Chapter 65: Investigating the Changes Between Heaven and Man, a Startling Realization!
At the same time as Ji Xiongying's "fortunate encounter," Lü Yang had already arrived at the most prosperous area of Tianjing City, where the number of martial artists was the highest.
Haoran Academy.
This institution, which held a volume of the Heavenly Book and pioneered the fourth step of martial arts, had now vaguely surpassed Daoism and Buddhism, becoming the holy land of martial arts.
However, strangely, ever since the fourth step of martial arts was achieved and the method widely disseminated, the dean of Haoran Academy, "Saintly Scholar" Wang Boyuan, had gradually disappeared from public view, becoming increasingly reclusive.
Nowadays, even the high-level members of the academy found it difficult to see him.
"What a feng shui treasure land."
To avoid attracting attention, Lü Yang had dispersed his form, transforming into a mass of invisible qi, and was observing Haoran Academy with great interest.
In his view, this academy was truly a place where outstanding people and spiritual energy converged.
In the entire Tianjing City, only this place was overflowing with spiritual energy. Even an ordinary person, if they studied here for several years, could develop some spiritual insight and cleverness.
What was even more remarkable was that this was not a natural creation but a man-made design.
The overall layout of the academy, the position of each classroom, the placement of flowers, birds, fish, insects, and various landscapes, had sublimated the mundane "feng shui methods," faintly forming the embryonic shape of a spirit-gathering formation!
Based on this alone, Lü Yang knew that this "Saintly Scholar" was definitely someone extraordinary.
Thinking of this, Lü Yang immediately took a step forward, directly arriving at a study deep within the academy, intending to meet this renowned native.
Then he was surprised by the scene inside the study.
Because the person inside was not the elegant scholar with a feather fan he had imagined, but a disheveled man constantly drinking wine.
Was this the "Saintly Scholar"?
At this moment, the disheveled man suddenly raised his head, his drunken eyes hazily looking toward Lü Yang's position: "I didn't expect an honored guest to visit."
With a thought, Lü Yang reassembled his form, transforming from invisible qi into a tangible body, cupping his hands in salute to the disheveled man: "Lü Yang greets Daoist Wang."
"Boyuan greets the honored guest."
The disheveled man also returned the salute, then patted his sleeves and stood up, exclaiming: "The honored guest's abilities are extraordinary. The previous battle with Martial King of Suppression amazed me, making me think several times that an immortal had descended. I wonder what the honored guest seeks from me?"
"I wish to discuss the Dao of Heaven and Man with you."
Lü Yang got straight to the point, saying: "The fourth step of martial arts, investigating the changes between Heaven and Man, I have some insights but have not grasped the essentials. I hope you can teach me."
Upon hearing this, Wang Boyuan blinked: "With the honored guest's abilities, you're also interested in martial arts?"
"Other mountains' stones can polish jade."
Lü Yang said calmly: "Are you willing to teach me?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Boyuan immediately laughed: "A guest is a guest, especially an honored one. If the honored guest wants to learn, I will naturally share everything I know without reservation!"
"However, the Dao of Heaven and Man is diverse, created by martial artists based on their understanding of Heaven and Earth and themselves. Therefore, I cannot describe it to the honored guest in detail, only briefly explain my personal method. If the honored guest has doubts, you can consult other Heaven and Man practitioners."
With that, the two sat facing each other.
"The fourth step of martial arts, I call it 'investigating the changes between Heaven and Man,' meaning to use one's own power to leverage Heaven and Earth, to glimpse the heavenly mechanisms with human strength!"
"My 'Fate Observation Technique' is like this, involving the changes of the Three Talents."
"The Three Talents are Heaven, Earth, and Man. First observe Man, to know appearances; then observe Earth, to know feng shui; finally observe Heaven, to know destiny! These three are interlinked!"
"Observe Earth through Man, observe Heaven through Earth, and observe fate through Heaven. At this stage, I can know the changes in the world without leaving home, observe the changes in national destiny, where disasters occur, where civil unrest arises, where officials are inactive, and where those who receive salaries compete with the people for profit. I can see most of these."
"Although there are still errors, I can achieve a seventy to eighty percent accuracy."
What surprised Lü Yang was that Wang Boyuan truly did not hold back, fully disclosing the "Fate Observation Technique," whose variations even involved causality!
Of course, this was not truly calculating causality.
Strictly speaking, what Wang Boyuan did was merely "guessing," so he could not calculate details, only understand the general idea and know some specific events.
Even so, it was still astonishing!
How did he do it?
Facing Lü Yang's doubts, Wang Boyuan shook his head: "To be honest, I just had a moment of inspiration one day, without any trick."
"I see."
Lü Yang nodded upon hearing this. Then the two exchanged ideas for several more hours before he got up to leave, intending to visit other Heaven and Man practitioners.
Meanwhile, in the Wei family residence.
The Yun family patriarch opened his Dharma eyes, silently witnessing the entire exchange between Lü Yang and Wang Boyuan, then withdrew his gaze without any fluctuation.
"That demon is truly ignorant."
He had no interest in Wang Boyuan's insights because no one knew better than him that Wang Boyuan's insights were due to his manipulation of causality!
After all, it was not something that could truly comprehend causality, just a mortal's "guessing method." The Yun family patriarch did not care at all, sneering inwardly: "Discussing the Dao with various Heaven and Man practitioners, trying to take a fifth step beyond my foundation, to bring martial arts back on track?"
Simply delusional!
After all, he manipulated causality, allowing Wang Boyuan to create the fourth step of martial arts, raising the limit of martial arts to the peak of Qi Refining.
This was already the limit.
Because beyond that was Foundation Establishment!
And how could Lü Yang create the method of Foundation Establishment? So in the Yun family patriarch's view, Lü Yang's actions were meaningless and futile.
According to the Yun family patriarch's calculations, the current Heaven and Man methods had already disrupted Lü Yang's Saint Thief cultivation. To break the situation, the only way was to first kill all the Heaven and Man practitioners, then prohibit the Heaven and Man methods. What he needed to do was to kill Lü Yang's avatars, forcing his true body to act personally.
In this way, Lü Yang would be trapped.
From this perspective, Wang Boyuan was just a pawn of the Yun family patriarch.
As for pawns, the Yun family patriarch naturally had no interest. As for what amazed Lü Yang, it was not worth mentioning in the Yun family patriarch's eyes.
Including Lü Yang, although the Yun family patriarch treated him seriously, he always harbored disdain in his heart.
Because in the end, they were just a group of mortals.
"With the 'Heaven-Man Instrument' bestowed by the Sect Master, even Foundation Establishment True Persons cannot detect my existence. How much trouble can mere mortals cause?"
Leaving Haoran Academy, Lü Yang once again transformed into invisible qi, walking through the streets of Tianjing City, carefully reflecting on the recent exchange with Wang Boyuan.
"Three Talents Fate Observation Technique"
Thousands of miles away, Lü Yang's true body opened his eyes, a halo radiating behind his head.
The Taiwei Talisman operated, silently calculating the many changes in Tianjing City.
The feedback causality showed: everything was normal.
"The next thirty years in Tianjing City will be very stable, with no changes in causality. This is normal, after all, there are two martial arts Heaven and Man practitioners stationed here."
Then, Lü Yang suddenly changed his approach, no longer calculating the causality of the entire Tianjing City from a "macro" perspective, but learning from Wang Boyuan's "Fate Observation Technique," starting from the citizens of Tianjing City, calculating individual causality, and then using the changes of the Three Talents to deduce the causality of Heaven and Earth.
The reason for this was merely to verify the "Fate Observation Technique."
However, the next second, Lü Yang was stunned.
"East Street breakfast stall, Wang Erniu's family of three, using the Taiwei Talisman to calculate, supplemented by the Fate Observation Technique, should have many descendants, yet there is a great calamity of sudden death."
"Six Doors patrol constable, Chen Qing... has a great calamity of sudden death."
"Li Chengrong, great calamity of sudden death."
"Liu Xinshang, great calamity of sudden death."
Calamity! Calamity! Calamity!
Everyone, almost everyone Lü Yang saw in Tianjing City had a great calamity of sudden death in their fate, but when expanded to the whole city, there was no change!
How was this possible?
If the entire city's citizens truly had a great calamity of sudden death, the whole Tianjing City would have been shrouded in dark clouds. With his personality, he would never have approached...
"...No, something's wrong!"
In an instant, Lü Yang's pupils contracted sharply!
From the small, one can see the large; if one can calculate Heaven through Man, one person might make a mistake, but if ten people, a thousand people, ten thousand people are all like this, then it's Heaven that's wrong!
"The heavenly mechanisms and causality have been obscured... damn it, is there a Foundation Establishment True Person in the secret realm trying to harm me!?"