"The *Faxian Secret Method*?" The Immortal Fairy narrowed her eyes. She had never heard of a secret method bearing such an arrogant name.
An immortal was the pinnacle of the cultivation path; crossing realms to challenge one was impossible. If an immortal could be struck down from below, what would even be the point of attaining immortality?
"Y-yes," Perfected Faxian said subserviently, offering up the *Faxian Secret Method*. His Daoist title had also originated from this.
"When I was young, I strayed into a secret realm opened by an ancient almighty figure. Inside were countless heavenly treasures and earthly wonders. It was precisely by relying on those treasures that I managed to cultivate all the way to the Body Integration stage."
Perfected Faxian continued, "The most precious treasure in the secret realm was this *Faxian Secret Method*. According to the book's description, immortals are the kings of all living spirits, possessing peerless might. To defeat an immortal, one must forge a new path. Thus, the book mentions gathering the strengths of all living beings into one body. If a person possesses the transformations of a kunpeng, the water-manipulating ability of the Dragon Clan, the fire-manipulating ability of the Phoenix Clan, the wisdom of the Human Clan... and every single advantage, one can strike down immortals with mortal power!"
The Immortal Fairy glanced through the secret method and tossed it to Lu Yang. "And here I wondered what great thing it was, bragged about so grandly. Turns out it's just the beast transformation cultivation method."
The Immortal Fairy had just explained the beast transformation cultivation method—it made one's bloodline mottled, made it impossible to become an immortal, and had been abandoned by the people of the Ancient Era.
As for the immortal-slaying might mentioned in the secret method, the Immortal Fairy sneered at it even more.
If it were truly as formidable as boasted, would they have discarded it?
"You mean everything written inside is fake?" Lu Yang flipped through the contents, but it was far too complex for him to understand in short order.
The Immortal Fairy scratched her chin. "I reckon the fellow who created the beast transformation cultivation method couldn't accept that his technique was abandoned. But back in ancient times, everyone knew what this cultivation method was really about—utterly unreliable, so nobody would fall for it.
"So he swapped the cover of the beast transformation cultivation method, added a few lines of preface, changed its name, and tossed it into a grotto-heaven. He figured that after enough time passed and fewer people knew about the beast transformation cultivation method, some fool would find it, believe every word, and keep the method alive."
The Immortal Fairy scoffed disdainfully, "Bragging—who can't do that? I could just as well claim I can beat that girl Yun Zhi."
Lu Yang suspected the Immortal Fairy was bordering on giving up all pretense of dignity.
She continued lecturing Lu Yang, "Don't go thinking that just because you find some ancient text, everything in it is true. Back in our day, fraud was rampant—there were more fakes than real things.
"Back then, we even fabricated an entire Heavenly Court system: ascending to the Immortal Realm after achieving immortality, where the Immortal Realm had Human Immortals, Earth Immortals, Heavenly Immortals, and whatever else, not to mention the Heavenly Emperors of the Five Directions. We made it quite thorough. If you ever come across that sort of thing, don't believe a word of it. It was all made up just for fun."
Lu Yang: "..."
Investigating what happened in the Ancient Era was hard enough to begin with, and you people were actively making fakes?
Lu Yang felt rather sympathetic toward those elderly cultivators who enjoyed researching the Ancient Era. They spent immense effort studying what took place in ancient times, read the things these people fabricated, and marveled at how grand the Ancient Era was, believing there were tiers even above immortals and that cultivation knew no bounds, thinking the present fell far short of the past—only to turn out that it was all made up for laughs.
Could an old cultivator's heart take that?
Fortunately, Lu Yang had not heard of any Heavenly Court system so far. It had likely vanished in the long river of time, luckily sparing later generations from being poisoned by it.
Perfected Faxian knelt trembling on the ground, listening to the Immortal Fairy talk so casually, feeling as though he had learned something staggering.
She spoke of the Ancient Era with effortless familiarity, and combined with her addressing herself as "this immortal," things having progressed to this point left no doubt about his sheer luck.
And this Foundation Establishment kid: his realm was low, yet he could converse on equal terms with an ancient immortal. Could he be an ancient immortal as well?
A reincarnation, or a body seizure?
Perfected Faxian wished he could slap himself across the face twice. Out of all the names you could have chosen, why did you have to call yourself "Faxian"—Slaying Immortals—and blindly rush into this spiritual space?
Were you tired of living?
Perfected Faxian cautiously backed away. He sensed the pressure was not as heavy as before, indicating the Immortal Fairy wasn't paying attention to him. He wanted to take advantage of their casual chatting to slip out of the spiritual space and flee for his life.
Then he discovered the spiritual space was as solid as a coffin; there was no escaping at all.
The Immortal Fairy gave a cold sneer. Lu Yang's spiritual space was effectively her home. How could an immortal's home be a place one entered and left at will?
"Trying to leave? Then leave your life behind."
The Immortal Fairy detested Perfected Faxian's method of cultivation. When the rules first descended, who knew how many commoners had died beneath them? And looking at the mayor's physical body, that was the result of slaughtering hundreds or thousands of people.
As a human immortal, the Immortal Fairy wouldn't claim how great she was or how many humans she had protected, but she dared say she had never harmed a single person.
He deserved death.
The Immortal Fairy reached out a finger. Perfected Faxian frantically shifted his body, attempting to evade the finger, but no matter how he moved, he could not escape.
This was a strike that could never miss!
Her finger pressed against the center of his brow, and Perfected Faxian's soul shattered to pieces.
***
"This man is too difficult to deal with!" Outside Buyi Town, the four Body Integration cultivators faced Daoist Buyu, finding him exceedingly troublesome.
They had finally managed to identify the sword merged with Daoist Buyu among the myriad swords, intending to engage him in a fair and square fight, only for Daoist Buyu to once again unleash One Sword Into Ten Thousand Swords and Man and Sword as One.
Could such techniques even be unleashed consecutively?!
"If you don't come out right now, we will go into Buyi Town and kill those two brats!" one of the Body Integration cultivators roared in anger. This was no empty threat; they were fully capable of doing such a thing.
Suddenly, the ten thousand swords formed a massive sphere with their tips pointing inward, enclosing the four within.
Ten thousand swords fired in unison, slashing toward the four. None of them had expected Daoist Buyu to erupt with power so abruptly, and they suffered a grievous loss.
Daoist Buyu revealed his true form. Holding his Natal Sword, he glared fiercely at the four. "I'll see who dares harm them!"
When the four met Daoist Buyu's gaze, they felt it sting with blinding intensity and felt a chill rise in their hearts. If a supreme paragon of the sword path fought with his life on the line, at least two of them would fall.
One of them sneered coldly. "Bluffing. The mayor of Buyi Town is our comrade. Did you truly believe those two juniors could remain safe and sound just by obediently following the rules?
"Once our comrade takes those two juniors hostage, I'd like to see what you do. Will you sacrifice your juniors' lives to kill us, or throw down your sword and obediently let us kill you?"
Daoist Buyu gritted his teeth, his grip tightening around his sword hilt. If things truly were as the other claimed, then before that happened, he would sacrifice his lifespan and cultivation realm to slay all four!
As the two sides stood in a deadlock, a teleportation array materialized outside Buyi Town. The four Body Integration cultivators were just about to taunt Daoist Buyu and declare that his two juniors had already been captured, when their expressions shifted drastically and each abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood.
"How is this possible? Someone used the rules to leave Buyi Town?!"
When someone left Buyi Town, they suffered a backlash.
The teleportation array vanished. Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had successfully left Buyi Town. Lu Yang held the mayor's head in his hand, smiling as he waved a greeting to the people in the sky, his provocation completely undisguised.
"Pfft—!" The four Body Integration cultivators spat blood once more.
Chapter 142