Who Let Him Cultivate?!

"Senior Brother, your last few moves were really powerful," said Li Haoran as he slowly inflated back from his Fire Person form to his original shape.

He knew that at the last moment, Elder Brother Lu Yang had pulled his punches; otherwise, he would have been either dead or seriously injured.

Li Haoran remembered that during their trip to the East Sea, the gap between him and Elder Brother Lu Yang wasn't that big. But now, after a real fight with actual swords and spears, the gap had become vast.

During the battle, he had used several moves which he felt could at least put Elder Brother Lu Yang in a tough fight, if not defeat him.

But, the reality was quite the opposite, those moves were violently countered by Elder Brother Lu Yang.

Lu Yang slowly exhaled, as if reminiscing about his journey and said with a sigh, "My Nascent Soul has finally become obedient."

It was worth being bullied by the Invincible Nascent Soul all this way; now he was finally reaping the benefits. Any technique of his could now be doubled in power—it was too satisfying.

Li Haoran: "..."

So, Senior Brother, your Nascent Soul was out of control all this time?

"Junior Brother Li, you did quite well too. If it were any other cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage, they wouldn't have been able to take even two of your moves." Lu Yang's comment was not flattery, but the truth.

Li Haoran smiled wryly and shook his head, "I'm still far behind you, Senior Brother."

After the battle, the two of them used the Tree Planting Spell, moved mountains and rocks, diverted rivers, and restored the destroyed forest to its original state before leaving the scene of the 'incident.'

Lu Yang returned to Sky Gate Mountain, where he saw Eldest Senior Sister sitting in the Emperor's Chair with a sheet of paper spread out on the table.

Curious, Lu Yang approached and saw that it was a Celestial Map filled with stars, and Eldest Senior Sister was occasionally circling a star.

"Eldest Senior Sister, are you studying the Celestial Map?"

"No, I am marking my Golden Core."

Yun Zhi looked up, took a lengthy glance at Lu Yang, a small smile briefly playing at the corners of her mouth before fading away, "So, you finally conquered your Nascent Soul?"

Lu Yang nodded, feeling a huge relief.

"Not bad, faster than Fairy Eternity."

"Eh?"

Lu Yang was completely baffled by Eldest Senior Sister's words.

"Does that mean Fairy Eternity hadn't conquered her Invincible Nascent Soul at my stage?"

"Fairy Eternity, would you care to explain?"

Fairy Eternity pouted, emerging from Lu Yang's body irritably and glaring at Yun Zhi.

"Miss Yun, you shouldn't spill the secrets!"

Yun Zhi pretended not to see Fairy Eternity's angry expression and spoke slowly, "The Invincible Nascent Soul represents the most powerful version of oneself: exquisite techniques, precise force, even the connections between moves are flawless."

"Even you, Fairy Eternity, would have had a hard time defeating the Invincible Nascent Soul, right?"

The moment Yun Zhi saw the Invincible Nascent Soul, she knew it represented a state of perfection that no one could easily defeat upon just entering the Nascent Soul Stage.

Fairy Eternity was no exception.

"So, Fairy, you've also been beaten by the Invincible Nascent Soul?" Lu Yang asked, delighted in her misfortune.

Fairy Eternity had always been patronizing, saying that he couldn't even defeat a mere Invincible Nascent Soul and that his cultivation was not yet sufficient.

But it turned out, it wasn't just him who had been beaten by the Invincible Nascent Soul—so had the founder.

"With Fairy Eternity's guidance, Junior Brother, you must have grown faster."

"Fairy Eternity, when you were at our stage, without any guidance, it took you longer to overcome the Invincible Nascent Soul, right?"

"For example, did you conquer the Invincible Nascent Soul only when you were about to break through to the Divinity Transformation Stage?"

Catching her secretly held secret, Fairy Eternity stomped her feet in frustration.

"Miss Yun, you did that on purpose, didn't you!"

That was also why Fairy Eternity always felt sheepish when bringing up the Invincible Nascent Soul; to conquer it, she spent her whole Nascent Soul Stage getting beaten.

It contradicted the grand image she wanted to maintain in front of Little Yang.

Fairy Eternity had been suppressing her realm from breaking through in order to defeat the Invincible Nascent Soul. After she defeated the Invincible Nascent Soul, she could no longer hold back her realm and broke through to the Divinity Transformation Stage in one fell swoop.

Therefore, she didn't know what could be achieved after defeating the Invincible Nascent Soul; everything was theoretical.

Yun Zhi spoke earnestly, "I'm not trying to point out your flaws, Fairy Eternity. It's just that you are the founder of the Invincible Nascent Soul. Letting Junior Brother understand your experiences will help him better understand the concept of the Invincible Nascent Soul. All of this is for Junior Brother."

"For Little Yang's benefit?" Fairy Eternity thought there was some merit to Miss Yun's words and, after a moment of conflict, decided not to pursue the matter of her past being exposed.

"Since you, Junior Brother, have defeated the Invincible Nascent Soul, you should meditate in peace and prepare for your breakthrough into the Divinity Transformation Stage," Yun Zhi pointed out the next step for Lu Yang, urging him not to wander around aimlessly.

"By the way, Eldest Senior Sister, since you've left Captive Peak, does that mean Guan Shanhai has been dealt with?"

Yun Zhi shook her head. "After all, he's an Immortal with a steadfast Dao heart. Even with only three souls left, he won't submit so easily. I've just come out for a break, and I'll have to go back soon to continue the battle."

...

Lu Yang was only short of accumulating enough spiritual essence to reach the pinnacle of the Nascent Soul Stage, a step that required time to grind.

A year and a half had passed, during which Lu Yang had been sitting in meditation on Sky Gate Mountain, occasionally borrowing some books from the Scripture Pavilion on breakthrough experiences written by his predecessors, unconcerned about the changing winds of the outside world.

However, there wasn't much to concern himself with. In the year and a half, there were no disturbances in the outside world, not even a battle at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage.

Finally, Lu Yang felt the abundant spiritual essence flowing within his body – a sign that he had reached the pinnacle of the Nascent Soul Stage.

If it were some Nascent Soul Stage old fossil, reaching this step would still require effort to break through the bottleneck.

But Lu Yang was different; he was only a thought away from the Spirit Transformation Stage.

The transition from the Nascent Soul Stage to the Spirit Transformation Stage was a significant hurdle that Cultivators needed to face. In the past, cultivation breakthroughs just required surpassing the bottleneck period, and the next realm would come naturally, not too dangerous.

Yet, breaking through to the Spirit Transformation Stage was different; it was when a Cultivator first directly faced Heavenly Tribulation. From that point on, every major breakthrough in realm would require facing the Heavenly Tribulation, which was extremely dangerous.

And Lu Yang was in even greater danger. He didn't know if the Yingtian Immortal was still alive, if he was paying attention to this place, and if the Heavenly Tribulation would be able to sense the ancient secrets he possessed.

"Don't be afraid, Little Yang. Any Heavenly Tribulation should show respect to this Immortal, and nothing will go wrong!" Fairy Eternity declared with full confidence, giving a thumbs-up and flashing a radiant smile.

If a person unaware of the situation saw Fairy Eternity's gesture, they would surely be greatly inspired to make a breakthrough.

Unfortunately, Lu Yang was in the know.

"There's no turning back at this stage. I must break through."

Lu Yang sighed, released the constraints upon himself, and engaged with the spiritual operations of heaven and earth, preparing to pass the Heavenly Tribulation.

Crack—

Dark clouds covered the summit of Sky Gate Mountain, and lightning flickered.

"Hey, look there, someone at Sky Gate Mountain is about to undergo Tribulation."

"That Thunder Tribulation doesn't seem very powerful. If it's the Thunder Tribulation for the Spirit Transformation Stage, it must be Junior Brother Lu Yang, right?"

"Elder Brother Lu Yang is about to break through the Nascent Soul Stage? What a swift pace of cultivation."

The disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect were curious to hear that Lu Yang was about to pass Tribulation. They gathered at the foot of Sky Gate Mountain to watch the process, and more and more people arrived.

"What kind of Thunder Tribulation is this?" a Junior Sister who wasn't familiar with tribulations inquired, concerned for Brother Lu Yang's safety.

"White Thunder Tribulation—it should be the Xuanyu Divine Thunder, ranking ninth among the Thunder Tribulations faced in the Spirit Transformation Stage," a Brother in the Void Refinement Stage explained.

"Ranked ninth in Thunder Tribulation, that's impressive."

Feeling the pressure above his head, Lu Yang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was only the ninth-ranked Xuanyu Divine Thunder; he should be able to cross over.

"Strange, isn't the direction of this Thunder Tribulation a little off?" The Brother at the Void Refinement Stage frowned, sensing something amiss.

Suddenly, a white bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, not aimed at Lu Yang, but at the disciples gathered at the foot of the mountain.

"Run! The target of the Xuanyu Divine Thunder is us!"

Someone shouted out loud, and without another thought, the crowd turned tail and ran for their lives.

They continued running to other mountains until the Xuanyu Divine Thunder ceased its attacks.

Witnessing this scene, Lu Yang's eyes twitched. Why did the Xuanyu Divine Thunder seem to be clearing the area?

According to reason, at the foot of Sky Gate Mountain, they were already beyond the range of an attack from a Thunder Tribulation faced when breaking out of the Nascent Soul Stage.

Moreover, the ninth-ranked Xuanyu Divine Thunder was just for clearing the area. With that thought, Lu Yang swallowed hard. What kind of Heavenly Tribulation would he be facing then?