Li Changshou watched the Straight Hook in the Spiritual Lake. Not a single Spirit Fish had taken the bait. Some even looked at it with disdain.
Li Changshou thought it over and gave a subtle nudge with his Mana.
Huh?
The Spirit Fish that had been looking so disdainful suddenly showed a hint of terror. It slowly swam up to the Straight Hook, opened its mouth, and took a bite.
The tremendous commotion naturally caught the attention of Li Yang and Lan Ling'e by the lake.
The listless Lan Ling'e sprang upright and excitedly called to Li Yang, "Senior Brother, a fish is on the hook!"
Li Yang's lazy air vanished in an instant. He was suddenly brimming with excitement.
Without any visible movement, he appeared beside the fishing rod.
"Ling'e, the landing net!"
Li Yang shouted, then lifted the rod, hauling the Spirit Fish out of the water.
"Coming!"
Lan Ling'e scooped up the Spirit Fish with the landing net. Feeling its weight, she exclaimed excitedly, "Four catties—four catties and twelve taels! Senior Brother, I want Apricot Spirit Charcoal Grilled Fish!"
"All right!"
Li Yang didn't waste a moment. Carrying the fish and an axe, he went off with Lan Ling'e to chop down a tree.
Underwater, Li Changshou's eye twitched. What the hell was Apricot Spirit Charcoal Grilled Fish?
That Apricot Spirit Wood belonged to him, after all.
He had spent no small amount of effort planting trees on Lesser Qiong Peak, stockpiling the wood for his Paper Men and talismans.
Those two little rascals had been wasting his Spirit Wood for ten years. Just thinking about it made his heart ache.
But...
"Those two little ones really have made impressive progress with their Body Replacement Technique. Li Yang's improvement is downright terrifying. That kid's probably reached the Returning Dao Realm by now!
"As for Ling'e, her talent is a little lacking, but she should at least have reached Return to Void."
Of the two, Li Changshou could only clearly make out Lan Ling'e, whose talent was somewhat lacking.
Li Yang, on the other hand, had far too much talent. He could quickly absorb everything Li Changshou taught him, then build on it and come up with new ideas.
Li Changshou couldn't see through Li Yang's current cultivation, nor could he guess at it. He could only estimate that Li Yang had entered the Returning Dao Realm.
But he couldn't tell which Returning Dao Stage he'd reached, either.
Standing on the shoulders of a giant like Li Changshou, Li Yang had surpassed his teacher. Now, Li Changshou couldn't even locate Li Yang's true body.
Lan Ling'e's true body, by contrast, was among the Paper Men she currently controlled.
The girl was still a young woman at heart, cheerful and lively. Details like drinking milk tea and eating made it easy to figure out which one was her true body.
Meanwhile, Li Yang carried the fishing rod as he went to chop down a tree with Lan Ling'e.
The hole where the Straight Hook and fishing line joined contained a world of its own: a vast space with mountains, rivers, pavilions, and even countless soldiers and weapons.
At the very center of this space stood a handsome young man.
His name was Li Yang.
The chubby figure he showed the outside world was merely an image he had put on.
He set down the "Golden Pill" in his hand and fell into thought.
"This Pot Heaven Minor Divine Ability really is excellent. It's practically tailor-made for hiding and ambushing people.
"And with so many formations and techniques for concealing Heaven's secrets, this place has become somewhere even immortals can't find.
"At least Senior Brother hasn't realized that I'm observing his Spirit Fish Paper Figure Clone.
"But I can't let my guard down. Senior Brother is, after all, the Grandmaster of the Cowardly Path. Who knows whether he's actually figured it out?
"That cunning bastard. He's far too devious."
Thinking this, Li Yang looked at the "Pot Heaven Small World" he had spent five years creating.
"I need even better 'Golden Pill' clones. I also need to conceal myself behind layer upon layer of safeguards."
The many soldiers and weapons came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Li Yang had made every one of them for himself.
After all, Li Changshou had the Cloning Technique that created Paper Men. Since Li Yang was standing on the shoulders of that giant, he needed a comparable technique of his own.
Li Changshou had spent a hundred years growing the Spirit Wood on Lesser Qiong Peak, and it wasn't even enough for his own needs. There was no way he'd give any to Li Yang.
So Li Yang found another way, turning his attention to alchemy.
There were countless forms of alchemy in this world: using metals and stones, plants and trees, the energies of heaven and earth, or even living beings and stars.
Alchemy encompassed practically everything. It was a supreme Great Dao.
The reason Li Yang had settled on the Metal Stone Alchemy Technique was entirely because of his trait:
[Work-Life Balance: (The longer you rest, the better your cultivation results.)]
This trait was extremely misleading.
At first, he thought it only had to do with cultivation.
Fortunately, when he first used it, his past-life knowledge had merged with the lessons Li Changshou had taught him about how to conduct himself in the world.
That unexpected discovery led him to study the trait in depth.
He found that as long as he wasn't cultivating, anything else counted as resting.
What was more, he could glance at any book, even without remembering a thing, and once he activated the trait, all the information would automatically surface, be organized, and then be analyzed in depth.
So if he wanted to learn about cultivation, immortal arts, and the like, all he had to do was give the material a cursory glance.
And that wasn't all. When Li Changshou or their Master lectured them on the Dao, Li Yang discovered that even if he slept through it, he could understand the teachings in depth—and even surpass them—by opening his status panel afterward.
Later, he could organize what he'd learned, and when he activated the trait again, he would absorb the newly organized material all over again.
He could no longer put this trait into words. The label he'd originally given it, "super comprehension," didn't seem quite right.
But Li Yang knew that this trait had paved the way for his Great Dao.
In the first two years, he absorbed a vast amount of knowledge, then focused on the Metal Stone Alchemy Technique.
Metals and stones weren't exactly lying around everywhere, but they were plentiful in the Great Desolation World.
Unlike Li Changshou's Paper Men, which required him to grow Spirit Trees himself, he could obtain metals and stones with a casual grab.
And compared to Paper Men, metal was tougher and sharper at the same level.
Most importantly, by combining the Alchemy Technique with the Qi Refining Technique, the Puppetry Technique, the Cloning Technique, the Incarnation Technique, the Heavenly Secrets Concealment Technique, and more, he could turn ordinary metals and stones into spiritual objects of no small caliber.
Once refined, these "Golden Pills" could be thrown out and transform into clones. They were every bit as capable as Li Changshou's Paper Figure Clones.
What was more, since these things possessed the qualities of both pills and artifacts, they could grow on their own if placed somewhere rich in spiritual energy or Dao Rhyme.
As time passed, even clones refined from the simplest metals and stones would become no worse than the ones he had just made from top-grade materials.
He looked around the stable space, with its sky full of stars and the enormous Alchemy Furnace that occupied a third of the area.
The Alchemy Furnace flickered with firelight, spewing out countless "Golden Pills." They flew into the sky and transformed into stars.
Li Yang gave a soft laugh. "Three hundred clones comparable to Origin Immortals, two hundred and forty thousand clones at Returning Dao Stages One to Nine, and seven billion two hundred million clones ranging from Qi Refining Stage Seven to Returning Void Stage Nine.
"With these clones, the Sect Trial Tournament in a few days will be the day I become an immortal.
"And this is only the result of eight years of preparation!"
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