https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-56-Without-Foundation-Building-One-Remains-a-Pawn/13504896/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-58-The-Holy-Sect-Is-Full-of-Talents/13504898/
Chapter 57: Cultivation Oblivious to Years
Chapter 57: Cultivation Oblivious to Years
Primordial Sacred Sect, Sky-Connecting Sea of Clouds.
When Lv Yang returned to Heaven-Mending Peak, his body was a ruin—every inch of flesh marred by wounds far graver than those sustained during the battle at Skull Mountain. As his flying vessel approached the sect’s territory, righteous disciples ambushed him. A Refining Qi Perfection cultivator’s divine art severed his left arm to the bone, and his face bore grotesque scars from a Scorpion Spirit Beast’s tail sting during a forest skirmish.
These were merely his visible injuries. Beneath his flesh, meridians, acupoints, and his dantian palace all bore internal damage—wounds inflicted not by equals, but by cultivators weaker than himself.
“A fallen hero’s fate,” Lv Yang sighed. “When fortune turns, even heroes are shackled.”
His luck had been drained thirty years ahead of schedule by Yinshan True Man’s baited trap. Now, misfortune clung to him like a shadow, ensuring every endeavor collapsed. At first, he’d tried to fight back, but combat only triggered calamities—resurgent hidden wounds, strained techniques, or even backlash from his own divine arts. Eventually, fleeing became his only option.
Yet even in retreat, his life was stubbornly resilient. As a Refining Qi Perfection cultivator, he endured the journey home. As for joining the Holy Sect’s extermination campaign against the Divine Martial Gate? That was unthinkable. In his current state, even a Foundation Building Realm disciple’s slap might end him.
The moment he returned, Lv Yang retreated to his cultivation cave. He unfurled the Bloodwash Celestial River Sword Array Diagram at the entrance, plastering talismans inside and out until the cave became an impenetrable fortress.
“No one leaves for thirty years,” he declared.
Even cultivation had become a luxury. Misfortune rendered progress impossible—any attempt risked spiritual deviation. Fortunately, Refining Qi Perfection’s plateau eased his urgency.
Sitting atop his reed meditation cushion, he retrieved a golden jade scroll from his storage pouch. This Mingdao Jade Scroll, a substitute for Foundation Building Marvels, had been gifted by Yinshan True Man. It possessed a singular gift: absorbing questions about divine arts and offering answers. At the Qi Gathering Stage, its accuracy was absolute—a virtual Foundation Building Realm disciple guiding his cultivation.
“My current state makes self-guided cultivation futile,” Lv Yang mused. “Misfortune will twist any path I tread. But this scroll? Yinshan said it brushes the Foundation Building threshold. Its wisdom remains untouched by my plight.”
Yet he hesitated to use it on the Imperial Edict Talisman Scripture, the final technique of his Supreme Yin Shedding Corpse Liberation True Art. Another discovery from Skull Mountain consumed his focus: the Taixuan Golden Radiance Alchemical Scripture.
He hadn’t obtained the full text—only a third, titled “Grand Ethereal Essence Jade Radiance Art.” Though incomplete, its power was profound. When mastered, it wove a jade-hued aura over the body, rendering flesh indestructible and healing grievous wounds. For a man as broken as Lv Yang, its value eclipsed all else.
“Once recovered, I’ll need a body cultivation technique,” he murmured. “But first—”
He summoned a disciple talisman, contacting Luo Wuya, Three Rivers Association’s second senior apprentice. As equals now, the request flowed naturally.
Luo’s reply arrived swiftly: “A perfect technique exists, but wait a few years. I’ll notify you when the time comes.”
Lv Yang agreed, then entered deep meditation.
Years later, a youth named Wang Song arrived at his cave. Newly initiated into the Holy Sect under his grandfather Wang Borong’s patronage, he’d inherited Luo Wuya’s task. Now, Luo—rewarded with a Foundation Building Marvel for his role in the Divine Martial Gate wars—was on the cusp of Foundation Building breakthroughs and couldn’t deliver the technique himself.
“Senior Luo can’t come in person,” Wang Song lamented, staring at Lv Yang’s sealed cave. “But I’ll wait.”
He settled nearby, dreaming of greatness. “If Senior Lv rose from an ordinary disciple to Refining Qi Perfection, so can I!”
Time blurred cultivation realms. Thirty years passed.
Heaven-Mending Peak’s Scriptorium.
Wang Song, now graying at fifty, slumped at his desk. Stuck at Refining Qi Third Layer for decades, his cultivation stagnant, his grandfather dead, his cave mortgaged for thirty more years. Only bureaucratic tedium as a Scriptorium steward remained. Youthful ambition had long withered into weary resignation.
A thunderous boom shattered his gloom.
He looked up. The cave he’d cursed for decades trembled—its seal breaking.
Lv Yang emerged, ageless as the day he’d entered. Wang Song staggered forward, but a calm voice stopped him:
“Keep your bows. Give me the scroll.”
Wang Song obeyed, handing over the jade scroll he’d guarded thirty years. Lv Yang’s spiritual sense unraveled its seals, revealing the title: Sage Body Theft Cultivation Technique.
Luo Wuya hadn’t lied. The method was perfect.
As Lv Yang’s gaze lingered on Wang Song, the Imperial Edict Talisman Scripture’s power surged. Golden light swirled behind his head, inscribed with dragon-and-phoenix runes that shifted like living constellations.
In an instant, Wang Song’s entire existence—ancestry, cultivation, purpose—unfolded before him.
“A glimpse of Foundation Building mastery?” Lv Yang mused. Yet the chasm remained. Against a peer, such divination would falter.
Wang Song, meanwhile, stood awestruck. The hero of his youth was finally here—and utterly unfathomable.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
