Chapter 601 - Keeping Up Appearances (1/2)

Somewhere in the northern mountain range where land and water merged into one, beautiful scenery stretched out in all directions.

Spring was coming to an end in the third year of Shenyuan. The cold spring breeze blew, sending penetrating chills into everyone’s bones. Yet, it could not stop the enthusiastic hearts of the attendants.

For the experts in history, they might know the ancient name of the mountain—Wolf Mountain.

The “Great Wall” Summit would be here.

Unexpectedly, the venue was not located in China.

The organizer was also smack dab in the eastern wilderness—Cloud Fog City, whose influence radiated toward the multiple countries in its close vicinity. It was not China’s Truth Department as others expected.

At the lakes, the waters ambled on the verge of freezing.

A large crowd of cultivators gathered by the lake. Some of them wore Taoist robes; some of them were in monk’s robes; some wore western suits etcetera.

“Master Ma, it’s been a while since we’ve met. I’ve noticed that your overwhelming aura and darkening hair. You look as vibrant as the Wolf Lake here. Are you already…” Someone greeted an old Taoist priest, clearly in shock.

“Hehe, it is all God’s will. I was only lucky to breakthrough,” said an old Taoist priest humbly. His hair was streaked with a mixture of black and white.

“Of course, Elder Immortal Ma has expelled demons and slain devils for years. Among the cultivators, I’m afraid your status is second only to the Venerable Dragon God. You definitely deserved to be blessed by the Gods. Unquestionably.” When people heard the news, they gathered around him and congratulated him.

The Dragon God had very high standards and disliked socializing with humans. He preferred the company of beasts so not many could get close to him.

Many people tried to present him gifts but to no avail. Even though rumors had it that he was quite the avarice, he had never accepted any forms of gifts or favors due to his identity as a Hero…

On the contrary, the Taoist priest had more relations with the temples. He preferred interacting with people of his kind and therefore, it was easier to befriend him.

Among the multitudinous branches in the Chinese Taoist Alliance, everyone looked up at him as their leader as he had the highest level of cultivation among all of them.

Ma Futian enjoyed being the center of attention like this. While he spoke to all the top masters, he could preach some of his cultivation insights and incite praise from everyone.

All of his efforts spent in cultivation and slaying demons were only for him to promote the previously unknown Mount Indigo Monastery to the world.

Now, it seemed like he achieved his goal.

At least, among the association, the Taoist opinions that he inherited, no matter title or strength, had already greatly exceeded those branches from the famous mountains.

In the association, those purported lineages like Orthodox Unity Faction or Complete Perfection Faction were useless in spite of their various complex cultivation methods.

After recovering their spirit, they thought their factions could be glorious again. Yet, the attempts to pass on their inherited skills turned out futile when they realized that they were not even able to use their spirits and hence, unable to cultivate.

There were only a few cultivation techniques left that were interesting, at the very least. They could cultivate their spiritual sense to build a form of foundation.

Ma Futian was different as his method of cultivation was not inherited. It was obtained when he ventured out and defeated a man-eating devil from the Upper Realm using a myriad of techniques, gaining a secret Upper Realm Taoist Cultivation Ability manual.

The devil was not to be underestimated as well. Similar to the Heaven River God, it fell into the trap set up by Elder Ancestor Bai. Its powers were greatly reduced and gave Master Tao an advantage. After that, he started on his path of cultivation to be the greatest among the people of China.

Therefore, it was his actions that allowed Elder Ancestor Bai to gain Heavenly Merit Points. Despite his original intent to remove competition, he incidentally benefitted the world. Behind him, a young Taoist priest appeared disinterested at the scene where everyone was busy throwing compliments. He hid at the side and stared into space.

“Ping’er, snap out of it. You should interact more with your peers. You only cultivate on your own at home. Recently, you seem to lack motivation in cultivating recently, added with the fact that you’re unaware of your own improvement. All these problems can be solved if you hang out with them,” whispered Ma Futian secretively.

“Master, we’re Taoists. Shouldn’t we follow the Taoist doctrine of inaction?” As an internet junkie once, Ma Ping was never fond of socializing.

“What do you know? Don’t be fooled by those boring Taoist archives! Cultivation is all about pursuing improvement and dedicated diligence. If we follow the doctrine of inaction, then what’s the point of having motivation in cultivation? If we only deliberate on the Taoist theories the whole time and speak of the mystics aimlessly, how can we improve on our cultivation base?” said Ma Futian with the tone of a disappointed father.

“I get it. I’ll go and find someone to talk to,” said Ma Ping frankly.

“Good. Remember, you should target those geniuses from the Azure Mountains and not the commoners. Don’t ever forget Gu Buwei’s lessons.” Old Master Ma reminded him, at last.