Who Let Him Cultivate Immortality

“Alright, I need to cultivate now. You go on and continue choosing your Golden Core method.”

“Okay.”

After learning the specific process of how Eldest Senior Sister formed her Golden Core, Lu Yang completely abandoned any thoughts of imitation. Not even a trace of such an idea remained.

This method of forming the Golden Core was too outrageous. He was just an ordinary sword spirit root, nothing extraordinary, lacking Eldest Senior Sister’s talent.

The old nursery rhyme went, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are,” but now should it be changed to, “Twinkle, twinkle, Golden Core, how I wonder what you are”?

It makes sense and is catchy.

One problem was solved, and another immediately came to mind—how old exactly was Eldest Senior Sister?

Specifically, how many hundreds of years old?

Lu Yang was itching to uncover the truth.

He recalled that during the sect’s entry selection, the first round was conducted by Senior Brother Dai Bufan. With just a touch, Dai Bufan could determine a person’s bones and age. “Fairy, do you have a technique to see someone’s age?”

“Of course I do.”

Lu Yang had asked casually, not expecting an affirmative answer.

As expected of the Fairy.

“Hehe, my technique is amazing; it can see someone’s age regardless of their cultivation level.”

“Really?!”

“Of course, don’t you know who I am?”

This was a minor technique, or rather, a small skill—simple and easy to learn. After reciting the ancient words and practicing twice, Lu Yang had mastered it.

Lu Yang activated the ancient technique and felt his vision clear, as if gaining an understanding.

“Let’s test it on myself first.”

Lu Yang spread his hands and saw a number appear before his eyes—sixteen. Correct, he was indeed sixteen.

“Now, let’s check the Fairy.” Lu Yang activated the ancient technique to look at the Everlasting Fairy, who was lounging contentedly, and saw the number—sixteen.

“Hmm?”

Although the Everlasting Fairy always boasted about being a genius teenage girl, tragically dead at sixteen, Lu Yang knew that was nonsense. Sixteen years old and already an immortal? One eon per year, perhaps?

Curious, Lu Yang tested the technique on a passing senior brother, and again, it showed sixteen!

“…Fairy, is there something wrong with this technique? Why does everyone show as sixteen?” Given his own past mistakes, Lu Yang first suspected he had practiced it incorrectly.

The Everlasting Fairy confidently replied, “Never mind whether the age is accurate, just tell me if it can see the age regardless of cultivation!”

The Everlasting Fairy continued, “In ancient times, people loved to rank by age. But does being older mean you’re always right? Does being younger mean you’re always wrong?”

“To change this mindset, I created this technique that shows everyone as sixteen. Unfortunately, my concept was too advanced for its time, and people couldn’t accept it.”

“Your concept is still very advanced even today.”

How to determine Eldest Senior Sister’s age then?

Lu Yang’s first idea was to check which batch of disciples she belonged to.

The Dao Seeking Sect, or rather the Five Great Immortal Sects, recruited disciples very regularly, every three years without interruption.

He quickly dismissed this idea.

The Dao Seeking Sect even dared to accept Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, appearing to have low entry requirements, but in reality, the threshold is astonishingly high and the batch Lu Yang was from would be considered as a lot of people.

Sometimes during the entrance exams, there were candidates who met the Spirit Root requirements but did not meet the mental standards and, therefore, could not enter the Dao Seeking Sect. This sometimes resulted in the Dao Seeking Sect not recruiting anyone at all.

This meant that Lu Yang couldn’t calculate Eldest Senior Sister’s age by figuring out which batch of disciples she belonged to.

“Then let’s ask Senior Brother Dai Bufan? Senior Brother Dai joined the sect at the same time as Eldest Senior Sister, so he must know her age!”

Lu Yang decided to act on this idea. However, due to his nervousness from the third trial of the sect’s entry exam, he felt uneasy about facing Senior Brother Dai Bufan alone.

He needed an accomplice.

“Ask Senior Brother Dai Bufan about Eldest Senior Sister’s age?” Upon hearing Lu Yang’s plan, Meng Jingzhou’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“Are you sure Eldest Senior Sister won’t find out?”

“She won’t. When I left, Eldest Senior Sister was deep in cultivation and had no time to notice us.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go.” Meng Jingzhou urged Lu Yang to hurry up.

“You want to ask about Eldest Senior Sister’s age?” Dai Bufan looked at Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou with a peculiar expression.

“You two are quite bold, daring to ask about such a secret. Be careful, you might bring trouble upon yourselves!” Senior Brother Dai Bufan kindly warned them. This was a top-level secret in the Dao Seeking Sect, even more confidential than information about ariya-phala and should not be disclosed to others.

“Do you know what happened to the last disciple who asked this question?”

“We’re just asking out of curiosity.” Meng Jingzhou put on a businesslike smile, which looked very fake.

“Yes, yes, we care about Eldest Senior Sister. She works so hard for the sect day and night. If we know her age, it’ll be easier to give her appropriate gifts.” Lu Yang wore a smile identical to Meng Jingzhou’s.

Dai Bufan rolled his eyes, knowing full well not to trust their words. This was a forbidden topic and absolutely not to be discussed.

“Aren’t you worried Eldest Senior Sister will find out?”

Meng Jingzhou chuckled, “Eldest Senior Sister is cultivating right now. She can’t be bothered with us. As long as you don’t tell her, she won’t find out!”

Dai Bufan shook his head gently. “Eldest Senior Sister has great powers; how could she not know? Let me advise you one last time—stop asking. This question is extremely dangerous.”

“It won’t be dangerous.” Meng Jingzhou thought it was no big deal.

Hearing this, Dai Bufan, with a half-smile, said, “Really? If that’s the case, why don’t you just turn around and ask her directly?”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

Both of them had a bad feeling, sensing the temperature around them dropping rapidly, as if they were about to be frozen into ice sculptures.

They stiffly turned around and saw Eldest Senior Sister standing behind them, elegant and upright, her face expressionless as she looked at Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, showing no sign of emotion.

Dai Bufan sighed, “See? I told you not to ask about this. It would bring trouble.”

From the moment they came looking for him, Eldest Senior Sister had been quietly standing behind them. Despite Dai Bufan’s frantic hints, these two seemed determined to court disaster.

Perhaps they were destined to face this calamity.

Eldest Senior Sister spoke softly, “Junior Brother.”

Lu Yang jumped in surprise and quickly responded, “Here!”

“Junior Brother Meng”

“Here!”

“Do you two find cultivation boring and thus occupy yourselves with such trivial matters?”

Eldest Senior Sister’s voice had a rare hint of softness, as if she were genuinely concerned about Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou’s cultivation progress.