it was hard for Lu Yun to believe the founding Duke of Lai had simply ‘stored’ it in the Records Bureau, while the family shrine itself held only a plain stone tablet as its symbol.
The Jingyang Lu clan was vast and wealthy; if they wished to keep it safely on their own lands, they could surely find secret and secure places.
That the founding Duke of Lai entrusted this treasure to the Historic Records Bureau must have had some connection to the founding ancestor of the Dayin Dynasty.
Perhaps it was a “pledge of allegiance.”
Maybe it was a “pawned item.”
Or even a “dirty secret.”
If the founding Duke of Lai had willingly given up this treasure to the Records Bureau, Lu Yun wouldn’t believe it for a moment.
But none of that mattered now.
“I beg your help, eunuch, to bring the other founding dukes’ ancestral heirlooms stored in the Records Bureau for me to see.”
“Faced with the ancestors’ relics, my heart swells. I now wish to enter meditation and begin cultivating the ‘Jieshi Skill.’”
“Please, eunuch, grant this small favor.”
Lu Yun sat cross-legged before the stone tablet.
The roar of waves swelled within his body; his skin was bathed in a faint azure Yuan Gang light that steadily flared.
The older and younger eunuchs hurriedly acknowledged him and quietly retreated.
They understood Lu Yun’s feelings perfectly.
After all, this was a treasure lost to the Duke of Lai’s Mansion for five generations—nearly three hundred years.
It was only natural for Lu Yun to be eager to cultivate it.
As for Lu Yun’s wish to see the ancestral heirlooms of other founding dukes… it was somewhat taboo, but Lu Yun was the favored of the current emperor—and even the Empress Dowager was grateful to him.
Such taboos hardly mattered.
Besides, the current generations of the founding dukes’ descendants were all gentlemen who no longer practiced martial arts but instead busied themselves with poetry and literature.
Surely, they would not mind Lu Yun examining their family’s treasured martial arts.
No sooner had the eunuchs left than Lu Yun placed both hands back on the stone tablet.
Spirit light, like flowing water, streamed from his arms, pouring continuously into the stone.
Deafening roars of ocean waves echoed in his mind.
Within the stone, in places invisible to the naked eye, a faint dim azure glow fiercely absorbed the spirit light that Lu Yun poured in.
The blue light flashed bright, then instantly illuminated the entire stone tablet.
A vast consciousness, magnificent and deep, grand as the boundless sea, surged into Lu Yun’s mind:
“Three Immortal Domains · Supreme Sacred Heaven · Supreme Beiming Immortal Sect · Immortal Dao Fundamental Law · Boundless Return-to-Void Body!”
All his tendons and bones rang in unison.
A great rumble sounded; within, the Yuan Gang force of the Canghai Skill in his body began to collapse and compress violently.
At the same time, with a clear ‘ding,’ a ripple of water on the tablet’s surface lit up.
An ancient and roughly wrought black ring flew through the wave patterns, landing squarely before Lu Yun.
(End of Chapter)