Chapter 314: Testing the Waters

The group ate their wine in silence, occasionally hearing the hawker’s shouts from across the room. One of them couldn’t help but frown. These fabricated “biographies” were clearly designed to deceive gullible villagers, with the heavy hand of human authorship obscuring any genuine information. Lu Kuang and the others shared the same expression of disappointment. They had hoped to find clues about the True Immortal of Longevity’s hometown in the inn, allowing them to trace his ancestral graves. Now, it seemed they would need to devise another plan.

Their mission was to guide souls into the Ghost Temple and investigate clues about cultivation techniques.

Another table of four had also chosen not to listen to the storyteller.

Two men and two women sat there.

The pair in the southeast were dressed plainly. The man’s face was weathered, while the woman appeared anxious. The two in the northwest were clearly from the Cultivation World. The man wore a black robe, and the woman wore a flowing azure dress with a treasured sword strapped to her back—a powerful Sword Cultivator whose aura radiated formidable strength.

“Perhaps I’m simply not cut out for Immortal Cultivation,” the middle-aged man said, his face weathered by years of hardship. He raised his wine cup, nodded to the young man across from him, and drained it in one gulp. The young man, Chen Luo, lifted his own cup and took a small sip.

He hadn’t expected to see Du De Eldest Brother again.

Unlike others, Du De’s cultivation journey had been fraught with obstacles. While Chen Luo had breezed through the thirteen stages of Qi Refining as easily as drinking water, Du De had faced a major hurdle at every step. Driven by his pursuit of the Immortal Path, Du De had traveled far and wide, venturing into countless Secret Realms with groups of rogue cultivators.

Through life-or-death trials, he had finally reached the peak of Qi Refining, each step etched with bitterness.

Alas, the Immortal Path remained elusive.

The Foundation Establishment barrier had completely blocked his path. Even when Chen Luo had arranged for the Sect to send him several Foundation Establishment Pills upon his departure, Du De had failed to break through. Three consecutive attempts had ended in failure. Each failure had devoured a significant portion of his lifespan. As his vitality waned, his cultivation level plummeted back to the Early Qi Refining Realm.

After his final failed breakthrough attempt, Du De returned to Black Mountain Village. There, he married an ordinary woman, had a son, and never looked back at the Cultivation World. This decision inadvertently helped him avoid several major calamities that befell the God Lake Immortal Sect, turning misfortune into a blessing.

“We can never return to Yue Country now,” he mused. “This place has become our second home.”

A flicker of memory crossed Du De’s eyes. He recalled his Master, Heartfire.

Nearly sixty years had passed—a lifetime for some. His memories had grown hazy; even his Master’s face was now blurred in his mind. Once, they had left the Great Tomb of Yue together to pursue the Immortal Path, but now only he and Chen Luo remained. Junior Brother Du Jian and Shimei Xie Shuang had long since abandoned the Immortal Path and returned to Yue Country. Now that he too had given up, only Chen Luo continued to press forward.

The great waves sift the sand—nothing could describe it better.

Yet he could never return.

This visit to Chen Luo wasn’t his own desire.

But life sometimes forces one to bow their head. He could live his entire life with his back straight, but his son couldn’t.

His son’s Spirit Root aptitude surpassed his own—a mid-grade Four-Element Spirit Root.

In the past, such aptitude would have been sufficient to join the God Lake Immortal Sect. However, under Void Sage’s reforms, the sect had become the largest in the Seven Kingdoms Land, and its admission criteria had undergone significant changes. Each generation of Founding Ancestors established new rules, and the Immortal Sect’s purpose was to serve its strongest members. Void Sage, who cultivated the Demonic Heart Art, didn’t require vast material resources; his primary need was Heart Demon Energy. Against this backdrop, the God Lake Immortal Sect’s disciple recruitment policies had naturally evolved.

“His aptitude for immortality is better than mine,” Du De said with a sigh. “The landscapes I can never see, I can only rely on him to witness for me.” His son’s name itself revealed the depth of his obsession.

Alas, many things are beyond human control.

Fortunately, Junior Brother Chen Luo remained deeply loyal. Even now that he was revered as the True Immortal of Longevity, a single letter from Du De brought him rushing to his side. Du De felt indebted beyond measure; Chen Luo’s cultivation and status left him with nothing to offer in return. All he could do was cherish this bond in his heart.

“I understand,” Chen Luo nodded. He offered no empty words of comfort. As he journeyed onward, the number of companions by his side had dwindled steadily.

Life is inherently this way.

Childhood friends, each with their own dreams. As they grow, these companions on life’s path gradually abandon their former “dreams,” burdened by the weight of “reality.” When they return to the paradise of their childhood dreams, they find only one person left on the bench.

The clamor of the crowd cannot buy back the lost past.

This is called growth.

The Immortal Path is no different!

“True Immortal of Longevity roared, rebuking the blue-faced, tusked Ghost Cultivator. ‘Audacious fiend! I’ll expose your true form!’ As soon as he spoke…”

The storyteller slammed his gavel, jolting the listeners awake.

Du De smiled, thoroughly enjoying the legend of the “True Immortal of Longevity.”

“This is my wife, Yu Donglan. We’ve been married for seventeen years.”

“Greetings, Uncle.”

Yu Donglan immediately rose to greet Chen Luo. Seeing this, Chen Luo casually produced a Pill and offered it to her. Given his current status, the Pills he refined were practically immortal elixirs for ordinary people. While they might not grant instant immortality, they would undoubtedly cure all her ailments.

“Treasure this well,” Du De said with a grin. “Junior Brother Chen is the True Immortal of Longevity. The Pills he refines are coveted by all.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Donglan immediately carefully stored the pill, intending to take it home for her son.

“This is Xiaoyu, my disciple,” Chen Luo introduced the female Sword Cultivator beside him.

The young woman was none other than Mu Xiaoyu, Chen Luo’s sole personal disciple. A prodigy with a Heavenly Spirit Root, she represented the opposite extreme compared to Du De.

During Chen Luo’s years away from the Qiong Hua Sect, Mu Xiaoyu had secluded herself for intensive cultivation. Under the guidance of Grand Void Ancestor, a Nascent Soul True Monarch, her cultivation progressed rapidly. Not long ago, she had successfully broken through her final bottleneck, becoming a Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivator. Upon learning that Chen Luo was in the Seven Kingdoms Region, she had traversed the Ten Thousand Demon Mountain to find him, bringing with her cultivation resources prepared by Grand Void Ancestor.

“Greetings, Martial Uncle,” Mu Xiaoyu said respectfully, showing no disdain for Du De’s lower cultivation level. It was precisely this character trait that Chen Luo admired so much in his disciple.

”…The Ghost Cultivator knelt on the ground, his swollen face contorted as he cried, ‘True Immortal of Longevity, spare me! Spare me! I’ll never devour another human again!’” The storyteller reached the climax, his vivid description drawing cheers from the surrounding crowd.

The common folk had no understanding of Core Formation True Persons’ battles.

In their eyes, this was how a fight should be: the victor trampling the defeated and humiliating them mercilessly.

“Nonsense!”

The group at the neighboring table could no longer restrain themselves.

After waiting so long, they had gathered no valuable information, only insults directed at Ghost Cultivators. Xue Ning, despite her flaws, was a Core Formation Ghost Cultivator. How could she be beaten to her knees, begging for mercy? These ignorant fools couldn’t even distinguish truth from lies.

“Kill them and extract their souls.”

Lu Kuang stood up, his patience exhausted.

They would resort to the methods Ghost Cultivators knew best—the very reason they had come to this place. They dared not provoke the God Lake Immortal Sect, but this backwater village was theirs for the slaughter.

“We should have done this sooner.”

The Ghost Cultivators rose, gray-white power seeping from their bodies. The ‘human skin’ they wore visibly shriveled, and the aura of the Ghost Temple spread, enveloping the entire tavern. In an instant, the five men transformed into gray shadows, darting through the mist.

“Master?”

Mu Xiaoyu gripped her sword hilt, ready to strike.

Having just reached the Foundation Establishment stage, Mu Xiaoyu stood no chance against these ferocious Ghost Cultivators. The moment she rose to her feet, she felt a hand land on her shoulder. Tianhong, the first Ghost Cultivator to speak, rested his chin on her shoulder and said with a sinister grin, “Little girl, that sword of yours can’t cut me down.”

As he spoke, he opened his mouth, ready to bite into Mu Xiaoyu’s neck.

In their perception, Mu Xiaoyu was the strongest person in the tavern. Once she was dealt with, the rest would be mere materials, their souls ripe for extraction.

Suddenly, the atmosphere froze.

A hand descended like a celestial canopy. In Tianhong’s vision, it grew larger and larger until it seized him like a rat, plucking him from the girl’s shoulder.

It’s not the hand that grew bigger.

I’m shrinking!

Tianhong realized this in horror as he was lifted from Mu Xiaoyu’s shoulder. He instinctively tried to speak, but only a squeaking sound escaped his lips. He had truly been transformed into a rat!

What kind of divine ability is this?!

Tianhong screamed in terror, but his cries came out as frantic squeaks.

“This is the proper way to use the Transformation Art.”

Chen Luo was immensely satisfied.

He casually placed the rat on the table and covered it with a teacup. The pitiful Ghost Cultivator Tianhong was now truly trapped, unable to even budge the teacup.

“Who are you?”

Lu Kuang and his companions, who had been preparing to unleash a massacre, felt a chill run down their spines. When they had entered the village earlier, their senses had detected no such person. As far as they could tell, Chen Luo was just an ordinary mortal. The only two Immortal Cultivators at the table were Mu Xiaoyu and Du De.

“Come here.”

Chen Luo had no time for idle chatter. He mobilized the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, unleashing a divine ability he had once discarded in a corner. Recently, his External Brain had finally cracked its secrets, and this was the perfect opportunity to test it out. Under the power of a Core Formation True Person, its effects were immeasurably stronger than when Old Demon Fang had wielded it.

“Run!”

Lu Kuang roared in terror. Four Ghost Shadows instantly pierced through the door and walls, fleeing into the night.

But their desperate escape only slowed as the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi around them solidified like water. Looking up instinctively, they saw a colossal palm descending, scooping all four of them into its grasp.