Chapter 22 (1/2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Qi Yuan drank until midnight before he returned to the Little Qiong Peak.
It had already been seven or eight years since Li Changshou had last seen his master look this happy. As he walked, he hummed a melody that Li Changshou had never heard before.
When he pa.s.sed by Li Changshou at the door, Qi Yuan shouted, “Changshou? Are you cultivating?”
“Master, your disciple is taking a break. I am relaxing my heart and mind today and preparing to cultivate tomorrow,” replied Li Changshou, who was seated on the straw bed with his eyes closed. He was just about to stand up and open the door for his master when he heard the latter laugh.
“Rest, rest. I am going back into seclusion. You did well this time. You used your escape techniques to save Martial Niece Youqin Xuanya of the Heaven-Breaking Peak. You have really glorified our Little Qiong Peak this time. However, you cannot become too proud of yourself. You must make cultivation your priority. Do not spend more time and effort than before on your escape techniques. Your own Dao Realm should be at the core!”
“Your disciple understands,” replied Li Changshou from inside the house.
Qi Yuan smiled as he stroked his beard, and said, “Mm, keep working hard to solidify your cultivation level. You cannot act with undue haste when cultivating. You have to progress steadily, step by step. That is the only way you will be able to cross major hurdles. Go ahead and rest. Your Master is going into seclusion. Ling’e has become haggard from worrying about you over the past few days. Remember to comfort her later on.”
“Yes,” replied Li Changshou in a warm tone.
Qi Yuan laughed and then continued humming as he walked into his own straw hut. After he entered, he activated several arrays around his house.
One needed silence while cultivating in seclusion. Noise-cancellation-type arrays and vigilance-type arrays were necessary.
Li Changshou looked at the jade boxes in his storage Dharma artifacts, and then heaved a sigh of relief. He would prepare for several more days before starting to build the Pill Chamber, which he had been dreaming about for a long time. Finally, he would be able to refine Immortal-Melting Pills.
If he could refine Immortal-Melting Pills successfully, and persuade his master to use these pills while he was enduring the Heavenly Tribulation, there would be a 90% chance that his master would survive.
To Postnatal living beings who wanted to live long, becoming an immortal through the Heavenly Tribulation was suffering that could not be avoided.
Once the Heavenly Lightning struck, the decision would be made on their life or death.
Since the ancient days, n.o.body dared to say with complete confidence that they would be able to make it through the Heavenly Tribulation alive.
Since he had been injured before, Qi Yuan’s Dao base was compromised, and his own cultivation level was not stable. The power of his soul was also about half that of ordinary cultivators in the Ninth Stage of Dao Requital.
If Li Changshou did not find other ways to help him, his master would surely die during the Heavenly Tribulation.
Yet, Qi Yuan insisted on enduring the Heavenly Tribulation to become an immortal.
Qi Yuan was not only the Master of Li Changshou and Lan Ling’e, but he was also the Peak Leader of the Little Qiong Peak. He was the only Peak Leader in the Immortal Du Sect, who had not yet ascended to immortality. The other senior Peak Leaders would never inform the Little Qiong Peak about the decisions they made.
In comparison, Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu, who had joined the Immortal Du Sect several years after Qi Yuan, was already a Perfected Immortal. Unfortunately, Qi Yuan was far behind her.
Before ascending to immortality, human cultivators had to be younger than 3,000 years old. This was the Dao limit. Qi Yuan actually had hundreds, maybe even over 1,000, of years to go.
However, Li Changshou knew that his master did not want to suppress his cultivation level any longer—much less did his master want to wait until he was running out of time before he took a gamble and tried ascending to immortality.
At times, Li Changshou even felt like his Master was hoping to die in the Heavenly Tribulation. Perhaps he wanted to endure the Heavenly Tribulation with this expectation of death, in the hopes that he would be able to survive!
Perhaps all of this sounded n.o.ble and enthusiastic. However, to Li Changshou, his master’s mindset was both stubborn and silly.
That was why Li Changshou had begun preparing 15 years ago…
That was the reason Li Changshou had decided to act against his principles for the very first time, by leaving the security of his own mountain and going to the North Continent. When he had found the Immortal-Emanc.i.p.ating Herb, he had also decided to take the risk and plot against the Three-Eyed Blue Wave Serpent, Yuwen Ling, and the others.
The core of Li Changshou’s first plan to ‘Help Master Endure the Tribulation’ involved refining Immortal-Melting Pills from Immortal-Emanc.i.p.ating Herbs.
When the time came for his master to endure the Heavenly Tribulation, Qi Yuan would only have to make it through the first tribulation in order to develop a wisp of immortal spiritual aura. Then, he would be able to swallow the Immortal-Melting Pill. The pill would allow him to feign death and activate the ‘Deliverance by Execution’. Then, he could avoid enduring the subsequent tribulations.
If immortals failed to endure the Heavenly Tribulation, they could go through Deliverance by Execution and become Turbid Immortals.
Turbid Immortals could not compare to Essence Immortals in terms of cultivation and mystical abilities. However, they had similar lifespans. They could also continue to cultivate.
According to the cla.s.sic texts, the highest cultivation level that Turbid Immortals could achieve was the Perfected Immortal Realm. This route was often referred to as the Earth Immortal Dao, in contrast to the Heaven Immortal Dao.
As part of this first plan, Li Changshou had even managed to chart out the later years of his master’s life.
Qi Yuan would become an Earth Immortal and acc.u.mulate hundreds of years of cultivation. Then, he would go to the Heavenly Courts, which had just been set up and were lacking manpower. There, he would get an easy role as the Earth G.o.d of a small region, a Mountain G.o.d, or a River G.o.d. All he would have to do was enjoy fragrant offerings and enjoy a lifespan as long as ordinary Perfected Immortals.
If Qi Yuan managed to achieve something that would earn him rewards from the Heavenly Courts, he might even be able to live as long as Heaven Immortals.
At the same time, Qi Yuan could build a network in the Heavenly Courts. Once Li Changshou and his junior sister were ready, they could go to the Heavenly Courts and apply for an easy role as well. In the future, they could become elders of the Management Organization of the Three Realms. Then, they would enjoy an easy life until they died of old age.
That was a perfect plan.
“Refining this pill would not be considered c.u.mbersome. If I could get a Perfected Immortal like Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu to help me, and if I could prepare more ingredients, I would be able to produce it. However…”
Li Changshou’s master was a model cultivator in the sect. He was the type that would rather suffer and die than lose his reputation. Persuading him to use such a method to survive would probably be much more difficult than finding the Immortal-Emanc.i.p.ating Herbs.
Still, as his disciple, Li Changshou had to endure this karma. This was a responsibility that he could not shy away from.
If this did not work, he would have to cheat and lie. He would have no choice but to wrap the Immortal-Melting Pill in candy and tell his master that it was a life-saving immortal pill.
Just thinking about this made Li Changshou smile.
The birds and bees cried out outside his window as he began to think about his own experience during this journey. He reflected on the areas in which he fell short.
Li Changshou was not good enough when he dealt with the Essence Immortal. He was also not fast enough in cleaning up.
He could improve on his Man-Forming Paper Cutouts. The clones he produced still did not look 100% realistic.