Chapter 11: Do You Remember, The Immortal Asked

By the side of the gently flowing stream, the boy clutched his small wooden sword tightly, his gaze fixed on the white-haired man who arrived upon his flying blade.

"Your inherent potential is excellent. Will you come with me?" the white-haired man asked.

Though young, how could the boy fail to see the magnificent vista of the Azure Empyrean soaring past? Just as he was about to agree, he heard a stubborn voice from beside him, "Take me too!"

The voice belonged to his playmate, the very same one he had just defeated in their "sword fight."

The boy knew his companion's stubbornness well. He had lost count of how many times they had "fought with swords" that day. Yet, simply because he had lost once before, his companion obstinately insisted on winning to finally cease.

*Perhaps,* the boy thought, *we can cultivate together.*

Many of the specifics had faded from his memory, but he still remembered the white-haired man's eyes. Clear as a stream, and as vast and distant as the sky.

The white-haired man looked at them with those eyes, at the two children who had been inseparable since they were toddlers, and a smile of inexplicable meaning played on his lips.

"I only take one disciple," the white-haired man said.

He repeated, "You are both quite good, but I will only take one."

*What should I do?* the boy thought at that moment.

But he only had that one fleeting thought. In the very next instant, he was pushed into the small stream.

*Bang!*

The sound of water splashing.

His friend, the one he had played with since they were little children, who was still just a child himself, had pushed him into the water without hesitation!

Through the rippling water, he saw his "friend's" expressionless face, and the white-haired man's perpetually calm gaze.

Then, a streak of frosty white sword light shot up into the sky.

His small companion and the white-haired man were enveloped in that magnificent and dazzling sword light, like a sudden clap of thunder on a clear day. They arrived abruptly and departed just as abruptly.

Like countless legends of immortals seeking the Dao, they brushed past the pathetic and mediocre mortals.

Leaving behind only an inability to let go, an inability to believe, and countless awakenings in the dead of night!

...

Jiang Wang opened his eyes. The inky darkness enveloped his surroundings, and also enveloped him. The dormitory was exceptionally quiet, with Ling He and Du Yehu's breaths long and steady, carrying a unique rhythm.

Jiang Wang knew they were practicing the Basic Breath Control Method. Although simple and foundational, it was a technique only Inner Disciples were taught. It was the cornerstone of the Zhuang Kingdom Daoist Academy, a tradition unchanged for a hundred years.

There was little suspense in the selection for the Fenglin City Daoist Academy's Inner Court. Ling He, Du Yehu, and Zhao Rucheng all became new Inner Disciples, their names inscribed on the Daoist Jade Slip enshrined in the Sacrificial Hall.

It was only that until their Dao Veins manifested, they could not be considered formal Linen-Robed Daoists.

An Unsealing Pill was difficult to obtain, worth a thousand gold coins. Even though the Fenglin City Daoist Academy received state support, it was impossible to distribute them free of charge to every disciple. As the most outstanding group among the Outer Disciples selected into the Inner Court, they would generally have to endure at least a year, accumulating enough merit, before being eligible to acquire an Unsealing Pill.

Only the first place in Outer Disciple contributions each year could exchange their contributions for one Unsealing Pill. This was a special incentive provided by the Daoist Academy for Outer Disciples. Therefore, since Jiang Wang had achieved this in their generation, no one else could replicate his path.

Even so, Jiang Wang had to fight a bloody, life-or-death battle to accumulate the contributions needed to exchange for an Unsealing Pill. And now, within a hundred *li* radius of Fenglin City, there was no other Western Mountain Bandit stronghold left to suppress.

Entering the Outer Court of the Daoist Academy to cultivate diligently, defeating countless competitors to enter the Inner Court. After entering the Inner Court, continuing to cultivate diligently while accumulating mission contributions, and finally being granted an Unsealing Pill to step into the extraordinary. This was the normal path for cultivators in the Zhuang Kingdom. It was also a clear and visible path forward.

However, compared to those who were born with their Dao Veins outwardly manifested, directly entering the Inner Court to begin cultivating Dao methods, these youths who followed the Outer Court progression path indeed wasted too much time.

On the path of cultivation, one step slow, every step slow. This was why Jiang Wang fought desperately to complete missions when he was in the Outer Court, and it was also why Fang Pengju could not restrain his greed. No one was willing to wait those many extra years!

Therefore, Jiang Wang understood Fang Pengju's desire, but could not forgive his methods.

Among exceptional martial artists like themselves, whether it was Ling He or Du Yehu, who among them would desire the extraordinary less than Fang Pengju? Yet, they had not resorted to such despicable actions.

Jiang Wang's father once said, "A person is defined by their choices." Jiang Wang deeply agreed.

And he had previously been caught in a difficult choice.

As is well known, cultivators are divided into nine grades, with the first grade being the most esteemed, and the ninth grade considered the beginning of the extraordinary. The mark of achieving the ninth grade is the formation of a Dao Vortex, with Dao Yuan generating naturally.

Cultivators have undergone an incalculable length of history, and naturally, there has been very detailed and in-depth research on this first step of the extraordinary.

The spine is regarded as the great dragon of the human body, and the Dao Veins are hidden within the spine. After the Dao Veins manifest, cultivators can use their blood and qi to feedback into the Dao Veins, thereby generating Dao Yuan. Dao Yuan is the foundation of all Dao methods and the basis of the extraordinary.

Taking Jiang Wang's Earthworm Vein as an example, each time "Earthworm" is activated, a considerable amount of blood and qi must be mobilized, permeating the entire spinal great dragon, before a single Dao Yuan can be generated. And cultivators at Jiang Wang's level can only perform two instances of impulse cultivation each day, accumulating two Dao Yuan. It is not that he is not diligent, but that his body does not allow it. The consumption of blood and qi is too great, harming the source and damaging the spirit, which is completely counterproductive.

After accumulating Dao Yuan, the next step is to control the Dao Yuan with divine consciousness, perfectly arranging the corresponding points according to the foundational formation diagram. When the formation is complete, a Dao Vortex is born.

As a cultivator whose Dao Veins have already been unsealed, the Fenglin City Daoist Academy naturally imparted the foundational formation diagram. It was the widely used Return to Origin Formation in the Zhuang Kingdom, which had eighty-one points. This meant that, assuming no mistakes were made in arranging the foundational formation diagram, he would need at least forty-one days, nearly a month and a half, to truly become a ninth-grade cultivator. (The two Dao Yuan Jiang Wang had accumulated previously had been exhausted in battle.)

Before this, Jiang Wang naturally had nothing to be troubled about. However, he had unexpectedly entered the Grand Illusory Realm, and even inherited Zuo Guanglie's "Cave Heaven and Blessed Land," unlocking the corresponding Sword Discussion Stage and Dao Practice Stage. Consequently, he had new worries.

Yesterday, after obtaining the Return to Origin Formation diagram, in order to test the effects of the Dao Practice Stage, he invested all 1850 points of功 (merit/contribution) into the deduction of the foundational formation diagram. Ultimately, he obtained the incredibly complex Grand Cycle of Stars Formation diagram. The entire foundational formation diagram had three hundred and sixty-five points!

Leaving aside the difficulty of arranging the Grand Cycle of Stars Formation diagram, even if he could perfectly replicate the foundational formation diagram, it would take at least half a year to generate the first Dao Vortex.

And after that, advancing from the ninth grade to the eighth grade required establishing three Dao Vortexes, and from the eighth grade to the seventh grade required establishing nine Dao Vortexes.

Calculated in this manner, the time required was too long!

The Grand Cycle of Stars Formation was undoubtedly stronger than the Return to Origin Formation, but the lengthy time required for its foundation was precisely where Jiang Wang hesitated. He needed to improve his cultivation as quickly as possible to catch up to those cultivators born with outwardly manifested Dao Veins, but time waited for no one.

However, after waking from his dream tonight, he had made his choice.

Jiang Wang closed his eyes, urging the single Dao Yuan generated from his impulse cultivation yesterday, to slowly move within his spine. In the hazy sensory world governed by the control of Dao Yuan, this was a vast and boundless space.

Because the great dragon resided here, it was also called the Spinal Sea.

But in the words passed down among cultivators, it had a more resounding name—the Heavenly Communication Palace!

Penetrating the Heavenly Communication Palace and opening the Heaven and Earth Gate was the transition from a basic cultivator to an intermediate cultivator.

In the vast Heavenly Communication Palace, a single Dao Yuan was as tiny as a speck of dust. But it did not drift with the current. Instead, it firmly and stubbornly carried out Jiang Wang's will. Moving, moving, it finally stopped at the ideal location.

That was the position of the Sun Star in the Grand Cycle of Stars Formation diagram.

As this Dao Yuan hovered, Jiang Wang seemed to see the eyes of that white-haired cultivator from his childhood once more.

He would never forget, when he was pushed into the water.

Those eyes seemed to be saying to him—

"The path of cultivation is a struggle."