Lei Yun, with his mouth slightly open, stared in disbelief at the technique in his mind.
'How… how is this possible?!'
He thought, his heart in turmoil.
'Even with all my knowledge, I can't find a single flaw in this technique… no, it's not that simple. There are ideas here I never imagined could be applied to techniques as simple as Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment.'
His mind processed every word, analyzed every meaning, and repeatedly simulated its use. But the more he did so, the more terrifying it became.
'The only mistake I can see is that there are some redundancies here. If I remove them, maybe…' he thought, furrowing his brows as he found something odd. Then suddenly, his eyes widened. 'No! There's no way the person who created such a marvelous technique didn't notice such a huge mistake! This is intentional!'
His heart raced even more, and his anxiety grew.
'No, I have to test this. This is beyond my imagination!'
As a former Mahayana, his perception was much greater than most, and he immediately realized how extraordinary the technique was. So marvelous, in fact, that he even gained new insights into the path of cultivation — which was terrifying, considering the realm he had once reached.
Under the astonished gaze of Mu Luyin, who watched in shock at the rapid transformation of his expression — going from pure shock to disbelief, then to growing confusion, until he was seized by sudden enlightenment, as if everything finally made sense — Lei Yun began cultivating right there on the spot, without hesitation.
With his eyes closed, he circulated that wonderful technique through his roots and dantian, once again left in disbelief and awe at its power.
The redundancies he had noticed earlier actually possessed a magical effect, greatly accelerating the cultivation process, making him admire the creator of the technique even more.
A few minutes passed and, under Mu Luyin's wide eyes, Lei Yun's aura advanced from the 3rd level of Foundation Establishment to the 4th.
If she was shocked, Lei Yun was even more stunned.
'What the hell!' This time, he completely lost his composure and even cursed inwardly, his heart trembling.
Not even when he recovered the memories of his past life months ago had he been this shaken.
Seeing the impurities of his body being expelled with ease, his cultivation solidifying in a way that, even with long periods of refinement, he could have hardly achieved before, and above all, the absurd speed of his progress — it nearly caused his mind to collapse and put him at risk of a qi deviation right there.
Perhaps a simple cultivator would not understand the grandeur of this, but how could he not? He had once stood at the top of the world, and he knew how incredibly terrifying that technique was. If someone told him they were techniques from the immortal world, he wouldn't hesitate for a second to believe it.
Even though his realm wasn't far from a breakthrough, it would still take nearly a month to reach that point, considering the constant refinement required beforehand. Yet, with that technique, he reached the critical stage perfectly within minutes — something terrifying to imagine.
If this speed of progress could be maintained, don't even mention the hundreds of thousands of years he had calculated earlier to restore his cultivation to what it once was. Just a few thousand years would be enough for him to return to the peak.
Taking a deep breath, still dazed, he slowly opened his eyes — only to be startled by Gu Jian, crouching right in front of him with a smile.
Mu Luyin was also there, looking cautiously at the man approaching her beloved, who had just advanced.
Lei Yun's pupils dilated in surprise. Too focused on the terrifyingly powerful technique, he hadn't even noticed the man's approach.
Gu Jian, seeing the boy slightly alarmed, smiled even wider, amused.
And then, his next words shocked him.
"Congratulations, disciple Lei. You are now officially a disciple of the Infinite Dao Sect." Elder Gu smiled casually and stood up.
"Hey, he hasn't agreed yet! You said you wouldn't force him!" Mu Luyin, defending her man, immediately stepped in front of Gu Jian, shielding Lei Yun behind her with a fierce look.
But the elder didn't react much, only raising an eyebrow at her, amused.
"Really? Then I suppose that's a pity. Boy Lei, we won't bother you anymore to join the sect." He laughed and shook his head, as if he truly couldn't do anything about it.
His response made the girl frown at how easily he accepted it.
It was then that a hand rested on her shoulder from behind, gently pulling her aside.
"Ugh… Elder Gu, please don't tease us like that."
Lei Yun, with a helpless face, emerged from behind her, changing the way he addressed Gu Jian. Then suddenly, he clasped his fists and bowed deeply in respect.
"Thank you, elder, for granting me such an opportunity. And forgive us for our previous ignorance and distrust," he thanked sincerely and humbly.
His sincerity was genuine. After all, he knew the heritage of that sect was far more powerful than anyone could imagine. He had already seen the terrifying power of elders in the same realm before, and now, even a rare and complicated cultivation technique of a mutant element like thunder was easily found — and of otherworldly quality.
Thus, for him, an elder of such a powerful sect being patient, insistent, and still recruiting him with kindness even in the face of his skepticism was no small debt of gratitude. That was why he showed such respect to Gu Jian.
Mu Luyin, on the other hand, stared in disbelief, jaw dropped at Lei Yun. Her proud brother, who wouldn't bow even to the most powerful men, was now bowing before a Golden Core cultivator. That was truly astonishing.
"Brother Yun…" she murmured, dazed as she looked at her beloved.
Gu Jian simply kept smiling calmly at the scene, then placed his hand on the boy's shoulder in front of him, helping him to stand.
"Don't worry, I don't take offense at such things easily." He waved his hand indifferently. "Anyway, you are now a disciple, but you still haven't gone through the sect's official test due to the current situation we're in and also because of my recommendation. Later, you will still have to take the official entrance test of the sect and then receive the other standard things of a disciple, along with the instructions," he warned seriously.
Lei Yun nodded, not caring too much about that so-called test.
If he, a genius who had reached the Mahayana realm in his past life, couldn't pass a disciple's test, then the problem wouldn't be him, but the irrationality of the sect.
Mu Luyin, meanwhile, remained silent at his side. She had many doubts at the moment and would surely ask Lei Yun through sound transmission once the conversation between the two men ended.
Aotian noticed her gaze and ignored it. The girl was talented, but due to her complicated background, he didn't intend to recruit her just yet without studying more about her and the possible impacts of such a decision.
"Well, if everything is ready, let's move on. There is a place within the second boundary where we'll go now, and it will be very dangerous, so if you wish, we can part ways here," Gu Jian, seeing that everything was settled, warned the two with firm eyes.
Lei Yun and Mu Luyin exchanged glances, sent each other a few messages via sound transmission, and finally nodded firmly at him.
"Elder Gu, we will go with you, if it's not a bother," Lei Yun spoke without hesitation or fear.
Receiving their confirmation, he did not immediately accept, but instead evaluated them with narrowed, firm eyes.
Not seeing any hesitation in the gaze he received in return, Gu Jian casually smiled again.
"Well then, take these." He waved in satisfaction and, with a playful look, tossed two items to them.
They easily caught what was thrown and were surprised to see jade tokens in their hands.
Mu Luyin looked at them in confusion and raised her head to face the man.
"What's inside them?" she asked, bewildered.
A mischievous smile curved the elder's lips as he pulled the black hood from his back and covered his head.
"Heeh… just a silly little thing the sect drew out from the minds of some ancestors of the twelve powers, capable of releasing some very pretty fireworks."
Gu Jian's amused laughter echoed through the forest when he saw the stunned eyes the pair once again cast at him after discovering what was within the tokens.
…
At the Infinite Dao Sect, Aotian was once again resting his head on Rihai's lap, while she gently massaged it to ease his pain.
Performing a Soul Search on Soul Formation cultivators was even more exhausting than on simple Nascent Souls. Just for these twelve, Aotian calculated he would need almost an entire day to process all the information, and his headache would be even worse. That was why he wasted no time and ran straight to Rihai so she could help him relax.
As she massaged him, worried about her beloved, she suddenly noticed that on his tired face, a cheeky smile suddenly appeared, and she couldn't help but feel curious.
"Did something good happen, husband?" she asked, amused by his expression, though her concern for his exhaustion didn't lessen.
Aotian opened his eyes and looked at her, an uncontrollable smile growing on his lips.
"Well, I received some good news," he teased, still lying with his head on Rihai's lap, looking at her upside down. Lifting his hands, he gently caressed her face with affection.
"Ohh… will you tell me what the good news is?" she asked with a playful smile, leaning down to give him a quick peck on the lips.
"Hmm… I don't know, do you deserve it?" Aotian lowered his hand, tapped his own lips, and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.
"Pfff!!" She laughed, and understanding exactly what he wanted, leaned down and kissed him lovingly.
Aotian enjoyed the "friendly neighborhood" style kiss for a while before she pulled away, smiling.
"Do I deserve it?" she teased back.
"Deserve, deserve. You really deserve it!" He nodded quickly without missing a beat, his gaze serious and sincere.
Rihai laughed and placed her fingers on his cheeks, squeezing them so his lips puckered like a fish.
"Then tell me," With a mischievous smile and sparkling eyes, she asked sweetly, imitating a fish pout for him as well.
Aotian blinked and didn't hesitate to speak, even with his mouth moving like a fish's.
"The Nascent-Tier materials we were missing for our body training have been acquired, and they will arrive in a few days," he explained with his voice slightly muffled due to the fishy pout, playful, which made Rihai laugh a lot.
And upon hearing the news, her eyes also shone with excitement.
After all, she could only practice Body Refinement for now because of her damaged roots, but doing that kind of cultivation, even with the sect's techniques, without external supplies was much slower compared to the breathtaking pace of progress everyone in the sect had with normal cultivation.
So, she was very happy with the news. With this, she felt that the day her root would heal was not far off.
Of course, the news Aotian gave wasn't a lie, since he really did acquire those materials with the help of his avatars, especially after Bao Wuji's raid of an entire sect.
But the real reason for his earlier joyful smile, which he couldn't reveal, was that the system had identified Lei Yun as a disciple.
And with that, the feedback arrived.