Chapter 498: Golden Core Late Stage

If it were Lu Yang, he reckoned that if he became an immortal, he might be even more idle than the Immortal Fairy. He’d spend his days sunbathing, front then back, then back then front, and at night, he’d sleep on the sun.

Beyond immortals, there are higher realms, and beyond those, still more. When would this endless cultivation ever cease?

“Fairy, you once said that replacement is a form of forgetting. So, could the change in authorship of your recipes, from you to Immortal Yingtian, also be a form of replacement?”

The Immortal Fairy’s eyes lit up, and she patted Lu Yang’s shoulder. “Hey, that makes sense! Someone might have eliminated me and then used means to erase all traces of my existence, attributing everything I did to Immortal Yingtian. I thought that grandson, Immortal Yingtian, was just jealous of my talent and impersonated me while I was away.”

“What a teachable child!”

“It’s ‘a teachable youth’.”

Lu Yang thought to himself that Immortal Yingtian must have suffered from food poisoning and lost his wits to forcibly claim her authorship.

“Among the Four Immortals, is there anyone who could erase your existence?”

The Immortal Fairy frowned in thought, going through all the Four Immortals’ methods but unable to find a corresponding way. “No,” she concluded, “none of their methods can achieve that.”

The man and the immortal discussed for a while, but didn’t come up with anything more useful.

It wasn’t necessarily Immortal Yingtian who killed the Fairy; perhaps the Qilin Immortal and the others also claimed her authorship.

Items belonging to immortals were already scarce, and the Immortal Fairy’s possessions were even rarer.

Unless they could discover the Immortal Fairy’s legacy, which she once mentioned was buried in the North Star, that legacy would surely state who owned what, allowing them to deduce a thing or two.

The two were discussing what to do after the acting sect master’s term ended and retirement, when the Senior Sister returned with the Grand Tutor.

Although they couldn’t hear any sound, judging by the Grand Tutor’s contorted appearance and agonizing expression, it was likely the curse hadn’t been lifted yet.

“Senior Sister, can’t the power of national destiny lift the curse?”

“It can be lifted, but Emperor Xia is unwilling to do so,” the Senior Sister replied, casually tossing the Grand Tutor aside.

“Why? Weren’t Old Meng and Sect Master Qiu’s curses lifted?” Lu Yang asked, puzzled.

“To be precise, it wasn’t lifted, but spread out.”

“Spread out?”

“It means using the power of national destiny to spread the curse among everyone. The result is that everyone would marry fifteen minutes later than their original fate. This level of impact is acceptable.”

“But the Grand Tutor’s curse is too severe; if it were spread among everyone, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

Lu Yang understood. No wonder Emperor Xia was unwilling to lift the Grand Tutor’s curse; he wouldn’t want to either.

“So now…” Lu Yang glanced at the Grand Tutor, who was still persistently rolling around.

“Let him howl for now,” she said. “We’ll deal with it once we figure out a solution.”

“Alright.”

They couldn’t just leave him either. If they tried soul-searching, the Grand Tutor was currently in the ‘Seven Difficulties and Eight Sufferings’ stage, his mind chaotic, so they wouldn’t find anything useful.

If they directly refined him into a tool spirit, not only could Fifth Elder not yet refine a half-immortal level immortal treasure, but even if he could, the Grand Tutor’s current state would only result in a cursed immortal treasure with greatly diminished effects.

“The Prison Peak has too much Yin energy; it’s not good to stay here for too long. You should go back first,” she said.

Yun Zhi then said to the Immortal Fairy, “Senior, you did a good job as acting sect master this time. I’m very satisfied.”

The Immortal Fairy stroked her nose, feeling a bit smug. “Just a mere sect,” she boasted. “With my talent, I could even be an emperor. Watch me; I’ll capture a few more Tribulation Transcenders later and continue as acting sect master.”

“I’m going to the stronghold mentioned by the Black and White Venerables in a bit. According to them, there’s another Tribulation Transcender still in a dormant state whom the Grand Tutor hasn’t awakened. However, only the Grand Tutor knows where this Tribulation Transcender is sleeping, so I’ll see if I can find any relevant clues at the stronghold.”

The Senior Sister had the two leave first. After they left, she called out to the Grandmaster who suppressed the Prison Peak.

“Grandmaster, this is Jin Buqun, the second Grand Tutor of Great Yu,” she explained. “He’s being held here for now. Please be careful when you’re locking him up; he has formed a nascent Dao Fruit, likely a nascent Karma Dao Fruit.”

Previously, the Grandmaster had felt that as a dignified Tribulation Transcender, suppressing the Prison Peak was more than enough, a way to continue contributing to the sect after retirement.

Now, he felt he had severely overestimated himself; suppressing the Prison Peak was proving far too difficult.

“Grandmaster, don’t worry,” she reassured him. “He’s deeply entangled in the Seven Difficulties and Eight Sufferings and cannot extricate himself. He struggles even to protect himself, let alone escape prison.”

Fearing the Grandmaster might still be uneasy, Yun Zhi also set up a layer of formation array in the Grand Tutor’s cell.

She then headed to the secret realm where the Grand Tutor and his group had been hiding.

After leaving Prison Peak, Lu Yang immediately felt much lighter.

The celebration concluded smoothly, the Heavenly Court Cult’s reputation was established, the Great Yu Grand Tutor and his group were apprehended, and the Immortal Fairy’s two-month sect master experience voucher expired.

Time to cultivate!

Three months passed.

Lu Yang sat cross-legged, with the Qingfeng and Mingyue swords floating on either side of his body, emitting subtle sword energy.

The Invincible Pill slowly rotated, continuously absorbing external spiritual energy. A spiritual energy vortex formed in his dantian, spinning faster and faster.

He joined two fingers, pointed towards the sky, and softly commanded, “Break!”

With this gesture, Lu Yang’s aura surged outwards, like an unstoppable flash flood sweeping across a vast distance.

The Qingfeng and Mingyue swords clashed, their sword energies intertwining and leaving trails of sword marks on the grass.

The sword energy was sharper and more irresistible than before.

“Late Golden Core Stage already.”

Two years after joining the sect, he was already in the Late Golden Core Stage.

Lu Yang smiled and stood up, sensing the changes within himself. Now, he could easily defeat his three-month-old self.

For these three months, he dedicated himself to cultivation, not stepping out of the sect once. Even when Meng Jingzhou invited him out, he refused.

After the celebration, he was at the peak of his fame. The entire world knew that Questioning Dao Sect had Lu Yang, the number one cultivator in the Mid Golden Core Stage, who had bravely fought the Heavenly Court Cult’s Young Cult Master to a draw.

Some even disregarded the fact that he was Daoist Buyu’s disciple and came to propose marriage, demonstrating their considerable determination.

There was another reason Lu Yang didn’t go out: if he encountered another Tribulation Transcender outside, wouldn’t the Immortal Fairy have to become the acting sect master again?

The plundering of the Great Yu cultivators’ legacies was proceeding in an orderly fashion. The Senior Sister first went to a stronghold and brought back all the valuable items.

Subsequently, various major sects launched operations based on the treasure locations revealed by the Great Yu cultivators. If two or three sects were assigned to one Great Yu cultivator’s information, they would send people to explore together.

Questioning Dao Sect dispatched the Grand Elder, tasking him with leading a team to excavate the treasure location revealed by the Black and White Venerables.

As late-stage Tribulation Transcenders, the Black and White Venerables had so many valuable items that Lu Yang was dazzled by the sheer number of them.

Just a few days ago, Lu Yang received news that the Great Yu Grand Tutor, after enduring the torment of the Seven Difficulties and Eight Sufferings for three months, had finally tortured himself to death, his soul scattered, in an extremely tragic manner.