Shaking Light looked at the clothes, which had been carefully hidden away.
But as evening approached, water began dripping from the surrounding rocks onto the clothes, slowly soaking them. Shaking Light then released a bag he had been carrying on his back, and the contents fell to the ground, revealing gathered firewood.
Shaking Light built a campfire here and then, after thinking for a moment, picked up the clothes and propped them near the fire with some wood to dry. He then sat by the fire, took out a steamed bun, skewered it with a stick, and held it down with a rock to bake it.
He took out a complex Star Book that few had seen and quietly flipped through it.
The astral conditions were excellent today. In springtime, the Shaking Light Star in the Big Dipper pointed towards the east.
Opposite it, across the celestial river in the western night sky, were the White Tiger Seven Stars, seeming to gaze at each other.
Shaking Light looked at the pond, recalled the legend from five hundred years prior, and sat there quietly waiting.
The stars have already foretold our meeting.
After that, one only needs to await patiently.
.........
Li Guanyi emerged from the water and then surveyed this karst cave, which was stunning beyond expectation. Could this place, linked by a stream, be the sanctuary left by General Xue and Shaking Light to forge a foundation comparable to the pinnacle of Buddhist and Taoist teachings?
Li Guanyi, wearing only minimal clothing, looked around the area. Thinking for a moment, he absorbed the Red Dragon Dharma Form back into the bronze tripod, while the White Tiger Dharma Form barely emerged, curiously surveying the surroundings. When the White Tiger Dharma Form appeared, it seemed to activate something in the cave.
A streak of flowing light sprang up from beneath Li Guanyi's feet.
It then suddenly spread out in all directions, a golden ripple swept through the cave, immediately altering something. Li Guanyi suddenly heard a crisp sound as one side of the rock wall slowly descended, revealing a rack bearing various weapons that had survived five hundred years without decay, their chilling gleam undiminished.
Li Guanyi, curious about the intentions of General Xue, suddenly felt a gust behind his head.
Li Guanyi's pupils contracted, he instinctively stepped forward, throwing himself to the ground, rolling just as an object grazed his back and heavily chopped into the ground, pain as if tearing across his back, yet when he touched it, there was no blood, only dust stirred up, and a figure burst through the haze, a cold blade cutting down towards Li Guanyi.
"Fuck!"
Li Guanyi cursed succinctly, disregarding everything else as he dashed backward, grabbing a knife from the rack, and drawing it with a flowing movement of Inner Qi, his steps shifting as the ferocious Inner Qi of the "Breaking Formation Song" rotated, twisting with the knife, tearing out a stripe of cold light.
Breaking Army Eight Sabers—Sweeping Cloud!
He countered the attack with an offensive move, successfully blocking the assailant.
A loud noise resounded intensely throughout the enclosed cave.
Pain seared through his wrist.
As the dust settled, Li Guanyi saw the attacker.
A tall figure with a handsome face, wielding an exaggeratedly curved golden scimitar, decorated with coiled beards, high nose, deep-set eyes, and hair under a uniquely styled hat, he didn't resemble the people from Central Plains of the East Continent; he stooped slightly like a starving wolf ready to pounce.
Importantly, his body was translucent.
Like a phantom.
Just as Li Guanyi was about to counterattack, the figure suddenly froze, a slender hand pressed on the figure's face, pushed sideways, the fierce man instantly turned to dust and smoke, disappearing. Then, footsteps in combat boots approached, and a clear voice followed.
"This is the Third Prince of the Tiele people, skilled with a Golden Scimitar. Although I don't know if his tribe still exists in your era, he is a formidable opponent for me. I coaxed and cajoled Shaking Light to leave his image here for those who come after."
"Consider it a greeting."
Li Guanyi saw another translucent man step forward.
Dressed in armor, with civilian and military sleeves, his hairstyle impeccable, a smile playing on his lips, his right hand resting on the sword at his waist, exuding a laid-back and composed aura, his mouth curving slightly upwards, he said, "This is the gift I've left for you, my descendent, I wonder if you'll be pleased."
Pleased.
Pleased enough to be nearly scared to death.
Li Guanyi gasped for air, his gaze sweeping over the dissipated form of the Tiele Third Prince. Unsure of what General Xue intended by leaving this phantom, he saw a set of clothes on a table, put them on, and General Xue's phantom gently smiled and said:
"You didn't seek fortune among the Divine Weapons but managed to find this place, that's quite impressive."
"So, I have left something for you."
"It's the most valuable thing I possess."
"More important than the Breaking Cloud Sky-shattering Bow and the Battle Halberd."
"If you want it, come and get it."
He slowly paced forward.
Li Guanyi thought it over, picked up a bow and a quiver of arrows from the rack, and followed the phantom through the cave where light-emitting butterflies undulated up and down. General Xue's remaining apparition carried out its duty of introducing the sanctuary, calmly moving forward.
The walls depicted a colorful mural that had slowly faded over five hundred years, yet its divine charm persisted. In the mural were compassionate monks, a Taoist raising his neck to drink, a domineering man with icy gaze, a seductively beautiful woman, and an old man with drooping grey hair.
The corridor resembled a scroll, with two luminous butterflies fluttering up and down, shedding golden dust.
General Xue walked among them, as if traversing through history.
Li Guanyi observed the murals on both sides, counting the figures.
One, two, three.
Ten, fifty.
And many more...
Finally, General Xue suddenly stopped, a butterfly landed on the shoulder of his battle armor, his black hair slightly lifting, he gripped the hilt of his sword, turned to look at Li Guanyi, and gently smiled, "Here we are, you've come here presumably in pursuit of the most powerful Entering Realm Skill."
"As they say, a small mistake can lead to a great discrepancy, the worst and the best aren't very different at the beginning, but at the end, they're as distinct as the earth and the sky."
"I later gained more than I had when I left the legacy ten years ago," he said.
"I want to ask you a question," he said.
"A person, how many times are they born in a lifetime?" he asked.
Li Guanyi answered, "Once."
General Xue then shook his head and said,
"Yes, but that is only ordinary thinking. If viewed from the perspective of heaven and earth, a person is born twice."
"The first time is when they are born from their mother, when the physical body sees the world, what is often called 'entering the world.'
"The second time is when the true self emerges from the physical body to see the world, also known as 'Entering Realm.'
"Both are earth-shattering changes. Before the first birth, if one can retain a strand of innate energy as a fetus, the cultivation afterward would greatly benefit; and before the second 'birth,' that is, before 'Entering Realm,' if one also possesses something extraordinary."
"After 'Entering Realm,' being cleansed by the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi also brings great benefits."
General Xue extended his finger, and two golden butterflies alighted upon it, his expression gentle: "The human body's breathing and involuntary crying are developed in the fetus and become instinct after birth; similarly, if one can shape similar abilities before the second birth, the refinement by the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi will turn them into instincts akin to breathing. This is the path I have glimpsed."
"The Taoist concept of 'moving, sitting, lying down being as if in meditation' reflects the innate Taoist body."
"In Buddhism, every movement is the reincarnation of Buddha's laws."
"The principles are largely the same, it's just a pity, I belong to the Military School, merely a vulgar man in their eyes, lacking such elegant element."
He smiled lightly, seemingly unconcerned by these titles, and with a slight lift of his finger, the butterflies took flight, congregating above to suddenly burst into intense flames. The scrolls on both sides lit up, vibrant and bright, and then figures began to emerge one by one from them!
The scrolls on both sides turned a dim yellow.
Like burning down to the last of the ashes.
But at this moment, those ashes ignited into a final blaze.
Figure after figure from the annals of history took up their weapons, breaking through the dim years to return to the present world; in just a moment, behind General Xue, dense crowds of figures loomed, grand and majestic, watching the young man in front of them.
Li Guanyi couldn't help but feel his hairs stand on end.
General Xue turned sideways, his right hand on the hilt of his sword, smiling as he looked forward at Li Guanyi, and gestured with his finger to the various Divine Charms around, saying,
"Let me introduce them to you."
"This is the Third Generation Living Buddha from the Western Regions Buddhism."
A venerable old monk, hands pressed together, bowed slightly in greeting.
"This one is Sikong Xuan, the Sect Leader of Dao Sect, from the Murong Family of Jiangnan Murong Imperial City; the village chief of the Daqi Village, the Duke Chen, this one is the heroic Khan of the Turks, the Supreme Elder of the Central Plains Mount Tai Sword Sect..."
He identified each person by their status.
He named titles that once shook the world.
Even Li Guanyi had vaguely heard such legends.
Five hundred years ago, it was a time of great conflict under the heavens.
There was a Divine Weapon that could shoot an arrow three hundred miles, a Taoist who could slay dragons with a sword; living Buddhas bestowing enlightenment, incarnations of reincarnations, Taoists with songs of freedom, unrivalled in their might, the founder of the Chen dynasty who once slew a winged tiger with a sword; the hero who unified the Eighteen Tribes of the grassland, the ancestors of the Murong Family.
Later, the young Central Plains general, surrounded by the heroes from five hundred years ago, slightly spread his arms, smiling as he softly sung,
"All the weapons under heaven are here thus."
"I once fought against them, befriended them."
"We shared life and death together, we turned against each other, we fought together for this world, and ultimately every one of them died by my Battle Halberd, my Weapon once had the head of the Great Khan of Turks impaled upon it, my warhorse had also trampled upon the Cloud Heaven Palace."
"I once ended the chaotic times."
"However, their names and martial arts should not vanish from history."
"Even losers can be heroes."
"Shaking Light helped me preserve the memories of my fights with them here, the martial techniques of this world are all here, even though they might change after hundreds of years, the core essence remains the same. She told me, if someone could hold my bow and arrow, perhaps peace will no longer reign under the heavens."
"Then, drawing power from my era, reevaluate the chaotic times."
"This is the last thing I can do for this world."
"Of course, due to the constraints of time, even Shaking Light could only preserve a part of their power, but it should be sufficient."
"The techniques are all uniquely theirs, I hope you can at least defeat them all before 'Entering Realm,' creating an unrivaled martial spirit, then use the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi to transform these techniques into something almost like instinct, which is the strongest foundation I thought of."
"You can refuse, you can choose the normal route, to breakthrough using the Divine Charm."
"But if your heart also harbors reluctance, if you too desire greater power, then stay here. If the things you want to accomplish also require strength, why not give it a try? After all, even if you fail, there won't be any loss."
The World's Number One Divine General clenched his fist gently and tapped his chest, smiling as he softly sung: "A hundred battles, a hundred victories, by my forge."
Then he looked up.
The hero from five hundred years ago stepped forward half a step, his sword drawn.
The broadsword, pointing forward.
As if transcending the five hundred years, one could still glimpse that peerless elegance, the White Tiger Dharma Form roared majestically, before the blade's edge, was the confrontation that spanned ages—
"Successor, step forward!"