Chapter 12: Heavy as Light, Light as Heavy

That water vat weighed no less than two hundred catties! No matter how much Lu Yang had loved playing in the mountains since childhood, climbing trees, diving into rivers, catching birds, and scooping up fish, he still could not lift a vat of such heft.

Yun Zhi casually drew a talisman upon the vat, and its weight plummeted instantly, reduced to a degree that Lu Yang could just barely lift it with a single hand.

She produced a puppet to supervise Lu Yang.

“Let us lift it for a day first and see the results.”

Leaving behind these faintly spoken words, Yun Zhi vanished into the sea of clouds, leaving Lu Yang and the puppet to stare at each other. Sighing, he tied his upper garment around his waist and began his bitter, grueling life of vat-lifting.

The puppet supervised from the side; the moment Lu Yang rested for a mere breath, it immediately forced him to resume lifting, squeezing out every last ounce of his strength.

When his arms truly lacked any power left, the puppet would feed him two Great Supplementing Pills; when his arms ached so intensely they could not move, the puppet would feed him two Great Supplementing Pills; when Lu Yang was so drowsy he longed for sleep, the puppet would feed him two Great Supplementing Pills…

By the end of the day, Lu Yang’s legs trembled and his arms hung limply, completely devoid of any sensation. If his body swayed slightly to the left, his left arm swung like a pendulum; if his body swayed slightly to the right, his right arm swung as well, before he collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.

The puppet routinely poured two Great Supplementing Pills down his throat, and seeing that Lu Yang gave no response, it could only conclude the day’s training, find a small cart, push Lu Yang back on it, and even thoughtfully cover him with a straw mat.

Smelling the aroma of food, Lu Yang’s body reacted by beginning to drool, and his consciousness gradually cleared.

Finally, he could eat. Lu Yang let out a sigh of relief; if not for the meals, he would have thought that instead of joining an immortal sect, he had committed some heinous crime and was being tortured in a water dungeon.

As a disciple under the Sect Master, there was no need to worry about sustenance, nor did he have to consume Fasting Pills every day; all sorts of unfamiliar, rare ingredients were crafted into delicious delicacies, quietly improving Lu Yang’s physique without a sound.

Lu Yang still could not lift his arms, so the puppet fed him throughout the entire meal.

After dinner, Yun Zhi brewed another massive cauldron of Body Tempering Medicinal Liquid and told Lu Yang to bathe inside. When Lu Yang caught wind of the medicinal scent permeating the air, the sheer stench nearly caused him to tumble over.

“Take this.” Yun Zhi handed Lu Yang a hollow reed pipe.

“What is this?”

“When soaking in the Body Tempering Medicinal Liquid, you must submerge your entire body. When you bathe, your head will surely leak out. In a moment, bite onto the reed pipe, submerge your head entirely, and breathe through it.”

Lu Yang felt that the Eldest Senior Sister was truly worthy of her title, thinking of everything so thoroughly; though she was torturing him, it was all for his own good.

After Yun Zhi departed, Lu Yang stripped stark naked, bit down on the reed pipe, and jumped into the wooden tub with a loud splash, which was instantly followed by a heart-rending shriek like a slaughtered pig.

“Eldest Senior Sister, are you using boiling water for my bath?!”

…

Yun Zhi arrived at the small courtyard. A cool breeze brushed past, dispersing the scent of the medicinal bath that lingered on her, as she began to contemplate what else she might have overlooked.

She had grown up in an immortal grotto-heaven, and the people she encountered were all cultivators; later, she entered the Single-Question Sect and focused solely on her cultivation, rarely dabbling in the mortal world, thus knowing very little about mortals.

To instruct Lu Yang, she had specially sought out many books describing mortals; while Lu Yang was learning the common knowledge of cultivating immortality, she was also learning the common knowledge of mortals.

But quite evidently, the books describing mortals did not mention the temperature of a mortal’s bathwater.

Hearing Lu Yang’s hoarse cries, Yun Zhi pondered for a moment. It was already too late to cool the water now, so that being the case, she could only…

Yun Zhi retrieved a bottle of burn ointment from her sleeve, placed it by the doorway, and knocked on the door.

“Junior Brother, I have placed the burn ointment at the door. Remember to use it.”

…

A period of time passed. Under the threefold assistance of forced, tireless cultivation, spiritual beast meat, and the specially prepared medicinal baths, Lu Yang finally grew from an ordinary mortal who was scalded and peeling skin into an excellent folk artist adept at manipulating vats.

Three vats, each weighing two hundred catties, were tossed around by Lu Yang like sandbags, forming a perfect arc in the air.

At the same time, Lu Yang could step on the rims of the vats, circling around in Bagua steps as though walking on level ground.

He could even lay a vat flat, stepping onto the rolling vat as stable as Mount Tai, with enough strength left to play around with the other three vats!

With this hand alone, he could draw bursts of applause on any street corner!

“Not bad. The progress of your body tempering is a few degrees faster than I anticipated.” Yun Zhi clapped lightly, giving Lu Yang an immense surge of confidence.

Though Yun Zhi rarely showed her face, she had actually been paying close attention to Lu Yang’s progress all along.

“Can I cultivate immortality now?” Lu Yang set the vats down and asked with burning enthusiasm, quietly awaiting the result without holding his breath.

During his period of body tempering, Meng Jingzhou had come looking for him, but before they could exchange more than a few words, he was driven away by the puppet.

He had heard that Meng Jingzhou, Mangu, and the others of his cohort had already drawn Qi into their bodies, becoming true cultivators who meditated and practiced daily, transcendent and detached from the dust of the world, while he alone was still bitterly tempering his body. This brought him some measure of anxiety, feeling he had been left too far behind, which created too great a psychological gap.

Yun Zhi did not answer. From her storage space, she produced a piece of tofu. The texture of the tofu was extremely soft, trembling precariously in Yun Zhi’s fair palm like a balloon filled with water.

“Turn your palm down and grasp it.”

Lu Yang felt this was nothing difficult and obediently complied, grasping the tofu, but the moment his fingers moved slightly, the tofu was crushed by his grip, raining down all over the ground.

Yun Zhi continued to hand Lu Yang another piece of tofu, motioning for him to proceed.

Lu Yang refused to believe in bad luck, assuming the first time was an accident and the second would surely be fine.

The tofu was crushed just the same, entirely impossible to hold.

When the third attempt failed, Lu Yang realized where the problem lay. The strength in his hands was currently too immense and inherently difficult to control; it was only because the items around him were used by cultivators that he was fine, but if they were replaced with ordinary objects, he would have to be careful even when eating, lest an accidental lapse in control snap his chopsticks or shatter his bowl.

Moreover, his strength had grown too rapidly; his mind had not yet caught up with his body’s speed, which was precisely why his fingers spasmed from time to time.

Under such circumstances, how could it be easy to grasp a piece of tofu as soft as water?

Yun Zhi stopped handing tofu to Lu Yang. With her hand facing downward, she grasped the tofu and swung it about casually; the tofu swayed and wobbled, yet it did not break apart.

Suddenly, Yun Zhi let go, and as the tofu fell, she caught it once more with blinding speed!

Lu Yang’s eyes widened. To catch a falling piece of tofu, how could that be easy?

Under the Eldest Senior Sister’s control of strength, the soft tofu was no different from a piece of iron, allowing her to play with it at will.

“To handle a heavy object as if it were light, you have already achieved; to handle a light object as if it were heavy, you are still far from it.”

Lu Yang fell silent. He knew well that he was still far from finishing his body tempering, and that cultivation was not a matter to be rushed. The families of Meng Jingzhou and the others had trained them since childhood, which was why they could directly cultivate immortality.

How could it be easy to catch up to such people?

He had no one to guide him in his youth, and now he could receive the personal guidance of the Eldest Senior Sister, aided by heavenly materials and earthly treasures; his growth speed was already astonishing, so what reason did he have to be dissatisfied?

Lu Yang also recalled the words the Eldest Senior Sister had spoken: she said that cultivating immortality was a lifelong matter, and momentary superiorities or inferiorities did not matter; what mattered was who could have the last laugh.

Lu Yang took two deep breaths, realizing his previous mindset had been flawed. He adjusted his mentality in a timely manner, no longer pursuing the progress of his cultivation.

And then, he watched as the Eldest Senior Sister had the puppet push over a cart full of tofu.