Part Ways

The four men, once revered by the masses in the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty and hailed as prodigies, had finally bowed their heads before the pursuit of immortality.

The conduct they had looked down on just a month ago had now become something they were willing to accept—and even actively pursue.

Li Ji'an sincerely wished them well!

"May we all have a bright future!"

Even so, he turned down their invitation.

"Brother Li, you're being foolish. At the peak of martial arts, our lifespan is only a hundred years. But once you enter Qi Condensation, you're guaranteed at least a hundred years. Reach the middle stage, and you can live for two centuries. At the late stage, you can live for a hundred and fifty years. And if you're lucky enough to reach Foundation Establishment... three hundred years! Just thinking about three centuries is exciting." Zhang Tie Zhu was worked up.

Zhu Linxian looked at Li Ji'an, seeming to want to say something, but in the end she stayed silent.

Dong Jiangling's expression shifted, and he let out a quiet sigh. "Alas, I understand Brother Li's thinking. Now that we know the truth, we understand how difficult cultivation is! I don't even know whether I'll regret today's decision. The road ahead is dark, and hope is slim."

Zhao Shuyao looked incredulous. "Brother Li, we spent decades cultivating in the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty. It wasn't all thanks to talent. To become a prodigy who stood above an entire era, you must have had first-rate character, perseverance, diligence, and insight.

"If you could succeed in martial arts, you might succeed in cultivation too!

"And now, you won't even give it a try.

"You and I are the oldest. How much time do we have left to waste?

"If we don't start now, it'll really be too late!"

Li Ji'an nodded.

That was true. If he hadn't had "rejuvenation," how could he have waited so calmly, leisurely, and steadily?

But now that he had "rejuvenation," he had all the time in the world.

Now that he had reached the Cultivation World and seen the hope of proving the Dao, ascending to immortality, and living as long as Heaven itself, he had even less reason to take risks.

Over the past month, they had learned more and more about this Cultivation World. Not only had they confirmed what Chen Zhao'hu had said, they had also come to understand its shifting tides and the fickleness of fate.

They had also learned just how fierce the competition was.

For people like them, who had missed the best age to start and had inferior spiritual roots, keeping up with everyone else was almost hopeless unless they took risks and went all in.

Still, Li Ji'an didn't expect to turn his fortunes around in this life.

All he wanted was to integrate into this world and do everything he could to ensure the next life would be safe. If he could accumulate a little capital, that would count as success.

After all, he likely had only another thirty years or so in this life.

Without explaining further, Li Ji'an insisted on staying here for now and waiting until the time was right to make plans.

In the end, the five of them shared a farewell meal at the Hundred Fragrance Tower, where they had held a welcoming banquet when they first arrived in this world. Li Ji'an also divided the remaining Spirit Sand equally among them to cover their travel expenses.

"Brother Li, take care. If I'm lucky enough to set foot on the path of cultivation, I'll definitely come back to find you. You all do the same—once you've settled down, send Brother Li a letter. He can pass our addresses around then. We're strangers in a foreign land, so we have to look out for one another." Zhang Tie Zhu clasped his hands to everyone and strode south toward a pioneering Lineage.

"Take care! Let's meet again in ten years." Zhao Shuyao and the other two planned to seek their fortunes at the United Market a hundred li away.

They had said everything that needed to be said and stopped trying to persuade Li Ji'an. They simply wished one another well.

They agreed that no matter what happened, they would reunite in ten years.

"Ten years!" Watching his old friends walk away, Li Ji'an gave a carefree smile.

"Come on. Maybe you'll see them again before ten years are up." Chen Zhao'hu clapped Li Ji'an on the shoulder.

"Brother Chen, what do you think they'll be like ten years from now?" Li Ji'an asked with a smile.

Chen Zhao'hu laughed heartily. "I'm no God-favored One who can see the future. How would I know what'll happen ten years from now? You people are surely blessed with good fortune. Maybe you'll stumble upon some great opportunity and soar to success."

"See the future? God-favored Ones?" Li Ji'an was hearing of them for the first time.

"Oh, God-favored Ones are exactly what the name says: people favored by the gods. They're born in harmony with the Great Dao and possess some mysterious ability from birth. There was once a God-favored One who could see a hundred years into the future," Chen Zhao'hu said casually.

Li Ji'an stopped in his tracks. Ning Sujin's figure rose unbidden in his mind.

He felt that Ning Sujin's ability to avoid danger and seek good fortune seemed to fit what Chen Zhao'hu had described as a God-favored One.

"Born in harmony with the Great Dao... Doesn't that make them... the chosen ones?"

Seeing Li Ji'an's surprise, Chen Zhao'hu shook his head with a laugh. "Not quite. Those big shots say that God-favored Ones have merely fused with a Great Dao Law Fragment and gained the corresponding ability. Some laws benefit cultivation, while others can even be harmful. And it seems that apart from granting their corresponding ability, fragments of Heavenly Dao laws don't change anything else. It's not just people, either. Some objects can also be possessed by Heavenly Dao laws and gain mysterious abilities."

"Great Dao Law Fragments..." Li Ji'an looked even more bewildered.

That didn't sound like the sort of thing someone at Chen Zhao'hu's level should know.

"Exactly, Great Dao Law Fragments. They say our Heavenly Dao is incomplete because many laws have shattered."

"This world's Heavenly Dao is incomplete?"

"If it weren't, we might all have a chance to prove the Dao and ascend to immortality!" Chen Zhao'hu grew excited as he said this.

"Brother Li, you don't know this, but a powerful cultivator once discovered an Ancient Ruin exposed by the earth's ley lines. Records there said that cultivation back then wasn't all like it is for us now, absorbing spiritual energy and refining magic power. The highest form of cultivation was to sense the Heavenly Dao directly and comprehend its laws. Some people sat in meditation for a hundred years, then attained enlightenment in a single night. There were even Dao-born prodigies who entered the Dao at birth.

"And even for those who cultivated by refining spiritual energy, establishing their foundation in a hundred days was commonplace.

"That era... truly was a golden age of cultivation!"

"What exactly happened?" Li Ji'an asked gravely.

"Who knows? We'll probably have to wait until those big shots find clues in an Ancient Ruin someday. Enough, enough. Those things are too far removed from us. Just listen and forget about them. Come on, I'll teach you this world's body-forging technique first." Chen Zhao'hu sighed, his enthusiasm for the subject fading.

"Sure!" Compared with the grand trends of this world and the history of the Cultivation World, Li Ji'an had plenty of time to investigate. For now, he cared more about the body-forging technique Chen Zhao'hu was going to teach him.

Over the past month, he had come to understand that the so-called martial arts taught in the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty were nothing more than the common beginner body-forging technique of this world, the Dragon Elephant Body Forging Technique.

And it was incomplete, only the first half of a first-order body-forging technique. It had no offensive techniques and could only cultivate the body to the early stage of the first order.

On top of that, the blood-qi-activating martial art he had once taken pride in—created through the insight he had accumulated across four lifetimes and the painstaking efforts of countless predecessors in the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty—was also just an auxiliary body-forging technique that had long since become widespread in this world.

That night, Li Ji'an joined Chen Zhao'hu's group, mainly to serve as their mascot, for a year in exchange for the body-forging technique Chen Zhao'hu had obtained by chance: the Hundred Refinements Golden Body Art.

Chen Zhao'hu declared that the technique could cultivate the body to at least the second order!

A Second-Order Body Cultivator could break through a Foundation Establishment cultivator's Protective Magic Barrier at close range. They were not to be underestimated.

"Brother, given the conditions here, our chances of becoming Second-Order Body Cultivators are slim. But even as a first-order body cultivator in the middle stage, I can live safely here.

"Don't lose heart. Focus on body cultivation and hunting. I'll help you find a Dao companion with better spiritual roots. Maybe you'll have a child with good roots, and then you'll have fulfilled your dream of cultivating immortality."