Chapter 301 – Dead End, Xia Zhiqing and the Daughter of the Nightmare, Opening the Elephant Deity Secret Realm

The true path of the pure martial artist.

A martial art as vast and brilliant as the Starry Sky.

If Lu Yuan had to choose, he would most likely choose the latter without hesitation.

Even though he had just been promoted to an Extraordinary Grandmaster, unlocking the [Extraordinary Martial Grandmaster] professional panel.

“According to the [Origin Heart Sutra], as long as several Star Acupoints are activated, Extraterrestrial Martial Arts will completely surpass the current New Martial Arts and Modification system.

Once the entire Star Diagram is illuminated, it could unlock secrets in the Starry Sky, granting unimaginable power.

And this is not the end; after completely illuminating the first star diagram, one can continue to illuminate the second, the third… and even more star diagrams.”

With just a few words, Lu Yuan could already see that glittering heavenly path laid out in the vast universe.

Compared to this path, the routes depicted in the murals of the Hutian Secret Realm seemed quite insignificant.

The crucial point was.

The true path of the pure martial artist was still largely unknown.

Once Lu Yuan reached the level of the little figure in the mural, he would have to rely on himself to explore further.

Because there were no footprints left by those who had walked this path before.

But Extraterrestrial Martial Arts were different; who knew how glorious and magnificent this path had already become in the Starry Sky?

From both the upper limit and the safety perspective, it seemed smarter to switch to Extraterrestrial Martial Arts.

But.

The problem at hand was.

Even if Lu Yuan wanted to switch, he couldn’t.

“To switch, I need to activate a Star Acupoint. To activate a Star Acupoint, I must first break the self-circulation within my body. And once the circulation is broken, I’ll die…”

Lu Yuan felt like he had reached a dead end.

He couldn’t switch, he could only keep going down his current path.

But the further he progressed, the farther he was from his goal of switching to Starry Sky Martial Arts.

Because as the blood sphere continued to grow stronger, his internal circulation became more robust, lowering the success rate of activating a Star Acupoint. The already slim hope was reduced to practically zero.

“What to do? This… I really don’t know what to do…” Lu Yuan muttered to himself.

The key issue was that Lu Yuan couldn’t share this with Yuwen Tong.

Because if he did, it would somewhat seem like he was blaming Yuwen Tong for “trapping” him.

After a long silence, Lu Yuan quietly collected his thoughts.

For now, he could only continue to follow the established path.

“At least at this stage, the path of the pure martial artist isn’t necessarily weaker than the Starry Sky martial arts. The fact that the little figure in the mural was ultimately eliminated by the Ancient Evil Deity proves that the pure martial artist path still holds great potential.”

Lu Yuan could only comfort himself with these thoughts.

“Moreover, the evil deity system might offer a perfect solution to this dilemma…”

Several thoughts quickly flashed through Lu Yuan’s mind, giving him a vague idea.

But it was just an idea.

Whether it was feasible or not still needed to be tested.

The preparation process would also be incredibly arduous, requiring even greater strength to support it, and its success would depend largely on luck.

Inside his body, the blood sphere slowly rotated, driving the blood energy to repeatedly wash over Lu Yuan’s body.

The injuries caused by forcibly activating a Star Acupoint earlier had soon healed.

Lu Yuan silently walked over to a rack of super alloy weapons, casually grabbing a longblade and began to practice with it.

He had recently been working on advancing his [Master of Arms] level, learning over a dozen cold weapon techniques in a single go.

After his intelligence achieved a second limit break, Lu Yuan’s ability to learn and comprehend had reached an astounding level.

It was the genuine “Brain Divinity.”

This was Lu Yuan’s first time dealing with cold weapon blade techniques, having only watched a few introductory videos in the Yellow Bear database.

Once he got started, apart from the slight awkwardness during the first practice, the foundational blade technique became incredibly smooth and skillful by the second practice.

This was not only a matter of comprehension and learning ability but also his control over his body as a martial Grandmaster.

No ordinary person could achieve his current level of incredible precision.

Lu Yuan’s control over his body was so fine-tuned that he could almost manage the closure of each individual pore.

While practicing with the longblade, Lu Yuan kept his eyes on his professional panel.

He watched as the experience points for [Master of Arms] and the [Basic Blade Techniques] rapidly increased before his eyes.

The notifications about the rising experience points for the basic blade techniques rolled down like a waterfall on his panel.

In just half an hour, Lu Yuan successfully leveled his [Basic Blade Techniques] from Lv1 (0/100) to Lv5 (max level).

“Hmm?”

Upon reaching max level, Lu Yuan glanced at his attribute panel and noticed that he did not receive any additional attribute point rewards.

He frowned slightly, feeling a bit disappointed.

“Looks like they’ve completely shut down my idea of farming attribute points…”

Originally, maxing out basic skills would reward attribute points.

Lu Yuan wasn’t sure when this feature was removed from the panel.

He sensed that the reward mechanisms of his Golden Finger were constantly adjusting based on his growing strength.

“What exactly is the truth behind this panel?”

Lu Yuan occasionally pondered the origins of his transmigration and the awakening of his panel abilities.

It was akin to how many people contemplate life and imagine the universe when gazing up at the Starry Sky.

But these thoughts were ultimately too distant from his present reality, rising for a moment before fading away.

In the time it takes to entertain such thoughts… it would be more productive to farm more experience points.

Though there were no attribute point rewards, the professional experience was still increasing.

Having maxed out one basic blade technique, Lu Yuan noticed that his [Master of Arms], currently at Lv3, was nearly at Lv4.

Estimating that practicing a few more other techniques would lead to a level-up, he realized that leveling up a new profession was still fairly quick in the beginning.

Lu Yuan put the longblade back on the weapon rack and casually grabbed a two-handed broadsword, then opened a few videos demonstrating heavy sword techniques.

He was just about to start practicing while watching the videos when a message suddenly arrived.

Without stopping his actions, Lu Yuan casually opened the message to check.

The message was sent by the Yellow Bear’s internal information analysis department, containing a simple analysis report-

[Based on the information provided by you, Lord, the woman depicted in the painting resembles the daughter of the nightmare in the Cavern Sect mythology.

It is said that the daughter of the nightmare has the permanent ability to deprive others of sleep and will randomly sow the seeds of dreams upon the land on the third month after nightfall.

Most of these seeds are nightmares, but among them is one beautiful dream.

Those fortunate enough to receive this beautiful dream will be chosen by the daughter of the nightmare to be her servant for a period of time and will receive the gift of immortality…]

Lu Yuan quietly read this report.

Earlier in the morning, when Lu Jing mentioned her friend’s situation, Lu Yuan didn’t take it too seriously but still decided to investigate it for her.

To his surprise, the matter was actually related to an evil deity sect.

And it was an evil deity sect he was quite familiar with-the Cavern Sect.

The Cavern Sect was the first evil deity sect Lu Yuan had encountered. He still remembered how he frantically searched for information in the Library after he first came across the Ratman.

The Yellow Bear information department combined Lu Jing’s friend’s life experiences and the woman’s image seen in his dream to conclude that it was related to an ancient evil deity named the “daughter of the nightmare” from the Cavern Sect.

Lu Yuan checked the information about this “daughter of the nightmare.”

He discovered that this deity’s status in the Cavern Sect mythology was even higher than that of the Lord of the Cavern, holding a position akin to a “mother goddess.”

According to legend, the Lord of the Cavern, Fantu Yasi, who claimed to control all treasures buried in the earth and possessed boundless strength, wealth, and power with everlasting life, was originally just a pet of the daughter of the nightmare.

It is said that during one of the daughter of the nightmare’s slumbers in a beautiful dream, Fantu Yasi, the pet, stole a trace of the power she unintentionally leaked out while asleep, thereby escaping from her sleepless palace and shedding his pet status.

However, due to his fear of being caught again, after escaping, Fantu Yasi dared not fall asleep nor leave the underground, thus becoming the so-called Lord of the Cavern.

Lu Yuan felt a trace of astonishment.

The Cavern Sect was considered quite powerful and influential among the evil deity sects in this world. In the evil martial alliance, the Lin Protector controlled the power of the evil deity belonging to the Cavern Sect.

Unexpectedly, above the Cavern Sect, there existed such a high-ranking mother goddess.

Information on the daughter of the nightmare is scarce, even within Yellow Bear. Most of it derives from the legendary tales of the Cavern Sect.

There’s no corresponding sect legacy either.

According to Yellow Bear’s report, before Lu Yuan discovered this matter, they generally believed that the legend of the daughter of the nightmare was a fabrication by the followers of the Cavern Sect to bolster their deity system. They didn’t expect it to be real.

“This is going to be more troublesome than I thought…”

Lu Yuan scrolled to the bottom of the report, and his pupils contracted slightly upon seeing a piece of information.

The information department had managed to identify the “friend” Lu Jing mentioned, and the result was shocking-Xia Zhiqing!

“How could it be her?!”

Lu Yuan was stunned.

He never expected that such a deeply intertwined and mysterious event would happen to Xia Zhiqing.

No wonder he found the style of that sketch familiar.

Xia Zhiqing frequently sent him her drawings before.

Quiet Bamboo Treasure…

A flood of memories related to Xia Zhiqing flashed through Lu Yuan’s mind.

His expression turned serious as he instinctively brought up his chat window with Xia Zhiqing, pondering whether he should ask her directly about the dreams.

Just then, another message popped up.

Lu Yuan glanced at the sender…

[Xiao Rui]!

The message was brief, only one sentence-

[Lord Tong has arranged for you to enter the secret realm. I’m on my way to pick you up now.]

Lu Yuan stared at the message, his gaze flickering.

Within half a second, he allocated part of Yellow Bear’s strength in the old city circle to guard Xia Zhiqing.

At the same time, he instructed the information department to continue investigating the daughter of the nightmare.

He wanted to see if there was a way to resolve the situation occurring around Xia Zhiqing.

“After this secret realm exploration…”

Lu Yuan thought, silently making a decision in his heart, “I’ll meet with her formally.”

…

Half an hour later.

Having handled all necessary matters, Lu Yuan found himself seated in the shuttle, quietly gazing at the shrinking view of Jiaoyan below.

Rhythmic footsteps sounded in his ears.

Lu Yuan turned his attention away from the window and saw the graceful Xiao Rui approaching with two steaming drinks in hand.

“Try this.”

Xiao Rui handed him a cup of hot coffee, smiling as she said, “Baerlo is a small country on the southern border of the Distant Star Federation, barely a speck on the map. Yet, it produces the best coffee beans in the world, aptly named Landong… fitting, isn’t it?”

“Mm.”

Lu Yuan responded with a nod, not saying much, and took a slow sip of the coffee.

He had a lot on his mind lately, perhaps partly due to his promotion to Grandmaster, making him seem more composed and reserved.

“Xiao Rui, why did Lord Tong suddenly allow me to enter Embers Mountain? Has the exploration been progressing smoothly there?”

Taking a couple more sips of his coffee, Lu Yuan looked up and asked Xiao Rui.

Xiao Rui shook her head and replied, “I never said I was taking you to Embers Mountain. Although your strength is impressive now, entering Embers Mountain would still be too risky. Recently, four-winged-level Flying Bear Generals have been falling there daily. Without their ability to quickly resurrect, it’s better to dismiss that notion for now…”

“So, which secret realm are we heading to?”

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but frown slightly.

His primary interest was in Embers Mountain, a place that held traces of the Phoenix’s rebirth.

Xiao Rui answered, “Remember those keys you brought back to the organization?

Just yesterday, the secret realm was officially unlocked.”

Lu Yuan was momentarily stunned, a word immediately popping into his mind-Elephant Deity Secret Realm!

He recalled retrieving those three stone balls from the elephant deity emissary; they were the keys to opening the Elephant Deity Secret Realm.

He had almost forgotten about it, and now it was unlocked at this very moment.