บท 6: Chapter 6 Rumors_1
"Achoo!"
Shen Yuan, who had just gotten off the car, couldn't help but sneeze.
He rubbed his somewhat sore nose, feeling puzzled. Having already reached the Essence Refining Stage, simply circulating his breath for a cycle could withstand the cold or heat, so there was no possibility of catching a cold.
"Could it be... someone is talking about me?"
Shen Yuan muttered casually before dismissing the thought, heading straight for his rental room.
Wenn City, where Shen Yuan resided, was a typical resource-based industrial city. It developed around a giant coal mine and later established numerous factories around the mine, ultimately forming a city.
However, like the inevitable fate of most resource-based industrial cities, Wenn City lost its vitality for development after the exhaustion of the giant coal mine, leaving a large number of abandoned factories and residential areas in the old city area. The entire city's focus was shifted to the new city area.
Shen Yuan had been living in this old city area for three months. The primary reason for moving here was the low housing prices; he could rent a standalone courtyard just for a few hundred yuan.
Although the location was remote, it was not a problem for Shen Yuan who did not have commuting needs.
Moreover, since the surrounding factories had been abandoned for more than ten years, the absence of factory pollution made the environment of the old city area quite decent. Even the abandoned mine not far away showed signs of slight revival after more than a decade.
Crossing a remote alley, Shen Yuan approached the small courtyard that spanned just over a hundred square meters.
Opening the rusted door lock, Shen Yuan pushed the door open. What came into view was a ground paved with broken stones and an ancient-looking wooden corridor, with lush green vines coiling around it.
To the left of the courtyard, there was a lush date tree. On the square stone table beneath the tree, intersecting lines made up a Go board.
However, Shen Yuan didn't know how to play Go, so the stone table carved into a go board was of no use to him.
Throwing his bag down casually, Shen Yuan sat in front of the stone table, his mind immersing itself and gradually relaxing in the familiar environment.
During the trip to the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, Shen Yuan seemed relaxed, but his mind had been extremely tense all the way.
Especially after the incident at the Falling Clouds Grotto Heavens, facing the tremendous power that wiped out all living beings in the grotto heavens had completely exceeded Shen Yuan's cognition, bringing his mental stress to the extreme.
It wasn't until he returned to this small courtyard that belonged to him that Shen Yuan could truly relax.
Sitting in front of the stone table, Shen Yuan's breath gradually became long and steady. The rhythm of the Cloud Mist Breathing Method seemed to blend into the tranquil state of his mind, emitting a profound rhythm.
Time passed by every second, and the entire courtyard seemed to be fully immersed in tranquility.
After an unknown period, the crisp sound of glass shattering resounded in Shen Yuan's heart. The profound rhythm brought by the breathing method began to spread in all directions, and spirit energy began to converge in an area ten meters around him.
The leaves of the date tree in the courtyard rustled, and the green radish on the long corridor swayed constantly in the breeze. The instinct of the living beings made them actively accept the spirit energy that was converging.
When that spirit energy followed the rhythm of the breathing method into Shen Yuan's body and into the cycle of his major circuit, he slowly opened his eyes.
A streak of cold light flashed across his clear black and white eyes, turning the gentle breeze in the courtyard into an autumn wind of stern killing intent.
The branches shook, and lots of leaves fell with the wind. The leaves that had just fallen from the branches had a touch of dull yellow that did not belong to this world.
But all of this vanished in an instant. When the cold light in Shen Yuan's eyes faded away and returned to tranquility, everything seemed as if it had never happened.
"I've finally made the breakthrough!"
Shen Yuan let out a long sigh, a trace of a smile appearing on his face.
After experiencing the incident at the Falling Clouds Grotto Heavens, the Cloud Mist Breathing Method he'd practiced for a full half year finally helped him complete the breakthrough, successfully transitioning from the early stage to mid-stage of the Essence Refining Stage.
The most important task during the Essence Refining Stage is actually to accumulate and strengthen one's Essence Element, preparing for the subsequent Refining Essence to Qi Transformation. Therefore, there is not much difference between the early and middle stages of this stage.
The Cloud Mist Breathing Method is, after all, a foundation-building technique. The effect it can produce after Shen Yuan officially steps into the middle stage of the Essence Refining Stage is already minimal. It is utterly impossible to break through to the Qi Transformation Stage using the Cloud Mist Breathing Method.
Fortunately, Shen Yuan has acquired the subsequent cultivation techniques. He can officially start cultivation of the "Purple Clouds Elemental Qi Refinement Method". His cultivation speed will experience rapid growth for a period, making it foreseeable that breaking through to Qi Transformation Stage is not a difficulty.
After witnessing the miserable state of the Falling Clouds Grotto Heavens, Shen Yuan began to feel an urgency to improve his own strength.
As the Sect Master of Falling Clouds Sect, no one could be certain whether the catastrophe that occurred in the Falling Clouds Grotto Heavens would similarly affect him. Before a real disaster strikes, he must gain sufficient power to protect himself.
Just as Shen Yuan was about to get up and return to his room to comprehend the Purple Clouds Elemental Qi Refinement Method, he suddenly heard a low rumbling sound from his stomach. Only then did he remember that he hadn't eaten anything all day.
To be exact, including the few days spent in Cloud Mist Mountain Range, Shen Yuan had only been consuming some pre-prepared compressed food and had not had a real meal.
Not only Spirit Energy, but external food was also relied on to strengthen oneself in the Essence Refining Stage.
Shen Yuan had come across some legends about ancient cultivators. In times of scarce Spirit Energy, a genius who stepped into the Essence Refining Stage had to consume vast amounts of regular food to replenish his Essence Element. This practice even gave birth to legends about consuming an entire cow in a day.
However, in modern times, the Spirit Energy available to Shen Yuan was nowhere near that scarce. Yet, it was still necessary to supplement it with food.
Returning to his room, he glanced at the empty old-fashioned fridge. Shen Yuan then left the small courtyard, closing the gate behind him, and headed towards the local market.
There weren't many people on the streets of the old city, even in the market. Only a few elderly people could be seen buying groceries for dinner. There were hardly any young people in sight.
While he was picking vegetables in front of a stall, the stall owner—a middle-aged woman—was chatting about family matters. Suddenly, a comment she made caught Shen Yuan's attention.
"Did you hear? Someone spotted a dragon in the old mining area."
With this comment, the interest of many men and women at the market was piqued. They all started to chatter away on the topic.
"Are you talking about that incident that happened the night before last?"
"Some jobless hoodlums heard there was an ancient tomb in the old mine. They snuck in at night to rob the tomb but were scared half to death. They've been telling everyone they saw a dragon."
"You've all worked in the mine for so long, yet you believe such things?"
"Well, you can't dismiss it entirely. Take a look at the Internet. There are all sorts of strange things happening. Some say they saw a gorilla as tall as a mountain in Changbai Mountain. Some even claim to have filmed a serpent with nine heads in an abandoned nuclear power station on Ying Island."
"Even the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, just a few hundred kilometers from us, seems to have experienced some abnormalities. Marquis Zhennan's Residence deployed the Zhennan Army to block the Cloud Mist Mountain Range. There is hardly any news about this online."
"If it weren't for the fact that my second aunt's cousin works at the scenic spot, I wouldn't have known about this at all."
"That's why it's better to believe such things exist than to dismiss them."
At first, Shen Yuan listened to the chatter of these old folks just for fun. Having lived in the old city for over half a year, he often heard rumors about the old mining area.
At first, he even thought there might be some treasure in the old mine and spent half a night there, but to no avail. After a while, he became used to the rumors.
However, he was somewhat stunned when he heard one of the men talking assuredly about the Cloud Mist Mountain Range situation.
This was the first time he'd heard about the Zhennan Army sealing off the Cloud Mist Mountain Range. And from the timing of the blockade, it seemed to have happened shortly after he left the mountain range.
Recalling his experiences in the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, Shen Yuan was struck with a daring thought.
"Could Marquis Zhennan have sealed off the Cloud Mist Mountain Range because of me?"
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