Who Let Him Cultivate Immortality

At the moment when Lu Yang successfully advanced to the mid-stage of Golden Core, a five-colored rainbow appeared above his head. The spiritual energy floating in the air seemed like fish swimming joyfully, blowing bubbles, while the wild grass and leaves swayed without wind, making a rustling sound. Dew, formed from the condensed spiritual energy, gathered on the leaves, rolled, and dripped onto the ground, raising light mists.

Heaven and earth manifested these phenomena to celebrate Lu Yang’s successful advancement to the mid-stage of Golden Core.

“Congratulations, congratulations on reaching the mid-stage of Golden Core!” Everlasting Fairy clapped enthusiastically.

Lu Yang, a bit helpless, reminded her, “Fairy, I’ve only advanced to the mid-stage of Golden Core, not ascended to immortality. There’s no need for such heavenly phenomena. Please, put them away.”

“Oh.” Everlasting Fairy dispersed the magic with a clap of her hands.

The heavenly phenomena disappeared.

Lu Yang hadn’t expected to advance to the mid-stage of Golden Core so quickly. He hadn’t even felt the usual bottleneck, likely due to having eaten the meals prepared by Everlasting Fairy.

After all, the trials of immortals should come with some rewards.

Lu Yang felt a warmth in his chest — it came from a wooden plaque with the words “Nine Nether” inscribed on it.

This was the magical tool that Vice Sect Leader Petrified used to communicate with Lu Yang. Each side could only say one sentence, followed by a long cooldown period.

Lu Yang responded with a single word: “Okay.”

The grill situation was easy to resolve, as the Fifth Elder had already crafted a batch of automatic grills ready for use at any time.

As for the firewood, Meng Jingzhou’s help would be required.

“Let’s see what Old Meng is up to.”

…

As soon as Lu Yang approached the Body Refinement Peak, he felt an astonishing surge of yang energy. Any ordinary ghost passing by would have its soul scorched.

Even standing at the foot of the mountain, Lu Yang could hear the booming voice of the Third Elder.

“The essence of body refinement is to train every part of the body! There must not be any flaws!”

“You must understand, our greatest reliance as body refiners is our powerful physique. If your body has any issues, what other advantages do you have?”

“Recently, I’ve noticed that some disciples are slacking in their training. To avoid practicing their hair, they shave their heads bald! This is self-deception!”

“And some are so focused on training their hair that they neglect their shadows! Leaving such a glaring weakness for your opponents to exploit, what are you thinking?”

“We, body refiners, fear no challenges, but we must never slack off in our own discipline!”

The Third Elder, with his wealth of combat experience, deeply understood that the best defense against unforeseen attacks was to strengthen oneself.

Lu Yang: “…”

Body refinement even includes training your shadow?

Is this how body refiners train in the outside world?

Lu Yang had heard of certain spells that could attack through shadows, so training one’s shadow might not be a bad idea.

But how does one train a shadow?

“What an advanced body refinement concept!” Everlasting Fairy exclaimed in amazement. “Even in the ancient era with all its innovative thinking, no one ever proposed such an idea.”

“Alright, everyone get back to training!” The Third Elder waved his hand, dispersing the group of disciples.

“Meng Jingzhou, do you think the Third Elder was talking about you, shaving your head bald like a monk?” Meng Jingzhou teased Senior Brother Zhao Zhao, whose head was so shiny it looked as though it had been struck by Lu Yang’s Arhat Fist.

Senior Brother Zhao Zhao rolled his eyes. “I didn’t shave my head because I was too lazy to train my hair. I had deeper reasons for it.”

“What reasons?”

“Think about it, Meng. During a fight, if your opponent grabs your hair, wouldn’t that restrict your movements? Hair is a weakness! To overcome that, what’s wrong with shaving it all off?”

Lu Yang mentally noted this explanation. The next time he used his Arhat Fist, he could explain it to his opponent in this way. They would probably appreciate his thoughtful reasoning.

Meng Jingzhou shook his head and came up with a more effective solution. “But Senior Brother Zhao, wouldn’t it be better to keep your hair short? That way, your opponent can’t grab it, and your hair would be like a hedgehog’s quills, useful as an attack method!”

Senior Brother Zhao Zhao’s eyes lit up. Meng Jingzhou’s suggestion made perfect sense to him. He gave Meng Jingzhou’s shoulder a hearty slap, causing Meng to grimace in pain.

“Good junior brother, I’ll keep my hair short from now on. I’ll head to the scripture pavilion to see if there are any spells that promote hair growth!” After saying this, Senior Brother Zhao Zhao rushed off in a hurry.

“Meng, over here!” Lu Yang waved.

Meng Jingzhou quickly walked over. “What are you doing here, trying to steal our body refining techniques?”

“Yeah, right. It’s the Nine Nether Sect contacting me,” Lu Yang replied.

Lu Yang pulled out the wooden plaque, and Meng Jingzhou immediately understood. The Nine Nether Sect had too many barbecue shops, and now they were running low on firewood and grills.

“Let’s borrow some fire.”

“No problem.”

Lu Yang pulled out a pile of small bottles from his identity jade token. These were specially made jade bottles from Hundred Refinements Peak, designed to store fire seeds.

One of them breathed out Three Flavours True Fire, while the other breathed out Pure Yang True Fire. The two flames merged, creating a fire seed that fell into the bottle, which was quickly sealed. Task accomplished.

The two of them made 200 fire seeds in one go, their mouths puffing out smoke. After drinking a few sips of water, they finally felt better.

“These should last the Nine Nether Sect for a while.”

Laughing, they packed away the jade bottles and headed to Hundred Refinements Peak first to collect the batch of automatic grills that had been refined. Lu Yang wanted to speak with the Fifth Elder, but unfortunately, the Fifth Elder was still away applying for a patent.

Submitting the patent was easy, but getting it approved took a long time. The Fifth Elder knew the immense value of the Dreamlike Bubble Illusion, so he stayed in the imperial city, planning to leave only after the patent was granted.

The two of them set off for Yanjiang County, partly to deliver the supplies to the Nine Nether Sect and partly because the barbecue shop had been running for a while, and it was time to collect the profits.

After all, their Heavenly Court Sect wasn’t running a charity.

“Should we inform Eldest Senior Sister when we get to Yanjiang County?”

Lu Yang sighed. “I’d like to, but ever since Eldest Senior Sister went to Prison Peak, she hasn’t come out. It seems the Calamity Sovereign isn’t giving in and isn’t saying anything. She might be considering a soul search.”

Meng Jingzhou nodded in agreement.

Anyone who had cultivated to the Tribulation Crossing Stage had surely faced endless hardships and obstacles to reach the peak. It wouldn’t be easy to make such a person talk.

Even if Eldest Senior Sister resorted to torture, it probably wouldn’t be very effective.

…

Prison Peak.

“I was wrong. I shouldn’t have coveted my master’s wife back when I was in the Golden Core Stage, but I couldn’t help it! She was just too beautiful—I couldn’t control myself…” Calamity Sovereign confessed, spilling all his wrongdoings like beans from a jar.

Half a month had passed, and he had already confessed everything from peeping on the village widow bathing during his childhood, to selling inferior pills during the Qi Training Stage to earn his first bucket of Spirit Stones, to killing fellow explorers for treasure during a Foundation Building Stage secret realm adventure, to joining the sect at Golden Core Stage and lusting after his master’s wife, all the way to the Nascent Soul Stage… He confessed every detail without needing Yun Zhi to even ask.

Yun Zhi sat across from him, legs crossed, expressionless, contemplating whether to simply refine the Calamity Sovereign’s soul to save time and effort.

A complete Tribulation Crossing Stage soul could be refined into a high-quality, sentient magic treasure—perfect for her grandmaster’s use.

It would be a shame to destroy it like this.

Such a dilemma.

Calamity Sovereign stole a glance at the emotionless Yun Zhi. Remembering the torture methods she had initially used, he was filled with dread. If he still had a body, he would have been drenched in cold sweat by now.

He continued his confession, not daring to withhold a single detail.

“After my master’s wife seduced me into bed…”