70 Xuan Yin

After many days.

Fang Yuan was seated on an emerald rock and was frowning, as though he had doubts.

"After the 9th Gate, the next step is to harness the Yin to break the Yang Gate. But in order to fuse the Yin and Yang to form the elemental force while breaking through the Gate, I will need some help..."

Although Fang Yuan had the spiritual knight's Blood Magic Technique, it was ultimately different from true martial arts.

The highest Gate he could attain through the Eagle Claw Iron Skin Technique was the 12th Gate. There was no chance of him breaking through Wu Zong, and realizing the true elemental force.

The only chance Fang Yuan had was through the Spirit Returning Heart Manual, which was incomplete. He felt that it was such a pity.

"The Spirit Returning Heart Manual is passed down by word, so must I really kidnap a Spirit Returning Sect disciple or elder to question him?"

He had a wild thought but dismissed it quickly.

"Chirp! Chirp!"

At this moment, there was a strong gust of wind as the Iron-tailed Black Eagle landed on the ground, chirping at Fang Yuan.

"Oh? Is someone arriving?"

Fang Yuan waved and sat down.

"Gong Gong!"

"Clang Clang!"

The sound of deafening gongs was heard from a distance and it drew nearer and nearer to the secluded valley.

"Another one who is giving me more experience...!"

Fang Yuan took a quick glance at his experience bar, and [Medicine] was filled up to a large extent and was almost equal to that of [Botany]. He laughed, stood up and walked out of the valley.

"Someone from the Spirit Returning Sect?"

In the pavilion, a crowd was waiting patiently and followed the rules. The one in front was his acquaintance, Lu Zhisen.

"The doctor has arrived!"

The usually rash Lu Zhisen became excited and greeted Fang Yuan the moment he saw him.

"Oh, it's Elder Lu. Who's injured this time?"

Fang Yuan was direct, but none of the Spirit Returning Sect's disciples took it to heart. After all, a doctor who could make miracles would be rather different from other normal doctors.

"Cough cough... it's me!"

The disciples made way and revealed an Elder Han in a wheelchair.

"I am injured and cannot properly offer you a greeting, please don't take it to heart!"

Elder Han clenched his fist and greeted Fang Yuan. He appeared humble, which surprised Elder Lu and the other sect disciples.

Lin Leiyue was not here. When they returned to Qingye City, she immediately returned to her home. Even though she made the excuse up, it was clear why she didn't come along with the rest.

"A doctor should have care like parents, why would I blame you!"

Fang Yuan intentionally deepened his voice and noticed Elder Han twitched his eyebrows as he laughed. It seemed that he agreed with Fang Yuan, but deep down knew that he was scheming and might not be that easy to deal with.

"Please!"

After he brought the patient into the Straw Pavilion, he felt his pulse. "Elder Han had sustained an internal injury for quite a while now, this is hard..."

At the same time, he felt emotional, for he had seen every elder, including the Sect Master of the Spirit Returning Sect.

"Doctor, you are indeed impressive. This injury was from the Five Ghosts Sect assistant Sect Master! Cough Cough..."

Elder Han explained, and Lu Zhisen revealed a delicate box.

"I've heard of your rule, and have no intention of breaking it. I present to you the Xuan Yin Heart Technique Manual, and hope you will accept it..."

Elder Han continued. "This heart manual came from the Five Ghosts Sect and can be cultivated up till the realm of Wu Zong without any problem. Furthermore, this is a complete copy of the manual. I've heard that you rendered assistance to Lin Leiyue at Shaoyang City, and I shall thank you for that. Please accept this manual as a form of my gratitude... Regardless if I will recover in the future, I shall send more gifts, which will surely satisfy you!"

"Xuan Yin Heart Technique? The Five Ghost Sect's true magical technique?"

Fang Yuan was surprised and received the box. As he opened it, he saw a black scroll within, filled with tiny words describing the 12 Golden Gates as well as Wu Zong. Based on his current experience he could only understand the first few lines and knew that this was the real deal.

"This present... is worth too much!"

He closed the wooden box and had a serious tone. "Elder Han, are you sure you are willing to give this technique manual to me? Won't there be implications? Furthermore, I know that any manual with the sect's special technique that is able to break through to Wu Zong would surely be incomplete, and had to be filled up by the word of mouth and cannot be written down, am I right?

What was a sect's special technique?

This meant that if Fang Yuan was willing, he could base solely on this technique to start his own sect!

This kind of sect foundation was akin to a magical weapon, so how could one give it up so easily?

"Doctor Fang is indeed wise!"

Hearing how Fang Yuan understood the crux, Elder Han's eyes glittered. "This technique was stolen by myself, and since the Five Ghost Sect is almost destroyed now, you can accept this gift without any worry for no one will find trouble with you... And as for the incomplete manual, I have already filled it up personally, and you can try it out to see for yourself, it would be fine..."

"Filled up?"

Fang Yuan frowned.

"That's right... I only had to capture a few disciples of the Five Ghosts Sect to obtain the remaining information, nothing too difficult..."

Elder Han laughed while Fang Yuan remained silent.

After capturing these people, there was no need for torture. They would automatically sell out their sect to ensure their own safety and preserve their own life.

'This came at such a good time...'

After all, he was looking for a technique that could attain Wu Zong. Never would he have dreamt that someone would deliver it to him. What a blessing!

Furthermore, Elder Han was an extremely suitable patient for him to test his skills on!

After fusing the Yin and Yang, seeds of the elemental force would develop to break through the Earth Gate. This was Elder Han, a [Martial Artist (11th Gate)]. But now, he had no strength and had to succumb under Fang Yuan's hands; what a scene!

'A martial artist of Earth Gate would have already harnessed elemental energy, and by observing this person's blood circulation and inner force, I can test my hypothesis further!'

Fang Yuan felt warm, and his glare made Elder Han feel uncomfortable for a moment.

"Please leave, I will start now..."

Fang Yuan retrieved his golden needles, told Lu Zhisen in a serious tone.

"Oh! Very well!"

Even though he wanted to watch Fang Yuan, he wasn't a fool and politely left the Straw Pavilion. He even closed the door after him, but no one really knew what he was thinking about.

"I will use my Golden Needle Acupoint Piercing Technique. If you feel any pain, do not use your elemental force to counter it, just relax and let nature take its course!"

Fang Yuan spun around and was uncertain. Even though Elder Han was powerful, he was powerless here. "I'm afraid that in your current state, even if you wanted to move you wouldn't be able to..."

"Very well!"

Fang Yuan's hands worked extremely fast, and 2 golden needles made their way towards Elder Han's forehead.

"Eh?!"

Elder Han's face twitched, remained motionless and fainted.

"Ping!"

His body fell to the ground. Fang Yuan first observed his palms as he appeared light-hearted. "You may seem to trust me completely, but you took precautions against me... Of course, it may be your habit as you roam the martial arts world for the many years, but I'll let you know that your precautions were right..."

With such a good test subject in front of him, why would he not take full advantage of it?

Since he decided to make use of him, keeping him awake would be troublesome, so why not just make him faint?

"This is the rights of a doctor. Whatever I do is for your own good!"

Fang Yuan looked at the defenceless Elder Han, and his smile grew...

...

"Creak!"

After a while.

The door to the hut opened and revealed a somewhat exhausted Fang Yuan.

"Doctor, how is Elder Han?"

An anxious Lu Zhisen came over.

"It was fortunate!"

Fang Yuan wiped his fake sweat and smiled. "Bring him home first. After 7 days, return here for me to perform my acupoint piercing once again. Coupled with medicinal herbs, he should recover fully in half a year..."

Illness and injury might come in an instant, but recovering would take very much longer. Lu Zhisen understood that.

Thinking about how the people within the sect were all helpless when facing Elder Han, Elder Lu gained even more respect for Fang Yuan. He bowed, came into the hut and saw Elder Han lying there with a weak breath. His face had more life now, and Lu Zhisen was glad. "Thank you, doctor! I will return after 7 days!"

He then ordered the disciples of the Spirit Returning Sect to put down all their gifts and brought Elder Han back.

Fang Yuan sent them off, and only after they have disappeared from sight, Fang Yuan revealed a sinister smile.

It was true that Elder Han's injury was hard to treat. If he did use his true [Medicine] skills, it would only take him half a month to save him. However, he wanted to delay his recovery so that he could use him more often as a test subject.

"Furthermore... This person has his guard up against me!"

What Elder Han did previously had worried Fang Yuan a little.

After all, he was the Spirit Returning Sect's Elder, who commanded a high position within the sect. His attitude would be equivalent to the Spirit Returning Sect's attitude, and so Fang Yuan could guess what the sect's impression of him was.

"This was reasonable though..."

Fang Yuan thought about this. If he was the sect and an uncontrollable factor appeared, he would be likely to react the same way as the sect.

The sect only had the intention to test him for now, and might even want to have him as an ally, but as for the future, no one knew.

"The good thing is that I have gained so much this time, therefore my prediction could be true!"

Thinking about his own little experiment, Fang Yuan clenched his fist in excitement.

Elder Han even volunteered himself as a test subject, which was of a great help to Fang Yuan.

After all, he could conclude that it was indeed possible to directly harness the seeds of elemental force. This was even more so after obtaining the Xuan Yin Heart Technique; it was as though the last piece of the puzzle appeared.

"Hmm, even Shi Yutong wouldn't have guessed that I only cared about how to breakthrough to Wu Zong, and not any other secret martial arts manuals. With the Blood Magic Technique as a reference, any wrongly filled up information would not be able to escape my eyes... Of course, I will have to take precautions against this Elder Han too!"

After thinking, Fang Yuan returned to the secluded valley, changed to a new set of clothes, ordered the Flower Fox Ferret to look after the house, and started to chase and follow the Spirit Returning Sect party.