Huang Rong from The Return of the Condor Heroes: Brother Jing, let's get a divorce.

After finishing his business in the main hall, Yang Guo did not rush to find his female confidantes.

Alone, he walked along the stone path in the backyard toward the library.

The backyard of Chongyang Palace was very quiet. The setting sun cast long shadows, and there was hardly any sound when stepping on the stone slabs.

When the disciples who were sweeping the floor saw him, they would lower their heads and make way for him from a distance, not daring to raise their heads.

Yang Guo walked to the entrance of the Sutra Pavilion and stopped.

The two heavy wooden doors were ajar, and a thin layer of dust covered the two stone lions at the entrance.

The two disciples who were guarding the gate had disappeared; they were probably transferred away during his seclusion.

Yang Guo pushed open the door and went inside.

The bookshelves on the first floor were neat and tidy, and there was much less dust than when he last came, indicating that someone had cleaned them. He didn't linger on the first floor and went straight to the third floor.

The small wooden door at the deepest part of the third floor was ajar again.

A sliver of dim yellow light shone through the crack.

Yang Guo stood outside the door, straightening his collar.

He's never been afraid of people much in his life.

The Eastern Heretic, the Western Poison, the Southern Emperor, and the Northern Beggar—when they meet, they'll argue if they need to, and pretend if they need to.

But this old Taoist priest was different.

The old man saved his life and even taught him the Kanli Technique.

Without this old man, the grass on his grave would be a meter high by now.

Yang Guo took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in," a hoarse voice came from inside.

Yang Guo pushed open the door and went in.

The hut was still the same as before: an oil lamp, a tattered futon, and fragments of bamboo slips scattered on the floor.

The old Taoist priest sat on a futon, his carving knife and tortoise shell gone, with a rough pottery teapot and two chipped teacups in front of him.

It's like they're waiting for someone.

Yang Guo walked up to the old Taoist priest, lifted the hem of his robe, knelt down with a thud, and kowtowed three times.

"I will always remember your great kindness in saving my life."

The three kowtows were sincere, their foreheads hitting the stone slab with a loud thud.

The old Taoist priest picked up the teapot, poured two cups of tea, and began to speak slowly and deliberately.

"Get up, the ground is cold."

Yang Guo stood up, sat cross-legged opposite the old Taoist priest, and took the teacup with the chipped spout.

The tea was lukewarm, and it had a slightly bitter taste reminiscent of pine needles.

"You're just lucky," the old Taoist priest said in a hoarse voice. "The array diagram left by Wang Chongyang saved you; I just gave it a push."

Yang Guo did not believe this explanation.

This old man has extraordinary abilities; there must be a great secret hidden within the Quanzhen Sect.

"Senior instructed me on the Kanli Technique and taught me the method of combining positive and negative true qi. Now I have encountered a new problem." Yang Guo said, unbuttoning his Taoist robe and pointing to his abdomen.

"My lower dantian shattered, but a red and black bead formed inside."

Yang Guo spoke frankly, "This thing is extremely domineering. It absorbs all the internal energy that others transfer to me and then releases extremely pure internal force. It is beyond my control."

Upon hearing this, the old Taoist priest put down his carving knife and placed two withered fingers on Yang Guo's left wrist pulse point.

He closed his eyes and carefully examined the pathways of Yang Guo's meridians.

After a long while, the old Taoist priest finally withdrew his hand.

A glimmer of light shone through his cloudy eyes.

"Have you figured out what's wrong with that bead in your lower dantian?"

Yang Guo nodded.

"I've got a rough idea. This thing can purify true qi. No matter what kind of internal energy you pour in, what comes out is extremely pure innate primordial qi. But it's not under my control. It might not move when I want to use it, and it will start spinning on its own when I don't want it to."

The old Taoist priest stared at Yang Guo's abdomen for a while.

"Do you know where this bead came from?"

"The Golden Wheel Monk shattered my dantian, mixed the Nine Yin Manual (both forward and reverse) and the Kanli Technique together, and finally formed a pill?" Yang Guo tentatively replied.

The old Taoist priest shook his head.

"That bead of yours wasn't made into a ball."

Yang Guo was taken aback.

The old Taoist priest reached out and picked up a withered branch, then drew a circle on the ground.

"You originally had the Nine Yin True Qi that you were practicing orthodoxly, but later you forcibly practiced it in reverse. Orthodox and reversed forces fought each other countless times in your dantian. In addition, you practiced the Kanli Technique diligently without stopping, and three completely different forces were fighting each other in your dantian."

The withered branches drew three lines inside the circle, which intersected with each other.

"Normally, these three forces would have blasted your dantian and internal organs into dust. But fortunately, you've practiced the Kanli Technique quite well, with a solid foundation, and the method of its operation has been engraved into your meridians. This method automatically activated the moment your dantian exploded."

Yang Guo opened his mouth, completely unaware of this detail.

"What is the core of the Kanli Technique? The balance of water and fire. The Nine Yin Manual you practiced orthodoxly belongs to fire, while the Nine Yin Manual you practiced in reverse belongs to water. The two were originally incompatible, but the Kanli Technique's operating method allowed them to form an extremely brief balance at the moment of the explosion. This balance lasted for less than a breath, but it was enough to compress and condense the essence of the three forces."

The old Taoist priest used a withered twig to draw a heavy dot at the intersection of the three lines.

"This is your bead. It's not residue; it's the condensed essence of three forces: the True Nine Yin, the Reverse Nine Yin, and the Kan-Li Technique—all united as one."

Yang Guo's eyes widened.

"Three in one? Doesn't that mean my bead simultaneously contains the internal energy of both the Orthodox and Reverse Nine Yin Manual and the Kan-Li Technique?"

The old Taoist priest didn't answer the question; instead, he asked him a question.

"Do you remember what was written at the end of the Kanli Jue handwritten copy?"

Yang Guo blurted out: "When the Kanli Technique is perfected, Kanli transforms into Qiankun, and the acquired returns to the innate."

"How far do you think you've progressed in your Kanli Technique?"

Yang Guo thought for a moment and honestly replied, "At most 20% or 30%. I only practiced for a few days back then, and before I even got the hang of it, I went to fight Hong Qigong to the death."

The old Taoist priest stared at Yang Guo for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed.

This was the first time Yang Guo had seen the old man smile.

"You're incredibly lucky, kid."

The old Taoist priest shook his head. "Normal cultivation of the Kanli Technique requires at least three to five years to even begin to understand it, and ten years to achieve minor mastery. But you took a wrong path, and by sheer luck, you succeeded."

Yang Guo had a vague guess in his mind, but he didn't rush to speak.

"Your dantian exploded, and the three forces formed that bead. The existence of this bead is precisely the innate primordial energy mentioned in the Kanli Technique. What others need to cultivate for decades to condense, you skipped all the intermediate steps with a near-fatal explosion."

The old Taoist priest put down the withered branch, his tone becoming solemn.

"In other words, your Kan-Li technique is complete."

Yang Guo's finger trembled slightly.

"What about the Qiankun Technique?"

"What's written in the handwritten copy?"

"When the Kanli Formula is perfected, the Qiankun Formula will naturally manifest. Do not seek it, do not rush it, the Dao follows its own course."

Yang Guo silently repeated the sentence to himself.

The old Taoist priest stood up, leaned on his cane, and walked to the window. It was already dark outside, and the stars were beginning to appear.

"You have practiced both the orthodox and inverse Nine Yin Manuals. The orthodox is Qian (☰), and the inverse is Kun (☷). Both of these powers exist within you simultaneously, and they have already completed their initial fusion within that bead."

The old Taoist priest turned around and stared at Yang Guo.

"The Qiankun Technique is not a new skill. It is a state that you will naturally reach after you have completely integrated the orthodox and reverse practices. You don't need to learn it. What you need to do is to go through the Nine Yin Manual from beginning to end again. This time, you don't practice them separately, but simultaneously."

Yang Guo grasped the key point.

"Simultaneously? Practice with the left hand forward and the right hand backward?"

"Two streams of true energy, one positive and one negative, circulate simultaneously within your meridians. Using that bead as an intermediary, they form a perpetual cycle within your body. Positive energy generates negative energy, and negative energy generates positive energy, creating an endless cycle. This is the Qiankun Formula."

Yang Guo remained silent for a long time.

He stood up and bowed deeply to the old Taoist priest once again.

"May I ask your honorable title, senior? I will come to offer incense to you every Qingming Festival from now on."

The old Taoist priest's lips twitched at his words.

"The old Taoist priest isn't dead yet, why are you offering incense?"

"Let's put the debt on our books while we're still alive, and settle it all together later."

Yang Guo, shameless as ever, pressed on, "Since you're not a disciple of the Quanzhen Sect, why have you been guarding this Scripture Pavilion for thirty years?"

The old Taoist priest remained silent for a while.

Thirty years ago, someone told me to wait here for someone destined to be with me.

"Who?"

"Wang Chongyang".

Yang Guo stood there, stunned.

The old Taoist priest, leaning on his cane, slowly walked towards the door. He stopped at the door without turning his head.

"Your women are all quite good. From now on, don't waste your body and practice your skills more. Come find me again when you have mastered the Qiankun Technique. At that time, I have something else to give you."

The footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Yang Guo stood in the empty hut, looking at the circle and three intersecting lines on the ground.

Wang Chongyang made him wait for the destined person.

Thirty years.

This old man waited for thirty years in this dusty attic, just to wait for a madman who could master the unity of righteousness and reversal.

Yang Guo squatted down and reached out to touch the dot in the center of the circle on the ground.

The Secret of Heaven and Earth.

He smiled slightly, stood up, and walked out of the library.

The night breeze was chilly. He touched the spot on his stomach where the bead was, pondering how to start simultaneously circulating the Nine Yin Manual and the Reverse Nine Yin Manual once he got back.

Halfway there, he suddenly remembered something and stopped in his tracks.

The old Taoist priest said there was one more thing he needed to give him.

Wang Chongyang left behind the One-Finger Divine Skill, the Iron Finger Ring, and this old Taoist priest.

So what will this last thing be?