Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 283 - 181: Puppetry Technique, Cyan Essence Immortal Technique!
What a pity, the prerequisite is that the Dao path is boundless.
For someone like myself, if I don’t struggle, I’m afraid even Foundation Establishment will be beyond reach this lifetime.
Seeing Lu Ziyou so delighted, Lu Chang’sheng couldn’t help but remind him, "No matter what Dao you follow, the one that suits you is the best."
"I know, Father."
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That night, Lu Chang’sheng sat in the courtyard, touched the jade scroll to his forehead, and used his heart and mind to study the Puppetry Technique.
As his strength grew, the time needed to study Immortal Techniques had sharply decreased; it was no longer like back in the Great Yuan territory, where it took him ten days or half a month to comprehend them.
However, even so, it still took him a full two days to study this technique.
Because the grade of this technique was extremely high—it was actually a top-grade first-tier technique.
If cultivated to perfection, it could forge puppets at the Foundation Establishment level.
This was precisely why Lu Chang’sheng had his heart set on this method.
"No wonder Fang Yuan, with only eighth-level Qi Cultivation, could even make the Zhu Family’s ninth-level ancestor wary."
Fang Yuan’s strength had a bit of a reputation in Platinum Immortal City, and some busybodies even hailed him as the strongest Qi Cultivator below Foundation Establishment.
Of course, that claim was obviously exaggerated.
It’s said that the day after that busybody made this claim, Fang Yuan himself came out to clarify the matter, and not long after, that busybody died a mysterious death right outside Immortal City.
Everyone knew it was the Fang Family behind it.
Those words undoubtedly pushed Fang Yuan into the eye of the storm and offended the Fang Family.
Before, Lu Chang’sheng also thought it was exaggerated, but after reading this Puppetry Technique, he felt maybe it really could be possible.
It’s just that cultivators are good at hiding their strengths, especially their killer moves—no one knows which late-stage Qi Cultivator might suddenly erupt with Foundation Establishment-level combat power.
"I’ll have to be even more careful going forward."
Summing up his gains as a Class-B Alchemist this time, the harvest was really considerable.
The only regret was failing to get Master Baiyun to intervene on his behalf to ask Fuyun Mountain for someone.
"Tomorrow, come with me into White Cloud Pharmacy." The next day, Lu Chang’sheng told Lu Ziyou about this.
What surprised Lu Chang’sheng was that Lu Ziyou didn’t immediately agree, but thought for a moment and asked, "Father, do you have any enemies within the sect?"
Lu Chang’sheng knew he’d been influenced by the Gou Dao Scripture, and wasn’t annoyed. He replied, "No real enemies, at most a few who dislike me."
"Alright then."
Lu Ziyou agreed.
After all, if Lu Chang’sheng did have outright enemies, they could take advantage of their position to make trouble and create grudges. Outside, at least, there was less to worry about—after all, outside White Cloud Cave Mansion, it was the Gu Family in charge.
As for Lu Mansion, it would temporarily be managed by Daoist Ruyi.
What comforted Lu Chang’sheng was that, because Lu Ziyou often kept company with Daoist Ruyi, she’d opened up a lot, and begun to cultivate seriously. Though her cultivation pace was much slower due to weakened energy and blood, she was quite gifted at Martial Dao, and with Lu Chang’sheng’s resources, she’d now broken through the shackles of Martial Dao’s True Qi Realm and stepped into the Innate Level.
Even the ashen hairs on her head had gained more patches of black, making her look much younger.
Just as he was about to leave, someone who stirred up a mix of emotions in him suddenly paid a visit.
When Lu Ziyou brought him the news, he was silent for quite a while.
"Chang’sheng."
The visitor was none other than Yu Hai.
Niu Xi was following behind him.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, long time no see."
"Yeah, it’s been a while." Seeing Niu Xi, Lu Chang’sheng smiled and motioned for them to have a seat.
After some small talk, Yu Hai suddenly remarked, "It’s really gotta be you, Chang’sheng. Just a few years, and you’re already a figure here in Platinum Immortal City."
After that, the two of them chatted as they always had.
"By the way, I go by a new name now—I’ve changed it to Guan Hai," Yu Hai suddenly said.
Lu Chang’sheng was startled, then said, "Not bad, you took Elder Guan’s surname."
Yu Hai laughed heartily, then pulled a young child from behind him. The kid was adorable, about three or four years old, and his features bore some resemblance to Yu Hai.
Seeing this, Lu Chang’sheng had some guesses.
Yu Hai possessed the Celestial Spirit Body; if he merged with a woman in unity of heaven and man, he’d actually taint his spiritual body. Besides, even if they achieved that unity, it’s impossible for them to bear offspring.
So, this child was most likely Guan Hongxiu’s son.
"This is—my younger brother, Guan Ming."
Yu Hai smiled awkwardly, then gazed lovingly at Guan Ming, urging him to greet Lu Chang’sheng.
Lu Chang’sheng took out a bottle of Qi Storage Pills from the Immortal Insect Treasure Vault as a gift, which made Yu Hai and Niu Xi very happy.
"It’s getting late. Next time, when we’re free, let’s have a proper gathering."
After some time, Yu Hai got up to leave. As he reached the door, he heard Lu Chang’sheng’s voice from behind.
"If something’s on your mind, you can tell me."
Yu Hai turned back, cupped his hands and smiled, "It’s nothing."
Beside him, Niu Xi held Guan Ming’s hand, opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it and closed it again.
"The Zhu Family and Chang’sheng are on bad terms. This time, they wanted me to invite him to visit the Zhu Family. I’m already indebted to him—how could I bring it up?"
On their way back, Yu Hai glanced at Niu Xi’s hesitant expression and sighed.
"Then they probably won’t like you much, either!" Niu Xi knew full well the temperament of the Zhu Family higher-ups and said this worriedly.
"Why aren’t you worried about yourself?"
"I’ve got nothing to lose." A few years ago, his two children were taken back by Zhu Mei for some reason or other.
Niu Xi had lost all hope by now and could hardly be bothered to resist anymore.
"I’ve got the Celestial Spirit Body—what, are they gonna kill me?"
"All the more reason I can’t sever my ties with Chang’sheng. Otherwise, if I die, nobody will avenge me."
The more Yu Hai thought about it, the more he realized how foolish he’d been before—he’d almost been swayed by the Zhu Family’s token gestures.
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Even if Yu Hai didn’t say it, Lu Chang’sheng could more or less figure out what was going on.
Simply put, the Zhu Family had learned he was now a Class-B alchemist and wanted to use Yu Hai to smooth over their previous conflict.
If the Zhu Family hadn’t once harbored murderous intent, Lu Chang’sheng would just go with the flow. But for those who had both thought and acted on killing him, there was no way he’d let things go so easily.
"The Zhu Family Ancestor is still a ninth-level Qi Cultivator and has some backing from the Supreme Profound Sect. For now, I can only endure it."
Soon, Lu Chang’sheng took Lu Ziyou back to White Cloud Pharmacy.
After that, Lu Chang’sheng returned to the sect. Not long after, he arrived at the storeroom and found the inner sect steward to claim his Class-B Alchemist’s share and a copy of the Cyan Essence Manual.
"The Cyan Essence Manual is a top-tier Immortal Technique—far superior to the Five Wood Immortal Technique. It’s the foundational manual of our White Cloud Cave Mansion."
The storeroom steward was an elder at late-stage Qi Cultivation, and made a point to stress this to every newcomer.
Very soon, Lu Chang’sheng realized just how superior the Cyan Essence Manual was.
Any cultivation technique with a similar attribute could be converted to with some cost; the higher your realm, the greater the price.
For a little cultivator like Lu Chang’sheng at the third layer of Qi Cultivation, the cost was almost negligible.
During the conversion process, Lu Chang’sheng could feel wave after wave of coolness flood into his mind.
"It’s said the Cyan Essence Manual can greatly strengthen spiritual sense, making it much stronger than what ordinary Immortal Techniques produce."
Lu Chang’sheng was quite pleased.
The Cyan Essence Manual, as a Qi Cultivation realm technique, also had nine levels.
Because Cyan Essence Magical Power is a bit purer than Five Wood Magical Power, after converting, his magical power dipped slightly, but after training for a while, he returned to his previous realm.
From then on, Lu Chang’sheng maxed out the Cyan Essence Manual’s daily cultivation limit, and with the help of supreme-grade Qi Storage Pills, his cultivation didn’t skyrocket overnight, but it still well outpaced others with similar talent.
Immortal Techniques can only be practiced a limited number of circulations per day, so the rest of his time went into cultivating Puppetry Technique.
Since Master Baiyun was a no-go, he could only rely on himself. Given his limited talent, hitting late-stage Qi Cultivation would take decades, so he needed to find another way—seeing if he could refine puppets strong enough to make up for it.
"If I go to Fuyun Mountain, I could travel with the caravan, but you never know what could happen on the road. Without some powerful life-saving methods, it’s just not safe."
This was why he pinned such high hopes on the Puppetry Technique.
Time flew in the blink of an eye. Unknowingly, five more years had passed, and Lu Chang’sheng’s Immortal Dao Spirit Root had increased by 1 point again.
