Starting with the divine power of the Great Vajra, he traversed the heavens.

Chapter 222 The Transparent World

Time flies, and two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

In Taohuadian Village, Ren Shaoyang and Ding An celebrated their twentieth birthdays. The whole village, young and old, came to celebrate together.

Even the Taoist priest Xiaoban from Wudang, Lang Fanyun from Dongting, Li Ruohai from Cixi Town, and even Qin Mengyao from Dita Peak, all came to offer their congratulations and gifts according to the closeness of their relationship.

They really put on a huge show of face.

The "Three High Residences" of Taohuadian also became famous. People in the martial arts world of Wuchang Prefecture all knew that this place was the home of the "Three Fiends of the North", a group of top masters. Therefore, it was regarded as a dragon's den and a tiger's lair, a holy place in the martial arts world. For a time, many legends were spread in the martial arts world because of this.

In particular, there was a servant named Han Bai from the Han family who happened to spread the nicknames of each of the "Three Fiends of the Northern Frontier" at the inn.

Ren Shaoyang is known as the "White-Clad Sword God," Ren Hongxiu is nicknamed the "Blood-Clad Man," and Li Ding'an is known as the "Knife Emperor."

These three nicknames were extremely famous. At first, the Jianghu scoundrels in Wuchang Prefecture thought they were arrogant, but when they thought about the crazy things they had done since they started out, they found that such arrogant names were particularly in line with their style.

Therefore, in a short period of time, the nicknames of the three villains spread throughout the country.

The little beggar also celebrated his eighteenth birthday this year.

In the blink of an eye, two years have passed. She has shed her former flat figure and transformed into a bright and tall woman. Moreover, due to the "Heavenly Wrath True Qi", she exudes vitality and is full of energy. Her smile is infectious and she is very radiant.

In Taohuadian Village, Xiao Jiaohua is the undisputed number one "village beauty," the dream girl of countless men, young and old.

A matchmaker from another county, being rather naive, saw that she was beautiful and elegant and wanted to come to her door to propose marriage.

But as soon as he entered Peach Blossom Village, he was chased away by a group of young women and wives, and was even fed a mouthful of excrement by a group of teenagers. He screamed in anger and fled, but no one dared to come and arrange a marriage for him anymore.

In the past two years, Ren Shaoyang and Xi Yingzhen have become close friends despite their age difference. They play chess, practice martial arts, and discuss metaphysics and philosophy, often staying up all night, enjoying themselves immensely.

The little beggar had no parents growing up, but now she spent every day with Grandpa Xi and treated him with genuine affection. So on her birthday, she said to Grandpa Xi Yingzhen, "Grandpa Xi, I heard that you have no children, and I also grew up without parents. If you don't mind, I will treat you as my granddaughter and take care of you in your old age."

Xi Yingzhen originally liked Hongxiu very much, so he immediately recognized her as his granddaughter, which made him very happy.

He frankly stated that the past few years in Taohuadian Village have been the happiest time of his life.

In the warm spring of March, a waterfall cascades down the mountain north of Taohuadian Village, turning into intertwined streams in the valley, nourishing a peach orchard and making it vibrant with life.

At this time, the peach blossoms in the whole village were in full bloom, their petals falling like snowflakes, a beautiful contrast of crimson and white.

At this time, merchants from all over the country would come here to buy flowers and then resell them to nearby prefectures and counties.

This year, Ren Shaoyang taught the villagers how to pickle peach blossoms, which kept the blossoms as fresh and sweet as if they had just been picked.

The merchants were overjoyed and offered a 20% higher price than before. These peach blossoms were sold to various provinces and could be made into peach blossom cakes for Ruchengzhai in Jiangnan, clear tea for Yushengtang, and rouge and face powder for Lanqinfang. The income from the peach blossoms alone was enough to cover the villagers' expenses for the whole year.

Not only that, Ding'an also taught them how to make wine from peach blossoms, which was called "Peach Blossom Wine".

The wine was an instant hit, drawing praise from everyone. This peach-colored wine, with its fragrant aroma and light, smooth taste, was deeply loved by the villagers.

Even Xi Yingzhen praised it highly: "Peach blossoms brew spring breeze intoxication, laughing and pointing to the flowers amidst the full moon."

This made the "peach blossom wine" famous.

On the lonely mountain.

Ren Shaoyang seemed weightless, lightly stepping on the peach tree branches swaying in the mountain wind. His white clothes fluttered as he casually played a tune while holding a green leaf in one hand.

The wind picked up considerably, and his sleeves danced wildly. He swayed with the peach branches but did not fall, as if a feather were welded to the branch.

This scene is truly bizarre and unpredictable.

Similarly, the tunes played by Ren Shaoyang were unpredictable and unstructured, composed spontaneously. At their highest points, they were like the cries of monkeys in the Three Gorges; at their most joyful, they were like the laughter of ten thousand people. When he played at his most exquisite moments, the music rose and fell dramatically, causing the mountain mist to surge and change in countless ways.

Just then, his dantian suddenly leaped, and his true qi circulated erratically, sometimes like a galloping horse, sometimes like a dragon in reverse, rushing forward like a pig, causing his qi and blood to churn.

Ren Shaoyang was filled with surprise and doubt. Since he had achieved success in his cultivation, his true qi flowed almost smoothly. This strange phenomenon reminded him of the scene when he and Liang Xiao comprehended the "Whale Breath Technique" together on the back of a whale.

The tune he plays now perfectly captures the mountain mists and the gentle breeze of early spring, and also matches the scene of peach blossoms falling like rain and clear springs flowing freely.

Everything has become less of a melody and more of a landscape.

Ren Shaoyang thought of the "three sounds" realm described in Zhuangzi.

"There are three sounds in the world: the sound of man playing the flute is the sound of man, the sound of wind blowing through the earth is the sound of earth, and the sound of heaven blowing through all things is the sound of heaven."

As the saying goes: Man follows the Earth, the Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows Nature. "Human music" refers to human music, which, by analogy, is likened to fixed moves and the generation of power according to a fixed rhythm in martial arts.

The sound of the earth is the sound of a strong wind, just like the mountain wind just now. By analogy, martial arts have no fixed rules, like the "Overturning Rain Sword Technique" of Lang Fanyun, where each sword strike produces a handful of light.

As for celestial music, it refers to all kinds of sounds made by all things in the world, such as the chirping of deer, the rustling of trees in the wind, the rumble of thunder, the surging of the tide, and even the twin blossoms of flowers. All rhythmic high and low tones can be attributed to celestial music.

Similarly, using martial arts as an analogy, Ren Shaoyang thought of the "Emperor's Qi Observation Technique," which uses heaven and earth as the strings of a musical instrument, and when the enemy's mind is moved, the Qi mechanism will naturally reverse.

At this point, Ren Shaoyang relaxed his brow, released the restrictions on his internal energy, and, in response to the sounds of all things he heard, his internal energy immediately surged wildly.

But he wasn't in a hurry to calm himself down. Instead, he smiled, lay back on the peach branch, swaying gently in the wind. In his comfort, he even buried his face in the peach blossoms and inhaled their fragrance.

Relax your mind and let the natural sounds of all things guide your true energy, in accordance with the rhythm of nature and the fluctuations of all things.

However, this caused Ren Shaoyang's true energy to fluctuate in speed and strength, sometimes rushing and sometimes meandering, which did not conform to any internal energy cultivation method, yet it was all-encompassing and all-pervasive, flowing smoothly and effortlessly.

And so, in the bright spring sunshine, on the peach blossoms atop Lonely Mountain.

Ren Shaoyang listened to the voices of all things while letting his true energy circulate freely.

After a long while, he suddenly shuddered!
A buzzing sound filled my mind, as if I had entered a state of utter solitude, where I could neither see nor hear.

He seemed to have ascended to an infinitely high realm, where illusions abounded. He traveled among the stars, witnessed countless worlds, and finally settled on one image.

A towering figure draped in a cloak roared and soared into the sky.

Moments later, the sky scattered like fragments, the earth crumbled, and in a short while, everything became a chaotic vortex.

A fragment, visible only to him, seemed to flicker in the chaos before vanishing.
Immediately afterwards, Ren Shaoyang saw everything vanish into nothingness, and all sounds returned to silence.

This situation felt as if one were in the depths of an ancient pool, and it lasted for about several hours, or perhaps several days.

Ren Shaoyang suddenly realized what was happening.

After a moment of silence, Ren Shaoyang murmured, "Is this the origin of my cheat ability? Or is it just an illusion?"

At that moment, a strange sensation surged into his ears. He felt as if he had suddenly become clear-headed, as if he could hear the true energy flowing like water, reaching the tips of his hair, and the sound of each hair trembling. At that moment, it was as if a million ears had opened.

You can hear the soft rustling of blooming peach blossoms falling without any wind.

You can hear the faint, milky mist spreading through the mountains.

Whether it's the wind blowing leaves, the horns of boats on the river, or even the cicadas sleeping underground three meters away, you can hear them all clearly.

This feeling is hazy and indistinct, making it hard to tell whether it's real or an illusion.

Ren Shaoyang was extremely familiar with it, whether it was the "Heart-Sacrificing Style" breakthrough that allowed him to contain his own immense power, or the "Bright Eyes Style" breakthrough that allowed him to observe the world with perfect clarity.

Now, this divine power manifests itself in perceiving and controlling all things.

However, he used the "Emperor's Qi Observation Technique" as a basis and the "Book of Changes" as a tool to subtly understand the Daoist principles of nature from the landscape and natural phenomena, and finally came up with his own "Hearing-Awareness Method".

Holding the green leaf, Ren Shaoyang was deeply moved: "After so many years, I have finally mastered all three forms of divine skills. It is truly not easy for an ordinary person to gain supernatural powers of sight, hearing, and mind."

He looked up and saw mountains and rivers in shades of green, red, and white, peach blossoms swirling in the wind, the sun and moon shining brightly in the sky, light and shadow indistinguishable from reality.

Upon seeing this, Ren Shaoyang was moved and suddenly burst into laughter.

This smile burst forth with boundless spring light, piercing straight into the endless void.

"So, after comprehending the three techniques, the world I see is such a transparent world!"

Just then, deep within the peach grove, a clear spring cascaded down from the mountaintop, splashing on a huge rock before slowly flowing down to form a crescent-shaped pool.

Lang Fanyun stood quietly on the pool, carrying "Peach Blossom Wine" in one hand and "Overturning Rain Sword" on his shoulder in the other. His gray robe was covered in dust, making him look old and disheveled.

But this ugly man was calm and composed, walking slowly on the water, like a fairy in a painting.

Suddenly, a clear voice drifted on the breeze and through the petals, as if speaking softly in one's ear, creating a relaxed and carefree atmosphere.

"Brother Lang, bring some wine up the mountain! Wouldn't it be delightful to drink with a sword?"

Lang Fanyun looked up at the towering mountain and grinned, "Good lad, you're ordering me around now!"

(End of this chapter)