Like a walking corpse, Lu Yang struggled, teetering on the boundary between life and death.

After a hundred and ten days, his efforts bore fruit. His body refinement cultivation had achieved results, and he was temporarily freed from his sea of suffering.

The moment he learned that his training was over, his eyes clouded over. He collapsed and slept for three days straight.

Upon waking up, he saw the Everlasting Immortal Fairy.

“Congratulations, congratulations.” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy clapped her hands with gusto.

At the moment, Lu Yang was enveloped in a layer of faint golden light. Ordinary attacks could not touch him. This was Protective Golden Light, a sign that one’s physical cultivation had been pushed to its limits.

The cave abode was unlit. With his Protective Golden light, Lu Yang was like a little golden statue, especially conspicuous. He had been glowing like this the whole three days he slept.

The Protective Golden Light was a part of him. Even without anyone teaching him, he could control it freely. The first thing he did upon waking was quickly withdraw the light as it was too dazzling.

Looking back on those hundred days, Lu Yang felt extremely fortunate. “Thank goodness I brought Tang Chuanwu back. If he reversed time again, that would be disastrous.”

Though my experience during this period felt no different from going through time loops.

Lying on his bed, he emptied his mind and spirit platform. He was incredibly happy that he no longer needed to do weight training or be stuffed into a pill furnace.

He clenched his fist and released it, feeling the surging power within him. He was no longer what he used to be. If he could block out the Everlasting Immortal Fairy’s incessant chatter, he could even hear the sound of his blood flowing.

“At least the torment wasn’t for nothing.”

Though the gains were immense, Lu Yang had no desire to experience another round of body refinement and torture at the hands of the Everlasting Immortal Fairy and Yun Zhi.

That was simply no way for a human to live.

“Second-in-Command, someone surnamed Ao is looking for you at the sect’s entrance.” Yun Mengmeng knocked on Lu Yang’s door, relaying a message from the disciple on guard duty.

“Surnamed Ao?” Lu Yang stepped out of his cave, puzzled.

Isn’t that Ao Ling then? What does she want with me?

Lu Yang walked out of the sect, only to see three unfamiliar women.

“Senior Brother Lu, you don’t recognize us anymore?” one of them teased.

“Ah, it’s Junior Sister—Senior Ao Ling.” Lu Yang finally realized that Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi were in disguise. As for the third person, judging by her height, it should be Jin Caiwei.

The relationship between Ao Ling’s trio and Lu Yang was confidential. Even within the Dao-Seeking Sect, it was known to only a handful. To avoid complications, the trio had disguised themselves before visiting.

“Please, come in quickly.” Lu Yang hurriedly welcomed the three women inside.

These three are half-immortals. No matter what, I can’t leave them outside.

The three women followed Lu Yang into the sect and up to Heaven’s Gate Peak. Only then did they remove their disguises, revealing their peerlessly beautiful true features.

“What brings all of you here?” Lu Yang smiled as he poured tea for them.

“Wudao Enlightenment Tea?” Jin Caiwei was floored. It had been a long time since she had tasted such aged Wudao Enlightenment Tea.

“It was Caiwei who wanted to see you.” Ao Ling smiled. She and Jiang Lianyi had simply tagged along.

“Senior Jin.” Lu Yang looked at Jin Caiwei with mild surprise.

Jin Caiwei sat on the monarch chair, her feet not reaching the floor. Hugging her teacup, she grew embarrassed under Lu Yang’s gaze.

Lowering her head, she muttered, “I wanted to ask, does the Emotion-Forgetting Pill that recently appeared in the market have anything to do with you, Young Creed Leader?”

Ever since they had bought up candles in an attempt to short the market, the already poor Qiongqi Tribe had become even poorer.[1]

Jin Caiwei had happened to learn that the wildly popular Emotion-Forgetting Pill in Great Xia came from the Dao-Seeking Sect. Her gut feeling told her that it was connected to Young Creed Leader Lu, so she swallowed her pride and came to seek a partnership.

During Lu Yang’s grueling ordeal over the past three months, the Emotion-Forgetting Pill successfully underwent trials, got approved by the imperial court, and was now being sold throughout Great Xia, where it earned widespread acclaim. Even describing it as “raking in gold daily” would be an understatement.

“It has a little bit to do with me, but, but, but, I just came up with a small idea,” Lu Yang answered modestly. He had roughly guessed why the Northern Great Emperor of Wealth was seeking him out.

Hearing that it truly was connected to Lu Yang, Jin Caiwei’s eyes lit up. “In that case, Young Creed Leader, could you find a way for our Qiongqi Tribe to serve as the distributor for the pill in the Demon Region?”

If we can become the Demon Region’s distributor, our Qiongqi Tribe will surely not be so poor anymore.

Lu Yang shook his head gently. “Senior Jin, you’ve forgotten. Our relationship is a secret; the world must not know of it. If the sect were to grant your Qiongqi Tribe distributor rights, it might lead to those with ulterior motives deducing the connection between us.”

“I see...” Jin Caiwei was disheartened by his refusal.

“That said, Senior Jin, if you wish to make money, distributorship isn’t the only path.”

“What other way is there?” Jin Caiwei jerked her head up, staring at Lu Yang as if the latter's words were incredulous.

Instead of answering directly, Lu Yang asked, “I’ve had an idea for a while, but I never had the chance to confirm it with you. Senior, could you clarify it for me?”

“What is it?”

“Since your Planarity Incipient Dao Fruit can compress three-dimensional objects into two dimensions and expand two-dimensional objects into three dimensions, have you ever tried compressing the things you see into a plane?”

“What do you mean?” Jin Caiwei couldn’t understand what he was getting at.

With a smile, Lu Yang rose and pointed at the scenery of the Dao-Seeking Sect. “When painters see beautiful scenery, they paint it as a keepsake. Following this line of thought, Senior, could you compress this beautiful scenery into a plane and print it?”

Jin Caiwei seemed to understand, yet not completely. She took out a blank sheet of paper, activated her Planarity Incipient Dao Fruit, and printed the Dao-Seeking Sect’s scenery onto the paper.

“Like this?”

Lu Yang picked up the paper. The “painting” on it was identical to the actual scenery. “Yes, like this,” he affirmed. “Could you imbue an object, such as a telescope, with this ability?”

“Of course. It’d be effortless.” Jin Caiwei nodded. This is merely a matter of a single thought.

Lu Yang’s smile widened. “In that case, you could try imbuing telescopes with this ability and then sell them.”

Jin Caiwei was befuddled. “Would anyone buy such a thing?”

“You can give it a try, Senior.”

Seeing her skepticism, Lu Yang whipped out a recording orb. “If you find that unsuitable, you could try this instead.

“Senior, since you can turn two-dimensional objects into three-dimensional ones, can you make the images in a recording orb three-dimensional as well?”

Jin Caiwei took the recording orb uncertainly. She had never considered such a question before. “Let me try.”

She activated her Planarity Incipient Dao Fruit. The recording orb projected a beam of light, within which were two three-dimensional figures locked in fierce combat.

Jiang Lianyi saw herself in the projection and remarked, “Isn’t this the battle between Zhu Tian and me?”

The battle between Jiang Lianyi and Zhu Tian at the Demon Kingdom’s founding ceremony had been recorded by many and widely circulated. Lu Yang had also purchased a copy as a memento.

“Senior, you could add the power of your Planarity Incipient Dao Fruit to recording orbs and make all their projections three-dimensional. I reckon that would fetch a pretty good price.”

1. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but the “qiong” in qiongqi is the character for “poor.” ☜