Chapter 660: The Fifth Volume of the Taiyan Talisman

Jiangcun turned his head, his gaze meeting Leng Kezhen’s with some confusion. But then he smiled. “So it’s Commander Leng. I didn’t expect to see you here.” He sized up Leng Kezhen once more and cupped his hands. “Congratulations, Commander Leng, on your promotion to the Third Realm.”

Leng Kezhen performed a single-handed Taoist salute and said, “There is no Commander Leng here anymore. I am now just an ordinary gatekeeper disciple under Changqing Zhenren!”

Hearing this, both Jiangcun and the nearby Wenhai were taken aback. They hadn’t expected this man to be so adept at positioning himself.

Before Wang Ping’s promotion to the Fourth Realm, such a statement from Leng Kezhen would have earned him contempt, as he had already reached the Third Realm. But now that Wang Ping was in the Fourth Realm, not only would he not be scorned, people would hold him in even higher esteem.

Jiangcun was momentarily unsure how to respond. He turned his head to Wenhai and asked rather stiffly, “And I have yet to ask for this Fellow Daoist’s name.”

“Wenhai of the Pingdong Sect greets the Ninth Prince!”

Wenhai appeared very humble. After all, he was just a minor Second Realm Earth Vein Cultivator, and one whose lifespan was nearing its end at that.

The moment his voice fell, a figure walked over from the direction of the front hall.

It was Yang Rong.

She wore a bright yellow, narrow-sleeved Daoist robe, and the Wood Spirit Qi within her made her seem full of vitality. She walked straight up to Wenhai and Leng Kezhen, first cupping her fist in a salute to Jiangcun. “Greetings, Ninth Prince.”

As Jiangcun politely returned the gesture, Yang Rong looked at Wenhai and Leng Kezhen and said very directly, “My master saw you two seniors on the registration list. The front hall is a bit overwhelmed right now, so Master has asked you to go and lend a hand.”

“Yes!”

Wenhai’s reply was the most crisp.

Leng Kezhen, however, cupped his fist toward Yang Rong and said, “Then we’ll ask Fairy Rong to lead the way.”

Yang Rong had made quite a name for herself in the Southern Cultivation Realm over the years. Her free-spirited nature meant she enjoyed taking on some of the Daoist Palace’s trickier cases. Because of this, she had made many friends, but also a good number of enemies.

Jiangcun watched the three of them depart. For some reason, the image of Xia Yao suddenly flashed through his mind. He shook his head forcefully. Then, hearing someone call his name from the side, he turned to see it was Hua Yun Daoist of the True Yang Sect.

He quickly walked over, his eyes subconsciously glancing toward Qianmu Mountain.

「Qianmu Mountain Peak Dojo.」

This place was no different from how the mountains of Qianmu Temple had looked before their transformation. The only difference was the addition of an old pagoda tree in front of the small courtyard. This was the same tree from outside Wang Ping’s master, Yu Cheng Taoist’s, courtyard, which Wang Ping had transplanted here. His master’s original courtyard was still preserved at the back of Qianmu Mountain, sealed by a Magic Array Barrier he had personally refined.

After Wang Ping advanced to the Fourth Realm and a Wood Spirit formed within him, he could feel a very faint resonance between this pagoda tree and the Wood Spirit. This resonance was like a fine thread, perceptible only from a distance. If he tried to observe it closely, it would dissipate with the wind.

Perhaps because the Spiritual Qi at the Mountain Peak Dojo was so dense, the old pagoda tree had bloomed with clusters of flowers out of season after being transplanted. Yu Lian loved the sweet scent of the pagoda blossoms, while Wang Ping used them to make tea.

He had also set up a small table under the pagoda tree, and would sit beside it, drinking tea and zoning out when he had nothing else to do.

After entering the ninth month, even though everyone at Qianmu Temple was running around in a frenzy, Wang Ping’s corner remained peaceful. Just like any other morning, he finished his daily practice and sat alone under the pagoda tree, seemingly reminiscing about days gone by.

But in reality, he was breaking through the seal on a segment of Xiao Shan Lord’s memories, and he was about to succeed today. Nearby, on a pile of Spirit Grass leaning against the pagoda tree’s trunk, the Calico Cat was fast asleep. Yu Lian had swallowed a mouthful of pagoda blossoms early in the morning and gone off to play with Hu Qianqian.

「A quarter of an hour later.」

Wang Ping suddenly let out a soft laugh. The Calico Cat beside him twitched its ears, then shifted into a more comfortable position and went back to sleep.

Wang Ping was laughing because the seal from Xiao Shan Lord had finally been broken.

As the memories merged, Wang Ping obtained a portion of the fifth volume’s Secret Techniques from the *Taiyan Talisman*. Xiao Shan Lord had also told him some precautions regarding things from beyond their domain. Finally, Xiao Shan Lord warned him not to fully trust anyone, especially those high-and-mighty True Monarchs.

‘When I met with True Monarch Yuan Wu, I truly felt that while the True Monarch seemed amiable and kind, he didn’t actually hold me in any regard. After all, True Monarch Yuan Wu hadn’t even offered me any tea while he was drinking his. Moreover, although the tasks True Monarch Yuan Wu assigned seemed straightforward, they were all delivered as commands, with no room for negotiation. I am all too familiar with this kind of conversation; it was the same attitude I used when giving orders to the previous Deans of the front courtyard. In other words, in True Monarch Yuan Wu’s eyes, I, Wang Ping, am nothing more than a tool to achieve some goal. The entire Southern Cultivation Realm is merely True Monarch Yuan Wu’s private property.’

Shaking his head, Wang Ping dispelled the discontent rising in his heart. He then focused all his energy on reading the Secret Technique from the *Taiyan Talisman*, and a luminescent panel popped up.

Wang Ping was stunned for a moment after seeing the content displayed on the panel, because there was very little of it:

[Taiyan Talisman, Volume Five, Part One: One of the five great Mystic Sect Orthodox Techniques. Cultivate the Wood Spirit, one of the Cultivation World’s Five Elements Origin Energies. Use heaven and earth as a chessboard, shield heavenly secrets to glimpse the Great Dao, and achieve supreme cultivation.]

[1. Fuse your Primordial Spirit with the ‘Heaven-Covering Talisman’. The ‘Heaven-Covering Talisman’ is an object that seizes the fortune of heaven and earth and cannot be fused through conventional means. You must refine a Qi Fortune Array. In conjunction with the ‘Heaven-Covering Talisman’, you must peer into the future, select the developmental path of specific events, and record them on the ‘Heaven-Covering Talisman’. When reality matches the record, a portion will be fused. (Progress: 0/100).]

[Note 1: You must completely fuse with the ‘Heaven-Covering Talisman’ within nine hundred years, or you will lose the chance to ever fuse with it.]

[Note 2: You have only five chances to fail. Exceeding five failures will cause you to be locked on by heavenly secrets and instantly turn to dust.]

[Note 3: Advancing or changing the course of a civilization’s development can greatly accelerate the fusion of the ‘Heaven-Covering Talisman’, but you must proceed with caution. Failure will cause the spiritual consciousness from the rifts of history to come and assimilate you.]

[Note 4: Any event can be deduced and recorded, including things you believe to be correct.]

After reading the contents of the panel, Wang Ping was a bit bewildered. This was a cultivation method he could never have imagined beforehand.

‘Nine hundred years is plenty of time. If all else fails, I’ll just use the power at my disposal to forcibly interfere with reality and make it align with the future I write.’

Reading ‘Note 3’ gave Wang Ping an idea. ‘If I were to start an industrial revolution in the Mortal World, that would also count as changing and advancing the course of civilization. Of course, the industrial revolution I’m thinking of wouldn’t use steam engines. After all, this world has a much more convenient energy source… the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth.’

Then, Wang Ping saw ‘Note 4’ on the panel. After a moment of thought, he summoned the ‘Heaven-Covering Talisman’. Using his Wood Spirit, he expanded a small section of its edge and then inscribed upon it with a Wood Spirit Seal:

Changqing of Qianmu Temple will, on the seventeenth day of the ninth month of the 140th year of the Daoist Palace Calendar, be enfeoffed by the True Monarchs as the Lord of the Taiyan Sect’s Daoist Palace, assisting the True Monarchs in governing the Southern Cultivation Realm.