Chapter 479: Flouting One's Powerful Connections

Lu Yang felt it might be wiser to betray Luo Hongxia after all; walking alongside his Eldest Senior Sister was a crushing weight upon his spirit.

She was statuesque, possessed of a breathtaking, ethereal beauty, yet wrapped in a profound coolness that exerted an irresistible magnetism over both men and women alike.

As she strolled down the thoroughfare, she drew continuous, lingering glances from the visiting young prodigies.

It was only the outsiders who dared to look back; those of the Central Sect would never presume to cast their eyes upon the Eldest Senior Sister.

Lu Yang, fast approaching his eighteenth year and standing at a respectable one hundred and eighty centimeters, topped her by half a head, yet beside her, he felt smaller than anyone.

"Grand Eater Competition! Entrance fee is one thousand spirit stones, ten contestants per heat!"

"A Grand Eater Competition?" Lu Yang muttered in mild amusement. Cultivators could instantly refine anything they consumed; how could such a contest ever reach a conclusion?

Turning his head to look, he saw the dining tables piled high beneath mountains of Inedia Pills.

Lu Yang stood in stunned silence.

"Pill Lottery! One thousand spirit stones or ten contribution points per draw! A premium pill guaranteed within ten tries, and a cloud-patterned pill guaranteed within a hundred!"

A senior brother from the Alchemical Peak was shouting with great fervor, catching Lu Yang’s attention.

Noticing a faint glimmer of interest in the Eldest Senior Sister's eyes, Lu Yang took the initiative to suggest, "I think I shall try my luck a few times. Would you care to join, Eldest Senior Sister?"

She regarded him with a cool intensity, pausing for a long, silent beat before pronouncing, "Very well."

The senior brother from the Alchemical Peak, recognizing the Acting Sect Master and the Eldest Senior Sister, greeted them with boundless enthusiasm. "Eldest Senior Sister, please be seated! Acting Sect Master, pray take a seat as well."

"We have come to try our hand at the lottery."

Upon hearing this, the Alchemical Peak disciple's face fell into an expression of acute embarrassment. "The lottery? I fear these pills of mine are entirely unworthy of your refined gaze..."

"Think nothing of it; we are merely seeking amusement."

As a seasoned interpreter of the Eldest Senior Sister's subtle shifts in countenance, Lu Yang discerned that she had taken a genuine liking to the activity, and he naturally refused to dampen her spirits.

"Ten draws to begin with." Lu Yang parted with one hundred contribution points without so much as a blink.

The Alchemical Peak disciple brought forth a massive cauldrons, which featured a small aperture at its base.

"Strike it ten times, and ten pills shall emerge."

Lu Yang complied, delivering ten consecutive taps. Ten small spheres came rolling out; nine were of rather wretched quality, their surfaces dull and uneven, while only a single one possessed a flawless form—the so-called premium pill.

"And what manner of medicine might these be?"

Lu Yang was well-acquainted with common remedies, but he remained ignorant of the eccentric creations of the Alchemical Peak.

"These nine are the Creation Pills of Heaven and Earth, forged by weaving the Dao of Time itself, born of the cosmic crucible and steeped in sheer fortuity. Even with all my skill, I could never replicate such a batch. They are vessels of infinite possibility."

Lu Yang was slightly taken aback, his gaze softening as he re-examined the nine deformed pills with renewed respect.

The Eldest Senior Sister raised her eyes to look upon the Alchemical Peak disciple, uttering three freezing words: "Speak the truth."

The disciple shuddered, losing all his courage to play false before her, and confessed honestly, "While I was refining the batch the other day, I stepped out for a moment and lost track of the hour. By the time I returned, the cauldron was ruined."

"I thought that with the grand celebration underway, I might as well recoup my losses by offering them as lottery prizes."

"Are you aware that one of the conditions upon which I permitted your stall was that you do nothing to tarnish the reputation of our sect?"

"Rest assured, Eldest Senior Sister! To the outsiders, I shall claim I am a disciple of the Five Elements Sect!" The disciple declared, slapping his chest in reassurance.

"Oh?"

"No, no, no! What I meant to say is that I shall dismantle my stall this very instant."

The Eldest Senior Sister raised a hand, staying the disciple who was already scrambling to pack his wares. "There is no haste. I, too, shall test my fortune."

"Here are one hundred contribution points. I shall take ten draws."

She lightly struck the cauldron once, a hidden resonance rippling through the metal, causing nine subsequent vibrations within.

Ten strikes in total.

Ten pills came tumbling out in rapid succession.

Each of these ten spheres was perfectly formed and full, and three among them were enveloped in delicate, drifting cloud-patterns.

Seven premium pills, and three cloud-patterned ones.

By the laws of probability, one would have to draw three hundred times to glimpse three cloud-patterned specimens.

"My luck remains fair." A microscopic curve touched the corner of the Eldest Senior Sister's mouth as she picked up one of the cloud-patterned pills to keep, presenting the remaining treasury to Lu Yang.

She had deployed no sorcery; it was a manifestation of pure, unadulterated fortune.

Her luck had ever been peerless.

The two walked on, continuing their search for the cause of the missing Unity Realm cultivators while enjoying the festive diversions, and gradually, Lu Yang’s initial stiffness began to dissolve.

A master and disciple chanced to pass by, their eyes falling upon Lu Yang and Yun Zhi.

"Master, you say Lu Yang is of similar age and cultivation to myself. How is it that he commands the position of Acting Sect Master, and possesses the right to lead the ancestral sacrifices?"

A young genius harbored a quiet resentment toward Lu Yang; he hailed from the Qi-Governing Sect, one of the nine supreme domains, and his master was the Sect Master himself. His presence at the Central Sect's festival was earned not merely by his lineage, but because he was a finalist in the grand tournament.

Holding a station comparable to Lu Yang’s yet standing a world apart in authority, his heart burned with a restless sense of injustice.

"Hold your tongue!" the Qi-Governing Sect Master hissed in a low voice, rebuking his ward.

The young genius recoiled in shock; his master had ever been a gentle mentor, and never before had he suffered such sharp condemnation.

The Qi-Governing Sect Master paid no heed to his disciple’s dismay; cold sweat was already drenching his brow as his gaze remained locked upon Lu Yang.

Yet his true focus was not the youth, but Yun Zhi who walked at his side.

Though he did not occupy a seat among the five grand masters, as the leader of an ancient and supreme sect, his status allowed him access to certain closely guarded secrets.

He recalled a legend from several centuries past, wherein a single disciple of the Central Sect had, by her lone hand, vanquished the masters of the four great immortal sects—including the long-renowned Master Jie Sha.

Who was Master Jie Sha? He was an absolute titan even among those of the Tribulation Transmutation Stage, a figure more formidable than the ancient ancestors of his own sect.

When even such a paragon had suffered defeat, the true measure of her strength surpassed the boundaries of imagination.

And that was centuries ago; with the passage of such vast eras, he dared not even conceive the height to which her cultivation had ascended.

"This is the true sovereign of the grand epoch..."

To possess such transcendent talent meant she stood without rival beneath the heavens.

"Master..."

Seeing the terror in his master’s eyes and catching the fragmented murmurs, the young genius followed the direction of that trembling gaze, looking upon Lu Yang who was currently at the zenith of his renown.

Never before had he heard his master bestow such boundless praise upon any mortal.

An understanding seemed to dawn within the youth, and he looked toward Lu Yang with sudden, profound awe.

Sensing that someone was watching them, the Eldest Senior Sister turned her head slightly. Marking the Qi-Governing Sect Master, she dismissed the matter and withdrew her gaze.

"Is something amiss, Eldest Senior Sister?" Lu Yang inquired, noticing her distraction and wondering if she had discovered a clue.

Her brow knitted slightly, for she had indeed discerned an anomaly that defied explanation.

"Curious. Why does it feel as though a great number of unfamiliar Unity Realm presences have suddenly appeared?"

In preparation for this grand jubilee, the Central Sect had extended invitations far and wide, drawing masters of the Unity Realm from every corner into a bustling convergence. Yet what perplexed her was that throughout their promenade, she had encountered few familiar faces of that station; instead, a vast multitude of unknown Unity Realm cultivators had manifested.

Had a few strangers merely mingled within a known crowd, it would have been difficult to perceive, but the sudden, stark emergence of several clusters of unrecognized masters was impossible to ignore.

(End of this chapter)