I Had Everything I Needed Now

The Mystic Heaven Sword Sect.

Crane-Cry Peak.

Inside the cave abode of Lu Feng's ninth disciple.

A naked figure opened his eyes, and two blood-red sword rays shot out, punching two holes through the stone wall of the cave abode.

"My gamble paid off. I knew she wouldn't kill me."

Li Yang let out a long breath.

He really had been scared shitless back then. He had never imagined Ning Qingfeng would try to kill him.

But he hadn't sensed even the slightest trace of killing intent from her, which meant she definitely hadn't truly intended to kill him.

Besides, she had already demonstrated a heaven-defying immortal resurrection technique. Even if she really killed him, she could bring him back.

And... this didn't seem to be as simple as bringing him back to life!

Li Yang sensed something unusual about himself.

He immediately sat cross-legged on the stone bed and turned his divine sense inward.

Nothing had changed inside his dantian. It was still a landscape of corpse mountains and a sea of blood, and the spiritual power fused with slaughter sword intent sent chills down his spine.

"No-it's my body!"

Li Yang sent his divine sense through his meridians, discovering that passages once narrow, or even blocked, had opened wide.

His flesh and meridians had once been like little streams running through the mountains.

Now, they had become mighty rivers surging across a continent, flowing into that sea of blood!

Metamorphosis!

As that word surfaced, even Li Yang's breathing grew heavy.

Temperament, intellect, fighting prowess.

He was beyond reproach in all of them. Only his cultivation aptitude had been pitifully poor.

Even while suppressing her cultivation with all her might, and despite having little interest in cultivating, Shen Lou'er had been ready to attempt Foundation Establishment in less than a year.

Yet he had cultivated painstakingly for over a decade and taken two Seven-Pattern Foundation Establishment Pills before barely succeeding in reaching Foundation Establishment.

And now-

"I had everything I needed now!"

He knew this had to be a blessed opportunity Ning Qingfeng had bestowed upon him.

Did the Phoenix Nirvana Immortal Body... let me undergo nirvana? Li Yang murmured inwardly.

He tried circulating the Blood Sea Asura Sword Art. The sensation of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy flowing without the slightest obstruction was simply sublime!

It was as though a riverbed clogged with silt for years had suddenly been cleared, allowing tens of thousands of tons of floodwater to pour down, circulating freely through his meridians.

"Fuck! Now this is cultivation!"

Li Yang couldn't help exclaiming.

What miserable days he had endured before.

He had needed to squeeze out spiritual power little by little, slowly converting it.

If he absorbed even slightly too much, his meridians would ache as though they were splitting open.

Now he could absorb as much as he pleased, and his meridians were remarkably resilient, brimming with youthful vitality.

What had burned away wasn't merely his life, but also his terrible cultivation aptitude and the impurities accumulated from years of taking low-grade pills.

Li Yang's transformation wasn't "shitting through his pores." His flesh had undergone nirvana and been remade!

He didn't know what price Ning Qingfeng had paid, but he had to remember this debt.

He certainly wasn't qualified to repay it now. If he rose to prominence in the future and could help her, however, he would never refuse.

Before long-

Boom!

The sea of blood churned inside Li Yang's dantian, and his aura grew even more powerful.

The second layer of Foundation Establishment!

He had only recently reached Foundation Establishment, yet his cultivation had advanced again as naturally as water flowing into a channel.

His former self would never even have dared dream of progressing this quickly.

He spent some time consolidating his cultivation.

Then Li Yang raised his hand and drew over the jade slips held within his cave abode's formation.

There were dozens of message jade slips.

Some were from his master and fellow disciples, others from sword cultivator friends outside the sect, and a few from strangers.

The jade slips were dated. The oldest was already over a month old.

He first opened the messages from his sword cultivator friends.

"Brother Li, are you still alive?"

"You're famous now. You won't be able to keep a low profile anymore."

"Things aren't looking good. You certainly had your fill of killing in Yongning Commandery, but you slaughtered so many great sects' prodigies indiscriminately. Be careful when you go out."

And so on.

Next, he opened the jade slip from his master, Lu Feng:

"My disciple, thank heavens you're still alive. Come see me once you wake up."

Li Yang immediately swore, "Thank heavens, my ass!"

Luck, his ass. He had clawed his way to survival through sheer ability.

Had he performed poorly in front of Ning Qingfeng back then, his fate would probably have been far from pleasant.

And his master had called it an opportunity, too~

Yongning Commandery had been one enormous pit! And he had foolishly jumped straight into it.

The jade slips from his senior brothers and sisters mostly expressed concern and asked after him.

His third senior sister, Ning Xinyao, had written: "Junior Brother, that slap must have felt pretty satisfying. I'll return the favor."

Li Yang scoffed, unconcerned.

They were both at Foundation Establishment. What the fuck did he have to fear?

As for the messages from strangers, he could guess their contents with his toes:

"Li Yang! You dared kill my junior brother! I'll make you pay with your life!"

With a slight stir of his thoughts, Li Yang sent back a voice message: "Come fight me in the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's Life-and-Death Arena."

"You little thief! You dared kill someone from my Supreme Truth Jade Radiance Palace. Have you thought through the consequences?"

Li Yang replied, "Come fight me in the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's Life-and-Death Arena."

"My senior brother only used evil techniques occasionally. He didn't hurt people often. Why couldn't you give him a chance? Are you saying you'll never make a mistake?"

Li Yang replied, "Come fight me in the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's Life-and-Death Arena."

Li Yang sent out invitations one by one.

The Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's Life-and-Death Arena was mainly for disciples whose conflicts could not be reconciled.

It had restrictive formations that balanced the combatants' cultivation, ensuring absolute fairness, impartiality, and transparency.

Aside from satisfying his urge to kill, Li Yang had another very important reason for doing this-

He was broke!

Everything was gone!

Ning Qingfeng's divine fire had burned him out of existence, along with all the spoils he had obtained by slaying those prodigies.

If anyone actually came to challenge him, he would be more than happy to sign for these deliveries brought right to his door.

He opened the final jade slip, which was crimson-gold:

"Hello, Ninth Senior Brother~ We haven't met yet, but I heard how you put righteousness before family and killed your junior sister. Still, I have the Vermilion Phoenix Body, so I won't fall into the ways of evil fiends or the outer dao."

Li Yang hadn't even finished reading.

But he had already sent out, "Come fight me in the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's Life-and-Death Arena."

It was too late to take it back.

Because she was right there on Crane-Cry Peak, the message arrived in an instant.

Li Yang hurried out the door.

He reached a thousand-foot-tall parasol tree less than a kilometer from his cave abode.

There was a treehouse here, which served as the new junior sister's cave abode.

"Master, save me! Ninth Senior Brother is going to kill someone again!!!"

The moment Li Yang arrived, a terrified scream rang out from inside the cave abode.

"A misunderstanding! A huge misunderstanding!"

The next instant-

Lu Feng descended, his expression decidedly ugly.

"Have you gotten so used to killing junior sisters?!" he demanded. "And why aren't you wearing any clothes?"

"I don't have any clothes," Li Yang said helplessly.

Lu Feng gave Li Yang a set of Mystic Heaven Sword Sect disciple robes, along with a Crane-Cry Peak direct disciple token.

Once the misunderstanding had been cleared up-

"Senior Brother, you scared me to death~" A young woman emerged from the treehouse.

Her crimson hair cascaded down like a burning sunset, tiny glimmers of gold and red shimmering among its strands.

Her skin was whiter than snow, making that crimson hue all the more dazzling.

A faint vermilion phoenix mark between her brows added a touch of youthful softness to her radiant beauty.

The instant he saw this little junior sister, Li Yang's eyes widened:

"Not again!"

The red-haired young woman before him was breathtakingly beautiful, but Li Yang couldn't muster a single improper thought.

Because-she bore some resemblance to Ning Qingfeng!

He instinctively assumed this absolutely had to be Ning Qingfeng!

Although he didn't know how a mortal incarnation could have fifth-layer Foundation Establishment cultivation, she really looked far too similar. The resemblance made him panic.

"Li Yang, I know what you're thinking," Lu Feng explained. "But she isn't an incarnation of Ning Qingfeng or anything like that. Her name is Ning Xi. Like your third senior sister, Ning Xinyao, she belongs to the Ancient Immortal Ning Lineage.

"By family seniority, your third senior sister would even have to address her as Aunt."

But Li Yang didn't believe him and repeatedly cupped his hands toward Ning Xi:

"Senior, I really do want to repay you for granting me nirvana, but please don't keep haunting me! I'm under a lot of pressure!"