Do You Still Play Dead After Becoming an Immortal?

Hearing Man Gu's grand vision, an image involuntarily surfaced in Lu Yang's mind: Beneath the night sky, total darkness and dead silence enveloped the lonely forest. A crackling campfire was the sole source of light, its popping embers only accentuating the stillness of the woods. A mountain goat—disemboweled, internal organs scooped out, smeared with bizarre medicinal herbs—stood atop the campfire, dancing some incomprehensible jig like an offering to an evil god. The sight was truly grotesque, far exceeding humanity's current capacity for artistic appreciation. "What a fantastic idea! As expected of the Barbarian clan, his way of thinking is already so close to their ancestors!" The Immortal Fairy slapped her thigh with excitement, faintly seeing the shadow of old acquaintances in Man Gu. "Don't scoff. Though those barbarians had muscles for brains and weren't the sharpest tools in the shed, when it came to eating, they were brimming with ideas!" "Mainly, the Barbarian clan possessed incredible initiative and a strong sense of innovation. Naturally, without trying to take credit, I contributed a tiny bit myself." The Immortal Fairy pinched her thumb and index finger close together. Lu Yang felt that, as the enlightening teacher of the Ancient Barbarian race, she was being far too modest. "Fairy, do you know any corpse-manipulating spells?" The Immortal Fairy pondered for a moment. "Does the Art of Playing Dead count? That was a celestial art the Dragon and Phoenix Clans scrambled to learn, conservatively estimated to remain useful all the way to the Tribulation Transcendence stage." "...That doesn't count." "Then nope." Lu Yang thought of another question. "Fairy, did you ever use the Art of Playing Dead after becoming an immortal?" He assumed the Art of Playing Dead was something the Immortal Fairy only used back when she was weak. After attaining immortality, didn't she claim to be the foremost of the Five Ancient Celestials? Surely she had no need for it then. "I did." "Huh? You still played dead even after becoming an immortal?" Brought to this topic, the Immortal Fairy blushed in a rare display of embarrassment and gave a sheepish chuckle. "You know I'm terrible with money and spend lavishly. Back then, I blew through all my spirit stones in no time, utterly destitute." "I was too embarrassed to ask my believers for spirit stones. After all, I was an object of faith." "What to do when broke? I quickly came up with a solution." "I used the Art of Playing Dead to pretend I had passed away. Immortal Ying Tian and the other three would then come to pay their condolences and give me spirit stones. Just like that, I was rich again!" "I used this trick several times. It worked quite well." Lu Yang: "..." There were so many absurdities in that story that he didn't even know where to begin roasting her. "There's one more thing. Can Man Gu's Ancient Barbarian bloodline be temporarily sealed? We got lucky this time that only Golden Core stage demon beasts were drawn in. Next time our luck might not be so good. If a Nascent Soul demon beast shows up, we'll be in serious trouble." Lu Yang was fraught with worry. If they truly encountered a Nascent Soul beast, even the Huang Doudou Fist might not be enough to turn the tide, and all four of them would have to use Directional Teleportation Talismans to flee back to Demon Quelling Pass. "It's fine. Man Gu doesn't need to seal his bloodline. Didn't you notice toward the end of the battle just now? Man Gu was already relying on his bloodline to suppress that armored demon beast." "This means Man Gu's Ancient Barbarian bloodline can suppress demon beasts at the Golden Core stage and below. Golden Core demon beasts will flee the moment they encounter him, while Nascent Soul demon beasts won't be affected by his bloodline at all." "Though if Man Gu advances to the Golden Core stage, that will be a different story." The Immortal Fairy's analysis was clear and logical. When it came to her area of expertise, she had never dropped the ball. After all, she had created the Ancient Barbarian race with her own hands. Lu Yang let out a breath of relief, putting the matter to rest. Otherwise, they would have been on tenterhooks for the next few months in the dense forest. "Do you want to grow hair? I have a way," the Immortal Fairy said with a grin. "What way?" "I have a set of Ginger Fist techniques! Once you learn them, you'll grow a head of lustrous black hair!" To be honest, Lu Yang was tempted. But considering the Immortal Fairy's general unreliability, coupled with the ridiculous name of the fist technique... No matter how he looked at it, something smelled fishy. "Never mind. My hair will grow back in ten days to half a month anyway." Normal hair would never grow so quickly, but Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou stimulated their scalps with spiritual energy every night to accelerate the process, yielding remarkable results. Back in reality, the four of them were eating the freshly roasted lion meat. Man Gu held the lion head in his hands and gnawed away at it. "As expected of Golden Core lion meat—so tender and juicy." "Lu Yang's True Fire technique is superb too. Usually, this kind of roast ends up charred on the outside and raw on the inside. But under Lu Yang's precise control, the True Fire scorched the outside and inside simultaneously, keeping the doneness perfectly uniform throughout. In that regard, he's better than me," Meng Jingzhou analyzed. When it came to using True Fire, he couldn't hold a candle to Lu Yang. He had not mastered a single type of True Fire yet, so he naturally fell short. In fact, the Bachelor Spiritual Root inherently came with a type of True Fire called Pure Yang True Fire, which suppressed all ghosts and evil spirits, and could be automatically mastered upon reaching the Golden Core stage. This was originally an extraordinary talent, but placed beside Lu Yang, it seemed far less impressive. Having eaten and drunk their fill, the four prepared to rest. "Junior Sister Tao and I will take the first half of the night, while Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu take the second half. How does that sound?" "Sounds good." Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had experience spending nights in the dense forest, so they naturally had to split the night shifts. If Tao Yaoye and Man Gu were paired together and an unexpected emergency arose—such as an ambush by demon beasts or other humans—the two of them might not react in time. In the depths of the forest, the danger came not only from demon beasts, but also from fellow cultivators. Back when they spent the night in the forest with the Five Heroes of Eagle Mountain, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had encountered human ambushes. Fortunately, the culprits had mediocre cultivation, and Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou dispatched them in no time. Starting their watch, Lu Yang noticed that Tao Yaoye immediately spread out her divine sense to probe their surroundings. He cautioned, "Don't keep your divine sense constantly expanded. Using it like this will deplete it in no time." "The night is still long. How long could you possibly maintain it?" Not to mention Tao Yaoye, even Lu Yang, whose divine sense rivaled a Golden Core cultivator's, wouldn't dare use it so carelessly. "Then what should I do?" Tao Yaoye obediently reeled in her divine sense. "Look with your eyes, listen with your ears, and engage all five senses to observe your surroundings." "You might not be used to it at first, but try a few times. With your talent, learning this method will be easy." "Once mastered, it's also extremely useful in battle." "Don't rely too heavily on divine sense. Relying on it too much makes it easy to fall into an opponent's trap." This was something the Immortal Fairy had taught Lu Yang, and now he was passing it on to Tao Yaoye. Tao Yaoye nodded and focused on observing their surroundings using the method Lu Yang taught. Neither of them spoke further, sitting quietly together. When the second half of the night arrived, the pairs switched shifts. Tao Yaoye leaped onto a tree branch, lay flat, and fell asleep in a remarkably leisurely posture. Watching this, Lu Yang couldn't help recalling their very first mission together dealing with the painted-skin ghost. When they stayed overnight at the Shang residence, Tao Yaoye had complained that the Shang family's bed wasn't nearly as comfortable as the ones at the Dao Seeking Sect and couldn't fall asleep. "I'm not the only one growing."