“Thump.”

“Thump.”

Heavy footsteps echoed on the floorboards, creating a shaking, earth-trembling sensation.

The old man paused, then realized that the two had bypassed the second floor and were heading straight for the first.

Even the sisters Ye Tinglan, when they had ascended, had stopped at the second floor. After all, even if you could reach the first floor, if the pressure was too much and you couldn’t search for items properly, it would be pointless and embarrassing. It was better to be steady on the second floor.

But these two, one large and one small, clearly seemed to be struggling, yet they insisted on going to the first floor.

Where did these two narcissists come from? Especially the smaller one, who was so young!

Actually, the old man had overestimated them… When Ye Tinglan and Yuan Muyu ascended the tower, it was under the observation of their sect, fearing that they wouldn’t be able to withstand the first floor for long and would lose face. Lu Xingzhou and Anu didn’t care about any of that; if they couldn’t endure it, they’d just go back to the second floor. What was the big deal?

Rather than wanting to search for items on the first floor, the master and disciple seemed more interested in testing their limits, treating it like a game.

So, under the old man’s gaze, which saw them as geniuses, the floor shook. With footsteps heavy as a thousand jun, two heads, one large and one small, appeared on the first floor.

The old man’s heart stirred, and his figure vanished.

“Shifu, it’s so heavy, I can barely move,” Anu said. “As long as we made it up, let’s go to the second floor?”

Lu Xingzhou glanced at her sidelong: “Still trying to show off in front of Shifu?”

Anu: “…”

The old man was stunned. No, is a master really bickering with his disciple?

The disciple, quite accustomed, said: “Shifu, the more you lack something, the more you compare it. Compared to me just now, you’re being too deliberate…”

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

Is this habit of deceiving and destroying masters in our lineage hereditary?

Speaking of which, in his long career before, Anu had always been better at fighting than Lu Xingzhou. This was one of the rare times when Lu Xingzhou had a slight advantage, so why wouldn’t he show off…

Lu Xingzhou held Anu’s small hand and infused a wisp of spiritual energy into her: “Treat this pressure as an enemy’s attack. With the power of Tai Xu Lun Zhuan, I can neutralize it, and you can endure it a bit longer.”

Anu felt the circulating Yin and Yang Qi within her body dissipate the pressure, feeling a touch of envy: “I want to learn that too…”

Lu Xingzhou rubbed her head: “You’re enduring this with your physical body, a quality many envy… This is first-grade pressure, mind you. Although relatively gentle, not everyone can cross so many floors to bear it.”

Anu brightened: “Then let’s search for items. I want to find a suitable martial art.”

Neither Yuan Muyu nor Shen Tang, nor Ye Tinglan, despite knowing martial arts, were quite compatible with Anu. Teaching Anu wasn’t ideal for them, and it was uncertain if a suitable one could be found among the Tianyao Holy Land’s ancient texts.

Logically, with thousands of years of collection in Tianyao Holy Land, there should be something suitable, which would surely satisfy Anu. But it also faced Lu Xingzhou’s previous problem: having textbooks but no teacher. Self-study always felt like it was missing something.

A thought once crossed Lu Xingzhou’s mind: the person most suitable to teach Anu was Long Qinghuang, who truly relied on brute physical force to overwhelm and sweep aside opponents.

However, if he met Long Qinghuang now, not being crushed to death by her would be a good outcome…

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Lu Xingzhou himself was also looking for suitable cultivation methods. He needed an effective flame spell.

Currently, Lu Xingzhou primarily focused on the martial cultivation of Yin Yang Jiyi. He wasn’t averse to Dao cultivation, but he mainly held onto the idea of practicing the Dao cultivation part of the Yin Yang Jiyi Gong and wasn’t looking for other cultivation methods for now.

As for practical skills, his previous path of evil cultivation with the Soul Banner hadn’t been used in a long time. It wasn’t that the Renhuang Banner was ineffective—it was actually better than the super-grade Yin Yang Jiyi Gong in certain specific situations—but the current environment was different. Evil cultivation was unsuitable for exposure and had to be kept hidden in daily life.

Lu Xingzhou’s Dao cultivation wasn’t limited to just evil techniques like the Soul Banner; he mastered many legitimate spells. Especially as an alchemist, flame Dao spells were crucial. Ever since obtaining the Essence of Blazing Flame to refine hams and the Shattering Golden Fire to enhance destructive power, his current flame abilities were very strong. Yet, he lacked a suitable spell to unleash their full value, which was a great pity.

Ye Tinglan could clearly teach him this, and even teach him to perfection, but Lu Xingzhou had never asked her, for reasons everyone understood.

If he found a suitable ancient text himself and then asked her for guidance, it seemed… well…

The ancient texts of Tianyao Holy Land retained their original solemnity, all on paper scrolls with blue covers, and some even in bamboo slip versions, rather than a jade slip that could be scanned quickly. While it felt much more dignified, finding specific items was inconvenient. Lu Xingzhou drove the Tai Xu Lun Zhuan to resist the pressure, searching through various bookshelves for a long time. His finger stopped on a spine: *Yan Yu Can Yang* (Blazing Hell’s Lingering Sun).

It was a first-grade martial skill and battle technique, including palm and leg methods… but it wasn’t a spell.

It seemed especially suitable for his current martial cultivation, combined with his fire bone and Shattering Golden Fire characteristics… Before, without such martial arts, his kicks already brought fire, even burning the little demoness to ashes. But that was innate to his fire bone, not from specialized techniques. Clearly, this item was very suitable for him.

It seemed he might not even need spells.

But since he was thinking in this direction, what about water bone?

Could he take another book?

Anyway, no one was watching, so he probably could… Lu Xingzhou quickly grabbed another book, *Bi Shui Di Chen* (Jade Water Cleansing Dust).

Pulling it out, he saw it was a healing spell. If it had any offensive capabilities, it leaned more towards purifying the opponent’s dark influences, so it counted as an attack, he supposed.

Uh… it seemed not impossible.

From the perspective of Yin and Yang, his cultivation method already involved the opposition of Yin and Yang. A destructive technique and a healing one would be quite good. Lu Xingzhou looked left and right like a thief and quickly hid them in his ring.

A sigh came from beside him: “That’s against the rules, young friend.”

Lu Xingzhou knew someone was still managing this place and quickly smiled apologetically: “I’m just borrowing them. Can’t I borrow them?”

“No, you can only take one. Which one do you choose?”

Lu Xingzhou hesitated for a moment, then left *Bi Shui Di Chen*.

DPS was always plentiful; every team needed a healer. For Lu Xingzhou personally, having been an auxiliary for so long, he instinctively leaned towards choosing a support role. Of course, if he still wanted *Yan Yu Can Yang*, he could probably ask the elder for a back door later.

However, the old man smiled: “Saving people or harming people, you chose one of the two. You kept the healing method and abandoned the harming method… The Sect Master values you two, and indeed, there is a reason for it.”

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

Could it be interpreted that way?

The old man said: “Take them both. The texts here are for borrowing. Return them in three days. Also, even copied duplicates are not to be disseminated without permission. This is a sect rule, not my restriction.”

Lu Xingzhou took the two booklets and bowed: “Thank you, old man.”

“Old man?” The old man’s expression twitched: “Whose disciple are you? Do you not recognize me? What kind of address is that?”

Lu Xingzhou blinked, saying nothing.

I am the Sect Master’s male consort. Can I say that identity?

Speaking of which, a librarian, this person is probably quite formidable, a sweeping monk level? He couldn’t afford to offend them.

“Never mind.” The old man waved his hand: “You’ve pushed your cultivation method to protect yourself, and you’re already at your limit. Don’t stay on the first floor any longer, lest you harm your foundation. Go down.”

“Hey, wait, my Anu…”

The old man sighed: “That little girl is holding a body-refining technique and went downstairs crying.”

“…” Lu Xingzhou sprinted downstairs and saw Anu sitting there, sniffling: “Shifu, why are all the body cultivation methods here like this… Look at this one, it says it’s a first-grade body cultivation method, but the first page tells you that after practicing it, your shoulders will be as wide as your head, your muscles will be bulging, with the beauty of the Qilian Mountains… Do I want that kind of beauty?”

Lu Xingzhou was speechless. This kind of beauty was probably appreciated in a specific online community.

Of course, there were many body cultivation methods that relied on the physique, and the strong ones were indeed powerful, but their style didn’t seem to match Anu at all.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. We’ll keep looking. Maybe the second floor has something more suitable for you. At least your shoulders won’t be wider than your head.”

It was better not to comfort her. With that comfort, Anu let out a “woo-wah” and really cried.

Lu Xingzhou, sweating profusely, picked up Anu and rushed downstairs, heading directly to another pavilion where ancient texts were stored.

Inside the building, a steward and several junior disciples were already waiting. Seeing Lu Xingzhou enter with the child, they looked at them curiously.

They had received an order from the Sect Master to assist these two in finding ancient texts. This was perhaps the first time in many years that the Sect Master had personally given instructions on such a trivial matter. Who were these two? Could that teary-eyed plump girl be the Sect Master’s illegitimate daughter?

“Uh, young master, we are here by the Sect Master’s command to assist you in finding information. What are you looking for, may I ask?”

Lu Xingzhou said: “Ancient records, information related to the ancient world, and all cultivation exploration notes related to ‘Yin and Yang’.”

Everyone exchanged glances. Was it a bit too early for a mere fourth-grade cultivator to be looking for ancient records?

“Um, young master, there’s a lot of ancient information. It might not be possible to finish reading it in a few days.”

“That’s fine, give me as much as you have.”

While Lu Xingzhou and Anu were engrossed in the materials, Ye Tinglan was in a meeting with the sect.

She had been away for too long, and many matters had piled up. Although they had communication methods, they wouldn’t bother the Sect Master for non-urgent matters. As a result, what wasn’t urgent accumulated, and some things had now turned from less urgent to urgent.

“Overseas Immortal Sect Grand Competition?” Ye Tinglan frowned: “Has it come to this time already?”

“Yes,” an elder said. “It’s held every sixty years, to verify the new generation of each family…”

The seemingly ordinary words carried a hint of awkwardness, and everyone stole glances at Ye Tinglan.

The last time Tianyao Holy Land participated in the immortal sect competition, the “newcomers” were the Ye Tinglan sisters. How young and promising they were back then!

In a blink of an eye, she was now the Sect Master, and she only had one disciple.

Each sect usually sent three people for a best-of-three competition.

It wasn’t a problem that the Sect Master only had one direct disciple; other elders also had direct disciples, so gathering three people was easy, even thirty. The problem was that, apart from Dugu Qingli, none of the other young disciples had broken through the third-grade. They seemed a bit unsure. Well, there were quite a few who had broken through the third-grade, but their age was a bit awkward; they seemed relatively old.

Tianyao Holy Land had been famous for so long, proclaimed as the best. Of course, many were unconvinced. If they sent out a group of older youths or even middle-aged individuals, they would likely be met with sarcastic remarks.

They couldn’t let Ye Tinglan, who won the championship in the previous generation, lose their sect’s number one position after taking over for all these years.

Ye Tinglan slammed the table, sneering: “Why are you all looking at me like that? You’ve failed in teaching your disciples; not a single one has even reached the third grade. Are you blaming me for a lack of leadership now?”

“That’s not what we meant…” an elder replied awkwardly.

To speak of responsibility, of course, there was some.

First, with great power comes great responsibility. You are the best in the world; who told you to only take one disciple? If you had taken three directly, wouldn’t there be fewer problems? Second, did you force Yuan Muyu away? If Yuan Muyu were here, with her genius back then, her disciple wouldn’t be much worse than yours now, right?

Ye Tinglan slowly sipped her tea: “What kind of look is that? I know Yuan Muyu’s disciple. When she graduated, she was twenty years old, a mere seventh-grade. However, under my tutelage, she is now quite impressive.”

Please note: m.llskw.org