"It does. Everyone used to think we were finished, that any lowlife could step on us. Now that the Young Master is here, everything's changed."

"Ha! Who doesn't know by now that the Young Master subdued Sun Tiangang, the master of Sun Family Villa?"

"Precisely, precisely. We haven't felt this respected in two or three years." The cultivators of the Li Family Villa discussed among themselves. Their recent experiences outside were indeed completely different from before. Before, they were looked down upon by everyone, bullied by any passing power. Now, they stood tall, and even the way people looked at them had shifted.

"Some of those who defected from the Villa a couple of years back are trying to crawl back now. They haven't fared well out there, and I hear the Young Master is here, so they want to sneak back in." one cultivator mentioned.

"Pah, as if we'd entertain them! They abandoned the Villa when it was at its lowest point to side with other factions. Now that they're failing outside, they think they can return? Do they take us for a scrap heap?" Another cultivator nodded emphatically in agreement.

The once stagnant Li Family Villa was brimming with vitality these days.

Working under the Young Master was motivating.

Meanwhile, Lu Yuan stood with his hands clasped behind his back in the side room, deep in thought.

He possessed a full two hundred and thirty low-grade spirit stones—a truly astronomical amount, at least to him. These stones were all stored in his Asura Pouch, but he realized he wouldn't rely on accumulating more mana to break through this current bottleneck.

The Great Heavenly Cycle—what was the Great Heavenly Cycle?

It meant the entire body flowed smoothly, allowing the spiritual energy in all meridians to circulate and cycle without hindrance—that was the Great Heavenly Cycle.

However, while his meridians were indeed filled with spiritual energy, they could not form a continuous circuit; the energy could not flow smoothly throughout his entire body. Thus, he had not yet reached the ninth major stage of Qi Condensation: the Great Heavenly Cycle.

These meridians were like countless small rivers, and the spiritual energy was the water within them.

But there were blockages between these rivers.

If he could blast through those barriers, he could reach the Great Heavenly Cycle.

Practicing swordsmanship allows one to observe the intent of Heaven and Earth to master a sword art.

So, if one practices the fundamental heart technique, can one also observe the intent of Heaven and Earth to master the heart technique?

He recalled an ancient text he once read, which quoted the Second Patriarch: "The tide rises and falls, the morning frost and evening dew—each contains the profound principles of Heaven and Earth. What good is 'emulating creation externally, obtaining the inner source, taking man as teacher, taking books as teacher,' compared to taking Heaven and Earth itself as the teacher?"

The Second Patriarch's Cloud Dragon Heart Technique and the One Hundred and Eight Swords of Wind and Cloud were not inherited from predecessors; both were techniques he forged by taking Heaven and Earth as his master.

It was said that the Second Patriarch of the North Peak surpassed even True Man Tongxiao, the founder of the Huashan lineage, in strength, and there was a reason for it.

The sword intent he grasped for the One Hundred and Eight Swords of Wind and Cloud was not achieved through rote imitation. Imitating it for a hundred years would barely yield comprehension of the intent. Instead, it was through observing the wind tearing through the willowy forest, watching the surging clouds and seas—a form of taking Heaven and Earth as a teacher—that he grasped the sword intent so quickly.

One should not be confined to the sword technique; the heart technique should also be derivable by observing the transformations of the myriad things in Heaven and Earth to gain insight.

Time to go for a walk.

Perhaps amidst the constant flux of the natural world, he would gain enlightenment regarding the next step in advancing his heart technique.

——————

Lu Yuan casually walked out of the Li Family Villa.

He walked with an air of utter carelessness.

He found himself upon a bridge, beneath which rushed a torrential river.

The river flowed mightily; any stone or obstruction in its path was thoroughly scoured away, either dragged to the bottom or swept off to an unknown distance.

If the water flow is fast enough, surging enough, it can wash away any obstacle in its path.

If he could temporarily infuse his Cloud-attribute heart technique with the characteristics of the Water element, making it akin to a rapid current, breaking through those internal barriers to reach the Great Heavenly Cycle shouldn't be too difficult.

Lu Yuan stood there, watching the churning water beneath the bridge.

The river surged, its momentum overwhelming. In a few treacherous spots, it threw up waves that looked like a thousand cliffs of spray, a single sheet of shattered jade.

...

Cloud... Water.

How could he integrate the characteristics of a rapid current into the Cloud Heart Technique?

As Lu Yuan pondered, he suddenly smacked his forehead. Was there not this line in the Cloud Dragon Heart Technique: "The clouds crossing Mount Wu transform into the sea..." He had recorded this passage when studying the Cloud Dragon Heart Technique but couldn't make sense of that aspect for ages. Now, it finally clicked.

Immediately, he sat down cross-legged right there on the bridge and began circulating the Cloud Dragon Heart Technique. This time, however, circulating it felt vastly different from before. The Cloud-attribute spiritual energy within him seemed to be subtly undergoing a change.

After circulating it for a long time, faint wisps of cloud energy began to gather behind Lu Yuan. This energy condensed into the shape of a strange beast: fish-like, with a gaping mouth and an enormous tail, resembling a dragon head with a curled tail. If any known Ninth Generation Sword Immortal were present, they would instantly recognize that Lu Yuan was achieving the first transformation of the Cloud Dragon Ten Transformations: the Chi Wen Form.

That coiled, dragon-headed form gathering behind him was precisely Chi Wen, one of the Nine Offspring of the Dragon.

Lu Yuan, in fact, had just discovered the change in his own Cloud Dragon Heart Technique.

The Cloud Dragon Heart Technique, also known as the Cloud Dragon Ten Transformations Heart Technique, had been explained to him by his master shortly after the North Peak Grand Competition.

The Dragon has Nine Offspring: Bi Xi, Chi Wen, Pu Lao, Bi An, Tao Tie, Pa Xia, Ya Zi, Suan Ni, and Jiao Tu. These are the Nine Offspring of the Dragon.

The Second Patriarch of the North Peak was truly a profound scholar. He originally practiced a standard Cloud-attribute heart technique but later discovered its shortcomings, such as weak explosive power. He tried to improve the technique through countless modifications, finally evolving it into the Cloud Dragon Ten Transformations.

The first nine transformations of the Cloud Dragon Ten Transformations correspond to the Nine Offspring. Each of these nine transformations rectifies a specific weakness in the Cloud Heart Technique. Once the Nine Cloud Dragon Transformations are mastered, one's spiritual energy will have no flaws whatsoever.

Finally, after condensing the Nine Cloud Dragon Transformations, one can merge them into one, becoming the true, ultimate Tenth Transformation: the Cloud Dragon Transformation.

If one can master the Tenth Transformation, the Cloud Dragon Transformation, achieving invincibility in the Great Jin Kingdom and surpassing even the founder of the Huashan Immortal Sect, True Man Tongxiao, would not be difficult.

However, achieving the Tenth Transformation is exceedingly arduous. It is said that in the past four thousand years, no one has reached the Tenth Transformation. Even the current Master of the North Peak, Venerable Yuan Yuan, has only managed to reach the Sixth Transformation and could progress no further.

For Lu Yuan to master one of the Ten Transformations—the Chi Wen Form—at his age was truly remarkable.

Oh, right—he forgot to explain the first transformation, the Chi Wen Form.

Chi Wen, one of the Nine Offspring of the Dragon, can spew waves and bring rain, and dislikes fire disasters.

This Chi Wen Form addresses the weakness of the Cloud Heart Technique in breaking through bottlenecks: while the Cloud energy is dense, its surging force is insufficient. This transformation allows the Cloud Heart Technique to transform into a Water-element characteristic, like a surging torrent, when necessary.

It can be said that the Cloud Dragon Ten Transformations Heart Technique is genuinely one of the most supreme techniques in the cultivation world. Once the Nine Transformations are mastered, there are no weaknesses, only strengths. If this top-tier technique has any flaw, it is only that achieving mastery is incredibly difficult.

Or perhaps, it should be said that mastering even the Nine Transformations is too difficult, let alone the Tenth Transformation, the Cloud Dragon Transformation, which is exponentially harder than any of the preceding nine.

The Tenth Transformation, Cloud Dragon Transformation: Invincibility in Great Jin.

The Cloud Dragon Ten Transformations Heart Technique is inherently a supreme, top-tier technique, filled with infinite profound mysteries and countless variations.

(Finally explained the Cloud Dragon Ten Transformations Heart Technique in detail; I didn't elaborate on it after the North Peak Grand Competition last time.)

(Recommending a friend's new book, Nine Dragon Sword Sect. Synopsis: The Dragon has Nine Offspring, each different. Slaying gods, destroying Buddhas, vanquishing demons—only my Sword Sect prevails. A usurped noble identity, a brand new beginning after transmigration.)