Celestial Demon Starting from Attribute Points-Chapter 49: Fiery Cloud

In the thick fog, the corpses of evil spirits were burning, the white smoke mixed with an extremely chilling aura, accompanied by a dizzying toxin.

Li Xuan bent down, quickly searching through Su Cangyuan’s body.

In the past, he would sneer at the idea of "carrying cultivation techniques on oneself," thinking it impossible—after all, who would take their family wealth out with them? But after understanding the cultivation process of Secret Martial Arts practitioners, he reconsidered.

Demon blood invades the body, killing intent cleanses the soul, and only then can one manifest Secret Martial Arts on the fundamental diagram.

Not everyone has a Spirit of 26 points like him, so they can’t memorize things at a glance.

Therefore, as a practitioner of Secret Martial Arts, carrying the fundamental diagram is normal.

He knew that Wei Yao carried the fundamental diagram of her spear technique with her, preferring to keep it under her pillow while sleeping and inside a hidden pocket of her clothes when awake.

However, he had no intention of asking Wei Yao for that spear technique’s fundamental diagram for now. Firstly, he respected his own people; secondly, he had no intention of developing in the "spear" direction at the moment.

As for Lin Jieniu before, Li Xuan had learned from chatting with Zuo Hong that Lin Jieniu frequented the headquarters of the canal gang to watch the fundamental diagram of "Love-Soul Departing Hooks."

Actually, Lin Jieniu could have carried the fundamental diagram of "Love-Soul Departing Hooks" with him, but for some reason, he didn’t. Li Xuan speculated that perhaps Lin Jieniu himself had a realization: the depths of Secret Martial Arts were too vast for him to grasp, so he dared not look at them daily. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Speaking of it, being able to cultivate at the Grandmaster level is already a testament to one’s excellent Innate Talent. Inwardly, such a genius wants to take it further; outwardly, such a genius wants to slay demons and banish evil. But to resist demons and evil, one must cultivate Secret Martial Arts; yet, once they do, they find themselves gradually transforming into "another kind of demon."

How contradictory it is.

Li Xuan thought that Lin Jieniu might not have been that "lecherous youth shouting everyday ’sister-in-law, I’m my brother’" before he succeeded in cultivating Secret Martial Arts. But once he did, his nature began to twist, and he chose to give in to desires to grow stronger, which led to... he perhaps saw the Secret Martial Arts more clearly, but his twisted nature also reached an unparalleled degree.

While searching through Su Cangyuan’s corpse, Li Xuan pondered.

Thoughts and images flashed through his mind.

Suddenly, his movements paused.

He realized something.

His face-off with Su Cangyuan was a battle of minds, with him calculating Su Cangyuan without his awareness, but after careful observation, he found Su Cangyuan seemed very clear-headed.

Especially that day when General Yuan "forced a confession," Su Cangyuan surprisingly capitulated openly, bowing and scraping, even cutting himself to feed a yellow dog, without a trace of resentment on his face. This... how could a twisted character manage such a thing?

Not only that, Su Cangyuan eliminated dissidents with ruthless means, and excelled at disguise, completely a seasoned fox that strategizes before taking decisive action.

’The extremes of Secret Martial Arts can be changed, at least balanced.

Su Cangyuan knows this method, but he didn’t teach his disciples.’

Li Xuan naturally reached this conclusion.

Swipe.

He suddenly felt a protruding sensation, stopped his hand, slightly pulled open the garment, revealing a scroll inside.

Li Xuan wrapped his hand with cloth, pulled out the scroll, gave it a shake, detected no peculiar smell, and then examined it closely.

On one side of the scroll were tiny illustrations, while the other side was inscribed with the words "Fire Cloud Hand."

He brought it to his eyes, looked at the illustrations for a while, and couldn’t help but be a bit taken aback.

It recorded two sets of recipes.

One was a poison recipe, accompanied by illustrations of the necessary herbs, vivid as if before his eyes.

The other was a medicinal recipe, herbs as above.

Li Xuan wasn’t naive; he understood at a glance.

"Fire Cloud Hand" was clearly the last resort Secret Martial Art Su Cangyuan had just used; once activated, fists like cauldrons, imbued with deadly fire poison capable of incinerating evil spirits, was tremendously formidable.

For agility-oriented cultivation techniques, the fundamental diagram is a stance diagram.

For physique-oriented cultivation techniques, the fundamental diagram is a breathing method.

For strength-oriented cultivation techniques, the fundamental diagram is a pill method.

Clearly, this cultivation technique leans towards strength, not entirely a bone-hardening skill, but evidently a notch above that "Iron Cloak."

As for the cultivation method of "Fire Cloud Hand," Li Xuan could only wait for an opportunity to search for it in the county city in the future.

He continued searching, found some silver notes, and then no more.

Li Xuan quickly picked up the Longsword Su Cangyuan had discarded, equipped it on himself, then cleaned up the scene once more before leaving with audacity.

This time, he hadn’t found the method to "balance the extremities of Secret Martial Arts," but he had some speculations.

He remembered that Mr. Su initially used a swordsmanship.

That swordsmanship was righteous, its moves aimed at wounding rather than killing.

But the "Fire Cloud Hand" method reeked entirely of evilness, each move fatal.

So, could the so-called balance be a combination of one righteous and one evil, practicing two Secret Martial Arts to balance each other out?

However, thinking of this, Li Xuan couldn’t help but sigh deeply: Practicing even one Grandmaster technique filters out so many people due to Innate Talent requirements, let alone practicing two Grandmaster techniques at the same time?

As numerous thoughts flashed by, Li Xuan shelved these musings, recognizing they were mere speculations requiring verification.

The next moment, he was to enter Xiongshan County under Su Cangyuan’s identity.

However, he had no idea what Su Cangyuan intended to do.

Nonetheless, he had a vague feeling it would be related to the Li family.

And now, the first thing he has to do is conceal his identity and meet with Tian Yun, then... go with the flow, and everything will unfold naturally.

This truly tests one’s acting skills.

Previously, deceiving ghosts was possible, but now deceiving familiar disciples makes Li Xuan feel a bit anxious.

...

...

The Li family.

Brocade and Silk Shop.

Tian Yuan was inside the shop without any pretenses, chatting with the weaving women, understanding the real situation of the Li family’s shop to prepare for the production of "Golden Embroidery."

She only left the shop by dusk.

It’s not that she could only stay until dusk, but rather because the flower thief had again surfaced in the county, committing many crimes. As the young wife of the Li family, Tian Yuan naturally had to return to the Li family before dark.

Just as she was stepping into the carriage, she noticed two familiar figures hurriedly approaching from afar.

Tian Yuan took a closer look; the figures were a middle-aged woman and a young man, both from the Tian family. In terms of hierarchy, the middle-aged woman was her aunt, and the young man was her cousin.

In an instant, the two were close.

The middle-aged woman smiled and said, "Miss Tian, you’ve really made it big now."

Tian Yuan replied, "Aunt, why did you bring my cousin today?"

The middle-aged woman looked around cautiously, and then mysteriously said, "Let’s talk in the carriage."

Without waiting for Tian Yuan’s reaction, she stepped onto the edge of the driver’s seat, and entered the curtain, waving to the young man, "Son, come quickly."

Tian Yuan frowned slightly but did not act out, instead following into the carriage.

The carriage started moving.

Only then did the middle-aged woman reveal her intention.

"Miss Tian, you are now the young wife of the Li family, and you’ve gained their favor, truly climbing to a high status."

She sighed and continued, "However, you know, all the good positions in the Tian family are occupied by your uncles and cousins. Your cousin is kind-hearted and has no place to settle and earn a living.

Today, your aunt has thickened her old face, coming here to ask for a position from you, Miss Tian.

I think the Brocade and Silk Shop is quite good. Why don’t you... arrange for your cousin to manage something inside?"

She laughed softly, "No rush, no rush, just arrange when you’re settled."

If she hadn’t seen the true faces of the Tian family after her engagement was called off, or experienced her husband’s sincerity, Tian Yuan might have left some room.

She wouldn’t agree, but she would be more tactful; yet, at this moment, Tian Yuan suddenly fell silent and coldly said, "Aunt, I belong to the Li family.

The Li family’s shop will not be interfered by the Tian family."

Her aunt laughed, "What Li family or not, you are clearly a member of our Tian family. If you ever face grievances in the Li family, isn’t it us Tian family who would stand up for you?

You see, your eyes aren’t bright enough and need cleaning to clearly recognize who your own people are.

Arranging more of your cousins and kin into the Li family is the correct path."

Though the middle-aged woman wanted to continue speaking, Tian Yuan replied coldly, "Stop the carriage."

The carriage stopped.

"Get off," Tian Yuan said.

The middle-aged woman immediately began creating a scene, shouting: "If you don’t agree, I won’t get off. Where in the world is this reasonable? Today, I’m going to let everyone in the county know what kind of ungrateful person you, Tian Yuan, really are."

However, when Tian Yuan goes out, besides a substitute maid driving in front, there’s an expert she brought from the Tian family.

The expert swiftly threw the middle-aged woman and the young man off the carriage, resumed driving, and went off into the distance.

The middle-aged woman spat angrily, quickly returned to the Tian family, ran to the study of the family patriarch, and said directly, "No, no, no, Patriarch, I fear Tian Yuan resents our Tian family; don’t expect her to help us take over the Li family."

She then exaggerated the day’s events, vividly narrating Tian Yuan’s arrogance and her grievances.

The Tian family patriarch, looking grim, commented, "Ungrateful daughter!"

Immediately he said in a waning whisper, "You may leave."

The middle-aged woman left.

The Tian family patriarch sank into thought.

First thing tomorrow morning, he planned to take the Tian family experts, the County Captain, and county soldiers to Red Flower Mountain to raid bandits.

Of course, the raid is a cover; the real intent is to eliminate the Li family’s influence, kill the Li family patriarch.

He ordered family members to probe Tian Yuan’s attitude to determine if she could facilitate his smoother takeover, merging with the Li family.

But Tian Yuan... had refused.

"You don’t want the chance to return to the Tian family, then... don’t come back."

The Tian family patriarch coldly snorted, rose with hands clasped behind his back, gazing into the distance, filled with excitement and anticipation.