Chapter 467: Ancient Immortals Gathering

Lu Yang was currently masquerading as the cheat code for the Immortal Fairy, exercising the authority of the Acting Sect Master to plan the itinerary for the sect's grand celebration.

After all, they couldn't just summon everyone here to merely eat and drink, followed by a few opening and closing remarks from the Fairy before wrapping things up.

This twelve-thousandth anniversary celebration would be far too bland if handled that way; let alone passing the judgment of the Eldest Senior Sister, even Lu Yang himself couldn't bear to look at it.

It would only ever pass muster with the Immortal Fairy.

"It's a celebration, so everyone should just have some lighthearted fun together. Why make it so complicated?"

The Immortal Fairy cited herself as an example, advising Lu Yang to discard the dross of post-era thinking that insisted celebrations had to be complex: "Even our gatherings of ancient immortals weren't as complicated as yours. Whenever I wanted to cook, Qilin Immortal and the others would always tell me not to tire myself out and just leave it."

The so-called ancient immortal gatherings merely consisted of the Immortal Fairy using her personal charm to drag the other four unfortunate bastards together, occasionally accompanied by the two wives of the Qilin Immortal.

"Then what exactly did you do at your gatherings?"

"Exchanged insights on cultivation, of course. As you know, there were only five immortals in the world back then, so it was hard to find fellow Daoists to converse with. Everyone deeply cherished each and every gathering."

"During our meetings, everyone spoke their minds freely, delving into the wondrous applications of the Fruits of the Dao. The clash of minds easily birthed new ideas, or left behind trials for later generations."

Lu Yang nodded. This time it actually sounded like the real deal, matching his impression of immortals—discussing the immortal path and testing posterity.

"And the specifics?"

"Specifically, I researched how to maximize the destructive power of self-detonation."

"Yingtian Immortal asked everyone if they could brainstorm some particularly devious and tricky tribulations."

"The Immortal of Time said he had developed a new use for the Time Dao Fruit. He established a mysterious space where the flow of time differed from the outside world; cultivating for a single day inside would mean a year passed on the outside."

Lu Yang: "..."

Please stop plaguing the world.

"Failing that, we would compose stories, like those about the Celestial Court or the Buddhist Sect. Don't look down on these stories; they were meticulously crafted by the five of us. Behind every story lies a thought-provoking truth, capable of providing intellectual enlightenment to later generations."

"Yingtian Immortal said that this would also conveniently prevent later generations from clearly understanding ancient history. Whichever one of us made a fool of themselves to the outside world could easily cover it up this way."

Lu Yang felt that Yingtian Immortal was indeed a ruthless character. Under the burden of the Immortal Fairy dragging him down, he had done a great deal just to maintain his lofty aura. He just didn't know if the man was aware that, in the minds of future generations, he had already become an eccentric lover of married women who had impregnated countless female cultivators.

He sympathized with Yingtian Immortal, and hoped the man could sympathize with him in return—that when he eventually came knocking on the door to kill him, he might show some leniency and spare his life.

"Sometimes we also played with planets, tossing them back and forth. Living beings called it a meteor shower and viewed it as a miracle, making wishes whenever they saw us throwing planets around."

Lu Yang was a very good listener. He quietly listened to the Immortal Fairy recount ancient history, occasionally acting as the straight man to ask questions, listening for a good half hour.

It was said that history constantly repeats itself, and that one could use history as a mirror for one's actions. He seriously pondered the experiences of the ancient immortal gatherings narrated by the Immortal Fairy, searching for anything worth emulating. In the end, he reached a single conclusion—

He had wasted half an hour.

At this moment, the Eldest Senior Sister walked into the grotto. Although her expression showed no change from usual, remaining as expressionless as ever, Lu Yang, as the Junior Brother, possessed a fifty percent success rate in reading her micro-expressions.

He determined that the Eldest Senior Sister had come in because something had happened.

Although the Immortal Fairy did not have Lu Yang's success rate in judgment, she arrived at the same conclusion.

After all, she was doing a splendid job as the Acting Sect Master; Little Girl Yun wouldn't just come to the grotto for no reason.

The Immortal Fairy felt smug seeing this. Now that she was the Acting Sect Master, Lu Yang and Little Girl Yun were her left and right hands, helping her handle administrative affairs.

"Eldest Senior Sister, is there something wrong?" Lu Yang was still controlling his own body for now.

"I have just received word. The Grand Emperor of Xia has an idea that needs to be implemented, and wishes for the masters of the Five Great Immortal Sects to hold a meeting at the imperial palace."

Lu Yang and the Eldest Senior Sister locked eyes for a few seconds. Then, pointing at himself in utter disbelief, he thought he had misheard: "Me?"

"Not you, but Senior Fairy," the Eldest Senior Sister corrected earnestly.

"That's a relief then... wait, what's the difference!"

"How is there no difference? It is this Immortal who is going to the meeting, not you!" The Immortal Fairy looked at Lu Yang, puffing up her cheeks in anger, suspecting this scoundrel harbored treacherous thoughts of usurping her power!

Lu Yang treated the Immortal Fairy's shouting entirely as a breeze passing by his ears.

Granted, he held a series of titles that would allow him to walk sideways anywhere in the outside world—the youngest disciple of Daoist Buyu, the Junior Brother of Yun Zhi, the second-in-command of the Immortal Lineage, the Patriarch of the Immortal Sect, the Young Sect Master of the Celestial Court Sect, the host of the Immortal Fairy, the strongest Golden Core stage cultivator, and the creator of records for challenging those of higher realms.

Yet, being asked to sit alongside the Grand Emperor of Xia and the masters of the Five Great Immortal Sects to discuss the grand affairs of the righteous path still left him feeling rather guilty and lacking confidence.

"I will go with you," the Eldest Senior Sister finally delivered a piece of good news.

Lu Yang let out a small sigh of relief. He was merely a tiny Golden Core stage cultivator; by what virtue or merit did he deserve to sit with the masters of the other four Great Immortal Sects? With the Eldest Senior Sister there to anchor the presence, the pressure would be significantly less.

"Let's go."

There was nothing that needed preparing for a meeting; one just had to show up. The Eldest Senior Sister walked out of the grotto, cast her eyes toward the sky, and pinched her thumb and index finger together. A piece of cloud vanished from the horizon, and a propitious cloud appeared beneath her feet.

"Acting Sect Master, please."

Lu Yang's body was taken over, and the Immortal Fairy unceremoniously boarded the cloud using his frame.

The Immortal Fairy stood at the crest of the cloud, arms crossed over her chest, eyes fixed ahead, her expression aloof.

"Little Girl Yun, set off."

Whoosh—

The propitious cloud accelerated abruptly. The Immortal Fairy failed to react in time and lost her footing, rolling over and over from the front of the cloud to the tail, gripping the cloud for dear life as more than half her body dangled outside.

It took her a great deal of effort to scramble back onto the propitious cloud, looking exceedingly disheveled.

"Little Girl Yun, you did that on purpose!" She pouted, glaring at Yun Zhi.

Yun Zhi replied indifferently, "No, it was an accident."

"It was on purpose!"

"An accident."

"On purpose!"

"An accident."

Lu Yang popped his head out, interrupting the imminent battle between the ancient and modern cultivators: "By the way, Eldest Senior Sister, did the Emperor of Xia say what this meeting is for?"

"It is said he wants to host a competition for young cultivators to filter out those who have dispersed their cultivation to retrain."

"What?"

The Imperial Preceptor raised his head, watching the propitious cloud fly over his head, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Lord Preceptor, what is the matter?" a subordinate asked, wishing to attend to the Preceptor's needs.

"The one riding that propitious cloud just now was Lu Yang."

The subordinate was greatly shocked: "What?! Then shall we strike?"

They had come to the vicinity of the Daoist Inquiry Sect to study the surrounding layout, looking for a method to infiltrate the sect and scout the location in advance to make a plan.

They hadn't expected to encounter their target the moment they arrived near the Daoist Inquiry Sect.

The Imperial Preceptor shook his head, having his own designs: "No need for now. Killing Lu Yang now would be letting him off too easily. We must wait until the grand celebration commences, and let him die in full view of the public!"

He didn't just want to kill Lu Yang; he wanted to annihilate the Daoist Inquiry Sect entirely!

(End of Chapter)