Fire of the Five Virtues?

"Sir, I feel I need to say a few words."

"I only just finished what I was doing and entered the consciousness space, but in this short time, I've already noticed three problems."

On the living room sofa, after agreeing to give the bed to Lin Qi, whom he had used to relieve his lust,

Punk Lü Yuan closed his eyes and entered the consciousness space as he did every day.

Then he stared in bewilderment at a tree circling Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan, and at the wild grass and flowers still growing beneath his feet.

Punk Lü Yuan pondered for a moment.

When he realized he truly couldn't make sense of what had happened, he chose to start pointing fingers at Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan.

"First, what's going on here?" Punk Lü Yuan held out a hand toward the large tree that Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan had already stopped.

"How come I didn't know our consciousness space could do this?"

"Based on our earlier experiments, couldn't this consciousness space only create a reality like a set of textures from our respective memories, so we could talk to each other?"

"How did you make this tree circle around you? We haven't seen each other in a day, and you've already started the Industrial Revolution?"

"Second, what's with all this wild grass and flowers growing everywhere? Is it because of your Southern Dipper Life Breath?"

"Did you break through?"

"Is the consciousness space brimming with life because your Embryonic Breathing has stabilized?"

"Third, Comrade Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan, why do you keep smiling instead of answering me?"

"You're making me look like I'm entertaining myself."

"If you won't answer me, what's the point of me asking all this?"

"It's like going to school. How can I attend without opening my Spirit Aperture?"

"Or going to cultivate. How can I cultivate without a Spirit Root?"

"All right-" Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan held up a hand, signaling the chattering Punk Lü Yuan to stop.

"Isn't it because you were talking so fast that I didn't get a chance to answer?"

"What do you mean, I was talking too fast?" Punk Lü Yuan folded his arms. "Comrade, you're so handsome it's overwhelming, but there's a problem with what you just said."

"If I was talking fast, couldn't you have interrupted me?"

"Forget it, I won't hold it against you. I think my words have already reached deep into your soul. Start explaining."

Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan smiled faintly and didn't hold it against him either. He simply began answering his questions with great patience.

"You've already guessed the answer to the second question, so I don't think I need to say anything more."

"As for the first..."

He spoke softly, then reached out, shrank the tree in front of him, and drew it back into his palm.

Only then did he manifest the large tree that usually appeared in the consciousness space, standing behind him.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to guess it at a glance like this, so I brought it out to tease you-"

"Well? Now that it's like this, can you guess what happened?"

Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan's question made Punk Lü Yuan frown, but not because he couldn't guess.

Quite the opposite.

It was precisely because he came from an era of capitalist cultivation and knew all too well what it meant that he reacted this way.

"A Law Artifact?" Punk Lü Yuan was somewhat surprised, even incredulous.

"It can change size and be controlled at will. From the looks of it, this is at least an intermediate Embryonic Breathing Law Artifact..."

"Where did it come from?"

"Haven't you spent the past two months cultivating near the tree where the immortal bestowed the book?"

"You couldn't have picked it up by the roadside, could you?"

Hearing this, Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan shook his head and sighed softly. "Child, you've already thought of that possibility, haven't you? You just don't want to believe it."

"Don't be afraid. Just say it calmly."

Most of the "sin of arrogance" that Punk Lü Yuan had developed today after soaring into the heavens vanished at that moment.

Then he closed his eyes in pain.

Embryonic Breathing Fourth Layer cultivation was the minimum requirement for refining an Embryonic Breathing Law Artifact.

Generally speaking, the higher one's cultivation, the deeper one's Embryonic Breathing, the stronger one's Divine Sense, and the more skillful one's use of it,

the higher the success rate and quality of the Embryonic Breathing Law Artifacts one refined.

But this wasn't absolute. In fact, with enough talent, one could refine a special-grade Law Artifact even at the Embryonic Breathing Fourth Layer.

And he had just admitted that he had broken through to the Embryonic Breathing Fourth Layer.

The answer was obvious.

Having figured it all out, Punk Lü Yuan opened his eyes and walked forward trembling, then shamelessly clung to Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan's thigh.

"Dad, could your esteemed self find some time to upgrade my low-grade Embryonic Breathing flying sword to intermediate grade?"

"Intermediate?" Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan raised his eyebrows. He looked down in confusion at Punk Lü Yuan's pleading eyes and corrected him.

"What do you mean, intermediate? Special grade!"

"Special grade?" Punk Lü Yuan completely lost his composure. For a moment, he didn't know whether to be happy or have his very cells split apart with jealousy.

"Before today, we didn't even have an artifact-refining Technique Method. That means the earliest you could have gotten one from the Immortal Book was after you broke through to the Embryonic Breathing Fourth Layer."

"Even if I say you broke through while I was testing my Spiritual Qi Aptitude, you still couldn't have spent more than half a day learning the Technique Method."

"And now you're telling me you can already refine top-quality Law Artifacts?"

Punk Lü Yuan hugged Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan's leg even tighter, afraid he would vanish before his eyes if he let his guard down.

"Dad, I'm begging you, can we play fair?"

"I'm afraid you'll get your account banned for using such outrageous cheats. If you keep playing like this, you'll disappear!"

Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan calmly patted Punk Lü Yuan on the head. "It's all talent. I'm just a hundred million points more talented in this area. Don't be afraid."

Punk Lü Yuan exclaimed, "Who the fuck wouldn't be afraid?"

"I'm opening my Spirit Aperture tomorrow. I came in here to have some fun with you, but how am I supposed to do that when you're like this?"

"Give me a copy of the Technique Method, and refine me a special-grade Law Artifact for free on top of the flying sword, or I won't get up!"

Punk Lü Yuan made his demands while kneeling on the ground and hugging Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan's thigh.

"All right, all right, all right... Forget one. Once I find suitable materials, I'll refine ten for you. Happy?"

Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan shook his head, sounding somewhat helpless.

"At least you know what's good for you-"

Only then did Punk Lü Yuan let go and slowly stand up. After coughing twice, he finally got down to business.

"Enough fooling around. I came in because I have something important to discuss."

With a thought, the two Secret Methods Lin Qi had written down appeared on their sheets of paper in Punk Lü Yuan's hand, and he handed them to Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan.

"First, there's that Technique Method I mentioned before, the one needed to conceal Spirit Root cultivation."

"You don't need to worry about it anymore."

"I've already gotten it from Lin Qi. The way I got it changed a little from the original plan, but it's nothing that matters."

"Here's a copy for you, along with her Secret Method for improving Spiritual Qi Aptitude. It probably won't be much use on your side, but I'm giving it to you anyway."

After Ancient Cultivator Lü Yuan took the two sheets of paper, Punk Lü Yuan nodded and continued.

"And then..."

"Lend me the Immortal Book for a moment, or ask it for me: which Dao lineage on my side does it recommend I choose?"

Early the next morning, Lin Qi slowly opened her eyes on the bed in Lü Yuan's bedroom.

After checking and finding that she apparently hadn't been assaulted in the night, she was a little dis... ahem, relieved-

She didn't linger long afterward, because today was the day when those who had paid and those recommended by factories had their Spirit Apertures opened in the annual group opening.

She pushed open the door and saw Lü Yuan.

Two bowls of warm congee sat on the table. One was Lü Yuan's, and the other was clearly not his.

"Thank you."

Lin Qi was somewhat glad she had thrown that punch last night. Otherwise, it was hard to say whether she would have received such treatment.

"You're welcome," Lü Yuan said softly. "It's just breakfast. Once we've eaten, let's go to the Spirit Aperture institution together."

Lin Qi didn't know whether it was her imagination, but she kept feeling that Lü Yuan was a little distracted-

In fact, it wasn't her imagination but the truth. Lü Yuan really was distracted, thinking about another matter.

The good news: "The Immortal Book gave me an answer last night."

The bad news: "Why Fire Virtue?"