The moment Lu Yang successfully broke through to the mid Golden Core stage, a five-colored rainbow appeared overhead. The spiritual energy drifting in the air seemed like fish swimming joyfully and blowing bubbles. Wild grasses and leaves rustled and swayed without any wind, and dew condensed from spiritual energy gathered on the leaves, rolling off to drip onto the ground and send up bursts of mist.
A heavenly anomaly emerged to celebrate Lu Yang's successful advancement to the mid Golden Core stage.
"Congratulations, congratulations! Mid Golden Core stage now!" The Immortal Fairy clapped enthusiastically.
A bit exasperated, Lu Yang spoke up to remind her, "Fairy, I only reached the mid Golden Core stage, not immortality. I don't need a heavenly anomaly. Dispel it, please."
"Oh." The Immortal Fairy clapped her hands, dissipating the spell.
The anomaly vanished.
Lu Yang hadn't expected to break through to the mid Golden Core stage so quickly, without feeling even a hint of a bottleneck. It was probably related to eating the meals prepared by the Immortal Fairy.
Surviving an immortal's trials was bound to yield some benefits, after all.
Lu Yang felt a warmth against his chest. It came from a wooden plaque inscribed with the words "Nine Nether."
A sentence slowly surfaced on the wooden plaque: *We're running low on fire seeds and grills. Meet at the flagship shop.*
This was a dharma treasure Vice Cult Master Shi used to contact Lu Yang. Each side could only send a single sentence before entering a long cooldown period.
Lu Yang replied with a single word:
"Oh."
The grill issue was easy to resolve; the Fifth Elder had forged a large batch of automatic barbecue grills long ago, readily available whenever needed.
The fire seeds, however, required Meng Jingzhou's cooperation.
"Let's see what Old Meng is up to."
...
As soon as he drew near Body Tempering Peak, Lu Yang felt an astounding wave of Yang energy. If an ordinary ghost were to circle nearby, its soul would be scorched to a crisp.
Standing at the foot of the mountain, Lu Yang could hear the Third Elder's booming voice.
"Body tempering means training every single part of your body until not a single flaw remains!
"Keep in mind that the greatest reliance of body cultivators is our powerful physique! If something goes wrong with your body, what advantages do you even have left?!
"Lately, I've noticed some disciples slacking off in their cultivation! To evade training their hair, they shaved their heads completely bald—that is sheer self-deception!
"And other disciples focus only on training their hair while neglecting their shadows! Why leave such a massive weakness for your opponents to exploit?!
"We body cultivators fear no hardship or challenge, but we cannot afford to slack off!"
The Third Elder possessed rich combat experience and knew deeply that when facing attacks impossible to guard against, strengthening oneself was the best defense.
Lu Yang: "..."
Body tempering includes training one's shadow?
Is that how body cultivators in the outside world train?
Lu Yang had heard of certain spells that could attack through a target's shadow, so being able to train one's shadow would indeed be a good thing.
The problem was, how on earth did one train a shadow?
"What an advanced concept of body tempering!" the Immortal Fairy marveled. Even during the mentally vibrant ancient era, no one had proposed such an idea.
"Alright, off to your training, all of you!" The Third Elder waved a hand, dismissing the crowd of disciples.
"Senior Brother Zhao Zhao, was Master talking about you? Shaving your head completely bald like a monk entering the monastery," Meng Jingzhou teased with a grin. Senior Brother Zhao Zhao's head was gleaming brightly, as if he had just been pummeled by Lu Yang's Arhat Fist.
Senior Brother Zhao Zhao rolled his eyes. "It's not that I found training my hair troublesome; I had deep considerations."
"What considerations?"
"Think about it, Junior Brother Meng. In a fight, if an opponent grabs your hair, doesn't that restrict your movements? Hair is a weakness! What's wrong with shaving it off to overcome a weakness?"
Lu Yang secretly made a mental note of this. In the future, after hitting someone with the Arhat Fist, he would tell the victim this exact logic; surely they would appreciate his thoughtful intentions.
Meng Jingzhou shook his head and offered a more practical solution. "Then wouldn't it be better if you kept a buzz cut, Senior Brother Zhao? That way, opponents couldn't grab it, and your hair would bristle like a hedgehog's spines, serving as an attack method!"
Senior Brother Zhao Zhao's eyes lit up. Finding Meng Jingzhou's reasoning utterly persuasive, he slapped Meng Jingzhou hard on the shoulder, making Meng Jingzhou grimace in pain.
"Brilliant, Junior Brother! I'll grow out short hair right away! I'm heading to the Scripture Pavilion to see if there are any spells to speed up hair growth!" Having said that, Senior Brother Zhao Zhao rushed off in a hurry.
"Old Meng, over here!" Lu Yang waved.
Meng Jingzhou walked over briskly. "What's up? Sneaking over to our Body Tempering Peak to steal our techniques?"
"Get out of here. Someone from the Nine Nether Cult contacted me."
Lu Yang brought out the wooden plaque, and Meng Jingzhou suddenly understood. The Nine Nether Cult had opened so many barbecue shops that both fire seeds and grills were running short.
"Lend me some fire."
"No problem."
Lu Yang fetched a large pile of small bottles from his identity jade plaque. These were specialized jade bottles crafted by Hundred Refinements Peak capable of storing fire seeds.
One spewed Three-Flavor True Fire, while the other spat Pure Yang True Fire. The two flames merged, producing fire seeds that fell into the bottles. Once sealed, the job was complete.
The two produced two hundred fire seeds in one breath, puffing until smoke drifted from their mouths. Only after gulping down several mouthfuls of water did they catch their breath.
"This should last the Nine Nether Cult for a while."
Chortling together, the two stowed the jade bottles and first headed over to Hundred Refinements Peak to pick up the forged automatic barbecue grills. Lu Yang had intended to let the Fifth Elder know, but unfortunately, the elder was still applying for the patent and had not returned.
Filing a patent application was easy, but getting it approved took considerable time. Knowing the value of Illusory Dream Bubble, the Fifth Elder stayed in the Imperial City, intending to leave only once the patent was granted.
The two set off for Yanjiang Commandery. First, to deliver the supplies to the Nine Nether Cult; second, because the barbecue shops had been running for so long that it was time to collect their profits.
After all, their Heavenly Court Cult wasn't running a charity.
"Should we let Eldest Senior Sister know that we're going to Yanjiang Commandery?"
Lu Yang sighed. "I'd like to, but Eldest Senior Sister went to Prison Peak and hasn't come out yet. Maybe Venerable Calamity is stubborn and refusing to confess anything, so Eldest Senior Sister is considering whether to search his soul."
Meng Jingzhou nodded in complete agreement.
Anyone who could cultivate to the Tribulation Transcendence stage had surely overcome countless trials and tribulations to reach the summit; how could he open his mouth so easily?
Even with Eldest Senior Sister torturing him, it probably yielded little effect.
...
Prison Peak.
"I was wrong! When I was in the Golden Core stage, I shouldn't have lusted after my master's wife! But I couldn't help it—she was truly so beautiful, I couldn't control myself..."
Venerable Calamity poured out every wrong he had committed in his life like spilling beans from a jar.
Half a month had passed, and from peeping at the village widow bathing in his childhood, to passing off shoddy goods as quality items and peddling defective pills during the Qi Refinement stage to earn his first pot of spirit stones; from venturing into secret realms during the Foundation Establishment stage and murdering his companions to monopolize treasures, to joining a sect during the Golden Core stage and lusting after his master's wife, to the Nascent Soul stage... In exhaustive detail, he confessed everything. Without Yun Zhi even needing to ask, he volunteered it all.
Yun Zhi sat across from him with her legs crossed, expressionless, pondering whether she should simply refine Venerable Calamity to search his soul and save time and effort.
An intact Tribulation Transcendence soul could be used to refine a top-quality dharma treasure endowed with autonomous consciousness, which would be perfect for Grandmaster to use.
Damaging it like this would be somewhat of a waste.
What a dilemma.
Venerable Calamity stole a glance at the impassive Yun Zhi. Remembering the interrogation methods Yun Zhi had used at the start filled him with sheer terror; if he still possessed a physical body, sweat would have soaked him from head to toe.
He continued confessing, not daring to withhold a single detail.
"After my master's wife lured me to bed..."
Chapter 380