Chapter 1052: Intensive Studies At Incarceration Peak
Dai Bufan had a very long dream. He dreamed that at his birth, unusual celestial phenomena had appeared. He was a heaven-favored genius. After joining the Dao-Seeking Sect, where geniuses were as common as clouds, he still managed to outshine all his peers save Yun Zhi, sweeping through every challenge in his path.
He acted with propriety and was deeply beloved by his fellow disciples. After advancing to the Fusion Stage, he took charge of the Great Mission Hall’s affairs, earning the genuine respect of various parties—
“Senior Brother Dai, Senior Brother Dai, wake up!”
Lu Yang shook Dai Bufan, who was lying on the ground, and pinched his philtrum firmly. Dai Bufan instantly sat upright, his eyes hazy, his memories in disarray.
Was that...my life flashing before my eyes?
“Senior Brother Dai, you’re finally awake. You scared me to death.” Lu Yang wiped the sweat from his brow. The ancients say that great joy and great sorrow are harmful to the body. The ancients truly are honest and never lie to me.
“What happened to me just now?”
Lu Yang looked at Dai Bufan, his eyes bright and sincere. “I told you that I’ve become an immortal. You stood up excitedly, but you lost your balance, swayed a couple of times, and passed out.”
“You’ve become an immortal?” Dai Bufan thought for a moment, then immediately produced a crimson auspicious cloud banner from his storage ring and prepared to smash it at Lu Yang.
“You’re only at the Intermediate Divine Transfiguration Stage. You’re even deceiving me now?”
Startled, Lu Yang hastily covered his head. “Hey, hey, hey, don’t hit me! Everything I said is true. I also have a witness.”
“A witness?”
Lu Yang pointed to his brow, and an unconscious soul entity floated out.
“This is the Timekeeper Divine Lord of the Great Qian.”
After the series of self-detonations, the Timekeeper Divine Lord barely managed to survive but hadn’t regained consciousness.
Seeing this half-dead witness, Dai Bufan put away the auspicious cloud banner and smiled as he escorted Lu Yang to the main seat, massaging his shoulders.
Lu Yang tried to rise several times, but Dai Bufan held him down with a death grip.
Dai Bufan leaned close and whispered in Lu Yang’s ear, making him shudder involuntarily, “Great Immortal Lu, what exactly happened? What did you do in the Buddhist Kingdom?”
“Nothing much. I just did quite a few good deeds, which counted as great merit to the Buddhist Kingdom, so the incense power there kept surging toward me. I didn’t want it, but it couldn’t be stopped. Hence, I used that incense power to condense an immortal body.
“After that, I made use of that immortal body to capture the Timekeeper Divine Lord.
“However, the immortal body was temporarily constructed, so it couldn’t leave the Buddhist Kingdom. Once I returned to Great Xia, my cultivation reverted to normal.”
“What good deeds did you do that generated enough incense power to condense an immortal body? Did you dig up Buddhism’s World-Honored One?”
Lu Yang beamed and gave Dai Bufan a thumbs-up. “No wonder they say you’re the backbone of our sect, Senior Brother. Your guess hits the mark every time.”
Dai Bufan assumed Lu Yang was teasing him and waved him off impatiently, wanting him out of sight. “Shoo, shoo, shoo! Forget it if you don’t want to tell me. Just take the Timekeeper Divine Lord to Incarceration Peak.”
“Gotcha.”
Lu Yang swiftly left the Great Mission Hall and made his way to Incarceration Peak with practiced ease.
The prisoners who had been chatting fell silent the moment they saw Lu Yang. They hurriedly lowered their heads, afraid to make eye contact with him.
The Grand-Shifu floated over with a smile. “Little Lu, you’ve come. Did you catch someone again?”
“Mmhm, I caught four. This is the Great Qian’s Timekeeper Divine Lord, a half-immortal.”
Lu Yang hauled the Timekeeper Divine Lord out of his mental space. He wasn’t worried about him stirring up trouble with his Epoch Incipient Dao Fruit after awakening. The Epoch Immortal had already used the Epoch Dao Fruit to seal its abilities.
The Timekeeper Divine Lord was no different from a Transcendent Tribulation cultivator now.
“A half-immortal, eh? Not bad, not bad.” With even an immortal imprisoned here, the Grand-Shifu was no longer surprised by half-immortals. He had assumed that Yun Zhi had caught the Timekeeper Divine Lord.
Next, Lu Yang brought out three more captives from the Qingfeng Sword—the Cyan Smoke Venerable Lord, a Basic Divine Transfiguration Cultivator; Duan Qingshui, a Basic Fusion cultivator; and Mo Xiaochou, an Intermediate Divine Transfiguration cultivator.
As the three were dragged out, they shuddered as they sensed the cultivation realms of the prisoners at Incarceration Peak. We haven’t heard of the Dao-Seeking Sect capturing any powerhouses in recent years, so why are all the prisoners here so terrifying?
“Big Senior Sister will come to interrogate the Timekeeper Divine Lord.”
Lu Yang transmitted an auditory message to the Grand-Shifu. “Grand-Shifu, you should interrogate Duan Qingshui and Mo Xiaochou later. These two went to Xitian Temple to steal things. If they have no other offenses, it shouldn’t warrant the death penalty. At worst, it’ll be an imprisonment of a few dozen to a few hundred years.”
Lu Yang wasn’t worried about the two revealing his secrets after their release. By the time they get out, many years would have passed. At the time, my secrets would already likely be common knowledge anyway.
“Alright, leave the rest to me.” The Grand-Shifu locked the four in cages. Gazing at the cages that were gradually running out, he felt a sense of satisfaction.
It was rare to have newcomers. The prisoners gathered around curiously. The Cyan Smoke Venerable Lord fared better since his cultivation was acceptable. But Duan Qingshui and Mo Xiaochou were disappointing, especially Mo Xiaochou, whose cultivation ranked at the bottom. The prisoners shook their heads in disdain.
“The two of you, what’s with your cultivation? Did you pick up your cultivation techniques from a garbage heap?”
“Your spirit energy circulation route is wrong too; there are so many mistakes.”
“Come, come, come. Let this old man teach you how to cultivate properly.”
The prisoners had plenty of idle time. They might as well teach the two newcomers how to cultivate.
Duan Qingshui and Mo Xiaochou were overwhelmed by the favor and listened attentively.
~~~
In a mysterious place, a figure sat on a throne built atop piles of bones, contemplating the intelligence they had just received. Their eyes gradually brightened. The implications behind this report were far from simple.
“A mysterious immortal, multiple self-detonations. Could it be that the Everlasting Dao Fruit has appeared?
“Who is that mysterious immortal? Is it Everlasting? Has Everlasting been resurrected? Who did it? Heaven Mandate, Epoch, and the others?”
The figure quickly calmed down, realizing something was off.
“No. According to the accounts of Heaven Mandate, Epoch, and the others, if it were the true Everlasting Dao Fruit, the self-detonation would have been far more powerful.
“Besides, Heaven Mandate, Epoch, and the others have no reason to resurrect Everlasting. If they did, how would they obtain the Everlasting Dao Fruit?
“Then it must be an Everlasting Incipient Dao Fruit?”
At this thought, the figure rose excitedly and began pacing. “An Everlasting Incipient Dao Fruit...an Everlasting Incipient Dao Fruit has finally appeared!
“It’s a pity that back when the Everlasting Creed was condensing an Everlasting Incipient Dao Fruit, I thought I would wait a while and let the Everlasting Immortal increase its level of perfect completion. As a result, I lost the initiative. Yun Zhi of the Dao-Seeking Sect interfered, and even my clone was destroyed by her.
“Had I acted sooner, I would have already obtained the Everlasting Incipient Dao Fruit! If I had that Everlasting Incipient Dao Fruit, I would have a chance to escape even if I encountered the Silent Annihilation Immortal! But that mysterious immortal is somewhat strange. His body was formed from the Buddhist Kingdom’s incense power, which means that he’s not a true immortal just yet.
“As long as he’s not an immortal—that’s good, that’s good.”
