The God of the Human Realm!

Chapter 96 Four Hundred Years Ago, the Boundless Daoist

Living in this world, Hong Yuan would not be pretentious about love and romance, nor would he be hesitant and timid even if he had feelings for someone.

Hong Yuan was originally an ordinary person. Even though his martial arts skills are gradually becoming extraordinary, he would not say that he would not be tempted by beauty, power, gold and silver.

Even gods and Buddhas couldn't do that.

Before one can casually say that one regards power as fleeting clouds, beauty as mere bones, and gold and silver as dirt, one must at least have possessed them in the past.

An increase in understanding naturally leads to an improvement in one's state of mind, but that is a restraint that allows one to do as one pleases, rather than a state of being without desires or wants.

Besides, if they are so close by and not brought into the house, how can the Tao family do their best?

It's too troublesome to cultivate your own confidants; it's better to have others voluntarily submit to you and become your confidants.

After all, if the ultimate goal is achieved and the [Tai Sui Blessed Land] is opened, one's martial prowess will surely be extraordinary, and there will be no need to worry about subordinates becoming too powerful.

After bathing and changing, Hong Yuan carried Tao Xiyue back to her room, tucked her in, and she fell into a deep sleep, exhausted.

Hong Yuan returned to the library feeling refreshed.

"Son!"

Xu Qingjing's mind had gradually calmed down, but when she saw Hong Yuan's figure and thought of her bold words earlier, a blush appeared on her fair face again.

After giving a graceful bow, she hurriedly carried a pile of books to a table in the room, and said with her head down, "Young master, these are books about magical techniques that Qingjing has temporarily compiled."

"You've worked hard!" Hong Yuan smiled and nodded, then sat down on the futon behind the desk.

Xu Qingjing was very close. Besides the fragrance of a young girl, there was also a strange and alluring scent that made him glance at her.

Xu Qingjing's ears turned bright red instantly, her eyes darting around as she stammered, "Young Master, why are you looking at me like that?"

Hong Yuan beckoned and patted the futon beside him. "Come here and let's read together."

Xu Qingjing bit her lip, feeling both shy and somewhat pleased, and slowly moved to sit down next to Hong Yuan.

The two were very close, and Xu Qingjing could even feel the heat from the other's body, which was even hotter than the embers in the bronze furnace.

Hong Yuan sat upright, his eyes fixed straight ahead, his attention entirely on the book in his hands, intently studying it as he rapidly turned the pages.

Xu Qingjing's gaze followed the pages, but her reading speed was far slower than Hong Yuan's, and she wasn't actually interested in the content.

So after watching for a while, he gradually focused his gaze on Hong Yuan's face. Seeing his handsome and refined appearance, and his eyes sparkling like stars, he couldn't help but stare in a daze.

Suddenly, Xu Qingjing's body trembled.

She felt a large hand slip inside her collar, play with it for a while, and then move it down, with a soft hiss, the fingertips untying the sash of her ruqun.

Xu Qingjing let out a soft cry, her body went limp, and she wrapped her arms around Hong Yuan's neck, clinging to him like a tree kangaroo.

Hong Yuan frowned, slightly annoyed that the interruption was disturbing his reading, but he dared not be distracted. The magic was profound and worth spending a lot of time on.

Many books contained only fragmentary records, but after reading a few, Hong Yuan discovered some accounts of what happened after the Xuan Dian. After the calamity of Qiongtian, most of the Xuan Dian was destroyed, with only a small portion circulating among the people, causing great chaos throughout the world for the next century.

Until more than four hundred years ago, a Taoist priest who called himself "Wuliang" suddenly appeared. He entered the capital alone and won over many princes, nobles and powerful families in the capital in just three months.

Later, Wuliang Daoren was summoned by the emperor at the time. The emperor and Daoist talked all night. Three days later, the emperor appointed Wuliang Daoren as the national teacher of the court on the golden throne and set up a government office called "Jiantianfu" under the control of Wuliang Daoren.

After becoming the National Preceptor, Wuliang Daoren devoted himself to collecting all kinds of lost arts and techniques, eliminating many of the sinister methods, and refining them until he left behind more than 180 kinds of techniques, which he compiled into the "Hundred Arts Manual" and stored in the Imperial Observatory.

However, Hong Yuan recalled that he had recently read that the Imperial Observatory had been abolished two hundred years ago because a certain national teacher had committed adultery in the harem, and he did not know whether the "Hundred Arts Manual" still existed.

Hong Yuan flipped through the book in his hand, and on the last page, he actually copied down a passage he had read before.

"What humans cannot do, skill can provide; however, skill is not the way, skill is theft!"

"Stealing the spirit to ascend to great heights, stealing the soul to escape, cutting flesh and blood to feed demons, and exchanging one's spirit for a fleeting moment."

"All arts are debts, and those who perform arts are nothing more than thieves who borrow life."

Hong Yuan had seen the first sentence of this passage in Qin Fuzi's "Miscellaneous Morsels from the Sea of ​​Things," but he did not record its source.

But the answer is finally revealed in this book: it is the annotation of the Boundless Taoist on the "Hundred Arts Manual".

“Cutting flesh and blood to feed the spirit…” Hong Yuan thought of the “grass-flying” technique in “Miscellaneous Morsels from the Unknown Sea”, which required worshipping a snake as a mother and feeding it with one’s own blood and essence.

At the time, Yang Erhu called it a "precious technique" and was quite tempted, simply because the backlash from this technique was extremely low and completely within a tolerable range.

Hong Yuan continued to consult other books, summarizing and synthesizing fragments from each one, gaining more and more insights.

There are many types of magical techniques.

There are techniques of the Five Elements, ingenious mechanisms, secret arts of poison and curses, as well as talismanic spells, medical incantations... These are the most common ones. The truly mysterious ones are some celestial phenomena secrets and spiritual mystic arts.

Hong Yuan discovered a celestial technique called "Mist Locks the City" hidden in the pages of a book. After completing the corresponding ritual, this technique can create a misty fog within a few miles.

While this mist will not kill ordinary people when inhaled, it will cause dizziness, fatigue, and even cause some stagnation of qi and blood in martial arts practitioners.

It may be useless to true masters, but it can be used on the battlefield, and it can be a trump card when two armies clash.

However, performing this technique requires multiple sorcerers, and it has a backlash that affects the lungs and internal organs, causing numerous complications.

Hong Yuanguan was reading through the books, but for some reason, Xu Qingjing was restless beside him, fidgeting and turning, her eyes so moist they seemed to be dripping with water, biting her lower lip as if she was trying her best to endure something.

Just as the desire in his eyes grew stronger and he was about to lose control, heavy footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard, followed by a steady voice from outside the door: "My lord, your subordinate Xie Yansheng has something important to report."

Xu Qingjing gasped softly, then quickly covered her mouth, overwhelmed by a strong sense of shame. She then collapsed into Hong Yuan's arms, resting for a moment before finally standing up, leaning on the table, and hastily turning into the study.

"Come in!" Hong Yuan greeted.

Soon, Xie Yansheng walked in, holding a letter in both hands: "My lord, this is a letter from Wohu Manor."

(End of this chapter)