Chapter 77: First Glimpse of the World's Cultivation

"To be frank, I am Chen Xinan, a disciple of the Jade Pivot Yushu Jiange."

On the Banner of Ten Thousand Spirits, Chen Xinan appeared with a look of sincerity, speaking with righteous vigor: "In my past life, I was harmed by the evil cultivator Liu Xin, making a fool of myself before you, Daoist Friend."

"Oh?" Hearing this, Lu Yang narrowed his eyes slightly.

Young man, you are not being honest!

Compared to other banner spirits, Chen Xinan's state was clearly problematic; it seemed he truly retained a portion of his autonomy and could think normally.

He could even lie!

Looking at Chen Xinan, Lu Yang grinned: "Daoist Friend, please calm down. I will destroy this evil treasure that harms people right now, so that all of you can return to the cycle of reincarnation."

"Wait, wait!"

Before Lu Yang could finish speaking, Chen Xinan hurriedly spoke out to stop him. Seeing Lu Yang look at him with confusion, he rolled his eyes, then sighed and said: "Daoist Friend does not know this. This treasure refines our true spirits. If you destroy it, we will not only be unable to be reborn, but will also perish along with it."

— This was a lie.

In his previous life, Lu Yang cultivated for a hundred years, practically wearing the Banner of Ten Thousand Spirits smooth from handling it; his understanding of it was even greater than Liu Xin's, and he knew its mysteries perfectly.

So he saw through Chen Xinan's lie at a glance.

But why did he want to lie?

Lu Yang's thoughts raced in his mind. According to logic, the banner spirits on the Banner of Ten Thousand Spirits were already no different from the dead; being able to reincarnate was already a heavenly stroke of luck, so who could possibly escape?

Could this Chen Xinan have another method to return to life?

"Interesting."

Lu Yang smiled, then spoke directly without any hesitation: "Daoist Friend deliberately deceived me. Is there a secret? Might I ask to hear it?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xinan was instantly stunned.

In a flash, he had thought of an answer, but before he could speak, he suddenly felt darkness before his eyes, and his consciousness became hazy.

"You want to search my soul?"

At first, Chen Xinan remained calm, quickly stabilizing a divine technique to protect his heart-mind, and even prepared to fabricate a memory to fool Lu Yang.

However, the next second, his expression froze.

Because he suddenly saw a towering Golden Body, reaching from earth to sky, crashing violently into his own sea of consciousness and instantly suppressing all his divine techniques!

"Status!?"

How is this possible!

As a true disciple of the Holy Sect, Chen Xinan naturally knew his stuff, and Lu Yang, using the status of the Saint's Theft to suppress him, had no intention of giving him even a sliver of a chance.

"Tell me, what are you plotting?"

Lu Yang chuckled lightly, easily grasping Chen Xinan's sea of consciousness, and quickly extracted streams of information he desired from his memories.

The next second, Chen Xinan's lips moved, and he spoke uncontrollably: "I cultivated a great divine technique named 'Cut Thought, See My Celestial Silkworm Secret'. It can split the divine consciousness to perform soul usurpation. I planned to deceive you first, then find a way to usurp your body, so I could be reborn."

"Interesting."

Looking at the sweating Chen Xinan, Lu Yang continued to ask with a smile: "It is harder than climbing to the sky for a banner spirit to devour its master. How did you originally plan to usurp me?"

"Very simple. I would transmit the 'Cut Thought, See My Celestial Silkworm Secret' to you."

"This is a great divine technique; you could not help but be tempted."

"However, this great divine technique is extremely special. The cultivator must cut nine split spirits from their own heart-mind, then use a secret method to unify them."

"But I will not transmit the secret method to unify the split spirits to you."

"Therefore, as long as you cultivate it, nine different consciousnesses will inevitably split. Everyone will want to be the master, and the result will be the snipe and the clam fighting, while the fisherman profits."

After listening to Chen Xinan's description, Lu Yang felt somewhat tempted.

Suddenly, his heart stirred slightly, and he asked again: "Are you really Chen Xinan?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xinan immediately fell silent, a look of struggle appearing on his face, but in the end, he could not resist Lu Yang's status suppression.

"... Strictly speaking, no."

"The real 'Chen Xinan' is already dead. I am merely one of the split spirits he cut out in the past... But since he is dead, then I am Chen Xinan!"

Lu Yang exclaimed in wonder after hearing this, feeling quite tempted by the great divine technique he spoke of, the 'Cut Thought, See My Celestial Silkworm Secret'. Because according to Chen Xinan's description, once this great divine technique was perfected, it could not only increase one's status, but even allow the early condensation of the 'divine consciousness' that only a True Person of Foundation Establishment possesses!

This point was especially crucial.

Because breaking through to Foundation Establishment is itself a process of transforming spiritual consciousness into divine consciousness, and if you transform early, it is of immense help to building the immortal foundation.

"Senior Brother Chen, you died well."

"Seeking you in this life, I indeed found the right person!"

To be fair, status is practically a weapon for bullying the weak; otherwise, it would have been nearly impossible for Lu Yang to dig out so much information from Chen Xinan.

Now, with the support of status, Chen Xinan was practically saying everything he knew, without holding anything back, including the original content of the 'Cut Thought, See My Celestial Silkworm Secret', which he dug out one by one. After finishing all this, Lu Yang withdrew his divine technique and looked at Chen Xinan, who had regained his autonomy but looked pale and grim.

"... You are a disciple of the Holy Sect, right."

After a long silence, Chen Xinan finally spoke, and his tone was very firm: "Such conduct is something only a disciple of my Holy Sect would do."

Thinking of this, Chen Xinan looked at Lu Yang again, his tone complex: "You killed Liu Xin, yet you are not at the Cloud Sea Connecting Heaven. Do you also plan to betray the Sect?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yang immediately raised his eyebrows slightly: "... Also?"

On the contrary, Chen Xinan tilted his head, looking completely confused: "What is strange about that? What kind of sect style does the Holy Sect have? It is quite normal for disciples to betray the Sect."

"However, you should be the strongest one so far."

"It is simply incredible."

Speaking to this point, Chen Xinan found it hard to understand: "Disciples who receive great divine techniques are generally branded with prohibitions to prevent them from betraying the Sect in the future."

"I had no prohibitions because my father is the Peak Lord of Mending Heaven, but what about you?"

Lu Yang did not answer.

What Chen Xinan said was not wrong; in his previous life, he obtained the inheritance of the great divine technique by selling himself to the Sanhe Association, but that was all from his previous life.

What does that have to do with me in this life?

However, the fact that "I have opened it" must not be known to others, so Lu Yang actively changed the subject: "Fellow Daoist, do you have knowledge of the world?"

Chen Xinan was stunned by these words: "The world?"

Lu Yang nodded: "To be honest, this is my first journey; I do not yet know where to go, so I came to ask Fellow Daoist."

"Do not go south."

After a moment of silence, Chen Xinan spoke honestly: "North of the Great Dragon River lies the territory of my Holy Sect; all major and minor sects take my Holy Sect as their master. South of the River, the Jade Pivot Yushu Jiange holds the head of the Righteous Path. Apart from this, the Northern Frontier and Southern Barbarians are remote and desolate places with no powerful forces."

"If one must speak of it, only Jiangdong, Jiangxi, and overseas are passable."

"Oh?" Lu Yang asked with a look of curiosity: "Why do you say that?"

"Because the Dao differs," Chen Xinan explained. "Whether it is the Holy Sect or the Yushu Jiange, whether South of the River or North of the River, what is cultivated is actually the 'Form-Refining Ascension Dao'."

"However, Jiangdong, Jiangxi, and overseas are different."

"Jiangdong cultivates the 'Heaven's Inspector Dao', Jiangxi cultivates the 'Deep Joy Nirvana Dao', and overseas is a blossoming of a hundred flowers; although none compare to our orthodoxy, they possess considerable ingenuity."

As a True Disciple and blood relative of the Peak Lord of Senior Butian, Chen Xinan's knowledge far exceeded Lu Yang's; speaking gently at this moment, he immediately unveiled a corner of the world for Lu Yang, especially the descriptions of Jiangdong, Jiangxi, and even overseas, which made one unable to help but yearn for them.

However, soon he reined in his thoughts and returned to calmness.

"I know where to go."

The pressing matter is still to seek a secret method to increase the probability of Foundation Establishment; the 'Sword of Severing Thoughts to See My Celestial Silkworm Secret' is an unexpected surprise, but it cannot disrupt his plans.

Places like Jiangdong, Jiangxi, and overseas are not urgent for the moment.

He plans to go to Skeleton Mountain again.

"The Wraith Ghost Secret Realm... the place where the ancient Wraith Ghost Dao left its inheritance; for such great sects, the so-called inheritance surely cannot stop at the Qi Refining realm?"

In his previous life, before he even entered the Secret Realm, the Secret Realm was destroyed.

In this life, he intends to enter it early to see if there are any opportunities related to Foundation Establishment.

Moreover, the Wraith Ghost Secret Realm is extremely hidden and very suitable for hiding; in the event that Yu Suzhen's matter is exposed, hiding within the Secret Realm would ensure greater safety.

(End of this chapter)