Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

  Non-Phase Peak, Spirit Sword Mountain.

  Inside the rustic wooden hut, the Master and disciple sat facing each other. The disciple respectfully brewed a cup of hot tea and then offered it to his Master.

  The Master felt extremely flattered and immediately inspected the tea using more than ten kinds of spells. After determining that there was no poison in it, she cautiously took a sip.

  Hmm, this was worthy to be the Non-Phase Peak tea: bitter and tart, absolutely the tea dregs.

  The Master nodded with satisfaction. Indeed, he was worthy to be her disciple; he has inherited the spirit of hard work and simple living. If he kept on like this, he would be able to save a bit.

  “Little Wang Lu, why is your face looking like you’re constipating, is there something you want to ask?”


  Wang Lu, of course, has something to ask. Since his Master came back from wandering outside, she brought with her a series of surprises, so the questions in Wang Lu’s heart had already piled up.

  For example, her chivalric action that was completely against her character: the “Jindan defeat the Yuanying” duel, the mysterious Heart’s Dao…


  Too many questions appeared in his mind all at once, making it difficult for him to choose which one to ask first. However, he was, after all, Wang Lu. He combed through the questions once again, and he set them in order of importance from top to bottom. He then asked the most important question first.

  “Master, can you explain how you end up having an affair with Seventh Martial Uncle?”


  “Puft!”


  A mouthful of tea was completely sprayed out and landed on her clothes, which revealed the enticing scenery behind it. However, the woman in white was too shocked to care about it; she inexplicably asked, “You little kid, what kind of nonsense are you talking about? There is nothing shady between Seventh Junior Brother and me!”


  Wang Lu nodded in agreement. “Yes, There’s really nothing shady with chocolate milk.”


  “Sheet! Chocolate milk your ass! You’re still young, where did you learn such a nasty thought? See how I’m going to wash your brain!”


  The woman in white righteously reprimanded her disciple, then her finger stretched out as fast as a bullet, and an invisible sword qi, out of the blue, stabbed Wang Lu’s forehead.

  Naturally, there was nothing lethal with this sword qi. Not only was the strength only a thousandth of the strength of a Jindan, but it also wasn't sharp at all… However, receiving such an invisible sword stab, it would undoubtedly cause a normal person to suffer a concussion for two or three days.

  However, the moment the sword qi entered his body, Wang Lu’s body shook, and his two hundred and six Non-Phase Sword Bones spontaneously vibrated together and completely dispersed the strength of that sword qi. Although the powerful impact still brought him pain, it was irrelevant.

  “What!?”


  This sudden change also surprised his Master. “You’ve reached the eighth layer of Sword Bone!? Kid, what a progress you’ve got here. In just a month, you have actually completed the eighth layer… Wait a minute, you’re already…”


  While speaking, Wang Wu suddenly launched another sword qi. This time, the strength was still not strong, and it also wasn’t as fast as the previous one, but it actually carried a greater danger. This sharp sword qi was intended to stab Wang Lu’s Primordial Spirit so that he would suffer a severe pain in his mind.

  However, before the sword qi reached him, Wang Lu jerked up his right hand and stretched out his middle finger to the front straight at that sword qi.

  Pch!

  After a dull thumping sound, all the bones in Wang Lu’s body trembled and his organs seemed to displace, causing him to suddenly have the urge to throw up… But ultimately, the strength of the sword qi was dissolved.

  “… Not bad, that sword qi just now could seriously injure a low-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, but you can withstand it without suffering any injury. Obviously, the Ninth layer of the Sword Bone has passed through its first level; the pace of your progression is truly one of a kind.”


  While talking, the woman in white deeply wrinkled her brows. “With your Void Spirit Root qualification and outstanding perception, I'm not surprised that your cultivation speed have surpassed my expectation. However, I don’t remember having taught you the method to cultivate the ninth layer of Sword Bone, and it’s impossible for you to think about it yourself. So who taught you?”


  Wang Lu struggled to answer. “Seventh Martial Uncle.”


  The woman in white suddenly smirked. “Oooh? Seventh Martial Uncle is it? Is that Seventh Martial Uncle with his large tool? While I was not here, the two of you actually have a good relationship!”


  Wang Lu laughed. “… It’s not! Seventh Martial Uncle said, Fifth Senior Sister’s child is also his child! Thanks to your affair with him, I can acquire his help, that’s why my cultivation has improved greatly!”


  “Oh, so now you’re Seventh Junior Brother’s child? Did you pay respect to him as your godfather?”


  ……


  The two Master and disciple continued their verbal attack at each other for a long time. At the same time, on the Clear Sky Peak, a simple and honest black man who was tending the spirit plants constantly sneezed. Finally, the two people felt bored and, as if by prior agreement, stopped their bickering.

  “Tell me, what is it that you really want to ask?”


  Wang Lu looked at his Master, who presently behaved like someone who has no manners at all, and then thought about how, some time ago, she heroically crushed a Daoist Master of Yuanying Stage’s Heart’s Dao just by talking. He could not help but exclaim, “Master, you really know how to hide the real you!”


  His Master grunted, took another sip of that shoddy tea, and then said, “Of course I can’t just casually expose it for others to see. That’s the matter of the sect that wishes to look for a silly woman who knows no limit; no matter what, I come from a respectable family, you know.”


  “… No, I was referring to the previous duel. Master, you’re off the track.”


  The woman in white sipped the tea again, trying to hide her embarrassment. “Oh, you mean that duel. It’s actually not that big of a deal. He’s just a waste Yuanying that is easy to deal with. Why are you making a fuss about it?”


  A waste Yuanying? Easy to deal with? What Wang Wu said was, in fact, an understatement. If a Yuanying was really so worthless, they could not be called a Yuanying and held a deep respect from the others.

  In fact, in the Immortal Cultivation World, over ninety percent cultivators who tried to fight another cultivator on a higher cultivation stage failed miserably and even ended up courting a disaster for themselves. A higher cultivation stage would often mean an overall suppression of the stage below it, so it was easier said than done to defeat a higher stage cultivator. Not to mention that no matter how unbearable Daoist Master Zhifeng was, in the end, he was still a Yuanying cultivator from a top sect; his foundation was certainly several times stronger than the same stage cultivator from third rate sects…


  Thus, his Master’s easy victory seemed incredible to Wang Lu. Although he has heard from other people that his Master seemed to have a reputation as the number one Jindan cultivator in the world, even if that rumor was true, she was still a Jindan Stage cultivator, which has a deep gap with the Yuanying Stage.

  “Oh, Little Wang Lu, your general knowledge of the Immortal Cultivation is wrong. You think that the division of stages in the Immortal Cultivation is shaped like a tower, with clear divides between floors… But actually, starting from the Jindan Stage, there is no relative division between cultivation stages, only different directions. Yuanying Stage is not absolutely superior to Jindan Stage, and Deity Stage is not necessarily better than Yuanying Stage. If the cultivators’ pursuit of Immortality is a distant goal, then Jindan and Yuanying are all but different paths leading to the same destination.”


  These words were told by Wang Wu in earnest, but Wang Lu could not help but think that this theory was too absurd.

  “According to your argument, there’s no difference between Jindan, Yuanying, and Deity, then why do cultivators bother to desperately pursue a breakthrough in cultivation stage? After they reach the Jindan Stage, wouldn’t just be better for them to settle down? What’s the use in tiring themselves to break through another stage? Otherwise, you mean to say that for thousands of years, the cultivators were just doing useless work? Those numerous brilliant geniuses, not one of them found out that it’s unnecessary for them to break through the cultivation stage and they could just stay in the Jindan Stage while waiting for the day they soar to Immortality.”


  Wang Wu explained, “The Immortal Cultivation road is full of thistles and thorns everywhere; when people found out that the path of Jindan to Yuanying to Deity to Unity to Mahayana would lead them to immortality, who else would be so bored that they open up another strange path? No matter how amazing or absolutely brilliant a person is, they are but a small and humble being on the Immortal Cultivation road…Therefore, over the years, no one was really able to discover the truth.”


  “Ha! If so many people can’t find it, you can!?”


  Wang Wu confidently nodded. “Yes, I even tried to apply this for a patent, too bad it was rejected.”


  “Nonsense, of course, they would dismiss this…”


  “Actually, my theory is not perfect either, but there is one thing I want you to remember: the difference between the strong and the weak cultivators can’t be determined by seeing where they stand on their particular road, but how far gone they are on that road… And any stage actually contains infinite possibility, and you only need to have the ability to unearth it.”


  Upon hearing this, Wang Lu had nothing to argue anymore. After all, he had only cultivated for two years, thus, whether in theory or experience, he could not be compared with his Master, let alone debating her argument. Not to mention the result of the duel—a Jindan defeating Yuanying—was far more convincing than any argument.

  However, hearing her remarks, Wang Lu could not help but feel curious: how far was she actually in her Jindan path?

  “Master, what percentage of your power did you use to defeat Zhifeng?”


  His Master thought for a moment. “Around one out of ten thousand.”


  “… This is fucking bullsheet! If you don’t want to say it, just don’t!”


  Wang Lu was too lazy to pester this useless topic with his Master anymore, so he went straight to the point. “Master, teach me the Non-Phase Sword Art.”


  Previously at the duel against Daoist Master Zhifeng, the other Spirit Sword Sect disciples only concerned themselves with the jaw-dropping action, but in the eyes of Wang Lu who cultivated the same Non-Phase Method, there were many things that he could discern.

  The fact that his Master was able to be the hero of that fight and defeat the Yuanying with her Jindan seemed so-so to him. On the contrary, the exquisite and peerless Non-Phase Sword Art that his Master showed using her emerald green bamboo sword revealed the true peak power of a Jindan Stage, which was absolutely breathtaking!

  According to his Seventh Martial Uncle’s argument, after he started cultivating the Ninth Layer of Non-Phase Sword Bone, the most important thing was, of course, to practice the Non-Phase Heart Sutra, speed up the accumulation of the surrounding spiritual energy, and establish a solid foundation. On the other hand, he could also begin to practice several fighting skills such as the Non-Phase Sword Art. However, for a new cultivator who has just entered the Qi Cultivating Stage, learning fighting skills was not important, particularly for the Non-Phase Method which was a pure defensive method. According to the tentative plan of the Fifth Elder, it was best to concentrate on cultivating the method for a couple of years until he reached the peak Qi Cultivating Stage, and then… then she would be able to bring him to the Sect Leader to show off her hard work on taking care of her disciple; then she could swindle the monetary reward.

  Taking this into consideration, Wang Lu very directly asked to be taught, to save himself from his Master’s “cram school” method.

  However, his Master straightforwardly nodded, and then…


  “Okay, which set do you want to learn?”


  Wang Lu was taken aback. “… How many sets do you have?”


  “I won’t say I have plenty, but at least I have more than twenty sets.”


  Thinking about his Master’s one hundred percent originality, complete lack of moral principle, and so far has revised the Non-Phase Heart Sutra more than a hundred times, Wang Lu could not help but feel powerless. “Can you help me remove the several wrong answers?”


  His Master smiled. “In that case, I recommend two sets of Non-Phase Sword Art for you. But these two sets’ barriers are very high; one of them requires you to have big perseverance, and another one needs you to have great wisdom, I don’t know if you…”


  “I choose the great wisdom.” Wang Lu decisively and confidently picked his choice—if he selected the perseverance, perhaps he needed to cultivate it for one hundred years in order to have a small success—what kind of cultivation was that!

  “Oh, you choose the great wisdom? I see. It does suit your opportunistic style.” His Master ill-intently evaluated his choice, she then said, “But this doesn’t mean that you can’t choose the perseverance road. On the contrary, perhaps this road would be more difficult to walk than the perseverance road.”


  “… Because even I have yet to pass through.”


  Wang Lu suddenly sputtered, “If even you haven’t learned it yet, what makes you think you can teach me that!?”


  His Master confidently refuted, “Nonsense, who stipulate that the Master have to master the skill before the skill can be taught? All the Successor Disciples of the male Elders at the Heavenly Sword Hall are female; don’t tell me before they teach them how to behead the red dragon, they have to look for the red dragon and practice how to behead it?”


  Wang Lu was suddenly at a loss.

  “Humph, young man, you’re still inexperienced!” The Master was very pleased with herself for being able to force her disciple into silence, which was a very rare occasion. “Very well, I’ll teach you this second set of the seventeenth edition of the Non-Phase Sword Art. At your current cultivation stage, as long as you’re able to master the first three level of this set, even the low-rank Foundation Establishment cultivators would pose almost no threat to you. And if you coordinate it with the Non-Phase Heart Sutra to speed up your Qi Cultivating Stage cultivation and support your basic attribute, even peak Foundation Establishment cultivator would find it hard to hurt you.”


  “Wow, so good!?

  “Why wouldn’t it? Otherwise, why do you think I was able to defeat a Yuanying even though I am a Jindan? For us Non-Phase Peak cultivators, if we can’t challenge someone whose cultivation above us, then it means we have failed in our cultivation! Okay, say no more. Next, you have three months to master the first three level of this set of Non-Phase Sword Art. At the same time, your Qi Cultivating Stage will reach the seventh level…”


  “Wait a minute, three months to reach the seventh level of Qi Cultivating Stage? Master, are you forcing me to die!? Normally, you need around one and a half to two years before you can reach the seventh level!”


  “Humph, how could a cultivator who possessed the magnificent Void Spirit Root be compared to those vagrants? Rest assured, with your solid foundation, it’s easy to have the three-month result with that of one and a half year of others.”


  “Damn! When did I have the solid foundation!? This Void Spirit Root is simply a drag! Let alone now your Non-Phase Sword Bone has changed its basic structure so that now my cultivation speed isn’t that different than the second or third rate spirit root!”


  “In short, you, junior, needs to stop complaining and begin to train more. After three months, if you can’t reach the seventh level of Qi Cultivating Stage and the third level of Non-Phase Sword Art, heh, at that time, you can’t blame your Master for not urging you.”


  “What happens… after three months?”


  “I don’t have the Stars Diffraction Technique, so how could I know what would happen in three months? So you ‘definitely’ should not believe every word that I said.”