Chapter 527: Confused Ethics
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

One year had passed.

For the disciples of Spirit Sword Sect trapped in the Dragon Palace, the past year had been like a dream—a downright nightmare.

From the first day of the dream, they experienced inhuman treatments. Not only were they drilled by their Big Brother with various kinds of miraculous methods to speed up their cultivation training, they were also supervised by Wang Lu day and night to take the drug refined from the black tide, which tasted worse than death.

Because the process of making the drug was really desperate.

Considering that it was impossible for ordinary people to be like Wang Lu, able to eat the black tide through his incomparable digestive power of Non-Phase Method. In order to utilize the energy of the black tide, the black tide had to be processed with high precision, which only Wang Lu could do—he first swallowed a lot of the sewage that contained the black tide, digested it into his own strength, and then discharged it.

After Wang Lu’s digestion and transformation, the highly toxic sewage would turn into a thick amber-colored paste, which was slightly turbid, and had an unusual smell… In general, regardless of the taste and quality, it was indistinguishable from the common poison. However, this was already the limit of what Wang Lu could do. After all, he was only in Jindan Stage, moreover, the refined sewage was at least not deadly anymore since the toxicity had been reduced by more than ninety percent.

But, because this process was equivalent to eating Wang Lu’s leftovers… Or more accurately, eating the digestive residue of Wang Lu, or saying more harshly, it was tantamount to eating sh*t. Saying it in a bit more comfortable way, it was the same as eating saliva. Therefore, this amber-colored poisonous thick paste was also known as saliva oil. Considering its peculiar smell, just like the essence of the gutter, it was also known as gutter oil.

The disciples of Spirit Sword Sect spent a full whole year under the moistening of the gutter oil. However, this year’s torture was not in vain. The cultivation base of the disciples of Spirit Sword Sect advanced by leaps and bounds. A few who were still in Foundation Establishment advanced through Xudan Stage, and those in Xudan Stage were at least advanced by a level. Those who were originally Peak Xudan Stage like Yang Fei successfully achieved Jindan Stage, setting up a good example for the rest.

Of course, they could not demand their golden core to be in a good quality. Taking Yang Fei as an example, who cultivated the burning sky boiling sea, true fire burning heart, yet it did not cover the clear and bright mind. This was the excellent proof of qualification. If he cultivated step by step, his golden core would be pure and stainless, which was the best quality of golden core. But now, however… the golden core in his Jade Mansion barely formed a round form and its color was dim. It wasn’t even qualified to be considered as average.

In the words of Yang Fei, this kind of golden core was a disgrace. The first thing that he would do after he returned to the mountain is to break and rebuilt it, never mentioning it anymore.

As a matter of fact, Yang Fei’s situation was pretty good. Before the management trainee program, he was already in the Peak Xudan Stage, so he already had a solid foundation. For those who had not yet laid a solid foundation, the side effects of the gutter oil were even more significant.

A group of cultivators headed by Cai Xia, relying on excessive intake of external energy for a year, also reached the critical point of Peak Xudan Stage, but they were slow to breakthrough over it. This had nothing to do with their aptitude, but the quality of their accumulation was simply too poor.

For those with lesser qualification, this kind of extensive growth would likely cause them to fire deviate. Yet, Cai Xia and the others could safely advance to Peak Xudan Stage. In a sense, this was even rarer than the achievement of reaching Jindan Stage. Moreover, there were still two years to go, so the future was excellent.

However, it was clear that Cai Xia and the others were not happy. On the one hand, there was this bleak reality that they were in, and on the other, there was an unexpected situation.

Wang Wu’s progress was too fast. It was so fast that the other cultivators of Spirit Sword Sect began to feel a real pressure. A year ago, she was still in low-level Xudan. In fact, she barely managed to reach the boundary of Xudan. Her real strength might not even be better than those Junior Brothers and Sisters who were still in Foundation Establishment. However, in the past year, she had quietly cultivated and actually made rapid progress. Now, she was no longer just low-level Xudan, but had officially entered Peak Xudan Stage.

Although no doubt her void core was uneven, erratic like a candle in the wind, as if at any time her void core might disintegrate, however, every day, her cultivation steadily grew one point at a time, which was staggering.

In Spirit Sword Mountain, Wang Wu had never been known for her aptitude. In terms of qualification, she was the worst among the golden generation. In the immortal cultivation world, her fifth rank spirit root might be regarded as average, but within the Five Uniques of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, it was difficult to find her position. Moreover, Wang Wu also didn’t have outstanding perception in spell casting… Apart from diligence and self-control, Wang Wu had almost no bright spots. Were it not for the current Sect Leader of Spirit Sword Sect who seemed to have a unique insight and thus treated her favorably, plus the strong support from their Big Brother Ouyang Shang, Wang Wu basically didn’t have the qualification to be included within the golden generation.

However, after this one year, no one doubted her potential. They merely found it strange. How could it be so?

For Wang Wu’s sudden rise, Cai Xia could not restrain her curiosity. Earlier, she had already asked why, and Wang Wu also truthfully said, “Because I can calm my mind, that’s all.”

That was easier said than done! In this dangerous situation, the black tide frequently penetrated inside the Dragon Palace, thus their one year of cultivation had never been stable. Even if Ouyang Shang suppressed the Dragon Palace, he could not block the plot of the demon king who mysteriously appeared and disappeared, thus danger frequent occurred. In addition, this place lacked the surrounding spiritual energy, which for the young cultivators who were trying to grow, was like suffering hunger and thirst daily. At the same time, they also must consume the poison-like pulp gutter oil… Being able to calm the mind in such an environment was really a kind of ability.

At least, among the seventy-five people present in this palace, only a few people could do it… No, it could even be said that it was only Wang Wu alone who could do it.

Even for Ouyang Shang and Wang Lu, due to external matters, they were encumbered, and thus their cultivation rhythm was broken repeatedly. Especially when the demon king successfully hurt the cultivator of Spirit Sword Sect, which caused emotional swings and affected the efficiency of their cultivation. However, Wang Wu could actually adhere to her cultivation rhythm from the beginning to the end. Regardless of any change in the outside world, not a single bit of perturbation existed in her daily cultivation schedule.

Obsessed with cultivation, but not impatient. Although the great mountain collapsed in the front, there was no change in the countenance. Someone who possessed such a quality would naturally stand out in a special environment. After Cai Xia got the answer, although she was still unwilling, she could only admire the judgment of the Sect Leader and her Big Brother, and then candidly admit her defeat.

However, as a matter of fact, in the eyes of Wang Lu and Ouyang Shang, this was not that simple. Wang Wu herself had not felt it, but by relying on a calm state of mind alone, how could she go from low-level Xudan to Peak Xudan in just a year? Could Wang Wu maintain a stabler state of mind than those who went on seclusion who were by nature indifferent?

The key here was that, her ability to adapt to the local situation was too strong! No one had previously seen that she had this ability! She made good use of each of the existing condition. In the past one year, every time she consumed the essence of the black tide extracted by Wang Lu, she used a special skill to make the most of the energy. And compared to the other Senior Brothers and Sisters, her efficiency was at least several times higher…

Most of the cultivators absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy, but most of them would be wasted by squandering. Only a small part of it would end up being stored inside the body. How to improve the conversion rate had always been the key topic for cultivators. Nowadays, among the cultivation methods of the great sects, this piece of content was their core secret. Any modification had to go through the thoughts of countless of people before anyone dared to try it. However, Wang Wu… actually boldly modified the content of her method by herself. And her revisions perfectly adapted to the current environment, especially in terms of greatly strengthening the digestive system for the gutter oil. Thus, it allowed her to advance by leaps and bounds in just a year.

However, how could that be achieved solely based on her? Modifying the core method required deduction ability that was against the heaven and strong accumulation. Even Wang Lu and Ouyang Shang didn’t dare to say that they have the ability to modify their core cultivation method at will… And Wang Wu, at least before this, was never known for her perception. So how did she do it?

If it was Wang Wu one hundred and fifty years in the future, then it might be easy to understand. Wang Lu’s against the heaven Non-Phase Method was tailor-made for him by Wang Wu, in which she created the first ten layers from scratch in just one or two years. Her perception in this was definitely against the heaven. However, the present Wang Wu absolutely could not do it.

Unable to repress his curiosity, Wang Lu simply asked her, but the answer that he got made him unable to know whether to laugh or to cry.

“This is not entirely my original idea. I was just referring to your Non-Phase Method.” Wang Wu asked somewhat in amazement, “How can’t you see it? Why would you think that I have my original method?”

“… You’re learning from my Non-Phase Method? I don’t remember telling you about this method.”

“Yes, you never told me, but when you cultivate, you never avoid other people, so I have seen a lot. Naturally, I can understand some interesting stuff. There are many that are worthy to learn from, and I used these as references to modify my cultivation method. The results are really effective.”

Listening to this, Wang Lu couldn’t but become stunned. “… And then?”

“And then… Oh, I forgot to say thank you, I’m sorry,” Wang Wu said, and then nodded lightly to show her gratitude. And then she closed her eyes to continue her cultivation, which was still lightning speed.

Wang Lu had already been thoroughly speechless.

The causal relationship in this… was really confusing. The reason why Wang Lu didn’t immediately give the essence of the Non-Phase Method to its inventor Wang Wu was that he wanted to avoid this kind of contradictory line of cause and effect. Otherwise, the master would become the disciple, and the disciple would become the master. Wasn’t this a chaotic and confusing relation? Unexpectedly, even after was being careful, he still could not escape this confusing situation.

However, if this opportunity could be taken to wake up the number one Jindan in Nine Regions early, then that would not be a bad thing. He didn’t expect her to achieve her future height in just one or two years, but under this situation, no one would refuse a strong teammate.

If Cai Xia, Yang Fei, and the others had suffered bitter training in the past one year, then the pressure on Wang Lu and Ouyang Shang as the protector of the entire Dragon Palace were ten times as many. Moreover, as time went on, the future was even less optimistic.