Ye Xuan's Ambition!

Caomiao Village.

The ruins of an abandoned temple.

"Not interested?"

Puzhi's voice shot up an octave.

His gaunt old face twisted violently with shock.

He even wondered if his injuries were so severe that he was hallucinating.

How could any cultivator in this world have no interest in the Great Brahma Prajna?

It was like a beggar refusing a mountain of gold and silver bestowed by the emperor, then casually remarking, "Too heavy."

Absurd.

Utterly absurd!

"Young benefactor."

"Do you know what the Great Brahma Prajna truly means?"

Puzhi refused to give up and edged half a step closer.

His cloudy old eyes were full of urgency, even tinged with a hint of pleading.

"This is an unsurpassed true Dharma painstakingly comprehended by generations of eminent monks at Tianyin Temple!"

"It can strengthen your foundations and build up your physique, perfectly complementing the Tai Chi Xuan Qing Dao of your Qingyun Sect!"

"Together, the two arts balance yin and yang and unite strength with gentleness!"

"This is the only key to the path of immortality!"

The more Puzhi spoke, the more excited he became, spittle flying everywhere.

His bony fingers grasped at the air, as though immortality were within reach.

Meanwhile.

Ye Xuan merely watched Puzhi in silence.

His gaze was clear and calm as an ancient well.

After a moment.

He picked up a dry twig and prodded the campfire in front of him, which was about to burn out.

Sparks crackled.

In the abandoned temple's deathly silence, the sound was especially clear.

"Master, you're attached to appearances."

Ye Xuan spoke calmly.

His voice was youthful, yet carried a maturity that brooked no argument.

"What did you say?"

Puzhi froze, his mouth hanging open.

"I said you're looking at immortality too narrowly."

Ye Xuan tossed aside the twig, dusted his hands, and slowly rose to his feet.

The boy's frame was slight.

But at that moment.

Puzhi felt a pressure as imposing as a mountain.

"The path to immortality lies in the person, not the art."

"Who says that only Buddhist-Dao Dual Cultivation can lead to immortality?"

"And who says that cultivating Daoist arts alone means you're destined to stop at the Taiqing Realm?"

"My path, Ye Xuan's path, is one I must forge myself."

"If you don't even have that much faith in yourself, how can you defy fate and seek immortality?"

Ye Xuan walked to the entrance of the abandoned temple.

He looked up at the pitch-black night sky.

As someone who had crossed into this world.

He had not only been blessed with a Primordial Era Version Innate Dao Body, but also had a system at his side.

Immortality was nothing to him.

"You... You..."

Puzhi stumbled back two steps.

He leaned against the cold wall and panted heavily.

His entire life had been spent striving to unite the true arts of Buddhism and Daoism.

He had placed all his hopes in the complementarity of the two cultivation methods.

He had believed it was the only path.

But now.

A boy of barely twelve or thirteen was pointing at him and telling him: your path is too narrow.

This was more than a rejection.

It was a crushing blow from an entirely higher level.

It was the utter destruction of the belief he had held his whole life.

"You... Are you truly that confident?"

"This is a path no one has ever managed to walk..."

Puzhi asked, trembling.

The fervor in his eyes slowly faded, replaced by deep bewilderment.

"People make the path by walking it."

"No one having succeeded before doesn't mean no one will succeed in the future."

"I, Ye Xuan, will be the one to blaze that trail."

Ye Xuan chuckled.

His smile carried a touch of youthful bravado, but more than that, it held the composure of someone in control of everything.

As his words fell.

The abandoned temple sank into deathly silence.

Only the occasional chirp of insects outside the window made the quiet feel all the more eerie.

Puzhi stared blankly at Ye Xuan.

At the slight figure standing with his hands behind his back.

In a daze.

He seemed to see a true dragon about to soar into the sky.

That pride.

That ambition to punch a hole through the heavens.

Even this old man, who had lived for several centuries, felt his heart thrum with alarm.

After a long while.

The bewilderment in Puzhi's eyes gradually faded.

In its place was an expression more complicated than any he had worn before.

There was disappointment and regret, but above all, an unexpected sense of relief.

"Amitabha..."

Puzhi pressed his palms together and intoned a Buddhist prayer.

Compared to his earlier impatience and self-interest, this prayer carried a touch more desolation and clarity.

"It seems."

"This old monk was indeed too deeply attached."

"Young benefactor, your words have awakened me from my dream."

"For those who seek immortality, faith in one's own heart comes first."

"If you don't even believe in your own path."

"Then even if you mastered every art in the world, it would be no more than a castle in the air."

Puzhi shook his head with a wry smile.

Compared to the boundless ambition of the boy before him.

His own ideas seemed utterly base and shameful.

If he had truly done such a thing.

Could he still call himself a Buddhist?

"Young benefactor, I have learned from you."

Puzhi bowed deeply to Ye Xuan.

This bow.

Had nothing to do with seniority or cultivation.

It was solely to thank him for his timely guidance.

Ye Xuan accepted it without hesitation or the slightest attempt to avoid it.

He knew.

After this bow, Puzhi's inner demon had been subdued.

The tragedy at Caomiao Village, which would have plunged the entire world of Zhu Xian into a cycle of suffering, had finally been erased for good.

"Young benefactor."

"This old monk will return to Tianyin Temple and enter seclusion."

"If I have the chance to break through in this lifetime, I will return to Qingyun and speak with you again."

With that.

Puzhi no longer hesitated.

He gave Ye Xuan one last look, his eyes clear.

He turned.

He took a step.

His tattered kasaya fluttered in the night breeze.

His steps were still somewhat unsteady, but his back looked remarkably straight.

Ye Xuan stood at the temple entrance, watching the old man's figure gradually disappear into the night.

Only when he could no longer see him.

Did he slowly exhale a breath of stale air.

Fortunately.

The old monk was willing to listen.

If he had remained stubbornly fixated on his old ways.

Ye Xuan wouldn't have known what to do.

"System."

"List my information."

As Ye Xuan spoke, a screen visible only to him unfolded.

[Host: Ye Xuan]

[Race: Human Race (Innate Dao Body)]

[Realm: Shangqing Realm, First Layer]

[Technique: Tai Chi Xuan Qing Dao]

[Treasures: Myriad Ancient Cauldron (High-grade Magic Tool), Evergreen Sword (Mid-grade Magic Tool)]

[Skills: Low-tier Alchemy Mastery, Low-tier Artifact Forging Technique, Compendium of Low-tier Arrays]

[Items: Several pills]

[Current Sign-in Location: Qingyun Sect Ancestral Hall (Not Signed In)]

"Immortality?"

"What I want is more than just immortality."

Looking at the information on the screen.

A deep ambition flashed in Ye Xuan's eyes.

Twelve years old.

Shangqing Realm.

If word of this got out, the entire Cultivation World would be shaken.

And he.

Had only been cultivating for two years.

Just give him a little more time.

Immortality would be his for the taking.

Just as he was thinking this.

A groan came from beside him.

"Ugh..."

"My head hurts..."

Ye Xuan turned his head.

The ordinary-looking boy was rubbing his head as he groggily sat up from the ground.

Zhang Xiaofan.

The boy woke up rather quickly.

Right after that,

Lin Jingyu beside him also stirred and let out a muffled groan.

The two children looked around in bewilderment.

A dilapidated temple.

A campfire that had gone out.

And Ye Xuan, seated not far away in blue robes, his bearing utterly otherworldly.

"Awake?"

Ye Xuan spoke, his voice clear and bright.

Breaking the silence in the temple.

Zhang Xiaofan jumped and hurriedly shrank his neck.

Lin Jingyu was bolder. He immediately leaped to his feet and warily shielded Zhang Xiaofan behind him.

"Who are you?"

"Why are we here?"

Seeing the two youngsters looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy,

Ye Xuan could not help laughing.

Lin Jingyu was certainly a loyal sort.

It was just a pity that he was too straightforward and easily used as someone else's weapon.

"Who I am isn't important."

Ye Xuan rose to his feet and dusted off his robes.

At this time, the edge of the sky had already begun to pale like a fish's belly.

The first light of dawn was showing.

Sunlight spilled over Ye Xuan, gilding him with a faint golden edge.

As if an exiled immortal had descended to the mortal realm.

This scene

was etched deeply into the eyes of the two boys.

It somehow calmed their tense emotions.

"What matters is that you should be going home."

"If you don't go back soon, your parents are probably going frantic."