Chapter 544 - Qing Xuan Cave

This mace was made entirely of refined steel, an extraordinary material. Shen Lian did not kill the demon tiger completely because he intended to use this material to forge his sword. Otherwise, Shen Lian could have exterminated his form and soul in just a one palm technique, regardless of how strong the demon was.

Wen Zhong was well aware that his cultivation method was different from Shen Lian's, as was his way of doing things. He was truly angry.

As Ah Lian witnessed how Shen Lian had defeated the Chong Hou Tiger King, she instantly kowtowed to Shen Lian while holding her daughter, as her husband was also killed by the demon king.

Shen Lian accepted Ah Lian's kowtow with no reservation and said as she got up, "I am going to forge my instrument in the mountains. If you dare not return to the family of Wuzhong, you can follow by my side for a while. I will teach you the breathing techniques, which should be sufficient for you and your daughter to live a peaceful life. As for your future, I cannot promise anything."

As indecisive as Ah Lian was, she knew that staying with Shen Lian was far better than returning to her tribe. Besides, Shen Lian's exceptional techniques put her at ease, and at least Shen Lian would not covet anything from her based on his status. Since Shen Lian is someone inimitable, he does not need to covet anything from a commoner, putting Ah Lian at ease.

So she replied, "Ah Lian will never forget your great deeds to us, great celestial teacher."

Shen Lian waved his sleeve, a tornado rose instantaneously from the ground and traveled towards the demon king's cave, followed by the sounds of rustling and swooshing. A quarter of an hour later, the tornado exited the cave. The tornado was translucent when it was entering the cave, however, it becomes completely filthy black when it exited, one could imagine how much filth there was in there.

Shen Lian rose his arm again, and directed the gush to the back of the mountains, and then released a clear stream of water into the cave for a thorough cleansing, subsequently lighted it up, turning it into a refreshing environment.

Then he proceeded to say, "There are a lot of houses in there. You may choose one for your temporary stay."

Ah Lian was greatly thankful, as she never imagined that a celestial being like Shen Lian would be so thoughtful.

Suddenly, she remembered that she never knew this celestial teacher's name after such a long time, so she asked, "Celestial Teacher, I still do not know who to address you as."

Shen Lian thought for a while. He opened his hand, the mace immediately landed on his palm. Shen Lian walked to the cave, replacing the previous name with words –'Qing Xuan Cave'.

Though in a different world, one should never forget their own origins. He replied, "You may call me Qing Xuan".

When he was in the earth and stars of Qing Xuan, his Daoist name was Qing Xia, which reminded him of the Qing Xia Temple where he traveled from. Now his Daoist name was Qing Xuan, which would remind him of the cultivations under Qing Xuan.

Only he himself would know of this intention, no one else.

Ah Lian memorized these two words by heart, and had a good look at the writings of 'Qing Xuan Cave'. She guessed that the two words among them should read Qing Xuan.

Later, Ah Lian went into the cave and Shen Lian remained outside.

Three days had passed. Ah Lian realized that Celestial Teacher Qing Xuan never entered the cave. Initially, she thought that the celestial teacher was avoiding gossips, which she eventually found out was not true.

Moreover, she thought it was strange that the celestial teacher did not move even though he wanted to forge his instrument.

Fortunately, Shen Lian was not mute. He even passed on the breathing techniques to her. The tribes of Eastern Barbarians have their own collection of spells and Daoist techniques, so Ah Lian did not come without any foundation. As she learn the breathing techniques, there was no thorough transformation, but her stamina improved significantly, so did her appetite. Therefore, she had to collect more and more fruits each time she went in the woods for food.

Since this mountain was ruled by the Chong Hou Tiger King, there were very few people crossing the mountains. So the variety of fruits there was in abundance, and its water source was clear, which helped the mother and daughter to live in self-sufficiency and free of worries.

Shen Lian was standing on a high upright rock outside the cave. He had not gone down for three days. Till now, Ah Lian only noticed a dense purplish gas floating so subtly around Shen Lian's body. Sometimes the sleeves of celestial teacher would rise from the winds, giving her the illusion that celestial teacher would fly off with the winds.

What she did not know was that Shen Lian was preparing to forge his instrument.

Shen Lian had forged the Five Elements Magical Sword before, which power was strong enough to be a mystical treasure in Qing Xuan. However, in the Dao of Five Elements, it was cultivated before he became a heavenly immortal. Though full of potential, it was still lacking to go against those in the state of heavenly immortal.

Now that Shen Lian had leveled up to be an expert in the state of heavenly immortal, coupled with his past experience with Celestial Trapping Sword will and murderous thoughts of Avici and Yuantu Swords. In terms of the Dao of Killing Sword, other than his Aenior Apprentice-Brother Chen Jianmei and his nemesis Chen Beidou, no one else could surpass him in this.

However, with his great exceptional abilities, he had to go beyond the barriers of his predecessors. This was why he intended to utilize his swords practices to transfer his sword will onto the instrument and purify his own body.

At the same time, the cultivation of this killing sword would increase the probability of winning against opponents like Emperor Xia and Tianyi. He might be someone out of this mortal world, and he might not have control over the rights and wrongs here, but the leveling up of combative power would not bring him any harm.

The killing sword was not easy to master even if one is determined to cultivate it. Moreover, he was not a prodigy swordsman like his Apprentice-Brother Chen who could form his heart like a sword, and turn it into a formless killing sword, which would save him the effort of cultivating a weapon.

Since Shen Lian decided to practice the killing sword form, firstly he would need the materials, secondly an extraordinary mana level, and thirdly a powerful flame.

The fire was the most important element among all three.

The sword that Shen Lian wanted was no ordinary sword, so he naturally could not use ordinary fire, which he came prepared. He was going to use the True Samadhi Fire.

Mastering the True Samadhi Fire was easy, but it was versatile and refined, which the potential was almost endless. Even Taishang Laojun, who was believed to be the reincarnation of Taishang Daoist Master also used the True Samadhi Fire in his Eight Trigram Furnace.

Though Shen Lian could make a True Samadhi Fire, it was not a refined fire, so it was impossible to be as magical as the flames in the Eight Trigram Furnace.

So he was determined to spend some time to elevate his skills in producing the True Samadhi Fire. Others in the state of heavenly immortal would spend decades and centuries to master it even if they knew its method, but for Shen Lian who had the knowledge as deep as the ocean, and also understood the concept of heaven and earth from his recent reading of Lianshan, he would need to borrow the sun essence and moon radiance to master the True Samadhi Fire in a short time.

All the stars in the sky had an ever-burning undying fire, whereas the sun and the moon were the highest of these stars. Both the sun and moon had the unique characteristics of Yang and Yin, which Shen Lian spent days and nights to absorb both its elements into his body and readjust his Qi of Yin and Yang, reorganized his five elements to finally achieve the purest Qi and injected it into the seed of True Samadhi Fire. It actually worked.

However, even the laws of heaven had its incompleteness. Shen Lian's method had a flaw. This mysterious Qi was only man-made by Shen Lian, it lacked some sort of Dao rhythm. Although it did strengthen the fire, as if 'spoiling things by undue haste', its power would increase significantly for a short amount of time, but would never last through the period like those which were actually produced through many years of cultivation and practice.