Divine Sense Awakening

On a mountain path between the introductory disciple peaks of the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect.

Silver starlight and moonlight poured down from the sky like water, tinting the bluestone path a cold, frosty white.

The night wind swept through the dense woods on either side, branches and leaves rubbing together in a fine, continuous rustle, as though countless unseen shadows were whispering in the dark.

Li Yao strode in front, his face livid and his steps heavy and hurried.

His boots struck the bluestone slabs with a force that seemed meant to vent his anger, each step sending a dull echo down the silent mountain path.

Moonlight fell across his profile, revealing his gloomy expression with perfect clarity.

Li Feng followed silently, three paces behind, neither hurrying nor dawdling.

His expression remained as still as a pool of stagnant water, betraying no emotion. Only his dark brown eyes flickered occasionally in the moonlight.

Silence pressed down on the mountain path like a string pulled taut.

Li Yao stopped abruptly, swung his right arm, and slammed his fist into a branch extending from an old, crooked tree beside him.

Boom!

Spiritual power poured out, wrapped around brute force, and the arm-thick branch exploded apart on the spot, sending splinters and torn leaves flying.

Jagged wood fibers jutted from the break like a snapped bone.

The tree's crown shuddered violently overhead, showering dew and dead leaves onto their shoulders and soaking one side of their robes.

Li Yao took no notice.

"Damn it!" His face twisted for an instant, anger and viciousness churning in his eyes as his chest heaved. "That bastard Lu has gone too far! That look he gave us... Cousin, did you see it? He didn't take our Li Household seriously at all!"

In all his life, no one had ever treated him like that.

On his lineage's turf, he was a young master of the Li Household's direct line. Wherever he went, people flocked around him and treated him with awe.

Even after he entered the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect, every fellow disciple on the introductory disciple peak who heard he was from the Li Household, a Golden Core Aristocratic Clan, treated him with the utmost courtesy.

But the look Lu Yang had given him today was as indifferent as if he were looking at an insignificant weed by the roadside.

It wasn't disgust, hostility, or even contempt.

It was a disregard that came from the bone, as though Li Yao simply wasn't worth taking seriously in Lu Yang's world.

It felt a hundred times worse than being cursed to his face!

Li Feng said nothing.

He stood quietly where he was, watching Li Yao curse and vent for quite some time. Only when the other man's heavy breathing gradually grew less rapid did he speak, unhurried.

His voice was quiet, but it carried a steady authority that commanded respect without anger. "Cousin, I told you long ago that the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. It isn't the little patch of land under our Li Household's rule. This isn't a place where you can do whatever you please."

Li Yao whipped his head around to look at Li Feng.

His elder cousin's expression was calm and mild, like an elder patiently instructing a child who didn't know any better.

That act is fucking sickening!

Li Yao spat viciously in his heart.

He found his cousin's hypocrisy nauseating. At the auction house entrance, not only had Li Feng failed to stand up for him, a direct descendant of the same lineage, but he had even cupped his hands and apologized to Lu Yang on his behalf before dragging him away.

His shoulder still ached faintly from that yank.

If he weren't weaker than his cousin, he would have loved to give him a thorough beating.

Li Yao suppressed the agitation surging inside him and forced an impatient smile. "A powerful expert or Aristocratic Clan surnamed Lu... How come I've never heard of a single one? That Lu Yang's background might be nothing special."

Li Feng frowned at that.

Looking at his cousin's matter-of-fact expression, he felt a deep sense of helplessness.

He suppressed the weariness that was almost spilling over and spoke slowly. "First, could a Qi Refining Realm cultivator with an ordinary background throw out 125,000 low-grade spirit stones at an auction without blinking, bidding on supreme-grade pills and heavenly materials and earthly treasures? Do you believe that yourself?"

Li Yao frowned and gave a soft snort.

"Second," Li Feng said, raising a second finger, his tone still unhurried, "when that Qin Household girl introduced our Li Household as a Golden Core Aristocratic Clan outside the auction house, did you pay attention to Lu Yang's expression? It didn't change at all from beginning to end. He genuinely didn't care. That means that, as far as he's concerned, a Golden Core Aristocratic Clan poses no threat to him. The force behind him is at least on equal footing with the Li Household."

Li Yao's expression began to sour.

Li Feng gave him no chance to interrupt and continued, enunciating every word. "Third, there really are no major lineages surnamed Lu or Golden Core True Persons under the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect's rule. But how do you know Lu Yang's background has to be within the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect's territory? Haven't there been plenty of cultivators from territories ruled by Qin Province's other top forces who came to study at our sect? And taking ten thousand steps back, even if he isn't from Qin Province—the Eastern Domain is so vast, what corner of it doesn't have one or two great hidden forces?"

Having laid out those three points, he stared into Li Yao's eyes, his gaze carrying a heavy pressure.

This was no well-meant warning, but a direct, unquestionable command:

"I advise you not to entertain too many thoughts you shouldn't have. I'll tell you one last time: this is the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect, not the Li Household. Do everything by the sect's rules!"

Li Yao's face alternated between ashen and pale.

He drew a sharp breath. The air still carried the astringent scent of sap from the broken branch, but the pent-up anger in his chest left him choking, unable to spit it out or swallow it down.

After a long while, he forced a stiff, cold smile. "I never said I wouldn't follow the sect's rules. You're worrying too much, Cousin."

Li Feng studied him for several seconds, apparently judging how much of that he could believe.

At last, he breathed a slight sigh of relief and nodded.

What he feared most was that this cousin of his, who knew neither the height of heaven nor the depth of earth, would use the Li Household's name to bully fellow disciples in the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect.

Pulling that sort of thing on sect grounds could not only bring his cousin down, but also implicate the entire Li Household.

"Good, as long as you understand."

Li Yao said no more on the subject. "I'm going back first. You should get back and rest early too, Cousin."

With that, he turned onto the fork leading to the introductory disciples' residences.

The fork was narrower than the main mountain path, and the trees on either side grew thicker. Their branches and leaves sifted the moonlight into scattered specks across the road.

His footsteps receded along the path until the low chirping of night insects swallowed them entirely.

Once Li Feng's gaze had completely vanished from his back, Li Yao finally slowed his pace.

The calm on his face peeled away bit by bit like cracked porcelain, revealing the darkness beneath.

Moonlight filtered through narrow gaps in the canopy, casting mottled patches of light and shadow across his gloomy face.

He felt his cousin was simply overthinking things.

What if Lu Yang was bluffing?

What if he was really just a minor cultivator with better luck than most, who had stepped in dog shit, stumbled across some fortuitous opportunity, and come into a huge sum of spirit stones?

It wasn't as though that was impossible.

Besides, thinking about it carefully, where would a Mid-stage Qi Refining disciple get so much confidence?

Perhaps he had been putting on an act the whole time!

Until he found out exactly what sort of background Lu Yang had, he would never give up!

His cousin couldn't be counted on.

He gritted his teeth and ground a dead leaf underfoot, its brittle crack especially clear in the silence.

In that case, he would find someone to investigate on his own.

He wanted to see for himself whether this Lu really had such powerful backing.

Wang Da and Wang San escorted Lu Yang all the way to the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect's mountain gate.

Moonlight traced the cold, hard lines of the stone auspicious beasts flanking the gate. Pale golden patterns of light from a spiritual formation flowed slowly between their claws and fangs, brightening and dimming like breaths.

Lu Yang crossed through the gate without looking back.

The two figures behind him melted into the night, vanishing without a sound like two drops of water falling into a deep pool.

There was still a considerable stretch of mountain road from the gate to his residence on Profound Metal Peak's companion peak.

The night wind had turned thoroughly chilly, brushing his face with the crisp scent of vegetation and the damp breath of mountain springs.

Lu Yang climbed the stone steps one by one, his stride steady and unhurried.

After walking for a while in the night wind, the excitement and wild joy that had surged in his chest all evening finally began to settle, like boiling water gradually growing calm in the cold air.

Back at his residence, Lu Yang shut the door behind him. The room was quiet, and moonlight seeped through the paper windows, bathing the interior in a hazy silver-gray.

Lu Yang went straight into the cultivation room and sat cross-legged on a cushion.

He took the wooden bottle containing the Azurite Jade Liquid from his Storage Bag.

Holding the bottle in his palm, he seemed able to feel the faint fluctuations of spiritual power radiating from the drop of liquid inside through the thin wooden wall.

He didn't want to wait to use such a heavenly treasure. Leaving it in his Storage Bag for another day would make him itch with anticipation.

He pushed the stopper loose with his thumb.

Almost at the same instant, Spiritual Qi so dense it had nearly taken physical form gushed from the bottle's mouth.

The Spiritual Qi had extraordinarily rich layers: the delicate sweetness of flowers and grass, the pure sweetness of a mountain spring, and the mellow richness of thousand-year-old spirit wood. Deep within those layers lay an indescribable hint of coolness, a freshness that penetrated straight to the marrow.

Without hesitation, Lu Yang brought the wooden bottle to his lips, tipped back his head, and poured.

The Azurite Jade Liquid felt unexpectedly cold as it slipped from the bottle onto the tip of his tongue, like a snowflake melting there.

As it slid down his throat, it traced a distinct, icy path. He could clearly sense it traveling from his throat, down his esophagus, and into his abdomen.

Then the dense Spiritual Qi spread with a roar, coursing along his meridians to his limbs and bones.

At the same time, that special coolness, like a wisp of smoke without temperature, passed through his meridians and surged into the sea of consciousness deep between his brows.

Lu Yang closed his eyes and quietly circulated his Cultivation Method.

His Divine Sense, once a formless mass confined within his body, was like a handful of water trapped in a jar.

And that coolness was spring rain falling on the jar.

Nourished by it, his Divine Sense expanded, swelled, and stretched outward at a pace visible to the naked eye.

It was like a seed sprouting soundlessly, its roots reaching outward inch by inch.

Time flowed by.

He didn't know how long had passed before his expanding Divine Sense touched an invisible boundary.

Then—

Boom!!

A clap of spring thunder exploded in his sea of consciousness.

It was a vast, pure roar erupting from the depths of his soul.

Immediately afterward, brilliant golden light flared in his sea of consciousness, surging like a tide and illuminating the entire space of his consciousness as brightly as day.

Lu Yang distinctly felt a shackle on his body shatter.

His Divine Sense broke free of his body's constraints and spread outward.

The sensation was unfamiliar and shocking.

After he began cultivating, all he could perceive was his own body and the flow of Spiritual Qi within it. He could only see the outside world with his eyes, hear it with his ears, and touch it with his skin.

But now it was different.

His eyes were closed, yet he could "see" everything around him.

Within a radius of several zhang, every speck of dust suspended in the air, every fiber in the paper windows, and every insect flying past outside appeared in his perception with the finest details laid bare.

It was even more detailed and three-dimensional than what he saw with his eyes, as though everything were reflected directly in his consciousness, with no distance or separation.

This was Divine Sense!

An ability only Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators were worthy of possessing!

And he, a Mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, had mastered it ahead of time!

Lu Yang slowly opened his eyes. They seemed a little darker and deeper than before.

The corners of his mouth slowly rose in a smile.

As his cultivation continued to improve in the future, the range of his Divine Sense would keep expanding!

When it came to the range and strength of Divine Sense, cultivators at the same level weren't even starting from the same line as him!

Lu Yang gently exhaled a breath of turbid Qi and pressed down the excitement in his heart, then slowly rose to his feet.

Outside the window, the sky had quietly begun to pale.

A ray of early morning sunlight peeked over the eastern mountains, passing through the cloud-patterned paper windows and casting several pale golden shafts of light onto the cultivation room floor.

Countless tiny motes of dust slowly tumbled and floated in the shafts of light, as though performing a silent ritual before the start of a new day.

Lu Yang took out his sect token and lightly tapped it with a fingertip, channeling a little spiritual power into it to send a message to Qin Nanyue's voice transmission imprint:

"Senior Sister Qin, are you free? There's something I'd like your help with."

The token grew slightly warm, and a few breaths later, Qin Nanyue's brisk reply came back: "I'm free. Just tell me what it is."

Lu Yang smiled faintly and continued the transmission. "I'd like to exchange some spirit stones for contribution points, then borrow your access privileges to help me buy some Cultivation Methods, Law Techniques, and supreme-grade Law Artifacts."

He had worked out the idea on his way back last night.

He had over a million spirit stones in hand, but under the sect's contribution point system, the higher the grade of the item, the more one needed sufficient status and access privileges to exchange for it.

As an outer disciple who had only just joined, he lacked those privileges.

But Qin Nanyue was different. As one of the outer sect's top ten, she had far greater privileges than he did.

With her help, he could completely bypass the access restrictions on supreme-grade Profound-rank Cultivation Methods and Law Techniques, and supreme-grade first-tier pills and Law Treasures.

Qin Nanyue said, "You want me to exchange for them for you? Cultivation Methods and Law Techniques won't work. You have to swear a Heavenly Dao oath when you exchange for them, so you can only use them yourself and can't pass them on. But pills, talismans, and Law Treasures can be given to others."

Lu Yang looked at the transmission and frowned slightly.

He had originally planned to take care of the Cultivation Methods and Law Techniques too. It seemed that route was closed for now.

Still, being able to exchange for pills, talismans, and Law Treasures wasn't a bad deal.

He continued the transmission. "All right, then help me exchange for pills, talismans, and Law Treasures."

Qin Nanyue's voice carried a hint of hesitation this time. "Are you sure? Exchanging spirit stones for contribution points costs three times as much. It's far too expensive."

Lu Yang's smile deepened, and he said lightly, "It's fine. I have plenty of spirit stones."

In a cultivation room at a companion-peak residence in the outer sect area.

Qin Nanyue sat cross-legged on a cushion, her long black hair loosely pinned behind her head with a wooden hairpin, a few stray strands resting against her fair neck.

After listening to Lu Yang's transmission, the corner of her mouth twitched sharply.

She couldn't help feeling that he was showing off to her!

And yet she really had no way to refute his boasting.

At yesterday's auction, he had thrown out 125,000 low-grade spirit stones without blinking.

Just thinking about it told her how rich he was.

She took a deep breath and tapped the token hard with a fingertip. "All right. Let's meet at the outer sect plaza and go to the affairs hall together to exchange for contribution points."

After sending the transmission, she sprang to her feet, casually grabbed the outer robe hanging on the wall and threw it on, then walked out of the cultivation room.