Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age

Mutation?

Lu Chang'sheng was a little surprised.

Then he headed for the main peak.

Soon, he learned the details about the Purple Ice Lake mutation from Elder Yan.

The main ingredient for the Crystal Pill had appeared, and by coincidence, someone from the sect had gotten it.

This hadn't been made public, so the sect leader planned to secretly have someone escort the main ingredient of the Crystal Pill back to the mountain.

Because the matter needed to be kept secret, only Foundation Establishment cultivators were invited for the discussion.

There were four of them in total, and to Lu Chang'sheng, they were all pretty unfamiliar faces.

According to Elder Yan, the other three were old cultivators who'd been in seclusion within the sect.

"Most Immortal Sects have some sort of secret heritage, more or less. These three Daoists count as the backbone of our Good Beast Sect," Elder Yan said with a smile, introducing them to Lu Chang'sheng.

The group greeted Lu Chang'sheng, their words polite.

They owed all this to the Foundation Establishment banquet.

If he hadn't reached Foundation Establishment, these three probably wouldn't have treated him so politely.

Status always ties back to strength.

"Alchemist Lu, you and Fellow Daoist Dai will stay behind and guard the sect."

After some discussion, the group decided to have Lu Chang'sheng and another mid-Foundation Establishment elder hold down the fort.

Soon after, the others departed by sword control.

Before leaving, Elder Yan reminded them to keep an eye on things in the sect and not to slack off.

They'd be back as soon as they retrieved the goods.

Lu Chang'sheng actually considered suggesting that they trade away the main Crystal Pill ingredient to avoid trouble, but seeing everyone else uninterested in that idea, he let it go.

"A Golden Core is still a huge temptation for cultivators in a small domain like Guangnan. Good Beast Sect has hit a bottleneck in its development; there's no way they'd give up an opportunity like this."

Thinking it over, Lu Chang'sheng didn't push any further.

"No worries, Alchemist Lu. The Mountain Gate is our face, and if anyone stirs up trouble here, it's a fight to the death. Even Golden Core Immortal Sects wouldn't dare mess around lightly."

The cultivator staying behind with Lu Chang'sheng was named Dai Chun. Seeing the worry on Lu Chang'sheng's face, he chuckled.

He was a lot more relaxed about it.

"Honestly, it's just a precaution." Dai Chun said, then pulled Lu Chang'sheng aside for tea.

"I've still got some Spirit Tea left, real top grade. I had someone bring it in from a major domain."

The mention of a major domain piqued Lu Chang'sheng's interest, but given what was going on, he replied, "We've gotta have some spirit tea, but we can't just ignore Elder Yan's orders, either."

"What, you have something in mind?"

Seeing Dai Chun's attitude, Lu Chang'sheng couldn't help but sigh internally.

Looks like advancing to Foundation Establishment really has changed a lot for me.

"How about we activate part of the sect's Spirit Array?"

"No way, absolutely not!"

Dai Chun shook his head over and over.

"The Mountain Gate's Spirit Array is tightly linked to the Guardian Array. If you activate it, it involves the whole sect. The daily resource drain would be enormous."

Seeing Dai Chun's reaction, Lu Chang'sheng didn't argue further.

If he were in the same position, he probably wouldn't agree either.

Just being cautious because of the Crystal Pill's main ingredient isn't enough reason to activate part of the sect's arrays. That'd be too paranoid.

"Alright, let's go drink tea!" Lu Chang'sheng sighed, then grinned.

With him dropping the issue, Dai Chun was relieved.

The two spent half the day sipping Spirit Tea, the atmosphere surprisingly pleasant. Lu Chang'sheng then shared an idea he'd been considering.

He wanted to move into the Array Institute on the main peak for a while.

Dai Chun immediately understood, a little impressed.

"You do know the Array Institute isn't easy to stay in, right?"

Dai Chun offered a heads-up.

The Array Institute housed the core of the sect's Spirit Arrays. The huge array core was connected to the mountain's vital energies; Foundation Establishment cultivators had to tread lightly, since touching the wrong thing could be dangerous.

"It's fine. I won't be there long, just a month or two," Lu Chang'sheng said.

"Man, I really don't know what to say about you. Fine, let's do it together!"

If everyone was sticking around, and Lu Chang'sheng was this motivated, Dai Chun couldn't just sit idle.

Dai Chun had planned to put it off for a few days, but that same afternoon Lu Chang'sheng came knocking.

"So impatient!" Dai Chun puffed and glared, obvious confusion on his face.

Once inside the Array Institute, you can't use Magical Power at all. For cultivators like them, it's nothing to hole up and train for years on end, but if you're just sitting around doing nothing, it's basically like being locked in a cell.

He really wasn't thrilled about it.

"A few days won't make a difference," Lu Chang'sheng said with a smile.

Dai Chun could only grumble as he followed him toward the main peak.

Arriving at the main peak, discovering even Lu Chang'sheng's family was present, Dai Chun just looked at him weirdly.

"Was this really necessary?" he muttered.

Lu Chang'sheng chuckled, "Just a month or two."

"Fine, fine!" Dai Chun said, resigned, unlocking the entrance to the Array Institute.

You could access the inside of the main peak here. Since the Array Institute was so critical, they'd set up several layers of Spirit Arrays along the way to the mountain's array core.

"Let's stay in the outermost courtyard," Dai Chun said, after opening several array gates.

There were several more arrays inside, but there was no need to go any further. Open a couple more and you'd be at the core; Dai Chun was friendly with Lu Chang'sheng, but there was no way he'd let him into the core.

Besides, the first few layers of arrays were more than enough protection.

"Even the outer Spirit Arrays are all late Foundation Establishment level. If they can't hold, it's not going to matter much anyway."

Lu Chang'sheng nodded.

Arrays were pretty complicated. Late Foundation Establishment arrays couldn't be breached quickly, even by cultivators of the same level.

It's like Golden Core level arrays—a Golden Core cultivator could take years or longer to break one.

Same deal for Foundation Establishment level arrays.

So unless you had a Golden Core cultivator, or a bunch of Foundation Establishment ones attacking at once, there's no way anyone could break through these arrays in three to five months.

The environment here, though, kinda sucked.

Lu Chang'sheng reached out with his senses and found the ambient Spiritual Qi gave him a faint sense of threat.

"Communicating with the mountain's energies—impressive stuff."

"No kidding, otherwise how could the sect's array stand up to a Golden Core?" Dai Chun replied.

······

Half a month later.

Lu Chang'sheng sat in the courtyard with a book in hand.

The book was about the geography and rumors of major domains.

Turns out Fang Yuan and the others were right—the cultivators in those major domains really were much stronger.

"A major domain's the hub among all the small ones, and having more resources means more powerful cultivators get born. Because there are more strong folks, more talent gathers there."

Cyclical reinforcement.

Just like big cities in my last life.

"But it's more dangerous, too—the big domains cover a wider area, and the different local energies make the world change in more ways."

By "world changes," they mean things beyond this realm. The Spirit Realm's like a massive magnet, and the major domains are the strongest part of that magnet. So stuff like Mayfly Worlds being drawn in is pretty common.

"Sometimes, even higher-level worlds show up."

Lu Chang'sheng looked on with amazement.

This was a whole new worldview—something ordinary families or powers could never give him.

Good Beast Sect had the longest history among the Three Immortal Sects, so they had a lot of knowledge in this area.

"In some major domains, people even connect ancient Dao lineages to worlds beyond."

"They even say monsters are the products of some other world?" Lu Chang'sheng raised an eyebrow.