Longzang

Chapter 358 Techniques
"I'm in pain today and have no interest in working. If you really want to work, wait a couple of days. If you really can't wait, I'll go get my second aunt and fifth aunt to come over," the woman said.

Wei Yuan quickly said there was no need.

The campfire blazed brightly that night, and the woman took off her clothes to mend them by the firelight, since Wei Yuan couldn't see her anyway.

She also sewed together the wolf pelts that had been drying for a day to make a new fur coat for Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan, meanwhile, was in the room fumbling with how to process the snow leopard. He conjured several small knives, skinned and butchered the leopard, then extracted the tendons, processed them with his Dao power, and then cut wood to make a crossbow. He then threw it to the woman and taught her how to use it.

Wei Yuan now feels increasingly close to women, so he no longer hides it and only wants to recover as soon as possible and leave this place.

However, the house was warm, peaceful, and quiet, and it seemed that living like this forever wouldn't be bad.

Wei Yuan suddenly asked, "What's in the forest?"

"A temple."

"Shall we go take a look tomorrow?"

"Okay." The woman agreed readily this time, indicating that she had confidence in Wei Yuan.

According to the woman, the temple could be reached by walking through the forest for about half an hour. However, one had to leave the forest before noon, or one would encounter an undead monster.

The next day, just as noon arrived, the two entered the woods. Wei Yuan had recovered somewhat by now, and his speed was now completely in sync with the woman's. The woman took Wei Yuan's left hand and led the way, walking through the woods.

The wolves and a snow leopard in the forest had already been hunted down, so this time it went exceptionally smoothly without any obstacles. However, this was not good news for Wei Yuan. He was now blind and his spiritual sense could not reach far, so he could only rely on wild beasts walking into his trap; he couldn't catch the deer and the like at all.

The two quickly passed through the woods and arrived at the temple.

The so-called temple was actually a natural cave, with a gatehouse built by the villagers using stones and wood at the entrance. Two days ago, when Wei Yuan entered the forest, he vaguely sensed something calling to him. Now, at the temple entrance, the feeling was even clearer.

Before entering the temple, the woman lit a torch and then asked, "You can't see, so what do you want to see?"

Wei Yuan was taken aback. Yes, he couldn't see anything, so why was he in such a hurry? But he naturally wouldn't show his fear so easily, and calmly said, "I can touch."

The woman remained silent for a moment, then said, "You're lucky; the murals here are carved."

Not far after entering the temple, the space opened up. Murals were carved on the rock walls on both sides. Wei Yuan touched them carefully. The carving was very primitive and naive, with no skill at all. It looked like the ancient murals that Wei Yuan had seen in history books.

The first mural depicts a giant monster that has just died, its body broken into pieces and falling from the sky.

In the second mural, a fire meteor falls from the sky and transforms into various creatures upon landing on the ground, including humanoids, animaloids, and even bizarre aliens.

The third mural depicts these life forms born from the fire meteors engaging in fierce battles, with the defeated being devoured and the victors becoming even stronger.

In the fourth mural, a life form born from a fire meteor is exceptionally weak. It hides in the mountains and forests, in the valleys, and among the beasts.

It managed to survive the initial chaotic phase by hiding all the way. But soon the final victor found it, and no matter how it ran or hid, the hunters kept getting closer and closer.

As Wei Yuan stroked the stone carving, he could feel the despair, helplessness, and regret of that weak creature. If it had joined the battle from the beginning, the hunters wouldn't have become so powerful.

Wei Yuan paused for a moment, feeling touched, before exploring the next picture.

This time he touched a hand, a long, thin hand with large, strong knuckles.

Wei Yuan had also studied the Six Arts of a Gentleman, and had a rudimentary understanding of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Once he started touching it, he became somewhat reluctant to let go.

He carefully examined it, praising in his heart that the ancients were indeed masters. This sculpture, which transitioned from murals to reliefs, showed no trace of carving, and the craftsmanship was simply divine. Every detail could withstand the most meticulous examination, and the dry, rough texture on the skin was just like the real thing...

The woman exclaimed in alarm, "Stop touching it! That's an immortal monster!"

Wei Yuan felt a chill run down his spine. The belated sense of danger finally exploded, and he instantly realized that his life was in danger!

The woman grabbed his hand and tried to run outside, but the heavy footsteps behind them grew closer. Suddenly, the woman cried out, "Hold me! I'll show you the way!"

Wei Yuan immediately scooped her up.

"Ten paces forward... Don't run, jump!"

Wei Yuan immediately switched to hopping on one leg, leaping two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) in a single bound, which indeed greatly increased his speed.

"Five on the left, thirteen in front, four on the right..." The woman kept reporting the directions and distances, and with Wei Yuan's divine sense also able to scan the surrounding outlines, the two finally escaped from the cave.

A sharp, painful scream rang out behind Wei Yuan. The undead monster, illuminated by the midday sun, hissed and emitted white smoke from its entire body before retreating.

Having escaped unharmed, the two were still shaken when Wei Yuan said, "Didn't you say that the immortal monster wouldn't come out at noon?"

“How should I know? They usually hide deep inside the temple, but one of them suddenly appeared today for some reason. It wasn't moving at first, but you kept pulling him to touch it…”

Wei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Let's go back first today to make some preparations, and come back tomorrow."

Why do you insist on going to the temple?

"Those murals are quite extraordinary. I want to see what's behind them. Perhaps they're related to my arrival here. Perhaps if I can unravel this secret, I can leave this place."

The woman shouted angrily, "So you really wanted to run away!"

Wei Yuan hurriedly said, "Before I leave, I will definitely give the village a satisfactory explanation."

"Really?" "Really!"

"May you be struck by lightning for lying!"

Wei Yuan: "..."

Back in the stone house, Wei Yuan waved his hands, and a pile of rubble appeared on the ground. His primordial spirit was weak, making it difficult for him to enter the vast landscape, so he simply took the stones outside to process them.

He picked up a piece of gravel, pinched it casually, and it became a flying sword about a foot long. However, Wei Yuan touched it and felt it wasn't big enough, so he added another piece of stone, making it a foot and a half long.

Then Wei Yuan continued to manipulate the swords, creating one identical flying sword after another. These swords only possessed some metallic quality; otherwise, they had no special characteristics and were a further improvement upon the Great Bright Demon-Subduing Sword.

The woman had moved a stool over at some point and was just watching Wei Yuan conjure up his flying sword.

In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan conjured twenty flying swords, all identical and perfectly sized. Then, Wei Yuan took a stone, infused it with the true essence of a cauldron, and transformed it into a rectangular cauldron with two handles and four legs.

Then Wei Yuan pressed the flying swords into the cauldron one by one until the twentieth sword was pressed in, filling it completely.

Then Wei Yuan made forty more flying swords and two square cauldrons, filling the two cauldron boxes. After pondering for a moment, he took out all the flying swords and added a small, finger-thick round block to the end of each sword.

"What are you doing?" the woman finally asked.

"A very interesting little magic trick." Wei Yuan pinched another round disc, but it was only as thin as a piece of paper. Then he activated it, and a fireball the size of a bucket suddenly appeared in his hand.

The woman seemed startled, then watched as Wei Yuan continued adding round pieces to the end of the sword.

After the sixty flying swords were pressed back into the cauldron box, Wei Yuan conjured up a large stone and slowly kneaded it into a round tube in his hand, the material gleaming with a dark silver metallic luster.

There was an opening at the bottom of the tube. Wei Yuan picked up the cauldron box, inserted it into the tube, and with a click, the cauldron box full of flying swords was inserted into the tube. The two handles of the cauldron were just right to catch the clips inside the tube.

Wei Yuan carefully adjusted the size of the round tube until it fit perfectly with the cauldron box.

He picked up the strange object and peered at it before realizing that he couldn't see it.

"what is this?"

"Something to use to deal with the undead monsters tomorrow."

"Can I try?"

“You can’t use it,” Wei Yuan said, but still handed the newly assembled weapon to the woman.

The woman's hands went limp, and she dropped the item to the ground. Once fully formed, the piece of equipment weighed over a hundred pounds; even a strong woman couldn't easily lift it.

"Go to sleep, there's still a battle to fight tomorrow."

The two slept side by side, when Wei Yuan suddenly asked, "What's your name?"

After a while, the woman said, "I don't have a name."

Wei Yuan didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he naturally hugged her, buried his nose in her long hair, and fell into a deep sleep.

As dawn broke, Wei Yuan woke up, feeling somewhat better, with a slight tingling sensation in his left chest. He reached out and touched it, finding a membrane growing on his previously empty chest, with flesh and blood rapidly regenerating beneath.

Wei Yuan got up, pushed open the door and went outside, taking a deep breath as he faced the chilly morning wind.

The vast land trembled slightly, and streaks of pale white fire erupted from the cracks in the earth, burning fiercely for a moment before falling back into the deep valley.

Before Wei Yuan's eyes, he seemed to see those countless threads of cause and effect again, and he saw pale flames burning along the threads of cause and effect, turning one familiar person after another into ashes.

Burned by the azure fire, they turned into ashes. These were the remnants after the burning away of cause and effect, destined to vanish into nothingness, beyond reincarnation, without a next life. Even Wei Yuan's countless rebirths across realms could not save them.

At this moment, Wei Yuan didn't even dare to think about how many of the people he knew would still be left if he returned to Qingming.

In the past few days, Wei Yuan was still recovering from his serious injuries and in a daze. On the other hand, he really didn't dare to face reality. He was like an ostrich, wanting to bury his head in the sand for a while so that all the unpleasant things in the world would disappear.

However, now that his body has recovered, Wei Yuan is ready to face the pain and reality head-on.

"Still too weak, too weak!..." Wei Yuan thought. He subconsciously gritted his teeth, and suddenly, with a crack, one of his teeth broke!

The excruciating pain pulled Wei Yuan back to reality, but the anguish hidden deep in his heart did not lessen in the slightest. That helplessness in the face of absolute power, that moth-to-a-flame final struggle, was perhaps laughable in the eyes of those in power.

The woman asked, "What's wrong?"

Wei Yuan took a deep breath, calmed down, and said, "I was thinking of some friends. I wonder how they are doing now."

"You are in pain."

"That happened just now, and it's in the past. I won't be in pain anymore. Let's go!" Wei Yuan smiled brightly, extended his left hand, which the woman grasped, and the two of them ran towards the temple again.

Having survived, and with fate granting him another chance at life, Wei Yuan resolved to confront the world head-on from this moment forward. He would no longer harbor any illusions about his enemies, nor would he have any expectations of those in power. He would confront problems head-on, overcoming all obstacles in his path. Even if the end came and he could not escape his fate, Wei Yuan would die by his own hand, perishing in his own decisiveness.

PS: The content of this chapter has been changed, but the title cannot be modified.

(End of this chapter)