Chapter 61: Version Update Initiated

Lu Yan immediately focused his mind and carefully opened the half-burned manual.

The content inside was already heavily blurred, but after some effort, Lu Yan was still able to confirm that it seemed to be a type of spell—there were diagrams of meridian circulation and matching incantation patterns.

He began to circulate his energy following the path outlined in the diagrams. The moment he did, his modified version of the Red Lotus Karmic Fire Sutra reacted, and Lu Yan instantly sensed the faint stirrings of his inner merit being drawn forth.

Delight surged through him.

Ordinary spells could never stir merit. Only the extremely rare Merit Divine Powers were capable of borrowing the power of merit to manifest infinite wonders.

“Most likely, whoever was compiling this manual back then had no merit of their own. When they tried to follow the circulation path, they would have felt nothing. Add in the fact that most of it was burned beyond recognition, and they probably dismissed it as a ruined and useless manual, tossing it onto the third floor.”

“But it’s truly a shame… this book was too badly burned. Aside from the meridian diagram being mostly intact, the remaining incantations and divine power instructions were all destroyed.”

“To fully reconstruct the Merit Divine Power, I’ll need to invest a significant amount of time—and even then, some portions might never be restored.”

Lu Yan sighed inwardly.

Still, thinking of it another way, if this manual hadn’t been ruined to this extent, there was no way it would have sat here long enough for him to stumble across it.

Even the most basic Merit Divine Power was a treasure among treasures. Even if no one in the Clear Sun Sect could cultivate it, it would never have been left lying on the lower floors of the Sutra Repository.

By Lu Yan’s estimation, one would need to reach the fifth floor to access a complete inheritance of this level.

And outsiders—no matter what kind of transmission token they possessed—would never be permitted entry to the fifth floor.

In the remaining time, Lu Yan focused intently on memorizing every remaining detail within the manual. He even went so far as to mentally record the position of every character within the charred pages so he could reconstruct it more accurately later.

After spending half a day committing every glyph and stroke to memory, Lu Yan gently placed the damaged manual back in its original place and made his way down from the third floor.

At the entrance hall on the first floor of the Sutra Repository, the purple-robed Golden Core elder was already waiting by the doorway.

“Chosen your scripture?” the elder asked.

Lu Yan respectfully nodded, taking out the Xuanhuang Dao Canon: Merit-Based Artifact Forging Chapter along with his transmission token.

The elder gave the tome’s title a quick glance, eyebrows briefly raising in surprise. He gave Lu Yan a second look, clearly curious—but said nothing.

The method for crafting Merit Artifacts wasn’t exclusive to the Clear Sun Sect. That’s why it had ended up on the second floor to begin with. Still, it was a bit odd that a mere rogue cultivator would choose this particular manual.

Taking back the token, the Golden Core elder casually waved a hand.

“You may go.”

Lu Yan bowed, then strode out of the Sutra Repository and immediately boarded his flying vessel, soaring down toward the mountain’s base.

At the foot of the Clear Sun Sect’s mountain range sat a bustling marketplace, open to sect disciples and visiting cultivators. Its scale far exceeded that of the Green Valley Market.

Foundation Establishment cultivators—rare in Green Valley—were everywhere here. Occasionally, one could even spot purple-robed Golden Core elders flying through the air.

Lu Yan entered the market, quickly purchased the materials he needed, then wasted no time in departing the Clear Sun Sect entirely.

He moved in such a hurry because the version update progress bar before his eyes had already reached 99.5%.

When Ji Xingyao’s message sword had arrived, the progress had already crossed 95%. Lu Yan had delayed his exit to finish his trip to the Sutra Repository—now, the update was imminent.

The Clear Sun Sect was undeniably a fine place. Even after the world updated, their strength would ensure they retained a prominent place in the new version. Staying within its territory during the transition didn’t seem like a bad idea.

But with so many powerful cultivators around, Lu Yan couldn’t guarantee that no one would notice his Immutable trait during the version transition. The safest course was to leave.

Furthermore, before entering the sect, he had hidden his Soul Banner and Spirit Marrow Ore outside the territory, fearing a storage inspection might expose them.

He needed to retrieve those items before the version update began.

If the update occurred and those items lost their current properties due to the absence of the Immutable trait, Lu Yan would truly have no one to cry to.

His low-grade flying vessel sped far from the sect’s mountainous region. The ambient spiritual energy noticeably thinned. Eventually, he landed on a desolate mountain near a mortal settlement.

Approaching a nondescript tree, Lu Yan reached into its hollowed trunk and retrieved the Hundred Souls Banner.

In an instant, dozens of malevolent spirits—including the Giant Spirit Wraith—materialized around him. A thick, shadowy aura turned the surrounding area into a ghostly domain. Per Lu Yan’s command, they had remained here to guard the banner.

The Giant Spirit Wraith stepped forward, respectfully offering Lu Yan a storage pouch. The ghosts then returned to the banner.

Lu Yan exhaled in relief and glanced at the version update progress:

99.8%

“Still in time,” he whispered.

Then he began a small experiment he had long prepared for.

He placed a spirit stone, several basic cultivation manuals, and an old low-grade artifact on a hillside a few dozen meters away.

He had already confirmed that this distance placed the items outside the range of his Immutable trait.

Now, he simply had to wait for the version update.

The past updates had always left him wondering—would the currencies, cultivation arts, and artifacts of different worlds convert between versions?

With his affairs in the Immortal Cultivation Version now wrapped up, Lu Yan saw this as the perfect opportunity to experiment.

If currencies from different worlds could indeed convert across versions following the system’s rules… then it would be a monumental discovery.

He could go to lower-tier versions, hoard vast amounts of local currency, then let version updates convert them into valuable resources like spirit stones.

Wealth freedom, at last, would be within reach.

As the seconds ticked by, the progress bar finally jumped from 99.9%.

A line of text appeared before his eyes:

[This cycle of the Immortal Cultivation Version has ended. Version Distortion Value: 1%.]

Aside from the 1% distortion caused by Lu Yan’s photo mishap earlier, nothing he did in the Immortal Cultivation Version had shifted the world in the slightest—not even a 0.1% change.

The Heavenly Dao of the Immortal Cultivation Version was, by far, the most stable of all the versions he had experienced.

Lu Yan had expected as much and felt no disappointment.

This version was a high-level map to him. He never expected to overturn the heavens on his first trip here. Steady progress was what truly mattered.

The distortion value faded, and a new prompt appeared.

[Version update is now ready. Please choose one of the following versions:]

• Main God Version: Want to understand the meaning of life? Want to truly… live?
• Ghost Horror Version: My name is Lu Yan. If you’re reading this… I’m already dead.
• Cyberpunk Version: Mega-corporations have pre-collected spirit energy taxes three hundred years into the future—time to strike back hard!

(End of Chapter)