First Entry into Samsara

Chenping Continent, Falling Sword Mountain Range.

An old man with white hair, walking alone in the forest within the mountain range, his steps faltering and weak.

His name was Chen Yan, a Transmigrator.

This was his one hundredth year in this world.

In this life, Chen Yan was born into an ordinary merchant family on the Chenping Continent.

When he was seven years old, he stumbled upon an opportunity and was taken by an Immortal Master, who was traveling down the mountain, to cultivate on the mountain.

From then on, Chen Yan became an outer disciple of the Empty Mountain Sect.

And he remained an outer disciple for over ninety years.

As for why he didn't advance, there were no other reasons; it was simply that Chen Yan's talent was insufficient, only enough to support his cultivation up to the second realm of the Lower Three Realms.

Chen Yan had once felt unwilling, but now he had let go.

No matter what, a hundred years of carefree immortal cultivation was definitely a hundred times better than being a beast of burden in his previous life, with nothing but overtime and compensatory leave.

Now, Chen Yan clearly felt that his end was near.

Three months ago, he had left the outer courtyard of the sect and ventured alone into the Falling Sword Mountain Range.

This was because Chen Yan had once heard an elder mention when lecturing that the Falling Sword Mountain Range was the place where the foremost sword cultivator of the Chenping Continent seven thousand years ago, Su Hongzhen, had fallen.

It was possible that Su Hongzhen's legacy and opportunities were lost within the Falling Sword Mountain Range, completely untraceable.

Although Chen Yan knew the chances were slim, he was, after all, a dying man, so he had to try his best.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Chen Yan coughed a few times.

His steps grew heavier.

In these three months, Chen Yan had found nothing.

Instead, he had been seriously injured by attacks from Yao Beasts in the mountain range.

So tired.

Chen Yan knew what this feeling of exhaustion represented.

Death.

He found a large tree, sat down with his back against it, and then looked up at the sky.

A vast, clear sky.

Was this where it would end?

To be able to leave quietly on such a gentle day was still a dignified end.

Chen Yan slowly closed his eyes.

All his past memories flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.

Afterward, everything descended into darkness.

[Reincarnation ended.]

[Evaluation for this reincarnation: D (Mediocre, wasted your years.)]

[Accumulated Cultivation: Qi Condensation Realm Mid-stage]

[Reincarnation Reward: None]

[Reincarnation settlement complete. Host will return to the previous reincarnation save point, inherit the accumulated cultivation from this reincarnation, and restart life.]

"Senior Brother Chen."

"..."

"Senior Brother Chen?"

A light and agile voice sounded by his ear. Chen Yan's eyelids fluttered a few times before slowly opening.

What greeted his eyes was the face of a young girl, beautiful and still childish.

She frowned slightly, looking quite anxious, as if she had something urgent to convey.

"Senior Brother Chen, the lecture by Instructor Lu Li is about to begin. Hurry, or there won't be any good seats!"

The girl said, then stood up and ran off:

"I'm going to listen to the Dao first. Senior Brother Chen, good luck!"

Chen Yan stood frozen, as everything that had happened before his eyes was completely incomprehensible to him.

He was still leaning against a tree, sitting on the ground.

However, this tree was not in the Falling Sword Mountain Range, but in the Empty Mountain Sect's outer courtyard.

"Lu Li?"

Chen Yan searched his memory for the name and quickly recalled who this person was.

He was the Martial Suppression Elder of Qingchan Peak. Over eighty years ago, he had served as an instructor in the Outer Court and was well-liked by the Outer Court disciples for his easy-to-understand lectures.

Wait a minute...

Chen Yan's eyes widened, and he looked at the back of his hand in disbelief.

His skin was firm and fair.

The current Lu Li was not the Martial Suppression Elder of Qingchan Peak, but was still an instructor in the Outer Court.

And the young woman from just now was Junior Sister Cheng, who should have tragically perished in the great calamity eighty-five years ago.

"Reincarnation, reincarnation checkpoint..."

Chen Yan mumbled the words he seemed to have seen in the darkness as his consciousness faded.

Although many questions remained, Chen Yan clearly understood what had happened.

He had been reborn, and the current point in time was when he was fifteen years old!

Chen Yan clenched his fist, feeling the surging vitality and the true qi circulating within his body.

Qi Condensation Realm Mid-stage.

This was the cultivation level Chen Yan had reached in his previous life at the age of one hundred.

He remembered that in his previous life, at fifteen, he was still in the Body Tempering Realm Early-stage, and only broke through to the Body Tempering Realm Mid-stage at nineteen.

This meant that his current cultivation level was even a major realm ahead of his previous self at nineteen.

Putting aside the Inner Sect's Three Mountains and Four Peaks of the Empty Mountain Sect, within the Outer Court, reaching the Qi Condensation Realm Mid-stage at the age of fifteen was definitely a rarity.

After savoring the joy of rebirth, Chen Yan regained his composure.

Since he had returned to the age of fifteen, he could not afford to take as many detours as he did in his previous life, which ultimately earned him the evaluation of "mediocre."

Chen Yan decided to attend Lu Li's class.

This instructor, who would later become the Martial Suppression Elder of Qingchan Peak, had teaching standards that were absolutely top-tier throughout the Empty Mountain Sect.

Chen Yan recalled that around the age of seventeen in his previous life, Lu Li had gained the appreciation of Qingchan Peak's Elder Zhengfa during a Dao discussion within the sect.

He was then transferred to the Scripture Hall of Qingchan Peak, progressing from instructor to hall steward, then to transmission protector, followed by hall elder, and finally Martial Suppression Elder.

He had truly soared.

Often, cultivation required guidance.

Even a simple sentence could lead to a sudden enlightenment.

Especially when encountering a bottleneck.

The daily cultivation of an immortal cultivator was like a slowly flowing river.

Encountering a bottleneck was akin to the river being blocked by mud and sand.

At such times, guidance from a senior mighty figure could unblock the riverbed.

This would allow the immortal cultivator's daily cultivation to flow smoothly again.

The Scripture Hall was crowded, with at least three to four hundred people gathered to listen to the teachings.

This was because today was Lu Li's lecture.

Despite the large crowd, the Scripture Hall was surprisingly quiet, with only the sounds of breathing and Lu Li's gentle lecture, like fine rain, from the lecture stage.

On the lecture stage, a young man in a light white Daoist robe, sitting cross-legged on a cushion, with a slender face, was Lu Li.

Chen Yan had to find a corner in the Scripture Hall to sit down.

The Outer Court of the Empty Mountain Sect was the area where Outer Court disciples cultivated and lived.

The total number of Outer Court disciples in the entire Outer Court was over 25,000, which was six times the number of all disciples in the Inner Sect's "Three Mountains and Four Peaks" combined.

Today, Instructor Lu Li was lecturing on the Empty Mountain Art, the basic cultivation technique of the Empty Mountain Sect.

Although it was very basic, it was also extremely important, forming the foundation for every Empty Mountain Sect disciple's future cultivation.

Let alone Inner Sect disciples, even core disciples and chief disciples had to cultivate this technique.

"Observe emptiness as form, hear emptiness as sound, sense emptiness as rhythm, understand emptiness as the Dao, like the ceaseless flow of mountains and rivers."

"Temper the body to gather qi; when qi flows, it becomes a spring; when the spring surges, it gathers into a sea."

Body Tempering Realm, Qi Condensation Realm, and Martial Spring Realm were the Lower Three Realms for seeking immortality in this world.

After the Martial Spring Realm came the Qi Sea Realm, the first realm of the Middle Three Realms.

As the basic cultivation technique of the Empty Mountain Sect, the Empty Mountain Art could only support disciples in breaking through from the Martial Spring Realm to the Qi Sea Realm. To advance further, one had to cultivate higher-level techniques.

Listening to Instructor Lu Li's lecture, Chen Yan slowly closed his eyes.

"Qi is like blazing fire, the Empty Mountain flows gently, heaven and earth condense with purity..."

Suddenly, Chen Yan's heart trembled.

The bottleneck he had encountered in his Qi Condensation Realm Mid-stage cultivation had loosened.

If you find this book good, add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose it next time.

Due to the requests of many readers, the VIP member ad-free feature is now available.

Click to view.