To be fair, the Immortal Fairy's discernment really was formidable. This incident was merely an exception. Had it been any other treasure, it could well have counted as a stroke of serendipity.
Yet the Immortal Fairy did not see it that way. To her, this was an outright humiliation. As an immortal, how could she capsize twice in front of a junior?
Did she, Huang Doudou, have no pride?!
"Fairy, if you have nothing else to do, why don't you go back to sleep?" Lu Yang urged.
"Boy, don't think this is all the ability this immortal possesses!" Refusing to accept defeat, the Immortal Fairy strove to prove just how useful she was. "In the ancient era, this immortal was a top-tier powerhouse with countless treasures collected throughout my life. For instance, I buried a vast trove of treasures beneath the North Star, including no shortage of immortal treasures. I still remember their exact locations. If you could find them, establishing your own sect and lording over everyone would be child's play!"
"But didn't the Ancient Nameless One refine all the stars across the sky? Where am I supposed to find the North Star?"
The Immortal Fairy fell silent for a moment before continuing, "This immortal can also guide your cultivation! I can help you achieve twice the result with half the effort, progressing far faster than your peers, all with a rock-solid foundation free of flaws!"
"Thanks, but Eldest Senior Sister can already guide me."
"Could that little chit of a girl possibly be as knowledgeable and experienced as I am? My guidance would definitely be far more comprehensive. How could she possibly cover everything? Her methods must be riddled with loopholes! Take your Foundation Establishment, for example. This foundation of yours is... well, it's pretty much perfect."
"..."
The Immortal Fairy had to admit that even through her hypercritical eyes, Lu Yang's Foundation Establishment was practically flawless, without a single defect to be found.
"A-and another thing! As a woman, this immortal has a delicate, perceptive mind. I can help you pursue the girls you like!"
Lu Yang could tell the Immortal Fairy was thoroughly out of tricks, to the point of completely abandoning her dignity as an immortal.
"No need. Eldest Senior Sister told me that for cultivation, it's best to keep one's kidney essence plentiful."
"Shallow!" The Immortal Fairy scoffed at Eldest Senior Sister's view. "Haven't you ever heard of the man in the ancient era who bedded women every night, maintaining a harem of over a hundred? By practicing the arts of dual cultivation, his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds!"
"Do you want manuals like that? I have several right here, all quite suitable for you."
Lu Yang asked calmly, "Why don't you tell me what ended up happening to that harem master first?"
"The women of his harem ganged up and attacked him, tearing him limb from limb in a gruesome death... But that's beside the point! What matters is how fast his cultivation grew!"
"And he lost his life just as fast."
"This immortal has also witnessed countless magical arts and can teach you how to counter them. Take, for instance, the great divine ability Words as Law! Anything spoken aloud comes true—truly the pinnacle of karmic arts!"
"Back when I was still in the Tribulation Transcendence stage, I encountered an enemy who possessed Words as Law. He was my formidable rival, genuinely terrifying. He was practically a darling of heaven and earth—whatever he uttered would come to pass. Calling him omnipotent wouldn't be an exaggeration."
"Yet as powerful as he was, he was no match for me in the end!"
Lu Yang was stunned. Words as Law sounded like an extraordinarily difficult art to deal with. For the Immortal Fairy to have defeated such an enemy, she really was terrifying.
Come to think of it, erratic as she might seem, the ancient era had been an age of absolute chaos, where supreme talents struggled across the sea of tribulations and mighty figures fought to the death. Out of all of them, only five had attained immortality. For the Immortal Fairy to emerge victorious under such circumstances proved just how monstrous a genius she was.
"How did you defeat him?"
"I ambushed him back then. He'd probably protected himself far too well with Words as Law and had never taken a beating in his life. He screamed, 'I'm dying of pain!' and then he dropped dead."
Lu Yang: "..."
What kind of fucking useless trash was that?
"A pity that with his death, the legacy of Words as Law was completely severed."
Seeing Lu Yang struck dumb, the Immortal Fairy's confidence soared. "Aside from countering arts, I can also teach you some! Have you ever heard of the great divine ability Shrinking the Earth to Inches? It is a rare spatial technique. In the ancient era, even Golden Core cultivators could barely master it. But under this immortal's guidance, you can learn it right now!"
"Shrinking the Earth to Inches?" Lu Yang felt a surge of secret delight. Eldest Senior Sister had cut out far too many steps in her instruction; this time, with an immortal teaching him, surely nothing could go wrong.
Seeing Lu Yang's interest in this divine ability, the Immortal Fairy instructed him patiently, explaining every single step with meticulous precision. Lu Yang pulled out a small notebook, nodding and jotting down notes, looking every bit the model student.
A while later, the Immortal Fairy stared blankly with glazed eyes as Lu Yang burrowed in and out of the dirt, shrinking the earth and expanding or shrinking in size, plunging into deep self-doubt over her own teaching abilities.
Was there any spectacle she, the Immortal Fairy, had not witnessed in her life?
She truly had never witnessed a spectacle like this.
The good news was that Lu Yang's mastery over the two arts, Shrinking the Earth and To Inches, was growing deeper and deeper. He was now able to shrink down to a single inch instead of his previous three, and his casting speed had increased significantly as well.
"That isn't the only spatial art I know!" The Immortal Fairy put the full depth of an immortal's magical repertoire on display.
"What else is there?"
"Inches to the Ends of the Earth, which ranks right alongside Shrinking the Earth to Inches!"
"Once you master Inches to the Ends of the Earth, no matter how vast the distance, it will seem right before your eyes. A single step will carry you straight to your destination!" Inches to the Ends of the Earth was an even more difficult art to grasp than Shrinking the Earth to Inches. At first, the Immortal Fairy had worried Lu Yang wouldn't be able to learn it, which would crush his confidence, so she hadn't intended to teach it.
Now, her only worry was whether he would learn it crooked!
"Inches to the Ends of the Earth demands a profound comprehension of space. Without other spatial arts to lay the groundwork, it is exceedingly difficult to grasp. Do you have the confidence to learn it?"
Lu Yang gave it some thought. He had already learned the Clothes-Cleansing Incantation, which summoned clean clothes—a classic spatial art.
So Lu Yang nodded, and the Immortal Fairy began her instruction.
"Learning Inches to the Ends of the Earth follows roughly the same process as Shrinking the Earth to Inches. First, you must memorize the incantation. Listen closely..." The Immortal Fairy recited a passage of archaic, obscure phrases that were extraordinarily difficult to memorize.
However, Lu Yang had already opened his spiritual space, giving him a powerful divine sense. It took him only a short while to commit the archaic phrases to memory.
The Immortal Fairy could tell that Lu Yang possessed exceptional talent when it came to learning magical arts.
"Next, you must hold a map in your mind. Picture yourself at a specific location on the map, reciting the ancient incantation while you visualize it."
"Once your essence, qi, and spirit are thoroughly unified, a single thought will teleport you to your destination."
The Immortal Fairy cautioned, "Keep in mind, though, that teleportation distance depends on your cultivation realm. For your first attempt, you shouldn't choose somewhere too far away."
Following the Immortal Fairy's instructions, Lu Yang made a careful attempt. Silently chanting the ancient incantation in his heart while picturing Tianmen Peak, he let out a great shout: "Inches to the Ends of the Earth!"
Nothing happened.
The Immortal Fairy added, "Step forward! 'Inches to the Ends of the Earth' means your destination is just inches away, only a single step from you. So you have to take that step!"
Only by stepping forward would he know whether it had worked.
Lu Yang took a step forward, and the scenery beneath his feet abruptly shifted. Both he and the Immortal Fairy rejoiced in unison—it worked!
"Wait, look down!" the Immortal Fairy shrieked.
Lu Yang looked down, breaking into a cold sweat. Beneath him was a bottomless abyss, tens of thousands of feet deep!
He glanced back over his shoulder and saw the brink of a cliff right behind him.
So the point of Inches to the Ends of the Earth was literally to place him on the edge of the world?!
Lu Yang had no time to complain. There was nothing beneath his feet; he was suspended in midair.
He pedaled his legs twice in empty air before plunging into the abyss.
Chapter 120