Chapter 383
Chapter 383
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 383
Chapter Title: Is This Really a Fish Pond?
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Seven Luminaries Heaven—this was the name Lu Yang had given to this world.
Its structure resembled that of the Myriad Martial World: a flat earth under a round sky, with a vast Divine Continent. Out of caution, Lu Yang kept his true body still, merely dispatching a banner spirit.
Chen Xin'an.
He had also chosen a remote location, not daring to head toward the central continent of Seven Luminaries Heaven. Instead, he settled on a small village nestled amid layered mountains in a remote corner.
"This place... actually has no spiritual energy."
Possessing Chen Xin'an's body, Lu Yang strolled through the mountains and forests, extending his divine sense to probe. Yet he discovered that this world utterly lacked spiritual energy.
*This isn't very friendly for Qi Refining cultivators.*
In the cultivation system of the Broken Realm, spiritual energy was required up until the late Qi Refining stage, when one began gradually producing it internally.
*In other words, cultivators below late Qi Refining who come here would revert to ordinary mortals the moment their dantian qi runs dry, with no ambient spiritual energy to replenish it! Body cultivators would fare even worse—without qi, even their forged physiques might be unable to move.*
Only Foundation Establishment was immune to such concerns.
After all, once the Dao foundation was established, it was no longer "I respond to spiritual energy," but "spiritual energy responds to me." Though qi would still deplete, it could be fully self-sustained.
Whoosh!
Lu Yang formed a hand seal with one hand, a azure light igniting at his fingertip. Surging wood-aspect spiritual power erupted forth, instantly sweeping over and enveloping the surrounding mountains and forests.
In that instant, grasses and trees sprouted wildly. Flowers bloomed on the branches, bore fruit, withered, and then flourished anew—as if cycling through spring, summer, autumn, and winter in a single breath. Seeing this, Lu Yang nodded in satisfaction. His divine abilities and magic were still functional—a good sign that he hadn't lost his means of self-defense.
At that moment, Lu Yang's brows suddenly twitched.
"Hm? Someone's coming?"
The next second, he decisively dispersed Chen Xin'an's banner spirit body, reducing it to a wisp of innate qi for concealment. He then observed silently with divine sense alone.
Soon after, an elder appeared without a sound.
With his arrival, a faint scent of sandalwood incense wafted through the air.
The elder had the face of a child atop crane-white hair, his back hunched, dressed in simple robes, exuding a kindly air. His slit-like eyes scanned the scene Lu Yang had conjured.
A moment later, he frowned in puzzlement.
"Where did this wild fox zen come from?"
"Daring to cast spells so recklessly—its backer must be some unruly wild god. Sigh, inevitably, outside the City God's domain, chaos can't be contained..."
The elder inspected once more carefully but found nothing amiss.
He departed, visibly worried.
Yet Lu Yang still did not reveal himself, maintaining his state of innate qi as he patiently waited. Who knew if the other might double back?
One day passed.
Two days passed.
Only on the third day did Lu Yang cautiously reform his body, a bit dumbfounded. "He actually left for real? Not even suspecting someone hiding in the shadows?"
Hardly professional.
Lu Yang projected himself onto others—if it were him, he'd pretend to leave while lurking in secret, checking back every few days to confirm no one remained.
Yet the other had spotted nothing and just left outright!
It had been a long time since Lu Yang encountered someone so straightforward.
"And that fellow was interesting—he actually possesses a conceptual status."
Lu Yang rubbed his chin. Though the status was low—not even reaching Foundation Establishment, merely the level of a perfected Qi Refining cultivator who had manifested a major divine ability—
It was still a conceptual status.
This alone rendered him immune to harm from most mundane things in the mortal world. And this was merely the most remote corner of Seven Luminaries Heaven.
*As expected, caution was the right call.*
Lu Yang drew a deep breath. Though based on Hongyun's memories, Seven Luminaries Heaven—as his specially prepared fallback—should theoretically be safe,
Five thousand years had passed, after all.
Five millennia were enough for many variables to arise. True Lords were impossible, but even a single perfected Foundation Establishment could make him drop dead on the spot.
*No rush—slow and steady wins the race.*
Lu Yang pressed onward, using divine sense to sense the strand of sandalwood scent permeating the world—this was the trace left by the other, left blatantly exposed.
Did the cultivators of this world not know how to erase their tracks?
Or... was it bait to lure him in?
Thoughts raced through Lu Yang's mind, but he wasn't panicked. It was only a banner spirit body, after all—worst case, he could abandon it. Thus, he boldly followed the trail.
Before long, a mountain village emerged before Lu Yang's eyes.
Within the village, faint sounds of bustling activity drifted out—roughly a hundred households, but at a glance, all were mortals, none bearing cultivation.
The sandalwood trail ended here.
Lu Yang halted in place, waiting patiently for a moment...
Still, nothing happened. No imagined traps—just an eerie peace that unnerved him.
Lu Yang peered into the distance and soon spotted a dirt-mound shrine in the village, about the size of a doghouse. Inside sat an incense burner with three long sticks of incense and plates of fruit offerings. Amid the curling sandalwood smoke, a faint silhouette faintly manifested.
It was the crane-haired, child-faced elder.
He sat solemnly amid the incense and smoke, eyes closed in respiration. His chest rose and fell as he inhaled and exhaled the fumes. His originally feeble conceptual status even showed signs of growth!
*About the level of a false Foundation Establishment holder...*
*Well, damn!*
Only now did Lu Yang understand. No wonder this world lacked spiritual energy yet had similar cultivators—they weren't cultivating with spiritual energy at all!
"City God? Land God?"
"Incense deity cultivation?"
Numerous ideas flashed through Lu Yang's mind. But distant observation made details hard to discern—soul searching would be the simplest way to get to the bottom of it.
*Can't just charge in and kill, though.*
Lu Yang pondered inwardly: *Land God, City God—names that scream home-field advantage. Barging in would be too risky.*
And who knew what other tricks the other might have.
Best to lure the snake from its hole.
With that thought, Lu Yang immediately set to work outside the village.
First, he found a valley, then laid barriers to isolate inside from outside, ensuring no messages could escape. Next came trapping arrays, killing arrays, and an outer layer of concealment arrays.
He added various talismans to boost the arrays' power.
Finally, he obscured heavenly secrets.
Only after all this did Lu Yang repeat his trick in the valley, channeling qi to alter the environment.
"Hm?"
To Lu Yang's surprise, the elder in the shrine opened his eyes almost the instant he acted.
"Just where is this wild fox zen from!"
Fuming, the elder burst from the shrine, releasing his qi aura before plunging headlong into Lu Yang's meticulously prepared trap...
*Huh?*
For a moment, even Lu Yang was stunned. He hadn't expected the other to be so reckless.
No checking first?
No fear of traps?
No divining heavenly secrets?
The next instant, dozens of arrays activated. The elder trapped within didn't even cry out—merely a miserable yelp before rolling his eyes and fainting.
Yet Lu Yang still did not show himself.
He stood outside the arrays, manipulating them to strike the elder from afar several times.
The elder, already suppressed by Lu Yang, grew even feebler with these hits. Forget fainting—he was barely breathing out.
Only then did Lu Yang emerge, half-doubting, conjuring a false body from afar to approach. He readied himself for a sudden counterattack.
But nothing happened.
It was as if the elder had truly fallen into the trap and been effortlessly subdued.
"That's it?"
I haven't even exerted myself, and you're down?
Lu Yang blinked, a long-forgotten, indescribable emotion surging within him.
A real fish pond, huh?
(End of chapter)