Hearing Lu Yang's proposed method, Daoist Buyu suddenly felt that Lu Yang had already completed his apprenticeship. There was no longer any need to pass down his bottom-of-the-trunk, shameless fighting style.
He felt that Lu Yang was fully capable of comprehending a shameless fighting style of his own—one better suited to him and far smoother to use.
The pupil truly surpassed the master.
With this Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin, even if Lu Yang were not his disciple, outsiders would surely see him as his disciple anyway.
Lu Yang felt his improved method was indeed very practical. Not only did it solve the problem of Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin being far too ostentatious, but the mere fact that it resolved his inability to openly use the Seven Stars Sword Set proved it was an excellent approach.
After all, in the eyes of outsiders, the Seven Stars Sword Set belonged to Young Cult Master Lu and had nothing to do with Lu Yang.
Never having had the chance to unleash the Seven Stars Sword Set had made Lu Yang feel quite guilty toward them.
This was an excellent method that accomplished multiple goals at once.
Before long, Lu Yang concealed the Chengying Sword and the Seven Stars Sword Set inside the Green Blade Sword's miniature world, then executed Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin once more.
Sure enough, nothing could be detected from the outside. Even Daoist Buyu gave a thumbs-up and praised it as utterly underhanded.
Praised by his master, Lu Yang did not become arrogant or complacent. Instead, he calmed his mind and learned how to execute Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin with greater proficiency. Daoist Buyu nodded repeatedly as he watched from the side; his young disciple possessed a far better temperament than he had in his youth.
Back then, if he had thought up some underhanded move, he would have long run off to ambush someone with it rather than continue cultivating.
Seven days passed, and Lu Yang could finally execute Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin with consummate skill. When he brought his sword down, not even Daoist Buyu could tell whether the strike was Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin or just an ordinary slash, let alone anyone else.
During these seven days, the three women—Yun Zhi, Yun Mengmeng, and Gan Tian—came and went. Yun Mengmeng even squatted nearby to watch Lu Yang cultivate for a bit, but finding it utterly boring, she went back to listening to ditties.
With food, drink, and tunes to enjoy, life was exceedingly comfortable—far better than in the secret realm.
"Had I known, I would have left the secret realm long ago to join you, Xiao Zhi." Listening to the tunes, Yun Mengmeng hummed along for a couple of lines when the mood struck her, swaying her head. Her voice was melodious and pleasant, harmonizing wonderfully with Gan Tian's music, which surprised Gan Tian quite a bit.
"Have you learned singing before?"
"No, I just sing for fun."
Gan Tian was even more astonished; that meant this was pure talent.
"How about we perform an ensemble together? I'll play, and you can sing."
A harmony of zither and song would be of great help to her cultivation of the Dao of Musical Temperament; it was just that previously she had never found the right partner.
"Sure!" Yun Mengmeng agreed happily.
With the divine ability fully mastered, Lu Yang contentedly sheathed the Green Blade Sword, took his leave of his master, and excitedly went to look for Meng Jingzhou.
"Old Meng, you there? Come out and spar!" Lu Yang shouted right outside Meng Jingzhou's door.
Old Horse stood guard at the doorway, showing not the slightest sense of duty as a Dao Protector, letting Lu Yang yell at the top of his lungs.
With the increase in the power of the sun, Old Horse had discovered that the dried grass cured under it had a wonderful chew and tasted significantly better than before. Lately, it had been busy drying hay.
Looking at the ground spread with hay, Old Horse felt this brought a greater sense of achievement than being a Dao Protector.
"What are you howling for?" Meng Jingzhou was dripping wet, having just climbed out of ice water.
To soothe his restless heart, Meng Jingzhou had been soaking in ice water to calm himself down.
"I just learned a couple of moves and came to practice with you," Lu Yang said with a smile.
"Oho, sounds like you think you can take me on now." Meng Jingzhou's interest was piqued. With a shake of his body, he stopped suppressing his yang qi. The terrifying yang qi that erupted instantly dried his clothes and hair.
He had studied under the Old Ancestor for over a year, and on top of that, the power of the sun had surged, strengthening his Bachelor Spiritual Root. To say his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds would not be an exaggeration in the slightest. A mere Lu Yang was nothing to fear.
"So what did you learn?" Meng Jingzhou eyed Lu Yang askance, instinctively sensing this bastard was up to no good.
"Just a couple of swordplay tips and tricks," Lu Yang said modestly.
Just as Lu Yang never believed Meng Jingzhou's nonsense, Meng Jingzhou did not believe Lu Yang's rubbish either.
Seeing that the two were about to fight, Old Horse took the initiative to gather up the hay drying on the ground to clear a space for them.
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou stood on the lawn. A gentle breeze blew past, creating wave after wave across the grass and fluttering their robes.
Meng Jingzhou shouted. His surging yang qi formed a distinct aura. With one fist forward and one back, he sank into a stable horse stance and eyed Lu Yang warily.
Lu Yang drew the Green Blade Sword from his waist, the blade grating against the scabbard's mouth with a sharp hiss.
Lu Yang held the Green Blade Sword steadily, the tip leveled directly at Meng Jingzhou without a tremor, and barked sternly, "Meng Jingzhou, why do you not kneel before this genius?!"
Meng Jingzhou instantly flew into a rage. "Kneel before your grandfather—"
Before he could finish, Meng Jingzhou dropped to his knees with a thud, his face blank with utter bewilderment.
Old Horse, who was munching on hay, stared dumbfounded, completely failing to understand what move Lu Yang had used.
Lu Yang wore an expression of surprise. "Aiya, I was just joking! Old Meng, why did you actually kneel? No need, no need at all!"
Forced kneeling—Meng Jingzhou knew this feeling all too well. This was fucking Immortal Exterminating Sword Formation!
The question was, when had Lu Yang executed the Immortal Exterminating Sword Formation?
"Well? Can't figure out how I did it, can you?" Seeing Old Meng's utterly bewildered expression, Lu Yang felt unspeakably delighted.
Meng Jingzhou nodded honestly; he genuinely wanted to know how Lu Yang had pulled it off.
"It's very simple. There's a miniature world inside my Green Blade Sword. I can deploy the Immortal Exterminating Sword Formation inside that miniature world, and then use Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin. That way, whomever I point my sword at has to kneel."
Meng Jingzhou: "..."
*This is what you call swordplay tips and tricks?*
He had indeed prepared himself for Lu Yang deploying the Immortal Exterminating Sword Formation, but no matter how prepared he was, he could never have anticipated that the formation had evolved to such an extent.
Who could possibly defend against this?
Lu Yang stopped channeling the Immortal Exterminating Sword Formation, allowing Meng Jingzhou to stand up.
"Come, come, come! Now our real spar begins," Lu Yang said with a grin, looking utterly assured of victory. Meng Jingzhou gritted his teeth at the sight. Did this guy really think he had no way of dealing with him?
"Take my sword—Break Formula!"
Lu Yang shouted as he thrust the Green Blade Sword forward, piercing through the air as swift as flint-spark and lightning.
A cold sneer curved at the corner of Meng Jingzhou's mouth. Just the Break Formula? That was looking down on him far too much. He originally intended to face it head-on, but an inexplicable sense of wrongness suddenly crept into his mind, driving him to dodge the strike by instinct.
Right where Meng Jingzhou had been standing, a gouge was carved directly into the ground.
This was by no means the power of the Break Formula!
"This fucking isn't the Break Formula at all!"
Meng Jingzhou suddenly recalled that when Lu Yang had explained how he secretly used the Immortal Exterminating Sword Formation, he mentioned deploying the Immortal Exterminating Sword Formation first, then Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin.
Thinking a step further, what if he only used Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin?
Of course it worked.
On the surface, this strike was the Break Formula, but in reality, it was Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin!
A colossal hand carrying an ancient, primeval aura emerged from behind Meng Jingzhou, its arm bending to shield him.
A sharp clang rang out as the Green Blade Sword clashed against the primeval hand, piercing through its outer skin and nearly boring clean through the hand.
"A dharma idol?" Lu Yang said in surprise. This primeval hand was part of some dharma idol.
It seemed that while Old Meng was studying with Meng Junzi, he had learned how to manifest a dharma idol.
Lu Yang thrust his sword again, striking the primeval hand once more.
To his surprise, this time the Green Blade Sword did not pierce the primeval hand; it was merely an ordinary sword move.
Just as Meng Jingzhou was about to retract the primeval hand, Lu Yang unleashed a fourth strike, once again nearly piercing through it, startling Meng Jingzhou so much that he dared not make any other move.
Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin!
Sweat beaded on Meng Jingzhou's forehead as he vaguely realized this bastard Lu Yang's tactics.
There was no perceptible difference between Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin and an ordinary thrust. Without clashing directly, one couldn't tell them apart at all.
And he didn't dare gamble on what sword move Lu Yang would use next. A single wrong guess meant defeat, so he had no choice but to keep the dharma idol manifested at all times!
Lu Yang thrust the Green Blade Sword in rapid succession. Amid a barrage of ordinary sword moves, an occasional strike was Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Origin.
Meng Jingzhou was not yet capable of sustaining the dharma idol indefinitely. In the end, the primeval hand collapsed, forcing him to concede defeat.
"All right, all right, you win."
Meng Jingzhou glared crossly at Lu Yang. "Where on earth did you learn such a wicked move?"
Not just him—any cultivator at the early Soul Formation stage would be completely unable to handle such a wicked move.
Smoothing his lapels, Lu Yang said earnestly, "Master said that to outsiders, I must claim I comprehended this move all on my own, and that it has nothing to do with him."
Chapter 1008