Chapter 164: Chapter 2: Becoming a Disciple, Learning the Arts, Receiving Gifts

The middle-aged Daoist laughed heartily. "Good disciple! I am not alone on my path!"

After his laughter, he looked at Fang Cheng and said solemnly, "In cultivation, one must first have ambition, second, have knowledge, and third, have perseverance. With ambition, you will never be content with mediocrity. With knowledge, you will know the Great Dao is endless and never dare to become complacent with a single achievement. To be like a river god gazing upon the sea, or a frog in a well peering at the heavens—these are the ignorant. With perseverance, there is nothing you cannot accomplish. Not one of these three can be missing."

As he spoke, he pointed to the ancestral master painting of the Yinluo Sect’s founder. "The Ancestral Master was a Dharma Realm cultivator from the Netherworld Sect of the Mingcang Domain. As his successors, we must aspire to surpass his realm."

Hearing this, Fang Cheng felt a heroic passion swell within him and said in a deep voice, "I will heed your teachings, Master."

The Daoist continued, "As for external resources—wealth, companions, techniques, and location—fight for them when you can. However, do not try to force the hand of unpredictable fate, lest you stray onto the wrong path."

Fang Cheng felt that the Daoist’s every word resonated deep in his heart. He couldn’t help but nod in agreement, not making any connection to what Ye Yan had mentioned about the "Si Hu Studio Master of Demon Lion Peak."

In reality, the Daoist taught four principles.

In addition to aspiring for greatness, understanding the endlessness of the Dao, and persevering, there was also the need to "know the heavens and understand one’s fate"!

The master and disciple walked out of the Ancestral Hall, mounted their escape lights, and flew to Demon Lion Peak.

The mountain was shaped like a male lion roaring at the heavens. Ancient trees towered over it, steep cliffs soared high, and strange rock formations stood in groves. Waterfalls hung like sashes, creating a scene that was both spiritually elegant and magnificently wild.

From a distance, a vast sea of clouds billowed, and the "demon lion" appeared to be roaring at the sky—a truly soul-stirring sight.

The two arrived at the peak and entered the Daoist’s Cave Mansion.

The Daoist wasted no time and immediately began to test Fang Cheng’s Sword Technique and cultivation. Afterward, he imparted the insights of past Yinluo Sect masters on cultivating the Netherworld Sword Technique, as well as the many sword techniques derived from it.

These Sword Techniques originated from the four forms of the Netherworld Sword Technique—Celestial Ghost, Cold Moon, Nether Diagram, and Immortal Slayer. They expanded from simplicity to complexity, each with its own subtleties, making them suitable for people of different dispositions.

Until now, Fang Cheng had relied entirely on the mysterious Golden Talisman to enhance his comprehension and grasp the true meaning of Daoist arts.

However, he lacked a renowned master’s guidance on the finer details.

After just a few exchanges, the Daoist could see that while Fang Cheng’s Sword Technique appeared sublime, his foundation was actually severely lacking.

In the Daoist’s words, Fang Cheng’s Sword Technique was good enough for bullying common cultivators, but if he were to face a true top-tier Sword Cultivator, relying solely on Sword Heart Clarity, Sword Qi Thunder Sound, and Sword Light Division wouldn’t be nearly enough.

In other words, while Fang Cheng might possess immense "talent," the time and effort he had dedicated to his Sword Technique were nowhere near sufficient.

Fang Cheng knew his own situation best. Now that he had the foremost Sword Cultivator in the Abyssal Marsh to guide him, how could he not be content?

The Daoist selected four Sword Techniques, each corresponding to one of the four forms of the Netherworld Sword Technique, and had Fang Cheng practice them a thousand times every day.

These four Sword Techniques were all created by past masters of the Yinluo Sect who had cultivated to the Life Soul Realm, and their foundations were rooted in the Netherworld Sword Technique.

Even though Fang Cheng’s sword light was exceptionally fast and his Magical Power was far more abundant than that of his peers, practicing four Sword Techniques a thousand times a day was an immense struggle; he could barely manage to complete the task.

According to the Daoist, only through such arduous training could his sword light become progressively faster, allowing him to be unpredictable when facing an enemy.

One sword to shatter all techniques!

By the tenth day, Fang Cheng had become so proficient with the four Sword Techniques that he could complete his daily practice in less than a day.

At this point, the Daoist would suppress his own cultivation to the Early Life Talisman Stage and spar with him.

After another month of this, Fang Cheng’s Sword Technique advanced at a divine pace, progressing by leaps and bounds. Even he was astounded by his own improvement.

This progress was reflected directly on the mysterious Golden Talisman: his comprehension of the Netherworld Sword Technique had increased dramatically for the first time without him relying on Creation Points! 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

[Talisman Master] Fang Cheng

[Divine Power Technique]

Netherworld Sword Technique: Greater Mastery (29,999/50,000)

Creation Points: 0

...

A master is one who imparts the Dao, teaches their craft, and resolves confusion.

After cultivating in Sun Fuguo’s Cave Mansion for many days, Fang Cheng finally came to deeply understand the true meaning of that phrase from his past life.

When he finally walked out of the Cave Mansion, he felt as if he were waking from a dream.

Sun Fuguo had arranged a Cave Mansion for him on Demon Lion Peak.

Yinluo Island had a Tier Three Spiritual Vein, and its Spiritual Qi was far denser than on the Ye Family’s Xiaocang Island. From now on, he would naturally make his home on Demon Lion Peak.

Aside from Sun Fuguo’s own line of disciples, there were also many Inner Sect Elders and True Disciples on Demon Lion Peak.

However, since his arrival, Fang Cheng had been focused on arduously practicing his Sword Technique and hadn’t had a chance to meet any of them.

On this day, he took a temporary leave from Sun Fuguo, claimed his new Cave Mansion, and refined its restrictive Array to gain control. After tidying up, he left Yinluo Island and returned to Xiaocang Island.

As Madam Ye’s son-in-law, his promotion to the Life Talisman stage naturally called for a grand Life Talisman Ceremony.

The Ye Family had begun preparations the moment he entered the Ancestral Hall.

Now that he was back on the island, the ceremony was scheduled to officially begin the very next day.

Many members of the Ye Family handled the arrangements. Fang Cheng simply followed the guidance of a Steward Disciple, went through each of the procedures, and made a round of toasts to the guests. With that, the event was considered a success.

A great many guests attended the ceremony. Almost all the major families from the Abyssal Marsh sent representatives. In addition, people Fang Cheng knew, like Lu Wei, Wang Xingzhi, Chen Yu Yan, Feng Mo, Wang Pan, and Liu Shiyan, all came bearing congratulatory gifts.

Lu Wei was fine; she had long known Fang Cheng’s future was limitless. She was merely surprised that his cultivation had caught up to hers in such a short time.

Now, within the Yinluo Sect, given Fang Cheng’s status as a True Disciple, even she, an Outer Elder, had to lower her head and show him respect.

As for Wang Xingzhi and the other Outer Disciples from his cohort, they felt the distance between themselves and Fang Cheng growing ever wider.

If they could still faintly glimpse his back after he entered the Inner Sect two years ago, he was now an existence ’too high to be reached.’

When social circles change, the overlap between them naturally dwindles.

For example, at this ceremony, more than half of the guests who came to offer gifts were Life Talisman Cultivators. Among the rest, the majority were Inner Sect Disciples.

Among the honored guests, there were even two Inner Sect Elders!

One was from the Ye Family. He cultivated on Wo Yun Peak and rarely participated in the Ye Family’s worldly affairs. Although his name was on the roster of the Ye Family Elders’ Meeting, he almost never attended.

But this time, the Ye Family had produced a genius son-in-law who was favored by the Peak Master of Demon Lion Peak. His fame had skyrocketed, attracting many heavyweight guests, so this Ye Family Elder had taken the time to return to Xiaocang Island.

His presence was a subtle show of support for the Ye Family.

The other Inner Sect Elder was from Demon Lion Peak. He was Fang Cheng’s second senior brother and was also at the Mid-stage Life Talisman Cultivation.

Including Fang Cheng, Sun Fuguo now had a total of seven disciples under his tutelage.

Three of them had come this time. Besides his second senior brother, his third senior brother and fifth senior sister were also present. The latter two were both True Disciples.

His other fellow disciples were all occupied with their own affairs and could not attend.

「After the festivities.」

Fang Cheng and Ye Yan returned to the Cyan Demon Cliff Jade Tower and began to sort through the congratulatory gifts from the ceremony’s guests.

Most of the ordinary gifts weren’t particularly valuable, serving merely as tokens of goodwill.

These included rare treasures and curios, ancient zithers and paintings, Spirit Wine and Spirit Tea, rare books, fine silks and brocades, and even Immortal Birds and Spiritual Beasts...

Some guests, however, intended to curry favor with the Ye Family and Fang Cheng. They had put considerable thought into their gifts, inquiring about Fang Cheng’s preferences in advance to ensure their presents catered to his tastes.

After Ye Yan and Die’Er sorted through the gifts, they found quite a few ’useful’ items.

There was a complete Tier Two Array, a gift from the Dong Family of Ao Mountain Island. It came with an additional offer of a concubine, presented via a portrait album; if the master of the house was pleased, she would be sent over at once.

There was a Tier Two Flying Sword, gifted by his second senior brother, Huang Shen.

There was a Second-Order Magical Artifact, a Flying Jade Ship, from the Feng Family of Flame Demon Island.

There was also a Tier Two Talisman Beast, from the Wang Family of Chixia Island.

’The Wang Family’s gift was a bit strange; it seemed Wang Yuntian hadn’t been involved...’

Additionally, there was a large quantity of flesh and blood from Tier Two Demon Beasts. These were sent as gifts by those who had heard of Fang Cheng’s hobby of Gu-refining, hoping to leave a good impression.

To Fang Cheng’s surprise, he also received many decorative objects and statues carved from Dao Pattern Spirit Jade during the ceremony.

After touching them one by one, he reaped 31,368 Creation Points!

Playing on his reputation for ’fancying beautiful women,’ a total of nine families, including the Dong Family, had sent portrait albums of concubines for his appraisal and selection.

How could Fang Cheng possibly flip through them one by one and pass judgment right in front of Ye Yan? He simply laughed and told Ye Yan to refuse them all. He wouldn’t accept a single one!

...