Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Refining and nourishing the Primordial Spirit to make the Great Medicine, there is nothingness in existence, and existence in nothingness.

The dark night devours Yin Hu, refining the spirit is like making Great Medicine—this is an affair known only to Heaven and Earth, kept absolutely secret, not spoken of by gods or ghosts.

However, the Thousand-Year-Old Demon’s message struck Zhang Fan like a thunderbolt, setting his nerves on edge.

”Does he know? Or is he alluding to something else? Or maybe...”

In an instant, countless thoughts surged up in Zhang Fan’s mind, layers of doubt knotting in his heart.

”What do you really mean?” Zhang Fan furrowed his brows.

This Thousand-Year-Old Demon—ever since Zhenwu Mountain, when he stumbled across his cultivation post online, they’d maintained a subtle connection both online and off.

That connection kept growing, and now, looking back, it no longer seemed like mere coincidence.

Zhang Fan could sense it: the Thousand-Year-Old Demon knew his situation almost too well, even the things he’d seen within the Great Night, in his Primordial Spirit Inner Scenery, were known to him; even his ability to master the Fire Dragon Pill Sword came from the demon’s pointers.

Sometimes, Zhang Fan even had an odd illusion—that the Thousand-Year-Old Demon was probably right by his side, maybe even someone he knew.

But Zhang Fan had his suspicions, and every time he ruled them out.

The Thousand-Year-Old Demon was versed in the Three Teachings, with a unique take on cultivation; and, crucially, seemed to know both the Daoist Sects and the Wuwei Sect inside out.

”You don’t need to suspect me—any suspicion drains your vital essence; when stray thoughts arise, it is a carnival for your Consciousness.”

Just then, the Thousand-Year-Old Demon’s message popped up again.

”Cut it out. Don’t give me this crap. Who the hell are you? I have reason to suspect you’re up to something.” Zhang Fan’s fingers flew over the keyboard.

”You should suspect not me, but rather...”

Zhang Fan stared at the incoming message; on the chat box, ”The other party is typing...” floated onscreen.

”That girl behind you.”

Zhang Fan’s pupils shrank sharply; reflexively, he turned to look behind him.

Right at that moment, Jiang Lai was gazing intently at him. Their eyes met in midair.

Zhang Fan’s face twitched slightly; guilt flickered through him as he hurriedly turned back to his screen, sitting a little straighter to hide his computer.

”What do you mean?”

”She’s going to kill you.”

Beep...

With that last message sent, the Thousand-Year-Old Demon’s avatar went gray.

”Fuck... you’re messing with riddles now, huh!” Zhang Fan spat, glaring at the chat, especially that final message.

Jiang Lai?

No way!

Zhang Fan being able to reawaken his Primordial Spirit and set foot on the path of cultivation had everything to do with Jiang Lai.

Besides, ever since Zhenwu Mountain, more than once it’d been Jiang Lai who’d saved him from peril—even risking her own life for his sake.

If Jiang Lai really wanted him dead, she’d had more than enough chances by now.

Moreover, the Thousand-Year-Old Demon hadn’t named Jiang Lai outright, and besides, who says his words are even trustworthy?

”Sooner or later, I’ll drag you out into the light.”

Zhang Fan muttered under his breath, casually clicking into the Thousand-Year-Old Demon’s profile.

”Hm!?”

Just ten minutes ago, the Thousand-Year-Old Demon had posted a new thread—the title: [The Most ”Eerily Uncanny” Daoist Mountain—Qingcheng Mountain].

”Qingcheng Mountain...” Zhang Fan’s gaze sharpened slightly.

Qingcheng Mountain: one of the Ten Great Daoist Mountains of the realm, with a long history; in ancient times, it was among the Five Immortal Mountains.

”Qingcheng Mountain lies in the lands of Sichuan and Shu...” Zhang Fan murmured under his breath, suddenly recalling Old Yu for no apparent reason, and couldn’t help but click into the post for a look.

”The region of Sichuan and Shu is a basin, but in ancient times it was a sea—a fact evidenced by numerous marine fossils unearthed there...”

Legend has it that during Da Yu’s era, when he controlled the floods, he punctured Sichuan and Shu, shaping the land’s climate today.

In terms of geomancy, the Sichuan and Shu region is a Water Dragon Vein, following the Yangtze River in the same line as Yujing City; but according to the Ancestral Court’s lineage, it belongs to the Li Dragon: abundant in water, but wild and untamed, the dragon vein hard to cultivate, seldom producing kings, much less emperors who unify the world.

And yet, precisely because of this unique feng shui, Sichuan and Shu became blessed lands for cultivation; throughout history, not just grandmasters of Alchemy Dao but even demons, ghosts, and spirits have flocked there to practice as Profound Cultivators.

In the glory days of the Wuwei Sect, its foundation was planted right in Sichuan-Shu.

Later, led by the Dragon Tiger Mountain Zhang Family, the Daoist Sects mounted a campaign of killing, breaking mountains and attacking temples, sweeping through Sichuan and Shu.

”The first Breaking Mountains and Attacking Temples.”

Reading here, Zhang Fan pondered. During that first campaign, the ancestral master of Dragon Tiger Mountain, Zhang Daoling, led the elite of all Daoist Sects straight into Sichuan and Shu, subduing the Five Directions, Eight Divisions, and Six Celestial Ghosts and Gods, and making his name known under heaven.

That was also the first clash between the Dragon Tiger Family and the Wuwei Sect.

The dharma lineage of Qingcheng Mountain grew in such soil.

Tracing its roots, Qingcheng Mountain had ancient origins: during the Yellow Emperor’s time, the qi refiner Ning Fengzi dwelled there in cultivation, once teaching the Yellow Emperor the wind-riding ”Dragon Ascension Skill”—the Yellow Emperor built altars to honor him as the ”Five Peaks Old Man,” and so later ages also called Qingcheng Mountain the Old Man Mountain.

In the late Western Han, Yin Changsheng, one of the ”Eight Immortals of Shu,” entered Qingcheng Mountain to cultivate.

But what truly made Qingcheng Mountain famous and cemented it as a Daoist sacred peak was the Daoist Ancestral Master Zhang Daoling.

”The place where Zhang Daoling achieved transcendence...” Zhang Fan’s gaze narrowed to a line.

The progenitor of the Dragon Tiger Zhang Family, Zhang Daoling, revealed his Dao at Qingcheng Mountain in his twilight years, and there achieved transcendence, draping the mountain in yet another layer of mystery.

”Why did he go all the way there?” Zhang Fan mused. Back then, Zhang Daoling had already established Dragon Tiger Mountain; incense was flourishing. Since he’d already attained transcendence, why go so far away?