Chapter 81: Returning to the Old Craft

After leaving the Treasure Pavilion, Lin Yun bid farewell to Zhou Damao and made his way to the Library Pavilion without delay.

As one of the original Four Great Sects, the Beast Taming Sect might appear frail now, but in its golden age, it was far more powerful than the current Flowing Cloud Sect. The collection of texts in its Library Pavilion was a testament to that, with incredibly detailed records. Lin Yun was even able to find historical accounts of the sect itself, though some moments were only mentioned in passing.

Reading between the lines, however, it was clear: in its time, the Beast Taming Sect was the strongest power for leagues around. According to legend, the Sect Master during its peak period had comprehended the cause and effect of all phenomena, attaining the Great Dao of Yin and Yang.

The Yin-Yang Realm!

It was a realm yearned for by countless souls, yet where so many have met their end. A Sect Master at the Yin-Yang Realm, coupled with a spirit beast also at the Yin-Yang Realm—who would dare to face that head-on? No wonder the Beast Taming Sect was so formidable back then.

It was a pity that each successive generation was weaker than the last. Today, they had fallen so far that they were being pushed around by the Flowing Cloud Sect, a group that had once been a third-rate power at best.

While researching the Flowing Cloud Sect's history, however, Lin Yun found something strange. Initially, they were not one of the Four Great Sects. In their place was another group, the Peerless Sect. But there was a blank period in the historical records. After that gap, the Flowing Cloud Sect had somehow gone from an insignificant minor school to one of the Four Great Sects.

"This secret history… it's not that it's unknown," Lin Yun murmured to himself. "It's that it couldn't be written down, isn't it?"

He then began searching for records of the Chen family. He spent half the day scouring the library, and his efforts finally paid off when he found the origins of the Chen Clan. However, the pages detailing the Chen Clan's ancestor appeared to have been torn out by someone. As for the Yuqili, there wasn't a single word.

"What's going on? Did someone get here before me and destroy all the clues?"

Unwilling to give up, Lin Yun searched for a long while longer but found nothing. In the end, he could only leave the Library Pavilion in disappointment. He had failed to find any literature on the origins of the Yuqili or the spire. The library held a vast collection, but certain parts, seemingly involving some great secret, had been completely erased.

And the timeline for this erasure was somewhere between 1,400 and 1,550 years ago.

What had happened in that missing 150 years? Whether it was the Yuqili, the spire, or the great shift in power among the Four Great Sects of the Daye Dynasty, everything had changed during that century and a half.

He was utterly perplexed. For now, he pushed the questions to the back of his mind. With his current cultivation in the Origin Sea Realm, worrying about it was useless.

After leaving the Library Pavilion, he headed straight for Qi Mountain. The most pressing matter was to consult Xu Miaoyun. He needed to see if the materials he possessed could be forged into a divine weapon.

Qi Mountain was one of the smallest peaks in the sect, but the scenery was beautiful. Few people ever came here. When Lin Yun arrived, he saw Xu Miaoyun tending to the flowers and plants outside her bamboo house on the mountainside.

"Senior Xu."

Hearing his voice, Xu Miaoyun turned around, a look of surprise on her face. "I was only speaking casually. Did you really come?"

Of course I did! You're a Master Smith! Lin Yun thought. Wouldn't it be a waste not to have you forge a few treasures?

"Hehe, please don't be offended, Senior," he said with a grin. "It's just that I found some treasures at Weiyang Mountain and wasn't sure how to handle them. I wanted to hear your opinion."

Xu Miaoyun smiled faintly. If not for her respect for Li Hong, she wouldn't have bothered giving this boy the time of day. What kind of treasure could a kid in the Origin Sea Realm possibly possess? With her level of skill, ordinary materials weren't even worthy of her consideration. She didn't take his words seriously at all.

"Come in. I'll take a look."

Seeing her expression, Lin Yun knew that the senior probably assumed his materials were of too low a grade. It was a normal assumption. Who would expect a mere Origin Sea disciple to have treasures from a Demonic Flood Dragon?

Xu Miaoyun's room was simple and elegant, yet impeccably clean and tidy. What surprised Lin Yun, however, was that for a cultivator at the ninth stage of the Spirit Cauldron Realm, she showed no signs of being a cultivator at all. She lived the carefree, reclusive life of an idle scholar. If they weren't in the Beast Taming Sect, no one would believe she was a practitioner.

Xu Miaoyun poured him a cup of mountain tea. "Try this. I grew it myself. While you drink, tell me, what kind of treasure are you planning to forge? I haven't crafted anything for anyone in nearly a century. This time, for Li Hong's sake, I'll make an exception for you."

Lin Yun didn't waste any time. He took out all the materials from the Demonic Flood Dragon and laid them on the table. "Please, take a look, Senior."

As expected, Xu Miaoyun was initially dismissive. But when her eyes fell upon the materials on the table, she shot to her feet.

"The horns of a thousand-year-old Demonic Flood Dragon?" she gasped, her voice trembling as she looked at him. "The sinew, bones, and scales? Boy, don't tell me you killed a thousand-year-old Demonic Flood Dragon?"

Exotic beasts were different from cultivators. They were born in harmony with heaven and earth, so their cultivation advancement wasn't a matter of talent, but of survival. The longer they lived, the higher their cultivation. Of course, once they reached the Myriad Law or Yin-Yang realms, their progress could no longer be stacked by age alone. But a thousand-year-old Demonic Flood Dragon—at the very minimum, its cultivation would be at the Yin-Yang Realm! Perhaps even higher.

"You could say I got lucky and stumbled upon an opportunity at Weiyang Lake," Lin Yun explained. "A giant python there failed its transformation into a flood dragon long ago, but somehow survived and later succeeded. When I found it, the beast hadn't fully recovered its strength, which is why…"

Xu Miaoyun's face was a mask of disbelief. "Incredible. Even so, for you to kill a Demonic Flood Dragon is simply unheard of. Well, tell me. What are you planning to make?"

Lin Yun scratched his head. "A sword? It should be pretty strong, right?"

Xu Miaoyun let out a derisive snort. "Spoken like a true amateur. Using these materials to make a single sword would be a reckless waste of heaven's gifts. Forget it. Since you don't know what to do with them, why don't you just leave them to me?"

Lin Yun, of course, had no objections. Was she kidding? This was a legendary smith capable of forging divine weapons. Why would he worry needlessly?

"If Senior is willing to help, this junior would not dare to say more. As long as it's something I can use, I will be eternally grateful."

Xu Miaoyun rubbed her hands together, a manic gleam in her eye. "Don't worry. This will most certainly not be a bad thing for you. Alright, if there's nothing else, you should go."

"When it's ready, I'll call for you. And tell Jiang Zhengqing that I won't be receiving any guests for a while. No one is to come here."

Before Lin Yun could say another word, he was ushered out the door.

He had just reached the foot of the mountain when he heard the distinct ding-ding-dang of a hammer striking metal from up the peak.

Just how eager was she? he wondered. As expected, masters of her caliber always had their eccentricities.

He wasn't worried that Xu Miaoyun would waste the materials. For a master smith, the chance to forge a divine weapon with such materials was likely their ultimate dream.