CH 22

Chapter 22: Level 2 Taoist Arts

Removing the pile of chopped trunks and branches out from his space, he hands them all to the house of carpenters, as well as one round piece and a tile for reference. In the span of three days, the carpenters worked through them all, altogether making a hundred and fifty thousand round pieces and a hundred thousand tiles. Seeing the large quantity, Huo Zaiyuan is very pleased.

Once everything has been sent to his home, he dumps them all in his space. During the days he waited for the wood to be cut, he has not been idle. The first bottle of liquid gas he brought out is nearly finished due to him cooking a lot of dishes and rice. Every cooked item is replaced back in his space to preserve them. Now that his orders have been delivered, he enters his space too.

A tightly closed door, a spacious and empty unit…it is as though there no one occupying this place.

Just like this, Huo Zaiyuan remains in his space to cultivate, eat and drink. Whether or not it's because of this continuous cultivation every day and night, the first tree he planted that has grown to three meters high finally begins to flower and bear fruits. One particular branch of that tree bore a string of sparkling, pure peaches. When the breeze blows through, the entire space is filled with the mouth-watering fragrance of fresh peaches.

At the same time the peaches started appearing, the "Mysterious Nine Dragon's Heaven" text's second level of cultivation method appears on the previously blank page. Following the instructions written, he reaches the peak of the first level. Before he can break through, however, he needs to eat a fruit bore by the first tree.

Huo Zaiyuan plucks a peach from the branch. The moment that peach breaks away, that peach tree begins shrinking at a high-speed, reverting back to its original sapling state when the seed first germinated.

However, the ancient text did not detail why the peach tree will change once the peach is plucked, causing him to put this incident in his heart. Afterwards, he plants the second peach seed next to the first and goes to the spring pool to collect water. When he approaches the pool, he is met with a wondrous sight. The holy pool that originally did not have even a drop of water at the bottom is now filled to the brim with sparkling, translucent water, and the dragon head sculpture is also spraying a small stream of water into it. This change shocks him greatly.

Drinking down half a cup of spring water and pouring the rest onto the seed, he watches as a second sapling emerges from the soil near the first one. Then, he sits cross-legged in the doorway of the bamboo house to eat the peach. The sweet and succulent flesh melts as soon as it enters his mouth, a warm flow of energy going down his throat into his stomach and merging with his own current of power. Once he finishes the entire fruit, the spiritual power within him increases exponentially. Even without reading the manual, the fusion of two spheres of energy guides his body and Huo Zaiyuan unhurriedly closes his eyes.

The merging of the peach's energy and his own is a fantastic feeling. The period he sits and meditates for stretches longer and longer, and within his mind, Huo Zaiyuan gradually sees a silver dragon appear. In a flash, the dragon moves through several sets of movements.

Slowly, he begins to understand. This silver dragon's every motion represents a particular Taoist rune. These four sets of movements showed him four different runes. Consequently, these four runes and the ways to use them is engraved into Huo Zaiyuan's mind.

Outside his mind, the left hand placed on his leg jerks lightly. The silver dragon mark curled around the wrist flashes into existence and begins to move through the four sets of movements as well. In another flash of silver light, the Holy Dragon Bone Brush also appears in his palm.