Chapter 57: Cultivation Knows No Years

Initial Saint Sect, the Cloud Sea Touching the Sky.

When Lu Yang returned to Senior Butian Peak, there was hardly a piece of good flesh left on his entire body; the severity of his injuries even surpassed the great battle at Skull Mountain.

While he was taking a flying boat back to the sect, the boat was ambushed by righteous sects; a Foundation Establishment True Person used a divine ability to slice off his left hand until only bones remained, and his face was covered in scars, left behind after being ambushed by a scorpion demon beast's tail stinger while passing through a forest.

These were merely the visible injuries.

Beneath this body, his meridians, acupoints, and Dantian Purple Palace all suffered varying degrees of damage, and all were inflicted by people weaker than him.

"This is what they call: when fortune departs, even heroes are not free."

Lu Yang wore a helpless expression; his luck for the next thirty years had been exhausted in advance by Yinshan True Person's fishing, and now plagued by bad luck, naturally nothing went right for him.

At the beginning, Lu Yang still attempted to fight back.

However, as soon as he engaged anyone, all sorts of accidents would occur on his body, such as old hidden injuries flaring up, exerting too much force, or divine abilities backfiring, and so on.

In the end, he could only keep fleeing.

Nevertheless, he was now a Foundation Establishment True Person at the peak of Qi Refining; although his luck was gone, his life was tough enough, so he still managed to survive until returning to the sect.

As for the extermination war against Shen Wu Gate launched by the Saint Sect after the Skull Mountain incident, Lu Yang dared not participate at all; after all, with his current state where even using the toilet could make him fall into the pit, if he really went to Shen Wu Gate, he worried a Foundation Establishment True Person could slap him to death from eight hundred li away.

Upon returning to the Saint Sect, Lu Yang immediately hid inside his own cave dwelling.

Afterwards, he placed the Blood-Washing Chen Tianhe Sword Array Diagram outside, plastered various talismans all over the inside and outside of the cave dwelling, completely sealing it off and isolating all interference from the outside world.

"For the next thirty years, I will not leave!"

Not only that, under the condition of being plagued by bad luck, even cultivation was a luxury; let alone increasing his cultivation, the only result would be qi deviation.

Fortunately, he had already reached the peak of Qi Refining, so there was no need to continue cultivating.

Lu Yang sat upright on a cushion, and then took out a jade slip from his storage bag; however, this jade slip was different from ordinary ones, it was a brilliant golden color.

This object is named the "Bright Dao Jade Slip".

As a substitute for a Foundation Establishment treasure, Yinshan True Person bestowed this object upon him; as he wished, it was a secret treasure that could help one comprehend the Dao.

If any doubts arise during cultivation, one only needs to inject the question into the jade slip, and the slip will provide an answer; within the Qi Refining realm, the accuracy of the answers is one hundred percent, the effect being almost equivalent to a Foundation Establishment True Person helping you deduce divine abilities, which for Lu Yang solved an urgent crisis.

"With my current state, there is no way forward in comprehending divine abilities."

"After all, I am so unlucky, I definitely cannot comprehend the correct path, and might even go down a crooked path, but this Bright Dao Jade Slip is different!"

"That Yinshan True Person said that this strange object has vaguely touched the threshold of Foundation Establishment, so the answers it gives will not be affected by my bad luck."

Despite saying this, Lu Yang did not rush to use it to comprehend the Tai Wei Imperial Decree Treasure Record; although his great divine ability, the Great Yin Shedding Form Corpse Liberation True Method, had only this last one remaining, compared to this, he valued another harvest from Skull Mountain even more: the Tai Yi Golden Flower Alchemy Book!

Of course, he did not obtain the complete Tai Yi Golden Flower Alchemy Book.

After all, he was not a direct disciple of Senior Butian Peak, the grade of the dual cultivation technique was limited, so even though he almost killed Yun Miaozhen, he still could not absorb the full version.

He only obtained one-third, which was a divine ability named "Tai Yi Yuan Essence Jade Radiance".

As the name suggests, once this divine ability is cultivated, it can condense a jade-colored "Essence Light"; applying it to the physical body can make the body indestructible like diamond.

In addition, it also has the effect of repairing physical injuries.

This point is especially important for the current Lu Yang; after all, due to bad luck, he is now lacking in parts, and the damage to his physical body is extremely severe.

"After my injuries and luck recover, perhaps I will need to find a body-refining technique to cultivate."

Thinking of this, Lu Yang immediately took out his disciple token and contacted Luo Wuya, the Second Senior Brother of the Sanhe Association, intending to ask what suitable techniques were available.

As a peak Qi Refining cultivator, he now had the qualification to converse with Luo Wuya on equal terms.

Soon, Luo Wuya sent a reply:

"There is indeed a technique very suitable for Junior Brother, but it cannot be cultivated yet; Junior Brother might as well wait a few years first, and I will notify you after the matter is settled."

Lu Yang naturally agreed happily, and then entered meditation to close his door.

A few years later, a vigorous and heroic young man arrived outside Lu Yang's cave dwelling.

The young man was named Wang Song; he had just joined the Saint Sect a few days ago, and under the recommendation of his grandfather Wang Bairong, had joined the Sanhe Association and accepted Luo Wuya's commission.

"Senior Brother Luo and Senior Brother Lu had an agreement regarding a body-refining technique; however, Senior Brother Luo fought a bloody battle with Shen Wu Gate for several years, achieved great merit, received a Foundation Establishment treasure as a reward from a True Person, and is preparing to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm, so he cannot come personally; thus, he specially sent me over to hand over the technique."

"But now Senior Brother Lu has also closed his door for seclusion, what should be done?"

Wang Song looked worried and unhappy; in the end, he could only find another cave dwelling near Lu Yang's to live in; after all, he was young and had time to wait for Lu Yang to emerge from seclusion.

Thinking of this, Wang Song looked at Lu Yang's cave dwelling again, his eyes filled with hope.

As far as he knew, this Senior Brother Lu seemed to have been an ordinary disciple before, yet stood out to become a peak Qi Refining cultivator, and now Foundation Establishment was in sight.

"If Senior Brother Lu can do it, I might not be unable to!"

"I am now at the first layer of Qi Refining; as long as I study diligently and work hard tirelessly, I will definitely become a figure like Senior Brother Luo and Senior Brother Lu in the future!"

"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; do not bully the poor youth!"

Cultivation knows no years; in the blink of an eye, thirty years passed.

Senior Butian Peak's Library.

Now over fifty years old, Wang Song, having been stuck at the bottleneck of the third layer of Qi Refining for more than ten years with no progress in cultivation, already showed signs of old age between his eyebrows.

The old man of the Library who originally recommended him to join the Saint Sect, Wang Bairong, had long passed away, leaving him only an iron rice bowl as a Library steward and a cave dwelling requiring another thirty years of loan repayment; fortunately, his luck was good, and after thirty years of hard work, he was finally about to pay off the loan.

The sharp edges of his youth had long been smoothed away.

Now, Wang Song's face was left only with the numbness of being beaten by the Saint Sect, and his thoughts had changed from the initial "Do not bully the poor youth" to "The dead are great."

Just get by.

Looking on the bright side, at least he was about to finish paying off the cave dwelling loan, so that when his son joined the Saint Sect, he would also have a foundation.

Just then, a loud boom suddenly came from the distance.

"Hmm?"

Wang Song looked up in confusion, only to see that cave dwelling which he both loved and hated and felt helpless about, which he had once cursed at but never opened, suddenly move.

"Emerging from seclusion... Senior Brother Lu is emerging from seclusion!?"

The next second, the cave dwelling opened, and Wang Song immediately saw a handsome young man as young and vigorous as himself thirty years ago stepping out.

Thirty years of time had passed, yet not a single trace had been left upon him.

Immediately, as if sensing his gaze, that handsome youth suddenly turned his head, his calm eyes seeming capable of piercing straight into the heart.

"You are...?"

Lu Yang's face showed curiosity; with a thought, a circle of radiant light instantly appeared behind his head, like a full moon, within which flowed extremely intricate talismanic scripts.

The talismanic scripts resembled dragons and phoenixes, giving a profoundly contradictory feeling; at first glance they were as fine as a mustard seed, yet once one focused to observe them, one would sink into them, as if seeing the Sumeru world. As time passed, these talismanic scripts constantly changed, manifesting images of flowers, birds, fish, insects, and all things.

The Taiwei Decree and Pardon Precious Talisman!

The final divine art of the "True Method of Great Yin Body-Transformation and Corpse-Release," entirely different from the Demon Transformation Blood Divine Light and the Profound Yin Form-Grasping Great Technique, was not used for magical combat.

It was used for divination.

Therefore, the instant Lu Yang's gaze fell upon Wang Song, as the Precious Talisman circulated, the causes and consequences of the matter were no longer a secret to him.

Whether it was Wang Song's identity, Wang Song's ancestors through eighteen generations, the cultivation technique he practiced, his cultivation level, the divine arts he excelled in, or even why he was waiting outside the cave dwelling for him—the entire chain of events was fully known to Lu Yang. This feeling that all things were as clear as patterns observed on the palm made Lu Yang unable to help but sigh:

'Perhaps this is the feeling of a Foundation Establishment True Person?'

Of course, this was also due to the vast gap in cultivation between him and Wang Song; if he had divined a Qi Refining peak cultivator, it certainly would not have been so effortless.

From this, it was evident that he was still far from a Foundation Establishment True Person.

On the other side, Wang Song had finally waited for Senior Brother Lu, whom he had longed for over several decades, and was stumbling forward to pay his respects, when he heard only a sigh:

"No need to bow. Give me the item."

Wang Song dared not be negligent; he hurriedly produced a jade slip he had kept warm for thirty years. Lu Yang swept his spiritual sense over it, the jade slip's restrictions dissolved automatically, and its contents appeared.

Luo Wuya had not deceived him; he had indeed sent a body-refining cultivation technique, and it was indeed very suitable for him.

Its name was: "The Sage Thief"

(End of this chapter)