Rested Quite Well

Lu Yang felt that this trip to the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace had certainly not been in vain. He had never imagined that every single palace disciple was an expert at swinging axes and Body Tempering, or what terrifying strength lay concealed beneath those delicate frames. He had only sparred with Lan Ting a few times, always stopping short of causing harm, completely unaware that she, too, was a cultivator endowed with immense physical strength and martial prowess. Even less had he expected the palace rules to be so open-minded that romantic relationships were left entirely unhindered. Perfected Zhuiyue must have been a far-sighted, open-minded senior. Impressive. "Come to think of it, I've barely studied body tempering techniques at all." Reflecting on his cultivation journey, Lu Yang realized he had primarily focused on sword arts and spells, never delving into physical conditioning. "Why would our Immortal Lineage ever need body tempering techniques?" the Immortal Fairy chimed in. "Once you have a rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit, your body will be vastly sturdier than any body cultivator's. "Besides, even if you become a body cultivator, wouldn't the blast from self-detonation be just the same as an ordinary cultivator's?" The Immortal Fairy laid out the pros and cons with clear, impeccable logic. "Well? If you feel your body isn't sturdy enough, this Immortal can give you a rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit right now!" The Immortal Fairy was eager to try. The moment Lu Yang nodded or uttered a single "sure," she would shove a rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit into him. "No thanks." Lu Yang refused flatly. His goal was to attain immortality and stand as an equal alongside Eldest Senior Sister and the Immortal Fairy. What would taking a rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit make him? Wouldn't he just end up a shameful half-immortal like Li Haoran? Seeing his rejection, the Immortal Fairy felt rather disappointed and muttered softly, "What's the big deal with this Immortal offering you a rudimentary Dao fruit? Why act like such a stranger?" The Moon Laurel Immortal Palace was vast—so immense that even after an entire day, Lan Ting and Lu Yang had explored only a small corner of it. "Then see you tomorrow, Senior Brother." Lan Ting escorted Lu Yang back to the gate of the guest courtyard and gave a sweet smile. "See you tomorrow." Night had already fallen. Above, the sun had yielded to the moon, and the power of the moon was far richer than before. Night was the prime time for the palace disciples to cultivate, which was why Lan Ting had taken her leave. "The power of the moon, huh..." Lu Yang gazed up at the moon. His cultivation didn't depend on the power of the sun or the power of the moon, so he barely felt the shifts between the two. Just as he looked at the moon, debating whether to recite "Prelude to the Water Melody," a petite palace disciple walked over timidly, looking rather shy. "Hello, Senior Brother Lu Yang," she greeted him politely. "And you are?" "My name is Bai Ye. I'm a disciple of the palace." Bai Ye was quite bashful. Keeping her head down, she peeked upward at Lu Yang with stolen glances. "Senior Brother Lu Yang, could you tell me about your experiences? Like going to the Demon Domain, or the East Sea, and things like that?" She had never traveled to such distant places. Listening to the pingshu storytelling, she had thought Lu Yang was amazing—he had visited every land and lived through every adventure. Now that she had finally met him in person, she wanted nothing more than to hear him tell stories. "Don't you need to cultivate?" Lu Yang had assumed all the disciples had hurried off to cultivate like Lan Ting. "Missing one day won't hurt!" Bai Ye giggled. Seeing that Lu Yang was gentle and approachable, she gradually loosened up. Lu Yang thought about it. Since he had nothing else to do anyway, telling stories wouldn't hurt. At most, he would simply gloss over things that couldn't be shared, like resurrecting Jiang Lianyi in the Demon Domain. "All right." Lu Yang motioned for her to sit, ready to take his time. "Let me think where to start. Ah, right—let's begin with my second time picking up a quest at the Mission Hall, where the objective was to eliminate a tiger demon..." Lu Yang had lived through a wealth of experiences. Even with the confidential parts trimmed away, a single night was far from enough to tell it all. Bai Ye listened with rapt attention, her eyes sparkling with deepening adoration. It was hard to imagine that this was the journey of a single cultivator; all the disciples of the palace put together probably hadn't experienced as much as Senior Brother Lu Yang. "All right, that's enough for today. Any more and the sun will be up," Lu Yang said with a smile. He had spoken all night, and dawn was already breaking. He couldn't just keep going indefinitely; there would be no end to it. "Okay..." Bai Ye looked lingeringly unsatisfied. She wanted to hear more, but it really wasn't the time to continue. "Senior Brother Lu Yang, will you tell more stories tomorrow night?" "If you come by to listen, I'll tell them," Lu Yang smiled. He was rather fond of this tiny palace disciple. Overjoyed, Bai Ye waved to Lu Yang as she walked away. "Then see you tomorrow night, Senior Brother Lu Yang!" Before dawn had fully arrived, Lu Yang returned to his room, sat upon the Spirit Gathering Formation, and opened his mouth wide to devour spiritual energy in cultivation. His entire cultivation had been carved out by seizing every spare second like this, through sheer hard work. At the same time, he sent his consciousness back into his spiritual space to find the Immortal Fairy, accomplishing both without compromise. "Fairy, come play in the snow!" Pouting, the Immortal Fairy was clearly displeased that Lu Yang had waited until now to play with her. She hoisted a snowman labeled "Lu Yang" and hurled it straight at him. "Hmph! You only come over after being called!" Before Lu Yang could even get a clear look at the characters written on the snowman, it came flying at him. His footwork shifted and his body blurred, moving fast enough to leave an afterimage behind. And then he failed to dodge it. Wiping the snow from his face, Lu Yang chuckled sheepishly. "I'm not like you, Fairy—I haven't seen much of the world. Coming to the Immortal Palace for the first time, of course I had to take a proper look around." Hearing Lu Yang praise her worldly experience, the corners of the Immortal Fairy's mouth curved upward uncontrollably. "What does a mere immortal palace amount to? It's just a palace without an actual immortal! Follow this Immortal obediently, and I guarantee you'll see true creations of immortals, far grander than this place!" "Of course, of course. I trust your abilities completely, Fairy." "What do you want to play?" Lu Yang followed up. In truth, Lu Yang wasn't entirely just keeping her company. It had been a long time since he had played in the snow himself—especially such deep snow, which he had only seen in his past life, back when he had never been in the mood to enjoy it. "Let's build snowmen! It's no fun having just one," the Immortal Fairy said, pointing at the lone snowman. "Who should we build?" "There are only two of us in the spiritual space, so of course we're building you!" With that, the Immortal Fairy began rolling a snowball. Lu Yang joined in, rolling one as well. *** "How did you rest last night, Senior Brother Lu Yang?" Lan Ting came looking for him early in the morning. Lu Yang thought to himself that he hadn't rested at all last night. First came storytelling, then snowman-building. He had enjoyed himself thoroughly, but it had nothing to do with the word "rest." The snowman named Lu Yang currently sitting in his spiritual space was the joint masterpiece of him and the Fairy. "I rested quite well." "That's good." Lan Ting breathed a sigh of relief. She had worried that other senior or junior martial sisters might have approached Lu Yang during the night to get close to him behind her back. Now it seemed her worries had been unfounded.