Martial Cultivator

Prompted by that reminder, Chen Chao quickly turned his head away and also twisted Yu Xiyi’s head to face the other direction.

Yu Xiyi sighed with emotion. ”Any one of the spiritual herbs in this medicinal garden would probably be regarded as a priceless treasure by the major sects nowadays, yet here they can only serve as nourishment.”

Chen Chao smiled. ”It’s not the same era. In their time, although cultivators at the Fuyun Realm were still rare, they definitely weren’t as scarce as they are today, where you can search the entire world and hardly find a few.”

By Chen Chao’s estimation, the number of Fuyun cultivators in that era was probably about the same as the number of cultivators at the end of Nepenthe today.

As for why, he did not know, but most of the cultivation methods from that era had probably not been passed down. Martial cultivation was especially so. The martial path of today was already vastly different from what it had once been.

One could say that the martial artists of this era had opened up an entirely new path for themselves.

As far as the current records of human history went, they could only be traced back about a thousand years. The period before those thousand years was collectively referred to as the previous era.

As for that vaguely defined previous era, how long it had lasted, or whether it had even been only a single era, there was no way to verify it. After all, the only means modern cultivators had of understanding that era was through the occasional discovery of ancient sect ruins.

Perhaps the old daoists in Infatuation Daoist Temple who had lived long enough knew something, but those old daoists rarely appeared in the mortal world. It was practically impossible for others to learn anything from them.

Still, Chen Chao felt that the truth of this world would eventually come to light.

Because his uncle, the Great Liang Emperor, had already gone out at sea. The cultivators out at sea likely knew many of these things very well.

After leaving the medicinal garden, the three slowly walked along the mountain path. Streams of light continuously streaked across the sky, each one a cultivator either returning to the mountain or leaving it. Judging by their auras, several were at the Great Beyond Realm, and within this short span of time, nearly ten Nepenthe cultivators had appeared.

It was already quite a number.

Seeing one spot was enough to infer the whole. From the number of Nepenthe cultivators alone, if the Rongshan Sect still existed today, its foundation would probably be far deeper than even Infatuation Daoist Temple’s.

”So many Nepenthe cultivators? And judging by their status, they don’t seem particularly important. Is that even possible?”

Yu Xiyi was somewhat shocked. The Sword Sect could certainly gather more than a dozen sword immortals, but those dozen or so sword immortals were probably already its limit.

That was why he doubted whether the Rongshan Sect could truly have so many Nepenthe cultivators.

Chen Chao glanced at Zhu Xia and shook his head. ”There won’t be any mistake.”

Everything they were seeing now had been witnessed personally by Zhu Xia. Moreover, as a spiritual herb herself, her perception of auras was inherently different, so there was no possibility of error.

The three then arrived before the great hall at the mountain summit, where Chen Chao asked Zhu Xia a question.

”Zhu Xia, when did you first gain sentience?”

Zhu Xia was an immortal medicine. Of course, an immortal medicine did not begin as one. At first she had merely been a seed. Once planted, she slowly grew. Given enough time and nourishment, becoming an immortal medicine was only a matter of time. However, the Rongshan Sect clearly wanted more than just an immortal medicine. Whether an immortal medicine could grow into a divine medicine was another matter entirely.

Yet regardless of whether it was an immortal medicine or a divine medicine, medicinal plants like Zhu Xia would develop sentience at a certain stage. This was the most important distinction between them and ordinary medicinal herbs.

Zhu Xia said, ”That was a very long time ago. Anyway, after I became aware, I often sneaked out of the medicinal garden to play. As long as I didn’t leave the sect grounds, it wasn’t a problem.”

Yu Xiyi looked at Zhu Xia in surprise. ”Wouldn’t the person guarding the medicinal garden stop you?”

Zhu Xia shook her head. ”My true body couldn’t leave. I could only get out by using a method similar to a cultivator’s spirit leaving the body. And I could only do it for two hours each day.”

Speaking of this, Zhu Xia recalled many memories and said nostalgically, ”Back then, I even had a good friend. Look, that’s him!”

As Zhu Xia pointed ahead, a youth in white was walking up the mountain path below them. He was very handsome, and a unique aura emanated from him from head to toe.

It seemed to be a kind of innate Dao rhythm?

After all, Chen Chao once come close to becoming a great daoist sage, so he was naturally somewhat familiar with such Dao rhythms.

Looking at him, Zhu Xia said, ”His name is Bei Geng. He seems to be some kind of Innate Dao Embryo. The cultivators on the mountain said that a physique like his is born for cultivation. In less than a hundred years, he’ll be able to achieve great success in the Dao and step into the Fuyun Realm.”

”For that reason, as soon as he came up the mountain, the Sect Master accepted him as his final disciple. I’ve heard that he may become the next Sect Master of the Rongshan Sect in the future.”

Zhu Xia introduced her friend to Chen Chao and Yu Xiyi.

Only when the youth in white arrived did Zhu Xia point at the faint trace of worry between his brows and say, ”I just don’t know why, but he always seems unhappy. He rarely smiles.”

Chen Chao said nothing. He simply looked at the youth in white before him. Once the two were close enough, the aura on the youth’s body became increasingly clear to him.

It was indeed a kind of Dao rhythm different from that produced by cultivating daoist techniques. Instead, it was a vague kind of aura connected to heaven and earth.

People like this seemed to resonate with heaven and earth from the moment they were born. They were truly seedlings perfectly suited for cultivation.

Yu Xiyi muttered, ”So what if he’s talented? Your Father can stab him to death with one sword.”

Chen Chao said nothing. He merely looked into the distance, where a small red flower drifted down onto Bei Geng’s shoulder.

Bei Geng lowered his head and glanced at it before saying, ”You snuck out again? Can’t stay put?”

The red flower transformed into a tiny person, a little girl with twin buns in her hair. Sitting on his shoulder, she puffed out her cheeks and said, ”You never come see me. Every day in the medicine garden, all I do is eat and sleep. It’s so boring!”

Bei Geng said, ”I cultivate every day. That’s not much different from what you’re describing. Cultivation is like that, and being a plant is like that. There’s no difference.”

”That’s exactly why it’s boring! Little Geng, can you bring me down the mountain to have a look? The outside world is huge, and I’ve never seen it. And you’ve been cultivating all this time, so you must think it’s boring too. Don’t you want to go take a look?”

The little girl sat on Bei Geng’s shoulder, trying to tempt the youth, but he merely shook his head. ”If my cultivation is delayed, Master will be unhappy.”

He was regarded as the future of the Rongshan Sect, hailed as the youth who might enter the Fuyun Realm within a hundred years and possibly break through to an even higher realm within a thousand years. The entire sect had only one expectation of him: that he cultivate diligently, continue moving forward, and reach the destination they hoped for.

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