Chapter 1378: Yin-Yang Enters, Five Elements Emerge

Li Yan felt that this object could be considered a magical treasure, and a wondrously powerful one at that.

“Fuxi Plate!”

Li Yan quickly thought of a name.

Afterward, he once again thought of the handheld red lantern and the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief, but for a moment, he still had no clues.

Some time ago, he had even made the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief into a lamp wick, but in the end, he had discovered nothing.

Li Yan wondered if he had guessed wrong. Perhaps the handheld red lantern was just an ordinary spirit treasure, and it just happened to emit a trace of an aura similar to his Heaven-Stealing Kerchief.

This could be due to some coincidence in their refining methods or materials.

Finally, Li Yan dismissed these thoughts, took out the Blood River water and silver sand, and instantly formed the “Fuxi Plate” again.

He then suspended it in front of him. Sitting cross-legged, he raised his hand and pointed forward. A dark light shot from his fingertip into it. Looking at the red and white colors rotating, one fast and one slow, in the small patch of empty space, he began to observe it carefully…

Cultivation knew no years. Soon, half a month had passed. And on this day, in the sky above the Broken Army Sect, one moment it was clear with white clouds drifting by.

The next moment, a fluctuation from somewhere in the Broken Army Sect vanished into the void. In just a few breaths, a fierce wind howled, and the white clouds in the sky had turned into thick, churning black clouds. Amidst flashes of lightning and claps of thunder, the weather changed dramatically…

Some cultivators in the sect immediately looked up, their expressions changing as many of them cried out in alarm.

“Someone is forming a Nascent Soul!”

“This is… this is a Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation!”

“Looking at the direction it’s gathering, it seems to be near the ‘Heart Sutra Pavilion’ in the back. Only Senior Brother Yu established a Cave Residence there alone a few years ago. It’s Senior Brother Yu…”

“Senior Brother Yu is usually in the Heart Sutra Pavilion. For him to enter his Cave Residence again this time must mean he plans to attempt Nascent Soul Formation again!”

“Sigh, I hope he succeeds this time!”

“It will be difficult…”

Many disciples had already flown into the sky and begun to retreat. Cultivators in the Immortal Spirit Realm were generally quite familiar with the power of heavenly tribulations below the Void Refining Realm. Ordinary cultivators could tell at a glance that this was a “Nascent Soul Tribulation.”

Without needing to be told, they naturally retreated in all directions. They knew roughly how far they needed to be to be safe from the power of a Nascent Soul Tribulation.

Although these disciples were surprised, it was not that strange to them. For cultivators in the Immortal Spirit Realm, this kind of heavenly tribulation was actually a common sight, it was just that the person undergoing it would not allow you to get close.

Ren Yanyu, in her red dress, stood quietly in the air, letting the fierce winds whip around her, her long hair dancing, her sash fluttering, like an immortal of red silk in the wind.

Her beautiful eyes had only swept past Li Yan’s Cave Residence in the distance at the very beginning before settling on the place where the dark clouds were churning and gathering.

She and Shangguan Tianque already knew that Li Yan was a reclusive cultivator. Even with so many stunningly beautiful female disciples in the sect secretly casting flirtatious glances his way, this Li Yan remained oblivious.

Moreover, Li Yan spent very little time outside. If he hadn’t been introduced once, perhaps few disciples in the sect would even know of his existence.

Even during the brief moments he appeared when leaving or returning, he would at most smile and nod at the male and female disciples before flying off immediately, never saying an extra word.

‘No wonder the cultivators from the lower realm are so strong. It’s all cultivation and more cultivation. Upper realm cultivators, outside of their cultivation, mostly like to team up and go out in search of cultivation resources and opportunities.’

‘Everyone hopes to obtain heavenly materials and earthly treasures through chance encounters to quickly raise their cultivation, but how can opportunities be so easy to find…’ Ren Yanyu thought to herself before casting the thought aside.

She did not know that cultivators in the lower realm also wanted to go out frequently to seek opportunities, but any place with even a hint of an immortal legend was quickly seized by the large sects. Resources were scarce.

Cultivators in the Mortal Realm would only go out to seek opportunities at the same time as they were gaining experience!

Now that Shangguan Tianque had already begun refining his pills, he could not be interrupted midway. Li Yan, on the other hand, paid no mind to worldly affairs. That left only Ren Yanyu to stand guard for Yu Banjiang while she was also guarding Shangguan Tianque.

‘I hope Banjiang, after figuring out the problem this time, can successfully transcend the tribulation in one go!’

‘The Inner Demon Tribulation… Fanzhu, since you have already departed, do not linger in his heart. That will only hinder Banjiang’s immortal path. Only by setting foot on the path of eternal life can he meet you again in one of your future reincarnations…’

Gazing at the ink-black sky, Ren Yanyu thought of that disciple she had been so fond of, and a pang of pain inexplicably struck her heart. How could she ever forget that valiant and heroic disciple…

The weather changed, and thunder roared. Yu Banjiang’s tribulation transcendence was extremely difficult. Each tribulation took a long time to overcome, and every step was a struggle. Blood splattered across the sky.

His path to Nascent Soul Formation was difficult. First, he had already failed twice before. The chances of success in forming a Nascent Soul would only decrease with each subsequent attempt.

Second, although he had regained his confidence, he was still trapped in the “Inner Demon Tribulation” for a full day and a half.

There were many times when Ren Yanyu thought he was going to fail, but in the end, Yu Banjiang, with unwillingness and roars of anger, held on time and time again…

Four days later, at a certain moment, the entire Broken Army Sect was in an uproar. Many of the older disciples were also sighing with emotion.

First, they were incomparably excited that the sect had gained another Nascent Soul cultivator. This was more joyous than Li Yan becoming a Guest Elder.

After all, Yu Banjiang was a homegrown cultivator of the Broken Army Sect, and his sense of belonging to the sect was known to all.

Furthermore, although Yu Banjiang was the chief disciple of the Sect Master, Shangguan Tianque, he had always been fair in his dealings and was a particularly low-key person, never using his position to bully others. This had earned him the special respect of many disciples in the sect.

And many of the disciples here knew his past and had felt sorry for his two failed attempts at Nascent Soul Formation. Now that Yu Banjiang had finally broken through his shackles and leaped over the dragon gate, even their own moods were different.

After successfully forming his Nascent Soul, the blood-soaked Yu Banjiang, after a brief meeting with Ren Yanyu who had stood guard for him, immediately entered seclusion to stabilize his realm.

And the sight of him appearing in the sky made many disciples fail to recognize him at first. But some of the older disciples’ eyes glinted with a sharp light. They had once again seen the person from their memories.

The blood-soaked and weakened Yu Banjiang was no longer an old man, but a handsome youth with a pale face, looking to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

This also caused Ren Yanyu to fall into a daze for a moment when she saw Yu Banjiang. In her eyes, it was as if she saw a young man and woman standing before her, side by side, kowtowing to her.

As her heart ached, a smile spread across Ren Yanyu’s face, the corners of her lips turning up gently…

As for Li Yan, who was in seclusion, because he had activated his formations, and with Ren Yanyu dispersing the aftershocks that spread throughout the sect, he was unaware of all that had happened and was still immersed in his research of the “Fuxi Plate.”

Time flew by, and the Broken Army Sect returned to its former peace.

Another half a year later, Shangguan Tianque, who was also in seclusion refining pills, had reached the most critical moment.

And on this day, a long rainbow streaked across the sky. The rainbow circled and landed outside the mountain gate of the Broken Army Sect. Not long after, a disciple hurried into the depths of the sect.

Afterward, Ren Yanyu personally went to the mountain gate. Just a moment later, the rainbow shot into the sky again, leaving behind only a grave-faced Ren Yanyu.

Half a day later, Ren Yanyu, still with a frown on her brow and a worried expression, flew towards Li Yan’s Cave Residence…

In the main hall of the Cave Residence, Li Yan looked at Ren Yanyu with a calm expression. This half-year of cultivation had been of great benefit to him. Moreover, Li Yan had a faint feeling that the insights he had gained this time would be very important for his future advancement to the Spirit Transformation Realm.

Through his research of the “Fuxi Plate,” he had gained a new understanding of the power of the Five Elements, and the lesser Five Elements law within his body had also made a new breakthrough.

Previously, Li Yan had only continuously sensed the mutual resonance between the internal and external Five Elements in their generating and overcoming cycles when he was cultivating and circulating his cultivation method, in order to speed up his cultivation.

But now, when Li Yan channeled the power of the Five Elements, he sensed that just a sliver of power from his internal Five Elements could drive the external greater Five Elements to summon wind and rain, move mountains and fill seas.

It was a sliver of the essence of the origin, but this obscure and hard-to-understand state of being was something Li Yan was just beginning to comprehend, and he could not yet glimpse its full picture.

But even so, Li Yan was surprised to find that the power of the immortal arts he now cast had been greatly enhanced.

In the past half-year, although Li Yan had not gone out, after comprehending a state of being where Yin and Yang merged with the true meaning of the Five Elements, he had still entered the “Earthen Patch” with his main body to conduct some tests.

Take the most ordinary “Fireball Art” for example. When Li Yan used to cast the fully mastered “Fireball Art” at its full power, he needed to use eighty percent of his magical power, with the other twenty percent being borrowed from the power of the Five Elements of heaven and earth.

But now, he used forty percent of his internal Five Elements magical power to cast the art, driving sixty percent of the external Five Elements power of heaven and earth, and the power was even stronger by several degrees.

Li Yan knew that if one day, he could reach the point where he only needed to use ten percent of his internal Five Elements magical power to drive ninety percent of the external Five Elements power of heaven and earth, then he would have truly comprehended the power of the Five Elements rules of heaven and earth.

At the same time, he also knew that the great increase in the power of his arts this time was because it was his initial comprehension, which was why the improvement seemed so great.

In the days to come, even if he wanted to reduce the amount of internal Five Elements power he used from forty percent to just thirty-five percent to unleash even more powerful and fiercer arts, he had no idea how many years of hard cultivation it would take to achieve.

Perhaps he could only do it after advancing to the Spirit Transformation stage. And as for reducing it to just ten percent of internal Five Elements magical power to drive ninety percent of the external Five Elements power of heaven and earth, he might not be able to achieve that even when he reached the Body Integration Realm.

This would be a long and arduous process.

Furthermore, when Li Yan cast “Quaking Cosmos,” not only had the distance of his instantaneous movement increased by another four hundred li.

Moreover, after comprehending the new power of the Five Elements rules, he could faintly sense some of the scenery ahead about half a breath in advance when he cast this art. This was a fundamental and important breakthrough.

This caused Li Yan, who was usually as calm as still water, to experience a rare burst of ecstasy.

This time, his comprehension of the Taiji Yin-Yang fish had brought about such a huge surprise.

He had long ago, through the records of the “Quaking Cosmos” cultivation method, gained a very clear understanding of the various stages of this art.

This ability to perceive the scenery ahead in a situation of near-instantaneous movement, where even Divine Sense could not keep up, was something that could only possibly appear after he had cultivated this art to the minor accomplishment stage.

This meant that although he had not cultivated “Quaking Cosmos” at all this time, this divine ability had advanced on its own from the entry level to the minor accomplishment stage!

If Li Yan had had this kind of perception when he was teleporting with Xue Longzi back then, he would have been able to change direction in advance, and perhaps he would not have been teleported to that chaotic place.

After a burst of ecstasy, when Li Yan calmed down, a strange thought immediately came to him.

In heaven and earth, Daoist traditions such as Yin-Yang, the Five Elements, the Three Talents, and the Four Symbols had long existed. As a disciple of the Gui Water Immortal Sect, he was naturally very familiar with all of these.

The Five Elements were not isolated. Each cultivation sect had its own complete Daoist tradition. Just like the Daoist Taiji and Eight Trigrams, it was a complete cultivation Daoist tradition. The Great Daos of the world each had their own subtleties.

Therefore, almost all cultivation sects would draw on the strengths of others to continuously perfect their own Daoist traditions.

The Five Elements were the same. It was just that the “Five Immortal Sects” were a special case among the Five Elements. After following the law of mutual generation, they had further divided into five sub-Daoist traditions.

Apart from the “Five Immortal Sects,” there were also Daoist traditions that specialized in cultivating the Five Elements of heaven and earth as a single entity. They also had their own set of Immortal Paths with different understandings of the Five Elements rules.

Li Yan had also drawn on Yin-Yang, the Three Talents, and the Four Symbols in the past. It did indeed enhance his understanding, but he had never experienced a moment of enlightenment like this time.

‘The Blood River and the silver sand have mysterious origins. Their very materials contain an alternative law of Yin-Yang, which is why I was able to comprehend more of the operation, command, and even fusion and change of the laws of heaven and earth from them…’ Li Yan thought to himself.

But what he didn’t know was that in the Gui Water Immortal Sect, there were many, many jade slips about other Daoist traditions.

The rules of Yin-Yang were also present, all left for the disciples of the sect to comprehend and draw upon.

Such an ancient immortal sect naturally had a profound heritage. It was just that Dong Fuyi had only imprinted the sect’s own cultivation methods into his sea of consciousness, and nothing else.

This left Li Yan, although he had the Malevolent Spirit Sect to rely on, only borrowing their other cultivation resources. In terms of cultivation methods, he was like a fatherless and motherless wild child, a rogue cultivator with no one to teach him.

This time’s enlightenment had raised Li Yan’s strength once again. He felt that if he were to encounter Liu Huaigu and the others alone again, he should be able to kill all six of them within thirty breaths.

Not just repel them and let them escape. Li Yan was not sure if his strength, after this unexpected improvement, could still be considered Late-stage Nascent Soul.

Today, Li Yan, who was in seclusion, had placed his sect token on the ground in front of him. It suddenly began to buzz continuously, which immediately woke Li Yan from his cultivation…

In the main hall, Li Yan and Ren Yanyu sat on opposite sides of a long table.

Although his cultivation had been disturbed by Ren Yanyu, as a Guest Elder, for her to come to his door in such a hurry must mean there was something important. Although Li Yan was reluctant, he would not show it.

“There is something that I must urgently disturb Elder Li for today. Please do not take offense.”

“First, the sect would like to thank you for your help. Banjiang has finally succeeded in forming his Nascent Soul. After he consolidates his realm, he said he will come to thank you personally!”

Dressed in red, Ren Yanyu exuded the air of a martial world hero. She spoke directly and without wasting words.

This was related to her personality, as well as the fact that she and Shangguan Tianque had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, overcoming one life-and-death situation after another.

“Oh? Fellow Daoist Yu has successfully formed his Nascent Soul? This is truly a joyous occasion. You and Fellow Daoist Shangguan can finally rest easy. The sect’s strength has increased again, which is excellent!”

A trace of surprise flashed in Li Yan’s eyes. He hadn’t expected Yu Banjiang to attempt to form a Nascent Soul so soon, and to have actually succeeded.

In fact, in his opinion, even with his help in restoring his soul, due to his previous two failures, Yu Banjiang’s chances of forming a Nascent Soul were already extremely slim from any perspective. Li Yan was quite surprised by this!

‘He really didn’t know about the heavenly tribulation. He was just focused on cultivating!’

Seeing Li Yan’s surprise, Ren Yanyu realized that her guess was correct. Despite the loud noise of the heavenly tribulation, he had completely sealed himself off, turning a deaf ear to the outside world.

After saying this, Li Yan fell silent again, quietly waiting for Ren Yanyu to continue. Since Yu Banjiang was consolidating his realm, she certainly hadn’t come over just to tell him this.

Seeing Li Yan fall silent again after just one sentence, Ren Yanyu felt a wave of helplessness. She used to think Shangguan Tianque was a man of few words, but now she had met someone who cherished his words like gold.

“I have come to find you because there is a matter that requires your help, Elder Li. It may disturb your period of secluded cultivation.”

After saying this, she saw that Li Yan was still looking at her, not interjecting to ask what the matter was. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

So, she could only continue.

“Today, the Blood Lantern Sect sent a messenger with a letter. I need to go on a trip soon, which may take about a year.”

“Although Banjiang has now advanced to the Nascent Soul Realm, he is still stabilizing his realm and cannot guard the sect.”

“And Senior Brother has recently reached a critical point in his alchemy. Not only can he not be interrupted, but he also needs someone to guard him strictly.”

“Therefore, I would like to ask you, Elder Li, to come out of seclusion and help me guard the sect for a period of time. I hope you can understand. I wonder if you would be able to…”

A trace of worry appeared on Ren Yanyu’s face.

At this time, she was actually unwilling to leave the sect, but the Blood Lantern Sect had given an order, and she knew the importance of that matter. She had no room to refuse.

“A letter from the Blood Lantern Sect? May I know what it is about?”

Upon hearing the words “Blood Lantern Sect,” Li Yan suddenly recalled his conversation with the Grand Elder of the Donglin Family.

And to hear this name again, right when Shangguan Tianque was preparing to break through to the Spirit Transformation Realm, was quite a coincidence. A thought immediately stirred in his mind.

“Oh, there’s nothing that can’t be said. Even if you didn’t ask, I would have explained it later. This is something that happens to us once every three hundred years or so.”

Ren Yanyu pushed aside the somewhat chaotic thoughts in her mind and smiled at Li Yan.

“We are a small sect, subordinate to the Blood Lantern Sect. Similarly, the Blood Lantern Sect is subordinate to a second-rate sect, which has a Void Refining Realm expert presiding over it.”

“This second-rate sect we are subordinate to is called the Pure Yang Hall. It is a Three Purities Daoist sect with immense strength.”

“And the Pure Yang Hall, along with several other sects, is subordinate to an even stronger sect. It’s a hierarchy that extends upwards.”

“If not for this, it would be extremely difficult for a solitary sect to establish a foothold in the Immortal Spirit Realm.”

As Ren Yanyu said this, a look of helplessness flashed in her eyes, but it was accompanied by even more determination and persistence.