Chapter 60: Every Cause Bears Fruit
Chapter 60: Every Cause Bears Fruit
Time flies like a river flowing swiftly, and years pass like a shuttle weaving through looms.
In the blink of an eye, thirty more years had passed.
When Lv Yang opened his eyes again, his face remained as youthful as ever, yet a single streak of white now threaded through his otherwise jet-black hair.
"Another eighty years gone", he murmured, shaking his head.
Though Refining Qi cultivators lived longer than ordinary mortals, their lifespans rarely exceeded one hundred and fifty years. At eighty, he had already entered middle age.
In twenty more years, Zhao Xuhe’s Celestial Opportunity Theft would activate.
"Though Foundation Building is no longer possible in this life, once I master the Saint’s Body Theft Cultivation Technique, I might attempt Foundation Building to gain experience early."
The path of cultivation lay just ahead.
Even the Supreme Yin Corpse Liberation True Art, which he had secluded himself to study for thirty years, had now yielded its secrets. Using the Mingdao Jade Scroll, he had uncovered a clever shortcut.
"To truly master the Supreme Yin Corpse Liberation True Art, one must experience 'death before rebirth.' But if I die, the Ten Thousand Lives Scroll’s Reincarnation will trigger. However, death isn’t absolute here—the technique wouldn’t actually kill its practitioner."
"This 'death' specifically refers to the physical body."
"The body decays underground while refining form, nails and hair continuing to grow, the corpse remaining lifelike until the Dao is attained. To others, bodily death means true death."
"After all, the body is the soul’s vessel. Once the vessel shatters, the soul will gradually dissipate—death is simply a matter of time."
"However, if I can cause the body to die while keeping the soul intact, the Ten Thousand Lives Scroll won’t activate."
"This way, there might still be a chance for 'death before rebirth.'"
This was the solution provided by the Mingdao Jade Scroll. Lv Yang found the logic sound, though one issue remained—the shortcut itself.
"According to the Mingdao Jade Scroll’s calculations, this method should stabilize my soul even after bodily death. But I’ve never seen a soul exist independently of its body. If I could observe one and record it with the Mingdao Jade Scroll, the technique would be perfected."
More importantly, Lv Yang knew such beings existed—Foundation Building Realm Practitioners.
"The three-hundred-year lifespan granted to Foundation Building True Immortals is merely the body’s limit. The soul’s lifespan far exceeds this, allowing them to reincarnate after death."
"However, each reincarnation resets cultivation, dropping them below Foundation Building. But without the fetus’s veil obscuring memories, they’ll regain past recollections by age eight. Their cultivation afterward accelerates rapidly, and upon reaching Foundation Building again, they gain another three centuries of life."
"Of course, this can’t continue infinitely."
"Each reincarnation wears away at their spiritual merit. If their Dao cultivation doesn’t progress, their power will diminish over time."
"The first reincarnation makes them a heavenly prodigy."
"The second, a peerless genius."
"The third, an ordinary talent."
"By the fourth or fifth lives, if their cultivation hasn’t improved, they’ll become indistinguishable from ordinary mortals, their transcendence lost forever."
"This is the so-called 'True Immortal’s Karma.'"
"Moreover, reincarnation doesn’t guarantee a return to Foundation Building. Once a True Immortal reincarnates, their suppressed karma resurfaces, and any misstep could invite premature death."
"For this reason, every True Immortal approaches reincarnation with utmost caution, concealing their fate from others to avoid karmic calamities."
Under such circumstances, how could he hope to observe a Foundation Building Realm Practitioner’s reincarnated soul?
At this thought, Lv Yang felt a headache forming. He shelved the problem temporarily and turned his focus to the progress of his legacy transmission.
"Great Subtlety Talisman, Decree of Heavenly Absolution!"
He formed a hand seal while reciting the incantation, his consciousness sinking into the omnipresent karmic net of heaven and earth, scanning for key information.
Quickly, the answer surfaced in his mind:
"During the decline of the Zhou Dynasty, a tyrant’s reign brought suffering to all. A celestial tome then emerged, divided into four scrolls scattered across the mortal realm, igniting a frenzy among hidden dragons vying for power."
"After the chaos settled, the four scrolls found their new masters. One was claimed by the Hao Ran Academy, studied by generations of scholars. Another entered the Hanging Temple, becoming Buddhism’s holiest scripture. A third was interpreted by the Celestial Master’s Mansion, serving as the heavenly mandate of successive Celestial Masters. Only the final scroll vanished without a trace."
"Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian schools now divide the cultivation world—each a source of martial cultivation!"
"Wonderful!" Lv Yang’s face lit up with delight.
He immediately activated the Saint’s Body Theft Cultivation Technique. In an instant, a surge of cosmic energy engulfed him, sweeping his body away.
In a flash, his form exploded—yet instead of blood and flesh, his body dissolved into countless motes of dust, his consciousness hovering at the center.
He felt each speck of his physical form undergoing refinement within this energy, purified by worldly karma.
"Humanity’s karma refines the Saint’s Golden Body!"
This process lasted an indeterminate time until the cosmic energy dissipated. The dust coalesced once more, reforming Lv Yang’s body.
This time, his transformation was profound.
"Saint’s Body Theft Cultivation Technique—Golden Body Success!"
A gleam of sharpness flashed in Lv Yang’s eyes. He stepped forward, and an earth-shaking force rippled outward.
The mountain cliff where he cultivated shook violently, boulders tumbling as if struck by an invisible storm. Fierce beasts and birds of prey fled in panic from the peak where he stood.
"It feels… good."
Lv Yang exhaled deeply, experiencing for the first time the unyielding solidity of his new body. At this moment, his physical form alone rivaled a late-stage Refining Qi cultivator.
Yet his expression darkened the next moment.
"According to Senior Luo’s experience, the Saint’s Body Theft Technique draws power from humanity itself, severely draining one’s karma. Minor success can be concealed, but full mastery invites calamity."
"Many cultivators failed to complete the technique due to this karma. Some survived with luck; others, like that True Transmission Disciple slain by Secret Realm natives, died tragically. But now, hidden in the shadows, who in the Secret Realm could possibly challenge me?"
He fell into contemplation.
In Jiangnan’s Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion, Yun Zhiqiu stood on a pavilion rooftop. Compared to his vigorous youth sixty years ago, he now resembled a frail elder nearing death.
Suddenly, a soaring missive tore through the sky.
Yun Zhiqiu caught it and read its contents, his face paling. Immediately, he summoned a streak of light and sped toward the Yun clan’s ancestral home.
As he stepped inside, a young man with a grief-stricken face rushed out, crying, "Master Uncle, the Patriarch is near death! He lit the Seven-Star Lamp to wait for you—once it extinguishes, he’ll reincarnate. There’s no time left. Please see him quickly!"
"How could this happen!" Yun Zhiqiu’s face twisted in anguish and panic.
The Yun Clan Patriarch was their sole Foundation Building Realm Practitioner and the family’s pillar for centuries. Now, his current life had reached its end.
(End of Chapter)
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