The memories that surfaced began to dissipate, the woman's appearance and voice fading away.
Li Guanyi felt a strange calmness within himself.
It was peculiar; at this moment, his emotions were stable, the temperature in his heart as tranquil as a still lake, without a ripple. At this time, he only felt a sense of enlightenment, as if everything was meant to be, and even the sharp pain in his chest was fading away.
It was as if nothing had happened. He raised his hand, and the residual toxins were shattered by the Law Form. Li Guanyi could sense the power of the Qingniao's Law Form, representing the ceaseless flow of life within him, as the toxins were transported away from his body through the Shao Shaoyin Heart Sutra.
Jiquan Acupoint, Qingling, Shaohai, Lingdao, Tongli, Yinqi, Shenmen, Shaofu.
Finally, this wave of toxins was transported to Li Guanyi's Shaochong Acupoint.
His fingers visibly swelled, turning a shade of blue-purple.
Siming had been staring at the Qingluan Bird that emerged from Li Guanyi as if he had seen a ghost. At this moment, upon witnessing his abnormal state, he immediately realized that Li Guanyi had been poisoned. After a brief moment of thought, the old man shouted without hesitation, "Giant, throw something over that can contain the toxins!!!"
The Mo Family Giant, waiting outside, raised his hand and threw without hesitation.
An obsidian bottle flew over. The old man did not understand martial arts.
However, he caught the object and tossed it in front of Li Guanyi. Li Guanyi drew the ink knife from his waist and gently cut his finger against it.
The weapon, forged three hundred times, sliced through as if cutting through soft armor, leaving no white mark behind.
Li Guanyi pressed down again, feeling as if the knife was not even sharpened.
It felt like a common person pressing their finger against a dull iron blade.
There was a slight sensation, but he knew it couldn't harm him.
Li Guanyi had no interest in using too much force to break his own defenses. He drew the Qiushui Sword from his waist, and beneath the Qiushui Sword, his skin seemed unchanged, naturally slicing open, black blood oozing into the bottle, releasing a sweet fragrance that made Li Guanyi feel a bit dizzy.
After several transports of the residual toxic blood, about one-third filled the obsidian bottle.
Li Guanyi capped it with the stopper.
The Qingluan Bird's Law Form turned.
The wound on Li Guanyi's finger began to stop bleeding at a visible speed, and in just sixty breaths, it had completely healed, leaving no trace of the wound. At this moment, Siming had already rushed over, observing the Law Form on Li Guanyi.
He grinned.
The Qingluan was originally of the fire attribute, but at this moment, it exhibited an unusual combination of wood and wind, flapping its wings around the youth. The White Tiger lay quietly on the left, the Red Dragon on the right, and the Xuan Gui quietly closed its eyes. Li Guanyi closed his eyes, urging his own qi to expel the residual toxins from his body.
Siming walked around him briskly, showing none of the demeanor he had when activating the formation earlier, his mouth moving in a continuous murmur. The old man's expression gradually grew serious: "This, this is too, too..."
It was the Four Symbols: Dragon, Tiger, Phoenix, and Turtle.
But it was not the usual Four Symbols; the attributes of fire and wood had changed.
Zuwen Yuan spoke softly, "Among the Eastern Seven Constellations, the first to be seen was the Dragon Horn. The sun and moon pass through the Heavenly Gate, and this star is called the Heavenly Door. Now, the Canglong transforms into the Red Fire; it is the fifth star shining brightly, surpassing the others, thus the Canglong becomes the Fire Dragon."
"That is the heart of the dragon, the great fire."
Siming's lips curled slightly: "It is..."
Zuwen Yuan looked at the sky: "Siming, do you remember what the companion star of the Heart Constellation is?"
Siming's expression became solemn as he replied:
"The Dragon Heart is called the Great Fire, and there is another star of the same attribute, called—"
"Yinghuo."
"When both appear, it is the anomaly of [Yinghuo Guards the Heart]."
"People say that when Yinghuo guards the heart, it is a sign of great chaos, but how do they know the truth? Yinghuo is about guarding the Red Dragon anomaly, the focus is on guarding, just as a person has an illness, hence the incessant cough, but the cough is not the ailment; the real cause lies in the wind and cold of the heart and lungs."
"As pointing to the moon with a finger, the focus is not on the hand, but on the moon."
"Yinghuo guards the heart; the focus is not on Yinghuo, but on the Dragon Heart."
"But when the Heart Constellation of the Red Dragon that sweeps the world encounters problems, how can it be guarded?"
"The Heart Constellation is in the East, the Canglong transforms into fire, a sign of great chaos in the world. If it were during a time of great peace, the one bearing the Red Dragon would either be a fierce general or a tyrant. But if it appears alongside the White Tiger, then..."
Siming fell silent.
The last time the White Tiger and the Red Dragon appeared simultaneously was eight hundred years ago.
The Red Emperor and the Overlord together toppled the world of that time, and the lords and nobles had to kneel and crawl into their tents. They fought among themselves, determining the victor of the world, a heroic legend that remains the most magnificent in the Eastern Land to this day. The Turkic king's ambition and justification for entering the Central Plains was that their ancestors had once sought to marry the Red Emperor's daughter.
They also bore the bloodline of the Red Emperor's fire dragon sweeping the world, qualifying them to step into the Central Plains.
And now, the two fates that once toppled the world had converged in one person. Siming said, "This is not important. If the world is stable, he is the cornerstone of a prosperous age. But if the world falls into chaos, he may ignite the flames of turmoil."
Zuwen Yuan replied, "Fate is merely fate; it does not represent everything."
"Since ancient times, how many great lords have borne great destinies only to perish midway?"
They spoke in hushed tones.
However, within Li Guanyi, the situation was not so optimistic.
The original golden skin and jade bones, dragon tendons and tiger marrow could withstand the tearing of the Dragon and Tiger Law Forms, but now, this Law Form had doubled. The Qingluan, Red Dragon, White Tiger, and Xuan Gui, all in different forms, continuously circulated within Li Guanyi.
Zuwen Yuan could not see the Law Form.
But he could deduce Li Guanyi's current situation. The old man looked at Li Guanyi, who was frowning and meditating, and spoke gently, "Li Xiaoyou, if you can hear my words, then adjust your internal breath according to my instructions."
Zuwen Yuan calculated and said, "Among the Four Symbols, the Dragon represents the sun, the Phoenix the moon."
"The Tiger is the star, and the Turtle is the constellation."
"Your meridians and acupoints are numerous; arrange them according to the most basic medical texts."
"Follow my words."
"One for the sun's armor, seven for the moon's noon."
"One hundred eighty-nine for the star's Ren, two thousand two hundred fifty-seven for the constellation's Zi."
The old man did not practice martial arts, yet he seemed to treat Li Guanyi's body meridians as a form of calculation. Li Guanyi fully understood the old man's words, circulating his internal qi, allowing the four types of Law Form energies—Dragon, Phoenix, Tiger, and Turtle—to flow and change in different ways.
Zuwen Yuan's words flowed rapidly, perfectly aligning with Li Guanyi's internal qi circulation.
For a full two hours, the power of the Four Symbols' Law Forms astonishingly transformed into a balanced state within Li Guanyi, coexisting simultaneously. Zuwen Yuan looked at the brightening sky, dropped the branch in his hand, surrounded by dense calculations, and smiled:
"The sun traverses the heavens, the moon traverses the gatherings, the stars traverse the movements, the constellations traverse the world. By the sun's passage, the essence of the essence can be known. By the sun's passage through the moon, the essence of the gatherings can be known. By the sun's passage through the stars, the essence of the movements can be known. By the sun's passage through the constellations, the essence of the world can be known."
"The sun, moon, and stars, Dragon, Phoenix, Tiger, and Turtle, are all like this. Such circulation and transformation, even if the four Law Forms exist simultaneously within you, can still operate freely."
Li Guanyi slowly exhaled.
The power of the Four Symbols' Law Forms gradually dispersed, and he opened his eyes.
He saw Zuwen Yuan smiling at him: "How is it, Xiaoyou?"
Li Guanyi stood up, leaping higher than before. He clenched his fist, the four symbols within him fitting together like a ring, no longer showing any signs of turmoil. He cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, senior!" Zuwen Yuan smiled slightly: "No need to thank me; I merely spoke what others have told me."
Li Guanyi hesitated: "May I ask, senior, how did you know about the internal qi within me?"
Zuwen Yuan casually replied: "I calculated it."
Li Guanyi was taken aback: "Calculated it?"
Zuwen Yuan laughed: "Yes, the internal qi flows within the body, just as rivers flow across the land. One can understand the changes of rivers, lakes, and seas, and know the rise and fall of the stars in the sky. By this principle, deducing the changes of a person's internal qi is not a difficult task."
"However, this was not something I realized on my own."
"It was a senior who told me, which is why I did not choose to practice martial arts."
"I learned this principle too early. When I was young and vigorous, I was determined to either not do it at all or to do it to the best of my ability. Once I knew there was a path that could calculate all possibilities, how could I hold back?"
"I plunged headlong into the art of calculation."
"I originally intended to exhaust the mysteries of the art, so I could advance bravely in martial arts."
"But when I turned back, a whole sixty years had passed, and I had long missed the most exquisite time for martial arts cultivation. Yet the mysteries of the art still seemed as numerous as the stars in the sky, the sands of the river, and no matter what, they could not be fully exhausted. It was only at this moment that I realized I had been deceived by the senior."
"However, upon reflection, I do not consider my life to have been wasted. Or rather, if I had become a martial artist, traveling the world with a sword, I certainly would not feel as satisfied as I do now."
Siming's expression changed slightly: "Is this method his?"
Zuwen Yuan nodded: "Yes, it was taught by a senior of the Dao Sect."
He explained to Li Guanyi: "He is a once-in-a-lifetime genius of the Dao Sect, one of the four great legends in the martial world, already a hidden hero in the world. When I was young, I had the fortune to hold an umbrella for him during the rain, and he passed me a scroll of teachings, guiding me for seven days. After that day, I entered the realm."
"The scroll he passed to me, I still find it immensely useful to this day."
"It is the sixtieth volume of the Sixty-Four Volumes of the Imperial Extremity Governs the World."
Zuwen Yuan looked at Li Guanyi, as if recalling a conversation from many years ago, slightly bending down. The white-haired old man looked at the youth, just as he had back then. He suddenly understood the joy of the Dao Sect at that time and said softly: "This scroll is still in Jiangzhou. If you enter Jiangzhou City, you can go there, and I will explain this scroll to you."
"Do not worry; the senior of the Dao Sect is carefree and unrestrained."
"Whether he guards it without passing it on or passes it to a mediocre person, he would disdain both."
"Moreover..."
The white-haired Zuwen Yuan blinked and smiled: "He may have already passed away."
"So you need not worry."
Li Guanyi leaped up, clenching his fist, unsure of what step he had reached at this moment. He exhaled, putting away the bottle that had contained the toxic blood. He wanted to understand the origins of this object, as the traces of the formation around him had already been destroyed.
Siming tossed the royal seal to Li Guanyi: "This is yours."
"The aura belonging to the Tuyuhun has already dissipated, so consider it a token left for you. For three hundred years, the Tuyuhun's dominance in the Western Regions has faded, and its descendants have lost the demeanor of a king, unable to protect it."
Li Guanyi asked: "The Tuyuhun has fallen; do you not feel sorrow for that?"
Siming laughed heartily: "Sorrow? What is he? Ah Chai was merely a servant by birth; he had no race, so he named his country after himself, and that name has been passed down for three hundred years. Even thousands of years later, people will still know the name Tuyuhun."
"Even if later generations do not know, this is actually the name of a small slave who once pointed to the stars in the sky, saying he would make countless people know his name!"
"How could he feel sorrow? He would only feel that his achievements were complete and walk away calmly."
"Kid, do not underestimate those old fellows."
The old man pulled out a wine pouch from his robe, tilted his head back, took a sip, and said softly:
"Moreover, the true bloodline of the Tuyuhun's descendants, in the one hundred eighteenth year after his death, was killed by a mob for seizing his uncle's wife and daughter. The Tuyuhun's coup destroyed his bloodline. I rode for seven days and nights, and by the time I arrived, I could no longer find any children with his blood."
"The descendants of heroes are not necessarily heroes."
"The Tuyuhun's descendants ultimately became the kind of people he would have slain with a single strike. Exhausted of their former grandeur, their bloodline no longer exists, while their achievements remain in history. For the Tuyuhun, his life was perfect."
"Even if later someone wishes to unify the thirty-six tribes of the Western Regions, the Tuyuhun will always be the original hero."
"However, he indeed helped you complete the Tiger's Roar Bone Forging Technique."
"If there is an opportunity, let the Western Regions return to unity."
Li Guanyi wanted to say that this matter and achievement were too heavy for him.
How could I possibly achieve that?
But he fell silent, merely holding the royal seal, pointing it towards the blank space, saying: "Then, if one day there is a hero, I will hand the royal seal to him, allowing him to unify the vast lands of the Western Regions. But if there is no one on that land capable of sustaining this flame..."
Li Guanyi held the royal seal, recalling the domineering figure he had just glimpsed, and said:
"Then let me become their Khan!"
Siming laughed heartily, and Zuwen Yuan joined in the laughter, but Siming only patted Li Guanyi's shoulder vigorously, saying: "Not bad, not bad, ah hahaha, you can boast now!" The four did not return with Li Guanyi.
They were going to send Zuwen Yuan off.
The old man was the chief architect of the formation in the Chen Kingdom, and this time he had snuck out; it was likely that there were already some issues. Their methods could conceal for a day or two, but it would be hard to sustain for long. Given enough time, they would definitely be discovered.
The morning light brightened, and Li Guanyi returned to the city alone. He did not attempt to practice a new cultivation body.
General Xue would be the most perfect test subject for the [Four Symbols Cultivation Body]!
And with that highly toxic blood, having a sample would allow him to understand what poison he had been afflicted with.
Also, the characteristics and power of the golden skin and jade bones—how much had they truly improved?
As Li Guanyi walked across the stone bridge, contemplating what he needed to do, he suddenly remembered.
The power of the Qingluan Bird's Law Form was ceaseless; he wondered if it could be used to heal his aunt.
However, his aunt had a good relationship with his mother. In the past, would his mother not have used this Law Form to heal his aunt? His aunt should be able to sense the familiarity of this Law Form immediately... For some reason, Li Guanyi's footsteps suddenly halted, a blockage forming in his heart.
The winds of Jiangnan remained as ever.
He stood there, beside a woman dressed in brown, holding a bamboo woven basket filled with rough rice. She smiled, and beside her was a small boy with a tiger's head and a tiger's brain, tugging at her clothes, calling her mother.
The youth's footsteps paused. He stepped aside to let them pass.
Then he took two steps forward.
The heavy knife fell to the ground. Li Guanyi opened his mouth. His mother from his past life, his mother in this life—pain and loss converged. Clearly, he had not felt it before, but the scene he had just witnessed felt like a knife dropping into his heart, as if emotions were delayed in times of sorrow.
It was seeing the mundane occurrences of life that suddenly crashed over him like a wave.
The youth's lips tightened downward.
Then he leaned against the wall, squatting there, pressing his palm against his face and rubbing it hard.
His palms were damp.
...
And just before this, at the moment when the Four Symbols gathered, and the White Tiger and Red Dragon appeared simultaneously in the sky, in the distant Taihe Hall of Zhongzhou.
The long-sealed Chixiao Sword from three hundred years ago.
Let out a long cry from its sheath!
(End of Chapter)