Chapter 25: Seventh Stage of Body Tempering Realm, Confidence in Spirit Awakening Before Thirty

Outside the courtyard, a slender figure had already been waiting quietly beneath the moonlight for quite some time.

The moment Lu Tianhe emerged from the courtyard gates, Lu Qingyu immediately stepped forward.

Her beautiful eyes carried traces of nervousness and hard to detect guilt.

"Brother."

She hesitated briefly before asking, "How did it go?"

Lu Tianhe stopped walking.

For several moments, he remained silent, the cold moonlight illuminating his face.

Eventually, he slowly exhaled.

"The matter is over."

Lu Qingyu visibly relaxed.

However, before she could fully calm down, she suddenly noticed something unusual.

Lu Tianhe’s expression was colder than she had ever seen before.

Lu Qingyu froze slightly.

"Brother..."

Lu Tianhe looked toward the distant night sky.

After a long silence, he finally spoke.

"Do you know what mother almost did?"

His voice was unusually calm, yet Lu Qingyu could faintly sense the anger hidden beneath it.

She lowered her head slightly.

"...I know."

No matter how unwilling she was to admit it, the facts were already before them.

Xu He was dead, Guard Zhou was dead, and Lu Yang had nearly died as well; the evidence was too overwhelming, leaving no room for denial.

Lu Tianhe slowly clenched his fists.

"Since childhood, mother always told us that we were the future of the Lu Family, that our talent represented the clan’s glory, that one day, we would carry the Lu Family forward."

A faint sneer appeared on his face.

"But, what did she do? She tried to kill the greatest genius the Lu Family has produced in nearly two hundred years."

The surrounding air became incredibly heavy.

Lu Qingyu remained silent.

Even she could not find any words of rebuttal, she knew that Lu Tianhe was right.

Regardless of personal feelings, Lu Yang remained a member of the Lu Family, and not just any member, but a genius unprecedented in the clan’s history, one destined to carry the family to heights it had never reached before.

Threatening him was no different from threatening the future interests of the entire clan.

After all, clans existed because their members united against outsiders, but if internal conflicts reached the point of assassination, then what future could such a clan possibly have?

Lu Tianhe’s gaze gradually became colder.

"We need to speak with mother."

Lu Qingyu’s expression changed slightly, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately, she swallowed her words back and nodded.

"...Alright."

Soon afterward, the siblings disappeared into the darkness.

Meanwhile, inside the courtyard behind them, Lu Yang quietly withdrew his gaze.

He had naturally heard everything; Body Tempering Realm cultivators possessed hearing far beyond ordinary people, specially one such as him, who’s senses might be beyond even Lu Tianhe’s expectations.

However, his expression remained unchanged.

Whether the Twin Stars understood or not was no longer important, what mattered was that the matter had finally come to a temporary end.

Thus, Lu Yang slowly closed his eyes once more.

His breathing gradually stabilized, dense Blood Qi beginning to circulate throughout his body.

Only cultivation truly mattered, everything else was secondary.

The cultivation world had never changed.

Strength remained the foundation of all things.

Without sufficient strength, justice was meaningless, without sufficient strength, truth was meaningless, and without sufficient strength, even one’s life could be taken away at any moment.

Guard Zhou’s death had already taught him this lesson once again in his current life.

Having a good background did not mean absolute safety.

He had to do everything using this background to enhance his own strength and lay a foundation for both the future of this life and the next one.

His current strength was still far too weak for now.

...

Time quietly flowed onward, years slipping away like flowing water.

The turmoil surrounding the assassination incident slowly faded into history.

The Twin Stars’ mother remained under confinement while Lu Yang continued cultivating, advancing steadily.

At sixteen years old, he had already reached the absolute peak of the Sixth Stage of Body Tempering Realm.

Only a single barrier remained before the Seventh Stage of Body Tempering Realm.

However, that final step proved unexpectedly difficult.

Many cultivators remained trapped there for years, some even for decades.

But Lu Yang remained patient; his foundation was too important, especially because he carried memories from two lifetimes.

He understood something most people did not.

The stronger one’s foundation before Spirit Awakening Realm, the greater the future potential afterward. Rushing now would only harm him later.

Thus, he continued accumulating.

...

Two years later.

The training grounds behind Lu Yang’s residence.

The morning sun had just risen.

At this moment, Lu Yang sat cross-legged upon a stone platform.

Dense crimson Blood Qi surged continuously throughout his body, causing the surrounding air to tremble faintly as an invisible pressure spread out.

Several nearby servants instinctively retreated, their expressions filled with shock.

They could clearly sense it; Lu Yang was currently undergoing a major transformation.

Inside Lu Yang’s body, Blood Qi roared like a surging river.

Every muscle, every bone, every meridian, everything was undergoing another transformation.

The barrier that had blocked him for years finally began cracking.

*Boom!*

A muffled explosion suddenly echoed from within his body.

The next instant, an incomparably powerful Blood Qi fluctuation erupted outward.

The stone platform beneath him cracked instantly, several nearby trees shaking and causing countless leaves to scatter through the air.

The surrounding servants widened their eyes.

"Young Master broke through!"

"Seventh Stage of Body Tempering Realm!"

They instantly became excited.

Lu Yang slowly opened his eyes, a brilliant crimson golden light flashing briefly before disappearing completely in their depths, a sign of Blood Qi reaching major achievement according to the Golden Vajra Body Tempering Qi and Blood Method.

Seventh Stage of Body Tempering Realm!

After three years of accumulation, he had officially entered the Late Stage Body Tempering Realm.

A faint smile slowly appeared on his face.

In his previous life, he had almost exceeded forty years of age before reaching this level, but now, he was only eighteen.

The difference between the two lifetimes was simply too enormous.

Lu Yang slowly clenched his fist.

Immediately, overwhelming strength surged throughout his body.

The sensation was intoxicating.

Compared to three years ago, his combat power had increased several times over.

If he encountered that Eighth Stage Body Tempering Realm maid again, Lu Yang estimated that after a sufficiently prolonged battle, he genuinely possessed the ability to kill her.

Even against newly advanced Ninth Stage Body Tempering Realm cultivators, although victory remained unlikely, escape was no longer a problem.

This was confidence born from genuine strength.

...

After a week of stabilizing his cultivation, Lu Yang immediately went to the Internal Affairs Hall to report his breakthrough.

In the Internal Affairs Hall, the Internal Affairs Grand Elder, who looked noticeably older than when Lu Yang first entered the maim family, looked at Lu Yang with satisfaction, a barely concealed hint of shock in his eyes.

"Eighteen years old, Seventh Stage of Body Tempering Realm..."

His voice carried faint emotion.

"No one in the history of our Lu Family has ever achieved such a thing."

Three years ago, Lu Yang was already considered a monster, and today, that evaluation had only become even more terrifying.

The Internal Affairs Grand Elder stroked his beard, which was already long with patches of white.

"If everything proceeds smoothly, you should reach the Eighth Stage of Body Tempering Realm around twenty-two years of age, perhaps even sooner."

Suddenly, he asked, "Yang’er, what do you think your chances are of reaching the Spirit Awakening Realm before thirty-five?"

The surrounding deacons and servants immediately became silent, their eyes focused on Lu Yang.

This question carried tremendous significance.

Within the cultivation world, there existed a widely acknowledged standard, recognized by even factions possessing Essence Gathering Realm powerhouses.

If one wished to possess hope of reaching the Essence Gathering Realm, then the Spirit Awakening Realm must generally be achieved within thirty years of beginning cultivation.

The earlier the better; this was the consensus among countless forces.

Lu Yang began cultivating at five years old, thus, if he entered the Spirit Awakening Realm before thirty-five years of age...

His chances of eventually reaching that realm would become extremely high.

Essence Gathering Realm... previously, the Internal Affairs Grand Elder didn’t even dare to imagine it, but with Lu Yang’s talent, it might not necessarily be impossible!

Of course, exceptions always existed to this standard of Spirit Awakening within thirty years.

Some individuals obtained heaven defying opportunities and ohers experienced miraculous transformations, but those remained exceptions; most cultivators still followed this standard.

The atmosphere gradually became quiet.

Lu Yang remained silent briefly before calmly replying, "If nothing goes wrong, I will reach the Spirit Awakening Realm before thirty."

The words were simple, but the confidence contained within them caused many people’s expressions to change slightly.

Even the Internal Affairs Grand Elder froze momentarily.

Before thirty, didn’t that mean over five years earlier than the generally accepted standard?

Eventually, the Internal Affairs Grand Elder laughed loudly.

"Good!"

His voice echoed throughout the Internal Affairs Hall.

"That’s the ambition a cultivator should have!"

The surrounding deacons and other cultivators also smiled.

No one felt Lu Yang was arrogant.

After all, over the years, he had repeatedly achieved things others believed impossible.

Exiting the Internal Affairs Hall, Lu Yang quietly looked toward the distant horizon.

Spirit Awakening Realm...

To others, it was an incredible goal, but to him, it was merely another beginning.

Only after entering the Spirit Awakening Realm would he finally possess the qualifications to begin investigating the truths hidden behind his previous life’s death.

He had a feeling this matter was far from as simple as it looked on the surface.