Chapter 633: There Are No Shortcuts in Cultivation

Lu Yang was awestruck by Second Senior Brother’s sheer brilliance; what a stroke of absolute genius, why hadn’t it ever crossed his own mind!

“Fairy, will this method actually work?” He turned to the Immortal Fairy, his eyes brimming with eager anticipation.

“It works perfectly if your goal is just to deceive yourself.”

“Your Second Senior Brother’s Nascent Soul possesses its own intellect, so a few clever words are enough to hoodwink it, but your Invincible Soul has no intellect whatsoever—how exactly do you plan to bluff it?”

Lu Yang slouched in dejection, realizing that this path was a dead end and his only recourse was to defeat the Nascent Soul the honest, hard way.

Returning to the “Yun Zhi Section,” Lu Yang pored over First Senior Sister’s essays word by word, finding them so profoundly rich with implicit wisdom that every single line read like a revelation, leaving him immensely enlightened.

“As expected of First Senior Sister; her insights are incredibly profound, and a deeper reflection always yields an even greater layer of truth.”

This was honestly far more effective than any guidance from the Immortal Fairy.

The more Lu Yang read, the more he felt these essays spoke directly to his soul, as though they had been penned by his very own hand!

In the blink of an eye, two months slipped away, during which Lu Yang remained entrenched within the Scripture Pavilion, never once stepping off the second floor as he forgot to eat and sleep while studying these Nascent Soul stage techniques, reaping a bountiful harvest.

He sat cross-legged upon a straw mat with his five centers facing heavenward, his breathing smooth and even, appearing as though he were asleep yet deeply immersed in an even higher state of enlightenment.

Cultivation philosophies and mystical methodologies swirled in chaotic abundance through his mind like a tangled ball of twine, utterly devoid of order.

What he needed to do was unravel the threads from this tangled mess of insights, extracting what was useful and modifying it according to his own reality, thereby fashioning a technique uniquely and entirely his own.

Studying such diverse techniques placed a staggering burden upon a cultivator’s spiritual consciousness; it was fortunate that Lu Yang’s spiritual force reigned supreme among his peers, for any ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator would have succumbed to a coma long ago from the sheer onslaught of massive cultivation ideologies.

Lu Yang snapped his eyes open, his gaze brilliant and a confident smile gracing his lips as he began writing furiously, penning a brand-new chapter.

“This must surely be the very technique First Senior Sister intended for me to forge.”

……

“An improvement over last time; only eighty percent of the content requires my revision.”

First Senior Sister remarked calmly after thoroughly reviewing the Nascent Soul chapter of the Mind-Clearing Self-Recognition Scripture written by Lu Yang.

When Lu Yang had written the Golden Core chapter previously, eighty percent had also required revision, but back then, the remaining twenty percent was only spared because he had directly plagiarized First Senior Sister’s exact sentences.

This time, however, the intact twenty percent was at least original content that had earned First Senior Sister’s genuine approval.

“What does your condensed Nascent Soul look like, and what are its unique traits? Summon it so I may see.”

Before modifying the technique, First Senior Sister wished to observe the form of Lu Yang’s Nascent Soul to tailor her revisions accordingly.

“Uh—that is a bit difficult.” Lu Yang wore an embarrassed expression, for until he could triumph over the Invincible Soul, he remained incapable of manifesting it.

First Senior Sister’s brow twitched slightly: “Where can it be seen?”

“The spiritual space.”

Without another word, First Senior Sister’s soul departed her physical vessel and soared straight into Lu Yang’s spiritual space.

Jiang Lianyi was equally curious about the state of Lu Yang’s Nascent Soul; by Lu Yang’s own account, his Golden Core was identical to that of Sister Immortal, which meant his Nascent Soul ought to be the same as well.

It was just that she had forgotten what Sister Immortal’s Golden Core and Nascent Soul actually looked like.

During her two months in the Scripture Pavilion, she had gained a general grasp of the current state of the cultivation world, rendering a continued stay pointless.

Lu Yang’s spiritual space grew remarkably lively, occupied now by the permanent resident Immortal Fairy, the visitor First Senior Sister, the visitor Jiang Lianyi, and the tenant Lu Yang.

With practiced ease, Lu Yang severed his connection to the Invincible Soul, with practiced ease, he was thoroughly thrashed by the Invincible Soul, and with practiced ease, he reconnected his bond with the Invincible Soul.

The performance was over.

The expressions on the faces of both First Senior Sister and Jiang Lianyi were quite spectacular; First Senior Sister was reminded of her long-absent Second Senior Brother, while Jiang Lianyi loathed her own amnesia for making her forget that Sister Immortal had once shared such an amusing experience.

Yet First Senior Sister was First Senior Sister after all, instantly discerning that Lu Yang’s Nascent Soul differed from that of Second Senior Brother.

“The Immortal Fairy told me that, theoretically, as long as I defeat the Invincible Soul, it will become mine to command.”

First Senior Sister cast a deeply meaningful look toward the Immortal Fairy: “Theoretically, indeed…”

As though her little scheme had been thoroughly seen through by First Senior Sister, the Immortal Fairy’s gaze shifted evasively, refusing to meet her eyes.

First Senior Sister turned back, her expression turning solemn: “If you wish to defeat your Invincible Soul, there are no tricks to employ; just as there are no shortcuts in cultivation, you must cultivate with your feet planted firmly on the ground, surpassing your Nascent Soul in every conceivable aspect!”

Lu Yang asked humbly for guidance: “Then, First Senior Sister, how did you manage to attain such a boundary in less than a thousand years?”

“By relying on talent.”

“……”

“Very well, I now know how to alter your technique; it will be finished in a single hour.”

First Senior Sister departed the spiritual space, waving her hand to signal for Lu Yang and Jiang Lianyi to leave, as she preferred solitude when composing techniques.

In truth, it was mostly to get rid of the Immortal Fairy, who was simply too noisy.

As the Junior Brother, Lu Yang was exceedingly obedient to First Senior Sister.

As a peer of equal standing, Jiang Lianyi respected the Sect Master.

The two of them walked down the mountain.

“Right, I haven’t introduced him since you arrived, but there is still one senior from our Immortal Lineage whom you have yet to meet.” Lu Yang remembered that the Immortal Lineage possessed a third-in-command.

In private, Lu Yang had asked the Immortal Fairy whether Jiang Lianyi counted as part of the Immortal Lineage, to which the Immortal Fairy had given a negative reply.

‘Lianyi and Xiaoling may have studied under my tutelage, but they have made no accomplishments along the path of immortality; moreover, their Dao Fruits are already predetermined, belonging instead to the Lineage of Survival of the Fittest.’

The Immortal Lineage maintained strict criteria for its categorization.

It was currently mid-afternoon, well before dinner time, so the barbecue stall had not yet opened for business, though the employees were deftly employing formations to skewer ingredients.

Following numerous improvements, the formation had evolved from its original capability of handling only meat skewers into a professional skewering formation that integrated multiple functions, including skewering enoki mushrooms and green beans.

Under the Immortal’s strategic vision of making friends afar while waging war nearby, the barbecue shop’s influence had flourished boundlessly in the underground, secretly controlling several restaurants to become a veritable commercial titan!

In front of the barbecue shop, Lu Yang unexpectedly encountered someone.

“Junior Brother Mangu, what brings you here?”

“Senior Brother Lu, it’s been a while, over half a year, hasn’t it?” Mangu chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

“I just recently broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, so I came to have some skewers to celebrate.”

“Congratulations, congratulations! Your cultivation progress is by no means slow, Junior Brother Mangu.” Lu Yang offered a warm smile of congratulations. “In that case, why don't we go and eat together?”

Mangu naturally agreed.

Jiang Lianyi noticed Mangu’s identity and let out a soft exclamation of surprise.

“Is this little fellow the very last of the Ancient Barbarian Tribe?”

“Speaking of which, since the existence of the Immortal Fairy was erased, how did the Ancient Barbarian Tribe come to be in Senior’s memory?”

According to the Immortal Fairy’s account, the Barbarian Tribe originally resided on the North Star, and it was she who had placed a bloodline curse upon them, thereby birthing the Ancient Barbarian Tribe, one of whose bloodline traits was the suppression of the Demon Tribe.

Since the mastermind had erased the Immortal Fairy’s existence, the origin of the Ancient Barbarian Tribe must have shifted accordingly.

Jiang Lianyi wore a peculiar expression: “The records say that Celestial Immortal Ying Tian was extremely fond of women, regardless of beauty or ugliness; one of them happened to be a female ancestor of the Ancient Barbarian Tribe, which led to the birth of the very first generation of the Ancient Barbarian Tribe.”