Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 377: Enlightened Senior Monk

The moment the immortal sword snapped, Fifth Elder had already planned out the rest of his life.

I, Zhou Xin, have diligently cultivated for two thousand years, finally reaching the cusp of the Transcendent Tribulation Stage and becoming the master of Hundred Refinements Peak. With countless patents in my hand, I’ve amassed massive wealth for the Dao-Seeking Sect year after year.

Whether my lifelong savings can buy even one immortal sword is hard to say. Immortal swords are incredibly hard to forge. After all, they’re weapons exclusive to immortals.

Unlike the immortal treasures from the Everlasting Creed, which are at best half-finished products, Lu Yang’s immortal sword is a bona fide immortal artifact. The difference in power is like night and day.

Legends say that when an immortal artifact took form, its quality was so impeccable that heaven and earth couldn’t tolerate its existence. Countless trials and tribulations would descend upon it. If left alone, the immortal artifact would inevitably crumble. To preserve the immortal artifact, the immortal had to confront the mighty force of heaven and earth—a challenge no less harrowing and perilous than ascending to an immortal again.

To have been formed from manifold trials and tribulations, the value of immortal artifacts is beyond my imagination. How could a mere Fusion cultivator like me ever compensate for one? Optimistically, a lifetime of labor might scrape together enough to afford a single immortal artifact.

Watching Fifth Elder’s spectacular display of expressions, Lu Yang coughed awkwardly. “Fifth Elder, this immortal word isn’t as sturdy as you think. Based on my research, an immortal likely crafted a sword that mimics a real immortal artifact to tide them through a crisis. It’s actually an immortal sword without much power.”

This sword was forged by the Heaven Mandate Immortal, who controlled lightning tribulations, to deceive the two Dragon and Phoenix prodigies, both half-immortal experts.

If it could fool those two, it can naturally fool Fifth Elder.

“Is that so?” Fifth Elder exhaled a sigh of relief.

Right after that, he was worried that Lu Yang was just comforting him, so he began to scrutinize the blade.

Spiritual consciousness scans, quench tests, metallurgy forging analysis... After a series of inspections, Fifth Elder finally figured out the structure and composition of the immortal sword.

“Which lunatic forged this?! It nearly gave me a heart attack!

“First, Fire-Borne Stones and Summit Spirit Stones were mixed and tempered into a blank. Then, with some unknown technique, this sword embryo was rapidly shaped into a spirit sword. Finally, immortal golden power was coated on the spirit sword to fake lightning marks. Even someone as knowledgeable as myself in this trade was fooled into believing it was a genuine immortal sword. No, it’s not just me—it’d be the same for any other Transcendent Tribulation cultivator.

“Unless you touch it, just by using your eyes or spiritual consciousness, this sword is no different from an immortal sword!”

Fifth Elder turned his head to Lu Yang. “You mentioned that an immortal had crafted this sword to tide them through a crisis. What crisis was that? Did the immortal lack money and have to stage scam accidents to swindle others of money?”

Lu Yang, “...”

Although the Qilin Immortal tricked me into eating dirt, exposing how he scammed his wives doesn’t feel appropriate.

Lu Yang believed in one-sided grudges.

Besides, Fifth Elder, do you know the “lunatic” you scolded was the ancient immortal who controlled the heavenly tribulations?

“Didn’t you say you wanted to forge a sword? That’s easy, leave it to me!” Fifth Elder stared at the immortal sword in his hand, raging with flames of fury. If I don’t refine this crappy sword into something else, I’ll renounce my surname!

“This layer of immortal golden power is useless. It only serves the purpose of faking it as an immortal sword. However, the Fire-Borne Stones and Summit Spirit Stones are top-notch materials—perfect for you.”

“How so?”

“You are at the Golden Core Stage, though with your talent, fighting Nascent Soul cultivators is not a problem. These stones are perfect for forging a Nascent Soul-tier spirit sword.”

With Fifth Elder’s status in the artifact refining community, crafting a Nascent Soul-tier spirit sword was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. In the past, he always delegated such matters to his disciples. However, he had agreed to take on the task today to vent his anger.

“By the way, do you want a spirit sword or spell sword?” Fifth Elder asked.

Spirit swords were used in direct combat, while spell swords were a medium for spells. Both were tools of sword cultivators. At the moment, Lu Yang had only mastered spirit swords.

“Spirit sword.”

“Alright.”

~~~

Fifth Elder led Lu Yang to his artifact-refining chamber. Before even stepping inside, Lu Yang was assaulted by heat waves, as if they were at an active volcano.

Fifth Elder casually explained, “Normally, you wouldn’t be able to enter this place with your cultivation realm. However, the true fire you wield protects you from the scorching heat of the artifact-refining chamber.

“I have established a rule here that prevents explosions from true fire collisions. The synergy between multifarious true fires can aid me in crafting magical treasures.”

The vast, domed chamber’s walls were lined with vibrantly colored vials. Fifth Elder offhandedly retrieved a cyan vial from the wall and unstopped it. A ball of flame darted out, and the cyan vial now turned jade white. The vial had originally been white, but had changed color due to the flame.

“Traveling around the world, I’ve collected 88 of the 108 True Fires. Each flame seed is stored in these special vials. Every time I forge artifacts, I’ll take them out. Later, I managed to gather twelve more types of true fire, and that’s how I’ve achieved the scale we see today.”

Lu Yang marveled. No wonder Fifth Elder is a long-standing and renowned master in the artifact-refining community. The collection of these true fires alone would make countless artifact-refining masters envious.

Fifth Elder added, “Unfortunately, the remaining eight true fires are extremely hard to acquire. Despite offering a high bounty reward, no one responded; either that, or they are forbidden items where collection is prohibited.

“True fire is considered a forbidden item?”

“Take the Lust Desire True Fire, for instance. A tiny spark is all that’s needed to ignite uncontrollable lust in people. If they don’t relieve it, they’ll die from the pent-up desire. The imperial court deemed this true fire too dangerous and prohibited its collection.

“Of course, it’s not that I can’t find it—some discreet brothels use this true fire. However, it’s useless for artifact refinement, so why bother?”

Fifth Elder held up the cyan flame and smiled faintly. “I’m not sure if you have heard of it before. This is the No Desire True Fire, the counterpart of the Lust Desire True Fire. It originates from the Golden Buddhist Kingdom. By igniting this fire in your heart, you can be purged of desires and clear your heart and soul, devoting yourself to the Dao.

“In my youth, Old Third and I traveled to the Golden Buddhist Kingdom, hoping to find the Lust Desire True Fire in the brothels. Unfortunately, luck was not on our side, and we couldn’t find it in the brothels, though we did encounter an enlightened senior monk who had achieved the Dao in a brothel.

“That senior monk noticed our deep Buddha-nature and felt an affinity with us, so he gifted me the No Desire True Fire. He even demonstrated a set of the Arhat Fist Technique to Old Third. This enlightenment inspired Old Third to create the Heaven-Shaking Six Forms.”

Lu Yang, “...”

Why do I remember that Third Elder got beaten up by someone using the Arhat Fist in the Golden Buddhist Kingdom, which motivated him to work hard and invent the Heaven-Shaking Six Forms?

“Hold on, why was an enlightened senior monk in a brothel?”

Fifth Elder was not surprised, for he had asked a similar question back then, and the senior monk had answered him. “Oh, regarding that, the senior monk explained it.

“He said that it was called ‘One’s bare body passes through the brothel, but Buddha remains in the heart.’”[1]

1. This is adapted from the original phrase “wine and meat passes through the gut, but Buddha remains in the heart. ☜

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