Chapter 76: The Immortal Tome Reveals Additional Characters

“Senior Brother Luo, what exactly happened?”
Inside the hall, Luo Yun was pressed down into a chair and questioned relentlessly.
Luo Yun was ill at ease; he unconsciously avoided their gazes, pressing his injured arm without thinking.
Ling Yu endured for a moment before speaking, her tone anxious. “Don’t you trust us?”
“It’s not that,” Luo Yun hurriedly denied.
“Then why won’t you say?”
Luo Yun lowered his head, fiddling anxiously with his fingers. He glanced at the two before him: Fan Xianshu still sat with a cool indifference, but his gaze never left Luo Yun, while Ling Yu stood squarely in front of him, clearly intent on not leaving until he spoke.
After a while, seeing neither of them soften, he finally surrendered. “If I tell you, you mustn’t laugh at me.”
“What would we laugh at?” Ling Yu rolled her eyes. “You’re already so badly injured, what’s there to mock?”
“…Alright,” Luo Yun dropped his head further, and after a long pause, murmured, “I… I was working at the Pavilion of Soaring Skies…”
“The Pavilion of Soaring Skies? What kind of place is that? What do they sell?” Ling Yu asked offhandedly.
The next moment, Fan Xianshu sprayed out his tea, gazing at Luo Yun in disbelief. “The Pavilion of Soaring Skies?”
Luo Yun lowered his head even more, nodding twice.
Ling Yu glanced at Luo Yun, then at Fan Xianshu. “What’s the matter with the Pavilion of Soaring Skies?”
“Uh…” Fan Xianshu hesitated, unsure how to explain. “It’s… well…”
“What’s with all the ‘this’ and ‘that’? Why would working there leave you injured? Is it a place where people are beaten?” Their attitudes made Ling Yu even more curious.
“Ling Yu…” Fan Xianshu, after a moment’s struggle, spoke plainly. “The Pavilion of Soaring Skies is actually a brothel.”
A brothel? Ling Yu blinked, thinking she’d misheard. Could there really be brothels in Immortal City? Surely not. And what would Luo Yun be doing in a brothel? Surely not as a boy servant? She looked him over—well, Senior Brother Luo did indeed have a handsome face. Though he was nineteen, he still had the look of a youth…
Luo Yun flushed bright red under her gaze, both embarrassed and angry. “I’m not… that…”
“Ahem!” Fan Xianshu interjected. “Ling Yu, the Pavilion of Soaring Skies only employs flower maidens, not boy servants.”
“How do you know that so well?” Ling Yu asked curiously. “Have you been there?”
Fan Xianshu coughed harder, his face turning red. After a long moment, he finally caught his breath, uncomfortable. “I’ve only heard about it from next door.”

Their small courtyard was surrounded by cultivators, most with middling abilities, living in Feilian City much as they did. Fan Xianshu had been out and about lately, learning about life in Immortal City and befriending a few cultivators of similar level.
“Senior Brother Luo, what exactly do you do at the Pavilion of Soaring Skies? Why are you so injured?” The awkward topic was thankfully redirected by Ling Yu.
Luo Yun glanced at them, embarrassed. “I needed money, didn’t I? There aren’t many well-paid jobs in the city. Hunting beasts at sea was out of the question—I lack the cultivation. After searching everywhere, I finally found the Pavilion of Soaring Skies hiring security guards…”
With his explanation, Ling Yu finally understood.
The Pavilion of Soaring Skies was one of the top brothels in Feilian City, backed by the Immortal Alliance. Normally, no one dared cause trouble there. But that didn’t mean there was no mischief—those who did stir up trouble were either powerful cultivators or young nobles with influence. The Pavilion hired guards precisely to deal with such situations. On quiet days, it was an easy job; but when trouble arose, the guards were there to bear the brunt.
“…I saw the pay was good, so I applied.”
“Senior Brother Luo…” Ling Yu looked at him with a complicated gaze, recalling their first meeting when he’d been a proud youth basking in spring’s joys, and now, he’d learned to bow for a mere bowl of rice.
“It’s really nothing,” Luo Yun said calmly, having already explained. “It’s easy most of the time. I work during the day, when there are few customers. These days, this was the first time someone stirred up trouble.”
“But your injuries…”
“They’re only flesh wounds, nothing that affects my cultivation—and there’s extra compensation. Junior Sister Cheng, Junior Brother Fan, you needn’t worry about me. I know what I’m doing.”
Ling Yu fell silent, saying nothing in the end. Tell him to quit? What right did she have to say those words? She couldn’t offer Luo Yun a better choice. Besides, everyone must walk their own path; to gain, one must give. Luo Yun understood this, and had the endurance to bear it—he needed no meddling.
All she could hope was that, after all he endured, he would finally achieve his wishes.

…
That night, Ling Yu finally cultivated her spiritual sense. Overjoyed, she ran out to share the news with the other two, generously lending Luo Yun her copy of “Basic Spiritual Refinement.”
Fan Xianshu, having been out and about lately, already knew about spiritual sense, though he hadn’t begun practicing it yet. Luo Yun, working outside and meeting many people, was actually more informed than they were, but lacked the money; he could only wait for Ling Yu or Fan Xianshu to finish learning before borrowing from them.
After sharing, Ling Yu returned to her room and opened “Basic Sword Control.” Originally, she only wanted to compare her own learning with the sword cultivators of the upper world, but the more she read, the graver her expression became.
An hour later, Ling Yu set down the book and breathed deeply. Reading it, she discovered a major issue: the so-called sword cultivators of the lower world were not true sword cultivators at all!
What was a sword cultivator? The book began: “Live by the sword, die by the sword; soar through the skies with the sword; the heart and the strings resonate as one.” This is what defines a sword cultivator. Both sword cultivators and worldly martial artists pursue the ultimate in swordsmanship—so what is the difference? Beyond the disparity in power, the essential difference is that a sword cultivator’s sword is alive.
The three stages of sword cultivation taught by Liu Wei Yi were not wrong—they were indeed the steps: practicing sword energy at the entry level, comprehending sword intent at foundation, seeking sword heart at core formation. But one point was mistaken: the sword wielded for slashing and thrusting was not the sword of a true cultivator.
What, then, was the sword of a sword cultivator? After formally entering the path, Ling Yu realized that what she once dismissed as fanciful tales in mortal storybooks turned out to be the truth. Controlling the sword to fly—soaring to the heavens and diving to the earth—that was the sword of a cultivator!
Had she not come to the upper world, Ling Yu would never have believed such a marvelous world truly existed; her childhood longing was not simply naive fantasy.
She calmed her thoughts and returned to “Basic Sword Control,” reading it again and again with utmost care.

The so-called Sword Control method was, in essence, using spiritual sense to control the sword. Thus, the sword need not be held in one’s hand, nor be restricted by sword techniques. The loss of sword cultivation methods in the lower world was likely tied to the disappearance of spiritual sense. To control the sword, one must have spiritual sense—without it, how could there be true sword cultivators?
Ling Yu secretly admired the elders like Master Feng, who, despite following the wrong path of sword cultivation, still managed to comprehend sword intent—it was remarkable, especially since their cultivation had not yet reached foundation.
So, she must first cultivate spiritual sense; once she achieved this, she could practice Sword Control and become a true sword cultivator.
Ling Yu thought thus, and immersed herself once more in the cultivation of spiritual sense.
When she finished, dawn was close. From the other corner of the room, A Bi’s soft snores drifted over. The clumsy demon slept deeply—Ling Yu shook her head helplessly, not bothering to intervene. She had figured it out: A Bi was a demon uninterested in proper cultivation. While other demons strove each day to advance their powers and shed their beast forms, A Bi did not. She disliked staying in the spirit beast pouch and insisted on remaining outside. Out of twelve hours in a day, she spent only a third—sometimes even less—on cultivation, but never missed her four hours of sleep.
At night, when the moonlight was bright—an ideal time for demons who had transformed through imperial nectar to cultivate—she ignored it, sleeping when she wished, and only occasionally practicing for an hour or two.
Well, Ling Yu hadn’t expected the demon to become her combat asset; as long as she handled chores and occasionally brought out the essence pearls, that was enough.
Speaking of essence pearls, Ling Yu remembered the immortal book she carried. In the immortal realm, the book had consumed many demon beast corpses, but had not shown new content; she didn’t know how much essence was needed to reach its next stage.
Thinking of this, Ling Yu took the book from her storage pouch and flipped through it idly.
One glance, and she was startled—on both the second and third pages, new writing had appeared!
How could this be? She’d secretly checked in the immortal realm, and since arriving in the upper world, had not fed it any demon beasts—when had the new content appeared?
She looked closely, her expression becoming strange.
At the top of the second page, five words were written: Basic Spiritual Refinement. On the third page, again, five words: Basic Sword Control.
She had just finished reading these two books, and now they appeared in the immortal book; even if she were slow, she knew there must be a connection. Could it be that every book she read would appear in the immortal book? She quickly dismissed that thought—she’d read far more than just these three. More precisely, it must be the cultivation methods she practiced.
“Tai Su Purple Cloud Sutra” was the first method she cultivated; aside from the sword techniques taught by Liu Wei Yi, she only practiced this one. Then came the newly purchased “Basic Spiritual Refinement” and “Basic Sword Control”; first she followed the former to awaken spiritual sense, then used the latter to enhance it.
Ling Yu quickly realized that the immortal book’s version of “Tai Su Purple Cloud Sutra” was much superior to the original. Would the newly appeared “Basic Spiritual Refinement” and “Basic Sword Control” be the same?
Suppressing her excitement, Ling Yu read carefully, and the more she read, the wider her smile grew.
Indeed, the immortal book’s versions were vastly improved! The “Basic Spiritual Refinement” not only corrected several errors in the original, but also explained the principles behind cultivating spiritual sense in detail, as well as how to achieve twice the result with half the effort. “Basic Sword Control,” beyond just enhancing spiritual sense, taught sword control techniques step by step.
At last, Ling Yu understood the true value of the immortal book. From now on, she needn’t worry about lacking suitable cultivation methods; as long as the book had enough essence, it would give her the best-corrected techniques!