Chapter 473 - 263: Never Fatigued (Part 2)
A serving girl presented Spirit Tea and other refreshments, then bowed and withdrew.
"Five years have passed in the blink of an eye. Time really flies!" Yu Feng’er said with emotion, gazing at the curtain of rain outside the pavilion. Even after all this time, the past was still fresh in her mind.
Lü Zhong knew she was talking about the time since the two of them had returned to the Bihai Sect.
"It does," he agreed, feeling a similar sense of emotion.
Over the past five years, he had finally recovered from most of his injuries. His newly grown arm, through rigorous training, had regained ninety percent of its former strength.
With a little more time, his arm would be completely back to normal.
Just as he was thinking this, Yu Feng’er wrapped her arms around him.
Seeing the blush had yet to fade from her face, Lü Zhong couldn’t help but chuckle. "Shouldn’t we rest a little more?"
"No! I believe that the Celestial Dao rewards the diligent. You reap what you sow! As long as the two of us work hard enough, we’ll definitely conceive!" Yu Feng’er declared with vigor, as if she were utterly convinced of this principle.
"Alright then, let’s continue practicing our Swordsmanship," Lü Zhong said, going along with her wishes.
He had no idea where Yu Feng’er had heard that the *Mandarin Duck Secret Sword Skill* helped increase the chances of pregnancy, but lately, she had been dragging him into practice day and night without a moment’s rest.
If he didn’t have his own basic training to complete, he suspected this woman would work him to the point of collapse.
...
The days passed by peacefully, one after another.
In the blink of an eye, it was the Lantern Festival again.
The Bihai Sect had gained another Foundation Establishment cultivator. Including the existing Foundation Establishment True Cultivators, the Sect now had a total of seven.
Aside from Luu Baouxu and the other three original members, and this newly promoted Foundation Establishment cultivator named Yu Haozhen, the other two had broken through within the past five years, but both were the type whose potential was already exhausted.
Nevertheless, all seven had become the pillars of the Sect.
But even with seven Foundation Establishment cultivators, the Bihai Sect still didn’t have a single one in the Late-stage Foundation Establishment.
Luu Baokui should have been the first Bihai Sect cultivator to break through to the Late-stage Foundation Establishment, but not long ago, he suffered a Qigong Deviation while practicing his cultivation method, damaging his foundation. Even after he recovers from his injuries, his potential on the Immortal Path will likely be all but gone.
Few of the other Foundation Establishment cultivators had much potential either. They were, after all, disciples recruited during the Bihai Sect’s founding. They were either too old or had mediocre talent with three or four Spirit Roots. Furthermore, their temperament and comprehension were generally average; it was a stretch just for them to remain loyal to the Sect.
In response to this, Lü Zhong could only increase the investment of resources to cultivate new disciples with potential.
He could also only place his hopes on his disciple, Su Caocao. She possessed Dual Spirit Roots talent. As long as nothing went wrong, her breakthrough to the Core Formation Stage was practically a certainty.
In the Waterside Pavilion.
"Master, Master’s Wife, Caocao pays her respects." Su Caocao kowtowed respectfully. Normally, a simple bow with clasped hands would suffice, but on an important occasion like the Lantern Festival, a full formal ceremony was required.
"Mm, you may rise," Lü Zhong said with a light chuckle.
Many years had passed, and Su Caocao’s appearance had changed considerably.
As the saying goes, a girl changes dramatically as she grows. She was no longer the scrawny child from before. On the contrary, nourished by Immortal Spiritual Qi, she had blossomed into a beauty, more striking than the average female cultivator.
After giving her some guidance, testing her progress, and providing some cultivation resources, he dismissed Su Caocao.
"Husband, was I too harsh just now?" Yu Feng’er asked, a trace of faint nervousness in her eyes. She was still insecure in her role as a master’s wife.
"Don’t worry, it was perfectly fine," Lü Zhong reassured her.
Afterwards, Luu Baokui and the others came to have an audience one by one.
He used the same old methods to win their hearts, but this time with a few more pointed warnings.
It was worth noting that the newly promoted Foundation Establishment cultivator, Yu Haozhen, came together with Hua Furong. Judging from their intimate behavior, it was clear they had already become Dao Companions.
Before this, the two had been master and disciple.
At that moment, Lü Zhong felt a gaze upon him. It was Yu Feng’er, looking at him with profound meaning.
"Ahem, ahem..."
He couldn’t help but let out a few light coughs to cover up his embarrassment. After all, the relationship between him and his master, Shuini, was indeed somewhat ambiguous and hard to define.
He looked down at his nose and focused his mind inward.
Soon, he was acting as if nothing had happened.
...
「Half a month later.」
Lü Zhong’s long-prepared plan finally began.
Three of his Possession Incarnations, as arranged, would infiltrate Changchun Valley, Huayi Temple, and Xuanyang Sect respectively. They would start from the very bottom and work their way up, with the goal of obtaining the Nascent Soul Secret Techniques of these three major powers.
The reason he chose these three powers, and not other Sects in the Southern Barbarian lands, was something Lü Zhong had considered very carefully.
After analyzing various rumors and ancient texts, he had discovered something interesting. The Nascent Soul Secret Techniques of Changchun Valley, Huayi Temple, and Xuanyang Sect, as well as his own Star Devouring Technique and Yue Spirit Unification Mantra, all aided different aspects of the Nascent Soul Formation process. This was much like how the nine Spirit Medicines of the Nascent Soul Immortal Guide each produced a different effect.
Theoretically, to maximize the success rate of Nascent Soul Formation, one should learn nine different Nascent Soul Secret Techniques, corresponding to the nine stages of the process.
Unfortunately, even if a cultivator obtained multiple Nascent Soul Secret Techniques, they often had to make a painful choice due to limitations in lifespan and resources, picking only the single technique they needed most to practice.
’I’m different, though,’ Lü Zhong thought. ’I can probably learn a few more.’
After all, he had vast resources at his disposal, and the Bihai Sect was his to command. He didn’t need to appease internal factions or distribute assets among various cliques within the Sect.
This was the greatest advantage of being a founding patriarch.
But back to the matter at hand, the process of acquiring the Nascent Soul Secret Techniques was bound to be fraught with hardship and risk.
Lü Zhong was mentally prepared for the possibility of failure.
He had one more Possession Incarnation. This one would remain in the Bihai Sect and cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Cultivation level. Then, it would take a ship to the East Sea Cultivation Realm. Its mission was not only to gather intelligence on the East Sea, but also to wait for the right opportunity to travel to the Central Earth Immortal Prison Pass and investigate the aftermath of the events in the Western Realm.
Taking a moment, Lü Zhong contacted his incarnation in the Ancient Dragon Temple, Wang Lin.
After so many years of training, even with the benefits from the Soul Forging Secret Technique, this incarnation’s strength was still pathetic. Despite all its hard work, it had only reached the Second Level of Qi Refining Cultivation. It seemed it would be stuck at this Realm, unable to advance another inch for the rest of its life.
This outcome was, one could say, preordained.
With Five Spirit Root Talent, just being able to embark on cultivation was already a blessing.
Unless he were the protagonist of a novel, there was no way to turn his fate around.
Lü Zhong decided that once the incarnation’s Life was Exhausted, he would go and "reap the fruit." ’It’s been cultivating the Soul Forging Secret Technique for so many years,’ he thought. ’If I consume the "fruit," my Divine Sense will probably grow stronger.’
’The incarnation does the work, and I reap the rewards.’
What a joy!
...
Time entered the winter months.
With a crisp CRACK, blood-red flames ignited on the surface of Lü Zhong’s body.
This was caused by his body’s vital energy becoming so overwhelmingly abundant that he temporarily lost control, causing it to manifest externally. As he gradually regained control of his body, all the blood-flames retracted back inside him.
He clenched his fist, easily creating a sonic boom.
Before, he would have had to put in some serious effort to do that.
Feeling an unprecedented surge of energy, Lü Zhong felt that even if he never rested again, his body would no longer feel fatigue. This was the "never-tiring" effect brought about by breaking through the eighteenth Acupoint of the Barbarian Ancestor Heaven-Swallowing Mantra.
In some respects, this effect was equivalent to a Pseudo-Divine Technique.
But just because his body could endure it didn’t mean his Divine Soul could as well.
He could clearly feel that his mental state was slightly off, likely due to the consumption of his Heart Power. After all, the breakthrough process, even with the help of the Gray Mist Space, had been fraught with danger.
To recover, besides meditation, the best method was still sleep.
’Oh, right. I wonder if my physical strength has changed?’ Lü Zhong thought. He turned and walked to the Training Ground, but looking at the cramped space, he realized that if he broke anything, he would have to pay to fix it. He decided to find another place.
He flew through the moonlit night.
He found a deserted island a thousand miles away.
The island was covered in jagged rocks, a perfect place for an experiment.
"Yes, this is the place!" Lü Zhong looked at his fist, retracted the Gang Qi covering it, and then dove straight down from the sky.
BOOM! The earth shook and the mountains trembled.
A pillar of dust shot a hundred zhang into the air.
With one punch, he had blasted a deep crater into the ground.
"Cough, cough!" Lü Zhong sputtered, scrambling awkwardly out of the stone crater.