Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 580 Borrowing the Path of Heaven and Earth
Suddenly stopped and having his judgment directly contradicted, Fu Que glared at the woman in red, reminding her that Dong Liangyu was on the verge of going mad and that it might be too late to save him if he wasn't rescued in time.

He didn't know who Li Hongjiu was. Although he had met her many times in the library, he knew that she was acquainted with the woman in red.

The woman in red slightly raised her hand, gesturing for him to calm down.

As soon as Li Hongjiu began to recite, Dong Liangyu's reaction became increasingly intense, and his entire body even trembled slightly.

"Intention is the body, unintention is the corpse; constancy is the form, without form there is neither constancy nor body; intention and unintention, borrowing the way of heaven and earth..."

As he continued to chant repeatedly, fine beads of sweat began to appear on Dong Liangyu's forehead.

Repeatedly, with each tap, the sound became etched into her heart. As if in a nightmare with her eyes closed, she began to chant, "Intention is the body, unintention is the corpse; constancy is the form, without form there is no constancy; intention and unintention borrow the way of heaven and earth..."

However, her recitation didn't have the same crisp and clear quality as Li Hongjiu's; instead, it carried a sense of agonizing struggle and desperate searching.

He was still pressing down on the book with one hand, while the other hand was making a finger-pinching gesture under the table, his whole body trembling.

In this situation, after observing for a while, the coldness in Fu Que's eyes gradually faded, and his attention turned more to Li Hongjiu. He looked him up and down from time to time, and occasionally looked at the woman in red with a questioning look in his eyes. Who is this?

The woman in red's gaze also frequently lingered on Dong Liangyu and Li Hongjiu.

"Intention is the body, unintention is the corpse; constancy is the form, without form there is neither constancy nor body; intention and unintention, borrowing the way of heaven and earth..."

The same words, spoken in two different voices: a man's clear, crisp voice on one side, and a woman's voice filled with anguish on the other. The words were mixed together, sounding chaotic and indeed completely discordant and incompatible.

One is open, natural, and smooth; the other is bumpy and stumbling.

However, after repeating it again and again, the latter's hesitant tone gradually became more fluent, and the rapidly throbbing eyeballs under his eyelids gradually stabilized.

Occasionally, sporadic noises could be heard from downstairs, and from the kitchen in the backyard, the faint sounds of vigorous chopping could be heard.

The light and shadow cast through the window shifted and gradually moved to one of Dong Liangyu's shoulders and cheeks.

"Intention is the body, unintention is the corpse; constancy is the form, without form there is neither constancy nor body; intention and unintention, borrowing the way of heaven and earth..."

Dong Liangyu's mutterings gradually calmed down and began to match Li Hongjiu's mutterings.

An agreement was eventually reached.

The moment their words and phrases matched perfectly, Li Hongjiu suddenly stopped speaking and fell silent.

Only Dong Liangyu's own voice remained on the scene, repeating each word over and over, and the whole scene became calm and peaceful.

The light and shadow gradually shifted across her face, revealing the sweat left on her face turning into a faint mist, something that this kind of light could not evaporate.

Fu Que subconsciously exchanged a glance with the woman in red.

"The body is constant, yet without a body there is neither constant nor inconstancy; with intention and without intention, one borrows the way of heaven and earth..."

The words Dong Liangyu kept repeating suddenly started to omit, and the words became shorter and shorter with each repetition. It was unclear whether she had forgotten the missing words or had swallowed them.

Both Fu Que and the woman in red glanced at Li Hongjiu, and seeing that Li Hongjiu was calm and composed, they realized that it shouldn't be a problem.

"Intentionally or unintentionally, borrowing the passage of heaven and earth..."

When the words he had been repeatedly chanting were reduced to just the last two lines, Dong Liangyu suddenly made a move. He raised his finger, which had been resting under the table, and held it upright in front of him. His clothes began to move slightly without any wind.

The three onlookers, standing so close to her, all felt a surge of energy emanating from her body.

At this moment, Dong Liangyu shut his mouth and fell silent.

In her own perception, the breath that was restricted from circulating within her body by the meridians finally allowed her to find another path for its circulation. She sensed the world outside her body, touched her own existence, borrowed the world outside her body as her body, and used the world as her body to make up for her own incompleteness. She built a bridge outside her body and found a path for circulation.

A breath flowed out, circulating throughout the body. When it reached a good meridian, it moved around freely, then plunged into her body. After the normal flow of the meridians was blocked, it once again circulated out of the body to build a bridge, crossing the abnormal meridians, and then entered the good meridians again.

At close range, all three could feel the flow and movement of her breath, like a dragon emerging from the sea, leaping out of the water and dancing before plunging back into the ocean.

The creature repeatedly moved in and out of Dong Liangyu's body. At first, its movements were somewhat clumsy, but they gradually became smoother. Dong Liangyu seemed to be sitting on a cloud, with flying dragons constantly circling and dancing rapidly in the clouds.

The three onlookers looked around at the void and sensed the spiritual energy being absorbed into Dong Liangyu's body.

Li Hongjiu remained calm, observing the scene with an unperturbed expression.

Fu Que and the woman in red exchanged a look of obvious surprise. They could tell at a glance that she could cultivate! This girl, who was supposed to be unable to cultivate, had actually managed to do so!
Everyone can see that this person has found a cultivation method that is completely different from that of ordinary people.

Even with incomplete meridians, one can still cultivate? Even with their extensive knowledge, the two of them had their eyes opened this time. What kind of cultivation method was this?
They listened to a man and woman chanting the same words over and over again, and they could recite them by heart, but they couldn't quite grasp the meaning behind them.

Soon, Li Hongjiu couldn't help but twitch her eyebrows and eyes, discovering that Dong Liangyu's dragon-like qi, which was swirling around his body, had split into two, then into four. As he gradually became more skilled at splitting, the dragon gradually transformed into countless strands.

The invisible, swirling energy threads had completely enveloped Dong Liangyu like a silkworm cocoon.

Having found the right approach, Dong Liangyu was able to quickly apply what he learned to other cultivation methods that suited him even better. Even Li Hongjiu was somewhat amazed by this. Meanwhile, Dong Liangyu's sickly complexion was slowly showing signs of a rare radiance, indicating that his spirit was gradually becoming more abundant.

Seeing that things had calmed down, Li Hongjiu took a step and was about to turn around and leave. However, seeing the woman in red there, and having drunk her wine every day, how could he ignore her? He still bowed politely and said, "Sister-in-law."

The word "sister-in-law" made the woman in red's hair stand on end, her eyes widen, and her fist clench in her sleeve, as if she had the urge to kill on the spot.

Previously, when she had dinner and drinks with the other party in the backyard, she had reminded them behind their backs not to call her "sister-in-law" in front of outsiders. However, the other party always called her "Sister Jun" in front of Dong Wenshu's family.

If she had known the other party would yell at her like that in front of Fu Que, she would never have run upstairs.

And just as I feared, it happened.

"Sister-in-law?" Fu Que was speechless with astonishment. He looked around, glancing at Li Hongjiu and the woman in red, completely baffled by the form of address. It was truly perplexing.

He was about to ask who Li Hongjiu was when the woman in red, who had already guessed, interrupted him in a deep voice, changed the subject, and questioned Li Hongjiu: "Is this the cultivation technique you passed on to her?"

Judging from the woman's reaction, Li Hongjiu realized that there was probably something wrong with the woman's relationship with Shi Chun.

With Shi Chun's background, how could he possibly catch up with a woman from such a powerful family? He had some doubts from the beginning.

He did that "sister-in-law" on purpose. It was because the other party didn't allow him to call her "sister-in-law" in front of outsiders. Isn't this Sword Saint one of this woman's people?

Judging from the woman in red's reaction, he understood. It wasn't about being in front of outsiders; this woman simply didn't want anyone to know about her relationship with Shi Chun.

He immediately shook his head, agreeing with her, and said, "No, she figured it out herself."

It wasn't exactly a lie; his cultivation method wasn't exactly the same. They were on the same mountain, but each had its own unique path.

He nodded to the two of them again, and before turning to leave, he gazed deeply at the woman in red. It was one thing for the Sword Saint to be absent, but could it be that this woman had come up because she had sensed that fluctuation?
That's the main reason why he suddenly started calling out "sister-in-law".

He didn't stop walking and continued upstairs to read, remarking as he went, "It's certainly worthwhile to have such a large collection of books; this trip has been worthwhile."

After watching him leave, Fu Que asked the woman in red, "Who was that person?"

The fact that he could ask this question shows that he didn't continue peeking that night and didn't see the apprenticeship ceremony in the backyard.

The woman in red knew that this person had become curious. Even if she didn't say anything, he would ask someone else anyway, so she casually replied, "Li Hongjiu."

Fu Que paused, turned his head to look in the direction where the figure had disappeared, and muttered, "Looks like there's something to it."

Turning back, he asked, "What did he call you just now? Did he call you sister-in-law?"

"You misheard." The woman in red dismissed the question with a hint of annoyance, but her gaze still lingered on the book Dong Liangyu had mentioned earlier. She reached out, pinched a corner, slowly pulled it from Dong Liangyu's hand, closed it, and muttered, "Borrowing a realm..."

Looking at Dong Liangyu, who had entered a different state of cultivation, and sensing Li Hongjiu, who had gone upstairs.

She had just been thinking of appreciating his talent and considering whether to let him go and recruit him, but the phrase "sister-in-law" that he wouldn't listen to advice uttered again completely set her in murderous intent. There was no way around it; once some things got out, she couldn't keep them hidden.

She put the book back on the table and turned to leave.

Fu Que picked up the book again and started reading...

Under a sky full of stars, Shi Chun, who had returned with Lao Changtai, met with Wu Jinliang again, and the three of them sank underground once more.

The old method was used to reopen the passage to the underworld. After agreeing on a time for reopening, Shi Chun immediately closed the passage as soon as Wu Jinliang and Lao Changtai entered.

What followed was a long wait for him alone deep underground, toying with the 'ice sheep' in his hand as he waited.

Upon arriving in the underworld, Lao Changtai immediately led Wu Jinliang away, without taking anyone to the underworld city to broaden their horizons, as they needed to use the "Death-Slaying Incense" and it was inconvenient to enter the city.

After finding a relatively remote spot in the wilderness, Lao Changtai quickly contacted Lao Xi.

Lao Xi responded to Lao Changtai's call as if the sky were falling and he would rush over immediately; he arrived in no time.

Upon seeing Wu Jinliang, Lao Xi was taken aback at first, but then overjoyed and stepped forward, embracing him and saying, "Brother Gao, what brings you here? Look at this mess, Brother Lao, you didn't even give me a heads-up beforehand, so I could have brought some gifts."

He learned from Lao Changtai and the others that Wang Ping was their leader, so the tall man was naturally one of the leader's men. He would never forget how generous the leader was.

He was quite looking forward to meeting her again.

Wu Jinliang patted his arm and chuckled, "We're all on the same side, no need for formalities. We'll have plenty of time to chat later. How about I help you with some important business first?"

Having agreed on a time when the passage between the two worlds would reopen, he had to deal with important matters first and allow ample time for trial and error.

With a renewed sense of purpose, Lao Xi knew these people's rules: they would always pay for their services. He immediately patted his chest and said, "No problem. As long as it's something I can do, I'll do it even if it costs me my life. I'll take care of it."

(End of this chapter)