The Immortal Path Is Hard

"Maternal Grandfather, are you all right?"

After instructing the people around them to clean up the battlefield, Shen Changchuan turned his gaze toward Han Qinhu in the distance.

"I'm fine. That beast just caught me off guard and tossed me over. Nothing serious."

"You should go inside and recover your mana first. The remaining road isn't far, but until we reach our destination, there may still be places where we need you to act."

By then, Han Qinhu had already risen from the ground. He casually brushed the dust from his clothes and spoke carelessly, his voice full of vigor.

Seeing that Han Qinhu was unharmed,

Shen Changchuan nodded and turned back into the carriage.

That Giant Wild Boar had strength at least at the Fourth Layer Qi Gathering!

To ensure he killed it in one blow, he had not dared to be the slightest bit careless. That attack had consumed more than half the mana in his body!

Although there were still ten li left to their destination,

who knew whether they would encounter another mishap along the remaining way?

And even once they reached Great Bay Village,

he was, after all, arriving out of nowhere. How would Great Bay Village react to his arrival? Would the Shen Family cultivator originally stationed there make trouble because Shen Changchuan had taken his position? None of it was known.

He needed to restore his mana quickly and bring himself as close to peak condition as possible.

Thus, Shen Changchuan did not exchange further pleasantries and hurried back into the carriage to sit in meditation and refine mana.

Han Qinhu did not mind this.

He walked over to the Giant Wild Boar lying on the ground like a small mountain, looking at the shadow cast by its massive body, its powerful, solid muscles seemingly forged from steel,

as well as the tiny wound he himself had cut into its neck.

He could not help but sigh inwardly.

This was the gap between mortals and immortals.

He was a martial man who had trained for more than half his life, with decades of skill, yet he had barely managed to break the skin of this demon creature.

Yet Shen Changchuan had cultivated immortal arts for only a few years, and could kill the same Demon Beast in a single strike!

The difference between them truly made one lose heart.

But when he thought of it,

Shen Changchuan was his grandson, one of his own descendants, and Han Qinhu's back unconsciously straightened.

"My grandson has the bearing of one who will Become Immortal!"

Han Qinhu sighed to himself, a sweet sense of satisfaction rising within him.

"Dad, what do we do next?"

Just then, a deep, muffled voice pulled Han Qinhu back to reality.

Han Dayong came over, carrying his Wolf-Tooth Mace.

"What else can we do? Get people to clean things up!"

Facing his foolish son, Han Qinhu glared with tiger-like eyes and said irritably:

"Clear all the miscellaneous goods off the carriage in the rear. Find some people and carry this beast onto it!"

"And have someone take the Dharma Artifact out of the Yao Pig's head. Clean it carefully and send it to the young master's carriage."

Han Qinhu issued orders as he began directing everyone.

His father's irritated scolding made Han Dayong shrink his neck. Though he had no idea why his father was angry, dull-witted as he was, he knew what he ought to do now and hurried off to help clean up.

Half an hour later,

after a brief rest, the convoy set off once more.

At this time,

inside the carriage,

Shen Changchuan had already stopped meditating to recover his mana.

As someone only at Late Third Layer Qi Gathering, he did not have much mana in his body, so it did not take long to restore it through meditation.

After concentrating fully on refining mana for a quarter of an hour, he had recovered ninety percent of his mana.

That might have seemed rather slow, and in battle it was undoubtedly a major problem.

But this was already not bad.

Once one reached the Qi Gathering Late-stage, namely the Seventh Layer Qi Gathering and above, restoring mana purely through meditation would take at least a full day!

To shorten the recovery time, one could only use Spirit Items such as Spirit Stones and pills, or cultivate in spiritual land.

Clearly,

for the current Shen Changchuan,

he could only rely on meditating and refining mana to recover. He was not qualified to be extravagant enough to use Spirit Stones or pills for recovery.

Shen Changchuan moved his wrist.

A specially sewn needle case lay within his sleeve. The two Golden Needles had already been cleaned by the servants below and delivered to him, and he carefully placed them inside.

Though it felt a little uncomfortable against his hand,

it meant that if some sudden accident occurred, he could use them immediately.

A little inconvenience

would be fine once he got used to it.

There was never anything wrong with being more cautious.

After adjusting his sitting posture,

Shen Changchuan habitually focused his mind and stared straight into the empty space ahead.

At that moment,

a faint screen of light appeared within his field of vision.

Name: Shen Changchuan

Realm:

Late Third Layer Qi Gathering

Cultivation Art:

Elephant Mountain Qi Absorption Art

Dharma Artifacts:

Two Golden Needles (quasi-low-grade Dharma Artifacts)

Spells:

Golden Needle Stab: 100% (Perfect Traits: a slight increase in hidden-weapon accuracy, negligible Gold-element spell cultivation experience)

Light Body Technique: 81%

Wind Blade Technique: 52%

Fireball Technique: 43%

Vine Technique: 13%

It was an exceedingly simple panel,

with no other functions.

It could only display Shen Changchuan's general condition.

The percentages represented progress bars, or rather, his proficiency in cultivating each spell.

When the progress bar reached one hundred percent, Traits would appear behind it, just as they had for the Golden Needle Stab above.

Shen Changchuan had no idea how these Traits appeared or what principles governed them.

But he could clearly feel that after those Traits emerged, his accuracy in using the Golden Needle Stab had improved to a certain extent.

That feeling

was like gaining new insights after thoroughly mastering a certain spell.

It was also like having some knowledge and experience poured directly into him.

As for the specifics,

he could not say for sure.

But one thing was certain:

those Traits appended afterward were good things.

Just now, for instance,

after activating the Golden Needle Stab, his two Golden Needles had accurately struck the Giant Wild Boar's eyes. That was the effect of the Traits gained after his Golden Needle Stab cultivation progress reached 100%.

"Too bad this thing's progress bars can only be raised through cultivation. There's no way to add points. I wonder which guy designed it—one look tells me it was made by some washed-up loser."

"Invincible-from-the-start builds, brainless point-adding builds, or gaining experience and lifespan by killing enemies—those are the true kings nowadays!"

Shen Changchuan could not help complaining to the panel before him once again.

But clearly,

just as it had for dozens, perhaps hundreds of times before, the panel showed no reaction whatsoever.

Shen Changchuan could only accept reality.

There was no helping it.

The Golden Finger might be lousy, but it was still a Golden Finger.

At least it gave him some confidence to establish a foothold in this other world.

That was right.

To Shen Changchuan, this was another world.

He was not a native of this world,

but a transmigrator who had been here for two and a half years.

Around two and a half years ago, he had still been a Chosen Wage Slave who had graduated only a few years earlier and loved slacking off at work, reading novels, and playing games.

Then, one day, while staying up all night playing a small game with an insanely grind-heavy progress bar, his vision went black. He transmigrated into Shen Changchuan, who had suffered grave injuries after being attacked by Demon Beasts while out in the world.

What came along with him was the tiny, useless Progress Bar Panel before his eyes.

At first, Shen Changchuan had been quite uneasy. This was a world where the Immortal Path existed, and he had transmigrated into the Shen Family, a cultivation family with no small amount of influence. Who knew whether there was such a thing as body seizure here? What if someone saw through him?

Fortunately, the worst outcome did not occur.

His identity was merely that of an insignificant illegitimate son, and few people cared about him.

Furthermore, after transmigrating, he had absorbed the original owner's memories and kept silent as much as possible, acting with utmost caution,

so in the eyes of outsiders, his drastic change in temperament was simply the result of lying unconscious for seven days and seven nights after severe injuries, having taken a trip before the gates of hell.

Such circumstances seemed perfectly normal in this world.

Even this body's mother had not harbored the slightest suspicion.

And so Shen Changchuan quietly settled down in the Shen Family.

After passing through a month-long period of adjustment,

Shen Changchuan learned that the world he had transmigrated into was a vast and boundless cultivation world. Once he also discovered the progress bar Golden Finger he possessed,

he had been overwhelmed with excitement.

At the time, he could not help imagining himself soaring into the heavens with its aid, becoming an immortal ancestor in this world someday, perhaps even Transcending the World!

However,

before Shen Changchuan could use the Progress Bar Panel to reveal his talent, attract the attention of his half-brother or the family, and receive focused cultivation,

an incident within the Shen Family poured a bucket of cold water over his head, instantly chilling all his enthusiasm.

It was the matter of one of his young half-brothers, whose Cultivation Realm had broken through to the Qi Gathering Sixth Level and whose aptitude was decent, committing suicide after being stabbed seven times in the back!

Why did he know the man had died after being stabbed seven times in the back?

Because when the terrified Shen Family servants carried the man to see a physician, Shen Changchuan happened to run into them.

At the time, he had personally seen the gleaming knife hilts still sticking upside down out of that person's back!

Shen Changchuan did not know the exact truth behind that incident.

He only knew that two days later, that half-brother was declared dead,

and the official cause of death given to the outside world was suicide.

Not long afterward, the birth mother of that half-brother who had supposedly "committed suicide" was said to have gone mad and was sent to recuperate at a small temple on West Mountain outside the city. Her younger son, born of the same mother, was also sent to the temple in the name of filial piety and ordered to care for his mother.

Shen Changchuan was merely a Chosen Wage Slave who had only entered the workforce for two years and glimpsed a little of its darkness. How could he have ever seen such sinister and unfathomable power struggles within a great family?

And he suddenly remembered that the original owner had lain unconscious in bed for seven days and seven nights because he had encountered a Demon Beast attack while outside!

Who knew whether that really had been an accidental Demon Beast attack, or whether there had been some other reason?

Nearly scared out of his wits, Shen Changchuan immediately reined in all his thoughts and cautiously became an invisible nobody within the Shen Family.

He did not even dare cultivate too diligently, afraid that if he accidentally displayed extraordinary aptitude, someone would arrange a script for him too—suicide after being stabbed seven times in the back.

This was also why, after two and a half years since his transmigration, his Cultivation Realm and various progress bars had remained at such a level.

But it was precisely because of this that Shen Changchuan saw more clearly the darkness hidden beneath the glamorous exterior of this great cultivation family, and unknowingly avoided a death tribulation that might have come for him.

Over the course of two years, two more half-brothers met with accidents and died—one by drowning, the other by falling from a cliff. Another person disappeared, while two sisters eloped with others, and so on.

Even Shen Changchuan, who rarely left his residence within the Shen Family, could feel the undercurrents surging inside the family.

The struggle between First Madam and Second Madam for favor, and the battle among the various branches and factions for power and profit, had grown ever more intense. Even outside forces had become involved.

It left Shen Changchuan, watching from the sidelines, trembling with fear.

Fortunately, he had made some plans in advance. Along with the help of this body's mother, he had now successfully been posted outside, escaping the vortex of the Tiannan City Shen Family estate.

Otherwise, Shen Changchuan would not have dared say whether he could survive the Shen Family's future internal struggles.

"Ah, this useless progress panel. Becoming Immortal and becoming an ancestor is no longer something I dare dream of. First, I should work hard to stay alive and strive to live better."

Thinking back on the experiences of the past two and a half years, Shen Changchuan could not help sighing inwardly.

Reality had already ground away his sharp edges.

He no longer indulged in such daydreams as Becoming Immortal.

His greatest dream now was simply to one day reach the Out of Body Stage realm and gain at least some ability to stand apart from the Shen Family's affairs,

then return to Tiannan City, bring this body's mother out, and avoid that vortex.

Thinking of this body's mother's care for him, as well as all she had given to secure his external posting, Shen Changchuan could not help sighing again.

It had not been easy for him to be posted outside at all.

Before leaving,

he had heard that his mother had been ordered by the First Madam to remain confined in the ancestral hall for half a year.

His mother had said nothing about it,

and Shen Changchuan had not asked.

Because as someone merely at the Third Layer of Qi Gathering, he simply lacked the ability to change anything.

Only by advancing to the Out of Body Stage realm could he possibly gain some say within the Shen Family.

Yet although the Out of Body Stage realm was the next major realm after Qi Gathering, the Qi Gathering realm had a total of nine layers, each one incomparably difficult.

To complete the Ninth Layer Qi Gathering and break through to the Out of Body Stage realm, cultivation aptitude, wealth, and luck were all indispensable.

The entire Shen Family was said to number tens of thousands,

yet there were only a few dozen true cultivators at the Out of Body Stage realm.

Only because he possessed the Progress Bar Panel did Shen Changchuan have a few more scraps of confidence.

But even so, he did not dare claim that he would certainly break through to the Out of Body Stage realm in the future.

In the end, the Immortal Path was difficult indeed!