Chapter 143: Lu Yang Who is Currently in the Fantasy Stage

None of the five individuals, including Taoist Buyu, had anticipated that Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou would manage to escape the small town.

Setting aside the fact that a cultivator in the Body Integration Stage suppressed Buyi Town, the overt and covert rules of the place alone were far beyond the comprehension of ordinary folk.

Merely surviving within Buyi Town was an arduous feat, let alone departing from it.

How exactly had those two accomplished it?

Taoist Buyu did not dwell on the thought; seizing the moment the four Body Integration Stage adversaries spat blood, their momentum faltering and their attention diverted to Lu Yang and his companion, he unleashed his power.

A brilliant azure sword intent materialized around him, fluctuating lightly like a pool of clear water, fluid and agile as a serpent as it traced a graceful curve through the air, sending two heads flying.

The Immortal Fairy sighed in admiration: "Your master is indeed capable, possessing enough skill to match the supreme sword cultivators of our era; that single strike severed both the physical form and the soul, completely extinguishing two in the Body Integration Stage."

Lu Yang was struck with awe; facing four foes alone and slaying two by catching them off guard, his master truly lived up to his title.

The initial appearances of the Immortal Fairy and Taoist Buyu had been so wretched—one suppressed, the other confined to a grotto for a decade—that Lu Yang had subconsciously overlooked their true identities.

One was an ancient immortal, one of the five individuals who attained immortality during the chaotic ancient era, standing among the five most powerful beings of that time.

The other was the Sect Master of one of the five great immortal sects, a figure the reigning emperor would receive with the highest etiquette, who, despite being the youngest and latest to cultivate among the Nine Disciples of the Daoist Sect, possessed the highest combat prowess.

An ordinary cultivator gaining even a slight connection to either of them would find a path to prosperity and a lifetime free of worries, yet Lu Yang felt no such grandeur.

"Is it really because Eldest Senior Sister is always around?" Lu Yang felt he had uncovered the root cause.

The reason those two had suffered setbacks during their initial appearances was entirely due to the presence of Eldest Senior Sister.

Now that she was absent, the two finally had the opportunity to display their true capabilities.

Taoist Buyu raised his sword and gathered his strength, his spirit radiant, appearing as though he were about to deliver another strike.

Seeing the unfavorable turn of events, the remaining two dared not retrieve the corpses of their companions; they turned and fled immediately.

Taoist Buyu chose not to pursue them; though he could have unleashed another strike, those two were now on guard and might well defend against it, and should they counterattack, while he himself did not fear another battle, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou would be unable to withstand the aftershocks of a conflict between Body Integration Stage cultivators.

"Are you two unharmed?" Taoist Buyu hurried down, showing concern for them, only to find they bore no injuries and looked as though they had fared quite well in Buyi Town over the past few days.

"We are fine," the two replied with a wave of their hands, feeling the surrounding spiritual energy and reflecting on how marvelous it felt to successfully leave Buyi Town and regain control of their spiritual power.

The inability to use techniques within Buyi Town had somewhat restricted their talents.

"As long as you are safe, that is what matters," Taoist Buyu breathed a sigh of relief, "though it is a pity those two managed to escape."

"Speaking of which, was there not also a Body Integration Stage cultivator within Buyi Town? How did you deal with them?" Taoist Buyu looked at Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou with doubt, assuming that perhaps Xiao Yun had granted Lu Yang a life-saving measure, or that the Meng family had provided one to Meng Jingzhou.

Believing Taoist Buyu to be trustworthy, Lu Yang explained, "In truth, an ancient immortal is sealed within my body, who normally guides my cultivation and can provide power at critical moments, making even the slaying of a Body Integration Stage cultivator no difficult task."

Taoist Buyu looked at Lu Yang with an expression of pity, patting the boy's head, and upon considering his age, he found himself filled with understanding.

It made sense; a lad of sixteen or seventeen was precisely at the age of grand fantasies.

When he himself was sixteen, he too had fantasized that an ancient ferocious beast was sealed within his body, and that if others provoked him, the seal would loosen, allowing the beast's energy to leak out and harm the innocent, potentially destroying heaven and earth in severe cases, causing irreversible losses; thus, to keep the beast contained, he had to maintain a cold demeanor at all times.

Who had not passed through such a phase?

An ancient immortal, indeed; he had lived for two thousand years and had never once encountered an ancient immortal, yet this lad Lu Yang was supposed to be so exceptionally lucky that he not only met one but had the immortal residing within him?

It was likely a life-saving measure left to Lu Yang by Xiao Yun.

"Is this ancient immortal you speak of an old man or a beautiful woman?" Taoist Buyu inquired.

Recalling the Immortal Fairy's appearance, and how she was indeed a peerless beauty no less stunning than Eldest Senior Sister when she remained quiet, Lu Yang replied, "A beautiful woman."

Taoist Buyu thought to himself that it was exactly as he suspected; a fantasy immortal at this age was bound to be either an old patriarch or a beautiful woman, certainly not a youth, a middle-aged man, or an old crone.

Glancing at Buyi Town, which remained shrouded in its peculiar rules, he paused before saying, "Let us first visit the local authorities nearby and hand the remaining matters over to them for processing."

The population of Buyi Town was vast; though his cultivation was extraordinary, dealing with matters that could not be resolved by martial might alone required the expertise of professionals.

The incident at Buyi Town involved five ancient Body Integration Stage cultivators, a matter far exceeding the jurisdiction of a commandery governor, so Taoist Buyu needed to find the Inspector General responsible for this province.

The Great Xia Dynasty divided the Central Continent into seventeen regions, commonly referred to as the Seventeen Provinces; beneath the provinces were commanderies, and beneath them were counties and towns.

Aware of his own poor sense of direction, Taoist Buyu went to a nearby commandery to gather information, learning that their current location was Qingzhou, situated in the western part of the Central Continent.

"Wait, why are we in the western part of the continent?" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou looked at Taoist Buyu with suspicion, remembering that when they departed from the Daoist Sect, they were supposed to fly south.

Taoist Buyu gave a vague laugh, offering little explanation, and simply told them to follow him.

After inquiring and navigating along the way, the three finally located the Inspector General of Qingzhou.

Upon hearing that the Sect Master of the Daoist Sect had arrived, the Inspector General of Qingzhou immediately postponed all affairs to welcome Taoist Buyu in person.

As the Inspector General of Qingzhou, he governed vast resources across an entire province and received great reverence and flattery from many, yet in terms of status and cultivation, he fell far short of Taoist Buyu.

Taoist Buyu wasted no time on idle pleasantries, directly explaining the situation regarding Buyi Town, and allowed Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou to provide the specific details.

Hearing that such an event had occurred within Buyi Town, the Inspector General of Qingzhou broke into a cold sweat; it was fortunate that the Sect Master of the Daoist Sect discovered it in time and handled it properly, for if those five ancient Body Integration Stage cultivators had fully revived and lurked somewhere within the dynasty, they could have obliterated several commanderies at any moment, causing unimaginable casualties.

The Inspector General of Qingzhou immediately made his decision, mobilizing local officials of the Soul Formation and Body Integration Stages, while dispatching messages to the military stationed in Qingzhou and to the imperial court, alerting them that two ancient Body Integration Stage cultivators had revived and fled, urging everyone to maintain high vigilance.

As for petitioning the imperial court to commend the Daoist Sect, there was currently no time to spare; the plight of the citizens of Buyi Town had to be resolved first.

Lu Yang noticed that the Inspector General of Qingzhou had not mobilized any cultivators of the Void Refinement Stage.

Taoist Buyu explained: "The Void Refinement Stage is an extraordinarily unique phase; the strength of a cultivator at this stage is highly unstable, fluctuating unpredictably. At its peak, it can reach the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage, while at its lowest, it drops to the Qi Condensation Stage. Consequently, cultivators in the Void Refinement Stage choose to remain quietly in one place, rarely engaging in battle."

"Furthermore, no one lightly provokes a Void Refinement Stage cultivator, after all, you can never tell what realm they might hold in the next breath."