Chapter 5: A Summon From Uncle Tie (+Author’s Note)
After he returned to Iron Sword Peak, Yan Xiaolong took all the books Zhong Yun had and locked himself inside his room. Surrounded by books, Yan Xiaolong would read by the window when the sun was high and then read by a lit lantern when the moon took over the sky. It was no exaggeration to saw that he spent days and nights reading book, ignoring time to eat or drink. Amazingly, he never felt tired during this time. It was only after five days did he read all the books and went over to his bed to meditate.
He sat cross-legged and did breathing exercises according to the cultivation art the old Yan Xiaolong has practiced, the Immovable King’s Scripture.
[In the world of immortal cultivation, there are many immortal techniques and martial skills so they are often categorized as cultivation art, dao technique, innate ability, bloodline skill, daoist magic, and so on. The most common are cultivation arts that let you promote your cultivation base and dao techniques to utilize the many daos in Heaven and Earth. The other categories are much rarer.]
[Most cultivation arts not only have ways to promote cultivation bases, but also dao technique and other skills in them. These immortal techniques and martial skills are usually never ranked, as all daos have potential to exert great power. However, some cultivation arts only allow progress to a certain cultivation stage because of inadequate insights by the creator. For the first six stages in immortal cultivation, they are ranked from lowest to highest as Earth-Tier, Heaven-Tier, and Void-Tier. Each tier correspond with two stages.]
[Moreover...]
Yan Xiaolong kept his focus on the guidebook while trying to do breathing exercises. After a few rounds, he managed to bring spiritual qi inside of him and cultivate. Every round of inhale and exhale felt like a his body was undergoing a hot bath. It was a comfortable experience.
The Immovable King’s Scripture was a Void-Tier cultivation art that was centered on the elements of fire, metal, and earth. It was created based on the mythical Immovable King who was said to cut down demons with his sword, ensnared evildoers with his chains, and burn away sins with his flame. It was also said that he sat on a stone, never needing to move as the stone naturally followed anywhere there was evil to be slain.
Although it was never confirmed if the Immovable King’s Scripture was actually created by the Immovable King himself, the daoist magic and dao techniques in the cultivation art certainly belonged to the Immovable King. When cultivating the Immovable King’s Scripture there were three daoist magics being cultivated with several dao techniques unlocked at the Foundation Establishment stage.
When he cultivated, Yan Xiaolong could sense the presence of two weapons by his side: the Sword of Wrath and the Dragon Soul Chains. Around him, a mighty flame burned with crimson glory. It was his so-called inner fire, the Hell-Scorching Flame.
According to the guidebook, it was best if he got well acquainted with his cultivation art. Even though the previous Yan Xiaolong has cultivated this far, the new Yan Xiaolong had not so he was essentially relearning his immortal techniques and martial skills. In the end, he was only a pitiful early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. He may be considered a genius, but his power level was considerably low among the other inner court disciples.
......
Days passed again. It had been roughly a week since he had been reborn into the world of immortal cultivation. By now, he was comfortable with cultivating and using all his skills. Unfortunately, it was only basic insights into those skills. He predicted that based on his level of comprehension, it would take him a solid month to possibly learn all those skills. Of course, another option was to raise his cultivation base.
Every breakthrough would result in an increase of spiritual qi capacity and deeper insights into the any cultivation art he practiced. He went over to cupboards and took out the divine elixirs stored inside it. The elixir glass was clear, but the liquid inside it was jade-green, looking between a dish soap and a fizzy soda.
However, the smell of the elixir was extremely pleasant. Just when he was about to down the whole bottle, a jade-slip inside his robe made a sound. He grabbed it and nearly jumped out of bed again.
"Xiaolong, come up to chief palace on Iron Sword Peak. Now. You are not allowed to bring Zhong Yun with you." A cool voice said to him from the jade-slip.
"That... That was my uncle?" Yan Xiaolong gulped. He quickly left his palace and headed up a stairway that led to the chief palace located at the very top of the mountain.
On the outside, the chief palace was grey and black, as if it was constructed from iron itself. Carved onto the walls of the chief palace were images of battles among heroes, monsters, immortals, ghosts, gods, and demons. In each distinct battle was a young swordsman carrying a single sword that fought the other supernatural entities. It was a palace of history, a symbol of glory on Iron Sword Peak.
On the inside of Iron Sword Peak were the portraits and statues of the predecessors of Iron Sword Peak. Not only the previous masters, but also heroes who sacrificed their lives to defend the peak or, at least, the sect. From what Yan Xiaolong knew, the Iron Sword Peak has tens of thousands of years of history. It often collided with opposing forces and was the epicenter of battles and deaths. The last war Iron Sword Peak participated in was around twenty years ago, when Yan Xiaolong was born.
Despite the large size of the chief palace, the interior was organized very simply. It was as if everything in the chief palace embodied the essence of the sword; strong and straightforward.
Sitting on a prayer mat in the center of the chief palace was a young man with short black hair. His eyebrows were shaped like sharp blades and his nose was straight. His body seemed to be crafted out of iron itself, full of hard, exquisite muscles. Unlike many other swordsman or other people that Yan Xiaolong saw, this young man had a healthy tan.
When the young man opened his eyelids to reveal a pair of cold black eyes, Yan Xiaolong felt as if his soul had left his body. His mind twisted and turned, wondering why he suddenly felt so noxious.
[When a cultivator's comprehension in his dao reached a high enough level, that person could summon a dao domain. Your Uncle Tie is most likely using a hint of his dao domain. He is a Nascent Soul sword cultivator, so if he used his entire dao domain, you would be ripped to shreds.]
It took him a very long time to read that passage in the guidebook. Yan Xiaolong kneeled and tried to greet his uncle. He managed to squeeze out a few words. "Nephew Yan Xiaolong greets Uncle Tie."
"Hmph!" The young man coldly snorted. "You had the gall to annul your engagement without my permission and you have the gall to still call me uncle!?"
The pressure around Yan Xiaolong suddenly increased by manifolds.