This Immortal Said She Was Renowned for Combat Prowess

"You're saying this is the Invincible Core?!" Lu Yang had no idea what expression he was even supposed to make. He had combed through endless records on Core Formation insights and painstakingly searched for inspiration for days on end, only to condense a unique Golden Core at the most critical juncture of battle. And now you're telling me this Golden Core is the exact same Invincible Core as yours? "Aiya, this immortal told you already! Continuous battle, fearless in the face of challenges, a hundred battles and a hundred victories, cultivating an invincible momentum where none can stand before you, and using that momentum as a catalyst to guide your spiritual energy's circulation and condense it into a core." "Now that things have come to this, stop playing innocent! You followed the steps this immortal taught you right down to the letter and successfully formed your core." The Immortal Fairy assumed Lu Yang was just embarrassed and unwilling to admit he was imitating her. "There's nothing to feel shy about! Stick with this immortal, and I guarantee you'll stand proud throughout eternity! When I return to my peak, I'll be ranked first, you'll be ranked second, and that little girl Yun Zhi will take third!" Lu Yang couldn't help recalling when the Immortal Fairy had first introduced her exclusive Core Formation experience. "Fairy, do you still remember how you explained your Core Formation back then?" ... "This is a Golden Core I invented myself. I call it the Invincible Core." "I wouldn't tell an ordinary person how to form this kind of core! Now do you see the perks of sticking with me?" The Immortal Fairy puffed out her chest with smug pride, hoping to elicit an admiring gaze from Lu Yang. "Just in case, let me ask beforehand: when you say 'a hundred battles, a hundred victories,' are you fighting people of the same realm, or people one realm apart?" "One realm apart, of course!" ... "Yeah, one realm apart! Defeating the Golden Core stage while in the Foundation Establishment stage—isn't that one realm apart?" the Immortal Fairy said matter-of-factly, baffled as to why Lu Yang was so shocked. Hadn't she told him long ago that before attaining immortality, she was renowned for her beauty and combat prowess? When renowned for combat prowess, wasn't fighting above your realm just routine? Lu Yang: "..." It was no wonder Lu Yang hadn't thought of that. The Immortal Fairy had simply never given him any reliable guidance, and she frequently bullied cultivators of lower realms, wearing it as a badge of pride. All along, Lu Yang had treated the Immortal Fairy as a projector of ancient dark history and hardly ever listened to her advice on cultivation. Listening to the Immortal Fairy explain how to cultivate was worse than asking Eldest Senior Sister. Though asking Eldest Senior Sister didn't necessarily mean getting a useful answer either. Lu Yang's impression of the Immortal Fairy's cultivation methods was "unreliable." His impression of Eldest Senior Sister's cultivation methods was "preposterous." Neither had any practical value. "Back when this immortal was at late Foundation Establishment, I already displayed transcendent talent, completely unmatched across the entire Foundation Establishment stage! Holy sons and holy maidens of great sects, blessed ones favored by heaven, beings with Dao constitutions... none of them were a match for me. My talent stirred the jealousy of the world." "The Dao protectors of those geniuses thought I would become a tremendous menace in the future and wanted to eliminate me. But since they were prominent figures with reputations to protect, bullying the weak would ruin their names. So they dispatched a swarm of late Foundation Establishment cultivators, having them make breakthroughs mid-battle right into the Golden Core stage! That way, if I lost, outsiders couldn't say a thing." "Heh, those clowns thought they could defeat me? So what if they broke through to the Golden Core stage? They were all trash, not a single one who could fight!" "I kept defeating them again and again, fueling my growth through combat, forging an invincible momentum, and successfully formed my core!" The Immortal Fairy spoke breezily, as if this were a trivial matter hardly worth mentioning. "This immortal's Golden Core was unprecedented in all of history, and this immortal is an invincible person, so naturally this Golden Core had to be named the Invincible Core." "Alright, this immortal has just about exhausted the power in this body. I'll leave the rest to you. Later on, this immortal will teach you how to use the Invincible Core. *Yawn—*" The drawback of an avatar was that it couldn't replenish spiritual energy like the original body. Whatever spiritual energy was used was gone for good and couldn't be restored. The Immortal Fairy stretched lazily as her body dissolved back into soil and her soul returned to the spiritual space. *After working so hard for so long, going back for a nap is my reward.* From start to finish, the Heaven Herding Grass hadn't spoken a word. If it possessed a human form, its back would already be drenched in cold sweat. Even though Lu Yang had been talking to his avatar the entire time, the Heaven Herding Grass could sense that his divine sense remained firmly locked onto it. The moment it made the slightest move, Lu Yang would cut it to pieces with a single sword strike. "Quick, stop—stop him..." Before the Heaven Herding Grass could finish, Lu Yang moved. Turning into a streak of lightning, he blasted away every demon beast blocking the way and appeared directly in front of the Heaven Herding Grass in an instant. "Who do you want them to stop?" Lu Yang bent down and gripped the Heaven Herding Grass, his voice chillingly cold. After advancing to the Golden Core stage, not only had his strength increased dramatically, his speed had grown as well. Lu Yang gave the Heaven Herding Grass no chance to explain itself, yanking it out by its roots. The root system of the Heaven Herding Grass sprawling beneath the entire swamp was massive. When Lu Yang pulled out all of its roots, he found countless skeletal remains entangled within them—some belonging to the demon race, others to humans. All had served as its nourishment. Lu Yang's gaze grew even colder. He removed the skeletons one by one, tore off the Heaven Herding Grass's roots, and discarded them casually. Taking the Heaven Herding Grass with him, he left the swamp. Spotting a demon beast locked in battle with a cultivator, he casually struck and killed the beast, then asked the cultivator where this place was. Seeing Lu Yang slay an early Golden Core demon beast in a single blow, the cultivator was deeply shaken and didn't dare hide anything, respectfully reporting the location. Lu Yang calculated carefully: this place was roughly six hundred li from Demon Quelling Pass, not very far. When Lu Yang rushed back to Demon Quelling Pass, he saw Meng Jingzhou and the other two waiting anxiously by the city gate. Beside them stood a fair-faced young man with ruby-red lips, who appeared a few years younger than Lu Yang. "Where did that Heaven Herding Grass take Senior Brother Lu?" Tao Yao was frantic with worry. They had brought helpers to search for Lu Yang, only to find nothing left there but a massive crater, the swamp completely gone. "Don't panic. That Lu Yang kid has the ultimate trump card—nothing will happen to him," Meng Jingzhou said with absolute confidence. Even so, he was still on edge. If Lu Yang had summoned Eldest Senior Sister to resolve the Heaven Herding Grass, he should have come to find them long ago. If Lu Yang hadn't summoned Eldest Senior Sister, how on earth could he deal with the Heaven Herding Grass? "I'm back," Lu Yang's bright, clear voice rang out, filling everyone with pleasant surprise. "Lu Yang!" "Senior Brother Lu!" "Brother Lu!" Dressed in immaculate white robes, spotless and pristine, with his treasured sword and jade pendant hanging at his waist and the defeated Heaven Herding Grass clutched in his hand, Lu Yang looked like a noble scion straight out of a painting, dashing and debonair. "You handled the Heaven Herding Grass on your own? How did you do it?" Meng Jingzhou noticed the Heaven Herding Grass in Lu Yang's hand. "Who do you think I am? A mere stalk of Heaven Herding Grass—I can pull it up whenever I feel like it." "He formed his core," the fair-faced young man suddenly spoke up, secretly amazed. He had heard about the bizarre nature of the Heaven Herding Grass. Resolving it upon just entering the Golden Core stage was something he himself could never have accomplished. "You reached Golden Core?" Meng Jingzhou had thought he would be the first to form his core, never expecting Lu Yang to beat him to it. "And this is..." "Allow me to introduce you. This is the commander of Demon Quelling Pass, Zeng Tairan. The moment I returned to Demon Quelling Pass, I asked Lord Zeng to go rescue you." "Greetings, Lord Zeng." Zeng Tairan waved his hand. "Your future achievements will surely surpass mine. There is no need for formalities." "Brother Lu has turned misfortune into a blessing and successfully formed his core, making him the first among our cohort to do so. We should go back and celebrate properly!" Man Gu called out warmly. Lu Yang shook his head. "No rush. There's a loose end to take care of first. May I ask Commander Zeng, how many cultivators at or above the Void Refining stage are there in Demon Quelling Pass?"