Chapter 382: Really a Low-Level Match?
Chapter 382: Is This Really a Fishpond Match?
Seven Luminaries Heaven—this was the name Lü Yang had given to this parallel world.
Its structure resembled the Ten Thousand Martial World, with a dome-like sky and flat earth, a vast Divine Land. Out of caution, Lü Yang kept his true form stationary, dispatching only a banner spirit—Chen Xin'an.
He chose an extremely remote location, avoiding the central continent of Seven Luminaries Heaven entirely. Instead, he settled on a small village nestled deep within the mountains.
"This place... actually has no spiritual energy."
Possessing Chen Xin'an's body, Lü Yang strolled through the mountain forests, extending his divine sense to probe the surroundings. To his surprise, this realm lacked any trace of spiritual energy.
'This isn't very friendly to Qi Refining cultivators.'
In the cultivation system of this backwater place, practitioners still relied on external spiritual energy up until the late stages of Qi Refining. Only then did they begin producing their own spiritual energy internally.
'In other words, any cultivator below late-stage Qi Refining who comes here would immediately revert to an ordinary mortal once their dantian's magic power is exhausted, with no external spiritual energy to replenish it! Body cultivators would fare even worse—without magic power, even their tempered physiques would likely become immobile.'
Only Foundation Establishment cultivators could disregard this limitation.
Once the Dao Foundation was established, it was no longer about adapting to spiritual energy—spiritual energy adapted to them. Though magic power would still deplete over time, they could fully sustain themselves.
"Whoosh!"
Lü Yang formed a hand seal with one hand, igniting a cyan glow at his fingertips. Surging wood-attribute spiritual power erupted, swiftly enveloping the surrounding forests.
In an instant, vegetation flourished wildly—trees blossomed, bore fruit, withered, then returned to lushness as if experiencing all four seasons in a single moment. Satisfied with the result, Lü Yang nodded. The fact that his divine abilities and magic power still functioned was undoubtedly good news—at least he wouldn't be defenseless.
Just then, his eyebrows suddenly twitched.
"Hmm? Someone's coming?"
Without hesitation, he dispersed Chen Xin'an's banner spirit form, converting it back into primordial qi and concealing it, observing silently with his divine sense.
Moments later, an elderly man quietly appeared.
With his arrival, a faint sandalwood fragrance suddenly permeated the air.
The man had crane-like white hair and a youthful face, hunched slightly at the waist, dressed simply with kindly features and eyes narrowed into slits as he surveyed the scene Lü Yang had created.
After a moment, he frowned in puzzlement:
"What kind of wild fox Zen is this?"
"Daring to recklessly use artifices like this—the deity behind this must be some ignorant wild god. Ai, after all, we're beyond the City God's jurisdiction now. These chaotic phenomena can't be stopped..."
The old man carefully inspected the area again but found nothing amiss.
With a worried expression, he departed.
Yet Lü Yang still didn't reveal himself, maintaining his primordial qi form patiently—who knew if the other party might suddenly double back?
One day passed.
Two days passed.
Only on the third day did Lü Yang cautiously reconstitute his body, somewhat dumbfounded: "He actually left for real? Didn't suspect someone might be hiding nearby?"
How unprofessional!
Judging by his own standards, Lü Yang would have pretended to leave while secretly lying in ambush, checking back periodically to ensure no one was actually present.
Yet this person had taken one look, found nothing, and genuinely walked away!
It had been a long time since Lü Yang encountered someone so guileless.
"And that person was quite interesting—he actually had divine rank?"
Lü Yang stroked his chin. Though the rank wasn't high—not even reaching Foundation Establishment, at most equivalent to a Qi Refining Perfection cultivator who had mastered a major divine ability—it was divine rank nonetheless.
This alone made him impervious to harm from most mundane things in the mortal world. And this was just the most remote corner of Seven Luminaries Heaven.
'Indeed, caution was the right approach.'
Lü Yang took a deep breath. Though according to Daoist Hong Yun's memories, Seven Luminaries Heaven—specifically reserved as his escape route—should theoretically be safe...
Five thousand years had passed.
Five thousand years was enough time for countless variables to emerge. While True Lords were impossible, even a single Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator could spell instant death for him.
'No rush. Slow and steady wins the race.'
Lü Yang pressed forward, using his divine sense to trace the lingering sandalwood fragrance in the air—the trail left behind by the other party, blatantly unconcealed.
Did the cultivators of this world not know how to erase their traces?
Or... was this bait to lure him in?
A hundred thoughts swirled in Lü Yang's mind, yet he remained unperturbed. After all, this was just a banner spirit body—at worst, he could abandon it. Thus, he boldly followed the trail.
Before long, a mountain village came into view.
The bustling sounds of villagers drifted faintly from within—about a hundred households, all ordinary mortals without any cultivation base at first glance.
The sandalwood trail ended here.
Lü Yang stood still, patiently waiting... yet still, nothing happened. No anticipated ambush—the peacefulness was almost unsettling.
Scanning the village, Lü Yang soon spotted a small earthen shrine about the size of a doghouse. Inside sat an incense burner holding three long sticks of incense, with several plates of fruit offerings arranged before it. Within the curling sandalwood smoke, a faint silhouette gradually took form.
It was the white-haired old man.
Seated amidst the incense offerings, he breathed rhythmically, his chest rising and falling as he inhaled and exhaled the worship energy. His originally weak divine rank showed signs of strengthening!
'Almost reaching pseudo-Foundation Establishment level now...'
'Well, well!'
Finally understanding, Lü Yang realized why this world lacked spiritual energy yet still had cultivators—they weren't using spiritual energy to cultivate at all!
"City God? Earth God?"
"Divinity through worship offerings?"
Numerous conjectures flashed through Lü Yang's mind, but distant observation couldn't reveal the details. To truly understand, soul searching would be far more straightforward.
'But charging in directly won't do.'
Lü Yang pondered: 'Earth Gods, City Gods—they sound like cultivators with home-field advantage. Rashly attacking would be too risky.'
Moreover, who knew what other methods they might possess?
Luring them out would be best.
With this in mind, Lü Yang immediately began preparations outside the village.
First, he found a valley and started setting up arrays to isolate the interior from the outside, ensuring no messages could be transmitted from within. Then came confinement arrays, killing arrays, followed by another layer of concealment arrays outside all the others.
Additionally, he added various talismans to enhance the arrays' potency.
Finally, he obscured the heavenly secrets.
Only after completing all this did Lü Yang repeat his earlier maneuver in the valley, manipulating spiritual energy to alter the environment.
"Hmm?"
To Lü Yang's astonishment, the moment he acted, the old man in the shrine opened his eyes.
"Where did this wild fox Zen come from?!"
Fuming, the old man flew out from the shrine, releasing his magic power aura—then plunged headfirst into Lü Yang's meticulously laid trap...
'Eh?'
For a moment, even Lü Yang was dumbfounded, never expecting such recklessness.
No preliminary checks?
No concern for potential traps?
No divination of heavenly secrets?
The next instant, dozens of activated arrays engulfed the old man, who didn't even have time to grunt before screaming once and collapsing unconscious.
Yet Lü Yang still didn't reveal himself.
Standing outside the arrays, he manipulated them to deliver several more strikes from a distance.
Already suppressed by Lü Yang's formations, these additional blows left the old man's aura even more feeble—beyond unconsciousness, he seemed barely alive.
Only then did Lü Yang emerge with lingering suspicion, creating a false body to approach cautiously from afar, prepared for any sudden counterattack.
Yet nothing happened.
It appeared the old man had genuinely fallen into the trap, subdued effortlessly.
"That's it?"
I haven't even exerted myself, and you're already down?
Blinking, Lü Yang felt a long-unfamiliar, indescribable emotion well up inside.
Is this really a fishpond match?