Courtyard Check-in: Starting with a Small World of Cultivation

As midnight approached, the Western Hills were shrouded in the darkness of late autumn.

Chen Yu lay in ambush behind a rock, activating his Spiritual Eye Technique, which allowed him to clearly see the scene within a twelve-zhang radius. Halfway up the mountain, figures thronged around the ruins of the Earth God Temple. Twenty-five Hongmen disciples were scattered on guard, two light machine guns mounted on high ground, their muzzles pointed at the valley below. Elders Zhao Tiangang and Zhao Tianxiong stood at the entrance, with over twenty bundles of explosives piled beside them.

There is still a quarter of an hour until midnight.

Chen Yu contacted the fake man number one telepathically: "What's the situation on the perimeter?"

"Zhao Tieying and his four men are in position. Explosives have been placed on the east and west ridges and can be detonated at any time."

Where is Huang Wenbin?

"We held him captive in a cave behind the Earth God Temple. He confessed the whole plan—kidnapping Qin Huairu was to force her to reveal the secret of the Qin family's bloodline, as they suspected the Qin family were descendants of the Taoist Xuanzhen."

Chen Yu's heart sank; it was just as he had imagined.

"Master, there's one more thing." The voice of the fake man number one was solemn. "We found a draft telegram on Huang Wenbin. The content was 'After succeeding on the Double Ninth Festival, blow up the entrance and leave no survivors.' It was signed... Hong Kong Hongmen Headquarters."

A cold glint flashed in Chen Yu's eyes. The Hongmen not only wanted to pass on their legacy, but also to silence witnesses!

"Proceed according to plan, detonate the outer explosives precisely at midnight."

"yes!"

Chen Yu regained his composure and focused his attention on what was ahead. He took out an invisibility talisman and affixed it to his chest, infusing it with spiritual energy. His body gradually became transparent—not truly disappearing, but a visual illusion caused by the distortion of light. He had to move slowly, or he would be exposed.

He slid down the hillside silently like a falling leaf, using the shadows of rocks and trees to meander towards the entrance of the secret vault. Fifty zhang, thirty zhang, ten zhang... only one last stretch of open ground remained before the entrance.

Just then, Zhao Tianxiong suddenly turned his head and twitched his nose a few times: "Senior brother, there's a living person's presence."

Zhao Tiangang closed his eyes to sense his surroundings, and after a moment opened them: "There is someone lurking thirty feet away in the northwest direction."

Chen Yu felt a chill run down his spine—the perception of a Qi Refining stage cultivator!

He immediately activated the second invisibility talisman, held his breath, and activated the breath-concealing technique from the "Tai Xuan Zhen Jing". His entire body seemed to turn into a stone, with no breath left.

Zhao Tiangang shook his head in confusion: "It's disappeared again... Could it be just my imagination?"

"Better safe than sorry." Zhao Tianxiong waved his hand. "Third brother, take five men and search the northwest direction!"

Five Hongmen disciples, armed with guns, crept towards Chen Yu. The distance closed: ten zhang, five zhang, three zhang...

Chen Yu gripped his peach wood sword tightly, calculating the opportune moment to strike. He couldn't expose himself here, or all his efforts would be in vain.

Just as the Hongmen disciples at the front were only a foot away from him, three loud explosions rang out in the distance: "Boom! Boom! Boom!"—Zhao Tieying had detonated the outer explosives!

The sound of the explosion echoed through the valley, and flames shot into the sky!

"Enemy attack!" The Hongmen disciples were shocked and immediately turned their guns around.

"East ridge! And the west ridge too!" the sentry shouted.

Zhao Tiangang's expression changed: "We've fallen into a trap! Third brother, take ten men to the east side, fourth brother, take ten men to the west side, guard the flanks! Second brother, you come with me into the secret vault. When midnight arrives, we'll retrieve the inheritance first!"

The crowd split up, leaving only Zhao Tiangang, Zhao Tianxiong, and four trusted disciples at the entrance.

An opportunity! Chen Yu activated the Earth Escape Talisman, his body sinking into the ground, moving through the soil. The feeling of Earth Escape was peculiar; he was surrounded by compacted earth and rocks, and his spiritual sense could barely perceive his direction. The eight-zhang distance was covered in an instant, and when he emerged from underground, he was already behind a boulder three zhang behind the entrance.

The entrance to the secret vault was a smooth mountain wall, intricately carved with Bagua (Eight Trigrams) patterns. In the vision of the Spirit Eye Technique, the mountain wall emitted a faint spiritual light—it was the Nine Palaces Spirit Locking Array!

At midnight, the moon is high in the sky.

Moonlight shone on the mountain wall, and the Bagua pattern began to slowly rotate. Zhao Tiangang took out a jade pendant—it was entirely green, engraved with a Taiji pattern, echoing the Bagua pattern on the mountain wall.

"Open!" Zhao Tiangang pressed the jade pendant against the center of the mountain wall.

The mountainside trembled, and a crack slowly opened, allowing only one person to pass through at a time. Zhao Tiangang and Zhao Tianxiong entered first, followed closely by their four disciples.

Now! Chen Yu activated the last invisibility talisman and slid into the crack like a fish just before it closed.

Before them lay a downward-sloping stone staircase, its walls inlaid with glowing fluorite that provided dim illumination. Chen Yu remained invisible, maintaining a distance of ten zhang from the six people in front of him, his spiritual sense fully activated, perceiving everything around him.

The stone steps are about a hundred steps long, leading to a spacious stone chamber. Inside, there are more than a dozen wooden boxes, some of which have rotted away, revealing gold and silver utensils, jade and jewelry inside.

"First floor, storage room." Zhao Tianxiong glanced around. "All mundane items. Let's continue downwards."

On the other side of the stone chamber was a stone door with the words "Dan Shu Fang" (丹书房) carved on it. Zhao Tiangang used the jade pendant to open the door again, and the six of them entered the second floor.

The scene on this floor made Chen Yu's heart race—on the left were rows of bookshelves, although most of the bamboo slips and books had weathered, a few were still well preserved; on the right was the alchemy room, complete with alchemy furnaces, medicine cabinets, and utensils, and the bronze alchemy furnace in the center was even emitting a faint spiritual light!

"Found it!" Zhao Tianxiong excitedly walked towards the bookshelf. "Senior brother, there are at least three complete cultivation techniques here!"

Zhao Tiangang headed straight for the alchemy furnace, reaching for a pill the size of a longan. Just as his fingers were about to touch the pill, the furnace suddenly erupted with a blinding golden light!

"Ah!" Zhao Tiangang screamed in agony as his palm was charred black.

"Backlash from the formation!" Zhao Tianxiong exclaimed in shock. "This alchemy furnace has protective restrictions!"

The four disciples immediately went on guard. Chen Yu took the opportunity to sneak behind the bookshelf and quickly browsed through them. Most of the books were untouchable and would break at the slightest touch, but three classics made of special materials were well preserved: "Taiqing Danjing", "Five Elements Escape Method", and "Detailed Explanation of Xuanzhen Formation".

Without hesitation, he added the three classic texts to his small world—a new feature of the small world that allows him to remotely collect non-living items within a ten-zhang radius.

The alarm sounded the instant the books disappeared! A mechanism on the bookshelf was triggered, and the entire stone chamber shook!

"Someone's there!" Zhao Tianxiong shouted sharply. "Invisibility spell! Search!"

Four disciples drew their weapons and slashed around the stone chamber. Chen Yu stood against the wall, his presence concealed to the extreme. However, the effect of his invisibility talisman was about to end, lasting at most twenty breaths.

We must go to the third floor!

He looked into the depths of the stone chamber, where there was a bronze door. The door had no keyhole, only nine grooves arranged in a 3x3 grid. In the vision of his spiritual eye, each of the nine grooves emitted different fluctuations of the five elements of spiritual energy.

"We need nine spirit stones with different attributes..." Chen Yu instantly understood. No wonder the Hongmen had prepared explosives; they planned to blow open this door!

Zhao Tiangang also spotted the bronze door: "Second brother, plant the explosives! Blow it open!"

"But senior brother, forcibly breaking down the door might damage the things inside..."

"We can't worry about that now! Someone's already got there first, we have to hurry!"

The four disciples began setting up the explosives. Chen Yu's mind raced with calculations—the explosives would destroy the entire second floor, obliterating all the precious alchemy furnaces, medicine cabinets, and the remaining ancient books.

No! He must get to the third floor first!

Chen Yu's gaze fell upon the bronze door. Nine grooves, representing the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, plus four mutated attributes: wind, thunder, ice, and darkness. What did he possess? Three spirit-patterned pocket watches, imbued with spatial attributes; a peach wood sword, of the wood attribute; spirit spring water, of the water attribute; and...

He suddenly had an idea. He took out three spirit-patterned pocket watches from his pocket and placed them in front of the bronze door according to a specific orientation. Then he took out a peach wood sword and placed the tip of the sword in the central groove; he also took out a small bottle containing spirit spring water and poured the water into the lower right groove.

Six attributes are still missing!

Chen Yu bit his fingertip, using his blood as ink to quickly draw runes on the bronze door—these were "Spirit Simulation Runes" from the intermediate rune-making technique, capable of briefly simulating spiritual energy attributes. He drew six runes in succession: metal, fire, earth, wind, thunder, and ice.

The invisibility effect ends precisely when everything is completed.

"There he is!" A disciple spotted Chen Yu.

But it was too late. The Nine Palaces Spirit Locking Array sensed the nine types of spiritual energy, and the bronze door made a soft "click" sound, slowly opening inward!

"Stop him!" Zhao Tiangang roared.

Four disciples lunged at him. Chen Yu turned and threw out five explosive talismans: "Explode!"

"Boom—" The explosion was amplified in the confined space, and the shockwave sent the four people flying. Chen Yu seized the opportunity to rush into the bronze door, which quickly closed behind him.

The third secret chamber was very small, only about three zhang square. In the center was a stone table, on which were placed three things: a jade slip, a three-foot-long sword, and a small bronze cauldron the size of a palm.

Chen Yu didn't touch it rashly, but first used his spiritual eye technique to observe it. The jade slip contained a large amount of information; the longsword had the ancient seal characters "Xuanzhen" on its blade, and its spiritual light was restrained; the bronze cauldron looked ordinary, but there was a universe inside—it was a miniature spatial magic artifact!

He carefully stored the three items into his small world. The instant he held the jade slip, a flood of information rushed into his mind:

Xuanzhen Daoist, a cultivator in the late Southern Song Dynasty, fled north with his lineage to escape the Yuan army's invasion. He left this secret vault to await a destined inheritor, who can only be inherited by a descendant of the Qin family or by someone recognized by the pocket watch...

The inheritance consists of three parts: the cultivation technique "Xuanzhen Daodao Jing", which can be cultivated to the Golden Core stage; the magical artifacts Xuanzhen Sword and Qiankun Cauldron; and... a map.

The map shows a location in Kowloon, Hong Kong, marked "My cave dwelling, left for posterity".

"Hong Kong..." Chen Yu was shocked. So the true abode of the Xuanzhen Daoist was in Hong Kong!

Just then, a loud bang came from outside the door—the Hongmen were blowing up the door!

The sealed chamber shook, and rubble fell. Chen Yu didn't have time to examine it closely; he swept all the items in the stone chamber clean and then took out an earth-遁符 (earth-遁符 is a type of talisman used for earth-遁 ...

"Boom!" The bronze door was blown open, and Zhao Tiangang and Zhao Tianxiong rushed in.

"Boy, hand over the inheritance!" Zhao Tiangang's face was ferocious.

Chen Yu sneered, activated the Earth Escape Talisman, and sank into the ground. But he didn't leave immediately; instead, he unleashed all the remaining explosive talismans—a full twenty!

"Not good! Retreat quickly!" Zhao Tianxiong sensed danger.

late.

Twenty improved explosive talismans detonated simultaneously, with a power equivalent to a hundred pounds of explosives! The entire third level of the secret vault completely collapsed, along with the second and first levels, burying Zhao Tiangang, Zhao Tianxiong, and their four disciples inside!

Chen Yu traversed ten zhang underground before emerging from a mountain wall. Looking back, he saw that the hillside where the secret vault was located had collapsed, and smoke and dust filled the air.

"Master!" Zhao Tieying rushed out of the woods. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Chen Yu said, panting. "What about the people on the outer perimeter of the Hongmen?"

"We took care of eight, and the rest fled when they saw things were going badly," Zhao Tieying said. "Only Xiao Wu was slightly injured. Master, the inheritance..."

Chen Yu took out a book from his bosom (actually a small world) and handed it to Zhao Tieying: "This is the 'Five Elements Escape Technique,' which is what your sect is looking for."

Zhao Tieying took the book with trembling hands, turned to the first page, and immediately burst into tears: "It's it... the Five Elements Escape Technique, lost for three hundred years! Chen Yu, I... I don't know how to thank you..."

"We're friends." Chen Yu patted him on the shoulder. "Take your men and get out of here quickly. The commotion is too loud; someone will be here soon."

"Let's go together!"

"I have other things to take care of."

Watching Zhao Tieying and his three companions disappear into the night, Chen Yu headed towards the cave behind the local temple. Fake Men Number One and Number Two guarded the cave entrance, while inside, Huang Wenbin was tightly bound.

"Boss Chen... Boss Chen, spare me! It was all Boss Li's doing, I was just a gofer..." Huang Wenbin pleaded, crying.

Chen Yu looked at him coldly: "Why is Jia Zhangshi helping you?"

"I...I promised to give her two hundred yuan and also promised to help her son find a job..."

"What's the deal with the telegram from the Hongmen headquarters?"

Huang Wenbin's face turned deathly pale: "You...how did you know...that...that was an order from the main branch to silence them after obtaining the inheritance, to prevent the news from leaking..."

After a moment of silence, Chen Yu searched Huang Wenbin and found the original telegram and an account book that recorded all of Boss Li's transactions and network of relationships in mainland China.

"Clean it up thoroughly," Chen Yu ordered the imposter.

"Yes."

He stepped out of the cave and looked eastward. The sky was already turning a pale white; the Double Ninth Festival had passed.

When Chen Yu returned to Beixinqiao, it was already broad daylight. He silently scaled the wall and entered the courtyard. Warm light shone from the windows of the new house—Qin Huairu hadn't slept all night.

Pushing open the door and entering the room, Qin Huairu immediately threw herself into his arms: "You're back...Are you alright? I was so worried..."

"It's okay, it's all taken care of." Chen Yu hugged her tighter, feeling her body trembling. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"I can't sleep... I'm holding this, waiting for you." Qin Huairu opened her palm, the defensive array plate already warm from her grip.

A surge of tenderness welled up in Chen Yu's heart. For this person, it was all worth it.

Three days later, Chen Yu boarded a train bound for Shanghai.

On the platform, Qin Huairu, her slightly protruding belly, fought back tears: "Write to me when you arrive... Take care of yourself..."

"Yes, you too." Chen Yu gently stroked her belly. "By the time I get back, the baby should be born."

He Yuzhu, Zhang Xiulan, Liu Yuhua, and Wang Jianjun all came to see him off. Wang Jianjun handed over an envelope: "Xiao Chen, this is a letter of introduction written for you by Director Sun. When you get to Shanghai, you can find your colleagues at the Mechanical Research Institute; they will take care of you."

"Thank you, Brother Wang!"

The train whistle blared. Chen Yu stood at the train window, watching the figures on the platform gradually disappear into the distance, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

In these three months, he went from a lost soul who had traveled from another world to gaining a foothold in this courtyard world: he had a home, a lover, children, a career, and even received the inheritance of the Taoist Xuanzhen.

But this is only the beginning.

The learning in Shanghai, the retreat in Hong Kong—the road ahead is still long.

He knew that no matter where he went, this courtyard house, this small courtyard, and this person would always be his roots.

As the train accelerated, the outline of Beijing gradually blurred.

Chen Yu leaned back in his seat, his consciousness sinking into his inner world. Three heirloom treasures floated silently beside the spiritual spring: a jade slip, the Xuanzhen Sword, and the Qiankun Cauldron.

He reached out and touched the jade slip, and the complete cultivation method of the "Mysterious True Scripture" unfolded in his mind—it was a more profound Great Dao than the "Tai Xuan True Scripture," pointing directly to the Golden Core.

The Xuanzhen Sword hummed softly, as if responding to its new master's touch.

Although the Qiankun Cauldron is small, it has a space of ten zhang square inside, which can store living things—meaning that he can bring important people and items with him!

"Hong Kong..." Chen Yu murmured to himself.

After I return from Shanghai and after the baby is born, perhaps... I should consider moving south.

But that's for later.

Now, he needs to focus on his studies, improve himself, and lay a more solid foundation for his family and future.

The train rumbled forward, crossing the North China Plain and heading towards an unknown distance.

And Chen Yu's story continues.