"Zhang He of Yanxia Ravine."
Meng Nan looked at Zhao Xiaoshuang. "There must be a Great Medicine at the Candle Stand. Zhang He has to die. If you face him head-on, can you kill him?"
Zhang He had to die.
Better to strike first than wait around to defend against him.
The key now was whether Zhao Xiaoshuang could beat him in a head-on fight.
"Zhang He is only relying on his Mysterious Yin Flying Dagger. It's hard to guard against a hidden attack."
"If I face him head-on, I have the Giant Spirit God secret technique, along with the Blood Arrow Secret Technique and Five Elements Cover. I shouldn't have much trouble beating him."
"But killing him—"
Zhao Xiaoshuang shook her head.
They were both at the peak of True Essence. It was already difficult enough to beat him; killing him would be harder still.
However...
If she really wanted to kill him, there was a way.
"Meng Xingzhe and the other two are also at Blood Lotus Mountain. If we summon them, the four of us together can kill Zhang He with ease."
"The Candle Stand."
"The Great Medicine."
"It's worth making them come all this way."
With a smile, Zhao Xiaoshuang took three paper cranes from her Storage Bag and infused them with True Essence. They instantly transformed into three streaks of light and flew out of the cave, vanishing into the distance.
Brothers fight tigers together.
Father and son go to battle side by side.
Since Meng Nan was so certain, Zhao Xiaoshuang was willing to trust him and take a gamble.
While the three made their way over,
Meng Nan cultivated in the cave as he read through his records, looking back over everything that had happened during the past 101 years.
In this life, Qian Yu had left early. In Immortal Era Year 70, she was the first to cross Ghost Mother Mountain, heading straight southwest.
For the first ten years or so, news from her had come back now and then. But sometime later, without his knowing when, the messages stopped.
The last message had said Qian Yu had crossed [Blood Lotus Mountain] and reached [Jade Ring Mountain], even farther to the southwest.
It wasn't just Qian Yu.
After Meng Nan's disciples reached the peak of True Essence, they gradually went their separate ways.
Some opened their Three Cavities and attempted Qi Condensation, only to perish.
Some earned an Immortal Master's favor at Cha Mountain and cultivated Dan Yuan Wandering Veins, but still failed.
Quite a few others traveled far together, seeking their own opportunities. Most of them vanished without a trace.
As for whether any of them had achieved Qi Condensation—
At least during Meng Nan's time at Cha Mountain, which lasted until the eighties of the Immortal Era, and at Qingtian Market, where he stayed until the nineties, he hadn't seen a single disciple return after advancing to the next level.
They had likely all missed their chance.
Meng Xingzhe, Meng Jian, and Meng Santan had cultivated True Essence early on. With Meng Nan's support, they had also mastered the Giant Spirit God secret technique.
Five Giant Spirits in one household!
A rare sight in the world!
Within Cha Mountain's borders, the five of them had been all but invincible beneath the Immortal Masters.
After Cha Mountain fell,
Meng Nan and Zhao Xiaoshuang went deeper into the world, while Meng Xingzhe and the others traveled in roughly the same direction. They often kept in touch through Communication Talismans.
The three of them had only cultivated the Lesser Thousand Sword Scripture and the Five Thunder Secret Record. Though they were Cha Mountain's true teachings, they weren't particularly powerful methods.
They had all advanced to True Essence and reached its peak, but making the leap to Qi Condensation would be difficult.
They traveled independently, too, hoping to find a breakthrough.
But so far, none of them had made it.
That was the general situation with those close to him.
Beyond that,
the most valuable thing in this life for Meng Nan was the information he'd deliberately gathered after learning about the Three Qi Condensation Methods and Great Medicine Steaming and Boiling from Qian Yu.
Of the Three Qi Condensation Methods—
the Upper Method was elusive,
the Lower Method was crude,
and only the Middle Method was within reach.
So,
while he'd been at Cha Mountain, and later at Ghost Mother Mountain and Xuanwu Mountain, as well as now at Blood Lotus Mountain, Meng Nan had made a point of asking where Great Medicines had appeared and when.
He collected information.
It wasn't all in preparation for his past selves to arrive in the future.
In truth, every future Meng Nan did his utmost to cultivate and live his life to the fullest.
He kept notes.
He recorded insights.
He asked around about opportunities and fortuitous encounters.
Most of the time, he did it for his own cultivation.
Reviewing his notes and insights helped him learn something new.
Searching for opportunities and fortuitous encounters helped him find patterns.
Great Medicines, for instance.
Whenever he heard that one had appeared somewhere along the way, Meng Nan and Zhao Xiaoshuang would stay in that area for a few years, trying their luck.
Just like this time.
A Great Medicine had once appeared in this region, so the two of them had settled in Yaozi Mountain and explored the surrounding area in search of it.
Compared to casting a net across the whole sky and fishing for a needle in the ocean, this at least gave them a better chance of finding one.
And it had indeed worked.
Five months later, hadn't they found a Great Medicine?
All these things were done along the way.
If his past self really did arrive in the present, that would mean Meng Nan was already dead. Helping his past self in passing would be no bad thing.
"My past self is me. My future self isn't."
A shared past.
Different futures.
With Meng Nan's temperament, once he was dead, he was willing to make one last contribution and help his past self.
"If a selfish person got hold of my information panel, they'd probably find all sorts of ways to get 'themselves' killed."
Meng Nan smiled.
Then he looked over the information he'd gathered on Great Medicines.
From Immortal Era Year 19 to Immortal Era Year 120—
Cha Mountain: 0 cases.
Ghost Mother Mountain: 1 case.
Xuanwu Mountain: 1 case.
Blood Lotus Mountain: 1 case.
At first glance, it wasn't much. But on second thought, it was quite a lot.
Then again—
It had taken over a hundred years!
They'd covered a million miles!
Across the lands of four mountains, only three Great Medicines had appeared in a century.
Of course,
that was only what Meng Nan had managed to learn after the fact.
Even so, it was far too few.
Of those three Great Medicines, one had no record of being used. Whoever took it had vanished without a trace.
Of the other two, one had helped someone achieve Qi Condensation.
That made for a pretty good success rate.
"The successful case was Kong Dian, a Rogue Cultivator from Ghost Mother Mountain. He advanced in Immortal Era Year 59."
Kong Dian had belonged to no sect or school. By chance, he'd seized a Great Medicine and advanced to Qi Condensation in one fell swoop, becoming full of confidence from then on.
He was fairly well known on Ghost Mother Mountain.
Not everyone knew he'd advanced thanks to a Great Medicine, but quite a few people knew he'd reached Qi Condensation.
That Great Medicine had a proven success story.
They could secure it later and keep it as a backup.
"I probably won't need it."
"But Xiaoshuang and the others might."
The immortal path was arduous, and Qi Condensation was difficult to achieve.
With his information panel, Meng Nan dared to guarantee that he could advance to Qi Condensation.
But for everyone else, Zhao Xiaoshuang included, whether they could make it was still unknown.
They had to prepare early.
As he read through the various records,
Meng Nan didn't neglect his cultivation.
In this life, he had joined Tianlin Cave under Tianlin Immortal Master early on. After later reaching the peak of True Essence, he had also been taught the advanced Thunder Illumination Scripture, one of Cha Mountain's two true teachings, the Five Thunder Secret Record. His foundation had risen another level.
At this time,
Meng Nan was also studying the Five Thunder Secret Record.
It was in the same lineage as the Thunder Illumination Scripture. If there was a better method, who would choose to cultivate an inferior one?
"Five Thunder Secret Record."
Cha Mountain's two true teachings were both renowned for their killing power.
The Lesser Thousand Sword Scripture was the sharper of the two. It formed arrays with Sword Qi, intricate yet precise.
The Five Thunder Secret Record was more forceful and imposing, a direct and straightforward method that brought down the five thunders. It tested sheer strength—
the deeper and purer one's magical power, the greater its might.
It overwhelmed opponents with a grand, crushing force.
By comparison, the Lesser Thousand Sword Scripture was actually more suited to Meng Nan.
"I can enter the future, so I have more time than anyone."
"The Lesser Thousand Sword Scripture is intricate and precise, and it needs time above all else to hone. Its spell, the Small Thousand Sword Array, is both a technique and an array, and not easy to cultivate. But once mastered, its power is unmatched. Even with weak magical power, overcoming the strong with the weak is nothing unusual."
Meng Nan now faced a choice—
give up the Thunder Illumination Scripture and Five Thunder Secret Record he'd painstakingly cultivated over his previous four lives, along with all the insights he'd gained, and switch to the more promising Lesser Thousand Sword Scripture;
or keep to the same path and continue honing the Five Thunder Secret Record.
There was no need to think it over—
"With what I have going for me, of course I'll choose the one with better prospects."
Meng Nan made up his mind.
Before you continue