Chapter 161: Eight Arts Volume
The clouds and spirit energies in the green mountain could breed rare plants after centuries and millenniums.
The old mountains hid many treasures. There was an apt phrase to describe these areas: “The higher the risk, the greater the treasure.”
The sun was up high at noon.
With a green volume made from bamboo that had an ancient appearance in his hand, Feng Feiyun meditated on a white boulder above a straight cliff. The bamboo itself had been corroded by time with many holes visible.
Moreover, each piece of this bamboo record had its own miniature carved formation to resist the corrosive power of time, but after such a long time, the bamboo record still suffered some defects.
“The ‘Eight Arts Volume’ is indeed profound. Just one art alone is enough for people to research for dozens of years, or even more than one hundred years.”
This ancient bamboo record was the “Eight Arts Volume.”
This was given to Feng Feiyun by Ji Xinnu; it was a supreme divine record of Treasure Seeking Masters. Even though it only recorded eight heaven-defying arts, it was comprehensive. Not to mention all eight, just successfully cultivating one of them to the extreme was enough for one to become a great sage in a given era.
Feng Feiyun had already sat on this boulder for nine days as he became immersed in comprehending the Eight Arts Volume, but he couldn’t understand even a strand of fur from it.
“Fifty grand change arts, forty-nine with special usages; forty minor grand change arts, thirty-seven with special usages.”
Feng Feiyun researched the most simple art, the “Grand and Minor Changes Art”.
Grand Change and Minor Change were the first techniques used to record times from early humans.
First heaven, second earth; third heaven, fourth earth; fifth heaven, sixth earth; seventh heaven, eighth earth, ninth heaven, tenth earth. Five numbers of the heavens and five numbers of the earth mutually existing together.
Later on, a great sage among Treasure Seeking Masters utilized the transformations within the Grand Change and Minor Change and combined them with the celestial formations in the sky and spirit veins array in the earth to create the Minor Change Art.
The Minor Change Art could not only calculate and find treasures underground, but it also borrowed the power of the five elements to gain many unimaginable powers.
Later on, another wise master appeared and found that the Minor Change Art had some flaws, so he spent several generations to research and perfect it. In the end, this became the Grand Change Art that was passed down all the way till the present time…
The Grand Change Art was even more profound than the Minor Change Art, and its transformation was more complex. It was able to borrow the power of the stars in the sky; there was enough profundity within for Wisdom Masters to spend their whole life learning.
“The five elements art is also called the Minor Change Art. The five elements are water, fire, wood, metal, and earth — in that particular order. One, three, and five are the Yang numbers, and they form the number nine together; nine is the most extreme Yang number. Two and four are the Yin numbers, and they create six; six is the most extreme Yin number. Yin and Yang then combined to form the number fifteen, so fifteen is the prime number among the Yin Yang Five Elements Number.”
Feng Feiyun placed down the bamboo slip once more with a serious expression on his face. The Grand Change Art was created and improved from the Minor Change Art. If he wanted to train the Grand Change Art, then he must first cultivate the minor art.
“Use the five elements to extend the Minor Change Art. In other words, one must study all the five element techniques and understand them just to be considered a beginner of the Minor Change Art.”
He then channeled the God Base in his dantian as a faint light emanated from his finger. In a short time, the water vapor around him began to move as layers of thin mist rose up from the ground, and even the fleeting white mist in the mountain nearby slowly drifted towards Feng Feiyun.
“Boom!”
The light on Feng Feiyun’s finger suddenly scattered chaotically as his formation collapsed; all the gathered mist dispersed right after.
Feng Feiyun opened his eyes and looked at the bamboo slip, then he said to himself: “No wonder why the art was becoming harder to control and eventually collapsed. So it is because I merely wanted to control the water, but I didn’t officially feel the mist’s mysticism when I sent in my own awareness within the water spirit energy.”
The “Dark Water Art” was one fifth of the Minor Change Art that was created by Treasure Seeking Masters. Its main aim was to incorporate the cultivator’s spirit and will into the mist, and then use their new sensation within the water vapor in order to sense the hidden treasures underground, or underwater, or within a rock, a tree… Or even treasures within the human body…
As long as there was a little bit of water, any existing treasures would not be able to escape the probing of the Dark Water Art. As for the precision, this was dependent on the skill of the particular user.
“Truly worthy of being a technique from the Grave Palace Treasure Seeking Record; even though it is only a minor technique, it is still so amazing! If this were to be spread, then it would drive countless masters into a frenzy.”
Feng Feiyun remained undaunted and began to practice the Dark Water Art again. First, he controlled the water vapor, then he incorporated his awareness and will within to sense the surroundings…
As time gradually passed, everything became clear. It was as if he could see through a high mountain with just a glance. Feng Feiyun felt as if he had turned into a tiny existence that was traversing through the mountain depths, inside the boulders, the trees, and the flowers and grasses.
The Dark Water Art naturally was not so easy to cultivate. Even a smart ninth-rank Treasure Seeking Student would need at least ten years to reach his current level.
The reason why his speed was so exceptional was because his soul’s power far exceeded ordinary humans. His phoenix soul caused his spirit, energy, and soul to be especially powerful, and he could easily control the Dark Water Art.
The stronger one’s soul, the longer the distance one could control the Dark Water Art.
“Not simple ah! Not simple at all! He only trained for ten short days yet he has already reached the ‘Clear Mind’ state. Was this because of the Grave Palace Treasure Seeking Record’s magicalness, or are his talents really that frightening?” Zuo Qianshou could be considered a great master among Treasure Seeking Masters. His master praised him more than just one time regarding his talents, but he still took three years to reach the 'Clear Mind' state.
“Haha, of course it is because he is extremely gifted. Although the record is indeed amazing from the rumors, not many people cultivated it successfully so one can see its difficulty from this observation. Ordinary people have no chance of having such success within just ten days.” Third Boss stood far away while gazing at Feng Feiyun; he paused for a moment before continuing: “Only an extremely talented genius would be able to do this.”
The greater the heavenly records, the harder they were to cultivate — Zuo Qianshou naturally understood this logic.
Zuo Qianshou then asked: “Hehe, what is this brat’s relationship with you? Don’t tell me that he is not your disciple.”
“He really isn’t my disciple!” Third Boss said.
“Then why do you care so much about his affairs?” Zuo Qianshou clearly understood his old friend more than anyone else.
Stay away from anything that had nothing to do with them — this had always been their style.
Third Boss’ dry hand gently stroked his beard. A glimmer appeared in his decrepit eyes, and he slowly replied: “If I were to tell you that he is the grandson of my grandson, would you believe me?”
“You still have a descendant?” Zuo Qianshou naturally believed him.
“That year, when you were tricked by Ji Lingxuan and imprisoned in the capital’s great prison, in order to save you, I cut off all my relationships with the Feng Clan and completely severed my ties with them, but my descendants still remained in the Feng Clan.”
Third Boss recalled the matters of one hundred and eighty years ago. At that time, he was the most amazing genius of the Feng Clan and was declared the next clan master, but after finding out about Zuo Qianshou’s situation, he still risked his life and went to the capital.
Rushing into the capital to help someone escape from the prison was a clan-exterminating crime. Thus, before doing this, he immediately left from the Feng Clan and severed all ties in order to not involve them.
Without Feng Dugu’s help, even if Zuo Qianshou could break the Ten Heavens Formation from within, he still wouldn’t be able to escape from the number one prison in the world.
Both of the old men became silent!
Zuo Qianshou was very grateful to Third Boss. He could have been the clan master of a great family, ruling over his region with great prestige. But now, he became a mountain bandit living in hiding, a mountain bandit that didn’t resemble man nor ghost and was only scraping by foolishly through the days.
This was real camaraderie and true friendship that lasts a lifetime.
This was also the reason why Zuo Qianshou broke his promise of never helping anyone else with a favor; he had to break his oath for this old friend to save Ji Xiaonu.
“Sha Hangyun came to find me.” A while later, Zuo Qianshou broke the silence.
“I also fought against him. His cultivation is much higher than before; I’m afraid that even in the Yang World, he is now a top tyrant.” Feng Dugu said.
“This person has great ambitions, but I still cannot guess his intentions at the moment. His goal, however, seems to be the Ji Clan.” Zuo Qianshou explained.
“The Ji Clan?” Feng Dugu clarified.
Zuo Qianshou nodded his head and said: “He invited me to go with him to the Ji Clan to help him with something.”
Feng Dugu slightly narrowed his eyes and Zuo Qianshou also suddenly thought of something. The two old men looked at each other and exclaimed at the same time: “Yang Soul Supreme Trigram!”
“No, the Yang Soul Supreme Trigram has been gathering dust for more than one thousand years; only the blood of an Abnormality twin with the Yang Soul Holy Embryo would be able to activate it. Could it be that the Abnormality twin has appeared?”
Zuo Qianshou had a strong ominous feel in his heart. During these chaotic times, it seemed to be getting worse and worse.