Chapter 84: Dust Hiding Breath Concealing Method

His small limbs moved naturally, and his bones emitted a series of faint popping sounds.

His body was still adapting to the changes brought about by entering the Body Tempering Realm.

Although the transformation wasn’t particularly dramatic, it was still a genuine improvement, from a mortal to a cultivator.

Lu Yang looked towards the window.

The sun had already risen quite high.

Today, his father, Lu Shishui, had been invited to a scholar conference and left early this morning.

In fact, it wasn’t just him.

Basically all the young Juren in the Imperial Capital who were preparing to participate in next year’s Imperial Examination and were under thirty years old had received invitations.

Such scholar conferences happened almost every day in the Imperial Capital.

Sometimes they were organized by scholars themselves, sometimes they were hosted by wealthy merchants, and sometimes they were organized by the young masters and young misses of prominent aristocratic clans.

The purpose was usually not difficult to understand.

Connections.

The Imperial Examination determined the future of countless scholars.

A Juren who had already passed the Provincial Examination was no longer an ordinary scholar.

If they successfully passed the Imperial Examination as well, they would become a Jinshi, and a Jinshi had the qualifications to enter the Imperial Court, starting as a Seventh-Rank Official and even possibly stay in the capital, being an official of the Imperial Capital.

Although not every Jinshi would become a high ranking official, there were always some who would eventually climb to considerable positions.

For aristocratic clans, establishing relationships with such people before they rose to prominence was naturally worthwhile.

Especially those young masters and young misses who didn’t possess particularly outstanding cultivation talent.

Since they couldn’t rely on cultivation to become powerful figures, then they could only rely on something else: their family background.

By inviting young scholars to these gatherings, they could establish connections with future officials.

Some would become friends, some would become allies, and some would eventually become in-laws.

Marrying the daughter or son of an aristocratic clan was not uncommon among scholars.

Likewise, aristocratic clans were often willing to marry their daughters to talented young scholars or take in talented young female scholars as their daughters-in-law, sometimes even sending their sons to be the live-in sons-in-law for talented female scholars’ families.

Naturally, in a cultivation world, despite it being an ancient society, there were also female scholars.

However, at the same time, since it was an ancient society, and because Great Qian was not exactly some cultivation paradise with no mortal roots, many people here still held patriarchal views.

It wasn’t visible much in Lu Yang’s third life as a prodigy of a somewhat prominent cultivation clan of the cultivation world, but he had long since known about it due to his second life where he was born as the son of a mortal farming family.

The people at the bottom of the society, whether it be the cultivation world or the secular world, were very patriarchal just like the ancient society in his modern earth life.

Naturally, it was extremely difficult for a woman to become a scholar when she came from the bottom rungs of the secular world unlike men.

However, that obviously did not mean there were no female scholars at all.

In fact, the current Minister of Justice was actually a female Essence Gathering cultivator who came from a mortal family and had a Xiucai father with no cultivation talent.

There were also young ladies from well off families with cultivation talent becoming scholars and entering the Imperial Court.

Though, no matter the gender, those who came from the bottom of the world generally had no support from anyone, so such gatherings and conferences were extremely important for them.

It could be said to be a mutually beneficial arrangement for both parties.

The scholars obtained the protection and resources of powerful clans, and the clans obtained connections within the Imperial Court.

This was also one of the reasons why aristocratic clans and noble families could continue existing for centuries.

Their foundations weren’t built solely upon cultivation, they also had connections, political influence, marriage alliances, business interests, and countless invisible relationships accumulated over generations.

Even if one generation declined, another could rise again.

Lu Yang had understood this principle long ago.

In his third life, he had seen many seemingly powerful cultivation forces in the cultivation world rise and fall.

Some could even dominate a region for hundreds of years before suddenly disappearing.

But those aristocratic clans and noble families in the secular world were often different, their methods of survival much more complicated.

As long as their roots remained intact, they could survive even when the dynasty changed.

Of course, Great Qian was still far from that point.

At least for now, the Imperial Court was still powerful, and the aristocratic clans and noble families within the Imperial Capital were still operating under the rules of Great Qian.

Lu Yang didn’t think much about it.

His father was still young and had only recently become a Juren.

Even if he passed the Imperial Examination next year, there was still a long road ahead of him.

Whether he would eventually become a high ranking official or remain an ordinary official was something that couldn’t be determined now.

Lu Yang turned his gaze elsewhere.

His grandfather had also gone to the Imperial Prison, having left early this morning because there was some work that needed his attention.

Therefore, right now, there was basically no one watching Lu Yang.

Or rather, there was still someone. It was the maid who had accompanied him since birth.

She was also his late mother’s personal maid and the same person who had rescued him on that rainy day.

If she hadn’t taken him from his mother’s body back then, perhaps Lu Yang would never have survived long enough to be here.

After that incident, she had remained by his side and took care of him.

However, she was usually busy during this time of the day. Therefore, her presence didn’t really affect Lu Yang.

He was essentially free to do whatever he pleased.

Lu Yang stood there for a few breaths before he suddenly turned around and plopped back onto the bed.

His small body sank into the soft mattress, his big eyes staring at the ceiling.

Now that he had officially entered the Body Tempering Realm, there was one matter that needed to be dealt with immediately.

He had to hide his cultivation.

This had been part of his plan from the very beginning.

He didn’t want to become famous or become a genius known throughout the Imperial Capital, and he certainly didn’t want to attract the attention of various cultivation forces.

In his previous lives, he had already experienced what it was like to be a genius, and he had also experienced the consequences of becoming too conspicuous.

There was no need to repeat that path.

This time, he wanted to cultivate quietly, to observe, accumulate, and live till the end of his natural lifespan.

Lu Yang closed his eyes, searching through his memories.

He possessed quite a few methods for concealing his cultivation.

However, most of them were relatively crude.

Some could only conceal a minor realm, and some could only barely deceive cultivators below the Spirit Awakening Realm.

There were only two or three methods that he considered genuinely useful.

Among them, one was particularly suitable for his current situation.

He had obtained this method almost casually in his previous life.

At that time, he had just become the Supreme Elder of the Lu Family and was browsing through the Scripture Pavilion before coming across it.

He had cultivated it occasionally whenever he had free time, and eventually, he had even reached major achievement in it, only one breath away from perfection.

At the time, he didn’t think much of it, after all, concealing one’s cultivation wasn’t particularly useful to him at that point in time.

But now, it was extremely useful.

Lu Yang recalled the contents of the cultivation method.

Dust Hiding Breath Concealing Method.

That was the name of the secret technique, and it was a cultivation method specifically created to conceal one’s cultivation and aura.

It wasn’t particularly powerful, but its level was quite high.

It reached the Spirit Awakening Realm, and not just the early stages of Spirit Awakening, but later stages of Spirit Awakening Realm.

Lu Yang had already cultivated it to major achievement in his previous life.

Therefore, although he had never reached perfection, his understanding of it was extremely deep.

He slowly sat cross-legged on the bed, his expression becoming serious.

Although he was only cultivating a secret method for concealing his cultivation, Lu Yang didn’t dare to underestimate it.

The higher the level of a cultivation technique, the more difficult it was to understand.

This was especially true for methods that directly involved the circulation and concealment of one’s Blood Qi.

A single mistake could cause one’s aura to fluctuate, and if that happened while someone was observing him, it would be easy to expose himself.

Lu Yang slowly closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing.

Only after his mind became completely calm did he begin circulating the Dust Hiding Breath Concealing Method.

The Blood Qi within his body moved, but instead of following the usual route of cultivation, it began flowing along several extremely strange paths.

Some strands entered his meridians, some dispersed into his flesh, and others circulated around his organs before quietly settling there.

The process was very subtle. Even Lu Yang had to admit that this cultivation method was ingenious.

It didn’t truly make one’s cultivation disappear but concealed the fluctuations caused by one’s cultivation.

It was similar to covering a virtually inextinguishible raging fire with a thick layer of dust.

The fire was still there, but from the outside, only a faint trace of warmth could be felt.

Naturally, if someone with strong enough Divine Sense deliberately scanned him, they will see through it at a glance.

Lu Yang’s breathing gradually became slower as his Blood Qi also became increasingly restrained.

A few hours passed by.

He stopped only when the sun had moved to the middle of the sky and opened his eyes.

There was a trace of satisfaction within them.

He had finally reached the entry level.

He immediately examined his body.

The Blood Qi was still there, and his physical strength hadn’t weakened, but the aura he emitted on the outside had become extremely faint.

Lu Yang released a small portion of his Blood Qi before he restrained it again.

At the entry level, the Dust Hiding Breath Concealing Method could already hide his cultivation from anyone below the Spirit Awakening Realm.

In other words, as long as he didn’t deliberately reveal his cultivation, no Body Tempering cultivator would be able to tell that he had already entered the First Stage of Body Tempering Realm.

This was enough for now.

He didn’t need to hide from genuine Spirit Awakening cultivators yet. There were almost no reasons for someone at that level to pay attention to a five-year-old child.

And even if one did at some point, he still had time.

With his current talent and comprehension, he could continue cultivating this method.

The reason it had taken longer to reach the entry level than the Azure Spirit Body Tempering Art was quite simple.

The Azure Spirit Body Tempering Art was an excellent Body Tempering technique, while the Dust Hiding Breath Concealing Method was a genuine later stages Spirit Awakening method.

Even if its purpose wasn’t to increase cultivation, its level was still there.

Lu Yang had relied on the memories and understanding accumulated from his previous life, otherwise, even with his current talent, he wouldn’t have been able to reach the entry level so quickly.

He looked outside; it was already afternoon.

His father should be about to return.

Lu Yang carefully restrained his Blood Qi.

The aura around him became even weaker.

He could already confirm that ordinary Body Tempering cultivators wouldn’t be able to discover his cultivation even via physical contact.

He was now, once again, a "mortal" in their eyes.