Chapter 100: Thirteen Years Old, Ninth Stage of Body Tempering Realm

One year passed quietly.

For many people, a year might bring considerable changes.

Children grew taller, businesses prospered or declined, and officials rose through the ranks of the Great Qian bureaucracy.

For Lu Yang, it was also no different.

He continued working in the Imperial Prison, following the regular schedule arranged by Old Sun and occasionally assisting Zhao Ming with various duties.

He inspected prison cells, participated in patrols, helped distribute meals, and gradually became familiar with the responsibilities of an ordinary prison guard.

Nothing particularly remarkable happened during this period, allowing him to cultivate without interruption.

...

Inside his cultivation chamber, Lu Yang slowly opened his eyes.

A faint stream of Blood Qi circulated through his body before gradually settling down.

He clenched his right hand, his fingers closing into a fist as a subtle vibration spread through his muscles, the air around his hand making a cracking sound.

His bones were sturdy, his muscles dense, his internal organs strong, and the Blood Qi circulating throughout his body had reached an astonishing level of refinement.

At thirteen years of age, he had finally reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering Realm.

Lu Yang examined his condition for a moment before nodding slightly.

Not bad.

He had anticipated this breakthrough, so there was no particular excitement in his heart.

Nevertheless, when he compared his current progress with his previous lives, even he couldn’t help but find the difference somewhat remarkable.

In his previous life, he had only reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering Realm when he was around twenty-four years old.

At that time, he had already received the resources and guidance of the Lu Family, one of the prominent cultivation families in Canglan Prefecture, yet it had taken him more than a decade from his current age to reach that point.

In his second life before that, the situation was even worse.

He was over fifty years old when he finally reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering Realm.

Of course, the circumstances of his previous lives were vastly different aside from just talent and comprehension.

His experiences, knowledge, resources, techniques, and opportunities had not been the same.

However, his current progress was still astonishing.

At thirteen, he had already reached a realm that had once taken him decades to achieve.

If ordinary cultivators learned about this, many would probably find it difficult to believe.

After all, the Ninth Stage Body Tempering Realm was already considered an absolute powerhouse in county towns.

Even Lu Yang himself hadn’t expected the difference to be quite so significant when he first began cultivating in this life.

His talent was excellent, his comprehension was exceptional, and the knowledge accumulated over three previous lives allowed him to avoid countless mistakes that ordinary cultivators needed years to recognize.

The combination of these factors had produced his current progress.

It wasn’t simply a matter of possessing superior talent, but the accumulation of advantages from several lifetimes brought together in one body.

Lu Yang stood up and stretched his arms.

His body felt lighter than before, although the difference wasn’t particularly obvious.

At the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering Realm, his physical body had already nearlt approached the limits of what this realm could offer.

His Blood Qi was abundant, and his control over it was considerably more refined than that of ordinary cultivators at the same stage.

With his current foundation, he could confidently suppress more than ten ordinary absolute pinnacle Ninth Stage Body Tempering cultivators.

He pushed open the door of the cultivation chamber and walked out.

The courtyard was quiet, and Aunt Lin was moving through the residence, carrying out her daily tasks.

Lu Yang withdrew his gaze and walked towards his room, intending to rest for a while.

At his current rate of cultivation, reaching the Spirit Awakening Realm by the age of sixteen was almost certain.

In fact, if he continued progressing smoothly, he might even accomplish it earlier.

Spirit Awakening at sixteen...

Lu Yang considered the possibility for a moment.

Even among the Imperial Family of Great Qian, there probably weren’t many princes and princesses who could achieve such a feat.

The Imperial Family possessed resources that ordinary cultivators could scarcely imagine.

They had access to exceptional cultivation techniques, experienced instructors, and a steady supply of medicinal resources.

The princes and princesses also had opportunities to receive guidance from powerful cultivators standing at the pinnacle of the secular world.

Yet even with all these advantages, entering the Spirit Awakening Realm at sixteen would still be an extraordinary achievement.

Lu Yang remembered the Wuyuan King from his previous life.

According to the rumors he had heard, the former Wuyuan King had reached the Spirit Awakening Realm at seventeen.

That man had possessed countless resources, cultivated supreme techniques, and received guidance from Qi Sea Realm powerhouses.

Even so, he had only entered the Spirit Awakening Realm at that age.

Of course, the Wuyuan King had already passed away decades ago.

The current Wuyuan King was his son, and the world had continued moving forward in the intervening years.

Lu Yang didn’t know whether the current generation of the Imperial Family possessed anyone who could rival or surpass the former king’s talent, nor was he particularly interested in finding out.

Still, the comparison offered some perspective.

If everything proceeded according to his expectations, he would soon reach a cultivation milestone that even someone like the former Wuyuan King had only achieved after receiving extraordinary support, and that too a whole year earlier than him.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t show off his talent to the outside world.

He couldn’t help but find the situation somewhat amusing.

In his previous lives, he had pursued cultivation with considerably greater urgency.

Sometimes he was driven by ambition, and other times he was motivated by circumstances beyond his control.

Now, he simply cultivated because it was something he enjoyed and because greater strength would provide him with more freedom.

Or rather, he wanted to pursue the Great Dao.

He had no particular desire to announce his achievements to the world.

In fact, he preferred that nobody knew about them at all.

The fewer people who paid attention to him, the better.

At the same time, as his cultivation progressed and his life in the Imperial Capital became more stable, Lu Yang had gradually begun looking into the people and forces connected to his previous life.

He had not done so immediately after reincarnation.

At the time, he was too young, and his priority was to establish a stable foundation for his new life.

Besides, he wanted to avoid attracting attention. After all, that Spiritual Platform powerhouse of the Misty Cloud Sect was still alive.

However, as the years passed, his curiosity gradually overcame his reluctance.

He wanted to know what had happened after his death, wanting to understand how much of his previous life had survived him.

The answer, unfortunately, was not particularly encouraging.

The traces of the Lu Family had almost completely disappeared from the Great Qian Dynasty.

The family that once possessed considerable influence in Canglan Prefecture no longer appeared in the records he could easily access.

Some old documents mentioned the decline of prominent cultivation families during the great turmoil of the past, and others referred to the destruction of various forces and the migration of survivors.

However, none of them provided a clear account of what happened to the remaining members of the Lu Family.

Even Lu Tianhe, who was among those left behind during the final battle of his previous life, had disappeared from the records.

At first, Lu Yang found this somewhat strange before he considered the circumstances surrounding his death.

A few days after the battle in Canglan Prefecture, Fang Chen had reportedly achieved a breakthrough to the Essence Gathering Realm, subsequently leaving for Canglan Prefecture.

Lu Yang had no direct evidence of what happened afterward.

However, he could make a reasonable guess.

Fang Chen had probably helped Lu Tianhe and the others reunite with the remaining members of the Lu Family.

With an Essence Gathering cultivator personally intervening, it would not have been particularly difficult to help a group of hundreds leave Great Qian.

After all, the Lu Family had already suffered catastrophic losses and lost its ancestral land.

Combined with the final instructions he left behind, Lu Qingyu and the other members would have little reason to remain in a place where their enemies could easily find them.

Leaving the dynasty and rebuilding elsewhere would have been the more sensible choice.

Lu Yang lay down on his bed, his thoughts swirling.

If that was indeed what had happened, then at least the Lu Family’s descendants might still be alive somewhere beyond Great Qian.

Whether they had managed to rebuild the family was another matter entirely.

A family could survive the destruction of its ancestral home and the demise of its strongest members. However, without sufficient talent, resources, or capable successors, its decline was often inevitable.

Lu Yang had seen this happen too many times.

He didn’t know whether the Lu Family had managed to recover, and for now, he had no intention of searching for it.

His current life had nothing to do with the family’s future.

He had already fulfilled his responsibilities in that life.

Whatever happened afterward was no longer something he needed to carry.

As for Fang Chen, there was even less information available.

Lu Yang knew that his sworn brother had eventually reached the Essence Gathering Realm.

That much was recorded in several historical accounts.

However, Fang Chen had passed away not long after Lu Yang reincarnated into this life.

The exact circumstances surrounding his death were unclear, but considering the passage of time, it wasn’t particularly surprising.

The ending of Lu Yang’s previous life and the beginning of his current one were separated by approximately fifty years.

Fang Chen was already over a hundred years old during Lu Yang’s final battle.

Even if he possessed sufficient talent to enter the Essence Gathering Realm, he was still a mortal cultivator, with a lifespan extending to around a hundred and fifty years.

A powerful one, certainly, but mortal nonetheless.

Even Qi Sea Realm cultivators were ultimately mortal, despite possessing considerably longer lifespans than ordinary cultivators.

Unless someone advanced beyond the mortal realm, there would eventually come a day when their lifespan reached its end.

Strength could delay that day, but it could not necessarily prevent it.

Lu Yang understood this principle in his previous life, but reincarnation had given him a different perspective on the passage of time.

For him, fifty years was a relatively short interval, and it would continue to get shorter the more lives he experienced.

But for ordinary people, it was enough time for several generations to rise and fall.

The world could change considerably in half a century.

Families disappeared, dynasties weakened, and powerful cultivators passed away, leaving their legacies to people who had never met or even heard of them.

Eventually, even the memories of those who had witnessed their lives would begin to fade.

Lu Yang was living proof of that process.

He found the thought somewhat strange, but it did not cause him much distress.

He had already accepted that death was a boundary between lives, even if the Script of Reincarnation allowed him to cross it.

Lu Yang also looked into the reaction of the Misty Cloud Sect after that final battle.

Unfortunately, there was little to discover.

The sect had apparently paid almost no attention to the destruction of the Azure Spirit Sect and the other forces that had once occupied the various prefectures of Wuyuan Province.

To them, those forces were merely pieces on a much larger board.

They were convenient tools to use when necessary, but not opponents worth remembering once their purpose had been fulfilled.

The Misty Cloud Sect had already secured its position after producing a Spiritual Platform Realm powerhouse.

Compared to such an achievement, the destruction of a few lesser cultivation forces was hardly significant.

They did not even bother to pursue the matter afterwards.

Lu Yang had expected something similar, but knowing the truth did not improve his opinion of them.

The Misty Cloud Sect remained the only surviving enemy from his previous life that he still remembered clearly.

He had not forgotten the consequences of their actions, nor had he forgotten the people who died during that period of time.

Especially not his daughter and wife.

However, he had no intention of acting against them for now.

His current cultivation was still insufficient to deal with a sect of that level.

More importantly, this was a different life.

He had no obligation to repeat the conflicts of his previous existence simply because he remembered them.

If the opportunity arose in the future, he would consider his options.

Until then, there was no need to rush.

Revenge pursued without sufficient strength was merely another way to shorten one’s lifespan.

Lu Yang had no interest in dying prematurely for the sake of settling old scores.

If one day he was powerful enough, he would surely erase this entire sect from the records of the cultivation world.

On the other hand, Lu Yang had heard almost nothing about Fang Chen’s descendants.

He remembered Fang Jinxing and a few other members of the family, but none of their names appeared prominently in the information he had gathered.

That was hardly surprising.

Even if Fang Chen had left behind talented descendants, the Great Qian Dynasty was an enormous place.

The descendants of an Essence Gathering cultivator did not automatically become powerful themselves, even if they were tied to royalty.

Bloodlines could provide advantages, but they could not guarantee success.

Without sufficient talent and effort, even the descendants of a great cultivator might eventually become ordinary people.

Perhaps Fang Chen’s descendants were still living with the Wuyuan King.

Lu Yang didn’t know, and he had no particular reason to investigate further for now.

Fang Chen was his sworn brother in a previous life. That relationship mattered enormously to him.

The same went for Fang Jinxing and his siblings.

If their paths crossed naturally, he would decide what to do then.

But for now, their lives belonged to them, and his belonged to him.