Who Let Him Cultivate?!

Looking at Li Haoran, Meng Jingzhou said mysteriously, “Could you tell me about Yang Invigorating things earlier next time?”

Li Haoran replied with an ‘oh’ sound, as if recalling something, and said, “Master told me that soaking in lava for a long time can also invigorate yang. That was one of my motivations to persist, and it proved to be quite effective.”

“… Can we skip the conversation about Yang Invigorating?”

“Alright then.”

By the time Lu Yang and his group returned to Li’s house, Li Haoran’s mother had already prepared a lavish dinner for everyone.

They couldn’t expect Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, their two guests, to cook every day.

Meng Jingzhou bought a mountain of stuff – basically, if he had never seen something before, he bought it.

He didn’t care whether these things were useful or not, he bought them because they were intriguing.

Of course, Meng Jingzhou didn’t buy things that offended his intelligence, such as something that claimed to be four thousand years old, from the same era as the Old Phoenix, a witness to the full process of the Old Phoenix’s fall, filled with pure natural Spiritual Energy.

Lu Yang bought a finely crafted phoenix pendant, tied it with his Identity Jade, and wore it around his waist.

Qin Yanyan bought a box of bamboo juice. She had tried the Luofeng County’s local bamboo juice while enjoying barbecue last night and found it quite nice.

Su Yiren did not buy anything. As a Unification cultivator, nothing in Luofeng County was worth her money, unless it was the corpse of the Old Phoenix.

“Mom, you know how to cook?” Li Haoran was stunned looking at the table full of dishes. From his memory, his mother was not capable of making so many delicious dishes.

Li Haoran’s mother laughed, “I just learned it. You have been away and I had nothing to do, so I thought I might as well learn something.”

Li Haoran’s father interrupted, “She just learned how to buy dishes from the old restaurant.”

Li Haoran’s mother gave his father a stern look.

Li Haoran, “…”

The skills of the old restaurant were excellent, a rare hundred-year-old shop in Lu Yang’s previous life, but commonplace in the Central Continent.

However, a hundred years was not enough to be called an old shop. To be called an old shop, it should be at least five hundred years old.

The old restaurant was a thousand-year-old shop. The waitstaff would have changed time and again, but the shop owner had not changed for a thousand years, ensuring that the taste would never lost.

The oldest thing in the old restaurant was neither the recipe nor the furniture but the shop owner himself.

Oh, what, you said when you were a kid, the taste was not like this? The food you ate when you were a kid was made by me!

After dinner, Lu Yang asked Su Yiren about how to form the golden core.

“Form golden core?” Su Yiren was surprised that Lu Yang would ask her about this. Wasn’t Li Haoran said that he was the fourth disciple of the Sect Leader of Seek Dao Sect? Why didn’t he ask the Sect Leader directly?

The Sect Leader of the Seek Dao Sect had a higher status than her, and they were both at the Unification stage.

In front of others, Lu Yang could not say that his master was an old frivolous fool who spends their time storytelling every day, with only little time actually spent teaching him.

“My master is preoccupied with affairs of the world and doesn’t have time for me.”

“I see.” Su Yiren nodded, believing Lu Yang’s explanation.

Meng Jingzhou, sitting next to them, rolled his eyes.

Meng Jingzhou and Li Haoran were also in the room, listening to Su Yiren explain how to form the golden core.

Li Haoran was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment now, but it didn’t matter. He would eventually be able to use the knowledge of Golden Core.

“In my opinion, forming the golden core is all about opportunity. I’m not particularly talented. My biggest hope was to form a second-grade golden core, which was already the best-case scenario I could imagine.”

“To form a second-grade golden core, I tried everything I could to comprehend, submerge myself in forests, fighting demon beasts, sitting on boulders while being bombarded by waterfalls, observing the various forms of human life to understand the world’s essence… Despite all of these efforts, none of them succeeded.”

“One day, after I finished cultivating, I lay on the edge of a cliff, staring at the starry sky, feeling extraordinarily absurd.”

“It was at that moment, an inexplicable realization surged in my heart, and I leveraged this opportunity to absorb energy and form my golden core—fully colored, a first-grade golden core.”

“When I wasn’t actively pursuing it, I had a realization. I’ve discussed this with several fellow practitioners, and two of them have had similar experiences.”

Lu Yang gained some understanding and thanked Su Yiren.

…

In the dead of night, Lu Yang opened his eyes, though he was unsure of the time.

“Awake? I was just about to call you.” Fairy Eternity spoke as if not surprised by Lu Yang’s awakening.

Lu Yang frowned; in his sleep, he sensed someone stealthily breaking into Li Haoran’s home.

What could be their purpose?

“Two individuals, at mid-stage of Golden Core Stage.” Fairy Eternity informed him about the situation of the two people.

Lu Yang puzzled, Li Haoran’s parents were only at Foundation Establishment Stage and they were not wealthy. What could possibly attract someone of the Golden Core Stage to Li Haoran’s house?

Could it be the Phoenix Blood Stone that Meng Jingzhou bought?

Lu Yang did not worry about their safety. Even if Su Yiren did not intervene, he and Meng Jingzhou could easily handle these uninvited guests.

“Master Lu, Master Meng, are you awake?” Su Yiren’s voice echoed in the minds of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

Li Haoran and Qin Yanyan were relatively inexperienced, lacking the heightened alertness of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

“Just woke up.” Both Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou responded simultaneously. “Senior Su, what’s the situation now?”

Su Yiren shook her head, “I don’t know much. I know only that two people at the mid-stage of Golden Core Stage have infiltrated the house stealthily. I don’t know their objective, but my intuition tells me someone else is behind them. I want to capture them, but I am afraid of stirring up the snake in the grass.”

“No worries, Senior Su, all you need is to back us up.” Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou quickly came up with a plan.

Under Su Yiren’s curious gaze, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou skillfully changed into nightclothes and quietly left the room.

The two Golden Core Stage cultivators seemed to be searching for something but did not dare to use their Spiritual Sense for fear of being detected.

They heard that a genius from the Seek Dao Sect resides in the house and did not want to expose themselves unless absolutely necessary.

They thought their actions were concealed but were already being observed by several people.

The pair suddenly became alert, sensing danger approaching. They quickly dodged, barely evading the attacks of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

“Didn’t expect you to avoid that. Quite talented, aren’t you?” Lu Yang sneered and conveyed his thoughts through his Spiritual Sense.

“Who are you! What are you doing in Li’s house!” The two Golden Core Stage cultivators responded.

“Heh, don’t play dumb. Since we’ve met in Li’s house, what else could it be about? Of course, we’re after that thing!” Meng Jingzhou laughed dismissively, mocking their foolish question. “As for who we are, who else do you think would know about this?”

The two Golden Core Stage cultivators looked stunned, “How do you know!”

“There are no walls without ears in the world. What secrets can be kept forever? No matter how much you try to hide, we’ll uncover it.” Lu Yang chuckled, “Did you think you were the only ones interested in that object?”

“Dammit, how did the Mo Family find out about the Phoenix Blood Stone!” The two Golden Core Stage cultivators quickly deduced the identities of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

It must be that rival Mo Family!

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou exchanged a glance—it did all stem from bringing back the Phoenix Blood Stone.

Once the pair of Golden Core Stage cultivators realized their cover was blown, they briefly engaged in combat before making a hasty retreat.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou chased them relentlessly, but failed to catch up with the pair, leaving them somewhat frustrated.

When the two Golden Core cultivators managed to shake off Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, they swiftly returned to report the situation.

“Let’s go, Senior Su, if we follow them, we’ll find out who is behind all this,” Lu Yang said, quickening his pace, stealthily pursuing the two Golden Core Stage cultivators.

Su Yiren exhibited a peculiar expression. ‘How come you two are so skilled at this sort of thing?’