When Zi Yuan returned to her residence, she found that Li Yundong had been waiting in the living room for a long time.
The young, handsome leader sat on the sofa in the living room like a statue, not moving as he thought about something quietly.
The moment Zi Yuan caught sight of Li Yundong, she immediately asked, “What’s happened? Have you found Second Martial Uncle?”
Li Yundong looked up at her and said, “I found her. It’s Cao Yi!”
Zi Yuan was slightly shocked. “It’s really her? Where is she?”
Li Yundong sighed softly and frowned. “I don’t know. She got away.”
Zi Yuan turned pale with fright. “Again? This is really not good!”
Li Yundong looked worried. He thought for a while and said, “The only thing I am glad about now is that just before Yan Fang got away, I managed to seriously injure her Yang Spirit body with my Mahamudra. Now, although she is still on the run, at least she can’t do anything evil for a while.”
Zi Yuan could not help but ask, “Then do you know why Second Shibo insisted on killing Cao Kefei?”
Li Yundong shook his head and said, “The only thing I can conclude is that Yan Fang will definitely appear again, so all we have to do now is find a way to catch the Yang Spirit of that cultivator! Otherwise, the next time she appears, we won’t be able to catch her Yang Spirit, and all will be in vain!”
The dark eyebrows of Zi Yuan were tightly knitted. She looked around and winked at Li Yundong, and he instantly understood her hint. The two of them went out to the open space of the roof. After confirming that there was no one around, she whispered, “There is one of the five ancestors of Taoism, Zhang Boduan. You should know that, right?”
Li Yundong nodded. “I know. You mentioned him before. He was the Great Master of the Southern Jindan Sect, who recommended ‘Life-Karmamudra’. He was also the founder of the Ziyang Sect.”
Zi Yuan nodded slightly. “In Zhang Boduan’s ‘Wuzhen Book’, it was written, ‘you don’t know what’s good for you, and you can’t understand what’s good for you. You raise a white tiger at home, and give birth to a bright pearl like a full moon. You guard the medicinal furnace to see the fire, but keep your mind at ease and let nature take its course. All the Yin is stripped, and the Dan matures. We jump out of confinement and live for tens of thousands of years.’ You can now be regarded as a master in the cultivation world, so you should know what this cultivation poem means, right?”
Li Yundong was a little curious as to why Zi Yuan had suddenly begun to recite the poem from a place thousands of miles away from the question, but he still replied, “I know that the first two sentences of this poem refer to the cultivation of the Zhuji phase. Refining the Neidan in the True Fire of the Dantian is like producing lotus seeds. The following two sentences refer to the cultivation of the Neidan after the Zhuji phase. The final sentence refers to when the cultivator’s Yin Spirit has been cultivated and the Neidan completely matures and reaches the top level of cultivation, which is the Yangshen phase.”
“Once a person has cultivated to the Yangshen phase, he can escape from his confinement and not be bound by life, aging, illness, or death. He can live for ten thousand years or longer, enduring for as long as the heavens.”
Zi Yuan gave a slight smile that hinted at her admiration. “That’s right. You are someone who has cultivated to the Yangshen phase. Since you understand the Yang Spirit’s way of cultivation, you should also be aware that the Yang Spirit is an evolutionary step after the mixed Spirit Qi. The Yang Spirit has no substance, but it is useful to the body. If you can ‘gather’ it, it will be the right shape, and if you cannot, it will be Qi. It can be hidden and dispersed, and it can be changed in any way! With a person with such a level of cultivation, if you want to catch their Yang Spirit, it will be more difficult than reaching the heavens! Unless…”
Li Yundong was a little disheartened at first, but when he heard the last word, he became energetic again and hurriedly pressed, “Unless?”
Zi Yuan thought for a bit, hesitated for a moment, and eventually said, “Unless there is a special magical item, as well as a magic circle!”
“What special magical item and magic circle?” Li Yundong asked.
“Actually, you’ve seen this magical item before. It was the burning thumb pot that Du Fei wanted to exchange with your Renyuan Jindan!”
Li Yundong was slightly shocked. “The burning thumb pot? Are you talking about Fahai’s magical item?”
Zi Yuan nodded. “That’s right. This is a very, very famous Buddhist magical item. It was very sly for Du Fei to exchange it with you. Because he is a cultivator of Taoism, he can’t use the Buddhist magical items, so he sold it at a cheap price and gave it to you as a bonus. His keeping this magical item was like a pearl being hidden in the dark. It’s easy for the cultivation masters of Buddhism to covet something like that. But if this magical item fell into your hands, its power would be redoubled!”
“You’ve been talking for a long time, but you still haven’t revealed what function this magical item has. How can it capture the Yang Spirit of cultivators?”
Zi Yuan chuckled. “The burning thumb pot is a magic treasure that Fahai used to subdue demons. When it’s used, not only can it unleash a strong Buddhist power with which demons and Evil Qi can be subdued, it can also capture the Spiritual Qi of the world! Back then, Fahai relied on the burning thumb pot to subdue demons and evil energy, as well as to capture the spirit Qi of Heaven and Earth. That’s how he managed to subdue the thousand-year-old White Snake!”
Li Yundong couldn’t help but ask, “Didn’t Du Fei say that it was only a legend last time? Why does it sound like it’s actually real?”
Zi Yuan smiled mysteriously. “The Legend of the White Snake was a story created to make Fahai sound like a big rebel. But in fact, in the history of cultivation, Fahai was a famous demon-subduing master. Pei Xiu, the prime minister of the Tianbao years of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem at that time, which went: ‘I sent my son to Buddhism with sorrow. After a long time as an official, I should plant good roots.’ This poem was about his son, Fahai! Therefore, his son Fahai was also called Pei Toutuo, and these records were also written by the Seng Yingzhi of the Southern Tang Dynasty’s ‘Toutuo Rock Note’. It said that ‘Jinshan used to be called Fuyu, but because of Pei Toutuo finding gold by the river, in the Zhenyuan 21st years of the Tang Dynasty, general Li Qi reported to the emperor, so he was renamed to Jinshan.’
“At the same time, there was a record in the ‘Jinsan Monograph’. ‘The Python Cave, on the side of the right peak, is steep and dangerous. Once upon a time, the white python swallowed people, and Pei Toutuo tamed the Python to rebuild the Jinglan.’ Zhang Shangying’s poet in the Song Dynasty wrote, ‘The half stone room is Zen land. It is a name that cannot be worn down. The white python turned into a dragon and returned to the sea, leaving an old Toutuo in the rock.'”
Speaking of this, Zi Yuan smiled. “From this, it can be seen that the tale of Fahai subduing the white snake is indeed true!”
Li Yundong listened to Zi Yuan explain the history in detail. She was very familiar with what she said, sounding really knowledgeable and amazing.
He secretly sighed at Zi Yuan’s profound knowledge, then said, “I understand! The Yang Spirit is a spirit body. Spiritual Qi is extremely strong, and the burning thumb pot can capture the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, so as long as the Yang Spirit gets close to it, the Yang Spirit’s spiritual Qi will also automatically be absorbed?”
Zi Yuan nodded and said appreciatively, “Yes, that’s right! However, it’s not enough for us to rely on the burning thumb pot, because the spiritual Qi between heaven and earth is often loose, and naturally, it’s easily caught. The Evil Qi of those demons is likewise restrained by the burning thumb pot’s Buddhist power, so their spiritual Qi can be easily caught. However, the Yang Spirit of cultivators is an extremely powerful spiritual energy body. There’s no Evil Qi in them, and cultivators are naturally not restrained by the burning thumb pot. Moreover, the Yang Spirit is often condensed and vigorous, and it’s really difficult for one to use the burning thumb pot’s spiritual energy to grab it. Even if you were to use all your strength, it’s not 100% likely that you’d be able to catch the other’s Yang Spirit.”
Li Yundong asked again, “Then is there any other way?”
“Yes!” Zi Yuan said with a confident nod.
“What is it?”
“Last time, when you accidentally broke into Xiyuan Temple, you broke a magic circle and let two golden snakes loose. Do you remember?”
Li Yundong’s eyes lit up. “Ah, you mean…”
Zi Yuan nodded. “Yep! The magic circle you destroyed last time was the Bafang Killing Circle of the Buddhism Sect! That magic circle has an extremely powerful imprisonment effect. As long as the cultivation level of the person entering the circle is not above double that of the cultivator maintaining the circle, they will find themselves imprisoned!”
Li Yundong suddenly understood and said, “Got it. So as long as we lure Yan Fang into the Bafang Killing Circle and use the burning thumb pot to extract her Spiritual Qi, she will be forced to surrender?”
Zi Yuan nodded slightly. “Exactly!”
Li Yundong clapped his hands and said loudly, “Well, I’ll go and find Du Fei now and then go to Master Puren of the Xiyuan Temple! I’ll exchange the Heavenly Jindan Technique with Du Fei for the burning thumb pot. I believe he will be willing to trade. Besides, Master Puren of the Xiyuan Temple is righteous and will definitely want to help us!”
Seeing that Li Yundong was full of confidence, Zi Yuan hesitated for a moment before saying, “Li Yundong, can I ask you for a favor?”
Li Yundong had known Zi Yuan for a good while now. He had always been going to her for favors, but he had never seen her begging him before. He immediately shivered and said in a serious tone, “Zi Yuan, feel free to ask. As long as it’s within my capabilities, I will definitely do it!”
Her eyes were fixed on him, and her heart was churning. It could be said that she had watched him develop from a novice little by little. In the past, he had just been a reckless boy, and she had not liked him at all.
But now, his growth speed was utterly amazing. Even when her Shibo saw him, she hadn’t dared to fight and had fled in a panic!
Zi Yuan knew that her idea was the equivalent of tying a rope around Yan Fang’s neck. If Yan Fang delivered herself to their door, Li Yundong would tighten the noose, and Yan Fang would have no way to escape!
Although the Zi Yuan had determined that Yan Fang had already entered the Devil’s Tao and her mind had been blinded by hatred, she still couldn’t bear it. After all, she was her own Shibo and they came from the same sect!
Zi Yuan said softly, “Li Yundong, can you promise me that if Yan Fang is willing to let go of the past, and if she is willing to hand over Ao Wushuang, you will let her live?”
Although he had already guessed what she would say, when he heard this, he still hesitated. After a while, he looked up and said seriously, “Zi Yuan, you are my half teacher. If I really catch Yan Fang and she is willing to hand over Ao Wushuang, I will spare her life. Consider this a return of the kindness you have shown me as my master.”
Zi Yuan sighed lightly. “Then I’ll thank you on behalf of the Linggong Sect. No matter what, she’s still my Shibo. If you’re willing to let her off, I’ll be very grateful to you.”
Li Yundong smiled and said wryly, “However, I believe that she is the kind of person who will not give up until the bitter end!”
Zi Yuan was filled with worry, and she frowned slightly. “Then there’ll be no other way. This is her fate, and the fate of our Linggong Sect!”
Seeing her unhappiness, Li Yundong frowned. Suddenly, his heart softened and he sighed. “Forget it. As long as she is willing to hand over Ao Wushuang, I will let her go regardless of whether she repents or not. But this will only happen once. There won’t be the next time!”
Zi Yuan knew that the grudge between Yan Fang and the Fox Zen School was very deep. The fact that Li Yundong was able to be so lenient… it could be said that he had made the biggest concession possible. She was a little moved in her heart, and she whispered softly, “Thank you.”
The two looked into each other’s eyes before quickly avoiding each other. It was as if two small sparks had suddenly collided in the dark night, lighting up a little bit and quickly fading away.
Li Yundong felt that there was something off with the atmosphere. He coughed and quickly changed the subject. “By the way, I have another important thing to trouble you with!”
Zi Yuan had been worried that Li Yundong and her Shibo would fight to the death, and the idea filled her with discomfort. Now that she had received Li Yundong’s promise, she felt relieved and had relaxed a lot. She smiled and said in a voice as soft as spring grass, “What can I do for you, Xianren Li? I can do anything you want.”
