Chapter 125: The Nine Sons of Dao Seeking Sect Gather Together

In the Grand Elder’s memory, whenever the Unspoken Daoist grew this enthusiastic, a grand conspiracy was invariably afoot.

He grew wary.

The Grand Elder firmly believed that the Unspoken Daoist had every reason to undermine him; when the Unspoken Daoist was but an infant, the Third Elder had carried him up the mountain, making him the youngest disciple. From their master to the senior brothers and sisters, none had ever cared for a babe, so they had slowly blundered their way through it.

The Grand Elder was a master of dream sorcery; in his infancy, the Unspoken Daoist had been restless and utterly unable to sleep, so the Grand Elder had employed dream spells to soothe him into a sweet, deep slumber.

When the Unspoken Daoist grew old enough to cultivate, he would constantly doze off during his lessons, so the Grand Elder would use dream sorcery to startle him awake; perhaps the frights had been too severe, for the Unspoken Daoist bore those psychological scars to this very day.

Seeing the Grand Elder's wariness, the other seven elders also joined in to hail him: "Eldest Senior Brother, do come in quickly! We are only missing you to start the hotpot!"

We cannot be the only unfortunate ones; no matter what, we must gather all Nine Sons of the Wendao Sect today!

Eight individuals stood at the cave entrance with beaming smiles, beckoning to the Grand Elder, yet none dared to step a single inch beyond the threshold. To any onlooker, the scene would have appeared exceedingly bizarre.

In the Grand Elder’s memory, his seven junior brothers and sisters had never once displayed such fervor.

Two millennia of lived experience had lent him boundless wisdom, and he swiftly formed a judgment—it was an illusion!

He bit the tip of his tongue with a sudden snap.

The Grand Elder attempted to shatter the cage of the illusion with the blood of his tongue, yet nothing changed.

Could it be that this was no illusion?

He recalled Lu Yang saying that the Ninth Elder had been sealed within the cave by Yun Zhi, but the riddle remained: how had the Second through the Eighth Elders managed to get themselves sealed away as well?

"How exactly did you all end up sealed in there?"

The Eighth Elder adopted a solemn expression. "Eldest Senior Brother, it happened like this: we heard that Old Nine had been sealed by Yun Zhi, so we came at once to visit him in prison. Old Nine claimed that this seal could not hold a clever man. The seven of us considered ourselves quite clever and felt we certainly wouldn’t be trapped by it, so we entered one by one to give it a try. The result, as you can see, is our current predicament."

The Grand Elder raised an eyebrow. "How wondrous. Let me try."

The Grand Elder stepped into the cave dwelling, and the crowd erupted in cheers.

The Eighth Elder had not spoken falsely; what clever man would willingly walk into a seal?

And so, all Nine Sons of the Wendao Sect were successfully apprehended, a truly celebratory occasion.

The nine of them sat gathered around the hotpot, the entire cave filling with a watery mist, resembling a celestial realm scented with the aroma of simmering broth.

The ingredients for the feast had all been provided by the Third Elder; as a body cultivator, he required frequent consumption of heavenly treasures and the spiritual flesh of demonic beasts to replenish his physical depletion.

When the Grand Elder finally understood the full context of the situation from their explanations, his face turned entirely black.

So the eight of us are trapped here, and instead of thinking of a way to call for rescue, your only thought was how to drag another soul down with you?

The Eighth Elder stepped forward. "It is not that we did not wish to leave, but Old Nine said that to escape, one must defeat their inner demon. However, that inner demon is far too powerful; none of us can best it."

"Therefore, we pooled our wisdom and devised a few alternative methods."

"For instance, Third Senior Brother suggested digging a tunnel using a single spoon."

"Fourth Senior Brother suggested shouting for help at the top of our lungs to summon Martial Niece Yun Zhi over."

"Fifth Senior Brother suggested refining the spoon into a magical treasure before digging the tunnel."

"Sixth Senior Sister, she..."

The Grand Elder cut off the escape plans of the Nine Sons of the Wendao Sect. "How is it that I heard from Lu Yang that if one simply meditates quietly for three days, the seal will dissolve? He even said he told Old Nine about this three days ago, so the seal should already be broken."

The Grand Elder was no fool; his confidence in walking in did not stem from being deceived, but from knowing the true method of departure.

Eight pairs of frigid eyes silently locked onto the Unspoken Daoist.

The Unspoken Daoist spoke with utter composure: "I have contributed greatly to the sect. Before you all strike, might I be permitted to write a final testament?"

Lu Yang, who was currently cross-legged in meditation, felt Tianmen Peak shudder slightly. He was somewhat surprised, entirely unaware of what had transpired.

Did someone truly dare to fight on Tianmen Peak?

Fortunately, Tianmen Peak merely trembled for an instant before returning to its usual tranquility. Lu Yang did not give it much thought; he entered the array left by his Eldest Senior Sister to isolate external noise, adjusted his breathing, and focused entirely on breaking through the early stage of the Foundation Establishment realm.

His Eldest Senior Sister did not stand guard beside him; for Lu Yang, breaking through to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment was as natural as water forming a channel, bound to happen without a hitch, rendering a protector unnecessary.

A moment later, his essence, vital energy, and spirit reached their zenith, his spiritual terrace completely clear and empty. He activated the Scripture of Clarifying the Mind and Perceiving Nature, consuming the surrounding spiritual energy like a whale, a vast torrent of spiritual qi continuously washing through his body.

When ordinary people broke through the early, middle, or late stages of Foundation Establishment, they would seize the opportunity of the breakthrough to cleanse their marrow and alter their bones, mending the scars left behind by cultivation and battle.

But for Lu Yang, such a step was entirely redundant!

During his Qi Condensation stage, he had already thoroughly completed the cleansing of his marrow, leaving no impurities behind to be expelled!

After establishing his foundation, Lu Yang’s cultivation technique allowed his body to remain pure at all times; no matter what he consumed or absorbed, the essence was retained while the dross was cast out.

The Scripture of Clarifying the Mind and Perceiving Nature clarified not only the mind, but the physical form as well!

Upon reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, a liquid vortex of spiritual energy would form within a cultivator’s dantian.

A wave of heat surged within Lu Yang’s dantian. Looking inward, he could clearly perceive that the liquid vortex at his center was growing ever vaster, swallowing external spiritual energy and exhaling a spiritual force that was far more refined and perfectly suited to him.

He executed the Great Cosmic Orbit, and the pristine spiritual energy circulated through his body in an endless stream, strengthening every corner of his form, leaving no minute detail overlooked.

The vortex spun faster and faster, the spiritual energy coursing through his entire body at an incredible velocity until, finally, he felt a barrier forcibly shattered by the spiritual force.

Lu Yang opened both eyes, his gaze bright and clear.

The mid-stage of Foundation Establishment was achieved.

Outside the array, the puppet, seeing that Lu Yang had successfully advanced to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment with a stable realm and no hidden perils, rose and departed.

"There is still one more thing to be done," Lu Yang recalled the words from the Foundation Establishment Manual.

The Foundation Establishment Manual was a collection of insights left by the Seventh Elder, later supplemented by various senior brothers and sisters, clearly listing every matter one might encounter during the Foundation Establishment stage without a single omission.

Lu Yang gathered spiritual energy in his right hand, tapped the lower right side of his abdomen gently, and abruptly coughed up a piece of flesh. The flesh was blood-stained, seemingly a part of Lu Yang's own body.

With a flick of his finger, Lu Yang unleashed a strand of sword qi, grinding the piece of flesh into fine dust.

"What was that?" The Immortal Fairy had been watching Lu Yang’s advancement from within his spiritual world, keeping silent out of fear that speaking might break his concentration and disrupt the breakthrough. Now that his advancement to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment was successful, she could finally speak.

She had nearly suffocated from restraint.

Lu Yang explained in all seriousness: "I wonder if Fairy has ever heard the saying that one must not engage in strenuous exercise after a meal? Severe exertion can cause excruciating abdominal pain, and in worse cases, one might writhe on the ground in agony, their brow drenched in sweat the size of soybeans, which grievously hinders one's cultivation."

"The senior brothers and sisters of my Wendao Sect discovered through research that as long as one excises a small piece of useless flesh during the advancement to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, such an affliction can be entirely avoided. Afterward, one may engage in whatever activity they please after dining."

"So what you just did was..."

"An appendectomy."

The Immortal Fairy fell silent.

She found herself somewhat unable to keep pace with the logic of modern cultivators.

(End of Chapter)