The world of martial arts, the immortal swordsman in the mortal realm.

Chapter 131, Section 146: Yin and Yang in Harmony [Seeking Monthly Tickets!]

Lu Chen's skill was too profound; he could not practice the Longevity Technique, which only those without internal energy could enter, nor could he give up his "Sword Dao True Qi" to cultivate the completely different "Longevity True Qi."

Therefore, exploring the mysteries of Kou Xu's Yin and Yang energies is like learning from a foreign source for Lu Chen.

This allows one to comprehend the profound mysteries of Yin and Yang within the "Sword Two Imprint," providing considerable inspiration for one's cultivation.

In particular, the various changes that arose when Kou Xu's Yin and Yang energies converged greatly benefited Lu Chen.

Kou Xu's Yin and Yang energies can not only be combined into one, with the combined power of one plus one being greater than two, but also have the wonder of "Yin and Yang generating each other" when they converge.

It can generate extremely strong vitality and has miraculous effects in replenishing qi, healing injuries, and even enhancing one's power.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's extraordinary endurance, rapid healing, and exceptional martial arts progress stem from the complementary and mutually reinforcing Yin and Yang energies between them.

Just like during this fight, Kou and Xu struck each other with a palm strike or leaned their backs against each other more than once when they were about to exhaust themselves, instantly generating new strength and being able to fight Lu Chen for a few more moves with renewed vigor.

In addition, their spiritual perception was slightly stronger than Yang Xuyan's.

This gave the two extraordinary adaptability in the face of danger, always able to make up for the flaws in their own moves at the critical moment, or to notice the changes in Lu Chen's moves, and occasionally even come up with brilliant moves that caught people's attention. Of course, this was also because Lu Chen only used their equivalent strength, and his swordsmanship was just the routine moves of the Five Mountains Sword Sect.

Furthermore, the two could learn from each other in actual combat, and from time to time they could use a move that was similar to but not quite the same as the move Lu Chen had used.

Lu Chen didn't mind the two of them learning from each other. After all, he was also exploring the mysteries of their longevity energy. It was fair that they would both learn from each other and gain something.

Although Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling can generate energy through the interplay of Yin and Yang and quickly replenish their Qi, they are ultimately not perpetual motion machines.

As Lu Chen gradually increased his strength, his sword moves began to break free from conventions, becoming increasingly unconventional and employing unexpected techniques. With his adaptability, Kou Xu, under Lu Chen's oppressive guidance, fully demonstrated the mysteries of the Longevity Technique. Afterward, he gradually became exhausted and eventually collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

Lu Chen remained calm and composed, his mind even immersed in the "Sword Two Imprint," beginning to comprehend the Yin-Yang changes of the Sword Two Imprint by exploring the mysteries of Yin and Yang in the Longevity Technique.

While Kou Xu was catching his breath.

Lu Chen was struck by inspiration, and his ingenious ideas surged forth. He not only had many thoughts on the Yin-Yang changes of "Sword Two", but also came up with a very interesting and practical cultivation technique based on the principle of mutual complement and generation of Yin and Yang energies between Kou and Xu.

That is to evolve true qi into two properties: pure yin and pure yang. Based on the method of mutual complement and generation of yin and yang qi that Lu Chen explored and comprehended, vitality is generated and used to replenish qi, heal injuries, and increase power.

Of course, without the ability to "multitask," even with meticulous control over one's own internal energy, it is almost impossible to divide one's internal energy in two and simultaneously evolve it into both pure Yin and pure Yang properties.

Among the three great divine skills of the Free and Unfettered Sect, the Northern Darkness Divine Skill's true energy can be either yin or yang. When used correctly, it is yang and vigorous; when used incorrectly, it is yin and gentle. When refining the Life and Death Talisman, one first reverses the mental technique, turning the true energy into yin and cold, condensing water into ice, and then injects yin and yang energies in different proportions.

However, this does not mean that Yin and Yang evolve simultaneously.

Simultaneously evolving both pure Yin and pure Yang qualities is equivalent to simultaneously practicing the mental cultivation method in both the forward and reverse directions.

This is clearly something no one can do.

Even Lu Chen couldn't do it for the time being.

Only after one's mastery of "Sword Four: Heart Sword" reaches a certain level, develops divine sense, and is able to differentiate divine sense, can one attempt to independently evolve true qi into pure yin or pure yang.

Currently, it still requires the cooperation of two people.

One evolved into pure Yin, and the other evolved into pure Yang.

As for how to evolve true qi into pure yin or pure yang...

All three of the Free and Unfettered Sect's divine skills can accomplish this.

The Northern Darkness Divine Skill is yang when used correctly and yin when used incorrectly. The same applies to the Child Granny's "Eight Desolations and Six Directions, I Alone Am Supreme Skill". Therefore, both can master the "Life and Death Talisman".

Needless to say, the Lesser Formless Skill is even more advanced.

The essence of Xiaowuxiang Gong lies in "small".

The primordial energy of heaven and earth is "small and formless," invisible and intangible, yet omnipresent, capable of freely arranging and combining to evolve all things.

The Lesser Formless Skill is also characterized by its "smallness," which allows it to simulate and activate any martial arts technique, freely evolving various types of force. In terms of the change of true qi, it is more flexible than the Northern Darkness Divine Skill and the Eight Desolations and Six Harmonies Supreme Skill.

"It just so happens that Rong'er and I both know the Lesser Formless Skill... If we further refine this method of pure Yin and pure Yang complementing and generating each other, it will become a wonderful method of dual cultivation!"

After some thought, I came up with this rudimentary "Pure Yin to Yang Dual Cultivation Method".

Lu Chen then drew his fingers into a sword shape and thrust twice in quick succession, shooting out two streams of sword energy towards a rock about half a person's height three zhang away.

The two sword energies, one scorching hot and the other cold and gentle, intertwined and shot out. The moment they struck the stone, they collided and exploded with a thunderous sound, shattering the stone into pieces.

Although Lu Chen cannot evolve Yin and Yang energies simultaneously, he can use the Lesser Formless Technique to evolve one of them first, and then evolve the other.

As long as one can quickly switch the nature of their true energy within a short period of time and fire two sword energies in quick succession, the two sword energies of yin and yang attributes can collide in mid-air, unleashing a destructive force that is far greater than the sum of its parts.

This initial test proved remarkably powerful; the Yin-Yang transformation of the "Sword Two Mark" had now been truly mastered.

The power he unleashed by combining these two sword energies stemmed from his understanding of the combined attack of Kou and Xu's Yin and Yang energies, as well as his comprehension of the Yin-Yang transformations of the "Sword Two Imprint".

Otherwise, even if one could unleash two sword energies of opposite nature, one yin and one yang, without a special method to guide and activate them, the yin and yang would most likely cancel each other out and dissipate silently upon collision, and such power would not be able to be unleashed at all.

"From now on, when I use 'Ten Directions Annihilation', half of my sword energy will be Yin and the other half will be Yang. The collision of Yin and Yang will create a devastating explosion... That will be the true 'Ten Directions Annihilation'!"

For now, we can only use tricks like alternating between yin and yang sword strikes to unleash the power of yin and yang transformations.

In the future, when he is able to control both Yin and Yang energies simultaneously, he will no longer need to stab twice.

Each sword strike embodies both yin and yang, with the two energies intertwined to unleash ultimate destruction.

Kou Xu, who was catching his breath, was astonished when he saw the power of Lu Chen's two sword energies.

At the same time, their extraordinary spiritual perception allowed them to notice the subtle nature of Lu Chen's two sword energies. They exchanged a glance, their eyes flashing with a strange light.

Clearly, these two incredibly talented individuals also drew inspiration from Lu Chen's trial moves and developed new ideas.

Lu Chen gleaned the mysteries of Yin and Yang from Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, which not only allowed him to master the Yin-Yang transformation of the "Sword Two Imprints," but also inspired him to create a unique dual cultivation method. However, his interest had waned—there was nothing else on Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling that he could be interested in.

He even knew more about Yang Gong's treasure trove than Kou Xu did.

Lu Chen nodded to Kou Xu and said:
"Thank you both. I have benefited greatly from this exchange. I should find a place to digest what I have learned. Farewell!"

After saying that, he drifted away, leaving Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling staring at each other in disbelief.

After staring at each other for a long time, Kou Zhong scratched his head, looking puzzled:
"Brother Lu is really... He saved our lives, gave us medicine to help us heal, and then only fought with us once without asking any questions before leaving... To be honest, if he weren't so young, I would have thought he was our long-lost father."

Since their debut, almost everyone Shuanglong has encountered has had designs on them.

They weren't usually after the secrets of Yang Gong's treasure vault, or they were curious about how they mastered the Longevity Technique, or they wanted to use them to steal account books or bring down the Yuwen Clan. It was rare to encounter someone as genuinely kind to them as Su Su. And Lu Chen not only saved their lives from the Shadow Assassins, but he also didn't take advantage of their vulnerability by capturing and torturing them to extract the secrets of Yang Gong's treasure vault and the Longevity Technique. Instead, he healed their wounds and taught them martial arts.

Yes, under Lu Chen's oppressive guidance, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling made great progress in their martial arts and learned many tricks from Lu Chen. In their eyes, this was deliberately instructing them in martial arts.

Otherwise, with Lu Chen's martial arts skills that could make Yang Xuyan return empty-handed, what would be the point of sparring with these two minor characters who couldn't even last three moves against Yang Xuyan?
Why increase the intensity little by little, when you could easily knock them to the ground in just a few moves, and why start with some obvious, predictable moves?
Isn't this just letting them gradually adapt and understand?

Therefore, even Xu Ziling couldn't help but laugh and agree with Kou Zhong's joke:

"Only a biological father would treat us this well. But then again, your surname is Kou and mine is Xu, so we probably don't share the same biological father, right?"

Kou Zhong laughed heartily:
"That's hard to say. What if we both take our mother's surname?"

This was obviously a joke. Although both of them were orphans, they were old enough to remember things when they met, and they still remembered their parents.

After a few words of banter, Kou Zhong looked intently at Xu Ziling:
"Brother Lu, did Xiaoling see those two sword strikes just now?"

Xu Ziling nodded:
"See clearly."

Kou Zhong chuckled:
"The two sword energies, one yin and one yang, collided, and their power was far greater than the combined power of our true energy. This is clearly another guidance from Brother Lu to us brothers! Xiao Ling, do you have any thoughts?"

Xu Ziling pondered for a moment and said:

"I do have some ideas, but I need Young Master Zhong's cooperation to try them out!"

"Then let's begin immediately!"

Kou Zhong leaped to his feet, rubbing his hands together, eager to try his hand at fighting.

Then the two of them devoted themselves to their studies in the forest.

After leaving the two, Lu Chen began to think about where to go next.

"We need to find a stable place to stay first, and then establish a return point while cultivating..."

The point of landing that can be freely chosen when traveling back and forth is called the "return point" by Lu Chen.

Each "return point" requires a stay in a certain location for more than a month to be identified.

"The first point of return in the Twin Dragons world..."

After pondering for a while, Lu Chen decided to go to Xiangyang.

He was quite familiar with the Xiangyang area.

Although the time and space are different, there must be many differences in the details, but the mountains and rivers should be roughly the same.

The key point is the convenient transportation and central location. Opening a return point here will make it very convenient to travel north, south, west, and east in the future.

Then, a return point will be opened in each of the four cardinal directions.

This allows for large-scale teleportation across the map of the Twin Dragons world by repeatedly jumping between the two realms.

While establishing the return point, he also took the opportunity to cultivate and improve his strength as quickly as possible.

Once I'm strong enough to protect the world of Twin Dragons, I can bring Rong'er over to cultivate together.

There's a dual cultivation method now...

Having made up his mind, Lu Chen determined the location of Xiangyang and headed west.

Although traveling by boat is more comfortable, going upstream takes too much time. Moreover, recently, various warlords have been rampant on the Yangtze River, and they often blockade the river to fight. Therefore, it is more convenient and faster to travel by light-footed skill.

When traveling on foot.

Lu Chen tried to integrate some of the essence of the "Illusionary Demon Body Technique" he had learned into his own lightness skill, and his flying speed gradually increased.

……

On the south bank of the Han River, outside the west gate of Xiangyang City, there is a lake called Tanxi Lake, also known as Ya Lake.

The lake disappeared in later generations, but Tanxi Lake still exists in this era. It is adjacent to Wanshan and Zhenwu Mountain, with vast waters and mountains side by side, creating a picturesque landscape.

Therefore, the lake is very close to the city, making it convenient to travel to and from. Many wealthy families built manors and villas by the lake, nestled against the mountains and beside the water.

Although Lu Chen was not a wealthy man, he still owned a small estate by Tanxi Lake.

This manor is nestled against the Wanshan Mountains and faces Tanxi Lake. Although it is not large and cannot compare to the grandeur of the manors and villas of wealthy families, its interior layout resembles a garden in Jiangnan, with a unique elegance and charm. There is also a pavilion overlooking the lake in the backyard.

Below the waterside pavilion is a small dock with two boats, one large and one small, moored there, where one can go boating and fishing at any time, or go straight into the Han River.

How did Lu Chen, an outsider, manage to acquire such a nice courtyard?

It was all luck, really.

That day, he rowed his boat along Tanxi Lake, looking for a house that Rong'er would like. He immediately fell in love with this small Jiangnan-style manor.

Upon inquiring, they discovered that the manor owner was indeed willing to help—news of Yuwen Huaji's coup and regicide had already reached Xiangyang. Panic gripped Xiangyang, and many wealthy families wanted to relocate.

There was no other way; with the emperor dead, the already war-torn land was bound to erupt into a chaotic war between warlords and a struggle for supremacy.

Xiangyang was a vital transportation hub connecting the north and south. Whenever warlords vied for power, it was a strategic location that military strategists would fight over. One day, a large army would be sent to its borders, and the city would be fought over by various warlords, resulting in endless wars.

Therefore, the owner of this small manor was about to sell off his various shops and properties and move his entire family to Sichuan to escape the war.

In times of chaos, gold is king. Since the owner of the small manor was going all the way to Sichuan, he naturally only wanted gold.

On his way to Xiangyang, Lu Chen traversed several prefectures, taking care of many rebel soldiers and bandits along the way, and ended up with quite a bit of gold.

Thus, the deal was struck, and both parties got what they wanted, resulting in a happy ending for all.

The owner of the manor was unaware of this.

Although Xiangyang was a strategically important location, no major battles actually took place there during the struggle for supremacy at the end of the Sui Dynasty.

In the world of Twin Dragons, Xiangyang was eventually peacefully returned to Tang.

Therefore, Lu Chen got a good deal.

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(End of this chapter)