Chapter 58

Compared to Li Cong's anxious state, Li Xun was in excellent spirits.

These past few days had been nothing short of triumphant for him. That laugh he let out in the Forbidden Palace hadn't landed him in trouble; on the contrary, his show of "transmitting sound across a thousand miles" had only deepened Emperor Longqing's trust.

As for Consort Qin, well… once he'd had a taste, he just couldn't stay away. He visited her nearly every day now. Naturally, such behavior wouldn't escape the eyes of those with ulterior motives.

But at the moment, he was "Immortal Li." The Emperor's second favorite after the Grand Preceptor, and a man with awe-inspiring divine powers. In the palace, he was the kind of figure everyone wanted to cling to. Rumors? Speculation? Even if someone did see something, who'd dare say a word?

His prestige in the palace was sky-high, and outside, things were going just as smoothly. Perhaps sensing the immense power he now wielded, even Li Xin had softened toward him, acting more like a doting father, often inviting him to the manor to enjoy "family warmth."

But what really had Li Xun in such a good mood wasn't any of that.

For the past week or so, Yin Wanderer and Blood Wanderer had completely vanished. Like they'd evaporated from the world. It was like having two giant mountains suddenly lifted off his back. Though some unease lingered, that sudden weightlessness, that feeling of floating, was impossible to suppress.

He even thought, half-maliciously, that maybe those two demons had turned on each other and killed each other off. Wouldn't that be perfect?

If not for a sliver of reason still holding him down, he might've drifted all the way up to the heavens by now, without a care left in the world.

Joyful times always pass too quickly. In the blink of an eye, most of winter had slipped by, and the festive air of the New Year was starting to fill the capital. Several heavy snowfalls had made the chill even sharper.

That night, Li Xun sat in his study, absentmindedly flipping through the Six Sovereign Yin-Yang Transformation manual.

This technique was no less profound than Lingxi Art. The part on the generation and interaction of yin and yang was especially intricate, nearly impossible to grasp without deep concentration and full immersion.

But tonight, he was in no state to study. He couldn't take in a single word.

The faint fragrance of Consort Qin still lingered on his body—light, yet persistent, and somehow seeping into his bones. Under its spell, even the ink on the page looked like the elegant curves of a beautiful woman, making him think of her warm, jade-like body, that delicate face twisted between pleasure and pain…

A soft chuckle slipped from his throat. It wasn't loud, but in the dead silence of night, carried on the cold wind, it echoed loud and clear.

The sound startled even him, snapping him back to his senses.

"Right…this is no time to be thinking about that!"

He shook his head and forced himself to refocus on the manual.

Six Sovereign Yin-Yang Transformation… Yin-Yang…

His eyes landed on the two characters for "yin" and "yang," and his mind began to drift again. First to the philosophy of yin and yang, then to the banter from that day on Guantao Slope, and from there, straight to… matters between men and women.

A rush of heat surged through his chest and abdomen. His hand trembled, and the manual slipped from his fingers with a rustle.

So what? After wallowing in the company of a beauty for so long, now I can't even hold it together?

He'd finally carved out a bit of time to study, and yet his thoughts were all over the place. It left him irritated and restless.

He tossed the manual back onto the desk, thinking maybe a bit of cold air would clear his head. But as soon as he stood, a spark of insight hit him.

Yin and Yang! With Yin Wanderer's usual methods, could this "Yin-Yang Transformation" really be just a cultivation technique?

"Yin and Yang, Yin and Yang! Using Yin Wanderer's usual methods, could the Six Sovereign Yin-Yang Transformation really be just a cultivation technique?"

That single flash of thought made the entire technique, which he already knew like the back of his hand, play out in his mind again. Suddenly, he slapped the table and shouted, "That's it!"

He sat right back down, flipped to the section on applied methods, and quickly found the one titled "Supplementing Yin and Yang: intercourse to generate life." The words true yin, true yang, suction, and absorption—they jumped out at him, littered across the page. Just reading them made his mouth go dry.

So this whole thing's actually a dual cultivation method (Plucking to Nurture)?

In the past, Li Xun wouldn't have thought much of it.

After all, he'd always practiced the supreme-level techniques of the Tongxuan Realm—never needed these kinds of things. But now, having just tasted the pleasures of the flesh, and staring at this half-veiled, half-revealed method, a blaze of wicked desire surged up inside him. He couldn't suppress it.

If not for the fact that he'd just returned from Lanxue Courtyard tonight, he might've flown off on his sword right then and there to test the method out.

He downed the now-cold tea in one gulp. The bitterness only stoked the irritation in his heart.

"Someone, come!" he bellowed.

The National Preceptor's estate wasn't big on strict rules, but lately, thanks to the Emperor's favors, Li Xun had been given many maids and attendants. Even at this hour, someone was always nearby to answer his call.

This time, the one who came in was a particularly pretty maid. She hurried in, bowed respectfully, and waited for his orders.

But she stood there for quite a while… and heard nothing. Curious, she glanced up, and locked eyes with Li Xun's deep, smoldering gaze.

She instantly held her breath. As someone rigorously trained for service, she knew very well what her master was thinking in this moment.

Her face flushed. She lowered her head, but… she didn't resist it. After all, this was the living immortal the Emperor held in the highest esteem.

But… why had he suddenly gone silent?

Nervous and faintly expectant, she looked up again—and gasped.

The seat behind the desk was empty.

Li Xun had vanished.

….

"Damn Bastard!"

Li Xun spat out a mouthful of clotted blood in his chest, finally feeling a little better. He vented his rage by kicking the corpse beside him several times until his mood eased.

The sudden turn of events had completely ruined his night.

Just when he'd been overwhelmed by desire and was about to pin that pretty maid to the floor, a warning had come from the Forbidden Palace.

He'd guarded that vault for eight days, and just like that, the first business had arrived.

He had no choice but to brave the freezing wind and charge into the Forbidden Palace, barely managing to block the intruder just before he could break into the hidden passage leading to the inner treasury.

Of course, Li Xun had had no intention of facing them head-on. He had used the traps embedded in the tunnel and the powerful formations he had set up in advance to trap the man inside.

With all those formations working together, even if the intruder had the strength to level mountains, they couldn't so much as crack the stone walls around them.

This petty thief was a typical rogue cultivator. While his cultivation base was indeed deeper than Li Xun's, without proper master's guidance, many of his techniques came out distorted and full of openings.

Li Xun observed him from the shadows for quite a while. Once he locked onto a fatal weakness in the man's technique, he used a vicious cursed artifact gifted to him by Yin Wanderer. Timing it perfectly, he pierced the enemy's heart in one strike.

That should've been the end of it.

But to Li Xun's surprise, the man just wouldn't die. His life force was ridiculously stubborn. He held on until the very moment Li Xun let his guard down and stepped forward to check the body, then he suddenly lashed out with a palm strike.

It was a desperate, final attack—a last burst of strength before death. But if it had landed squarely, there might not have been enough left of Li Xun to bury. But fortune favored him; as the palm strike reached mid-flight, the half-terrified Li Xun suddenly recognized—this was...

Shadowfire Palm! The very external technique taught at the entry level of NetherYin Qi Cultivation!

Li Xun didn't even have time to think. His body reacted on its own. He activated the Soul Shift Rebirth technique from the Netherworld Record at full force. It was already second nature to him; his true breath instantly shifted, transforming into NetherYin Qi!

The palm landed square on his chest. His clothes weren't even damaged, but the surging yin qi poured straight into him. With a shout, Li Xun kicked out hard, sending the rogue cultivator flying several meters and crushing all his internal organs. Dead for real, this time.

That man had probably died without ever understanding how Li Xun could still fight back after taking a full-force Shadowfire Palm to the chest.

"Demonic trash," Li Xun muttered, clutching his chest. He sneered, but deep down, he was relieved. He had no idea where this man learned his half-baked NetherYin Qi, but while the true breath channeling wasn't bad and the control was decently refined, the subtleties were all wrong.

See, Li Xun wasn't just some dabbler… he was a direct heir to the Netherworld Record. He had all the techniques memorized, and even if he hadn't practiced them, he could still recognize their strengths and flaws instantly.

The Netherworld Record itself documented over 80% of the secret arts from both the Shadow-Devouring Soul Sect and the Ghost-Devouring Sect. It included theory, instructions, and practical applications—everything laid out in full. Li Xun just needed to follow the steps to cultivate.

That's how he could tell with one glance that the guy's Shadowfire Palm, his so-called final strike, was completely misused.

NetherYin Qi was a classic example of demonic-path inner cultivation techniques...it offered the fastest progress. Consequently, in terms of the purity of True Breath, it fell somewhat short compared to other methods. Still, it had its own unique strengths that set it above all other methods.

NetherYin Qi emphasized concealment and subtlety. It leaned toward formlessness—"deep and unfathomable," as they said. When cultivating it, you had to avoid being tricked by the illusion of rapid progress and instead focus on "seeking the hidden, exploring the subtle."

But this dead rogue cultivator clearly didn't understand. All he cared about was increasing his cultivation base quickly, and in doing so, he ruined the true strength of NetherYin Qi.

And today, of all days, he ran into Li Xun, a legitimate heir of the original art. The yin qi he forced into Li Xun's body got mostly neutralized through specialized techniques. What little remained only slightly injured Li Xun's organs.

For the rogue cultivator, it was a tragic end.

But Li Xun wasn't happy either: he was thoroughly annoyed by the whole thing.

Aside from that chaotic battle with Heartless Sect and the time he fled from the demon phoenix, this was basically his first real fight. His methods might've been shady, sure, but who had time for honor in life-or-death combat? And even with every advantage, he still ended up wounded!

Frustrated, he gave the corpse a few more kicks until it started to feel gross. With a grimace, he swallowed his disgust, reached into the body's robes, and pulled out everything it had on it.

Most of it was trash. After picking through the junk, he only found a small plaque, neither metal nor wood, with the ancient script for "Hundred Ghosts" carved into it. There was also a decent-looking bottle of pills. But the technique manuals he was hoping for? There was none.

He didn't dwell on it. Stashing the plaque and the pills, he was just about to call the guards to deal with the corpse—when the warning signal triggered again.

Li Xun immediately swore, "What the hell? Is this ever gonna end?!"