Chapter 319: A Master Bestows Opportunities, Wu Tiannan Pays Respects

Chapter 319: A Master Bestows Opportunities, Wu Tiannan Pays Respects

Cailing, who was serving tea to Li Xuan nearby, was stunned. With a casual wave of her hand, she had condensed a thread of the Heavenly Dao's power?

That was the power of the Heavenly Dao!

She looked at Yue Changming, her face filled with envy.

"When one meets a master, one is blessed with opportunities. My opportunity seems too slim in comparison."

But she could only envy and dare not ask for more.

Li Xuan was in a good mood and took a sip from his tea cup. Just then, he remembered that he hadn't bestowed an opportunity upon Cailing yet.

"As a master, I'm in a great mood and want to bestow opportunities. How could I leave anyone out?"

Moreover, this girl Cailing had been diligently serving him lately.

He raised his hand and a thread of Heavenly Dao's power appeared. Looking at Cailing, he shook his head and said, "You're still too weak."

As he spoke, he loosened his grip, and the power of the Heavenly Dao became extremely weak.

Only then did he hand it to Cailing.

This faint thread of Heavenly Dao's power was all that Cailing could bear. Otherwise, with her current realm where she had not yet condensed the aura of the Heavenly Dao, she would be unable to withstand that thread of power.

Cailing was thrilled and bowed gracefully. "Thank you, Senior, for bestowing the law upon me."

In her heart, she regretted her weakness, feeling that even with such a great opportunity, she couldn't make the most of it.

"Mmm, work hard on comprehending it."

Li Xuan nodded.

Cailing incorporated that thread of Heavenly Dao's power into her soul, instantly feeling a stinging sensation as her vision blurred and her soul nearly reached its limit.

She hurriedly found a place to sit cross-legged and took out a pill that nourished the soul, which she had obtained from Su Lingxiu, before beginning to comprehend and refine that thread of Heavenly Dao's power.

Li Xuan's good mood even made him want to hum a little tune, but to maintain his image as a master, he refrained from doing so.

"Who else wants to meet this master? Meeting a master brings deep blessings!"

Li Xuan mused to himself.

With his current cheerful mood, anyone who came to see him would surely gain an opportunity.

As for those seeking medical treatment, they didn't count!

Fang Hao suddenly walked over and said, "Master, someone wants to come and visit you."

Li Xuan was puzzled. Who would want to visit him?

In the Lingyu, he didn't know anyone, and even in the inner realm, not just anyone could pay him a visit.

Xie Tianheng?

He immediately thought of Xie Tianheng, who had entered the Lingyu, but then quickly dismissed the idea. Xie Tianheng was his disciple in the path of the sword, and if he had come, he would have come to pay his respects directly.

"Who wants to visit me?"

Li Xuan asked casually while sipping his tea.

"Yu Gao sent me a message. The person claims to be Wu Tiannan, the dean of Wuxing Martial Arts Academy, and he was directed here by Big Senior Brother. He wants to pay his respects to you, Master."

Fang Hao explained, holding up the message-sending talisman in his hand.

The dean of Wuxing Martial Arts Academy?

Since he was directed here by the eldest disciple, he might as well meet him. It was just that he had just broken through and was in a good mood, and this person seemed to have good fortune as well.

Visiting him at this time would indeed bring blessings, as meeting a master always does.

"Then let him come."

Li Xuan nodded.

"I'll send a message to Yu Gao to let him know."

Fang Hao nodded.

"Mmm!"

Li Xuan nodded, and Fang Hao continued refining the flying boat.

"The dean of Wuxing Martial Arts Academy, and Yue Changming, the former pride of Wuxing. I guess he's an old acquaintance?"

Even the Wuxing Martial Arts Academy had been destroyed, yet this person had survived. His strength must be extraordinary.

Wu Tiannan had learned of Master Xu Yan's whereabouts—the Longevity Pavilion in Luoyang—and he was astonished. The famous Dan Yi Xianzi, was she Master Xu Yan?

Able to restore even a damaged martial artist's foundation, her means were truly incredible!

He hurried towards the Longevity Pavilion, but the journey was long and would take some time.

"How is it?"

Li Xuan asked Yue Changming in the Longevity Pavilion.

"Junior has almost refined this thread of Heavenly Dao's power, but it will take a little more time to completely refine it."

Yue Changming replied respectfully.

"To be able to control this thread of Heavenly Dao's power in such a short time, your talent is indeed good."

Li Xuan nodded.

After all, Yue Changming was a spiritual body. Although he had been damaged and collapsed, he had recovered. It was like a rebirth from the ashes.

The talent of a spiritual body was indeed extraordinary, and their affinity with the Heavenly Dao was far greater than that of other martial artists.

Cailing's talent was naturally not weak, as she possessed the royal bloodline of the Sea Spirit Tribe, but it had not yet been activated, and her realm and strength were inferior to Yue Changming's, so it took her longer to refine that thread of Heavenly Dao's power.

"It's all thanks to Senior's opportunity that Changming has made this progress."

Yue Changming expressed his gratitude.

"Wu Tiannan, the dean of Wuxing Martial Arts Academy, will be visiting soon. He's an old acquaintance of yours, so you'll be in charge of entertaining him."

Li Xuan said after some thought.

Yue Changming was taken aback. "The dean isn't dead?"

"Do you think he's dead?"

Li Xuan raised an eyebrow.

Yue Changming said in a deep voice, "Back then, there was a traitor in the academy. It was said that the dean was badly injured by poison and ambushed. He was also seriously injured by the previous master of the Thousand Martial Arts Palace. There has been no news of him since, and it is rumored that he has fallen."

Li Xuan was secretly amazed. This Wu Tiannan was not simple. He had survived all that and returned, and now he was here to pay his respects. His fortune was indeed unusual.

"I see."

Li Xuan nodded.

Yue Changming asked curiously, "Does Senior know the dean?"

"No!"

Li Xuan shook his head. "Xu Yan directed him to come and pay his respects to me. I'm free these days, so I'll see him."

Yue Changming understood. Senior was a transcendent being, so how could the dean possibly know him? He had overestimated the dean.

"This is the Longevity Pavilion."

Wu Tiannan finally arrived outside the Longevity Pavilion and looked at the martial artists queuing to enter for treatment. Each of them had serious injuries, damaged foundations, or old wounds that hadn't healed.

After all, the fees at the Longevity Pavilion were not cheap, and minor injuries didn't warrant treatment here.

Wu Tiannan took a deep breath and walked towards the Longevity Pavilion, his heart pounding. What kind of powerful being was Master Xu Yan's master?

Transcendent?

He couldn't even dare to imagine it.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible. I've never heard of a transcendent being in this world."

Wu Tiannan kept telling himself this.

However, deep down, he hoped that Xu Yan's words were true. If so, he would surely gain something from this trip.

"Wu Tiannan requests an audience... Senior!"

Wu Tiannan took a deep breath and put aside his status, addressing Li Xuan as Senior.

"Come in."

A calm voice replied.

"Thank you!"

Wu Tiannan stepped into the Longevity Pavilion.

"Dean, it's really you!"

Suddenly, a delighted voice rang out.

Wu Tiannan looked up and was surprised. "You are... Yue Changming?"

After a long while, he recognized the person before him as the pride of the academy from years ago, Yue Changming.

"It's me!"

Yue Changming's eyes were filled with tears.

"You've actually cultivated to this level."

Wu Tiannan was shocked.

He immediately felt that it was to be expected. "As expected of our academy's top genius, your spiritual body is indeed extraordinary. It's not surprising that you've reached this level after such a long time!"

However, Yue Changming felt ashamed. "There's something the dean doesn't know. Changming has been barely surviving until now. It's only recently, thanks to Senior's opportunity, that I've made this achievement.

Mysterious, majestic, as if seated within the flow of time itself, yet also as if he had transcended the bounds of this world—the more Wu Tiannan looked, the more enigmatic and unfathomable he found this figure to be!

A master!

An unparalleled master!

He suddenly found himself believing Xu Yan's words—that his master was indeed a being beyond the heavens and the earth.

Forgetting his manners, Wu Tiannan forgot to exchange pleasantries with Yue Changming. Instead, he approached Li Xuan and respectfully bowed. "Wu Tiannan, paying respects to Senior!"

"Hmm, take a seat. No need to stand on ceremony."

Li Xuan nodded.

"Thank you, Senior!"

Wu Tiannan sat down gingerly on the edge of the chair, his expression guarded and his gaze averted, not daring to look directly at the master.

Li Xuan retracted his aura of mystery, and in that moment, he appeared utterly ordinary.

Wu Tiannan's heart stirred, and he marveled at the power of that mysterious aura.

Yue Changming approached and poured a cup of spirit tea for Wu Tiannan, taking the opportunity to chat with him and learn about the dean's experiences over the years.

Wu Tiannan slowly recounted some of the past events and his journey, calming his nervousness and, at the same time, sharing his story with the master.

"Wu Tiannan, you're quite capable!" Li Xuan remarked. From the moment Wu Tiannan had entered, he had discerned his cultivation level. It was likely that Wu Tiannan's strength was the reason the Wan Shi Alliance had been able to stand firm and not been crushed by the Superlative Spirit Sect.

Even if Yue Changming had refined that strand of Heavenly Dao's power, he would not have been a match for Wu Tiannan.

Within Wu Tiannan's body, nine strands of Heavenly Dao's essence were condensed, and while this was impressive, it was the hidden power within each strand that truly set him apart. Although the individual strands of power were weaker than the one Li Xuan had granted Yue Changming, Wu Tiannan possessed nine of them.

"Quite the secretive one, aren't you?" Li Xuan mused to himself. Wu Tiannan was a crafty old fox, hiding his strength so that his enemies would underestimate him.

"The pinnacle of the Spirit Realm!" Li Xuan exclaimed. Wu Tiannan's cultivation had reached the limit of the Spirit Realm. The next step would be to transform the nine strands of Heavenly Dao's essence and merge them into one, infusing his body with the power of the Heavenly Dao.

Clearly, this was something that couldn't be achieved within the Spirit Realm.

The reason was simple: the Heavenly Dao's essence within the Spirit Realm was insufficient to support a cultivator's true understanding and infusion of the Heavenly Dao.

Wu Tiannan continued to recount his journey. After the collapse of the Wuxing Martial Arts Academy, its remnants had fled to the Azure Sea, eventually establishing a new academy in the Yun Tian Azure Sea City.

The lord of Yun Tian Azure Sea City had been on good terms with Wu Tiannan, and while the city was under the jurisdiction of the Superlative Spirit Sect, it shared the region with the Sea Spirit Tribe and didn't enforce the strict hierarchical system of the Eighteen States.

"I have reached the pinnacle of the Spirit Realm in my solitary cultivation," Wu Tiannan explained. "After condensing my spirit, the next step is to infuse my spirit with the Heavenly Dao's essence..."

Wu Tiannan began to share his insights into martial arts, ostensibly explaining them to Yue Changming but also taking the opportunity to voice his own doubts and questions.

After the stage of refining the spirit, cultivation progressed to infusing the spirit with the Heavenly Dao's essence. Typically, condensing nine strands of the Heavenly Dao's essence was the limit, and one would then unify these nine strands to condense the Heavenly Dao's aura.

Once the nine auras were condensed, the next step was to condense the power of the Heavenly Dao.

However, condensing the nine auras was usually as far as one could go, and breaking through to the next stage was incredibly difficult because the Heavenly Dao's essence was insufficient to support the condensation of its power.

"In the Azure Sea, I discovered a vibrant essence of the Heavenly Dao within some ancient ruins," Wu Tiannan continued. "After condensing the nine auras, I was able to condense nine strands of the Heavenly Dao's power within them.

"But I cannot merge them, and it is not enough to support my further progress."

Wu Tiannan's voice held a hint of regret.

Yue Changming couldn't help but sigh as well. Each stage of cultivation was incredibly challenging, requiring not only the right techniques but also exceptional talent.

The strength of a spiritual body came from its proximity to the Heavenly Dao's essence and its ability to easily comprehend and condense it.

Yue Changming understood Wu Tiannan's true purpose in visiting the master—he sought guidance for his future path.

"If even the dean cannot break through, then the rest of us can only dream," Yue Changming sighed.

"The Superlative Spirit Sect must have some secret," Wu Tiannan replied. "I suspect it has something to do with the Divine Bridge."

He went on to share some of the secrets he had learned, such as the existence of the Divine Bridge and the belief that crossing it would lead to a breakthrough.

However, the specifics of the bridge's secrets were unknown to him, as they were the core mysteries of the Superlative Spirit Sect.

Even with his close relationship with the lord of Yun Tian Azure Sea City, Wu Tiannan had not been able to pry this information from him.

"The Divine Bridge? A passage to another realm of the Great Expanse?" Li Xuan mused.

Both the Inner Realm and the Spirit Realm belonged to the Great Expanse.

And it seemed that the Great Expanse encompassed more than just these two realms.

"Why is the Great Expanse divided into separate regions? There must be some secret behind this," Li Xuan speculated.

Of course, these secrets didn't hold much appeal to him, as the martial path he had created was not of the Great Expanse, and thus he was not bound by its limitations.

"The gathering of the Heaven's Pride is related to this," Wu Tiannan said. "I forced the Thousand Martial Arts Palace, the Thundercloud Villa, and the Spirit-Taming Manor to accept the rules, and when the Divine Bridge opens, I will cross it.

"First, to break through my own cultivation, and second, to find someone."

Yue Changming was taken aback. "Dean, who are you looking for?"

"My guide in the martial path," Wu Tiannan replied, his eyes filled with nostalgia. "I, Wu Tiannan, rose from a poverty-stricken village in the Inner Realm to the pinnacle of the Spirit Realm, all because of the guidance of my elder sister."

Li Xuan was surprised. So, this Wu Tiannan had come from the Inner Realm?

"The ancestor of the Seven Stars Academy?" Li Xuan immediately thought of Wu Tiannan's identity.

"Dean, you came from the Inner Realm?" Yue Changming asked, shocked.

"Yes!"

Wu Tiannan nodded and proceeded to recount his childhood experiences and his rise to power in the Inner Realm.

Su Lingxiu, who had been listening quietly, couldn't contain herself any longer. She got up and sat down next to Li Xuan, her eyes wide as she studied Wu Tiannan.

A fellow from the Inner Realm!

And the founder of the legendary Seven Stars Academy, no less!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end