While yin energy continuously sprayed out from the surface cracks, the discharge pooled into a lake aboveground. For that reason, the immortals who’d discovered this region had labelled it the Lake of Yin.
Since quite a few of them had already died inside the lake, dao immortals included, they judged Lu Yun dead beyond the shadow of a doubt when he fell in.
Some lamented his demise, while others were jubilant at his misfortune. At any rate, there was a love-hate relationship between Lu Yun and pre-void-restoration immortals. They both craved his spontaneous death for his sins, yet also longed to retain their current status in the world order with his formation of heaven and earth.
As a monster king from the Yellow Springs Land, Zou Longxiu was a famous figure amongst the monster spirits of the ten lands and had his own circle of close friends. Nerves and worry gnawed at them when they saw him dive into the lake to rescue Lu Yun.
……
Zou Longxiu was a mutated ice mo, one of the immortal beasts of the world. When he called upon his full talents, he was able to turn an area five hundred kilometers around him into a world of ice.
But inside the lake, his realm of ice was reduced to a mere meter centered on him, and its usually snow-white gleam was an inky pitch-black. In fact, his very body was black from the taint of yin energy.
Even still, his gaze was resolute as he made his way forward and finally stopped in front of Lu Yun.
“Why go to all this trouble?” Lu Yun looked at his would-be rescuer with a gentle shake of the head. He wasn’t afraid of the yin energy here. He’d only fallen off of the Path of Ingress due to the force of impact with the yin energy exploding out of the ground.
Seeing Zou Longxiu disregard his own safety like this baffled Lu Yun. True, the monster spirit had declared his allegiance in front of so many others, but truthfully, Lu Yun had thought very little of this supposed loyalty.
However, the ice mo’s actions now painted him in an entirely different light.
“Zou Longxiu… Zou Longxiu might truly share part of my destiny.” Lu Yun murmured the other’s name repeatedly.
“Sir!” Zou Longxiu’s eyes belched yin energy, a blatant sign of how deeply it’d sunk into his body. With his current cultivation, it was difficult to withstand such a fearsome invasion. “Your servant can still hold on. Sir, please come with me!”
A sphere of frigid air exploded from him, shaking his figure and turning his body into an ice sculpture. A tremendous chill spread in every direction and formed a spotless curtain of white light. Clearing an area six meters across, it banished all yin energy within its vicinity as the monster king’s eyes glowed faintly.
“Zou Longxiu!!! Do you not care about your own life?” His friends frantically circled the Lake of Yin. Some had even thrown caution to the wind and came barrelling inside.
“Go away!!” With a wave, Zou Longxiu shot out a beam of white frost from his hand and blasted the monster immortals away. “Sir!”
The monster king became agitated when he saw Lu Yun remain indifferent inside his curtain of light.
“Ah well,” Lu Yun sighed. “Zou Longxiu, are you willing to accept me as your master and become my second disciple?”
Struggling to withstand the yin energy, Zou Longxiu froze in confusion. What did I hear just now?
Becoming the young human’s disciple was no small matter. After all, his first disciple was a born peerless immortal and the daughter of the Panorama Pavilion’s master, an arcane dao immortal himself!
The immortal dao inside her was whole and complete, as it was with immortals of old. This kind of potential was unparalleled in the immortal world. Not even Twin Stars Zhu Yan and Yue Longsha, the two connate immortals of Nephrite Major, were on her level.
In comparison, Zou Longxiu was absolutely leagues and leagues apart from them. But Lu Yun was suddenly willing to take him as a disciple?
As the monster king’s emotions flared, the white curtain of light around him trembled, then shattered from the terrible pressure from the yin energy outside. Pouring in through the breach, the inky energy shaped itself into an enormous wave that bore down on Lu Yun and Zou Longxiu.
Fear and despair floated onto the monster king’s face. However, Lu Yun gently waved a hand, summoning a blossom of black flame that erased the fearsome wave with a graceful flit across the sky.
Zou Longxiu stared blankly at the young man.
“Are you willing to become my second disciple?” Lu Yun looked at the monster king, satisfaction tinging his smile.
Liu Qingmiao, his first disciple, was a reincarnation of one of the little fox’s soul-parts. Possessing a complete soul and inheritance of her own, she would never follow in Lu Yun’s footsteps.
So, after witnessing Zou Longxiu’s conduct and character, Lu Yun decided to take him in as a disciple—a disciple of the tomb raider sect!
“This disciple pays his respects to the honorable master!” Pulling himself together, Zou Longxiu immediately fell to his knees and performed the master-disciple ceremony of three bows and nine kowtows.
The monster immortals around the lake stared at him in stupefaction.
Firstly, they could see a layer of black flames around Lu Yun that protected both of them, keeping the lake’s yin energy firmly at bay. Secondly, Zou Longxiu had suddenly kowtowed to Lu Yun and called him master!
The scene elicited admiration and jealousy all around.
“Who would’ve thought that Lu Yun would have a way to counter the terrible yin energy! No wonder he’s the guardian of the Dao Flower and capable of feats like creating the formation of heaven and earth...”
……
“I’ll etch a formation of heaven and earth for you after we leave,” Lu Yun said. “For now, I’ll impart the Dragonshift Method to you so that you can strengthen yourself with the power of earthen or dragon veins.”
He rested a fingertip against the center of Zou Longxiu’s brows. Dragonshift Method!
Boom!
Brain set abuzz, a long passage of mysterious and profound incantations appeared in Zou Longxiu’s mind. This isn’t a combat art from this world… how marvelous it is!
Having yet to get back on his feet, Zou Longxiu remained entranced on his knees, meticulously digesting everything about the Dragonshift Method.
There were three major realms to this method. The first drew energy from the land to alter the terrain, the second drew from earthen veins to create feng shui layouts, and the third could manipulate dragon veins to alter and transform the world!
Lu Yun himself was in the second realm and could only set a foot in the third realm and handle dragon veins when aided by the luopan. But to do so wasn’t the same as attaining the third realm of his own accord. Consequently, he suffered backlash from the land every time he shifted a dragon vein.
Had he truly reached the third realm, he’d be able to avoid this recoil altogether. In short, the third realm was a state in which the self intermingled with the world.
Nevertheless, no matter the realm, one could always merge with earthen and dragon veins and draw upon their energy. As long as one refrained from moving the veins, they wouldn’t suffer adverse repercussions.