Chapter 501 - 493: Mysteries of Shadow, The True Number One of the Inner Mountain

Chapter 501: Chapter 493: Mysteries of Shadow, The True Number One of the Inner Mountain

「The Fourth Level of the Inner Mountain」

While everyone else remained on the first level helping Master Ling clean up the wreckage, a tall figure suddenly opened the door to Shan Tianyu’s room.

Before anyone could get a clear look at the newcomer, he tossed a person into the room. As he stepped through the doorway, the sunlight revealed him. Who else could it be but Shan Qiuhen?

"Tianyu, come out and see me!"

It was a strange thing to do. He had just thrown Shan Tianyu inside, yet he still shouted for him to come out. But unexpectedly, the ’Shan Tianyu’ he had tossed in stood silently in a corner of the room, his face pale as he looked timidly at Shan Qiuhen.

THUD... THUD...

Suddenly, the sound of heavy, powerful footsteps echoed from beneath the floorboards. A dense wave of Primordial Power began to emanate from the ground. Shan Qiuhen’s brow twitched as he sensed the potent fluctuation, and he let out a cold snort but said nothing.

"Ah... Grandfather, you’ve come?"

With the whirring of machinery, a hidden passage opened up in the flat floor, and a figure with a faint cyan glow in his eyes emerged.

"Heh... You little brat, playing dumb? Didn’t your ’Shadow’ already see me?" Shan Qiuhen chortled.

The figure didn’t reply. He simply strode across from the other Shan Tianyu and sat down. As the dusk light streamed in through the window, the figure’s features were clearly revealed.

!

If Mu Chen and Chu Aoqing had been in Shan Tianyu’s room at that moment, they would have been utterly dumbfounded! This was because the figure’s appearance and build were completely identical to the Shan Tianyu they had just fought—only his expression and tone were different!

There were actually two Shan Tianyus in one room!!

"By the looks of it, you’ve had a breakthrough," Shan Qiuhen said, picking up a cup from the table. He poured himself some tea and took a sip.

"Yes. I finally broke through my bottleneck just now. You’re here because of what happened earlier, aren’t you, Grandfather?" Shan Tianyu’s expression was placid, the cyan light in his eyes flickering ceaselessly, but his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere.

Shan Qiuhen sighed. ’I just can’t figure you out. Should I call you arrogant and high-profile? But ever since you entered the Inner Mountain, you’ve stayed behind the scenes. You’ve done nothing but focus on your Cultivation, leaving everything else to your ’Shadow.’ To this day, no one besides the Dean and I even knows you exist.’

’But then if I call you discreet, your Shadow’s behavior is the complete opposite of your own. He stirs up as much trouble as possible, acts as arrogantly as he can. He’s become infamous within the Inner Mountain. Publicly, everyone respects his strength, but behind his back, they constantly curse his name. Can you tell me why you do this, boy?’

The Shan Tianyu who had emerged from the hidden room still didn’t answer. Instead, he waved a hand at the one known as his ’Shadow’.

Upon receiving the gesture, the ’Shadow’ dissolved into a black silhouette. It seemed to melt into the ground before flowing back into Shan Tianyu, becoming one with him.

Only now was it apparent that, even in the sunlight, Shan Tianyu cast no shadow...

Sighing and shaking his head, Shan Qiuhen gave up on trying to converse with his grandson. Looking at the young man before him, who seemed indifferent to everything, Shan Qiuhen felt a sense of helplessness wash over him.

In truth, the person sitting opposite Shan Qiuhen was the real Shan Tianyu, also known as the original body. Like Shan Qiuhen, Shan Tianyu belonged to the Carefree Pavilion, one of the Nine Hidden Families renowned for its speed and Body Techniques.

Every male member of the Carefree Pavilion is given one chance at birth to undergo a baptism ritual with the clan’s Ancient Secret Technique. If successful, they awaken an incredibly unique ability: the power to freely sever the bond between themselves and their shadow. By cutting the shadow from the original body, they can instantly create a physical Clone with an identical appearance, aura, and build. This Clone is not an inanimate object; it possesses a fully independent consciousness, yet it remains bound to the original body.

Just like the original body, it can use the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi to cultivate. It has access to all the Secret Techniques and Combat Skills the original body has cultivated, and can even wield some of the original body’s soul-bound weapons! While sharing the same Attributes, it can also serve as the ultimate life-saving measure: a second life for the original body!

If the Clone dies, the shadow is destroyed, and the original body can use Shadow Transformation to flee a thousand li, becoming completely untraceable. To this day, no one has ever been able to track an original body after it has used Shadow Transformation. However, once the shadow dies, its master can never create another one.

If the original body dies but the Clone survives, the original body can transfer its primary consciousness into the Clone, forcibly possessing its body and starting anew.

An Ancient Secret Technique like this! Who wouldn’t covet such a power?!

This was why the Carefree Pavilion was renowned across the continent as the fastest and most difficult Hidden Clan to eliminate. The root cause was this very Ancient Secret Technique. It was called the "Mysteries of Shadow!"

However, not every member of the Carefree Pavilion could successfully undergo the ritual. The success rate was barely one in a hundred. Out of one hundred male clan members, only one would succeed, and it had nothing to do with talent—only fate. That was why even a Great Power like Shan Qiuhen, who had cultivated to the Saint Realm, had failed to obtain this power at birth.

It wasn’t just him; his son had also failed. It wasn’t until Shan Tianyu was born that Shan Qiuhen’s lineage finally produced a descendant who had obtained the Mysteries of Shadow.

Upon learning he had gained this ability, Shan Tianyu wasn’t as excited or thrilled as Shan Qiuhen had imagined. On the contrary, he was calm—frighteningly so.

It was as if this was simply his nature. Shan Qiuhen had watched Shan Tianyu grow up, and not once had he seen anything cause a ripple in the boy’s composure—not the woman he loved, nor even the offer to inherit the title of Pavilion Master.

’Second in the Inner Mountain... Heh.’ Shan Qiuhen would only smile faintly whenever he heard that title, never offering any explanation. Only he knew the truth: the strongest person in the entire Inner Mountain was not Chu Aoqing, but the silent young man sitting before him.

"Pfft!"

Shan Tianyu, who had been silent with a pensive look in his eyes, suddenly let out an odd laugh, betraying a rare flicker of emotion.

"Grandfather."

It was a rare occurrence for Shan Tianyu to speak first. Shan Qiuhen put down his teacup and grunted in acknowledgment, a touch of joy in his heart. He knew that when his grandson did this, it meant he had a question for him. And it was only in these moments that he truly felt like a senior, able to offer guidance to the next generation.

"Who is this fellow, Mu Chen?"

He quietly lifted his head, fixing his gaze on Shan Qiuhen. His face was the kind one would instantly forget in a crowd, but his eyes held a glimmer of confusion and anticipation.

Shan Qiuhen was momentarily taken aback, then nodded. ’So your indifference was just an act. To be fair, if it weren’t for that final Combat Skill and that Mu Chen kid’s strange, unexpected Secret Technique, your Shadow wouldn’t have suffered such an ugly defeat.’

"..." Shan Tianyu remained silent. Clearly, that wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

"Fine, fine. To be honest, Mu Chen’s appearance is a complete mystery. No one knows where his power came from, and there’s no sign that he’s the scion of some great Noble Family. I had him investigated once. His background is so simple it’s infuriating... He’s just a down-and-out young master from a small border town. Before he was twelve, he was a good-for-nothing who couldn’t cultivate. Then, in the six short years since, he went from having less power than a Martial Disciple all the way to a First-Ring Martial Sect..."

"Oh?" A strange smile touched Shan Tianyu’s lips. "So you’re telling me that in just six years, using only the Low Level Cultivation Resources of a small border town, he managed to defeat my Clone? A Clone that was cultivated for seven years with our family’s unlimited resources and in the Inner Mountain’s Five Elements Sacred Domain? How interesting."

Shan Qiuhen shook his head helplessly. "If you had gone as your original body, he would have been annihilated in a single blow."

At those words, Shan Tianyu’s gaze hardened. "And if he were given eighteen years with an unlimited supply of Cultivation Resources," he said coolly, "would you still come to the same conclusion?"

"That..."

If any outsider had witnessed this scene, their jaw would have hit the floor. The authoritative Second Elder of the Inner Mountain, the imposing Shan Qiuhen, had just been refuted by his own descendant and was left utterly speechless, a hint of embarrassment on his face.

"Still, that boy’s Combat Skills and Secret Techniques are truly bizarre. They don’t seem to originate from the legacy of the Nine Great Families." Shan Tianyu mused for a moment, his voice softening considerably. "Of the nine types of Attribute Elemental Power, not counting the long-vanished Light Attribute, that boy can wield four of them simultaneously. How can someone like that even exist?"

Hearing this, Shan Qiuhen suddenly recalled something. "No," he said. "After observation, several of us Elders came to a different conclusion. It’s not four. It’s eight!"

"Eight?!"

At last, a look of shock appeared on the ever-placid Shan Tianyu’s face. "Eight Attribute Elemental Powers! That’s unthinkable! And the strangest part is... I instinctively believe you."

"I didn’t believe it at first, either, but in the end, I had no choice. What’s more, that boy has earned Dilaka’s recognition. His strength is likely to see a huge leap in the near future."

"An improvement is just an improvement. He’s a First-Ring Martial Sect. While the effect of the Broken Ring is shocking, it’s not a power one can use often. The stronger you are, and the higher your realm, the more you’d hesitate to use it. After all, the time needed to restore a single ring past the Emperor Realm is incomparable to the time needed at the Sect Realm. What truly worries me is the Fusion Attribute power he used at the end."

As he thought of this, the image of that sphere hurtling toward him replayed in his mind. He hadn’t felt fear, but he had been shaken. Just as Shan Qiuhen said, if Mu Chen could truly wield eight Attributes, then the resulting Fusion Power... perhaps no one on the entire continent could withstand it.