Script of Reincarnation

Time continued to flow.

The storm that had once shaken the entire Great Qian Dynasty gradually became nothing more than another distant memory.

For ordinary cultivators, two years was neither particularly long nor particularly short.

For Lu Yang, however, those two years carried an inexplicable sense of weight.

After all, during those years, another familiar figure disappeared from his life.

Lu Chuan, the old man who had personally brought him from the mortal branch to the main family had ultimately failed to escape the passage of time.

When Lu Yang received the news, he personally attended the funeral.

Lu Chuan had never been a particularly powerful cultivator. Although he had lived considerably longer than ordinary mortals, his cultivation had also never gone beyond the Body Tempering Realm.

Even so, to Lu Yang, the old man represented something far more important than his cultivation; he was one of the first people in this life who had changed the trajectory of his fate.

Without Lu Chuan bringing him into the main family, perhaps everything that happened afterward would have been completely different.

Lu Yang silently stood before the grave, the evening breeze sweeping across his robes.

Once again, he felt that peculiar sensation.

Another person from his childhood had disappeared, another connection to the past had been severed, and when Lu Yang looked back, he suddenly realized that there were already very few people left in the Lu Family whom he could call acquaintances from his earliest years.

The mortal children who had once entered the main family alongside him had gradually become a distant memory.

Lu Shan was gone, Lu Chuan was gone, his parents were gone, Guard Zhou was gone, many of the older cultivators he had once seen during his childhood had also disappeared one after another.

Even among those who remained, many had already become old.

Only the Spirit Awakening Realm cultivators still possessed enough lifespan to continue accompanying him for several decades, yet even they would eventually leave.

Time truly spared no one.

Fortunately, life did not consist solely of farewells.

That same year, another joyous occasion finally arrived; Bai Qinglan successfully entered the Spirit Awakening Realm at forty-one years of age.

When the news spread throughout the Lu Family, it naturally caused a small commotion.

After all, although Bai Qinglan's breakthrough had long been expected, successfully crossing that final threshold still represented a significant transformation.

From that moment onward, she was no longer merely the wife of the Ninth Elder, but also a Spirit Awakening cultivator herself, possessing considerable power in a place like Canglan Prefecture.

Lu Yang held a small celebration, and only those closest to them attended.

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder naturally came personally and Lu Qingyu also arrived.

Over the years, the relationship between Lu Qingyu and the couple had gradually become considerably closer.

Perhaps it was because they spent more time together after entering the upper echelons of the family, or perhaps it was simply because cultivation had caused their perspectives to become increasingly similar.

Whatever the reason, Lu Yang no longer viewed her merely as the aloof, arrogant genius girl, one of the Twin Stars of Lu Family from his childhood, but a genuine friend.

Lu Tianhe also briefly appeared.

After congratulating Bai Qinglan, he stayed for a short while before leaving.

"I still have to cultivate."

His excuse was extremely straightforward.

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder couldn't help laughing; this fellow truly had no interest in wasting time on matters unrelated to cultivation.

Bai Qinglan smiled as she watched him leave.

"He's still the same as always."

"Indeed." Lu Yang replied with a shake of his head.

The small celebration continued for several hours.

There was no extravagance, only a few familiar faces sitting together, drinking wine and discussing ordinary matters.

Looking at Bai Qinglan, who had finally stepped into the Spirit Awakening Realm, Lu Yang felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

They had been married for almost fifteen years now. Neither of them had experienced some earth shattering romance, their relationship had simply grown from husband and wife by arrangement to genuine companions alongside the passage of time.

Now, even their cultivation had finally reached the same great realm.

Although Bai Qinglan was only at the First Stage of Spirit Awakening Realm, while Lu Yang had already reached the Third Stage of Spirit Awakening Realm, the gap between them was no longer as absolute as before.

At least, from this moment onward, she had officially stepped onto the same path.

...

Unknowingly, another four years faded away silently.

By now, Lu Yang was already forty-seven years old.

The once youthful man had completely disappeared.

His appearance now possessed the maturity of someone in his thirties, with a composed demeanor.

His hair remained black, but his features had become considerably deeper than they had been during his youth.

The faint stubble beneath his chin had become something he no longer bothered to remove every day.

His eyes, however, remained exceptionally clear.

Years of cultivation and countless experiences had gradually polished away the sharpness of his youth, what replaced it was a profound calmness.

He had now spent nearly four decades within the main family.

The mortal branch he had once belonged to felt increasingly distant as his mortal relatives passed away one after another.

His maternal grandfather had also left this world some years ago, but his maternal family still had several cultivators, with two or three even in the middle stages of Body Tempering Realm, possessing a high status among Body Tempering Realm families in the prefecture city due to being related to him.

The children who had entered the main family alongside him were now also middle aged men and women, and some had already become grandparents.

Several of them had reached the later stages of Body Tempering Realm, and a few had even reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering Realm, but ultimately, none had managed to step into the Spirit Awakening Realm.

Lu Yang occasionally got reminded how similar to his past life self many of them were.

Had he not possessed so many obsessions in his past life, perhaps his ending would have been completely different.

That life wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't his life anymore.

...

Inside his secluded cultivation chamber, Lu Yang sat cross-legged upon the jade platform.

The Azure Moon Spirit Water Technique circulated continuously as Spirit Qi entered his body through every pore, flowing through his meridians before being refined into increasingly dense Blood Qi.

For the past several years, his cultivation speed had slowed considerably.

After reaching the Third Stage of Spirit Awakening Realm, every advancement required significantly more accumulation.

The bottleneck separating the Third and Fourth Stages of Spirit Awakening Realm had been far more difficult than the previous two minor realms combined.

Lu Yang had already anticipated this, therefore, he wasn't particularly anxious simply cultivating day and night year after year.

Until today, that effort finally paid off.

*Boom!*

A profound vibration suddenly erupted from deep within his body.

His Blood Qi surged like a vast river, every strand of crimson gold Blood Qi becaming increasingly condensed, while the spirituality contained within it underwent another mysterious transformation.

His flesh and bones trembled, his meridians expanded, and his internal organs were once again refined while his Divine Sense began rapidly expanding, going all the way from fourteen meters to eighteen meters before finally stabilizing.

Slowly, Lu Yabg opened his eyes, a spiritual radiance flashing through them.

Fourth Stage of Spirit Awakening Realm!

He had finally entered the middle stages of Spirit Awakening Realm!

Lu Yang remained silent for several breaths before he slowly clenched his fist, power surging through his body.

It was an extremely strange feeling.

His strength had clearly increased enormously, yet he felt no exhilaration in his heart.

There was no excitement or surprise, only a faint sense of familiarity.

Perhaps it was because he knew he possessed Essence Gathering potential, so breakthroughs within the Spirit Awakening Realm were considered checkpoints rather than achievements.

He understood his current strength very clearly.

If his current self fought against the Lu Yang from yesterday, he was confident that he could suppress his former self within several moves, and that was without using any Spirit Awakening Realm martial techniques.

Over the years, Lu Yang had naturally learned several martial techniques belonging to the early stages of Spirit Awakening Realm in his free time.

However, he didn't need them to defeat his former self; the difference between the early and middle stages was simply too great.

Lu Yang slowly stood up, dusting off non-existent dirt from his robes.

The Fourth Stage of Spirit Awakening Realm, this was the realm occupied by the various Grand Elders of the Lu Family.

In other words, he had officially stepped into the level of the Lu Family's highest ordinary combatants.

More importantly, he was only forty-seven years old. Before fifty, he had achieved it.

Throughout the entire history of the Lu Family, nobody had ever entered the middle stages of Spirit Awakening Realm before fifty years of age.

Lu Yang was the first, breaking another record.

Even throughout Wuyuan Prefecture, such cultivation speed could already be regarded as extraordinary.

Among the successors cultivated by Essence Gathering Realm factions, someone like him would already possess the qualifications to be considered a genuine core genius, having a true Essence Gathering powerhouse as his master.

Thinking this far, Lu Yang couldn't help laughing softly, his laughter echoing through the empty cultivation chamber.

For some reason, he suddenly remembered his past life.

Around this age, he was only at the Eighth Stage of Body Tempering Realm.

At that time, Spirit Awakening Realm cultivators were completely unreachable existences in his eyes.

Even someone at the First Stage of Spirit Awakening Realm had been a great figure capable of deciding his fate.

People like Liao Cheng, people whom he had once looked up to, those who stood high above him and possessed the qualifications to casually decide whether an outer disciple lived or died, faced with the current version of himself, would have no choice but to humble themselves.

Back then, becoming a Spirit Awakening cultivator had been his greatest dream.

Now, he was forty-seven years old, a Fourth Stage Spirit Awakening cultivator, an elder of the Lu Family, a figure whose words possessed considerable weight throughout Canglan Prefecture, and most importantly, someone who possessed Essence Gathering Realm potential.

Perhaps the most ironic part was that he had actually become the kind of person his past self could only look up to.

Lu Yang stood in place for a long time before shaking his head.

Time... truly changes everything.

If his past self could see him now, perhaps he wouldn't even believe that this was the same person.

Yet, Lu Yang understood something even more clearly; this wasn't the end, not even close.

The Fourth Stage of Spirit Awakening Realm might be the middle stage of a realm that seemed unimaginably distant during his childhood, but in the vast cultivation world, it was still nothing more than the beginning.

Above him stood the later stages of Spirit Awakening, then the peak, then the Essence Gathering Realm.

And beyond even that was the legendary Qi Sea Realm, the very realm that had recently caused the entire Great Qian Dynasty to tremble.

Lu Yang's gaze once again returned to that deep calm, like an ancient well.

His current cultivation could already make him a major figure within Canglan Prefecture.

But if he wanted to live up to his potential and take the Lu Family to greater heights, it was nowhere near enough!