Supreme Aptitude

Feather Realm, Heavenly Gate Sect.

After completing the task assigned by the sect, Xu Fan returned to his own small courtyard.

Calling it a small courtyard would be less accurate than calling it an independent courtyard atop a mountain. This was standard for intermediate Outer Sect Disciples.

Looking at the dozen-odd mu of Spirit Rice before his gate and the small patch of medicine field in the distance, Xu Fan formed a hand seal.

Above the spiritual field, countless wisps of water vapor gathered with threads of spiritual energy, forming a Water Cloud that covered the entire field exactly.

"Spirit Rain Art."

Beneath the Water Cloud, a fine drizzle fell over the spiritual field, accompanied by strands of spiritual energy seeping into the soil.

If the sect elders saw this scene, they would surely be stunned by Xu Fan's Mastery Level Spirit Rain Art.

After all, very few people could cultivate such a useless spell to this level.

"Another ten days, and this Spirit Rice can be harvested. By then, I'll have enough Spirit Stones to buy a Pill Refining Furnace and take a master."

"Once I learn the Pill Refining Art, I won't have to worry about Spirit Stones anymore." Xu Fan smiled as he looked at the Spirit Rice, which had grown a little taller than before.

After returning to the house and activating the Silencing Forbidden Barrier, Xu Fan began to relax. Holding a carving knife, he casually picked up a piece of Iron Bone Wood and began carving.

As the carving knife danced up and down in his hand, a miniature Wuling Hongguang appeared in Xu Fan's palm before long.

"Sigh, I wonder who made this Survivalist Sage-like system. It just had to set its sights on me."

"It clearly gave me Supreme Aptitude, yet it restricts me from breaking through until the very last day of my life span limit. The Qi Refining Stage lasts 150 years, the Foundation Establishment Stage 200 years, the Golden Core Stage 500 years, the Nascent Soul Stage 1,000 years, and then the Spirit Transformation Stage."

"Forget it. By then, I probably won't even want to live anymore."

As he spoke, Xu Fan set the finished Wuling Hongguang aside, then picked up another prepared piece of Iron Bone Wood and continued carving. This was one of the ways he relaxed and passed the boring hours.

"One hundred percent breakthrough on the day of my life span limit, and if I die in between, there's no revival."

"Isn't this making me the number one homebody in the cultivation world? Though I was a homebody before too."

"But in a world so vast and boundless, with Infinite Divine Charm, I want to go see it too."

At that, Xu Fan shook his head again.

"The world outside is too dangerous. I'll lie low for a while first. Once I reach Qi Refining Level Twelve, I'll go out and take a look."

As he spoke, another Volkswagen Tiguan was finished.

Xu Fan stood and walked to a wall, knocking on it several times in an irregular pattern.

A hidden door opened in the wall, revealing a flight of stairs leading downward. This was a Basement Xu Fan had created with the Earth Movement Art.

After entering the Basement, Xu Fan snapped his fingers and cast a Top-Level Illumination Art on the ceiling. At once, the more than forty-square-meter Basement became bright as day, like the Early Morning sun shining everywhere.

In the middle of the Basement stood a large platform bearing the city from his memories. Its streets were packed with traffic, lined with all kinds of shops. In the courtyard at the center of the platform stood a wooden carving that closely resembled Xu Fan.

Xu Fan casually placed the two wooden cars onto the carved road, making them part of the traffic.

"I can't go back. With Big Brother there, Mom and Dad won't have to worry for the rest of their lives either."

Xu Fan stared blankly at the statue of a woman cooking in the small courtyard at the center of the platform. Her looks were ordinary, but she was the person he missed most.

After reminiscing for a while, Xu Fan returned to the house and began his final cultivation session of the day.

"Six years since joining, Qi Refining Level Four. This speed is right in the middle, very good. Staying alive is victory." Xu Fan comforted himself, while a conjecture formed in his heart. Countless years from now, once he became the person with the highest cultivation base in the world, would he be able to return to his original world?

An Immortal Emperor reborn, roaming freely through the city.

Xu Fan smiled at the thought.

"If that's the case, then no matter how long I have to live, it'll be worth it."

"Alright, time to cultivate. What if I accidentally break through otherwise?"

Xu Fan began his daily cultivation. The cultivation method he practiced was the most basic and stable one in the cultivation world, the Five Elements Sutra. Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth each had their own cultivation methods; they could be cultivated separately or combined together.

The greatest feature of the Five Elements Sutra was that it had no features. Its only advantage was that cultivating the Five Elements Sutra benefited the casting of the full set of Five Elements spells. Everything else about it was utterly ordinary.

The spiritual power within Xu Fan circulated through a minor heavenly cycle before finally returning to his Dantian, again and again.

But this only continued for a moment before Xu Fan began tempering the spiritual power in his body, making it even purer.

Xu Fan's soul had transmigrated into a dying Little Beggar. He had no father or mother, only an Old Beggar who pitied him.

Xu Fan had originally wanted to simply die, but after learning that this world had cultivators, his desire to live was rekindled. After enduring countless hardships and making innumerable plans, he finally became an Outer Sect Disciple of the Heavenly Gate Sect.

That Old Beggar had also died two years after Xu Fan entered the Heavenly Gate Sect. No medicine could save him. In his own words, Heaven was punishing him, unable to bear the sight of him enjoying good fortune.

After Xu Fan received his first Spirit Stone upon entering the Heavenly Gate Sect, the Old Beggar began living a life he had never even dared to dream of before—fine clothes, rich food, and a peaceful old age. Unfortunately, he only enjoyed it for two years.

Early the next morning, after finishing the Spirit Rice Minced Meat Porridge he had made himself, Xu Fan used the Light Body Art and drifted toward Tai Xue Peak, one of the three main peaks in the distance.

"Senior Brother Xu, come down already. Stop showing off that intermediate Light Body Art of yours."

A hearty voice rang out as a handsome young man looked up and called to Xu Fan.

Xu Fan, floating in the air, spotted Wang Yulun on the winding mountain road. His eyes narrowed, and with a shift of his body, he drifted toward Wang Yulun.

"Senior Brother Xu, when will you teach me some of your experience? How did you cultivate the Light Body Art to the intermediate level? At its deepest level, its travel speed isn't any slower than sword flight." Wang Yulun looked at Xu Fan enviously.

"As for experience, just save the time you spend practicing Offensive and Killing Arts and use it to practice the Light Body Art instead," Xu Fan teased. This Junior Brother was quite famous among the Outer Sect Disciples. He had killed a Qi Refining Level Six Demon Beast at Qi Refining Level Four, becoming famous in the Outer Sect in one stroke. It was said that an Elder wanted to take him as a disciple.

"Senior Brother Xu is joking again. If I don't cultivate Offensive and Killing Arts, what happens if I encounter Demon Beasts outside?"

"Then don't go outside," Xu Fan said as if it were only natural.

.

Wang Yulun could not understand why such a talented Senior Brother was so timid. Even when carrying out sect tasks, he always chose the safest assignments within the sect.

"Senior Brother Xu, if there's a chance, teach me that special skill of yours," Wang Yulun said ingratiatingly.

Others did not know, but he had seen it himself. Once, there had been an accident with a seal at the sect's Beast Taming Hall, and several hundred Demon Beasts that had yet to be fully tamed escaped.

When he had been driven into a desperate situation by three Qi Refining Level Six Fire Wolves, Xu Fan happened to pass by. Unable to bear watching him die without helping, Xu Fan casually used a three-attribute combined spell, Burning Wind Wood Arrow, killing the three Fire Wolves and saving Wang Yulun.

At the time, Wang Yulun had been especially shocked. Offensive and Killing Arts were difficult enough to master, yet Xu Fan had casually cast a combined spell.

From then on, Wang Yulun became Xu Fan's loyal little brother.