"Today, a massive fire broke out at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Luo City. Firefighters arrived in time to control the spread of the blaze.
Currently, there are no reported casualties, and details regarding the fire are still under investigation."
The clear voice of the news anchor emanated from the TV in the small street-side shop.
Lu Yan glanced at the television content; the fire at the abandoned factory continued to burn furiously, unable to be extinguished by conventional means. Firefighters could only create a firebreak to prevent the flames from spreading.
Controlling the blaze was just the beginning; once the spirit fire extinguished and the underground factory was exposed, the authorities were bound to uncover more.
However, these events had little to do with Lu Yan, who had already left the outskirts of Luo City, returning to his residential neighborhood.
As he passed through the old community gate, the surrounding buildings with their sense of age, and the elderly chatting leisurely downstairs, all testified to the history of this neighborhood.
But for some reason, as Lu Yan walked through the neighborhood, the elderly around him looked at him with eyes full of surprise, whispers beginning to spread in the community.
"It's that kid from the Lu Family."
"This kid really has good fortune!"
"It's been three months; I thought he wouldn't come back here."
"You don't understand. Returning home in riches is grander at night than wearing silks in the day. The wealthier you are, the more you should come home."
"But from his attire, he doesn't seem that wealthy, does he?"
...
The intermittent conversations left Lu Yan a bit puzzled, so he chose to ignore them.
He walked up to the fifth floor, took out the spare key from the fire hydrant, and turned the door lock to open his front door.
Just then, the door next to him suddenly opened, and an elderly man with silver hair looked at Lu Yan with surprise.
"Xiao Lu, how come you're back?"
Lu Yan was even more confused and hadn't responded before hearing the old man continue:
"I heard a big company took a liking to you and sent you to Myanmar for international business.
Some say you became a big landlord in Myanmar, others say you settled in a metropolis as a wealthy man, thinking you'd never return to this old neighborhood."
Upon hearing this, Lu Yan immediately realized that in the Xianxia version, he was taken from the Mortal City by Shopkeeper Chu.
In outsiders' eyes, this was a fairy fate that ordinary people couldn't obtain. Even being an assistant to a cultivator's subordinate was unattainable for ordinary folks.
But only Lu Yan knew that Shopkeeper Chu had ulterior motives when choosing him.
The events in the Xianxia version were mirrored in the urban version, making it appear as though Lu Yan was noticed by a big company to get rich in Myanmar.
Thinking of Myanmar's notorious human trafficking and telecommunications fraud, Lu Yan surprisingly found this explanation somewhat reasonable.
The people or events in different versions didn't perfectly align, but some parts matched.
Understanding the reason, Lu Yan couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his mouth as he quickly explained to the old lady in front of him:
"Grandma Xu, don't listen to others' nonsense. There's nothing about a big company or Myanmar; I was just on a business trip for a while."
Unexpectedly, the old lady immediately showed a knowing expression.
"Keep your wealth hidden and act low-profile, I understand!"
Lu Yan couldn't explain further, so after a few more pleasantries, he walked into the home he hadn't seen in three months.
Lu Yan's home wasn't large; it was an old-style apartment of over eighty square meters, but it was more than adequate for him living alone.
His parents had passed away early, leaving behind a large inheritance and this apartment, allowing him to graduate from university.
Reclining on the vintage sofa, leaving behind the hard bed plank, the long-lost comfort allowed Lu Yan to completely relax both in body and mind.
At this moment, it was as if he had finally escaped the nightmare of the past three months and returned to a civilized society.
For a moment, Lu Yan felt somewhat absent-minded.
A moment later, Lu Yan sighed deeply:
"Unfortunately, this peaceful life in the urban version ultimately cannot last."
In front of Lu Yan, words were already popping up on a virtual screen.
[Current Version: Urban
Version Update Progress: 0.02%]
Although Lu Yan could choose the direction of the world's version update, he couldn't stop the update from coming.
This meant as soon as the version update progress reached 100%, he had to choose the next version update direction.
Apocalyptic, cyber, Xianxia, and many other unknown versions—all were fraught with great danger.
In fact, even from a rough understanding, the Xianxia version seemed to be relatively peaceful, second only to the urban version.
In the face of endless version updates, Lu Yan hardly had any chance to catch his breath.
Moreover, the matter of Lu Yan successfully killing Shopkeeper Chu was hardly a secret. During his three-month stay at the Spirit Talisman Workshop, the demonic cultivator behind Shopkeeper Chu certainly knew Lu Yan's identity.
In the urban version, within the stable social order, a demonic cultivator with no cultivation may not be able to stir up much trouble.
But once he returned to the Xianxia version, the powerful strength of a demonic cultivator could easily find him.
To protect himself, Lu Yan had to seek strong power; resting was nothing but a luxury.
At this thought, Lu Yan took out a storage pouch, used a spirit stone to open it, and retrieved the 'Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture' to examine it closely.
During his three months in the Bamboo Forest Marketplace, Lu Yan gained a basic understanding of so-called cultivation through exposure, although he wasn't entirely clear about some of the terminology in the cultivation technique.
He powered on his computer, unused for three months, and attempted to search the internet for the specific terms in the cultivation technique.
To his surprise, Lu Yan discovered that many terminologies in the 'Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture' corresponded to the Buddhist and Taoist classics handed down from ancient times in the urban version, with much of it using the classics' original text.
"Although they are different versions, it's essentially the same world, so some correspondence seems natural."
Lu Yan patiently began translating the 'Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture', even searching out meridian diagrams to compare with the circulation route map.
This research alone took him a full three days.
During these three days, apart from sleeping, Lu Yan spent all his time studying the 'Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture'.
As a genuine superior-grade cultivation technique, the 'Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture' was much more difficult to practice than skills like Chang Chun Skill, possessing not only a circulation route map for qi entry but also a corresponding heart method.
The circulation route map was just the exterior; only by comprehending the heart method could one truly cultivate this superior-grade technique to manifest its miraculous properties.
To some extent, the deeper one's understanding of the heart method, the faster the cultivation of the technique.
Without a senior cultivator to guide the way, relying solely on personal interpretation is incredibly difficult.
However, this posed no problem for Lu Yan; although he lacked the experience passed down by a senior cultivator, a casual online search yielded a vast amount of interpretations on Buddhist and Taoist classics, greatly aiding his cultivation.
During the process of interpreting the heart method, by comparing it to the Buddhist and Taoist classics, Lu Yan even discovered several errors in the 'Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture'.
Without a reference to the Buddhist and Taoist classics, these errors were hard to spot. But once one had a certain understanding of the classics, one could see that these seemingly trivial errors could lead to catastrophic mistakes.
Considering that the origin of this technique was illegitimate, perhaps with traps laid by the demonic cultivator, Lu Yan decisively chose to trust the thousands-of-years-old Buddhist and Taoist classics of this world, correcting the errors within.
On the third morning after returning to the urban version, Lu Yan began his first cultivation session.