Chapter 5: Cultivation

“Today, a sudden fire brke out at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Luo City. Firefighters arrived promptly to contain the blaze and prevent its spread.

Fortunately, no casualties have been reported. Further investigations into the cause of the fire are still underway.”

From the small television inside a street-side convenience store, a clear voice echoed from the news anchor.

Lu Yan glanced at the screen. The fire at the abandoned factory was still raging, its spiritual flames impossible to extinguish by conventional means. Firefighters could only establish a barrier to prevent the fire from spreading further.

Containing the blaze was only the beginning. Once the spiritual flames died out and the underground factory was exposed, the authorities were bound to uncover far more than they expected.

But all of that no longer concerned Lu Yan. He had already left the outskirts of Luo City and returned to the residential complex where he lived.

Passing through the old, worn gate of the neighborhood, the timeworn buildings and elderly residents chatting and cooling off outside confirmed the area’s long history.

For some reason, as Lu Yan walked past, many of the elderly looked at him with surprise, and whispers began to spread.

“That’s the Lu family kid.”

“He really is blessed with good fortune!”

“It’s been three months. I thought he’d never come back.”

“You just don’t understand. What’s the point of wealth if you don’t return home in glory? The richer you get, the more reason to come back.”

“He doesn’t look that rich, does he?”

The scattered comments left Lu Yan bewildered, but he chose to ignore them.

He made his way up to the fifth floor, retrieved the spare key from the fire hydrant, and unlocked his apartment door.

Just as he was turning the key, the door next to his own suddenly swung open. A silver-haired old woman looked at him with wide eyes.

“Xiao Lu, you’re back?”

Lu Yan was even more confused, but before he could respond, the elderly woman continued:

“I heard a big company took notice of you, sent you to Myanmar for some big cross-border business.

“Some folks said you became a landowner in Myanmar. Others claimed you became a tycoon living it up in a big city. We all thought you’d never come back to this old neighborhood.”

Upon hearing that, Lu Yan finally realized—when he was taken away by Shopkeeper Chu in the Xianxia version, it must have been interpreted by others as him getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

To the average person, being chosen by a cultivator—even just as an assistant—was a stroke of great fortune. They could only dream of such things.

But Lu Yan knew better—Chu Hao had picked him with sinister intentions.

And in the Urban Version, that event had translated into him being scouted by a major company and sent to Myanmar to make his fortune.

Thinking about Myanmar’s notorious reputation online for human trafficking and telecom scams, Lu Yan actually found the explanation… oddly appropriate.

Different versions didn’t correspond perfectly, but some things clearly mirrored one another.

Understanding the reasoning now, Lu Yan couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth. He quickly explained to the old lady:

“Grandma Xu, don’t listen to the gossip. There’s no big company or Myanmar. I was just away on a business trip for a while.”

But the old lady simply gave him a knowing smile.

“Of course, of course. Wealth should never be flaunted. Low-key is the way to go—I get it!”

Lu Yan couldn’t argue. After a few more pleasantries, he slipped back into his apartment for the first time in three months.

The place wasn’t big—just over eighty square meters in an old residential building—but for someone living alone, it was more than enough.

His parents had passed away early, leaving behind a large inheritance and this apartment, which had allowed him to graduate from university without financial worries.

Now lying on the old sofa, freed from the cold and rigid bed boards of the past three months, Lu Yan finally relaxed. A long-lost sense of comfort seeped into every part of his body.

For the first time, it truly felt like the nightmare of the past three months had ended—and he had returned to a civilized society.

For a moment, he was lost in thought.

A long sigh escaped him.

“Unfortunately, a peaceful life in the Urban Version… won’t last forever.”

Before him, a translucent screen had already appeared.

【Current Version: Urban】
【Version Update Progress: 0.02%】

Though Lu Yan could choose the direction of the next version, he couldn’t stop the update from happening.

Once the progress bar reached 100%, he would have no choice but to select a new version.

Apocalypse, Cyberpunk, Xianxia… or others yet unknown. Each one held terrifying dangers.

From what he had seen, the Xianxia Version was already one of the milder options—second only to the Urban Version.

With endless updates looming ahead, Lu Yan had no chance to breathe.

And more importantly, the fact that he had killed Chu Hao was no secret. After spending three months in the Talisman Shop, the demonic cultivator behind Chu Hao would almost certainly know who he was.

In the Urban Version, things were still safe. Without spiritual power, that demonic cultivator wouldn’t be able to stir up much trouble.

But once the world shifted back into the Xianxia Version… that cultivator would have no problem tracking him down.

If Lu Yan wanted to survive, he needed power—true, overwhelming power. Resting was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

With that thought, Lu Yan pulled out the Storage Pouch, activated it with a Spirit Stone, and retrieved the Crimson Lotus Karma Scripture.

Over the three months in Bamboo Grove Market, Lu Yan had absorbed plenty of cultivation theory through observation and experience. He was no stranger to the basics—though many of the technical terms in the scripture remained unfamiliar.

He powered on his long-unused computer and began searching the terminology online.

To his surprise, many of the terms in the Crimson Lotus Karma Scripture matched those found in ancient Buddhist and Daoist texts passed down in the Urban Version. In fact, some phrases were directly lifted from classical scriptures.

“Different versions, but still one world. A certain level of overlap makes sense.”

Lu Yan began patiently decoding the Crimson Lotus Karma Scripture, even pulling up human meridian charts to match the Zhoutian circulation routes described in the manual.

What started as simple study soon turned into a full three-day immersion.

Aside from sleeping, Lu Yan spent all his time poring over the scripture.

As a true High-Grade Cultivation Technique, the Crimson Lotus Karma Scripture was far more demanding than common methods like Everlasting Spring Technique. It not only detailed meridian flow charts for drawing in Qi but also contained a corresponding mental mantra.

The charts were just the surface. Only by comprehending the inner mantra could one truly cultivate the technique and unleash its miraculous power.

In fact, the deeper one’s understanding of the heart method, the faster one could cultivate.

Without a senior cultivator guiding the way, self-study was almost impossible.

But this posed no problem for Lu Yan.

He might not have a master, but with the internet at his fingertips, he could access countless interpretations of Buddhist and Daoist texts. These provided powerful guidance in deciphering the mental techniques.

During this process, Lu Yan even discovered a few errors in the Crimson Lotus Karma Scripture when compared with classical texts.

These subtle mistakes were hard to notice without referencing scripture—but once identified, they were the type of errors that could completely derail a cultivator’s foundation.

Given the manual’s shady origins, Lu Yan wasn’t surprised. It might have been tampered with by a demonic cultivator to serve hidden motives.

He chose to trust the time-honored scriptures of this world, correcting the errors himself.

And so, on the morning of his third day back in the Urban Version…

Lu Yan began his first true cultivation session.

(End of Chapter)