Chapter 705: The Truth about Longevity
Pan Litian’s Golden Gourd Bottle spun and flew around above the pit. He withdrew his hand, and the gourd returned to him. “There’s no doubt this is the pavilion master’s doing. The aura is a match.”
The others were slightly frightened by the impact of the palm seal.
“If I didn’t see this with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it even if you beat me to death. Based on the size of the pit, this palm seal is the biggest one I’ve ever seen!” one of the cultivators praised.
“Look! In there!”
The others looked into the center of the pit and saw a corpse bloodied and injured beyond recognition. Its face was deformed, and its arms were completely shattered. The kasaya was torn to shreds.
“Is this the person inside that red coffin? He’s a Buddhist Nine-leaf elite?”
“It’s him! This man was killed by the pavilion master’s palm seal!”
The members of the Evil Sky Pavilion had all witnessed Lu Zhou’s shocking palm seals that claimed countless lives. This palm-shaped pit was similar to the one Jiang Wenxu died in. The only difference was the size of this pit was mind-blowingly huge.
“This is great! Unfortunately, we weren’t able to witness the might of a Nine-leaf cultivator. What a shame!” The other cultivators seemed disappointed.
Si Wuya observed the corpse for a while before he surveyed his surroundings.
Duanmu Sheng approached Si Wuya and asked, “Seventh Junior Brother, did you find anything?”
‘Since master has won, where did he go?’ Si Wuya shook his head. “I don’t think anything harm came to master. Even if he couldn’t defeat this man, his speed is more than enough for him to escape.”
Mings.h.i.+ Yin flew over and said with a sigh, “You know master. He’ll never run away from a fight. Not everyone is as smart as I am.”
“…”
At this moment, Pan Zhong and Zhou Jifeng flew over while carrying two objects.
“Mister Seventh, look at this…”
The others looked over and saw two broken parts of the Sky Shuttle that resembled a coffin.
The others gathered around it.
Si Wuya studied it carefully. He was the only one among those present here who had studied the red coffin transporter before.
There was a saying: The layman enjoys fanfare while the experts focus on the details.
When Si Wuya saw the veins on the Sky Shuttle, his heart was overcome with emotions. “To think that someone is actually capable of creating such a magical transporter!”
“A transporter?” The other cultivators were puzzled.
Pan Zhong and Zhou Jifeng gave them a brief explanation about the red coffin, and the others clicked their tongues in wonder.
“If that’s true, I’m afraid the red lotus domain is already at a stage that we can hardly imagine,” someone said.
Si Wuya nodded and said, “That’s not all… This transporter is forged from a special material. The complexity of the Formation veins far exceeds that of the Ten Terminal Formation. It’s said that Jiang Wenxu spent a century before he developed the Ten Terminal Formation while he was in Great Yan.”
“A transporter that took 100 years to build? It’s no wonder it’s so st.u.r.dy.” The cultivators were amazed.
Zuo Yushu said disdainfully, “So what? Brother still managed to cleave it in two…”
“…”
Zuo Yushu was right.
The others looked at the broken Sky Shuttle again. The cut was clean and smooth; it was clearly the work of a sword.
“To have been able to slice through something with a defense that’s on par with the Ten Terminal Formation… just how profound is the pavilion master’s cultivation base?”
“Let’s not speculate here. The pavilion master couldn’t have gone far. Let’s split up and search for him.”
“Understood!”
…
In the forest.
Lu Zhou was puzzled by the vitality flowing out of the golden lotus. After breaking through and reaching the Nine-leaf stage, he had 200 years of life. However, why was vitality energy flowing out while the numbers rose?
After adjusting his breath, Lu Zhou felt that the vitality within his body was much more vigorous than before.
He flipped his palm. A miniature Nine-leaf golden lotus avatar appeared above his palm.
“Hm?” Lu Zhou noticed the nine leaves were in a raised position. They seemed straighter and more succulent. At the same time, vitality still flowed out of the golden lotus that nourished his avatar and the nine leaves.
“Is the golden lotus leaking out vitality energy that it had been absorbing over the years?”
He looked at the system dashboard.
Remaining life: 156,003 days.
“…”
When he saw the numbers, something stirred in him. Why was this happening? The numbers continued to rise.
+200!
+100!
The jumps in numbers were consistent.
He s.h.i.+fted his gaze to the golden lotus; vitality energy was still spilling out from it.
Then, he studied the nine leaves carefully. After a while, he finally found the difference. More than half of the leaves were curled upward. They were saturated, stood tall, bright, and dazzling. Golden smoke was slowly rising from the tips of the golden lotus leaves.
Usually, cultivators would have to condense their Primal Qi into energy, which would then give rise to colors. That was how energy seals came to be as well.
However, what was this rising golden mist?
“Red lotus karmic fire… Could this be the golden lotus fire?”
Lu Zhou waved his left hand. A tree leaf flew over and hovered above the golden leaf.
Sizzle!
The leaf from the tree was reduced into ashes immediately.
“…”
Lu Zhou waved his hand again. A branch flew over and hovered above the golden lotus leaf.
Sizzle!
The branch burst into golden flames and was also reduced to ashes!
“This…”
Lu Zhou began experimenting wildly as though he had chanced upon a huge discovery. He kept looking for other objects to experiment on. Exhaustion was a foreign concept to him now. Soil, rocks, and huge trees. Everything burned by the golden flames was reduced to ashes.
“Is this the new ability of the Nine-leaf stage?”
Before he could fully study the golden fire’s might, he noticed one of the golden leaves’ light was different.
His remaining life was still increasing.
According to the wooden bucket theory, a bucket’s capacity was determined by its shortest stave. This applied to the golden lotus as well. Eight of the nine leaves were s.h.i.+ning now. The golden flames from the eight golden leaves had merged, making the avatar look even more imposing.
At this moment, the Primal Qi within his dantian swelled.
“Power is flowing out as well!” Lu Zhou exclaimed in shock.
Everything he discovered at this moment was new to him. Everything was unknown. This greatly piqued Lu Zhou’s curiosity and interest.
Lu Zhou looked at his remaining life
Swis.h.!.+
The seventh leaf’s tip rose up, and golden flames emerged.
Remaining life: 200,753 days.
The rate of his Primal Qi growing inside his dantian increased several times in just an instant.
“I’m worried that I might implode and die if this keeps up…” Something stirred in Lu Zhou’s heart.
During the transition from the Eight-leaf stage to the Nine-leaf stage, the golden lotus would absorb one’s life force without restraint. When the Nine-leaf stage was complete, the golden lotus would begin to wildly spit out power. Was this an additional reward after breaking through the Nine-leaf stage?
Swis.h.!.+
The eighth leaf rose, and golden flames emerged again.
Remaining life: 219,003 days.
Every time a leaf rose up, he would gain 18,250 days of life, which was equivalent to 50 years.
Lu Zhou thought back to the changes he experienced throughout this process. He clicked his tongue in wonder. Aside from the ninth leaf, which was already raised when it sprouted, the remaining eight leaves were now following suit. Every leaf that rose up gave him 50 years of life.
“Could it be that the life limit of the breakthroughs from the One-leaf stage to the Eight-leaf stage is happening again?”
Before reaching the Nine-leaf stage, every addition of a leaf would add 50 years to the cultivator’s life. The leaves that rose with golden flames gave him another 50 years. With this, he would gain 400 years in total! Coupled with the 200 years he just obtained after reaching the Nine-leaf stage, he would gain 600 years of life!
After adding the 3 days that he was left with before reaching the Nine-leaf stage, he now had 219,000 days of life.
Lu Zhou heaved a long sigh. ‘My mathematical skills are quite good!’
Soon after, the golden flames from the nine leaves merged, and the golden avatar began to levitate. It looked grand and imposing as it stood in the midst of the golden flames. It looked almost divine.
Shortly after, his cultivation base began to rise as well.
The days of life he acc.u.mulated from the first eight stages were returned to him again. Naturally, the power he absorbed returned as well. Although it was just a portion of the full power, it was not something ordinary people would be able to withstand.
Lu Zhou stomped his feet without a second thought and flew 1,000 meters up into the sky.
Whizz!
His Nine-leaf avatar appeared standing on a golden lotus with golden flames. The golden flames at the tips of the nine leaves seemed like a halo that swirled around the avatar.
…
“A Nine-leaf avatar!”
“It’s a Nine-leaf avatar!”
The Evil Sky Pavilion disciples and cultivators who were searching the area saw the 150-feet avatar.
When the three elders saw the lotus that looked different from before, an incredulous expression appeared on their faces.
“Golden flames?”
Si Wuya frowned. “It must be a power that’s related to the red lotus karmic fire. Jiang Wenxu was a Nine-leaf cultivator, but he didn’t have access to this power. It must be dependent on the cultivator!”
At this moment, everyone could see Lu Zhou who had flown up into the sky.
“It’s the pavilion master!”
Lu Zhou shot into the center of his avatar.
“What’s the pavilion master trying to do?”
n.o.body knew what Lu Zhou was trying to do. They merely looked on in silence.
Lu Zhou looked up, flipped his right palm, and launched a palm seal toward the ground. His fingers shone with golden radiance. Abandon Wisdom hovered around his hand. A palm seal that covered an area of 100 meters dropped down from the sky.
The other widened their eyes when they saw this.
Boom!
The golden palm seal struck the ground and flattened the trees in the vicinity. Another five-finger pit appeared on the ground.
“…”