Ever since his deviation into a state of demonic obsession about a month ago, Ye Long's temperament had undergone a dramatic transformation.
Once habitually taciturn and tight-lipped, he now took the initiative to strike up idle chatter with others for no particular reason.
Relatively speaking, however, this was all to the good.
And Ye Long felt entirely the same way.
One had to realize that the smoother his cultivation went, the more extraordinary his abilities became.
Which brought up a fascinating point: through sheer fortuitous coincidence, he had accidentally stumbled upon a monumental secret!
Regarding the various myths and legends of his past life, he now harbored absolute, unshakable belief.
As he looked upon the crude profound meanings inscribed within the Blue Stone Force, he felt a distinct urge to burst out laughing.
"The Way of Heaven diminishes the excessive to supplement the deficient!"
"The Way of Man diminishes the deficient to benefit the excessive."
......
It had to be said.
Ye Long's current cultivation was still shallow, and he had yet to see the true face of Mount Lu.
He didn't dare rashly presume to fathom the profound truth hidden within.
Yet as for his previous deviation into demonic obsession, he was now acutely aware of just how perilous that experience had been.
At that moment, he suddenly realized that coming into this world was worth it a thousand times over!
Despite the lingering regrets, he had to admit that only through imperfection could true perfection ever be possible.
As Ye Long casually flipped open the manual of the Blue Stone Force, he silently pondered its contents.
Yet when he reached the final pages, there was no mention of any concluding volume.
Clearly, this secret manual was incomplete.
He couldn't help but inwardly sigh with regret.
"Why worry so much? Greed swallows an elephant, and fools torment themselves. I'll just take it one step at a time..."
Yet who could have foreseen it?
As Ye Long set the grand momentum of the Heavenly Cycle into motion, a speck of azure light quietly blossomed at the center of his brow.
A swirling vortex of surging spiritual energy reappeared, causing his bedroom door to swing wildly back and forth.
This phenomenon painted the otherwise dark night sky with a breathtaking spectacle.
A sky full of twinkling stars accompanied a bright moon hanging high, casting a soft, gentle light that illuminated tens of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains.
Even the tranquil, ethereal essence of the moonlight began to flow in slow, majestic waves.
If anyone capable of perceiving spiritual energy were here right now, they would surely be utterly astounded...
Streaks of white light scattered across the sky, rushing forward at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
For a moment, the distorted moonlight converged and coalesced alongside it.
It was a display of heaven-shaking, earth-roaring anomalies!
Drawing upon his rich background in classical literature from his past life, Ye Long had actually synthesized a set of cognitive paradigms entirely alien to the present world.
The art of returning force through refinement!
If anything, it proved that the existence of all things in the universe possessed an inherent logic of its own.
Using an entirely different framework of understanding, Ye Long was actively reconstructing the Blue Stone Force into a supreme, peerless cultivation manual!
The Qingshi Formula!
Little did anyone know, Qin Feng was the very first person in meditation to detect the anomaly.
"Could this... be the Blue Stone Force?"
Yet as soon as he dismissed this conjecture, Qin Feng found himself overwhelmed by doubt and astonishment.
"This cannot possibly be the Blue Stone Force! But why is it so remarkably similar to the Blue Stone Force? What on earth is going on here?"
The words had barely left his lips when his room door swung wide open. In the blink of an eye, the bed was completely empty, with no trace of Qin Feng to be found.
Outside Ye Long's room, however, a massive crowd had already gathered to the point of overflowing.
One person after another stood dumbfounded, their eyes glowing with intense jealousy.
When they caught sight of Qin Feng striding over, they couldn't help but break into wry smiles, while cursing the entire universe in the privacy of their own minds.
As an old fox who had seen it all, how could Qin Feng fail to read the resentment filling their eyes? With a furious roar, he barked:
"What are you all staring at? Do you lot think I'm playing favorites with the kid? Are your brains fried or something? Why don't you have him drop his trousers and take a good look at himself in a puddle—what reason do I have to treat him that well?"
Upon hearing this, the crowd exchanged blank, uncomprehending glances.
"Isn't that the case? Then what on earth is going on here?"
"You bastards are asking me—who the hell am I supposed to ask?!"
Qin Feng bellowed in rage.
Yet changing his tune a moment later, Qin Feng couldn't help letting out a heavy sigh:
"It probably has to do with the Blue Stone Force! Let's just wait here; once the kid comes out, won't we all know the truth?"
Inside the room.
Ye Long sat cross-legged, blissfully unaware of the commotion outside.
At this moment, he was entirely absorbed in deep concentration.
Even the azure vapor surrounding him seemed to possess a tangible, physical texture.
As the energy completed three minor Heavenly Cycles, his entire body hardened like blue stone, appearing utterly indestructible.
When he finally opened his wide eyes, two streaks of azure light flashed across his gaze, and he leaped briskly to his feet.
"Crash..."
With a shattering sound, the hard floor cracked into pieces across the room, while the door and windows rattled violently in chorus.
It felt as though a micro-earthquake had struck, delivering a shock that went far beyond mere amazement.
Every time he swung his arm, it produced the booming sound of wind and thunder.
"You little punk, get your ass out here right now! I've got questions for you!"
Right in the middle of his excitement, Ye Long was startled out of his wits by a sudden, booming roar.
He recognized the voice instantly.
Who else could it be but Old Madman Qin?
Dispelling the azure vapor from his body and returning to his normal appearance, Ye Long quickly opened the door.
To his slight surprise, all twenty-odd members were present and accounted for!
"Hall Master, is there something you need?"
Faced with a sea of expectant gazes, he couldn't help breaking out in goosebumps all over his body.
Qin Hu: "Were you practicing the Blue Stone Force just now?"
When he asked this question, Qin Hu could hardly conceal his surging excitement, alongside a lingering trace of nervous apprehension.
Ye Long: "That's right, why do you ask?"
As he spoke, he truly felt somewhat baffled.
Of course, he couldn't entirely be blamed for feeling this way.
Throughout his cultivation session, he had been locked in absolute, undivided focus and had remained completely oblivious to the outside world.
"What?!"
Before he knew it, a chorus of gasps erupted from the crowd. Losing control of their emotions, they fired off rapid-fire questions:
"Quick, explain what's going on here! Don't you dare hold anything back, give us an honest report right now!"
"How could this possibly be the low-tier technique of the Blue Stone Force?! Spill your guts, or else... heh heh..."
......
Hearing this, Ye Long instantly tensed up all over!
Yet as he looked out at the fiercely indignant crowd, how could he fail to understand where the problem lay?
Harboring secret suspicions, he shrank back timidly, retreating step by step.
Seeing this, Qin Feng snapped impatiently:
"Alright, alright, all of you settle down!"
With that, Qin Feng forced what he assumed was a benevolent expression and said:
"You brat, right now—start circulating the Blue Stone Force immediately."
Hearing this command, Ye Long didn't dare drag his feet for even a second.
As the speck of azure light blossomed once more at the center of his brow, a tidal wave of spiritual energy suddenly rushed toward him, twisting the forces of yin essence completely out of shape...
Witnessing this scene unfold before his eyes, even Qin Feng's expression shifted dramatically!
Azure light covered Ye Long from head to toe, transforming him on the spot into a living statue of stone.
Though he didn't leak a single shred of outward pressure, he inexplicably exuded an intimidating aura that struck terror into the heart.
Qin Feng: "This..."
At that moment, the onlookers simply couldn't believe the sight before their eyes.
One after another, they stared like they were looking at a monster, their jaws hanging open wide enough to swallow a whole egg...
Even Ye Long himself was struck completely dumb, frozen in place like a wooden chicken.
"This is definitely not the Blue Stone Force!"
Qin Hu's expression turned fierce as he abruptly shattered the heavy silence.
"Uh..." Hearing this, Ye Long felt a lingering wave of panic wash over him.
The look he cast at Qin Hu was as guarded as if he were staring at a thief, his eyes brimming with vigilance.
Mainly because the expressions on the faces of all the burly men around him had instantly morphed—they looked like a group of perverts leering at a bride who had walked into the wrong wedding sedan.
The Crowd: "What do you mean 'uh'?! Hand over the Blue Stone Force right now!"
Faced with this demand, Ye Long retrieved the secret manual with a pounding heart.
And the outcome was entirely predictable.
Clutching the manual, the men were beside themselves with excitement. Twenty-odd heads crowded tightly around the copy of the "Blue Stone Force" to begin their comprehension.
"......" Yet much to their speechless dismay, while their flowing azure energy did take on a stony quality, it was fundamentally incomparable to Ye Long's manifestation—the difference between them was as vast as clouds and mud.
Qin Hu suddenly glared at Ye Long with burning eyes and roared:
"You little punk, are you playing games with us?!"
"Sigh, cut it out, you lot. That kid probably has a completely different method of comprehension than we do. You have to realize that certain supreme manuals inherently possess myriad wondrous transformations. To produce a spectacle like that... it seems we all severely underestimated this Blue Stone Force!"
Qin Feng sighed suddenly.
One had to hand it to him—with a level of cultivation as advanced as Qin Feng's, his vast experience allowed him to pinpoint the crux of the problem with a single glance!
Hearing this, the crowd fell into a pensive silence.
After that, a predictable scene unfolded: Ye Long unexpectedly took on the airs of a master, radiating the distinct aura of someone pointing out the direction of rivers and mountains.
The surrounding men listened with rapt attention, nodding along.
"Mm! Yes... marvelous, simply marvelous..."
"You can comprehend it that way too? Oh... go on..."
"Ah... how can you practice it like this... I think I'm starting to feel something... oh yeah..."
"Ooh... I did it, I succeeded..."
The Qingshi Formula!