Fortuitous Opportunity

Su Yu had not paid much attention to how the Lin Family had fallen in the past. He was not even familiar with Lin Danlang, having only seen him once and heard of him once.

That time he saw Lin Danlang was more than ten years ago, on the day of the Cloud Sword Sect novice disciples test.

On that occasion, Lin Danlang had successfully entered the Cloud Sword Sect.

The next time Su Yu heard of Lin Danlang was when Lin Danlang married into the Maple City Bai Family and wed the Bai Family's eldest branch's second young lady, who weighed over four hundred jin.

And then there was now.

He had been blasted into nothing but shattered remains by Su Yu's Fire Cloud Arrow Talisman.

Not long after.

The Cloud Mountain Market Enforcer arrived and confirmed Lin Danlang's identity. Only then did Su Yu learn that Lin Danlang had been expelled from the Cloud Sword Sect six years ago because he had actually tried to steal one of the Cloud Sword Sect's core true inheritance cultivation methods.

This—

Su Yu was left speechless upon hearing it.

How had an outer sect disciple even thought of stealing a core cultivation method from the Cloud Sword Sect?

But then he recalled that the Lin Family's destruction had happened around that time.

After suffering such a blow, it was perfectly normal for Lin Danlang to lose his mind for a moment.

After putting away the Cosmos Bag and magical artifacts Lin Danlang had left behind, Su Yu headed to the Heavenly Script Pavilion for a look around, asking along the way whether it had any Rank 2 talisman inheritances for sale.

Heavenly Script Pavilion.

The old man still looked exactly as he had more than ten years ago. A strange glint appeared in his eyes as he looked at Su Yu, and he praised, "Good lad, your cultivation method is quite good at preserving one's looks."

Su Yu smiled. "I remember that when I first came to the Heavenly Script Pavilion, you looked just the same."

The old man laughed heartily. "Old, old. I don't have many years left to live."

Su Yu tested the waters. "Then, the Rank 2 talisman inheritance?"

The old man gently shook his head and pointed toward the area piled with Ancient Jade Boxes. "There might be one there. Would you like to test your own luck?"

Su Yu: "..."

"Goodbye, farewell."

Seeing that the old man would not budge, Su Yu turned and left.

The old man gently shook his head as he watched Su Yu's departing back, feeling somewhat regretful. He knew that Su Yu's talent in alchemy could be called monstrous.

But his cultivation talent—

It was truly unbearable to look at.

Already over thirty, yet only at the sixth layer of Qi Refining.

At this rate, even reaching the Foundation Establishment stage in this lifetime would be somewhat difficult. As for forming a core, perhaps he had no hope of it in this life.

Without even the possibility of core formation, how could he obtain the Heavenly Script Pavilion's inheritance?

The Heavenly Script Pavilion only wanted monsters!

Cultivation talent was the most basic and most important requirement. Then, among the hundred arts of immortal cultivation, one also had to master at least one.

If even one requirement fell short, one was unworthy of becoming a disciple of the Heavenly Script Pavilion.

Back at the Alchemy Pavilion.

Su Yu did not feel disappointed or anything of the sort. He had merely gone to see whether there was a chance to obtain an inheritance. Since the Heavenly Script Pavilion did not have one, he would simply seek other channels.

Taking out Lin Danlang's Cosmos Bag, Su Yu opened it and poured out everything inside.

There was a huge pile of miscellaneous items, including all kinds of spiritual herbs and poisons.

There were also three methods involving the Demon Path and wicked paths. Two were utterly ordinary, but one could be cultivated all the way to the Foundation Establishment stage.

If Lin Danlang had endured for another twenty or thirty years, perhaps he really could have used this Demonic Path cultivation method to establish his foundation.

By then—

Mm.

By then, it would have been even easier for Su Yu to crush him to death. How pitiful.

After glancing at the three Demonic Path cultivation methods, Su Yu destroyed them with a look of disgust. Then he destroyed the pile of miscellaneous items, clothes, poisons, and so on as well.

In the end, there remained more than a hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones, along with five Ancient Jade Boxes.

There were two magical artifacts, both Mid-grade Magical Artifacts.

One was a weapon shaped like a sharp arrow.

The other was a Demonic Path magical artifact set of eight Soul Capturing Needles.

"This Soul Capturing Needle artifact is quite a good thing. Once it hits someone, it can intimidate their divine soul. It is absolutely a sharp weapon capable of deciding the course of a major battle." Su Yu happily put it away. Not bad.

This deliveryman had barely passed muster.

That arrow-like weapon was somewhat lacking.

After binding the Soul Capturing Needle magical artifact to himself and placing it in his dantian to nourish it, Su Yu's gaze fell upon the five Ancient Jade Boxes.

There was still quite a bit of dust on these Ancient Jade Boxes. Judging from the traces, they seemed more like things Lin Danlang had looted from somewhere.

After looking them over, Su Yu poured his mana into them, washing away all traces of the remaining restrictions on the five Ancient Jade Boxes before opening them one by one.

The first one had nothing.

The second was empty as well.

The third, hm?

A sheet of golden paper, thin as a cicada's wing, appeared before Su Yu. Even after the baptism of endless years, the paper remained perfectly intact.

That alone proved that this paper was no ordinary thing.

"What is this?" Su Yu asked in surprise, taking it out.

The moment Su Yu's divine sense landed on the paper, a thunderous boom rang out. His mind shook violently as an immense inheritance of information surged into it.

At the very top were three large characters.

Golden Cicada Art!

When Su Yu regained consciousness and slowly began recalling the additional inheritance in his mind, it took him more than three hours to sort through it once. The more he studied it, the more alarmed he became.

This was a divine soul cultivation method.

It transformed the divine soul into a golden cicada, strengthening the power of the divine soul until it could ultimately use the divine soul's power to affect mana and the physical body.

For Righteous Path cultivation methods, this technique provided an unimaginable boost.

Perhaps it could transform a genius who had originally been quite mediocre into a monster.

But for the Demon Path—

This Golden Cicada Art was practically an immortal art.

Compared to Righteous Path cultivation methods, Demon Path cultivation methods advanced ten times faster, perhaps even more than a hundred times faster.

But that came with a consequence, or rather, the flaw shared by all Demon Path cultivation methods: unstable foundations and chaotic mana.

Problems might not arise in the early stages, but in the later stages, the chance of Demon Path cultivators suffering cultivation deviation and exploding to death was more than a hundred, even a thousand times greater than for Righteous Path cultivation methods.

The convenience of rapid cultivation in the early stages would all have to be repaid with interest later on!

Yet the Golden Cicada Art could influence mana and the physical body through the divine soul, gradually tempering one's own mana and body until they became as pure and pristine as the body of a golden cicada.

It could be said that once the Golden Cicada Art was successfully cultivated, paired with a Demonic Path cultivation method—

The thought surfaced in Su Yu's mind, and for a brief moment, even he was tempted. Then he hurriedly crushed the thought.

He could never cultivate the Demon Path!

"Hiss... the Golden Cicada Art absolutely cannot be allowed to become known to others." Su Yu's pupils contracted.

Otherwise, those Demon Path cultivators would surely go mad.

Although from his perspective, the Golden Cicada Art was by no means something an ordinary person could even begin cultivating, and its difficulty did not lie in Foundation Establishment materials but in the cultivation method itself.

Difficult though it was, this cultivation method was indeed somewhat beyond imagination. It was absolutely no ordinary item.

Su Yu even felt that if he cultivated the Golden Cicada Art, then from core formation to the Nascent Soul Realm in the future, it would be smooth sailing all the way.

"I'll first cultivate it to the entry level and see just how much it can help my cultivation."

Su Yu was filled with anticipation.

The final two Ancient Jade Boxes contained nothing either, leaving only a little dust inside.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a year passed.

This day.

Buzz!

Su Yu was cultivating the Golden Cicada Art when, without a sound, he truly entered its beginner level. A streak of golden radiance shone in all directions within his mind, and Su Yu's originally illusory divine soul transformed into a golden cicada.

The Golden Cicada Art's radiance was ethereal and intangible, impossible to find with the naked eye as it spread through every part of Su Yu's body.