He returned to the secret chamber and took out the Life Atlas from the jade box.
The chaotic lines, in his eyes, were three clear and complete trajectories.
These three trajectories also reflected three visualization images.
The combination of trajectories and visualization gave Li Yuan an impulse to create techniques.
After a brief thought, he stood with his blade, his energy and blood swirling around his heart, instantly filling his entire body.
However, his body did not grow larger, no monstrous horns grew on his head, his muscles didn’t make him taller; instead, his muscles became more solid and dense... as if they were no longer muscles but some harder, indestructible substance.
With a slight movement of his mind, Li Yuan swung his blade, about to strike.
During the swing, he felt endless power pouring into the blade, and a domineering aura arose around him, filling his heart with heroic spirit.
Before the heavy and slow strike even landed, it had already stirred intense winds within the chamber, causing the meditation mat to rise, its straw scattered mid-air, dancing wildly.
Li Yuan hesitated for a moment and then put down the blade.
For if this strike were to be executed, the chamber would be destroyed.
The mat fell with a "thud" in the darkness.
Li Yuan murmured: "This should be the technique corresponding to the Thousand-Mile Heroic Vision... Unmoving like a mountain, slightly slow, yet boundless and domineering, fierce and unstoppable—a true Overlord Blade."
He looked again at the atlas, visualizing the second trajectory.
This time, his Shadow Blood suddenly became active, swirling around his heart in a completely different manner and speed, changing the emotions in his heart too.
No longer was there endless heroism, but instead a sorrowful depression, strange and indifferent.
Following this thought, his form flickered, the blade leaving afterimages; with another sway, he found himself elsewhere unbeknownst to when he moved.
Blade light flickered, and the space within the chamber seemed to shimmer with cold, fish-scale-like sheen.
When he stopped, those many fish scales vanished completely, leaving marks like flaying cuts on the steel walls, floor, and ceiling of the chamber.
Li Yuan sheathed his blade, fell into contemplation, and muttered to himself, "This is the technique of the South Mountain Ghost Rain Visualization. It’s strange and unpredictable, extremely fast, and incomparably sharp. Unfortunately, its strength is like ghost rain falling on the ground, incomparable to the Overlord Blade’s violent power. This move, let’s call it the Demon Blade."
After this, he continued onto the remaining trajectory, then operated the trajectory, making the Shadow Blood rotate around his heart in a third manner.
This time, there was no boundless heroism or sorrowful indifference, only a sense of peace, freedom, and indifference.
"Let White Deer wander in the green cliffs, ready to ride to the famed mountains at any moment."
Li Yuan closed his eyes to comprehend, then suddenly opened them, stepping forward one step... two steps... three steps...
He re-grasped the hilt of the long blade at his waist, finding within his heart a feeling akin to using "City Destruction."
However, it was not City Destruction.
Because if it were, the long blade should start vibrating intensely, emitting a gradually piercing hum.
But now, it remained calm and unruffled, with nothing happening.
Li Yuan felt all the Shadow Blood within him calm down, lying dormant, as if forsaking fame and laying aside all worldly matters, roaming mountains and rivers, carefree like a swordman.
He forgot about City Destruction, for this move was already... above City Destruction.
Above the city, what lies?
The sky.
Li Yuan’s hand slowly lifted, feeling his Shadow Blood begin to awaken in the process, transitioning from stillness to motion, from death to life.
Three inches of the blade were drawn, and everything around remained unchanged, as if an unranked swordman was drawing the blade.
Li Yuan paused in drawing the blade and patted the hilt back.
He did not execute the strike but had already understood the subsequent power and transformation of this blade.
Draw out all power, transform it into a strike, and cut through everything, leaving no retreat.
This is a must-kill strike, yet sadly, executing it renders oneself in a state of great weakness.
"This move should be called the Celestial Blade."
After further thought, Li Yuan added: "Never mind, this move doesn’t deserve the character ’Celestial’; let’s call it the Absolute Blade."
Thus, the Life Atlas, Visualization Images, and the three routes with corresponding techniques were all created.
But here arises a problem...
Where is the path to break through to the Fifth Grade?
"If you don’t know how to break through, then think about perfecting it."
Li Yuan pondered for a while and discovered the imperfection, which was... these three styles represented three mental realms, three methods of driving Shadow Blood, yet they were incompatible with each other.
The Overlord Blade possesses power but is slow, the Demon Blade has speed but lacks strength, the Absolute Blade has explosiveness but leads to weakness after one strike...
"How to merge them?"
Li Yuan sat cross-legged, pondering deeply from morning till dusk, testing several times, but to no avail.
Seeking guidance was also unrealistic.
His self-creation proved that the visualization images truly existed.
But no one in Shanbao County knew about visualization images.
What’s more incomprehensible is that even Master Li and Zhou Jia were unaware.
Bear in mind, these two weren’t sect heirs but were directly passed down by the previous Sect Leader.
What does this indicate?
It shows that the visualization images of the Yanyue Sect were long gone, forgotten through generations.
The value of the visualization images is self-evident.
These have become secrets that various major powers keep hidden and concealed.
At this moment, Li Yuan felt as if he stood beside the ancient being who first created the Life Atlas, both standing at a crossroads, drawing their swords, looking around with hearts bewildered, uncertain of the path ahead.