Worthy of the Sacred Sect

The land lay like a painting, the setting sun like blood.

Lu Yang stood atop the Cloud Sea. Only after waiting for quite a while without a palm strike descending from Heaven to crush him into dust did he finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Was that... a Foundation Establishment True Person?"

Lu Yang did not even dare mutter to himself. He could only ponder inwardly, his expression ugly beyond compare. The gap between them was simply far too great.

Not only had his body frozen—even his thoughts had been frozen. Only after Daoist Hongyun left did he recover his senses. The feeling had been like a mouse caught in a cat's paw. This was no longer merely a difference in strength, but a difference in level. In an instant, it extinguished all the pride in Lu Yang's heart.

I'm still too weak. I have no power.

After defeating Liu Xin and the others while outnumbered, Lu Yang had swept away the gloom of his previous life and felt high-spirited. Yet now, he had once again steadied his mindset.

The immortal path was long; he still needed to temper himself and press onward.

After a bout of reflection, Lu Yang recalled Xiao Shiye's matter, and fear surfaced in his eyes again. Fortune... could it actually be bestowed by someone else?

By now, he remembered.

Before going to the Merit Pool, Xiao Shiye had once said, "I've happened to become a little lucky lately, so I wanted to take this chance and test my luck."

Become a little lucky lately.

At the time, Lu Yang had merely taken it for the humility of a Son of Destiny. But now, it seemed that might have been the truth. Xiao Shiye had truly only begun to have good fortune recently.

Because of that Daoist Hongyun!

"The colorful fish in the Merit Pool should have meant the Colorful Merit Fish, right? Daoist Hongyun wanted to use Xiao Shiye's hand to fish it out of the Merit Pool?"

"If that's really the case, then he succeeded in my previous life. But come to think of it, after Xiao Shiye caught the Colorful Merit Fish in my previous life, he announced that he was entering secluded cultivation and vanished without a trace from then on." The more Lu Yang considered it, the more terrified he became. Fishing, fishing—the fish had been caught, so the bait naturally became useless?

At that thought, Lu Yang suddenly raised his head.

First Saint Sect, Cloud Sea of Heaven-Reaching.

Perhaps, to those Sacred Sect higher-ups who were like divine dragons that showed their heads but never their tails, disciples like them were merely a school of fish raised in a pond?

"Worthy of the Sacred Sect indeed."

Lu Yang took a deep breath and somewhat understood why no one had slapped him to death.

A fish—even if it jumped about a little more joyfully, even if it had some secrets it could not reveal—so what? They might even consider it promising talent!

No matter what, at least the secret of the Hundred Lives Book wasn't exposed. Lu Yang rejoiced inwardly. Moreover, the Karma connected to the Hundred Lives Book seemed to have deceived Hongyun True Person as well, leaving him completely unsuspecting as to why Lu Yang possessed Qi Refining Fourth Layer cultivation before even entering the sect.

"No time to waste. I should go back and eat first."

Fortunately, although the Primordial Dao Scripture had been taken away by Daoist Hongyun, Lu Yang had memorized all its contents beforehand.

This was a good habit Lu Yang had developed because of the Hundred Lives Book.

Whenever he encountered a decent Cultivation Method or divine ability, he would immediately memorize it. Only then could he make use of it in his next life, without needing to spend Contribution Points to exchange for it again.

Moreover, Daoist Hongyun had taken the Primordial Dao Scripture, but he had not taken Fairy Qingchen's Secret Explanation of Array Treasures.

"Granted, the two are not comparable in the slightest. Fairy Qingchen's item clearly did not catch that person's eye... but it is tremendously useful to me."

In truth, Lu Yang did not care much about the Primordial Dao Scripture, because he had already set his sights on Zhao Xuhe's Third Grade true cultivation method. The Primordial Dao Scripture was neither here nor there; instead, immortal cultivation arts like the Secret Explanation of Array Treasures, which involved setting arrays and refining treasures, interested him greatly.

As for the Primordial Breath Ten Thousand Spirit Banner...

"There will always be another chance. I'll talk about it next life."

After returning to his cave abode, Lu Yang first patiently cultivated in peace. As he studied the Secret Explanation of Array Treasures, he slowly repaired the damage suffered by the Sword Pellet.

Only half a month later did he emerge from seclusion once more.

This time, he sought out Zhao Xuhe.

Yet when he arrived at Zhao Xuhe's cave abode, he found Zhao Xuhe explaining something to a stern-looking young man dressed in Law Enforcement Hall robes.

"Senior Brother, believe me. Don't you know my reputation, Zhao Xuhe's reputation? It's been excellent for over a decade. It's only 1,000 Contribution Points—I'll definitely repay them. What? Interest!? You... fine. Senior Brother, give me a few more days. I'll certainly repay both principal and interest."

After the two wrangled for a while, that Law Enforcement Hall disciple finally left with a cold sneer.

Zhao Xuhe remained standing where he was, his face gloomy as the Aura around him surged and fluctuated. Seeing that the timing was right, Lu Yang immediately revealed himself and walked over.

"Senior Brother Zhao, it has been a long time."

Zhao Xuhe looked up at the sound of his voice and instantly sensed Lu Yang's undisguised Aura. His pupils abruptly contracted. "Junior Brother Lu, you broke through to Qi Refining Late Stage!?"

"By luck, by luck."

Lu Yang smiled faintly. "My aptitude is dull. I only managed to break through by luck after several months in seclusion and spending quite a few Contribution Points. I've made a spectacle of myself before Senior Brother."

Zhao Xuhe's expression became increasingly stiff, even faintly twisted. Both of them had speculated on Death Substitute Puppets, yet Zhao Xuhe had speculated until his family fortune was gone and his capital lost. Even his lover had run off with someone else. Lu Yang, meanwhile, had made a fortune and even used his earnings in Contribution Points to break through to Qi Refining Late Stage.

What angered him even more was that he might not even be Lu Yang's match now!

"Although I obtained Coiling Dragon True Person's opportunity, because my Fortune was insufficient and my Merit lacking, I only received half of that Third Grade true cultivation method."

For this, he had even specifically asked his master once.

His master had deduced the Karma and concluded that Zhao Xuhe had exhausted the Merit accumulated over three lives by speculating on Death Substitute Puppets in advance, which was why he had fallen short at the final step.

At the thought, Zhao Xuhe nearly ground his teeth to pieces.

Half of a Third Grade true cultivation method contained only the Nine Transformations Dragon Art for the Qi Refining Realm, while lacking the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation method. It was completely useless to him!

Not to mention that he now owed outside debts. He did not even dare disperse his cultivation and switch methods, fearing that debt collectors would come knocking while he was changing cultivation methods, see that he was powerless to resist after dispersing his cultivation, then transform into bandits and rob him clean before killing him to silence him. That would truly leave him with bitter suffering he could not voice.

"Junior Brother, did you come to see me for something?"

"It's a long story." Lu Yang sighed. "To be honest with you, Senior Brother, I came to ask you for guidance. This junior brother has recently run into some trouble."

"Trouble?" Zhao Xuhe's eyes lit up.

Lu Yang sighed at that. "Previously, I focused solely on cultivation. Only after breaking through to Qi Refining Late Stage did I learn about the matter of true qi grades. I'm filled with regret..."

Hearing Lu Yang say this, Zhao Xuhe suddenly felt much better.

"So it's about true qi grades."

Zhao Xuhe hypocritically offered a few words of comfort. "Most Sacred Sect disciples have not actually realized this, so it is perfectly normal that Junior Brother did not know."

"Ah, the affairs of the world are hard to predict." Lu Yang shook his head helplessly. "That is why I came to find Senior Brother this time. I wanted to ask whether there is any way to improve one's true qi grade. It would be even better if there is a superior cultivation method. Senior Brother need not worry about the price—I can afford one or two thousand Contribution Points."

"...Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xuhe's thoughts immediately stirred. One or two thousand Contribution Points—he happened to be desperately short of just such a sum.

In a flash of lightning and spark of flint, Zhao Xuhe's thoughts raced. Then he suddenly said:

"If that is what Junior Brother Lu wants... I truly do have a cultivation method suited to you. So long as you cultivate it, you can absolutely raise your true qi grade."

"Really?" Lu Yang immediately revealed an eager expression. "What cultivation method is it?"

Zhao Xuhe hesitated. For some reason, he had an odd feeling, but on second thought, this cultivation method was only half a volume and was already useless.

Rather than keeping it, he might as well put waste to use and use it to repay his debts.

At that thought, Zhao Xuhe gritted his teeth and directly took the Nine Transformations Dragon Art he had obtained from Coiling Dragon Island out of his robes, handing it to Lu Yang.