Chapter 470: Xuan Zhen Temple

　　Shen Lian did not answer directly, but instead, he said, “The technique you use to cultivate is to turn the essence, Qi, and spirit into a crux of fire. One can imagine how important the essence, Qi and spirit are. Others cannot simply get hold of it, but as the first step of your cultivation already involves the three elements, the profoundness is beyond words is indeed amazing. Furthermore, the crux of fire will one day reach the level of the True Samadhi Fire as your cultivation improves. Till there, there aren’t many places in the world where you can’t move. In addition, you are of the wood element and as wood generates fire, the technique seems to be designed for you.”

　　Liu Mengde felt the chill down his spine. He expected Shen Lian to be at a high level in terms of cultivation experience, but he did not expect that Shen Lian could even see through his fundamentals. True Samadhi Fire was the technique he was cultivating, and it was the ultimate level he had to reach.

　　In the beginning, his master told him that his talent was average. In order to achieve the Great Way, he had to seek an unusual path. If he had the fortune and intelligence to cultivate the real True Samadhi Fire, till then he was not just successful, he would be one of the top successor of his generation, as good as demons in the level of Great Saint.

　　There were countless demons which possessed great supernatural power in the world, but the few that were called the Great Saint, they were all someone that mattered at their respective areas, and not even Emperor Xia had a say on them.

　　Liu Mengde spoke politely, “You have eyes like the light. Everything you said was right. Actually, I have a query. I was able to let go of a burden and hence my cultivation bottleneck was loosened. I thought I was able to ride on the momentum and allow the fire to enter a state where it will never extinguish, but I never managed to. Hence I went down to the state of Da Xi, to ride on the state’s fortune in order for me to break through the bottleneck. But I’ve tried a few times, they all failed. I can only think of it as not having sufficient accumulation, but I am confused about the reason for it.”

　　Shen Lian could tell that the fire was about to take shape, but it never became the true fire, and subsequently the source of Mana in his body that would never extinguish. Actually if he could get there, it was not far from achieving Huandan. There were ten thousand worth of techniques that led to the same ending, there was a reason why the Daoist master decided there should be the nine states of cultivation.

　　This was indeed the hurdle countless Xuanmen cultivators had to go through, but as the techniques were different, some techniques had the momentum in going through certain hurdles.

　　For any technique, the state of Huandan where the core of Mana was formed, was extremely difficult. Despite ways such as relying on external forces or quick fixes existed, it was not the best choice.

　　To be able to get passed this, one had to understand the heart, or otherwise known as entering the path of Daoism. It was only till then they could refer themselves as real cultivators, as they would possess a certain degree of understanding about the heaven and earth, and not just following the paths that were crafted for them.

　　Shen Lian laughed, “I too faced similar challenges as you before, but my experience is not applicable to you. Since you’re here, why don’t you sit down and watch the peach flowers with me?”

　　The moonlight in the sky concentrated into a ball of light which placed Shen Lian under the clear light. At this moment, Shen Lian was like the bright moon in the world, which one could not move his eyes away from.

　　All in a sudden, the ball of light exploded, and the night was lit, and everywhere was filled with the clear light. One could even observe the smallest stripes of the peach tree in the courtyard.

　　Liu Mengde got closer to the peach tree and he felt a thousand feelings.

　　Shen Lian was sitting down underneath the peach tree. Liu Mengde followed suit. The environment was as if it was surrounded by countless mirrors, and none of the lights in the courtyard could escape.

　　The wind blew, and the flowers of the peach tree began to fall as the tree fluttered. It was a flower rain.

　　After sitting down for a while, Liu Mengde began to have some understanding.

　　The peach flowers relied on the peach tree to live. Once they left the branches it would be the time for them to die. They would become one with the ground when they fell, and they would be decomposed into fertilizers, and ultimately be absorbed by the root of the peach tree again. It was a cycle that kept on repeating.

　　He let out a deep sigh, “I was too stubborn and hence I did not observe what is natural. The peach flowers fall not because the wind blows, but because it’s time.”

　　Shen Lian smiled, “If you can understand that, it means the sect you cultivate under focuses on the governance of the nature. Furthermore, as you’re an unusual object who managed to study the proper techniques, it seems like you’re not from an average sect. Now I am interested.”

　　Liu Mengde said, “Everything I learnt was from Xuan Zhen Temple, but as there are countless students under Xuan Zhen Temple, I am not recorded as their students. My master Mu Zhen was the real famous successor of Xuan Zhen Temple.”

　　He spoke about Xuan Zhen Temple carefully, but Shen Lian did not seem to have a reaction.

　　One had to know that Emperor Xia did not quite like Daoism or Buddhism, and hence within Da Xia, there was rarely any temple. For those that could be conserved, all of them were famous in the world.

　　Xuan Zhen Temple was one of them.

　　Due to Da Xia’s restriction on Daoism and Buddhism, there were very limited number of space available for Daoist students. Hence, even though Xuan Zhen Temple was famous, there were less than fifty students. All of them went through a thorough elimination process to be able to register under Da Xia as Zhenren.

　　The most famous seven from Xuan Zhen Temple was called Xuan Zhen Qi Zi. They each represented Xuan Zhen Temple’s seven branches.

　　Liu Mengde’s master, Mu Zhen was one of Xuan Zhen Qi Zi – Chang Shengzi’s student. Hundred years ago he was already registered under Da Xia, with the Zhenren nomination. Chang Shengzi was also the one with the most mana among the Xuan Zhen Qi Zi. Even though there were lots of powerful people in Da Xia, not many could be his enemy. Even Emperor Xia’s younger brother too made his son to study under Chang Shengzi.

　　Regardless of how powerful Shen Lian could be in his previous life, Liu Mengde could not imagine that he would be powerful than the founding masters, the Xuan Zhen Qi Zi. He could not tell anything odd about Shen Lian.

　　Shen Lian smiled, “Is Xuan Zhen Temple powerful?”

　　After he said that, Liu Mengde almost began to doubt that Shen Lian was an outlaw who had the intention to be provocative.

　　Shen Lian saw his expression and he knew what he was thinking. He subsequently said, “I’ve indeed never heard about Xuan Zhen Temple.”

　　Liu Mengde was surprised, “With your cultivation experience, I am surprised you’ve never heard of Xuan Zhen Temple. Is it because you came from outside of the sea of blood? The sea of blood is terrifying, and it is not something that can be easily crossed by celestials. It will only make sense if that’s the case.”

　　Shen Lian looked at him and said, “You too know about the sea of blood, but your guess about my background was not correct. Tell me what exactly is going on at Xuan Zhen Temple.”

　　Liu Mengde could not hide, and the situation at Xuan Zhen Temple was not to be hidden.

　　From his description, Shen Lian thought that the Xuan Zhen Qi Zi must be the top Qi cultivators in this corner of the world. However, as cultivators did not tend to follow the rules, for such top cultivator of Qi to compromise, how powerful Da Xia could be?

　　If the Xuan Zhen Qi Zi were all at the level of Dixian, it seemed to Shen Lian that Da Xia’s power was not one to be underestimated.

　　From Liu Mengde’s cultivation level, he could guess that his master Mu Zhen was at least Huandan and above, and from there he could conjecture that the Xuan Zhen Qi Zi were all Dixian, or within the realm of Tianxian.