Chapter 140 Rain Falls

In Jiangnan, along a path where grasses thrived, orioles flew, cherry blossoms blushed, and willows turned emerald, a white-robed youth carrying a square black sword case walked travel-worn, suddenly raising his head to look at the sky.

A moist, warm spring breeze gently brushed his cheek, leaving his nose slightly cool. The clear pupils looking up at the sky reflected the fine raindrops falling all across the heavens.

The rustling sound of the falling rain gradually enveloped the verdant hills and wild fields.

"It's raining."

Ye Mingke flashed a smile, his mood seemingly washed clean by this passing drizzle. This was the first rain he had encountered since walking all the way from the northern wind and snow.

Unknowingly, he had already walked into the spring of Jiangnan.

The sword case on his back emitted a faint, rustling sound. At the collar of his white robe, a tiny wax figurine raised its face just like Ye Mingke, watching this fresh and fine spring rain.

The fine raindrops moistened its body, and it seemed to have forgotten that it was a wax figurine that would melt upon contact with water.

"Spring rain ought to be paired with apricot blossom wine."

The sword-carrying youth in white lowered his head, chuckled softly, and cast his gaze toward the ancient, small town ahead shrouded in the drizzle.

He reached back and tapped the sword case, which in turn shook the body of the wax figurine, and said with a faint smile, "Drinking alone is dull; you will keep me company for a few cups."

The wax figurine standing behind Ye Mingke's head slowly lowered its gaze, looking down at the nape of Ye Mingke's neck. The face that had just gazed up at the new rain was stained with crystalline raindrops, reflecting a faint light that made the expression on that tiny face obscure.

Yet the voice of its reply was extremely respectful and joyful, sounding as if it were all smiles.

"My lord has such refined taste. This humble one is immensely honored to drink with you."

"Then let's go."

Ye Mingke did not look back, the corners of his mouth curving into a subtle smile as he strode toward the two-story restaurant ahead in the small town, which hung a cyan wine banner.

Amidst the spring breeze and drizzle, the long-haired youth carrying the sword case stood with a straight posture and a calm gait.

Ascending to the second floor, he booked a windowside private room screened by cloth curtains. Listening to the sound of the drizzle outside the window, Ye Mingke drank wine together with the wax figurine whose height was barely higher than a wine cup.

"Ah Tu, is that rogue cultivator still within a radius of a hundred miles?"

Ye Mingke suddenly turned his head to glance at the wax figurine, asking in a lazy manner.

"Ah Tu..." The wax figurine whose Dao name was Lingchen, whose original name had a deeply ethereal fairy-like quality, paused in his movements, feeling as though his tiny wax heart had shattered somewhere.

However, his gaze drifted over Ye Mingke's hand, which was listlessly and lightly tapping the sword case, and he immediately responded with a radiant smile: "This humble one just sensed the lingering aura retained by that secret technique; that rogue cultivator is right nearby."

The rogue cultivator he spoke of was a Tongyuan initial-realm practitioner who had blood-sacrificed multiple villages, and whose karma and evil deeds were so overwhelming that even the Vigilance Department turned him away.

He knew not how Jian Jiu had reported to the Vigilance Department, but after leaving the north, Ye Mingke had not been wanted by the Vigilance Department. Thus, his journey had been relatively leisurely, and whenever he encountered fierce beasts or cultivators bringing disaster to the mortal world, he would do his utmost to draw his sword.

That ruthless rogue cultivator, unlisted by the Vigilance Department, was one of Ye Mingke's targets for his sword. Yet he had unexpectedly encountered a major obstacle. Although Ye Mingke had defeated him in that clash, the opponent seized the opportunity and directly escaped by flying on a sword.

Ye Mingke, who could not yet fly on a sword, could not catch up with the opponent even when sprinting across the ground like lightning. Fortunately, Lingchen had used a secret technique to retain a wisp of the opponent's aura, which could be used for tracking.

Lingchen, who previously always demanded conditions whenever Ye Mingke asked for his help, had become as obedient as could be and as proactive as could be ever since Ye Mingke had frontally defeated a cultivator of his exact same realm.

"Even if we find him, what if we encounter him this time and he immediately escapes on his sword again?" Ye Mingke gently sipped his wine, recalling that fellow who had bolted away on a sword last time, and said with a slight ache in his teeth, "That coward, considering he's a cultivator of the great Tongyuan realm, running the moment he sees me—a martial artist merely equivalent to the Lunhai realm's Ninth Stage? Tsk tsk, it's such a disgrace to the face of Tongyuan-realm cultivators."

Ye Mingke shook his head vigorously, looking thoroughly disappointed by such spinelessness.

He had already intercepted the opponent twice along the way, but by now that rogue cultivator had completely abandoned the dignity of a Tongyuan-realm cultivator, fleeing on his sword the moment he spotted white robes or a sword case.

"Hmph, Martial Arts Ninth Stage?" Lingchen scoffed inwardly. He himself was still somewhat unable to fathom the true combat prowess of the fellow before him. Clearly, his realm was only the Ninth Stage of Martial Arts, but his foundational attributes were far too formidable, entirely incomparable to ordinary martial artists of the same realm.

Drinking until he was slightly tipsy, Ye Mingke noticed the fine drizzle still falling outside the window and the reasonably bright daylight, so he retrieved a handwritten booklet from the sword case and began to study it by the window.

This was the *Six Paths Formula*, and not the formula missing nine sections given by Jian Jiu, but rather the formula missing seven sections extorted from Lingchen.

"The Great Dao is formless, begetting heaven and earth; the Great Dao is merciless, driving the sun and moon; the Great Dao is nameless, nurturing all things." (Note 1)

Ye Mingke silently pondered those few already deeply familiar incantations in his mouth.

"Thus tranquil, one gradually enters the true Dao; having entered the true Dao, it is called attaining the Dao. Though named attaining the Dao, in reality nothing is attained. To transform all sentient beings, it is termed attaining the Dao; those capable of realizing this may transmit the holy Dao." (Note 2)

Within the brief opening passage, countless instances of the word "Dao" filled Ye Mingke's eyes.

"Dao?" Ye Mingke repeated this extremely common word several times.

He suddenly turned his head to look at Lingchen and asked, "What do the powers used by you immortal cultivators originate from?"

Lingchen had never understood why Ye Mingke, troubled by his inability to fly on a sword, had extorted the formula from his hands yet refused to cultivate it, merely reading it constantly instead.

Nevertheless, since Ye Mingke asked, he answered immediately.

"Naturally, it is the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth."

His tiny wax face was filled with reverence, though whether he was cursing Ye Mingke for asking such a foolish question in his heart remained unknown.

Ye Mingke did not look at him, keeping his head lowered to gaze at the book instead, as if trying to discern something profound and difficult to understand. He asked with utter confusion:

"Then why do you cultivate the Dao, rather than spiritual energy?"

"That is because only by cultivating the Dao and mastering the Great Dao can one command spiritual Qi," Immortal Lingchen replied matter-of-factly and promptly.

"What is the relationship between the Dao and spiritual energy?" Ye Mingke pondered for a moment before asking again.

"To command spiritual Qi, one must first comprehend the relevant Great Dao. The more one comprehends, the higher one's resonance with the Dao becomes, and from the Dao thus resonated, one gains the power to drive spiritual Qi. Therefore, cultivating immortality is cultivating the Dao," Immortal Lingchen replied.

"Of course, apart from that, besides resonating with spiritual Qi and the Dao, one also requires spiritual apertures connected with the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth."

"So it's different from what I imagined. I always thought spells used mental power to drive the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth to form techniques, and that cultivation formulas were merely the techniques for communication."

Ye Mingke recalled the conclusion he had once summarized when he first saw spells from Li Yin at the school and experienced spiritual Qi clearly for the very first time.

"But as it turns out, one must first communicate with the Great Dao, and then command spiritual Qi through the Dao."

"The higher the degree of resonance with the Dao, the higher the power of the spell. Resonating with the Dao is an extremely complex process with particularly numerous influencing factors," Lingchen continued slowly, following Ye Mingke's words. "To my knowledge, they include the level of mental power and the degree of comprehension of the Dao, which are often directly tied to one's cultivation realm. Aside from those, there are also the number of spiritual apertures, the purity of the cultivation formula, and one's heavenly fortune."

"Fortune?" Ye Mingke asked, puzzled.

"The theory of fortune is illusory and ethereal. Everyone possesses a certain amount of fortune distributed across different aspects of their lives. It is said that aside from a tiny fraction of freakish prodigies, the gifts of the Heavenly Dao are relatively fair, and everyone's fortune is actually quite similar."

"Those who are exceptionally gifted in physical constitution and talent actually tend to lag behind ordinary practitioners under identical conditions when it comes to receiving feedback from the Dao. This is also one of the reasons why constitution-reliant immortal cultivators declined during the era when the *Six Paths Formula* became widespread." Immortal Lingchen answered meticulously.

Ye Mingke felt that he had gained a deeper understanding of the spells he had previously experienced, but doubts still lingered in his heart. Because the spells of Li Yin that he had seen in the town seemed to be driven directly by mental power, which was why when Li Yin was about to lose control over the spiritual Qi, his own fist—imbued with a powerful will—had managed to directly scatter the pillar of spiritual Qi sustaining Li Yin's spell.

Could this be the difference between the town's cultivation formula and the *Six Paths Formula*? Was the secret that his uncle forbade him from cultivating hidden within this?

Out of trust in his uncle, even though he had been intensely curious about the formulas recorded in the *Six Paths Formula* these past days, he had continuously restrained himself from directly practicing them.

"Is there truly no way for you to teach me the Sword-Flying Technique?" Ye Mingke raised his head to look at Lingchen and said faintly.

Lingchen's waxen face instantly looked as though it were weeping to the point of melting, and he said pitifully:

"My lord, please forgive this humble one. Cultivation formulas are the foundation of all spells; since my lord has not practiced any cultivation formula, it is truly impossible to learn a spell like the Sword-Flying Technique."

"During our last clash, you said that rogue cultivator likely mastered a rather powerful cultivation formula other than the *Six Paths Formula*, didn't you?"

The reason Ye Mingke had spent many days searching for that rogue cultivator, aside from the crimes the man had committed, was also because the man likely possessed the cultivation formula he urgently needed.

Only with an immortal cultivation formula could he possess more capital for self-preservation when venturing alone deep into the wilderness.

"Yes, that rogue cultivator's aura clearly differs noticeably from ordinary practitioners. Moreover, for a rogue cultivator like him who was expelled by the Vigilance Department and unable to obtain the less-fragmented *Six Paths Formula*, being able to cultivate to the great Tongyuan realm is presumably due to acquiring a powerful ancient cultivation formula." Lingchen nodded and replied.

"Hah." Ye Mingke sucked in a cold breath as if his teeth ached.

"Can't catch people without learning the Sword-Flying Technique?"

"Can't learn the Sword-Flying Technique without catching people?"

"???"

He turned his head to look out the window and said through clenched teeth:

"Forget it, you tell me the specific spells first, and then demonstrate the Sword-Flying Technique for me. I refuse to believe that one truly cannot learn the Sword-Flying Technique without a cultivation formula!"

"What is an elite student? An elite student is someone who can deduce even formulas they haven't been taught!"

Recalling the few sacks of calculation paper he had deliberately placed inside his sword case, Ye Mingke let out a breath and pumped himself up with some confidence.