Chapter 18: Senior Brother’s Path

Millions of miles away from Qingshan Pass, this place is rarely visited by people. The mountains are rolling and the color of these endless mountains is generally dark green. The vegetation is dense, the leaf stems are thick and wide, and the dark green color seems to drip thick juice from the leaves; the towering trees are tall and sturdy, most of them are dozens of feet high, and five or six adults can hold their arms together. They stand tall and straight. If you stand on the top of a higher mountain and look, the treetops cover the sky and the sun, layer upon layer, endless.

Here, monsters roam everywhere, low-level monsters are countless, but occasionally there are high-level monsters.

But in such a vast forest of mountains, there is a mountain forest area of ​​thousands of hectares. Few monsters set foot in this area, as if they are very afraid of something.

This area is also full of steep peaks and primitive forests. At this time, on the top of one of the towering peaks, there are magnificent buildings, pavilions, bridges, streams, and birds flying in between.

From the middle of the mountain, various pavilions, gardens, bamboo forests, and paths are built on the mountain. The mountainside is always surrounded by clouds and mist, hovering between these pavilions, bamboo forests, and paths, as if you can hold the wind and clouds with your hands.

On the top of the mountain is a huge platform with an astonishing area of ​​about ten thousand feet. The paving stones on the platform are all polished with smooth rocks. Standing on it, you can't see the end at a glance. Behind the platform, there is a grand palace built on hundreds of steps. The palace has been deep into the sea of ​​clouds from the eaves, but it is unknown how deep this palace is.

At this time, two people were talking in the palace. One of them was sitting on a huge armchair in the middle of the palace. The backrest and armrests of this chair were densely carved with many unknown beasts of different sizes. These beasts were either ferocious, evil, or gloomy, and all emitted a cold and dim light all over their bodies. They were lifelike, just like living things.

The man sitting on the upper seat had three long beards and looked to be about thirty years old. His face was as white as jade, his eyes were a little narrow, he wore a scholar's hat, a long green robe, and a slender figure, giving people the feeling of a very cultivated Confucian scholar. The other person was sitting on a row of chairs on the left side of him. This was an old man, about sixty years old, wearing a black and green robe, with a somewhat thin figure, a face like a falcon, a pair of eyes that were extremely cold, emitting a cold light, and his ten fingers were withered, but they were like eagle claws holding the armrests of the chair.

The two of them sat in the grand exhibition hall, looking extremely small, as if two ants were in a huge palace.

"Peak Master, the Green Harrier Falcon that I arranged for the law enforcement disciples to release brought back a message. A pile of dry bones was found outside a suspected monk's site hundreds of thousands of miles away from here. After using secret methods to detect, it was the outer disciple who defected from our peak seven years ago." The old man said to the middle-aged scholar in the upper position, but his face showed a hateful expression, and his eyes were full of murderous light.

"Oh, a monk's site hundreds of thousands of miles away? Even the Ten Thousand Miles Sound Transmission Note cannot be used. I think even with the physique of the Green Harrier Falcon, a second-level monster, it has flown for at least dozens of days. Can the law enforcement disciples find what the defecting disciple stole?" The green-shirted scholar turned his head and looked at the old man with the falcon.

"No, only a damaged storage bag was found next to the dry bones, but other things" the old man with the falcon replied, shaking his head at the end.

"This incident has made our peak lose a lot of face in front of the other four peaks. Although the man took away only the entry-level exercises of our peak, this can only be practiced by the disciples recruited by our sect. The entry-level body-building chapter cannot be practiced by non-disciples of our sect, especially the basic body-building formula recorded in it, which is only known by our disciples. Otherwise, why would we care about such entry-level exercises." The scholar frowned and said.

After thinking for a while, he tapped his thigh with his slender fingers a few times, and then said, "So, you can send some more law enforcement disciples of our peak to expand the search range. You can start with the medicine shop, no matter whether it is a mortal medicine shop or a cultivator's market, check them all. As long as someone takes away the entry-level exercises, it is possible to practice. I don't want non-Qi Condensation disciples of our sect to appear in the outside world in the future." The scholar said so.

"Yes, Peak Master, I think so too. If we find someone practicing, we will follow the rules of our Law Enforcement Hall. After killing him, we will use his soul to feed the soul-binding silkworm, making him suffer a dilemma of life and death, and then call other sects to serve as a warning to others." The old man said fiercely.

Outside Qingshanai City, in the valley, Li Yan, with the assistance of the third military division, practiced hard every day, and the time passed in this repetitive way. Li Yan also gradually felt that as his practice progressed, the teacher's piano music could no longer suppress the heat in his body, especially in the past two days, he basically completed his practice in a semi-conscious and semi-dizzy state. He knew that the piano music had begun to lose its effect on him, but for him, this would no longer exist tomorrow, because tomorrow would be the forty-ninth day.

In the early morning, when it was still light, Li Yan pushed the door open and walked out, then took a walk in the valley. He had been unable to sleep in recent days because of the restlessness in his chest. In addition, he had to practice at the pond today, so he simply walked in the valley and breathed the fresh air of the autumn morning, which could somewhat relieve the restlessness in his chest. After about half an hour, he returned to the room. At this time, the woman had brought breakfast. After a few bites, he had no appetite, so he sat cross-legged in the room.

Not long after, there were several knocks on the door. Li Yan opened his eyes and opened the door. It was Chen An and Li Yin. The two bowed to him. Chen An said, "Sir, the master asked me to put the copper stove by the pond." "Then I'll trouble you two." Li Yan nodded to him. Since entering the valley, Li Yan has had little contact with other people, basically only the woman who delivered meals and these two people. These people are usually very respectful to him. He was not used to it at first, but as time went by, he gradually got used to these etiquette. After the two carried the copper stove out, Li Yan followed them out of the room. Soon Chen An and Li Yin placed the copper stove not far from the pond. The two pushed the copper stove back and forth and confirmed that it was stable before turning to the second training room of the third military division. At this time, the door of the training room was closed. It seemed that the third military division had entered it. The two stood there waiting without saying a word. Li Yan stood in front of his room, and did not talk to the two of them. He just stared at the copper furnace at the pond in a daze. Somehow, looking at the copper furnace and the pond, he suddenly remembered the senior brother he had never met. If he remembered correctly, the senior brother seemed to have died suddenly after entering the valley for more than a month. The words "more than a month" kept flashing in his mind, and "seven seven forty-nine days" was also less than two months. Was it just a coincidence? He fell into deep thought.

"Young Master, Young Master, the master is calling you!" Several calls interrupted his meditation. He looked up and saw that Li Yin was walking towards him, calling him softly while walking. In the distance, Division Master Ji was already standing by the pond, and the familiar copper basin was placed on the copper furnace.

I don't know how long I have been thinking here. Li Yan shook his head gently, as if to get rid of those thoughts that came in a rush, and then calmed down and walked over there. Chen An and Li Yin quietly left the valley after seeing this.

Military Advisor Ji, wearing a loose black robe, stood not far from the copper furnace with his hands behind his back, staring at the copper basin in a daze, as if talking to himself, or as if saying to Li Yan, "It's the last day, it's the last day, can you make it?"

Although the words were very soft, Li Yan heard them very clearly in this quiet valley, and felt a little uneasy in his heart, but thinking that things had come to this point, he said no more and walked a few steps to the copper furnace.

Today, the mist above the copper basin was no longer the blue-black mist of the previous days, but pure black mist, as thick as substance, constantly surging. Li Yan looked at the copper basin. The basin was already full of juice, thick as boiling ink. The herbs inside could no longer be seen. Only gurgling black bubbles kept swelling and bursting, raising waves of black gas, and then melting upward into the surging pure black mist, making it even thicker. Then countless tiny black bubbles surged out of the copper basin, and then formed large black bubbles that swelled and burst, raising a puff of smoke, and repeated over and over again. It was obvious that the medicinal power was many times stronger than before.

Li Yan took a deep breath, stood in a good position, and then stretched his hands into the dense black air that gathered but did not disperse. Suddenly, a huge force that had never been seen before rushed to his hands. Ten strands of black air also drilled into his fingers, but these ten strands of black air were not as ethereal as before, but several times thicker and denser, like ten iron rods inserted into his fingers fiercely. Li Yan felt a pain in his fingers that went deep into his bones like a surging wave. He trembled all over, clenched his teeth, and hummed continuously. However, the surging pain spread along his fingers, singing along his arms and began to sweep every part of his body. If it weren't for the previous dozens of days of practice, he would have fainted from the pain.

Ji Junshi stood aside and looked at Li Yan like this, with no expression on his face, but occasionally raised his eyebrows a few times, revealing his inner restlessness. He stared at Li Yan motionlessly.

Time passed by little by little. After about two cups of tea, Li Yan's expression was already weak. He kept groaning and slowly retreated several steps to the edge of the pool. At this moment, Li Yan had no thoughts in his mind, and even lost the thought of running the exercises. However, the thick black air seemed to no longer need the guidance of the exercises. It had been forced into his body and then traveled through his meridians. At this time, his skin was black, his face was twisted and swollen, and there were black air on his face, which was extremely terrifying.

Li Yan felt that the air in his body was running wild, and his body was about to explode. He felt that countless hot air currents had burned his internal organs to ashes.

He barely maintained a trace of clarity, turned his head to look at Master Ji, and said with difficulty, "Old Master, disciple disciple" The rest of the words could no longer be said, and there were waves of air rushing in his body, making him extremely painful.

Master Ji still stood there motionless, with a blank expression on his face.

Li Yan's vision gradually blurred, and his body was shaky. After a few breaths, he turned over and fell into the pool behind him, but the ten thick black airs were still firmly pulled on his fingers. After his body fell into the pool and sank, they still hovered on the water surface, swallowing and spitting, like a living python.

After Li Yan fell into the water, a chill came over his head, and then his body also became colder. Li Yan was a little more awake. At this time, there was sparkling water in front of him. Looking up through the water, he could vaguely see the somewhat distorted but motionless figure on the shore refracted by the water surface.

Li Yan was still sinking into the pool. Even if he began to choke on the cold water, he could not stop the stinging hot air in his body. His consciousness became more and more blurred. When he was left with a trace of clarity, he smiled bitterly, "Is this the road that Senior Brother has walked?"