Chapter 193: Integration

To create his own techniques, Lu Yang spent months studying on the first floor of the Scripture Library. Setting aside the *Complete Collection of Crosstalk* he found there, it still contained a vast array of methods and spells that truly opened his eyes.

For instance, there was a cultivation technique that, once mastered, allowed another person to track the practitioner's location. According to the records, it had been written by a cultivator couple who simply wanted to keep tabs on each other's movements.

Eventually, the husband discovered his wife was always visiting brothels, and the wife discovered her husband was always visiting brothels.

Beyond that particular manual, Lu Yang also encountered a technique for sleeping with one's eyes open, which proved exceptionally useful during lectures. There was even a technique designed to make oneself utterly hideous, though Lu Yang could not for the life of him figure out its practical application.

Another was a hibernation technique modeled after animals, where a single meal bought a quarter-year of slumber; once again, Lu Yang failed to see the point. Later, however, he understood: his senior brothers and sisters were simply gaming the sect's contribution system.

By submitting a technique the Mission Hall did not already have on file, one could earn contribution points. The Eldest Senior Sister had once ground this task so relentlessly that she forced the Mission Hall to establish a dedicated column just for her. She no longer had to hand in techniques one by one; she could simply write them down, place them in the library, and spend her contribution points as she pleased.

The other senior brothers and sisters lacked her sheer talent but still craved those contribution points, which resulted in the Scripture Library being flooded with manuals that looked incredibly formidable but were, in truth, entirely useless.

Lu Yang strongly suspected that if he were to write a technique like that, Eldest Senior Sister would hang him up and beat him. Though, honestly, she probably wouldn't even need to lift a finger; a puppet would gladly do the honors.

"The *Immortal Cultivation Technique of the Six Directions and Eight Desolations*?" Upon hearing the absurd name Lu Yang had just conjured out of thin air, the Immortal Fairy seemed to recall something.

"That name sounds awfully similar to the technique of the Ninefold Immortal!"

"The Ninefold Immortal?" Lu Yang repeated. The Immortal Fairy rarely spoke of him.

From what she had shared before, Lu Yang knew the Ninefold Immortal possessed a celestial physique and was the very first of the five ancient immortals to attain immortality.

"What was the name of his technique?" Lu Yang asked, curious.

Even Eldest Senior Sister showed a rare spark of interest. Setting down her book, she listened closely for the Immortal Fairy's reply.

"The Ninefold Immortal wrote his own technique too. He named it the *Chaotic Single Qi, Two Polars, Four Phenomena, Six Directions, Eight Desolations, Nine Earths, Ten Heavens, Supreme and Unmatched Immortal Cultivation Technique*."

"I usually just called it the *Number Cultivation Technique*. Sometimes people called it the *Four-Six Technique*, or the *Eighty Technique*, or whatever came naturally. In any case, even the Ninefold Immortal himself couldn't recite the whole thing."

Lu Yang: "..."

Did the Ninefold Immortal have some kind of numerical obsession?

Eldest Senior Sister was similarly speechless. She had initially hoped to deduce the figure's strengths and weaknesses from the naming conventions of his technique.

Now, it appeared she had been entirely too optimistic.

While Lu Yang listened to these ancient secrets within his mental space, he was simultaneously traveling alongside Meng Jingzhou and Mangu, slaughtering their way through the area. Right then, Yan Fei's roaring shout echoed across the field.

"Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, and Mangu are working together!"

Yan Fei had done this intentionally. The pressure the trio exerted on him was far too immense. No matter how strong he was, he could never defeat three bastards who were both incredibly powerful and utterly insidious.

He had to rally everyone's strength to eliminate them. Only then would he stand a chance at claiming victory!

"Exposed so soon?" Meng Jingzhou muttered, having assumed they would remain undetected a bit longer. He hadn't even had his fill of fun yet.

The three of them opened their palms to check their respective imprint counts. Even Mangu, who had the fewest, boasted three hundred and fifty. Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were on a completely different level—veritable peerless demons who had slaughtered without mercy.

"What now? Do we fight or run?" Mangu asked.

"Run, of course! With our current scores, the top three spots are practically guaranteed to be ours. We just need to behave ourselves and wait for the match to end," Meng Jingzhou said, showing absolutely no sense of pride as a direct descendant of the Meng Clan. The word "retreat" carried no psychological burden for him whatsoever.

It was a habit forged in his childhood when, after causing mischief, his father would chase him around like a stray duck. "They're right here!" Someone emerged from a cave dwelling and spotted the three gathered together. They really were in league!

They had been putting on an act since the very beginning of the tournament. If Yan Fei hadn't grown suspicious, no one would have ever realized.

It was an absolute disgrace. As cultivators of the demonic path, they were supposed to be the ones deceiving others. Since when did they get tricked by outsiders? And fooled so completely at that!

If they didn't slaughter these three to vent their rage, their future cultivation journeys would be forever stifled!

"Time to fly~" Meng Jingzhou cheered merrily, taking the lead in the escape while Lu Yang and Mangu followed close behind. "After them!"

"They're over here!" "Kill them!"

Demonic cultivators rarely cooperated when fighting individually, and a large-scale operation mobilizing a vast number of Foundation Establishment cultivators was entirely unprecedented.

Yet now, they united, determined to capture the trio at all costs!

Watching this scene unfold, the high-ranking officials of the Immortal Sect clicked their tongues in amazement. Even they did not possess such rallying power.

The Sect Master nodded inwardly. These three were born to be undercover agents in the Core Seeking Sect. At the same time, he felt a pang of regret. The incompetence of the two Vice Sect Masters, Liu and Gao, had allowed three such vital chess pieces to leave the Core Seeking Sect.

"If they actually catch up, you go be the bait," Lu Yang told Meng Jingzhou. "Why me? This whole layer-upon-layer scheme was your idea, you go!"

"It was my idea, but you filled in the details. You're more important than me, so you should go!" "The idea is more important than the details, you go."

The two kept deferring to one another, each insisting the other act as bait, while Mangu ran alongside them, entirely unable to get a word in. He was nothing more than an actor in this play.

"I've caught them!" Someone skilled in tracking and possessing exquisite footwork cried out, his hand inches away from brushing the hem of Lu Yang's robe.

Right at that moment, an invisible strike slammed into the pursuer. Unable to dodge in time, he was sent flying, a large indentation appearing on his chest.

Before losing consciousness, he looked back and saw nothing but a solitary talisman drifting through the empty air. "What is that?"

The talisman fluttered as if possessed by a mind of its own, knocking away any contestant who dared draw near the trio. Finally, someone managed to identify it.

"It's an Invisibility Talisman! They have an accomplice!"

This particular Invisibility Talisman had been drawn by Lu Yang, and its effects were potent. Even those among the crowd with sharp perceptions had failed to sense anyone's presence.

The speaker suddenly realized something was amiss. Whose Invisibility Talisman only hid the body while leaving the paper itself completely exposed? Lu Yang shouted toward the talisman, "Yan Fei, hurry up and kill them!"

"Yan Fei is with them too?!" The crowd was stunned. Could it be that Yan Fei's discovery of the trio's plot was just an act, and that the revelation itself was part of the trap?

Watching the tiger fight from the safety of the mountain, Yan Fei's nose nearly twisted with rage. He was eighty chang away from the scene; the person wearing the Invisibility Talisman was absolutely not him!

"I get it! The one with the Invisibility Talisman is your clone!" Yan Fei recalled that Lu Yang possessed a Wood Clone technique. Someone with quick eyes and fast hands snatched the Invisibility Talisman away, forcing the hidden figure to reveal its true form.

A bald Lu Yang—the Bodhi Tree Clone!

Lu Yang's Invisibility Talisman could only conceal the physical body, not clothing. The Wood Clone, using leaves as a cover, considered those leaves a part of its own structure.

In other words, the Wood Clone was technically naked.

It was a perfect fit for Lu Yang's Invisibility Talisman!

The Bodhi Tree Clone stood there clad in leaves like a savage. Lu Yang commanded the clone to detonate, unleashing a cloud of poisonous gas. Yan Fei, having anticipated this, conjured a northern wind to disperse the fumes.

"Kill!"

Lu Yang and his companions were completely surrounded. Countless hidden weapons and blades rained down, threatening to turn them into hedgehogs, while others lunged forward directly to end their lives.

The attack left no blind spots and offered no way to block.

Lu Yang sighed. "It has come to this. We have no choice but to merge."

The three exchanged glances, reaching a solemn understanding. They were going to combine their forms to fight!

"Merge?" Although Yan Fei had no idea how they intended to do so, an ominous feeling washed over him. "Stay on your guard, they're going to merge!" he roared, warning the crowd.

Even the high executives of the Immortal Sect were utterly bewildered. They had never heard of cultivators merging together.

Mangu let out a thunderous roar as his muscles bulged, his left hand gripping Meng Jingzhou's ankle and his right hand seizing Lu Yang's ankle. Meng Jingzhou activated his cultivation technique, causing his body to radiate a pale golden light, turning as hard as iron.

Lu Yang brought his hands together, raising them above his head as sword qi enveloped his entire body. The three had merged!

Yan Fei: ".....?"