Chapter 515: The Dao Fruit of the Ninefold Immortal and the Qilin Immortal

Ten days later, a senior brother on duty at the Mission Hall delivered a letter to Lu Yang, who was currently cultivating by absorbing spiritual energy with his mouth open. "Junior Brother Lu," he said, "you have a thank-you letter."

Lu Yang opened it and found it was from Steward Song.

The letter primarily thanked Lu Yang for his help in resolving the situation with the laundry girl, which allowed the Song family's business to get back on track.

The letter also mentioned his youngest daughter and Zhou Lang. Steward Song stated that after an investigation, Zhou Lang was confirmed to be his biological son, while his youngest daughter, Song Lian'er, was actually the steward's daughter.

Steward Song did not elaborate on what accident led to this situation, but Lu Yang speculated that the midwife might have swapped the babies at birth.

Lu Yang quietly put the letter away. The intricate relationships within the Song family gave him a headache just thinking about them.

"This is nothing," the Immortal Fairy said. "In ancient times, there were only tribal families, and relationships back then were far more complex than this."

"Which tribe were you from, Immortal Fairy?" Lu Yang asked casually. To his surprise, his question was met with a long silence from the Immortal Fairy.

"…A small tribe, it's not worth mentioning," the Immortal Fairy mumbled softly, her usual vivacity gone. "It was gone before I even reached adulthood, affected by a battle between a person and a beast."

Lu Yang also fell silent. He didn't know what to say in that moment, as saying the wrong thing could be counterproductive.

Before the era of the Five Ancient Immortals, it was not a pleasant era; small tribes being crushed was a common occurrence.

Fortunately, the Senior Sister's telepathic message broke the silence: "Junior Brother, come here for a moment."

"Senior Sister, is something wrong?" Lu Yang asked.

Lu Yang found his Senior Sister. His Senior Sister rarely sought him out for anything. Could it be that Master was caught again and needed a guarantor for bail?

Or perhaps Master was arrested again and needed a visit to the prison, but his Senior Sister was too embarrassed to go herself and wanted him to go instead?

Or had Master finally been caught by his enemies, beaten to the brink of death, and they needed to rescue him?

"Wait for the others to arrive."

Not long after, the 'others' his Senior Sister mentioned began arriving at Tianmen Peak: Meng Jingzhou, Tao Yaoye, Mang Gu, and Li Haoran.

"Hello, Senior Sister."

The four arrived at Tianmen Peak one by one, dutifully greeting their Senior Sister.

"It's like this: there's a tradition among the five great immortal sects of exchanging disciples for study," she explained. "This time, disciples from the Dao Seeking Sect can go to the Five Elements Sect. There are five spots, and it happens to be for the five of you."

Originally, Dao Seeking Sect disciples were meant to study at the Laurel Immortal Palace. However, Palace Master Luo was adamant and absolutely refused to allow Lu Yang to go, so the Senior Sister had no choice but to change it to the Five Elements Sect.

"Go to the Five Elements Sect?" Upon hearing this good news, Lu Yang and the others couldn't help but smile, their eyes revealing joy.

They had never visited another immortal sect before.

Meng Jingzhou was also very happy, not expecting to return to the Five Elements Sect so soon.

Qiu Jin'an, using Meng Jingzhou's body, performed a 'Single Curse Fist' on Grandfather Ba and promised to teach Meng Jingzhou a Five Elements spell. Four months ago, Meng Jingzhou went to the Five Elements Sect to learn this immensely powerful spell from Qiu Jin'an, though he never had the chance to use it on Lu Yang.

"So, who will be coming to our sect to study this time?" Lu Yang asked.

"Shi Chan from the Hanging Temple."

Lu Yang had long heard of Shi Chan's name. It was said that he was still slaughtering pigs at the butcher shop, and Lu Yang wondered how that was going.

"Well then, get ready. You'll depart in two days."

"Who will be our elder in charge?" Lu Yang asked. Logically, someone should be leading them; it wouldn't be proper to send the five of them, mere juniors, to the Five Elements Sect unaccompanied.

"The First Elder hasn't returned since he impersonated Master and went out last time," she replied. "The Second Elder offered to go to the Five Elements Sect, but the Five Elements Sect disagreed. Due to unresolved issues from earlier years, the remaining elders were worried about facing retaliation if they went alone, so they dared not go. Therefore, you will have no elder leading you on this trip to the Five Elements Sect."

Lu Yang was speechless, wondering why this trip to the Five Elements Sect felt so dangerous. He hoped they wouldn't walk in and be carried out.

"It's fine, I've been to the Five Elements Sect before. I'll lead you all," Meng Jingzhou said, seeing an opportunity to be a leader and immediately stepping forward to take responsibility.

Lu Yang eyed Meng Jingzhou skeptically, thinking that this fellow wanted to seize the opportunity to mess with him. "Are you reliable?" he asked.

"More reliable than you," Meng Jingzhou retorted.

"Alright then," Lu Yang conceded.

Lu Yang didn't argue with Meng Jingzhou, as there was no one else to lead them anyway.

"The Five Elements Sect's Five Elements philosophy has much to commend it," the Senior Sister instructed the five. "You can learn from it when you go."

The five replied in unison.

"Ah, Five Elements," the Immortal Fairy chimed in. "Speaking of which, the Nine-Layer Immortal's Dao Fruit has a bit of a connection to the Five Elements."

"What kind of Dao Fruit is the Nine-Layer Immortal's?" Lu Yang asked.

"The Yin-Yang Dao Fruit," she explained. "It represents the extremes of the world: extreme heat and extreme cold, rapid movement and stillness, strength and weakness, and so on. It's very complex to use, not something that can be explained in a few words."

"What about the Qilin Immortal's Dao Fruit?" Lu Yang inquired.

"The 'Survival of the Fittest' Dao Fruit. You can simply understand it as any move used on the Qilin Immortal cannot be used a second time," she elaborated. "For example, if you hit him with a 'Universe in the Palm' move, knocking him to the ground or sucking him into your hand, his Dao Fruit will quickly adapt to that move. When you use that move again, it won't be able to harm him. Once, the Nine-Layer Immortal used the world's most extreme flames to roast the Qilin Immortal, who cried out in pain. The next time that move was used, the Qilin Immortal could dance and bathe in the sea of fire."

"So the Qilin Immortal won?" Lu Yang asked.

"No," she replied. "The Nine-Layer Immortal recorded the Qilin Immortal bathing and used it as a threat to make the Qilin Immortal surrender."

Lu Yang was speechless, wondering how the immortals' methods of winning battles differed so much from his imagination.

"Then is the Qilin Immortal alright after eating your cooking?" Lu Yang pressed. "Wouldn't that mean the Qilin Immortal would be immune after being poisoned by you, the Immortal Fairy, once?"

The Immortal Fairy looked confused by the question. "What do you mean, 'alright'?" she retorted. "Are you implying he would get tired of my cooking? He wouldn't! As an immortal chef, I strive for innovation in my cooking. Every time, I prepare dishes of different styles!"

Lu Yang thought that the Immortal Fairy's lack of innovation might actually make the Qilin Immortal happier.

"One more thing," Lu Yang continued. "I remember the prodigies of the Dragon and Phoenix clans lost to the Qilin Immortal when they were competing for the immortal position. Are there fixed quotas for becoming an immortal? This has always puzzled me. Is there a need to compete to become an immortal? What exactly were those ancient figures competing for?"

"Not exactly," she replied. "It's just that those two young girls' Dao Fruits conflicted with the Qilin Immortal's."

"Conflicted?" Lu Yang asked.

"The embryonic forms of their Dao Fruits: one was called the 'Survival of the Fittest' embryonic Dao Fruit, and the other was called the 'Law of the Jungle' embryonic Dao Fruit. The rules represented by these two embryonic Dao Fruits are very similar to the Qilin Immortal's, aren't they?" she explained. "Just as there can only be one Immortal Dao Fruit—as long as I exist, no other embryonic Immortal Dao Fruit can become a true Dao Fruit—there can only be one Dao Fruit for similar rules. It was destined that only one of the three could become an immortal; the other two would at most be demigods, infinitely close to immortality."