My cultivation method shines upon all heavens.

"Although I didn't have high hopes..."

Lu Ming's lips curled slightly, and a glint of light appeared in his eyes:

"I never expected to receive such a surprise."

These days, he followed his own judgment and searched for those seemingly reliable clues one by one, but each time he returned empty-handed.

This perfectly illustrates the old saying: "When man thinks, God laughs."

Unexpectedly, this "Encounter with Immortals" story, which he initially found most absurd, actually contained a real treasure.

Unfortunately, the book is incomplete, and although there may have been techniques beyond Yi Jin Jing, they have been lost.

He gently stroked the yellowed pages and closed the book with some regret.

The middle-aged man rubbed his hands together, looking at Lu Ming with anticipation:

"Sir, what do you see?"

Lu Ming glanced up at him and casually tossed a tael of silver from his pocket.

The silver coin traced an arc in the air before landing in the middle-aged man's palm with a clear, crisp sound.

The middle-aged man looked down at the silver in his palm, his face ashen, then looked up:

"My lord, you..."

Lu Ming's face turned cold, and he said sternly:

"Get out. Or do you want to go to jail?"

The middle-aged man trembled, opened his mouth, and wanted to argue.

But when she met Lu Ming's cold, sharp eyes, all the words she was about to say stuck in her throat.

He shrank back, clutched the silver, and ran out of the courtyard as if fleeing, not even bothering to close the door.

The courtyard fell silent.

Lu Ming then turned to the silent mother and daughter beside him, took out ten taels of silver from his pocket, and handed them over:

"Aunt Zhang, please accept this money."

The woman was taken aback and quickly declined.

"Young Master Lu... this is unacceptable! I don't think he usually sells this martial arts manual; it's probably only worth a few taels of silver at most, not nearly that much!"

Lu Ming stuffed the silver into her arms and chuckled softly:

"It's alright, if I say it's worth it, then it's worth it. Besides, even if you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your daughter, right?"

As he spoke, he glanced at the little girl in her arms.

The little girl was staring straight at him with her big, dark eyes, her gaze containing a quietness beyond her years.

The woman's expression shifted for a long time, her right hand tightly gripping the silver.

Finally, she let out a long breath, carefully put the silver into her bosom, and thanked Lu Ming profusely, her voice choked with emotion.

Lu Ming smiled slightly, put the book into his pocket, and took his leave.

……

Night falls, in the bedroom.

An oil lamp sat on the wooden table by the bedside, its flame flickering slightly inside.

Lu Ming sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, holding a book in his hand.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and silently said in his heart:

"Refine it."

As soon as the words were spoken, the white snake outlined in ink on the last page of the book suddenly lit up.

Two tiny specks of light ignited at the snake's head, and then the entire outline of the white snake lit up from top to bottom.

A brilliant white light seeped from the paper, flowing along the palm of my hand and transforming into a warm current that surged into my body.

"Boom—!"

A muffled thunderclap seemed to explode in my mind, and countless images flashed through my mind.

In a daze, a torrential downpour began, with large raindrops pounding on the muddy ground and splashing up murky water droplets.

He seemed to have become a down-on-his-luck scholar, carrying a heavy book box, his clothes soaked through, running into a dilapidated temple in the middle of nowhere.

The temple gate was crooked, the roof tiles were broken, and rainwater poured down from the leaks, forming thin streams on the ground.

In the center of the dilapidated temple, a bonfire was burning brightly.

Beside the firelight, a white snake stood upright, its body as if carved from white jade, its scales gleaming with a warm luster in the firelight.

It tilted its head slightly, its dark eyes staring quietly at him, emitting soft hisses.

At this moment, white mist suddenly rose, and the snake's shadow transformed into a white light, flickering and moving within the temple.

The snakes were numerous and moved with lightning speed.

Lu Ming felt a chill on his neck. The white snake had coiled around his neck without him noticing, its dark eyes staring intently at him.

He suddenly awoke with a start, and in a flash, he landed lightly on the ground.

My feet touched the ground silently, and an unprecedented sensation surged through my body:

Each tendon is as soft and resilient as if it had been soaked in hot spring water, stretching and twisting without any resistance.

With a thought, he vanished from the spot.

A pale white figure darted and moved nimbly in the room, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes high, sometimes low, like a white snake slithering through the shadows.

After a while, the white shadow suddenly solidified, and Lu Ming's figure slowly appeared beside the oil lamp.

He was slightly out of breath, and involuntarily looked up at the scroll in the background:

[Realm: Yi Jin Jing]

[Martial Arts: White Serpent Crossing (Low-grade Spiritual Scripture; Mastery 2500/3000)]

[Fellow cultivators from all heavens: 999999999+]

"So... this is... the completion of the Yi Jin Jing?"

A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, but he quickly realized what was going on.

The person who left the imprint on the heart clearly had achieved a very high level of skill at the White Snake Crossing.

But another question arose in his mind:

"Is this White Snake Crossing technique something he created himself, or is it a martial art that already exists in the world?"

"If it already existed, it's understandable given the large number of fellow cultivators across the heavens; but if he created it himself..."

"Does that mean that all martial arts, regardless of their path, lead to the same goal, and that all martial arts of the same category can be sensed by the Heavenly Heart Scroll?"

In an instant, countless thoughts swept through my mind.

"Boom—!"

Just then, a loud, muffled, and prolonged explosion came from afar.

The whole house trembled slightly, and dust fell from the roof beams.

Lu Ming's expression changed, and he rushed out of the bedroom.

He came into the courtyard, looked up, and his eyes widened suddenly.

The full moon hangs high in the sky, its silvery-white light spreading across the entire world like mercury.

But right next to this silver disc, the sun, which should have been setting in the west, rose again.

The dim sun hung beside the moon, its light reflecting off the moon, creating a scene as bright as day.

The sun and moon shine under the same sky!

Lu Ming was shaken to his core.

Immediately afterwards, a huge yellow talisman rose up from the ground in the far distance.

It was like a giant, all-encompassing curtain, obscuring half of the sky.

The red runes outlined in cinnabar on the talisman were so vivid and lifelike that every stroke seemed to writhe, captivating the mind.

"Boom—!"

Thunder roared from the heavens, and the entire world trembled.

One after another, bolts of azure lightning, as thick as a human arm, struck the talisman. Each strike unleashed a blinding flash of electricity, casting a ghostly blue light upon everything on the ground.

The talisman trembled violently under the lightning strike, yet it refused to yield an inch.

"The Azure Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise; in the year of Jiazi, great fortune shall befall the world!"

An aged voice echoed between heaven and earth, spreading throughout the four seas and eight wastelands.

On the talisman, the cinnabar runes suddenly accelerated their writhing, twisting and converging, transforming into a nine-section bamboo staff.

The staff is as thick as a child's arm, with distinct bamboo joints, each section engraved with the Big Dipper pattern and swirling cloud patterns.

The nine-section staff, supporting the talisman, soared into the sky, its tip pointing straight to the heavens.

The blue lightning grew increasingly violent, unleashing a continuous barrage of electric snakes that clashed head-on with the nine-section staff.

Each impact created a visible shockwave that rippled outwards in all directions.

Even standing in the courtyard, Lu Ming could feel the wind pressure rushing towards him.

The two sides remained deadlocked for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The thunder never ceased, the light of the staff never faded, and blue and yellow lights intertwined and surged in the sky.

In the end, they both perished.

The nine-section staff turned into specks of yellow light and dissipated, while the talismans fell into the air like ashes from burnt paper.

Qing Lei also exhausted all his power. After a few last few tiny flashes of lightning, he silently vanished.

The world returned to peace.

The sun disappeared, and only the moon remained hanging in the night sky, but it was noticeably dimmer.

At the same time, the once quiet alleyway was suddenly filled with a cacophony of noise.

"Uphold righteousness! Bring peace to the people! Achieve tranquility! Gain eternal life!"

"The government is corrupt! The people suffer! The Heavenly Master has been born! He will save all people!"

"The Azure Heaven is dead! The Yellow Heaven shall rise! The year is Jiazi! Great fortune awaits the world!"

Countless footsteps echoed through the alley, accompanied by shouts and roars.

Shen Ru, still half-asleep, walked out of the house wearing a thin, old shirt. Seeing Lu Ming standing in the courtyard, she unconsciously moved closer to him.

"Ming'er... what, what's going on?"

Lu Ming turned to look at her, his eyes filled with seriousness:

"Mother, quickly pack the essentials, we're going to the inner city."