I began to understand the myriad things by chopping wood

Mu Chaoyun pondered for a moment after hearing Xie Yuan's somewhat puzzling words.

She understood what he meant. The Black Book was a rare treasure that sometimes only appeared once in a hundred years. They had just happened to have collected quite a few.

Although their current goal was to get the Black Book, it was too much of a coincidence that they gained something by accident.

Mu Chaoyun thought for a moment and said:

"It's not impossible. We have analyzed before that the Black Book is a whole. The pages of the book can still have a vague sense of induction and attraction after being scattered. And this attraction becomes stronger as more Black Books are reassembled. With the pages in our hands now, it is not surprising that we have encountered the remaining Black Books."

Xie Yuan nodded slightly, but still said reluctantly:
"That's true, but if that's the case here, it makes people feel that it's going too smoothly. There's always a feeling of being appointed..."

Mu Chaoyun understood his concerns and said:
"I have deduced this countless times before. This is the only way... But you do make sense. Let me deduce this again. Maybe there really is a cause and effect that I missed before. Who knows?"

She was halfway through her speech when she suddenly changed the subject, took out the Tianjing Lotus and began to calculate.

Xie Yuan was shocked when he saw this, and he grabbed Mu Chaoyun's hand and held her down:

"Stop! That's it. It doesn't matter even if it is."

"It's okay. It won't hurt to do it once..."

"Not even once, that's too much."

Xie Yuan looked at Mu Chaoyun firmly.

Mu Chaoyun felt the determination in Xie Yuan's tone and hands, sighed softly, and put away the Tianjing Lotus.

She adjusted her hair and smiled:

"I'm really not in the way."

Xie Yuan snorted, without letting go of her hand, and just asked casually:

"Have you calculated this many times before?"

"It's all in the past."

Mu Chaoyun said softly.

Xie Yuan frowned, but finally didn't ask any more questions.

He looked at the heavy stone door in front of him and said in a deep voice:

"In that case, let's go in and take a look."

After collecting the three jade disc fragments, Xie Yuan carefully placed them one by one into the circular pit in the middle of the stone gate. They fit perfectly with each other.

After it was pieced together, a corner of the circular pit was still missing, and it looked like there should be a piece of jade disc fragment.

But the stone door suddenly shook, and the circular pit in the middle caused the jade plate to rotate half a circle. Then the stone door slowly opened outwards with great heaviness and stopped halfway.

Even though it was only halfway open, it was clearly enough to pass the test.

Xie Yuan looked behind the dark stone door and vaguely saw a cave that was arranged as a study.

A dull and ancient atmosphere fills the air, and it seems like this place has been here for at least a thousand years.

It seems that the stone gate restriction must have been damaged, otherwise the ancestors of the three families might not have been so lucky as to get in.

Xie Yuan and Mu Chaoyun looked at each other and nodded slightly.

A faint golden light shone on his body, and he slowly stepped into the stone gate.

After entering the stone gate, Xie Yuan looked around with the help of the torchlight outside the corridor, and the entire cave was in sight.

An ordinary cave study with a table, a chair and bookshelves against the wall. It looks neither spacious nor luxurious.

The bookshelf was empty. No one knew if there had never been any books on it, or if it had been emptied by the ancestors of Tianxiang Villa and other three families.

There is nothing, what can I comprehend?
Xie Yuan shook his head slightly and cast his gaze towards a door on the opposite stone wall.

There is nothing in this study. If there is something, it should be in there.

But...looking at the layout, maybe that's the real tomb.

He turned around and looked at Mu Chaoyun. He wanted to communicate with Mu Chaoyun, but suddenly stopped.

There was no figure of Mu Chaoyun behind him, nor was there a stone door for entering.

There was only a stone wall behind.

Xie Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly.

It turned out that the corridor had disappeared.

So where does the light in this cave come from?
He turned around and was wondering, when with a snap, the candle on the desk lit up by itself, illuminating the cave.

Light footsteps sounded.

Xie Yuan looked at the wooden door opposite, holding the hilt of the sword, his body tensed, and he was fully prepared.

Squeak.

The wooden door was opened from the inside, and a tall old man with silver hair and calm eyes walked out.

Xie Yuan's figure suddenly froze and he was unable to move in an instant.

He felt a completely irresistible aura from the old man opposite him!

Grandmaster...

Xie Yuan was tense all over, he never expected that a grandmaster would appear here.

However, the great master seemed not to have seen Xie Yuan. He walked out of the inner room, turned to the desk, pulled out a chair and sat down.

He was tall, and even when he was sitting, he could still reach the top of the bookshelf and pull it out gently.

He pulled out an ancient book with a blue cover from the empty bookshelf, and it suddenly appeared in his hand.

The old man took the book down, held it in front of him, and began to read quietly.

Xie Yuan couldn't move at all, and just watched the old man reading quietly.

"What's going on? Can he see me or can't he? And who is this person?"

Xie Yuan's thoughts seemed to be stagnant, and his thinking became extremely slow. He could only wait slowly for the old man to read.

He didn't know how long it took, maybe very quickly, but it also seemed like a long time before the old man finished flipping through the book.

He quietly put the book down, sighed, and whispered to himself:

"Hiding here, neither human nor ghost, when will I be able to come out?"

hide?
Xie Yuan’s mind started to turn.

This grandmaster was actually hiding here.

But what kind of person or what kind of force in the world could allow a great master to hide in such a cramped cave?
It seems that he has been here for more than ten days, but has probably been here for many years!
It can only be another grandmaster or even several grandmasters.

Xie Yuan was thinking about the names of those great masters and wanted to compare them with the old man in front of him.

There were only so many Grand Masters, and Xie Yuan quickly looked through them all, and felt that none of them could match the old man in front of him.

Or……

There is only one person on the Tianlong List, and even his appearance is unknown.

He is hiding here again. Considering that the monk Zhiling and the immortal Yuxu once besieged the leader of the Kitchen God Cult, the identity of the person in front of him is obvious.

But Xie Yuan immediately felt something was wrong.

He had clearly met the leader of the Kitchen God Cult in Tianwai Tian. Even if he really wanted to hide from the two great masters of the Mysterious Sect, it would be feasible for him to stay indoors in Tianwai Tian. Why would he come to this inexplicable place?

The old man began to talk to himself again.

"Shouldn't I have retreated in the beginning, and fought on Qingming with Brother Ji?
"No, that would be courting death! Once you become a martial arts grandmaster, you cannot escape this barrier. It is just a foolish dream to want to break this sky. One person will die, ten people will die, a hundred people, a thousand people, ten thousand people will all die! That is the sky, that is truth, that is the pinnacle of martial arts! That is the God of Martial Arts!"

The old man was a little agitated, buried his face in his hands, and made a desperate sound:

"Brother Ji is too naive. I can't accompany him to die. Now it's good enough. At least I don't have to suffer the punishment of heaven like him and die without a burial place." But if we hide here, when will it end? My body will just decay and my spirit will remain here. I wonder if there will be a turning point in thousands of years?
"Hey……"

A long, helpless sigh, as if spanning a thousand years, echoed in the cave.

Xie Yuan finally discovered that the old man in front of him seemed to be just a mysterious shadow.

This must be a replica of an image from thousands of years ago. I don't know what mysterious means or strange phenomenon it was that allowed it to be preserved to this day.

But the words the old man said in this scene caused a storm in Xie Yuan's heart.

Brother Ji?

Challenge Qingming?

Besides Xie An, is there anyone else who wants to fight against the heaven?

The laws of nature in this world are a bit busy...

However, Xie Yuan had a subtle feeling in his heart.

The powerful man with the surname Ji who wanted to fight against God... Xie Yuan instantly remembered a scene he had seen before.

That was when he was in control of the country. Xie Yuan got the Ten Thousand Soldiers Candle Shadow and saw the legendary leader of the Kitchen God Cult who split the sky with one axe.

Sky-breaking style.

Xie Yuan can use this move, and Ji Xuan can use it, but it is only when the legendary leader in the picture uses it that it can be considered worthy of the title.

Was that scene also a battle between the strongest and God?

Why are these masters so keen on challenging God?

This Heaven is a Prison...

Xie Yuan immediately thought of the plaque engraved by the leader, and his expression became inexplicably serious.

Do they see the heavens as a cage?

They want to break through the void and advance to a higher world? So they have to fight against the sky?

Xie Yuan nodded slowly, feeling like he had grasped something.

As for the old man in front of him, he could actually stand shoulder to shoulder with the legendary leader, and even seemed to have been invited to challenge Qingtian together. He must be a top-notch master among the grandmasters.

No wonder his spiritual will still remains here after a thousand years.

If it hadn't been so long ago, Xie Yuan might have known who he was.

But if you just look up the history books of that time, you will definitely find such people mentioned there.

Dynasties changed and heroes emerged. Those decades were truly a great era for martial arts. I don't know how many geniuses and heroes who shocked the world of ancient and modern times came out, and people are still influenced by them today.

"Young man, what are you thinking about?"

Xie Yuan suddenly heard a question.

The hairs on his back stood up and he suddenly looked towards the desk.

But he saw the old man leaning on the chair, turning his head and looking at him.

He...can see me?
No, isn't he a photo?
Xie Yuan opened his mouth, feeling that he was totally unable to understand what was happening before him.

How could a person who lived thousands of years ago still be alive today and be able to talk to me?
"I have a secret magic weapon and a rare treasure that can store my true spirit, so I have managed to survive until now. I am sorry to see you laugh at my dry bones in the tomb."

The old man seemed to see what Xie Yuan was thinking and explained softly.

Seeing that this was a real person speaking, and that he didn't look like a ghost at all, Xie Yuan could not help but calm himself down, bowed and said:

"Greetings, senior. I have mistakenly entered this place and disturbed your rest. Please forgive me."

After he finished speaking, he found that he was able to move freely again.

The old man waved his hand:
"It's okay. I haven't talked to anyone for many years. I'm so happy that someone came to talk to me. Why should I blame them? Well, what's the situation outside now? Is the Dali Dynasty still there? Is martial arts still practiced in the world?"

Xie Yuan replied:
"The Dali Dynasty has been around for a thousand years, but it is still going strong. Ninety percent of the practitioners in the world still follow the path of martial arts."

The old man was stunned for a moment, and was silent for a long while before he said softly:

"It's actually been a thousand-year-old dynasty. That kid really did it."

Xie Yuan's ears twitched when he heard this.

The child that the old man mentioned sounds like the founding emperor of the Dali Dynasty, Dali Taizu?
It feels quite magical to have historical figures right in front of you.

but……

"Senior, I followed a few... scheming guys and accidentally came here. Their ancestors must have been here before and learned martial arts here. Have you never communicated with them?"

Xie Yuan asked.

The old man looked at him and smiled:

"My dear friend Xie Yuan, you are really a cautious person.

"Well, I didn't care about those low-class rats and their useless descendants. At that time, my true spirit was weak and had not fully awakened. Although it has been better in recent years, they have not come, so I don't know when the world will end."

There was a loud bang in Xie Yuan's mind, and he was inexplicably surprised.

How does he know my name?

As soon as the thought came to his mind, Xie Yuan immediately contracted his spiritual consciousness, stabilized his mind, and dispelled the inexplicable feeling.

The old man seemed to pause for a moment, then laughed and said:
"Young man, why are you so shy? I am your ancestor, and I have seen everything."

He picked up the candlestick, stood up, and took a step towards Xie Yuan.

Xie Yuan immediately stepped back and then felt the stone wall behind him.

There is no way to retreat.

However, the old man also stopped, shook his head and chuckled:
"That's not necessary. Thank you, my friend. My cultivation level was unrivaled in the world back then, and I was determined to be the best. I'm sure there are few people in this world who can match me in terms of the key points and secrets of the martial arts. If you want to know, I can tell you one by one. For example... why do the best warriors have to fight against the heavens? For example, why do people have to be extremely cautious even if they can pass the hurdle of becoming a grandmaster? Have you heard of these? As for the secrets of cultivation and the best techniques, I know thousands of them in my mind. If you want them, take them all."

He waved his hand, and the bookshelf was suddenly filled with various ancient books.

Xie Yuan was completely unmoved, and just stared at the old man solemnly:
"And what's the price?"

The old man said with an unchanged smile:

"It's not a big price. Just take me out. It won't be a big deal for you."

He took a step forward and approached Xie Yuan.

Xie Yuan frowned and said coldly:

"Take you out? It's easy to say, but how can I take you out? And after taking you out, will I still be myself?"

"You are still you..."

The old man's smile seemed a little deep:
“But it’s also a new you.

"Xie Yuan, you have great talent. You were a top talent back then. I have waited for you for so many years. My patience has not been in vain."

Holding a candlestick, he had walked close to Xie Yuan and stood still.

Xie Yuan looked at him, but his eyes slowly turned away and looked at the candlestick:

"What if I don't agree?"

"Little kid, don't you realize the reality? Since you came in, you have no right to disagree with this."

The old man laughed out loud:
"You have cultivated for hundreds of lifetimes to be able to use your body for me, Wu Daoji. Others would not be qualified to do so even if they wanted to! You are so lucky, why don't you kowtow to express your gratitude? Why are you being so coy?"

His voice gradually became louder, and later on it echoed loudly in the cave, making it seem as if the entire mountain was shaking.

The wind was howling wildly, and Wu Daoji's body became taller and taller. He seemed to be standing tall in the cave, looking down at Xie Yuan.

He grabbed with his big hand, directly covering Xie Yuan, grabbing him all over! (End of this chapter)