"I never expected the Monster Quelling Assembly to be held so soon. Looks like Li Yang isn't fated to attend."
Jiu Wu came to inform Li Changshou that the Monster Quelling Assembly had been rescheduled. Looking at Li Yang's unstable aura, he could only shake his head.
Compared with the sect's reputation, a disciple's future mattered more.
Li Changshou poured Jiu Wu ... a cup of wine.
"My Junior Brother just doesn't have the good fortune. Though you never know—after all, he gained some insights from watching my Master undergo Tribulation Transcendence. Maybe my Junior Brother can reach the Returning Dao Realm by the time he's thirty.
Martial Uncle, the sect has never had anyone reach the Returning Dao Realm at thirty, has it?"
Jiu Wu downed his cup of wine and sighed.
"Forget thirty years—even reaching the Returning Dao Realm within a hundred and fifty years makes someone an unparalleled genius. That boy Li Yang is destined to become a Golden Immortal!"
Jiu Wu was filled with emotion. Lesser Qiong Peak had one prodigy after another. It was truly astonishing.
He'd even carefully examined the feng shui of Lesser Qiong Peak and the Immortal Crossing Sect. By rights, the place shouldn't have produced such formidable people.
And yet, it had produced them—not just one, either.
Jiu Wu gave Li Changshou a long look, then glanced at the well-behaved Lan Ling'e beside him.
Putting aside Li Changshou, who had been quietly building up his strength before making a sudden breakthrough, even Lan Ling'e, though still at the Spirit Transmutation Stage, wasn't far from the Void Refining Stage.
In the future, she might become another prodigy who reached the Returning Dao Realm before the age of a hundred and fifty.
As for Li Changshou, judging by his aura, he was only two steps away from the Returning Dao Realm.
The young were truly formidable.
For a moment, Jiu Wu actually felt old.
After a few cups of wine, Jiu Wu prepared to leave.
"This trip to the East Sea Dragon Palace is mainly to show off our geniuses, so I won't be going. You can spend more time talking with Jiu Jiu along the way. As for my Master, I've already spoken with him. I've even informed the Vice Sect Leader, so you have nothing to worry about."
Since this event was about showing off the disciples and displaying their strength, there were naturally two categories to consider.
The first was the younger generation of disciples from the various immortal sects—that is, those under a hundred and fifty years old.
The second was the talented disciples who had already become immortals. Fairy Jiujiu belonged to this category.
At just over eight hundred years old and already a True Immortal, she was a prodigy too.
That was why, at many immortal sect events, disciples below the Immortal Realm rotated in and out, while Fairy Jiujiu was the exception. Unless she happened to be in seclusion, she had been dragged along to every event from the time she became an Origin Immortal until now.
As a result, over the past few centuries, many immortal sects might not have recognized the sect leader of the Immortal Crossing Sect, but they absolutely knew Fairy Jiujiu—and Venerable Wangqing, the one who had taught such a prodigy.
Fairy Jiujiu and Venerable Wangqing were, in a sense, the public faces of the Immortal Crossing Sect.
So this time, aside from the elders in the Heavenly Immortal Realm, only a dozen or so True Immortals with less than a thousand years of life were attending. Fairy Jiujiu was one of them.
That was Jiu Wu's heartfelt kindness. He also wanted to look after his Junior Brother Qi Yuan's disciple.
"This disciple thanks you, Martial Uncle."
Li Changshou understood all this, too, and was very grateful to Jiu Wu. He didn't notice at all that Jiu Wu had tossed him straight into a pit.
At last, Jiu Wu glanced at Li Yang, who was still in seclusion, let out a deep sigh, and disappeared.
If they'd brought this genius along, he'd have left everyone utterly dumbfounded.
What a pity!
Time flew by, and soon it was the day to set out for the East Sea Dragon Palace.
That day, there were twenty-seven disciples gathered in the Hall of Hundred Affairs: eleven at the Void Refining Stage and sixteen True Immortals.
After Elder Ge finished his speech, Li Changshou was pushed straight onto the stage and made the leader of the young disciples for the trip. Li Changshou was completely numb with shock.
For his Junior Brother's sake, the cultivation level he'd shown Jiu Wu had been recorded. As for how it ranked, well, it was above average among the disciples.
But if he led the group, everyone would scrutinize him, and some might even refuse to accept him.
Because...
Hardly anyone knew him. The only person who did was Youqin Xuanya.
In the end, the cautious Li Changshou argued his case, and the group finally settled on having two leaders.
The main reason he'd done this was because he planned to leave the group.
He had to undergo Tribulation Transcendence, and he also needed to find some way to get heavenly treasures for his Junior Brother's injuries. Making him the leader would waste too much of his energy.
Soon, under Venerable Wangqing's guidance, everyone rode the clouds toward the East Sea Coast.
At the same time, Li Yang came around from his healing.
"They've set off?
I've been healing for a whole year?"
Li Yang checked his status panel. He'd only gained a little over six hundred years. How had they already set off?
"Could my injuries be almost healed?"
He felt the pain in his body. His injuries clearly weren't healed yet.
After calculating on his fingers and searching through his deeper memories, Li Yang smiled bitterly and gently rubbed his head, which felt ready to split apart.
Looks like I was affected after all.
"Ugh!"
Li Yang groaned again, then spat out a mouthful of Immortal Blood.
He collected it in a bottle and put it away, finding a way to make light of his misery.
"I've filled a hundred or so bottles with Immortal Blood lately. If I used it to refine Three-Revolutions Golden Cores, it'd be enough to make over a thousand. Looks like I've made a fortune."
Li Yang slowly moved his body, carefully comparing how it felt now to how it had felt at the beginning. The pain had eased considerably.
Several wounds that had once gone down to the bone had even healed quite a bit. They still reopened from time to time, but things were much better than they'd been at first.
"Thunder!
Destruction!
Life!
What interesting powers."
Thanks to the Dao Wound, his age of over seven hundred had brought him a tremendous increase in comprehension.
He still hadn't comprehended the Great Dao, but the wounds had nevertheless given him some insights into thunder and destruction.
Perhaps, in the future, those insights would truly become his Great Dao.
Of course, compared with those two, he'd gained even more insight from the endless vitality of his Immortal Body as he continued healing.
He even had a feeling that life might be the Great Dao he comprehended first.
"I'm on the right path."
Li Yang firmly believed in his path. It was his hope.
His future was bright.
Then he looked at the Scripture of Non-Action outside the thatched cottage.
"I'll wait a few more days. I can't start reading it the moment Senior Brother leaves. Better to play it safe."
Eighteen days later, Li Yang looked at the Work-Life Balance trait. His rest time had reached a hundred and fifty days, so he went and fetched the Scripture of Non-Action.
After reading it briefly, Li Yang immediately reset his rest time to zero and converted it into fifteen days of cultivation for comprehending the Dao.
In an instant, vast insights welled up in his heart: the scene of his Master undergoing Tribulation Transcendence, the scene of his own Tribulation Transcendence, the moment the Purple Firmament Divine Thunder came crashing down, the damage to and repair of his Cavern Heaven, the adjustments to the Circulating Star Dou, and all his insights from the sixty-nine days he'd spent healing, along with the Scripture of Non-Action and many other classics.
Countless ideas and wisdom collided in his mind, becoming nourishment for his progress.
Stars, thunder, destruction, life, water, evolution, ruin, space, and so on—all seemed ready to become his Great Dao.
What Li Yang didn't know was that, not long ago, the moment he opened his Cavern Heaven to retrieve the Scripture of Non-Action, the Taiji Diagram, which had been spinning all along, had suddenly found its answer.
"Grand Master, I found it!"
Before you continue