World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 406: Golden Crows Flight Technique

His sect's forefather had actually been a Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm cultivator, and he was the most radiant rising star of his age.

The Pure Yang Immortal Arts, also called the Pure Yang Immortal Mantra, were Lu Dongbin's perfect interpretation of the Dao of Pure Yang after he had reached the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm. Unfortunately, he hadn't reached the pinnacle of the Dao of Pure Yang yet when the Heavenly Emperor offended the Three Pure Ones. As his descendant, Wang Sheng thought Lu Dongbin had been born at the wrong time.

Before entering his forefather's palace, Wang Sheng had already prepared to leave empty-handed.

If he had left his Daoist heritage in the Small Immortal Realm, then why had he sent the Pure Yang Immortal Arts, the Seven-Star Sword Formation, a last letter, and that severed finger of unknown purpose back to Earth before the Heavenly Court's counterattack failed?

It didn't make any sense.

Still, Wang Sheng wanted to visit the palace, not only to seek anything valuable but to learn more about his forefather as a person.

Soon, they arrived before the immortal palace bearing a "Pure Yang Palace" plaque.

Looking up, Wang Sheng thought the large palace looked old yet majestic. A continuous Dao resonance also lingered around it, making it seem like a large stone that a murmuring stream had washed for countless years.

"This palace has a seal. We might not be able to enter," Yaoyun said softly.

Immortal light swirled. She transformed into a human-sized spirit and led Wang Sheng forward.

They crossed an arched, white jade bridge suspended in the mists and climbed eighteen pale-golden steps before finally reaching the palace's only entrance. As if sensing visitors, a pale-golden light wall rose and barred them. From within it, a woman in feathered robes slowly flew out and bowed to them.

"I, Guardian Spirit of Pure Yang Palace, pay my respects to you, Your Highness," she said.

"Can the restriction here be lifted?" Yaoyun asked.

The spirit answered politely, "By the Heavenly Court's rules, no one may trespass into another's dwelling without permission from our immortal."

Yaoyun glanced at Wang Sheng, indicating that she had done her best and that he should try himself. She had certainly tried everything she could and given it her all...

Wang Sheng sighed. "If that is so, I will pay my respects here."

He slowly crouched, took out the yellow papers he had prepared earlier, and used his enchanted power to ignite them. Afterward, he knelt and respectfully kowtowed three times, paying his respects to his forefather.

Wang Sheng then rose, his eyes full of emotion. "So this is where my forefather lived when he was alive."

He had said the last part with a slightly heavier emphasis.

Yaoyun turned and sighed in response.

The palace spirit here was certainly sentient and intelligent, much like the old woman at the Pavilion of Pills. She stared at Wang Sheng for a while and, seeing him turn to leave, could not help but ask in a trembling voice, "Has my immortal perhaps already..."

With a sad expression, Wang Sheng sighed softly.

Yaoyun turned. "Look at me. What state have I fallen to now?"

The palace spirit's expression turned desolate. She, too, sighed quietly. "I mean no offense, Your Highness, but if my immortal has already passed on, this palace should be under the care of his successor. Daoist Master, how can you prove that you are truly his disciple?"

Yaoyun frowned slightly. Coldly, she questioned, "Are you implying that I'm deceiving you?"

The palace spirit hurriedly lowered her head and expressed her fear. "I wouldn't dare."

Wang Sheng stood nearby with his hands outstretched. Streams of Pure Yang enchanted power rose, its pale-golden glow nearly white. The palace spirit stepped aside and signaled for him to give it a try.

As instructed, Wang Sheng walked to the light wall and pressed his palm to it.

A huge golden light burst at the palace gate, and immortal music swirled through the palace like clear wind chimes. In the light wall opened a crack that was just wide enough for one person.

"I apologize for being too ignorant to recognize you as the heir of Pure Yang. Please do not take offense," the spirit said. "My immortal once instructed that if someone who practices his Pure Yang Immortal Arts comes here, they may take the objects stored within. However, they must not touch his calligraphy and paintings."

Wang Sheng nodded lightly and thanked her. He then stepped forward.

Yaoyun had already turned into light and returned to Spiritless. Together, they entered the Pure Yang Palace.

The palace spirit sighed faintly as endless sorrow clung to her heart. She sank into the slowly closing seal and vanished.

Lu Dongbin's charisma seemed to have been so great that not even a "house" could resist him.

***

Although Wang Sheng had been mentally prepared that he wouldn't get any cultivation techniques in the Pure Yang Palace, he couldn't help but be deeply moved upon entering.

"Forefather's living quarters are perhaps a little too plain," he commented.

The large palace itself was grand, but it had a very simple interior design.

The paintings of noblewomen and the landscape scrolls on the four jade walls were the most conspicuous. Each was a rare treasure in the mortal world, and judging from their style, the same person seemed to have drawn them all. They were likely Lu Dongbin's works.

In a corner of the palace were a few pieces of furniture: several bookcases, a table and chairs, a bed, a meditation cushion, and a slightly open wooden chest.

I should've expected as much.

When the immortals of the Heavenly Court launched their counterattack over a thousand years ago, they had put everything on the line. Naturally, they would have taken their personal treasures with them. Most of what they had left behind were mere reserves.

Moreover, the Small Immortal Realm was just a temporary lodging for the immortals. A simpler arrangement made sense.

"Let's take a look at the bookcase," Wang Sheng murmured.

He walked to the corner, bowed respectfully, then stepped in. Scanning the bookcase, he found dozens of neatly arranged jade slips.

Wang Sheng picked one up and infused it with Pure Yang Enchanted Power. It immediately emitted dense immortal light and condensed into a sutra for an immortal art. After carefully studying it, he realized that the sutra had many similarities to the Pure Yang Immortal Mantra.

Wang Sheng was delighted. Our forefather probably used these jade slips to record the immortal arts that he had created back then!

The Pure Yang Immortal Mantra was the finished product, while these techniques were the painstaking refinements that Lu Dongbin had gradually honed while exploring the Dao of Pure Yang.

Though these immortal arts weren't as valuable as the final mantra, they contained Lu Dongbin's process of exploring the Dao of Pure Yang, allowing his successors to gain a deeper understanding of how the Dao had evolved. They were invaluable to Wang Sheng.

He examined each jade slip. Instead of taking any of them, he committed every last immortal art to memory. After all, they were Lu Dongbin's relics. As a mere distant descendant, he had no right to claim them.

Soon, Wang Sheng found what he had come for. Among the many cultivation techniques that had been left behind, one revealed the secret of how Lu Dongbin, who had only been at the Heavenly Immortal realm at the time, evaded the dozens of great sects' pursuit and rose to fame across the heavens.

Wang Sheng read Soaring Red Feathers, one of the Golden Crows' ancient secret arts, word by word. It was the only technique among the immortal arts that Lu Dongbin had not personally created. Though the script was archaic, he could still recognize it. Since the mantra was only composed of over three hundred characters, he quickly memorized it completely.

Wang Sheng closed his eyes and quietly deduced the technique in his heart. Soon, he realized that it was a flight technique that perfectly aligned with the Dao of Pure Yang. It was also far superior to the five flight techniques that the heavenly soldiers and generals had practiced.

Before Haotian's era, the Golden Crows had once been a powerful race in the Immortal Saint Realm. The fiend tribes even considered them as leaders.

Later, Haotian defeated the Golden Crows. When the Immortal Saint Realm transformed into the Immortal Realm and the Heavenly Court started governing the order of the Three Realms, the Golden Crows disappeared from history.

A master of that race had to have created the art, but no one knew how Lu Dongbin got it. Moreover, no matter how powerful it was, it was still only a flight technique.

After a brief surge of excitement, Wang Sheng calmed himself and began to contemplate how to practice the technique.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Yaoyun asked softly from the side.

Wang Sheng smiled, nodded, and placed the jade slip back where it belonged.

"Let's go, then," Yaoyun said. "Hua Qing could awaken at any time, and we still have a sword mantra to retrieve."

"You're right. It won't be too late to study it with Senior Sister once we return," Wang Sheng replied.

He gestured for Yaoyun to wait for a moment and then carved all the techniques that he had memorized onto the walls of his heavenly abode, preventing him from ever forgetting them.

As he prepared to leave, he looked at the half-open chest in the corner, from which a lustrous glow emanated. Curious, Wang Sheng bowed to the chest and then slowly lifted the lid. To his surprise, he found two pieces of precious jade, each the size of a palm and shaped like a candlestick.

"Oh?" Yaoyun sounded surprised. "I can't believe Lu Dongbin left treasures like that here. You should take them. I'm sure they'll be extremely useful in the future."

Puzzled, Wang Sheng asked, "What kind of treasures are these?"

Yaoyun smiled. "They aren't that great, but they're very rare. This jade is called Netherlight Jade, mined from the depths of the River of Forgetfulness. It has only one purpose: craft ethereal soul lamps.

"The two before you are exactly the same. Try it yourself. Take a drop of unrefined blood from your heart and let it fall on the lamp."

"Blood from my heart?"

Wang Sheng raised a finger. Though he hesitated for a moment, he still drew a drop from his chest and let it fall onto the lamp on the left. The blood sank into the jade, and a faint trace of crimson spread through the green stone. A wisp of weak flame flickered to life above the candlestick.

Wang Sheng blinked. "Now what?"

"If your ethereal soul and corporeal soul ever scatter, that flame will be extinguished. This connection can't be severed no matter where you are, be it in another realm or stuck in a formation."

Wang Sheng was speechless.

The lamp seemed useless except for giving it to his senior sister as a token of affection and taking the chance to make a few lofty promises.

He picked up the candlestick and shook it gently. The tiny flame did not waver in the slightest.

Wang Sheng put the soul lamps away. As he was about to leave, he suddenly realized that the two lamps likely belonged to Lu Dongbin's most cherished friends. When their souls dispersed and the flames went out, he probably placed them here as a memento of his sorrow.

From beside him, Yaoyun asked, "What's on your mind?"

Wang Sheng shook his head. He silently offered an apology before turning and leaving the palace.

***

A small bamboo hut behind Mount Mao.

Outside, Liu Yunzhi, who was in black robes, knelt with his head bowed. Behind him motionlessly knelt several other cultivators, middle-aged and young alike.

Inside the hut, an old, white-haired Daoist sat cross-legged on a mat, his expression cold and distant. "It's been so long, yet you still haven't found Qing Yanzi's two disciples?"

Liu Yunzhi lowered his voice. "Please forgive us, Forefather Master..."

"Continue searching for three more days. The time is almost nigh, and those two are the last variables we've yet to take out. If you still haven't found and eliminated them by then, then don't waste any more effort on them."

In unison, the cultivators outside responded, "As you command, Forefather Master!"

"Hmph. If I didn't need manpower right now, I wouldn't have had to rely on useless trash like you. Go!" the old man barked coldly, and the wooden door slammed shut with a bang.

Outside, the expressionless cultivators rose to their feet one by one. Threads of silver light gleamed within their eyes as they bowed and withdrew through the bamboo fence gate.