Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

  His Master's words sent a chill down Wang Lu's spine.

  Did his Master steal something important from him while he was sleeping?

  … Well, the truth, of course, would not be that serious. As a cultivator of Non-Phase Method, Wang Lu's ability to control his physical body was extremely high. Even a single hair loss could be detected, not to mention a key artifact.

  "I removed it from inside you and it came out as egg-shaped, so of course, it's your egg." His Master indifferently blurted out this crazy nonsense, and then said, "I have studied it for some time, but I got nothing. Didn't you self-proclaim yourself as spirit sword's best student? Then why don't you uncover its secret?"

  With that, Wang Wu threw that grey orb towards Wang Lu. "Keep it well. This is a really rare thing in the whole continent."

  "This is…" Wang Lu clasped the orb, only to feel that it was like a cool and smooth tentacle. He then swept it with his primordial spirit, but all he could sense was void. Nevertheless, by using the clue that it came from his body, it was not hard to guess its content. "Faceless One?"

  "Yes, it's that devil. After I took it out of you, I tried to cook it to turn it into ingredients for making an elixir. However, as a result, perhaps because a certain aspect of nature in Western Continent is different than that of Nine Regions, it didn't end up as an elixir, and instead refined into a grey egg. I thought that, in any case, this egg might be useful for a boy like you, so I kept it for you."

  Upon hearing her explanation, he suddenly felt pain in his balls. " Three Eyes Supreme 1 has a brilliant fame in fighting prowess, but Three Eggs Supreme is absolutely a pervert!" Nevertheless, he still received that grey orb. Although as a person, Wang Wu was a pain in the ass, but in the matter of training her disciple, she was usually reasonable. Thus, since she wanted him to take it, then there must be a reasonable reason behind it.

  "Alright, since the hidden danger inside my body has been solved, there shouldn't be any more matter here, right?" While saying that, Wang Lu's mind has already flown towards the group of immortal tombs in the Southern Heaven Region.

  "What's the hurry? I want you to have your Golden Core first."

  Golden Core? Upon hearing this, Wang Lu was quite shocked. He hurriedly fished out a jar of honey from his mustard seed bag, smeared it on the grey orb until it looked golden colored, and then said, "This is my golden core, please check it."

  "Stop." This time, Wang Wu unceremoniously held her disciple in place. "It's useless for you to go now, the rice has already been cooked. Three days ago, the first and second batch of people that entered the immortal tomb has finally returned. If you go now, you won't even get the chance to be in the third batch."

  "Wait a minute, the first and second batch? How long have I been asleep?"

  Wang Wu replied, "Not three years, but not two hours either. It's one month and three days, enough for you to miss the opportunities to be in the limelight."

  Wang Lu was even more shocked. "I actually slept for more than a month! Tsk, I wonder how serious the parasitic effect of Non-Phase in me that it turned out to be like this."

  Wang Wu beckoned her hand. "It was actually not that serious. If it was, it would've been too late for me to save you. As a matter of fact, you could wake up on the third day, but I gave you some medicine that let you sleep for more than a month."

  "…" Wang Lu has nothing to say. His Master's action style was really hard to fathom.

  "If I didn't stop you, you would've gone to the group of Immortal Tombs, and if there's no accident, you'd definitely have continued to strive and gain victory after victory. After that, you would be pleased with yourself, and then move on to find another trouble. It is not that I want to deliberately hold you back, but as your Master, I have to remind you that as much fun as it is to play, you must not forget what your real duty is."

  Wang Lu's complexion was unprecedentedly solemn. He wasn't able to take things less seriously. "Do you think I have a problem?"

  "Big problem." Wang Wu said, "Use your brain to think about it. This time, you went to Western Continent to struggle, risking your life for less than half a year, but what have you gotten in return? Have your strength dramatically increased? Your magical treasure significantly upgraded? Method comprehensively strengthened? In my opinion, in addition to Aya now seeing you in a new light, in fact, you didn't get anything. Yes, you obtained the key to the group of immortal tombs, which made the entire Nine Regions people raise their eyebrows and suck in a mouthful of cold air. However, right now, when people talk about you and talk about Qiong Hua, most of them obviously think that the latter is stronger. Because she is Jindan and you're not, and in Immortal cultivation World, power is number one."

  Wang Lu sighed. "I know, you don't need to nag me about it. The realm of Jindan is a watershed, and all the illustrious achievements and feats before that are merely false reputation, right?"

  What Wang Lu said was the rules of the Nine Regions Immortal Cultivation World. Jindan and prior Jindan were two very different concepts.

  Any Daoist Master of Jindan Stage was a valuable asset in the Nine Regions Immortal Cultivation World.

  Starting from gathering qi, all the way to Qi Cultivating Stage, Foundation Establishment, and Xudan Stage, breaking through numerous tests and boundaries, until finally reaching Jindan Stage, this was an extremely remarkable achievement. In the whole Immortal Cultivation World, from the more than ten thousand cultivators who started the Qi Cultivating Stage, not more than ten of them could finally achieve Jindan Stage. As far as the common people were concerned, a Daoist Master of Jindan Stage was already at the apex of the world.

  As a matter of fact, Jindan was indeed a completely different realm. In all the previous realms before that, a cultivator was just a cultivator. However, once they achieved Jindan Stage, they would have the title of Daoist Master, meaning that they finally gained a foothold in the Immortal Cultivation World. In simple words, it was then when you would truly be seen as an individual in the Immortal Cultivation World.

  For cultivators, the achievement of Jindan was a qualitative change, but the difficulty could also be imagined. They must not hesitate about their future when they were in the threshold, otherwise, any orthodox cultivator would have to stop in the boundary between Xudan and Jindan for a long time, even more cautious than when they stepped from Jindan to Yuanying.

  With Wang Lu's own expectation, the time that he needed to reach Jindan, the longest time would be ten years, and five years if everything was smooth. With his current high-level Xudan Stage cultivation base, this was already a very conservative calculation. However, his Master thought otherwise.

  "Within two years, I want you to be a Daoist Master of Jindan, and then you can go out and be independent."

  Wang Lu was really taken aback. "Two years? Hey, can you not be that ruthless? We've been living together in harmony for more than a dozen years, why are you this anxious to send me away? A day together as Master and disciple means endless grace for the rest of your life!"

  According to the prevailing rules of the Spirit Sword Sect or the Immortal Cultivation World, once a cultivator reached Jindan Stage, like when a teenager became an adult in the mortal world, they would step on the road of independent self-improvement. In general, they would be freed from their Master-disciple rank, and thus enjoy more freedom. In return, they would also lose the excessive protection and support from the sect.

  Of course, this rule varied between different sects. For those low rank sects, reaching Jindan Stage would be a luxury, since all of the Xudan and even Foundation Establishment Cultivators worked like a horse for the sect. However, for the Five Uniques of Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, although being a Jindan would not make you busy like a dog Yuanying, being a Jindan meant that you have to strive to improve yourself without anyone's help, not to mention you also need to assume responsibility for important tasks, which were quite difficult for some people. At least, Wang Lu didn't plan to separate from his Master's protection after reaching Jindan. It wasn't that it was impossible, but it was unnecessary.

  For Wang Lu's resistance, Wang Wu merely gave her cynical sneer. "Do you think that's hard and you couldn't do it? Do you know how the current situation is in the Nine Regions?"

  Although Wang Wu asked about the current situation in Nine Regions, Wang Lu was clearly aware that her focus was really on his peers.

  "Qiong Hua of Shengjing is indeed worthy to be the head of the lead disciple of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals. Not only she has a Jindan Stage cultivation base, her state of mind is also outstanding."

  On that day when their eyes met, Wang Lu has a quite high appraisal of Qiong Hua.

  "Although Zhou Mumu of Kunlun is not good at fighting, she is actually someone that is well prepared, so her advancement in cultivation base should be faster and faster. When meeting her in the Ancient Sword Tomb, her cultivation base was actually not that prominent, but within two years, she has a really great chance for a breakthrough."

  For Zhou Mumu who had once joined hands with him, Wang Lu also didn't hesitate to give his affirmative evaluation. And his inference was also confirmed as he heard Wang Wu said, "Three months after this, Zhou Mumu, under the guide of her sect's Disciplinary Elder, would reach Jindan Stage. Don't ask me how could her cultivation base could advance this fast, I am too lazy to explain."

  Wang Lu also didn't care, he just continued with his review, "In these years, the Royal Soldier Sect maintained a low key presence. Although I don't understand the reason, a month ago, I saw Supreme Ku Qin, and the youth by his side should be the lead disciple of Royal Soldier Sect, his cultivation base is not less than Qiong Hua."

  "Yes, he is the most senior amongst the lead disciples of the Five Uniques, meaning that his cultivation time is the longest among the younger generation. However, although he has never shown any kind of reputation, you must not underestimate them as the most stupid."

  Wang Lu nodded and then said, "As for Zhan Ziye of Ten Thousand Arts Sect, since he dares to have an idea of Liu Li, he is doomed to live a lonely life, so there's nothing to worry about him."

  Wang Wu replied, "Hey, your moral integrity loss in this review is too fast!"

  Wang Lu shrugged. "Let's get back to our Spirit Sword Sect. We have a total of four outstanding disciples, aside from the one who has been missing for years, the root bone qualification of Liu Li's Brilliant Sword Heart is really hard to find, and her cultivation method also has a deep foundation. Right now, although her strength is still below me, once she crossed the Jindan Stage threshold, I'm afraid it would be difficult for her to have a rival that is on the same level as her. My Non-Phase Sword Defense could also be considered to be only on par with her Skybreaker. As for Senior Sister, she's outside the norm, so I don't want to talk about her."

  Originally, when Wang Lu and Zhu Shiyao met with Sword Demon and Sword God in the Ancient Sword Tomb, under a strange circumstance, Zhu Shiyao's purple mansion was occupied by the primordial spirit of the Sword God. Later on, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Her advancement of primordial spirit was greatly improved, and her strength skyrocketed. And because her cultivation time was longer than the others, her stellar sword was also exceptionally formidable. Currently, although she has yet to reach Jindan Stage, Wang Lu thought that even Qiong Hua might not necessarily be her opponent. Perhaps she was the genuine number one person among all of her peers.

  "That's a good analysis. Therefore, you can see that the advantages that you've built among your peers are now very weak. Although in a one on one fight and if there is no restriction in the strategy that could be used, even Zhu Shiyao might not necessarily be able to beat you, however, within five years, she would definitely reach Jindan Stage. And once she reaches Jindan Stage, her strength would advance by leaps and bounds. A single sword strike of her could make a skewer out of ten of you. Liu Li is also needless to say. Currently, her strength is slightly weaker than you because her control of the broken immortal sword Skybreaker is not that good… In short, you need to have a sense of crisis awareness. Your reputation as the number one person among the same generation is already unsteady. If you don't tightly grab it, you would not be able to hold it."

  Wang Lu curiously asked, "Why should I care about being the first or second, that kind of false reputation?"

  His Master lightly explained, "Because there is a huge gap in the advertising sponsorship fee."

  …