Chapter 14: Xuanyuan Dragon-Governing Art

Lin Yi was extremely relieved that he had almost forgotten the time!

If he had truly missed it and the stone door had closed, trapping him inside, there would be no point in practicing any divine martial arts; unless he could master the ability of an immortal to live without food or water, he would have starved to death sooner or later.

As the first rays of the morning sun shone into the valley, the stone door in front of Lin Yi suddenly emitted the sound of a mechanism without warning, and with a "boom," it slammed shut.

After the stone door closed, Lin Yi approached it once more, but this time, no matter how he tried, the door remained silent and showed no intention of opening.

It seemed the eight sentences written on the first stone tablet had not lied to him; once this stone door closed, it truly could not be opened again. To open it once more, one would have to wait five years.

Although Lin Yi felt a slight sense of disappointment, fortunately, he had secured the box containing the secret manual. Everything would be decided once he returned to study it.

"Xiao Yi, are you alright?"

A familiar voice sounded behind Lin Yi. Turning around, he discovered that Old Man Lin had appeared behind him at some unknown moment.

"Damn! Old man, are you trying to kick me to death? You came flying down from such a high mountain like some aerial acrobat—do you really think I'm Superman?"

Thinking about how he had tumbled from the mountain peak last night, Lin Yi's entire body still felt a dull ache in his bones.

"Well, you aren't dead, are you?"

Seeing that Lin Yi was unharmed, Old Man Lin felt a profound sense of relief.

Although he had maintained a calm exterior, he had actually been quite anxious. After all, even though Lin Yi's body had been soaked in his specially formulated Chinese herbal medicine, Old Man Lin wasn't entirely sure if he could survive such a fall from such a height.

"I'm not dead, but I'm close enough."

Lin Yi hesitated over whether to tell Old Man Lin everything he had seen and heard. After a moment of indecision, he decided to tell him the whole story, as Old Man Lin was a man of great experience.

"Old man, I entered that cave yesterday..." Lin Yi said, pointing to the stone door of the cave not far behind them.

"Mm..."

Old Man Lin had already seen the box in Lin Yi's hands and knew that the boy must have gone into the cave last night. However, hearing Lin Yi admit it in person made him feel quite happy. At the very least, Lin Yi did not treat him as an outsider, and his efforts in raising the boy had not been in vain.

"And then..."

Not knowing what Old Man Lin meant, Lin Yi proceeded to recount everything he had experienced inside the cave. Finally, he held the box out before Old Man Lin and said, "This is the box!"

"Keep it for yourself," Old Man Lin said indifferently, glancing at the box.

"Aren't you going to look at it?" Lin Yi was puzzled. How could Old Man Lin be so indifferent to such a miraculous occurrence?

"There's no use looking," Old Man Lin replied, shaking his head.

Although Lin Yi had many questions, Old Man Lin's attitude of "don't ask me" and "do whatever you want" left him speechless.

Accompanied by Old Man Lin, they made the difficult trek back home via the fork in the valley road. Old Man Lin collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep immediately, leaving Lin Yi alone to stare blankly at the box.

Since Old Man Lin showed such utter indifference, Lin Yi could only study the contents of the box himself.

Lin Yi placed the box on the worn eight-immortals table and began his investigation.

The small box was crafted in an antique style, resembling the kind of wooden boxes used in ancient imperial palaces to hold imperial edicts or medicinal pills. However, it was not locked. Once Lin Yi released the latch, the lid opened easily.

Lin Yi's eyes widened, and his breathing grew rapid!

Finally, the lid was open, revealing a silk scroll inside.

As he picked up the scroll, he noticed a jade pendant at the bottom of the box. Lin Yi hurriedly picked up the jade and examined it closely under the light.

The quality of the jade was excellent, but it was very peculiar; it was carved with patterns resembling totems and characters that Lin Yi could not decipher. It was definitely not seal script; the characters on this jade pendant were clearly from a different system than those on the scroll.

This struck Lin Yi as strange. Logically, the writing should have been consistent, whether in the cave or on the scroll, yet this jade pendant was a special case.

Later, Lin Yi had tried asking Old Man Lin about the jade, but the old man didn't know what it was for. In fact, Old Man Lin had even shown a look of great surprise upon seeing it.

Consequently, Lin Yi could only rely on his own deduction, guessing that the jade was meant to be used in conjunction with the cultivation technique, so he kept it on his person.

Lin Yi carefully unfurled the scroll, but felt a slight sense of disappointment. The scroll was very thin, consisting of only a single silk cloth.

However, having read many fantasy novels, Lin Yi understood that the power of a secret manual did not depend on its word count. Thus, with a heart full of anticipation, he began to read.

The five large characters written in seal script, "Xuan Yuan Dragon-Governing Art," immediately caught his eye. The font was identical to the characters on the stone tablet in the cave's main hall.

Beneath the title, however, was a line of smaller text: *First Stage — Heavenly Silkworm.*

Then came the main text: "Mortals are like ants; how can one change the Great Dao and command all living things..."

Lin Yi quickly scanned the text. The first stage was divided into three levels: early, middle, and late stages. However, this page of the scroll only contained the first stage of the *Xuan Yuan Dragon-Governing Art*.

Of course, Lin Yi wasn't foolish enough to think the art consisted only of the first stage. Since there was a first stage, there would surely be a second and a third. As for where the subsequent scrolls were, Lin Yi didn't know. Perhaps they were behind the stone door in the hall, or perhaps somewhere else.

For now, he decided to focus on completing the first stage of the *Xuan Yuan Dragon-Governing Art* before making any other plans.

Although the introductory descriptions of the art were dense and difficult to understand, the actual cultivation process was written in great detail, even including diagrams of human acupuncture points for reference. For Lin Yi, who had practiced martial arts since childhood, this was no difficult task.

Without much further thought, Lin Yi began to practice according to the *Heavenly Silkworm* scroll of the first stage.

It was precisely because Lin Yi was still young and lacked caution that he believed mastering such a profound technique would allow him to defeat Old Man Lin. He never once considered whether practicing this would conflict with his current martial arts, or if it might lead to cultivation deviation.

It wasn't until many years later, when Lin Yi looked back, that he realized he had likely chosen to practice the *Xuan Yuan Dragon-Governing Art* simply because the name sounded incredibly badass!

A technique that could even subdue a dragon had to be legendary!

Though, Lin Yi would later learn that what he had been practicing was not actually a martial art.

[Fish Baby is back asking for recommendations, thank you everyone!]

(End of Chapter)