Chapter 20: Xiao Shiye
Nearly three months later, inside the Earth Fire Furnace Room.
Lu Yang’s body trembled as he slowly stood up.
No… rather than “standing,” perhaps “floating” would be more appropriate. Because at this moment, he no longer had skin, flesh, tendons, or bones. He was now a scarlet Blood Shadow!
“I did it.”
The Blood Shadow had no face. Only amidst the swirling brilliance did it vibrate to emit a slightly distorted voice: “Eighty-one days… I have finally refined it!”
In the next second, the Blood Shadow gradually retracted. The skin that had been peeled off and laid on the ground flew up out of thin air and was “worn” by the Blood Shadow. The pale skin gradually filled with a bloody hue, and the shriveled flesh slowly plumped up. Before long, an unharmed Lu Yang appeared in the furnace room.
At first glance, he looked no different from an ordinary person.
His aura was even more massive compared to three months ago. His vigorous True Qi faintly condensed into a Qi Seed.
Qi Refining Seventh Layer! The Late Stage!
Perhaps the process of cultivating the Divine Ability was too painful, serving as an unimaginable tempering for his Essence, Spirit, and Qi, which unexpectedly allowed him to break through the bottleneck of his cultivation.
Even more fortunately, this happened before he formally mastered the Divine Ability.
If it had happened after he mastered it, breaking through the bottleneck would have been useless. For instance, now, his cultivation was permanently halted at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining.
“But it’s enough…”
Lu Yang murmured in a low voice. Possessing the [Book of a Hundred Lifetimes], he never limited himself to the achievements of a single life. How to utilize it for the next life was his true goal.
“Let’s test its power!”
With a thought, a magnificent Sword Pellet instantly appeared between Lu Yang’s eyebrows. Then, his figure transformed into a streak of bloody light and merged with the Sword Pellet.
BOOM!
Outside [Myriad Treasures Peak], following a violent tremor of the ground, the originally bustling crowd suddenly staggered. Several people fell directly to the ground.
“What’s happening?”
“Earth Dragon turning over [earthquake]… Impossible. With the Perfected Ones suppressing the earth veins, how could there be an Earth Dragon turning over?”
The disciples looked at each other in dismay. Among them, a disciple with higher cultivation suddenly sensed something. He subconsciously looked in a certain direction, astonishment gradually appearing in his eyes.
“Look!”
“That is…”
Everyone’s gaze followed his voice.
Immediately after, everyone saw a rainbow piercing the sun rush out from a furnace room. In the blink of an eye, it leaped into the dome of the sky, causing the cloud sea to surge wherever it passed.
Clang clang!
Crisp sword cries resounded through the nine heavens. Intense red light dyed [Myriad Treasures Peak] the color of blood, stirring up the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into monstrous waves!
Amidst such a tide of spiritual energy, most disciples couldn’t even breathe properly, feeling nearly suffocated!
“Such momentum… Late Stage of Qi Refining?”
A disciple showed a look of envy. “This means the Qi Seed has already formed. Just waiting for the final step of nurturing and transformation to achieve Perfection. From then on, Foundation Establishment is in sight…”
“I wonder which Senior Brother broke through?”
“I’ve seen Senior Brothers at the Late Stage of Qi Refining before, but none had such spiritual pressure. That rainbow-like sword light is probably an extraordinary artifact as well…”
At the same time, above the cloud sea.
Lu Yang transformed his body into a Blood Shadow, his Qi merging with the sword light. His spiritual consciousness spread out in all directions, perceiving everything within a radius of more than ten miles down to the finest detail, as clear as viewing the lines on his own palm.
“Late Stage of Qi Refining. True Qi sinks into the Dantian, transforming into a Qi Seed, triggering a metamorphosis of Essence, Spirit, and Qi. If I still had a body, my physique would have taken a qualitative leap at this moment — being impervious to swords and spears would be trivial. My True Qi should have also multiplied dozens of times. Unfortunately, now only spiritual consciousness remains…”
Lu Yang was lamenting with emotion when suddenly his eyebrows raised.
“Who goes there?”
Before Lu Yang’s voice faded, the sword arrived instantly following his heart. The blood-colored rainbow-like sword light directly tore apart the cloud sea, revealing a young and handsome figure.
“Senior Brother, don’t attack! Don’t attack!”
The person shouted loudly, but Lu Yang didn’t care at all. The sword light lunged forward. Seeing this, the person hurriedly took out a small flag and planted it in mid-air.
In the next second, the flag banner unfurled, transforming into a pair of flag gates.
The person dodged into one of the flag gates. Only after the sword light differentiated by Lu Yang chased in did he escape from the other flag gate. Immediately after, he beckoned with his hand.
The flag gates disappeared, reverting into a small flag.
Lu Yang raised his eyebrows, discovering that the sword light he had differentiated was actually trapped in an inexplicable place, allowing the opponent to evade it.
“Interesting…”
Lu Yang grinned. The Sword Pellet between his eyebrows trembled violently like muffled thunder rolling through the sky. In an instant, it differentiated into dozens, then hundreds of sword lights, spreading out like a peacock displaying its tail.
Seeing this scene, the young man, who had been somewhat smug just moments ago, instantly turned pale. He hurriedly took out the small flag artifact again to protect himself, while shouting loudly, “This Senior Brother, I am Xiao Shiye. I came here only to make your acquaintance, with absolutely no malice. Please retract your Divine Ability, Senior Brother…”
“Xiao Shiye?”
Lu Yang was stunned upon hearing this. Then, the sword lights that were about to erupt suddenly stagnated, stopping in mid-air and reflecting a face dripping with cold sweat.
That predetermined shill?
In the next second, Lu Yang retracted the sword lights, transformed back into human form, and landed in front of Xiao Shiye, laughing heartily. “Junior Brother, don’t misunderstand. I was just joking with you earlier!”
Hearing this, Xiao Shiye wiped the sweat from his forehead. He cursed inwardly, feeling that Lu Yang obviously intended to get serious just now, but on the surface, he also revealed a brilliant smile and said eagerly, “Senior Brother possesses vast Divine Abilities and boundless true qi. Xiao admires you greatly. Here is a trifling gift— please do not refuse, Senior Brother.”
After speaking, he smoothly handed over the small flag in his hand.
“How can I accept this…”
While shaking his head, Lu Yang took the small flag. Only then did he see two words on the flag surface, embroidered with gold thread: “Space Escape.”
“This treasure is called the [Space Escape Flag].”
Xiao Shiye took the initiative to introduce it. “Before entering the sect, this Junior Brother bought it at an antique shop. At first, it showed no miraculous properties. Only after entering the sect did I discover it was a rare treasure.”
“The flag has two sides. Once activated, it can transform into two gates of Life and Death.”
“Within the same realm, as long as one enters the Death Gate and exits the Life Gate, no matter how great the danger encountered, one can walk out a path of survival, untouched by calamity.”
Lu Yang couldn’t help but twitch his face after listening.
Such a wondrous treasure was actually bought casually by this Xiao Shiye from a mortal antique shop before he even entered the Saint Sect to cultivate?
Thinking of this, Lu Yang suddenly had a thought and focused his spiritual consciousness on his eyes.
At the Late Stage of Qi Refining, with the significant increase in spiritual consciousness, there were naturally many wondrous uses. What Lu Yang used at this moment was a miraculous technique called the “[Qi Gazing Technique].”
What he saw nearly made his eyes popped out.
Because in his eyes, Xiao Shiye’s entire body—crane cloak, boots, robes, head crown, and even the belt binding his waist—was radiating treasure light!
In terms of quality, they were probably no worse than his Sword Pellet!
Even with Lu Yang’s current temperament, he couldn’t help but feel a bit unbalanced.
After all, the artifact he spent months and huge sums of money to refine seemed as common as free dirt on Xiao Shiye, inevitably making one jealous.
“This person has such great luck…”
If Lu Yang previously thought Xiao Shiye winning the [Merit Pool] grand prize was due to rigging and black-box operations, he now changed his mind.
Could it be that his luck is actually just that good?
Thinking of this, Lu Yang’s expression gradually became strange.
With such high luck, one could say that as long as one followed him, one could definitely mooch off quite a few opportunities. And it just so happened that his cultivation wasn’t high, making him particularly easy to rob…
This Xiao Shiye… seems to be a talent!
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