Who Let Him Cultivate Immortality

Yun Zhi thought for a moment about the pros and cons and decided it wouldn’t hurt to tell him. It would just satisfy her junior brother’s curiosity.

“Alright, since you want to know, I’ll tell you. But remember, just listen, don’t try to imitate me.”

“I definitely won’t.” Lu Yang promised.

The Everlasting Fairy was also very interested in Yun Zhi’s method of forming her Golden Core. She wanted to see if this junior could have a core stronger than her own Invincible Core.

“It was hundreds of years ago…” Yun Zhi began to reminisce.

Lu Yang blurted out, unable to hide his surprise: “Hundreds of years ago?!”

Eldest Senior Sister was an absolute cold beauty, looking like she was in her twenties. Walking with Lu Yang, they looked like siblings. Additionally, Yun Zhi’s attitude towards Lu Yang was not that of an elder but more like the concern of a mature peer. This led Lu Yang to often mistakenly feel that Eldest Senior Sister was around his age.

Now that Eldest Senior Sister mentioned her story of forming her Golden Core happened hundreds of years ago, Lu Yang realized she was the most senior disciple and far older than he had imagined.

How old is Eldest Senior Sister really? Hundreds of years? Could she be nearly a thousand years old?

These thoughts seemed complicated but happened in a flash, as quick as lightning.

Lu Yang, without even thinking, directly voiced his real thoughts.

The moment he spoke, he felt a sense of impending doom.

Yun Zhi’s gaze slowly fell on Lu Yang’s shoulder. For an instant, Lu Yang felt as if a bright, sharp knife was hovering over his neck. He was walking on the edge of death, just a thought away from it.

Fortunately, the feeling passed as quickly as it came. Eldest Senior Sister withdrew her gaze and did not dwell on Lu Yang’s excessive curiosity. She continued her story.

“Hundreds of years ago, I had reached the late Foundation Establishment stage and was preparing to form my Golden Core.”

“At that time, Master saw that my talent was extraordinarily rare and that I could take on great responsibilities in the future. So he told me some secrets to prepare me for the future. This included the fact that in ancient times, an unknown figure refined the stars into continents. Most of the stars we see today are mere projections; the real stars are beneath our feet.”

It is generally accepted in the cultivation world that only those at the Nascent Soul stage or above are qualified to know that the stars are false. The general public and ordinary cultivators are led to believe that the world is peaceful.

Otherwise, people might start worrying that just as an ancient figure once refined the stars into continents, someone might come along to refine continents into stars now.

“Causing unnecessary worry is not beneficial, so it’s better not to tell the masses.”

“I think I told you that I grew up in a secret realm and only left it later to come to the Dao Seeking Sect.”

Lu Yang nodded. Eldest Senior Sister had indeed mentioned this before. She had said that she grew up in a secret realm, surrounded by cultivators. Even after coming to the Dao Seeking Sect, she remained isolated from ordinary people. As a result, she was unaware of common human customs, such as the fact that ordinary people can’t bathe in boiling water.

—This was explained by Eldest Senior Sister when she applied ointment to Lu Yang’s skin after he took a boiling water bath and ended up with red, swollen skin.

“There was no night sky in the secret realm. When I left the secret realm and saw the night sky dotted with stars for the first time, I thought it was incredibly beautiful.”

“In my spare time from cultivating, I often lay on the grass, watching the stars and counting them.”

“When Master told me there were no real stars in the sky, I didn’t show it outwardly, but I felt disappointed inside.”

“I realized that the stars I saw every day were merely illusions left behind 300,000 years ago. When I thought about this, the night sky no longer seemed beautiful.”

“When I was contemplating what kind of Golden Core to form, I read in the ‘Golden Core Theory’ that ‘gold represents something firm, everlasting, and indestructible; a core represents something perfect, luminous, and flawless.’”

Lu Yang had a ridiculous idea forming in his mind: Eldest Senior Sister, you didn’t really do something that outrageous, did you…

Yun Zhi continued, “At that time, I thought, the Golden Core is flawless and indestructible, isn’t it just like the stars in my heart?”

“Since there were no stars, why not use the Golden Core to replace the stars and recreate the splendid night sky of ancient times?”

Lu Yang thought to himself, “Indeed, Eldest Senior Sister, you really did think that way.”

“The best Golden Cores are Grade One, so I formed a Golden Core based on the stars in my mind, creating a new Grade One Golden Core called the Splendid Star Core.”

“At first, my technique for forming the core was a bit clumsy, but as I formed more cores, my speed improved.”

“Throughout my Golden Core stage, I mainly focused on continuously forming Golden Cores until their number matched the stars in the sky.”

Lu Yang took a deep breath, amazed at Eldest Senior Sister’s audacity and execution.

“During the Golden Core stage, replacing stars with Golden Cores was challenging. When I broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, I shattered one of the Golden Cores to form the Nascent Soul, but left the other Golden Cores in my body.”

“Later, as my cultivation progressed, I took out all the Golden Cores from my body to replace the illusions of the night sky’s stars with real objects.”

“Unfortunately, there are too many star illusions in the night sky. Even with all my efforts, I couldn’t create enough Golden Cores to match their number.”

“But having some is better than none. The hard work of forming the Golden Cores was to replace the star illusions, after all.”

“So now, some of the stars in the sky… are your Golden Cores?” Lu Yang asked cautiously, unable to hide his respect for the outrageous nature of Eldest Senior Sister’s actions.

“Just a small portion.”

“…Even a small portion is a lot.” Lu Yang didn’t know what else to say.

Eldest Senior Sister, worried about Lu Yang, repeatedly warned him, “My method of forming Golden Cores is different from the norm. Do not think it strange and try to imitate me.”

“I definitely won’t imitate it.”

Previously, Lu Yang’s assurance that he wouldn’t imitate her might have been perfunctory, but now it was sincere. To imitate such an outlandish process was unthinkable. It was clear that forming Golden Cores was not as simple as Eldest Senior Sister made it sound.

What does it mean, “the more Golden Cores you form, the faster you get”? Does that even make sense?

No wonder Eldest Senior Sister wrote in her experience notes, “My method of forming Golden Cores is of no reference value. Do not imitate. Those who imitate me will die. Those who resemble me will die.”

Sometimes, Lu Yang felt that the gap between people could be greater than the gap between people and dogs. Everyone was cultivating immortality, so how could she be so exceptional?

“Fairy, can your Invincible Core compare to Eldest Senior Sister’s?” Lu Yang asked secretly.

The Everlasting Fairy was dismissive, “It’s just a bunch of Golden Cores. No matter how many useless Golden Cores there are, they’re still trash. As the second-in-command of the Immortal lineage, remember, we always prioritize quality over quantity. This girl has a lot of Golden Cores; mine are of high quality. The two are incomparable.”

“Do you dare say that to Eldest Senior Sister’s face?”

“No.”

She said it with conviction.

Lu Yang felt that with Eldest Senior Sister and the Everlasting Fairy as his backers, his cultivation journey should be smooth sailing.