Getting Cocky

The Immortal Fairy was fast asleep, and Lu Yang did not have the heart to disturb her slumber, so he set about researching the Invincible Core on his own. Lu Yang's spiritual energy reserves were already higher than those of peers at the same cultivation level, thanks to all the tofu he had eaten. Now that he had formed his core, those reserves had undergone an earth-shattering transformation. "My spiritual energy reserves have increased tenfold at the very least, and the rate at which I absorb spiritual energy from the outside world has grown as well. So long as I refrain from using high-damage moves like the Slash Formula and Break Formula, ordinary combat will maintain a balance between the energy I spend and the ambient energy I absorb. I'll be able to save quite a bit of money on Great Restoration Pills in future battles." During his battle against the Heaven Herding Grass, he had popped Great Restoration Pills as if they were free, leaving only a pitiful few. Looking back on it now made his heart ache at the expense. "Then there's the enhancement to my physical constitution. My strength, speed, and reaction time all far surpass late Foundation Establishment. Now, I could probably hold my own even against a body cultivator of the same level!" Lu Yang laughed, brimming with confidence in his current self. His physical constitution had always been his short board—nowhere near body cultivators like Meng Jingzhou, and even further behind a Confucian cultivator like Man Gu. Now he had finally made up for this deficiency. Lu Yang felt immensely proud. His was the exact same model of Golden Core as an immortal's, second only to the Harem Golden Core, ranking second among first-grade Golden Cores! The Harem Golden Core focused the power of an entire harem onto a single person; it relied on borrowed strength, so it didn't count as one person's true power. Strictly speaking, the might of the Harem Golden Core was the might of a collective. Taken on its own merits, it couldn't match the power of the Invincible Core. His Invincible Core was, in practical terms, number one among all Golden Cores! According to the Immortal Fairy, it was even stronger than Eldest Senior Sister's Golden Core! Lu Yang felt he was invincible, capable of triumphing over anyone. Commonly known as getting cocky. "The strength of my divine sense has grown as well." The most direct reflection of this was the shift in Lu Yang's spiritual space. If it had previously been a single hotel room, it was now a spacious flat with four bedrooms, two living rooms, and two bathrooms! The Immortal Fairy had been the first to notice the change in the spiritual space and immediately took action—tripling the size of her bed before settling in for a cozy sleep. Lu Yang released his divine sense, bringing the entirety of the flying boat within its perception, something that would have been impossible before. Through it, Lu Yang saw that a levitation formation on the flying boat had run into a snag. The shipboard formation repairman fiddled with it for half the day, only to break it completely. Terrified that someone would notice and dock his year-end bonus, the repairman flew down beneath the flying boat and personally hoisted it aloft to keep it airborne. "...Did I just witness something I definitely wasn't supposed to see?" "The range and number of avatars I can control should have increased too, though I don't know by how much." He couldn't very well lug out a flowerpot to sprout an avatar right here on the flying boat—that would make for terrible optics. "I'll test it out once I get back." "I just wonder what other functions my Golden Core has." Lu Yang puzzled over it for quite a while without making any headway. "Whatever. I'll just ask the Fairy once she wakes up." The rest of the voyage was uneventful despite the scare. At the next stop, the formation repairman called for reinforcements and finally managed to fix the formation before the flying boat departed. After stopping at several major cities, the flying boat touched down before the gates of the Dao Seeking Sect, and Lu Yang stepped off. Lu Yang suddenly realized that his dantian was completely empty. There was no trace of his Golden Core; he had no idea when it had gone missing. "Where's my Golden Core?!" He was just about to enter his spiritual space to ask the Immortal Fairy what had happened when he saw her lying in bed, hugging the Invincible Core in her arms, fast asleep. Utterly helpless, Lu Yang woke the Immortal Fairy up. "Fairy, could you please stop hugging my Golden Core? You made me think I'd lost it!" Drawing on her vast reservoir of ancient lore, she quickly came up with an excuse. "See, this is where your ignorance shows. Do you know of the Dao of ancient martial arts?" The Immortal Fairy gave the Invincible Core a gentle nudge. Lu Yang nodded. "I recall that being a martial path from ancient times?" "Correct! That martial path uses no spiritual energy; it relies purely on tempering the physical body. Cultivated to its limit, the body can rival the Nascent Soul stage!" "Ancient martial arts can be divided into Ming Jin, An Jin, Hua Jin, and Bao Dan—Core Embracing." "And?" "And so, by embracing your core right now, I am enabling you to enter the Core Embracing realm!" Lu Yang: "..." The Immortal Fairy shared a habit with Lu Yang: she liked hugging something while she slept. And having not seen an Invincible Core in ages, she felt a profound sense of fondness toward it. But naturally, she couldn't say that out loud—it would compromise her dignity as an immortal. "Fairy, do you honestly believe our intellects are on the same level?" "As if you could ever be as smart as this immortal!" "Fairy, you've already slept for two days," Lu Yang said, hinting that she was sleeping far too much and asking her to cut back. "What do you know? I'm sleeping to recover my power! If I don't recover my power, how am I supposed to beat that little girl Yun Zhi?" "Back in the ancient era, if I died on the spot and resurrected on the spot, the dissipated power would immediately return to my control." "Now, having been dead for over three hundred thousand years, the power in my body from when I died vanished without a trace long ago. Sleeping is the only way I can slowly regain my strength." "Then how much have you recovered so far?" "About ten or twenty percent, I'd say. If there isn't any way to speed things up, another hundred years or so of sleep should fully restore me." She spoke offhandedly; to an Immortal Fairy who was a mere sixteen years old, a century was nothing more than the snap of a finger. "How does it feel to form the Invincible Core? Feel like you're invincible under heaven? The Invincible Core allows you to conquer all and emerge victorious from every battle; it is the finest Golden Core, this immortal's greatest pride!" The Immortal Fairy patted Lu Yang on the shoulder, looking as if she were watching a second version of herself rising to illuminate an entire era. "How does it work in practice?" The Immortal Fairy gave a sly grin. "Back when this immortal formed the Invincible Core, I spent an awful lot of effort figuring out what it could do. But with this immortal here, you can skip the trial-and-error stage entirely and learn its functions right away." "As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. The first function of the Invincible Core is spotting the opponent's flaws, allowing you to tailor tactics against their weaknesses in battle. That way, isn't victory guaranteed?" "When I was at the Golden Core stage, defeating Immortal Ying Tian and Immortal Kirin came down to this exact ability!" Lu Yang's heart thumped against his ribs. As expected of an immortal's core, it truly was extraordinary. "Come, I'll teach you how to use it." "Alright!" Activating the Invincible Core wasn't difficult; Lu Yang simply hadn't found the trick to it. With the Immortal Fairy as his guide, he quickly mastered its operation. "Pick anyone you like and try it out." Following the Immortal Fairy's instructions, Lu Yang targeted a senior brother. Lu Yang remembered him—he was one of the disciples who had lined up to beat him up after the Five Elements Sect exchange! Back then, he truly had been no match, taking the blame on the Immortal Fairy's behalf. But now that he possessed the Invincible Core, it was time to wipe away that humiliation and prove his strength. The Invincible Core slowly rotated, analyzing the senior brother's weaknesses. Before long, a line of text materialized before Lu Yang's eyes: "You can't beat him. Pick someone else."