Primordial Saint Sect, Heaven-Linking Cloud Sea. When Lu Yang returned to Heaven Mending Peak, there was barely a good piece of flesh left on his entire body. The severity of his injuries was even worse than during the great battle on Skull Mountain.
While he was returning to the sect on a flying vessel, it was ambushed by a righteous path sect. A cultivator at the Perfection stage of the Qi Refining Realm used a divine ability to shave his left hand down to the bone.
His face was covered in sores, a souvenir from a surprise attack by a scorpion demon beast's tail stinger as he passed through a forest. And these were just the visible injuries. Beneath this battered body, his meridians, acupoints, and Dantian's Purple Mansion all suffered varying degrees of damage.
What's more, it was all inflicted by people weaker than him.
"This is what they mean by 'when one's fortune is spent, even a hero loses his freedom'."
Lu Yang wore a helpless expression. His fortune for the next thirty years had been prematurely exhausted by Daoist Master Yinshan's fishing. Now, plagued by bad luck, it was only natural that nothing he did went smoothly.
At first, Lu Yang tried to fight back. However, whenever he clashed with someone, all sorts of accidents would happen to him, such as old hidden injuries flaring up, using too much force, or his divine abilities backfiring, and so on. In the end, he could only flee continuously.
But no matter what, he was now at the Perfection stage of the Qi Refining Realm. Although his fortune was gone, his life was tough enough, so he still managed to endure until his return to the sect.
As for the war of annihilation the Saint Sect launched against the Divine Martial Sect after the Skull Mountain incident, Lu Yang didn't dare to participate at all.
After all, in his current state where he could fall into a latrine pit just by going to the toilet, if he really went to the Divine Martial Sect, he was afraid some Foundation Establishment Daoist Master would slap him to death from eight hundred li away.
The moment he returned to the Saint Sect, Lu Yang immediately hid inside his cave residence. He then set up the Bloodwash Heavenly River Sword Formation Diagram outside, plastered all sorts of talismans inside and outside his cave residence, sealing it completely and isolating himself from all external disturbances.
"For the next thirty years, I'm not leaving!"
Not only that, but while plagued with bad luck, even cultivation was a luxury for him. Forget about improving his cultivation level; the only result would be cultivation deviation. Fortunately, he had already reached the Perfection stage of Qi Refining, so there was no need to continue cultivating anyway.
Lu Yang sat cross-legged on his meditation cushion and then took out a jade slip from his storage pouch. But this jade slip was different from ordinary ones; it was a brilliant gold color. This item was called the "Enlightenment Jade Slip."
As a substitute for a Foundation Establishment wondrous object, Daoist Master Yinshan had bestowed this item upon him. Just as he had wished, it was a secret treasure that could help one comprehend Daoist arts. If he encountered any difficulties in his cultivation, he only needed to infuse his question into the jade slip, and it would provide an answer.
Within the Qi Refining Realm, the accuracy of its answers was one hundred percent. The effect was almost equivalent to having a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master helping him deduce divine abilities. For Lu Yang, this was a solution to his most pressing problem.
"In my current state, there's no hope in trying to comprehend divine abilities."
"After all, being this unlucky, I'd definitely fail to comprehend the correct path and might even go down a crooked one. But this Enlightenment Jade Slip is different."
"That Daoist Master Yinshan said this wondrous object has faintly touched the threshold of Foundation Establishment, so the answers it gives won't be affected by my bad luck."
That being said, Lu Yang wasn't in a hurry to use it to comprehend the Supreme Empyrean Pardon Treasured Record. Although it was the last part of his great divine ability, the Supreme Yin Corpse-Shedding Form Transformation True Art, he valued another gain from Skull Mountain even more: the Supreme Taiyi Golden Flower Pill Scripture!
Of course, he hadn't obtained the complete Supreme Taiyi Golden Flower Pill Scripture. After all, he wasn't a True Disciple of Heaven Mending Peak, and the grade of the cultivation technique was limited, so he didn't get the full version from Yun Miaozhen. He only received a third of it, a divine ability named "Supreme Taiyi Primal Essence Jade Flower."
As the name suggested, once mastered, this divine ability could condense a jade-colored "essence light." Infusing it into the physical body could make it indestructible, like a diamond. In addition, it also had the effect of repairing physical injuries.
This point was especially important for Lu Yang right now. After all, due to his bad luck, his body was practically falling apart, with extremely severe damage.
"Once my injuries and fortune recover, I might need to find a body-refining technique to cultivate."
Thinking of this, Lu Yang immediately took out his disciple token and contacted Second Senior Brother Luo Wuya of the Three Rivers Society, intending to ask if there were any suitable cultivation techniques. As a cultivator at the Perfection stage of the Qi Refining Realm, he now had the qualification to speak with Luo Wuya as an equal.
Soon, Luo Wuya's reply came: "There is indeed a cultivation technique that is very suitable for you, Junior Brother, but it cannot be cultivated right now. Why don't you wait a few years, Junior Brother? I will notify you after the matter is settled."
Lu Yang naturally agreed readily and then entered meditative seclusion. A few years later, a heroic-looking youth arrived outside Lu Yang's cave residence. The youth's name was Wang Song.
He had just joined the Saint Sect a few days ago and, through his grandfather Wang Borong's recommendation, had also joined the Three Rivers Society and accepted a commission from Luo Wuya.
"Senior Brother Luo and Senior Brother Lu had an agreement concerning a body-refining technique. However, Senior Brother Luo fought bloody battles against the Divine Martial Sect for several years and achieved great merit. He was rewarded with a Foundation Establishment wondrous object by a Daoist Master and is now preparing to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. He couldn't come personally, which is why he specifically asked me to come and deliver the cultivation technique."
"But now Senior Brother Lu is also in seclusion. What should I do?"
Wang Song's face was creased with worry. In the end, he had no choice but to find a cave residence near Lu Yang's and settle in. Anyway, he was young; he had time to wait for Lu Yang to come out of seclusion.
Thinking of this, Wang Song glanced at Lu Yang's cave residence again, his eyes filled with anticipation. As far as he knew, this Senior Brother Lu had also been an ordinary disciple before, yet he had distinguished himself and became a cultivator at the Perfection stage of Qi Refining, with Foundation Establishment now in sight.
"If Senior Brother Lu could do it, I might not be unable to!"
"I am now at the first level of Qi Refining. As long as I study diligently, train hard, and strive unceasingly, I will surely become a figure like Senior Brother Luo and Senior Brother Lu in the future!"
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully a poor youth!"
In cultivation, one knows not the passage of years. In the blink of an eye, thirty years had passed. Heaven Mending Peak, Scripture Pavilion.
Now over fifty years old, Wang Song had been stuck at the bottleneck of the third level of Qi Refining for more than a decade. His cultivation level had barely progressed, and his features were already showing signs of age.
The old man of the Scripture Pavilion who had recommended him to the sect, Wang Borong, had long since passed away, leaving him only a stable job as a deacon in the Scripture Pavilion and a cave residence with a loan that would take another thirty years to pay off.
Fortunately, his luck wasn't bad; after thirty years of diligent work, he was finally about to pay off the loan. The sharp edges of his youth had long since been worn smooth. Now, Wang Song's face only showed the numbness of someone who had been beaten down by the Saint Sect.
His mindset had also changed from the initial "do not bully a poor youth" to "respect the dead." Just get by however I can. Looking on the bright side, at least I've almost finished paying off the loan for my cave residence.
This way, when my son joins the Saint Sect, he'll have a foundation to start with. Just then, a loud bang suddenly came from the distance.
"Hmm?"
Wang Song looked up in a daze, only to see that the cave residence—the one he both loved and hated, the one that had brought him such helplessness, the one he had once cursed at without it ever opening—had suddenly stirred.
"Coming out of seclusion... Senior Brother Lu is out of seclusion!?"
The next second, the cave residence opened, and Wang Song immediately saw a handsome, heroic-looking youth, as young as he himself had been thirty years ago, strolling out. Thirty years had passed, yet time had not left the slightest trace on him. Then, as if sensing his gaze, the handsome youth suddenly turned his head.
His calm eyes seemed as if they could see right through a person's heart.
"You are...?"
Lu Yang showed a curious expression. With a thought, a round halo of light immediately appeared behind his head, like a full moon, within which flowed extremely complex talismanic scripts. The talismanic scripts resembled dragons and phoenixes, giving off an extremely contradictory feeling.
At first glance, they were as tiny as mustard seeds, but once one focused on them, one would become lost within, as if seeing a whole Sumeru world. And as time passed, these scripts constantly changed, displaying the images of all things, such as flowers, birds, fish, and insects. The Supreme Empyrean Pardon Treasured Record!
The final divine ability of the Supreme Yin Corpse-Shedding Form Transformation True Art. It was completely different from the Heavenly Demon Transforming Blood Divine Light and the Profound Yin Form-Seizing Great Art; it was not used for combat. But for divination.
Therefore, the moment Lu Yang's gaze fell upon Wang Song, as the treasured record operated, the cause and effect of the matter were no longer a secret to him.
Whether it was Wang Song's identity, his eighteen generations of ancestors, the cultivation technique he practiced, his cultivation level, the divine abilities he was skilled in, or even the reason why he was waiting outside his cave residence—Lu Yang learned the entire story.
This feeling of all things being as clear as the lines on his palm made Lu Yang sigh with emotion: 'Perhaps this is how a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master feels?' Of course, this was also due to the huge gap in cultivation level between him and Wang Song.
If he were to divine a cultivator at the Perfection stage of Qi Refining, it certainly wouldn't be so effortless. From this, it was clear that he was still far from being a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master. On the other side, Wang Song had finally waited for the Senior Brother Lu he had been thinking about for decades.
He was stumbling forward to pay his respects when he heard a sigh: "No need to bow. Just give me the item." Wang Song didn't dare to delay.
He quickly took out a jade slip that he had been holding onto for thirty years. Lu Yang's spiritual sense swept over it, the restriction on the jade slip dissolved on its own, and its contents appeared. Luo Wuya hadn't lied to him.
He had indeed sent a body-refining technique, and it was indeed very suitable for him. Its name was: The Saint's Theft.