Chapter 71: That’s Not True, I Didn’t Do It, Don’t Make Things Up

As soon as Master Yunxiang appeared, the entire hall fell silent in an instant.

It had been quiet before, but that was merely a silence perceptible to the ear. Now, true silence reigned, as if everyone present were suspended in a vacuum, their consciousness severed from their physical forms. Even the sound of their own heartbeats, the rhythm of their breath, the subtle stirring of muscle reactions—all these vanished in a single moment, leaving only a world of utter stillness, an empty void, and the awareness of one’s own mind.

It was as if he had been completely cut off from the world.

In this moment, Chen Jin’s thoughts grew exceptionally tranquil. The stillness was so profound that his mind became preternaturally quick, his thinking twice as rapid as before.

This was how Chen Jin felt.

Whether others experienced the same, Chen Jin could not say. After all, he could not inhabit their minds; he could only sense his own state and deduce, from the surrounding environment, the possible reasons for this altered condition.

Boom… boom… boom… boom…

Then, in this vacuum, with his thoughts accelerated, Master Yunxiang opened his mouth.

But the sound that issued forth was not words, but a series of resonant tones, deep as the beating of great drums or bells.

Yet this sound gave Chen Jin the sensation of confronting the universe itself. It was as though he stood atop a lofty mountain, radio waves coursing through him, receiving the world’s information. Whether it was the stones, soil, grass, trees, birds, beasts, fish, or insects, or the air and water, the wind, thunder, or rain—whether natural or unnatural—so long as it existed in this world, the cause of its being and the reason for its passing surged into Chen Jin’s mind.

He became intoxicated by it, unable to extricate himself.

These torrents of information flooded into him, accepted, memorized, and stored at twice his usual speed.

Yet Chen Jin sensed the limits of his mind; he could not possibly contain all this knowledge.

His mind needed to expand, to evolve.

Once more, he summoned the Gengxin Metal Qi Formula, silently reciting it as he gathered the incoming information, analyzing, accepting, and storing it in his memory.

Rumble...

In a daze, Chen Jin’s consciousness broke off from the information flow. The Gengxin Metal Qi Formula vanished in that same instant.

But in the next, quicker than thought, the Gengxin Metal Qi Formula reappeared—not through his silent recitation, but as if each word were carved, one by one, in bas-relief upon his very consciousness.

He no longer needed to recite it; the formula was ever-present in his awareness, as if it were a part of his soul, inseparable from his being. As long as he was alive, as long as he could think, the Gengxin Metal Qi Formula would exist within him.

With this strange transformation, Chen Jin felt his intelligence rise to a new level in an instant; both his memory and his reasoning were suddenly elevated.

Those surging streams of information still threatened to overwhelm his capacity, but he knew that now he could retain much more than before.

Just as he was about to delight in this, a new current, quite unlike the previous one, poured into his memory.

A mnemonic known as the Shenyou Metal Nature Formula, from some unknown source, flowed into his consciousness alongside the earlier flood of information. Instinctively, Chen Jin analyzed and memorized it.

In a heartbeat, this Shenyou Metal Nature Formula fused with the Gengxin Metal Qi Formula, merging beneath the bas-relief in his soul, becoming one with it.

Chen Jin quickly realized what had happened, but the deed was done. In any case, he had no reason to refuse such a gift.

This Shenyou Metal Nature Formula was also a part of the True Scripture of the White Emperor’s Mysterious Origin, and though it was independent, one could attain true immortality through its practice—it was a genuine method.

Unlike the Gengxin Metal Qi Formula, however, this one was pure and simple: only the mnemonic itself, without the annotations or additional spells passed down by previous masters. It was merely a succinct formula.

Since it was beneficial, and he could not foresee any harm from it, Chen Jin set the matter aside.

He had no time for further contemplation anyway; he was still absorbing the world’s information. The flow was vast—a boundless sea, while he was but a ladle. It was impossible for him to contain it all.

Yet he continued, for his ladle was not yet full.

His memory might be that of a ladle, but his absorption rate was as slow as a toothpick, so it would take a considerable time to fill it.

Boom… boom… boom…

The tolling of drums and bells returned, smothering the flood of information from the world.

The universal information ceased, but Chen Jin’s ladle had not yet overflowed.

The sensation of drifting to a distant mountain vanished; the world-spanning perspective faded.

All returned to normal, and his awareness settled once more in the Daoist temple.

But Master Yunxiang, who ought to have been seated on the meditation mat, was gone, as if his earlier presence had been nothing but a hallucination.

“Having realized the Way and become wholly true, our friend has attained the celestial Dao,” sighed an elderly Daoist, hair white beneath a wooden circlet, clad in a blue robe.

“Having realized the Way and become wholly true,” echoed the gathered Daoists, forming mudras in accordance with their tradition.

Chen Jin did the same.

Only Master Liaoxin remained seated, his expression unchanged.

It was now the eighth division of the hour of the Rat—one o’clock in the morning.

Chen Jin felt as though he had not been seated long, at most the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, yet in reality half an hour had passed. For a cultivator, sitting for thirty minutes was nothing. In fact, he felt no fatigue at all; his mind was sharper, his body invigorated, his appetite hearty.

The ceremony was over.

Those who had come to attend departed, all well satisfied. Clearly, they too had enjoyed the experience Chen Jin had undergone.

Whether they had also received the Shenyou Metal Nature Formula, however, he could not know.

Of course, Chen Jin didn’t mind if they had; it wasn’t as though the formula belonged to him alone.

Such possessiveness—the hope that some treasure might be his alone—was merely a passing thought.

In the end, he let it go. He already possessed it; what more could he desire?

Moreover, he felt that his own cultivation had advanced.

But he knew he had not yet reached the Spirit-Focusing Realm; this was clear to him. His progress was a refinement of mind and soul, not the true breakthrough.

Attaining the Spirit-Focusing Realm was not like reaching the Qi-Consolidation Realm, where one only needed to condense the Hunyuan Qi and elevate mind and soul. The Spirit-Focusing Realm required gathering the Five Qi True Essence, opening the Purple Mansion, and acquiring unforeseen mystical powers.

The crowd dispersed, but Master Liaoxin did not leave.

He remained seated on his mat.

Chen Jin walked over and gave him a gentle push.

With a thud…

Master Liaoxin toppled over onto the floor.

“…,” Chen Jin wondered, was this the moment for him to protest, “It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it, don’t make wild accusations”—the classic threefold denial.

…