Seeing that Lu Zhiyun was still confused, the Sanqing Fairy produced a small wooden board from somewhere and began tapping it to emphasize the key points.
“Little Lu, let me ask you, how many paths do ordinary cultivators have to achieve immortality?”
“Three!” Lu Zhiyun answered without hesitation.
Generally, there were three ways for a cultivator to become an immortal: as a Qi Refiner, as a Cultivator, or through Merit Cultivation. This was essential knowledge in the cultivation world, and Lu Zhiyun had learned it shortly after joining the Tianque Sect.
“Correct! In your terms, that is how it is said.” The Sanqing Fairy nodded. “But that explanation is actually incomplete. Let me ask you this: which type of immortal does each of those three methods correspond to?”
Become what kind of immortal?
Isn’t an immortal just an immortal?
Lu Zhiyun was stumped; this was not something taught in her textbooks.
The Sanqing Fairy did not get annoyed. She took out a brush, drew three circles on the wooden board, and filled them with the words “Heaven,” “Earth,” and “Man.”
“We cultivators from the Primeval Era preferred to call them the ‘Path of Heaven,’ ‘Path of Man,’ and ‘Path of Earth.'”
“Fairy, what does that mean?” Lu Zhiyun was utterly confused.
“It is exactly like the three cultivation methods you mentioned, just categorized by the final result!” The Sanqing Fairy smiled. “Come! Little Lu, do a fill-in-the-blank exercise.”
The Sanqing Fairy tossed the brush to Lu Zhiyun, gesturing for her to fill in the blanks.
Each circle had one blank space where Lu Zhiyun was expected to match the three cultivation methods.
However, this was her first time encountering this celestial knowledge, and she had no idea where to start.
The Sanqing Fairy prompted her, “The so-called ‘Path of Earth’ focuses on sustaining all things with great virtue. It requires a cultivator to possess immense merit to refine an immortal body and achieve the Golden Immortal Dao Fruit…”
Lu Zhiyun understood instantly. ‘The Path of Earth corresponds to merit cultivation.’
After writing it down, and without waiting for the fairy to prompt her again, Lu Zhiyun wrote “Qi Refiner” under “Path of Heaven” and “Cultivator” under “Path of Man.”
The Sanqing Fairy nodded with satisfaction and then asked, “Why did you fill them out that way?”
“I once read in a book that the Qi Refiner system was the earliest cultivation system discovered.” Lu Zhiyun rubbed her chin, lost in thought. “And Senior Brother once said that the Qi Refiner’s way emphasizes nature. Compared to man, heaven is clearly more natural.”
In reality, Lin Shu had said, “You can become an immortal just by eating, drinking, and having fun,” but Lu Zhiyun had found that hard to believe at the time. Lin Shu had agreed, adding that it was something their Great Master had said, which only served to make the claim even less credible.
“That is a good perspective!” The Sanqing Fairy laughed. “The meaning is more or less the same.”
“The Qi Refiner system can be traced back to an even earlier period before the Primeval Era; an anonymous cultivator discovered it.”
“The Qi Refiner system is also easier to enter than other systems. Almost anyone can start cultivating it, which is why cultivation became so popular across all the major tribes back then.”
The Sanqing Fairy paused before continuing, “However, people later discovered that the requirements for a Qi Refiner are too demanding. It requires a person to value freedom, be content with what they have, and ideally have no desires or attachments.”
“Um—Fairy, if it is only that, it shouldn’t be much of a problem, right?”
Lu Zhiyun felt that if someone had told her the Qi Refiner path was convenient back when her talent was at its worst, she would have taken it. She would have let nature take its course; if she succeeded, it was a gain, and if not, she wouldn’t force it.
“But the problem is, Qi Refiners cannot achieve longevity!” The Sanqing Fairy said with a bitter smile.
“A Qi Refiner’s lifespan is always within 100 years, no different from a mortal. Unless they become an immortal, they will eventually die like anyone else.”
For most people, cultivation was the pursuit of longevity. Even in the Qi Refining stage, having a lifespan of over 100 years was a certainty.
If one could not increase their lifespan, then the significance of cultivation would be reduced by more than 90%.
While it was easy to begin as a Qi Refiner, the bottleneck of a limited lifespan forced people to worry. It added unnecessary stress, and naturally, few were able to become immortals.
Anxiety is the booster that fuels desire.
It was far too difficult for a cultivator to remain unaffected by the limitations of their lifespan and not feel anxious because of it.
It was no wonder that fewer people chose the Qi Refiner path later on.
“So, your Senior Brother truly has great courage to dare walk the Path of Heaven. He is practically gambling with his life!” the Sanqing Fairy said admiringly.
“Senior Brother…” Lu Zhiyun’s emotions were complex.
Given her current lifespan as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, if Lin Shu failed his cultivation, she could literally outlive the evil cultivator.
But as she recalled the past, a strange emotion flickered within her. It seemed that… ‘I don’t really want Lin Shu to die like that.’
The moment the thought appeared, Lu Zhiyun broke into a cold sweat.
When exactly had she been influenced by that evil cultivator to this extent?
“Little Lu? Little Lu?”
The Sanqing Fairy patted Lu Zhiyun’s shoulder, finally snapping her back to reality.
“No! It is nothing! Fairy, please continue!”
“Ahem! Next, I will tell you about the ‘Path of Man,’ though since your cultivation is too low, I shouldn’t say too much!” the Sanqing Fairy continued her introduction.
Lu Zhiyun was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. Knowing too much about the realms of immortals might cause her to feel discouraged or become overly ambitious.
“The so-called ‘Path of Man’ is the path discovered after the Qi Refiners, which is our current Cultivator system. This path is difficult to start, but its advantage is that it grants longevity.”
“So, what is different about this path?” Lu Zhiyun asked casually.
“Simply put, the ‘Path of Man’ is the realization of a cultivator’s life. Whatever is in your heart determines what kind of immortal you will become.”
“For instance, I am good at escaping… bah! I am good at seeking luck and avoiding misfortune, and I know how to assess a situation. As agile as a wall-sitter shifting with the wind! Therefore, I became an immortal with the most profound escape techniques.”
“Fairy! Being a wall-sitter is a derogatory term!” Lu Zhiyun reminded her.
“It… it was just an analogy!” the Sanqing Fairy said, embarrassed.
“Any… anyway! You cannot just cultivate blindly. It is best to first think about what kind of immortal you want to be, and then work toward it!”
“I understand!” Lu Zhiyun said with a smile.
She had never carefully considered what kind of immortal she wanted to be.
According to the fairy’s theory, many current cultivators walked the Path of Man. For example, there was the “Immortal of Ten Thousand Scrolls” from the Myriad Law Immortal Sect, who was likely a very learned person.
If she could narrow it down, Lu Zhiyun only wanted to become one kind of immortal—the “Defeat Master Brother Immortal”!
This kind of immortal would have an average effect on others, but the effect would double against her evil Master Brother. A single cold glance would be a crushing pressure, and a single punch would be a critical hit! She would beat that evil cultivator until he begged for mercy, kneeling before his junior sister’s skirt, swearing loyalty and vowing never to do evil again.
At the thought, Lu Zhiyun laughed for no apparent reason. The young girl’s smile was as moving as the bright moon hanging high in the sky.
“What are you laughing about?” the Sanqing Fairy asked, puzzled.
“Nothing! I just suddenly have a goal!” Lu Zhiyun laughed.
“What goal? What goal?” The Sanqing Fairy curiously pulled at Lu Zhiyun and asked.
“I’m not telling you!” Lu Zhiyun gave a mischievous smile.
“Eh—tell me, tell me—aren’t we sisters?” the Sanqing Fairy said aggrievedly.
“No! I won’t say it!”
“Hmph! Fine! Don’t cry later!”
“Fairy, what are you doing? Hahaha… don’t… stop tickling!”
“Now, are you going to tell me?”
“No… hahaha! I won’t!”
***
The night was cold and lonely among the towering clouds, but the small cabin on the immortal ship was still filled with the warm atmosphere of life.
At this moment, while the two women next door were playing around, Lin Shu was looking through the details of this mission.
“Achoo! Achoo! Who is cursing me?”
Even though the doors and windows were tightly shut, Lin Shu felt as though someone was watching him for no reason.
He quickly circulated his spiritual energy to stay warm and picked up a scroll to read.
“We should reach Mist City in one week at the latest. I wonder what the situation is like there…”
The Tianque Sect had quite a few shops in Mist City, but they seemed to have management issues and often lost money.
Being marginalized by others was one aspect, but their own internal issues also had to be considered.
As a newly promoted top-tier immortal sect in recent years, the Tianque Sect’s foundation was not as deep as other sects. Whether it was artifact forging, alchemy, talismans, or array formations, they lacked a stable area where they could consistently outperform other sects.
But was it fair to say the Tianque Sect was incompetent in these fields? Not necessarily!
For example, Lin Yingxue from Water Cloud Peak was a first-rate genius at artifact forging. Powerful cultivators lined up to commission dharma treasures from her. Later, because there were too many people and she couldn’t handle the workload, she set a condition that they had to “eat a meal before paying,” and only then did the crowds thin out.
Then there was Elder Pei from Peiyun Peak. Ever since he gave up artifact forging, he had gone down the path of cooking and never looked back. He had now been selected as one of the Daqian Dynasty’s Top Ten Celestial Chefs.
Ultimately, the growth rate of the disciples had not caught up. Perhaps it would take a few more years.
But distant water could not put out a nearby fire. The immediate priority was to help the Tianque Sect gain a firm foothold in Mist City!
“Let me see what our Tianque Sect is operating over there!”
Lin Shu squinted at the scroll by the candlelight.
“Artifact forging… a loss of 50,000 spirit stones in the first half of the year… that much?”
“Alchemy… over twenty cauldrons exploded in the first half of the year… do they even know how to perform alchemy?”
“Talismans and array formations… why are these all bad reviews???”
“Which peak’s disciple is responsible for this? Do they even have a brain?”
Fuming, Lin Shu flipped to the last page and looked at the name on the signature stamp—”Chang Jiujiu of Qingluan Peak, Tianque Sect.”