Chapter 247: Resolution

Moving through the grand halls of the Kunyang Gate, Yang Yan meticulously searched every corner, leaving no box unopened and no nook unchecked.

However, as time slowly slipped away, Yang Yan's expression grew increasingly grim.

After such an extensive search, he still had not found a single clue regarding the assassination of his biological father all those years ago.

A moment later, Yang Yan abruptly squatted down onto the ground and retrieved Sun Tianyang's cosmos sack. This was his final hope.

Following Sun Tianyang's death, the lingering soul imprint on the cosmos sack had completely dissipated, allowing Yang Yan to open it effortlessly. He immediately began to search through it meticulously.

As Yang Yan's spiritual power penetrated the cosmos sack, the scene inside was fully revealed to him.

As expected of the master of the Kunyang Gate, who had dominated the Qingzhou cultivation world for decades, Sun Tianyang's wealth and hidden treasures were beyond anything Yang Yan could have imagined.

The sheer quantity of superior-grade spirit crystals alone reached a terrifying five million. Furthermore, there were hundreds of cultivation manuals and martial arts techniques, encompassing various elemental attributes.

Although the quantity of these techniques was by no means small, their grades were generally not very high. Most of them lingered at the high Yellow grade, with only a very few reaching the Mysterious grade.

The highest-grade technique among them was none other than the Wild Lion's Furious Qi that Sun Tianyang had previously employed.

Yang Yan naturally had no interest in those lower-grade martial arts and cultivation methods, but he did not casually discard them either. He could no longer be considered a lone wolf; after all, the Zhang family forces painstakingly established by his father needed his support. Moreover, the Azure Mystic Sect must be even more in need of such martial arts manuals.

It is said that adversity reveals true feelings; adding flowers to embroidery is easy, but providing charcoal in the snow during times of crisis is truly precious.

Facing such colossal imperial entities as the Profound Heaven Palace and the Wind and Cloud Pavilion, the Azure Mystic Sect, under Xie Xuantian's leadership, had chosen to stand behind Yang Yan in such circumstances. This debt of loyalty was by no means light.

Yang Yan was naturally not a man to forget kindness, so he intended to bring these martial arts techniques back to the Azure Mystic Sect to be used by the disciples for cultivation.

As for the spirit crystals, Yang Yan planned to hand a portion over to Xie Xuantian for management, as carrying so many spirit crystals around served little practical purpose for him himself.

Logically speaking, Xie Xuantian had secretly taken him as a disciple earlier on, making him the implicit successor to the master of the Azure Mystic Sect. In other words, the Azure Mystic Sect would sooner or later belong to him, so doing these things could be regarded as part of his duty.

What interested Yang Yan the most within Sun Tianyang's cosmos sack was the martial arts technique he had previously displayed, which could enhance one's strength in a short period.

Slowly retrieving a dark red scroll from the cosmos sack and unfolding it, Yang Yan began to examine it carefully.

A moment later, Yang Yan closed the scroll, a thoughtful look crossing his face.

The technique that could boost one's combat power in a short time was called Blood Memory. It could elevate one's combat effectiveness by roughly thirty percent within a short duration, and more importantly, this enhancement was not restricted by the user's own cultivation realm.

In other words, a cultivator at the first layer of the Spirit Perception realm could elevate their cultivation to around the fourth layer of the Spirit Perception realm after practicing Blood Memory. If it were a powerhouse at the Spirit Sea realm, they could boost their strength to the level of the fourth layer of the Spirit Sea realm.

This disregard for cultivation boundaries left Yang Yan quite astonished.

One had to know that the higher the cultivation realm, the wider the gap between each layer became, and tremendous power was required at each step to reach the next realm. Therefore, ordinary strength-boosting martial arts techniques tended to grow weaker as the user's own strength continuously increased.

Yet this martial arts manual named Blood Memory neatly bypassed this weakness, and its disregard for boundary restrictions instantly elevated its value to a terrifying degree.

Yang Yan did not doubt that if this martial arts scroll were to leak out, it would inevitably arouse the covetous desires of Spirit Sea realm or even Soul Wandering realm powerhouses.

Such a technique that enhanced strength regardless of personal power was simply too rare.

However, as the saying goes, risk and reward coexist. To achieve such a monstrous strength-boosting effect, the price paid was equally immense. The technique not only required the stimulation of the user's vital blood within the body, but it also plunged the user into a period of weakness afterward. Once the duration of the technique expired, the user essentially lost all combat capability.

Furthermore, the recovery time from this period of weakness was extremely long, generally requiring a full month to return to peak condition.

This was precisely why Sun Tianyang had held back this trump card until the very last moment.

Yet despite such severe drawbacks, Yang Yan still wanted to try practicing this technique. The combat power it unleashed in an instant was simply too formidable, and the boosted strength was enough to turn the tide of a battle, making it exceptionally useful at critical moments of life and death.

After briefly reviewing the cultivation method for this technique, Yang Yan put it back into his cosmos sack. Finding clues about his father was currently of the utmost importance, so choosing to cultivate martial arts now was clearly not a good time.

Having finished this, Yang Yan once again immersed his spiritual power into the cosmos sack to search thoroughly.

Sun Tianyang's cosmos sack was a relatively advanced one, and the space within it capable of holding items was exceptionally vast—almost comparable to an ordinary public square, spanning several thousand square meters in size.

The items inside were dazzling. Aside from the mountain-like piles of spirit crystals, all kinds of magical treasures and crafting materials were stacked high.

However, the highest-grade treasures among them were only of low-grade precious artifact level, while the rest were merely spirit instruments. These items could be used to support Yang Yan in wielding the Piercing-Back Demonic Fist.

Among the various materials, Yang Yan was pleasantly surprised to discover several essential ingredients required for repairing the Moon Shadow legend, which could be considered an unexpected harvest.

Unfortunately, after probing the cosmos sack with his spiritual power for nearly two hours, a look of frustration surfaced on his face.

He had turned the cosmos sack inside out, yet he still failed to find any shred of a clue regarding his enemies.

It seemed that fellow Sun Tianyang had handled the secrecy surrounding his father's affair remarkably well. Presumably, apart from his two biological sons, no one else knew about the dealings between him and Yang Yan's father.

From the tone of that old scoundrel before his death, it wasn't difficult to tell that the enemies should be backed by a massive force; otherwise, it would have been impossible to make Sun Tianyang so wary.

The strength Yang Yan had now displayed was already sufficient to slay Spirit Sea realm powerhouses, and given his cultivation talent, breaking through to the Soul Wandering realm was merely a matter of time.

Yet even in the face of Yang Yan's monstrous cultivation talent, Sun Tianyang had still dared to assert that even if he found his enemies, he would have no ability to exact revenge. Could it be that those fellows had reached the Soul Control realm?! This realization secretly startled Yang Yan's heart.

A powerhouse of the Soul Control realm was an existence that could be considered at the pinnacle of the pyramid even across the entire Heavenly Origin Continent. Even the current Yang Yan did not have a hundred-percent certainty of reaching that realm in his lifetime, because doing so required not only cultivation talent, but also monumental fortune.

The so-called Soul Control realm meant that once one's soul strength reached a certain degree, one could project their soul out of the body from a distance of a thousand miles, separating it from the physical vessel. Powerhouses of this caliber possessed soul strength that had reached a terrifying degree. When battling others, they could split off a portion of their soul, leaving only a wisp of spiritual power to control the main body. Fighting an enemy in this manner was equivalent to having an extra partner who shared mutual thoughts, and the enhancement in combat power was far from a simple one plus one.

Therefore, attaining the cultivation of the Soul Control realm was the wish of every single cultivator.

If his father's enemy truly was a Soul Control realm powerhouse, then with Yang Yan's current strength and means, it was indeed impossible for him to seek revenge.

Because a Soul Control realm powerhouse could easily obliterate Yang Yan with a mere flick of a finger.

When all was said and done, what he still lacked was time.

Thinking of this, Yang Yan understood in his heart that his revenge for his father might have to be put on hold for a while.

He now had to seize every single moment to elevate his strength; otherwise, even if he discovered the murderer who killed his father one day, he would lack the capability to avenge him.

Slowly rising to his feet, he cast a glance over the now-desolate Kunyang Gate, sighed softly in his heart, and then, without any hesitation, leaped into the air and rushed toward the direction of Jinzhou.

Along the way, Yang Yan traveled at an extremely rapid pace without pausing, allowing him to return to the Azure Mystic Sect in Jinzhou in less than a day.

By now, the people of the Zhang, Liu, and Sun families had all moved into the Azure Mystic Sect, making the sect bustling with life. Early in the morning, two figures were already keeping watch at the foot of Azure Mystic Mountain. They were a man and a woman: Liu Zhengqing and Qing'er.

After returning to the Azure Mystic Sect and passing some time, the two of them discovered that Yang Yan had gone missing. When they asked Zhang Tai about Yang Yan's whereabouts, Zhang Tai only said he did not know, as he had promised Yang Yan to keep it secret.

Liu Zhengqing took it relatively well, but Qing'er could not keep her composure.

Ever since leaving the Fierce Mercenary Corps, Qing'er had constantly remained by Yang Yan's side. Moreover, her temperament was extremely aloof, so during these days she had not made any friends within the Azure Mystic Sect or the Zhang family.

However, Qing'er had no way of determining Yang Yan's exact location, so during the three or four days Yang Yan had been away, she waited at the foot of the Azure Mystic Mountain every single day for his return.

As a sort of host, Liu Zhengqing naturally could not let a young girl keep watch outside alone, so he accompanied Qing'er at the foot of the mountain while secretly cursing under his breath.

Clearly, he also held a deep disdain for Yang Yan's habit of leaving without a word, yet upon second thought, he could only offer a helpless, bitter smile. With his current cultivation at the peak of the Spirit Perception realm, he could not possibly offer Yang Yan any help. If he forcefully accompanied Yang Yan outside, he would only distract him with having to protect him and become a burden.

Sighing inwardly, a sense of powerlessness arose in his heart. The elevation of a cultivation realm was not something achieved overnight; aside from outstanding cultivation talent, good fortune—namely cultivation opportunities—was also quite crucial.

He currently had no certainty whatsoever of surpassing Yang Yan.

Just as the two of them stood at the foot of Qingyuan Mountain for a while with their own preoccupations, a figure suddenly flashed over from not far away.

That figure appeared somewhat slender and dusty, clearly having rushed all the way here at full speed.

"Yang Yan, you brat, you're finally back. Where have you been?"

Upon spotting that figure, Liu Zhengqing cried out in pleasant surprise, then hurriedly went to greet him.

Qing'er at the side naturally also noticed Yang Yan's figure, yet she did not rush forward to greet him, merely standing there quietly and gazing at him.

"I went to Qingzhou on some business. Sorry I didn't get the chance to tell you beforehand," Yang Yan said with a smile.

Faced with such a pale and feeble explanation, Liu Zhengqing chose not to expose him. Now that Yang Yan had finally returned safely, he had no desire to probe further into the reasons.

He understood Yang Yan's temperament quite well; as long as it was something he didn't want to say, even if you probed relentlessly, he would never tell you.

"Young master, you're back."

Seeing Yang Yan approach, Qing'er finally spoke in a calm tone.

Although her emotions could not be discerned from her tone, Yang Yan could detect a trace of disappointment in her eyes. Presumably, she felt somewhat dissatisfied because he hadn't notified her when he went out this time.

Yang Yan's guess was indeed correct. Upon learning that he had gone out alone, Qing'er had immediately sought out Zhang Tai to inquire about Yang Yan's destination.

Yet the other party had brushed it off vaguely. She naturally understood Yang Yan's temperament well—if there weren't important matters, he would never go out at such a critical juncture. The moment Yang Yan returned, she had wanted to open her mouth and question why he hadn't brought her along, but the words hardened in her throat and she swallowed them back down.

Because she felt she lacked that qualification.

She was merely a girl whom Yang Yan had casually rescued as he passed by. She had already decided to accompany Yang Yan for her entire life, yet an inward self-limitation caused a barrier of status to exist between them due to his saving grace.