Chapter 456 : Life Needs a Bit of Spice

Chapter 456: Life Needs a Bit of Spice

In the boundless darkness, Lü Yang’s consciousness floated on the surface of the abyss.

"Another restart, huh."

Lü Yang sighed and began to reflect on the failures of his previous life: "Dao attainment… this hurdle might be even more outrageous than I imagined."

Seeking the Golden Core left no room for shortcuts!

"If it hadn’t been for the interference of the Heavenly Lord, and I had steadily cultivated step by step with the Immortal Spirit body, perhaps my Dao attainment in 【Pomegranate Wood】 could have met the standard for Golden Core."

However, due to that interference, he had been forced to abandon cultivation in 【Pomegranate Wood】 and seek other paths. As a result, his Golden Core pursuit ended up relying entirely on the insights of Immortal Ling Shang Zhang, which led to deviation. Otherwise, with his state back then, he had a good chance of attaining Fruitional Rank.

"The key lies in divine abilities."

"Original Divine Abilities, Innate Divine Abilities—each and every one of them must be honed personally. Borrowing external power may appear strong, but the foundation is hollow."

In comparison, external Fruitional Ranks didn’t have such harsh requirements.

【Exquisite Heart】, 【Containing True Qi】, 【Returning Origin Art】, 【Heaven-Bearing Net】, 【Same as the World】… not a single one of them had been cultivated step-by-step by Lü Yang.

All were quick achievements.

Yet if he had gone to seek 【Seven Luminaries Heaven】, success was almost guaranteed. This clearly showed that Dao attainment was a rigid requirement unique to Fruitional Ranks in this world.

"But perhaps that’s also one of the reasons why external Fruitional Ranks are inferior to local ones. Though less restricted, they also inherently lack potential."

While Lü Yang pondered, the 【Book of a Hundred Lives】 stirred.

【Would you like to activate the ‘Golden Talent: Innate Immortal Spirit’?】

"...Do not activate."

Seeing this, Lü Yang immediately cursed. Trash talent—it completely screwed him over in the last life! If not for his quick wit, he’d have had to restart again already!

Of course, the 【Book of a Hundred Lives】 paid no heed to Lü Yang’s complaints. New text rapidly appeared:

【Please select your restart anchor point.】

"First anchor point."

Lü Yang sighed. At the second anchor point, he had already forged a Dao Foundation aligned with 【City Wall Earth】. It had been too hasty back then, and now it was a dead file.

He had been too young then, unaware of just how treacherous this damn place really was. He even entertained the thought of snatching fire from the Pure Land’s hands to attain 【City Wall Earth】. In hindsight, it was all utter nonsense—【City Wall Earth】 was enough to make even the World-Honored One act personally!

‘Shameless...’

Lü Yang shook his head, but as soon as he confirmed his choice, the darkness before his eyes began to ripple like pages turning in a book, and a fine white light surged forth—

Like sunlight piercing through night.

And just like opening one's eyes as usual, when Lü Yang regained his senses, what lay before him was a scene he had nearly forgotten.

【You failed in seeking 'Pomegranate Wood', leaving a certain Dao Lord—who had high hopes for you—stunned. They spent ten days and still couldn’t figure out why you attempted the Fruitional Rank despite lacking certainty or Dao attainment, and ended up giving up on communicating with you.】

【Remaining pages in the Book of a Hundred Lives: 90】

【Upon restarting a life, you may choose one of the following gains from your past life:

One: Treasures.

Two: Cultivation.

Three: Lifespan.

Four: Abandon all gains and randomly awaken a new talent based on past experiences.】

"Those whose names are called, step forward."

Familiar people, familiar scenes—on the stage, Liu Xin’s voice, which had once felt chilling to Lü Yang, now made him feel a strange daze.

‘How many years has it been?’

Lü Yang looked down at his hands. The drastic drop in position was like falling from a mountain peak to the ground—he couldn’t quite adjust in that instant.

After all, at the first anchor point, he hadn’t even established a foundation yet—at most, he had cultivated a few Great Divine Abilities. The long-lost sense of weakness instead helped Lü Yang rediscover his initial aspirations—no longer needing to ponder the secrets of the heavens or the schemes of Dao Lords, but instead focusing on the mundane affairs before him.

‘Ignorance truly is bliss.’

Thinking thus, Lü Yang calmed his thoughts. After hearing Liu Xin call his name, he quickly stepped onto the stage, and then heard that all-too-familiar announcement:

"Hall of Joy!"

Lü Yang was already well-versed in this whole process.

And so, while going through the motions, he still sighed inwardly: ‘With each restart, my heart grows colder and more ruthless.’

Back then, he might’ve still harbored thoughts of revenge against Liu Xin.

But now? He no longer cared. Even if he did get revenge, so what? They would just be revived in the next life. In the end, they were just disposable tools.

Not even people.

‘When did I become like this? If this continues, will I become the very type of person I never wanted to be?’

In that instant, Lü Yang snapped out of it.

Absolutely not!

His cultivation was for longevity, for freedom, for the power to control his own destiny. If he lost himself, what meaning would there be in cultivating?

‘I must find a way to temper this mindset!’

Half an hour later.

Inside Yu Suzhen’s cave dwelling, Lü Yang pushed aside the flawless, jade-like body beside him, exhaled deeply, and felt the coldness in his heart much warmer now.

‘I was just overthinking earlier.’

Lü Yang shook his head, unable to resist marveling:

‘The world is so beautiful, yet I was so irritable. That’s not good. Not good at all. Mhm, I’m still me—haven’t changed a bit!’

After an intense session with Yu Suzhen, Lü Yang deeply realized that cultivation required both tension and relaxation. Life needed a bit of spice. His previously taut mood relaxed considerably, and with ease, he turned his gaze to the 【Book of a Hundred Lives】 and decisively chose the 【Treasure】 option.

【Qián Heaven Governs All Phenomena】!

This Dharmic body contained all of Lü Yang’s gains from the previous life and was now brought over entirely. As for cultivation, it was irrelevant at this point.

‘If I wanted, I could restore Foundation Establishment at any time.’

All he had to do was reconnect with the 【Xuandu Blessed Land】 and absorb the 【Seven Luminaries Heaven】 again. But it was pointless. This life, he aimed for the future!

‘External Fruitional Ranks might be great, but they’re not what I seek.’

Lü Yang suspected that if he achieved 【Seven Luminaries Heaven】, he might never be able to attain a native Fruitional Rank again. A short-term gain with long-term consequences.

Of course, that didn’t mean 【Seven Luminaries Heaven】 was useless.

‘The best use would be pseudo-attainment!’

Pseudo-attainment of an external Fruitional Rank!

‘As long as I use my astonishing intellect to modify the 【Yama Palace】 so that it can pseudo-hold an external Fruitional Rank, then last life wasn’t wasted.’

Sure, pseudo-attaining a Golden Fruitional Rank was already subpar—and this one would be pseudo-holding an external one. Even if successful, it would likely be the weakest Golden Core in history—worse than even an external Dao True Lord! But still, a Golden Core was a Golden Core. It’d crush Foundation Establishment with ease!

Just like pseudo-Foundation Establishment back in the day.

Pseudo-holding an external rank would let Lü Yang achieve a qualitative gap at the Foundation level, helping him better pursue a local Fruitional Rank.

As for which one?

He already had a plan.

‘In terms of Dao attainment, 【Overturning Lamp Fire】 and 【Wall Earth】 are actually the best. Pity they’re death traps at this point in time.’

Seeking them would be asking for death.

And you’d have to re-hunt the Heavenly Gang and Earth Fiend stars from scratch—far too troublesome.

‘【Pomegranate Wood】 is the same.’

Though he had the experience now and high odds of succeeding this time, Lü Yang was no longer content with just an ordinary Fruitional Rank.

‘Since I can pseudo-hold an external rank, my advantage is nearly infinite—it’s like a True Lord competing with Foundation Establishment cultivators. In that case, going after 【Pomegranate Wood】 may work, but it isn’t ambitious enough. If I’m going to attain Fruition, it must be the best one!’

Lü Yang’s benchmark was 【Ang Xiao】.

If he was going to attain a Fruitional Rank, it had to be a supreme one!

Of course, he was self-aware enough to know that 【City Wall Earth】 and 【Sword Edge Metal】 were off the table, and 【Great Forest Wood】 had already been taken by Ang Xiao.

So his target was—

‘【Heavenly Fire Above】!’