The Longest of All Things

That night.

The Heaven's Mandate Bureau held a grand banquet.

Li Mo also learned that the young master with the Wind-Clearing Physique was named Zhou Zheng, while the ice-cold beauty was called Zhao Huaxue.

They had all made one another's acquaintance, at least enough to recognize each other.

However, the most eye-catching person present wasn't either of them. It was an old man in his sixties, who had lost several teeth and seemed hard of hearing. He was no longer delirious, though, and slowly recounted his story.

"This old man is Zhang Guoyin, a fisherman on the Zhang River."

He let out a long sigh.

"When I was young, I came to Anle City once with my father. I remember it was around the Dragon Boat Festival then, too. When we learned that it cost five strings of cash to have the Heaven's Mandate Bureau test for spiritual roots, we hesitated for a long time. In the end, my father couldn't bear to spend the five strings. All these years, I've carried that regret deep in my heart. A while ago, the Zhang River flooded, and many people were lost. I came here this time just to prove that even a useless person like me..."

Li Mo could finally understand why Zhang Guoyin had laughed and cried, then fallen into a fit of madness after discovering that he possessed spiritual roots.

Unfortunately, with what little lifespan he had left, even discovering his spiritual roots would likely do little to help him achieve anything.

Lu Tianyou sat to Li Mo's left. On his right was a lively, adorable-looking girl with two buns beside her ears. When she smiled at Li Mo, two dimples appeared.

"Hello, my name is Zhu Yidan."

"Hello, my name is Li Mo."

They exchanged smiles.

Since they had only just met, the two merely nodded and smiled without saying much. The banquet soon ended amid the crowd's laughter and conversation.

The next day.

A huge Flying Ship, nearly twenty zhang long, slowly docked in the rear courtyard of the Heaven's Mandate Bureau.

Everyone boarded the Flying Ship.

As it slowly rose into the air, Li Mo's heart pounded. He seemed a little nervous.

A moment later.

He sat at the edge of the cabin, looking down at the earth from high above. He was incredibly excited, but tried hard to keep his emotions in check so no one would laugh at him.

But Li Mo was clearly overthinking it. He wasn't the only one who had never ridden a Flying Ship.

As it sped through the clouds, quite a few people shouted in excitement. Not everyone had Li Mo's composure. Most of those here were children who had only just reached the age of tying up their hair. They had never left Anle City and were still just half-grown kids.

Li Mo's experience might not have matched some of theirs, but his temperament was something these children couldn't hope to rival.

The journey from Anle City to Qingming Mountain covered hundreds of li. The route was mostly rough mountain ranges; even riding at full speed would take around two days, while walking might take seven or eight days at best, and nearly half a month at worst. Yet the Flying Ship crossed those hundreds of li in only about two hours, arriving at Qingming Mountain.

"Wow!"

Gasps of amazement rang out across the Flying Ship.

Li Mo also went to the edge of the deck to look.

Atop this mountain, which soared into the clouds, stood countless splendid buildings. Some even sent beams of light shooting skyward, forming an inscrutable array in the heavens. On the ground, the buildings were arranged in a pattern of large mixed communities and small, concentrated clusters, forming dozens of courtyards of varying sizes.

At the center of these courtyards lay a vast plaza.

A hundred-zhang-tall tree grew in the plaza, with countless spiritual birds perched in its branches and circling around its luminous trunk.

The scene was so breathtakingly beautiful it seemed like a celestial paradise. No wonder everyone had gasped in amazement.

Standing in such a marvelous paradise, Li Mo felt just as refreshed and exhilarated. He was left shaken, unable to put his feelings into words.

As the Flying Ship slowly descended to the ground, everyone followed several cultivators off the ship in an orderly line.

Li Mo felt himself instantly surrounded by an incredibly dense spiritual energy!

The spiritual energy here was nowhere near as dense as that inside a Spirit Stone, but it far surpassed the outside world. It even gave him a faint sense of pressure, as if countless streams of spiritual energy were continuously rushing here from every direction.

"Lingmu Sect."

Li Mo noticed an enormous stone stele in front of him. The three characters Lingmu Sect were carved into it, with a line of smaller writing beneath them.

"Uphold the Way of the Longest of All Things. Humanity is the essence of heaven and earth, the foremost of all things. Heaven and earth give birth to all things, and all things are for humanity's use."

Li Mo had heard Han Kui and Lu Tianyou say that every country had its own orthodox way.

The way upheld by Gan Kingdom was the Way of the Longest of All Things.

Then he looked at the giant tree in the distance.

Countless spiritual birds perched in the crown of the hundred-zhang tree, which also continuously shed what seemed to be visible wisps of spiritual energy. They fell like raindrops, sank into the ground, and disappeared.

The clear-eyed, foolish stares on everyone's faces drew laughter from two young Daoist gatekeepers.

Fortunately, just then, a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties came over. He seemed to be the cultivator in charge of receiving Li Mo and the others. The cultivators who had brought them here hurriedly stepped forward to pay their respects.

"Uncle Ding, this year, fifty-one people in Anle City were found to possess spiritual roots. One has a special spiritual physique. His name is Zhou Zheng, and he has the Wind-Clearing Physique."

"Mm. Thank you for your hard work. Go back and rest."

The cultivators who had led the way left, chatting and laughing.

The fifty-one people who had come from Anle City all turned to look at the middle-aged man.

He wore a loose crane-feather robe and held a horsetail whisk. His face was stern. He picked up a list and called out everyone's names one by one before introducing himself.

"I am Ding Wei. For the next three months, I will be your uncle-master in charge of introductory lessons. I will teach you the basic knowledge of the Shan Hai Realm, the Way of the Longest of All Things upheld by Gan Kingdom, and the Lingmu Sect's main cultivation method. From now on, you may call me Uncle Ding."

Ding Wei was unsmiling, his voice utterly flat. He seemed like a man without emotions, making it difficult to feel any closeness toward him.

"To cultivate, one needs not only spiritual roots, but also great comprehension. So over the next three months, if any of you fail to master our sect's main cultivation method and become a qualified Qi Refining Stage cultivator, that will mean your comprehension is insufficient, or that you cannot adapt to Gan Kingdom's Way of the Longest of All Things. At that point, you may leave the mountain and seek your own opportunities elsewhere. Only Qi Refining Stage cultivators may continue cultivating on Qingming Mountain. Come with me."

Everyone followed Ding Wei.

Li Mo's heart tightened. So testing positive for spiritual roots didn't mean one could become a Lingmu Sect disciple. There was an elimination process here, too.

After passing courtyard after courtyard and towering buildings, they arrived at a relatively secluded courtyard.

Li Mo noticed that there were already some people here who looked much like them, with clear-eyed, foolish expressions. They were probably people from counties near Qingming Mountain who had been found to possess spiritual roots and had arrived ahead of them.

"This is the Enlightenment Hall. For the next three months, you will begin your cultivation here. You may not leave casually during that time. The lightest punishment is a flogging; the most severe is expulsion from the sect."

"Yes."

Everyone responded in unison.

Under Ding Wei's guidance, the newcomers settled in, two to a dormitory. They were each given two loose crane-feather robes and left to familiarize themselves with the Enlightenment Hall's basic facilities.

This seemed to be an isolated courtyard within the Lingmu Sect, with everything they needed for food, clothing, lodging, and travel.

As time passed, more and more people were brought into the Enlightenment Hall.

They had clearly come from more distant counties and arrived later because of the long journey. Muzhou was vast, and even at the speed of a Flying Ship, crossing the entire region would likely take at least four or five days.

Of course, Flying Ships varied in speed, and many parts of Muzhou were desolate mountains rarely visited by people. The region couldn't all be treated the same.

"Hey, are they going to make us eat this every day from now on?"

Faced with the plain fare from the Enlightenment Hall's kitchen, Lu Tianyou was clearly unaccustomed to it. He sighed and complained over and over, unable to stomach it.

Li Mo, on the other hand, ate with relish. The two shared a dormitory, and Li Mo offered Lu Tianyou some comfort.

"You can think about something else. Just don't stare at the food."

Lu Tianyou rolled his eyes at that.

Fortunately, there were no mosquitoes on Qingming Mountain, and they slept especially soundly that night.

The next day.

Early in the morning, everyone from Anle City made their way to the classroom. They had been assigned to the same class. People continued to arrive at the Enlightenment Hall, but they were assigned to other classes.

Ding Wei arrived punctually.

"It's the first day, so everyone can relax a little. We will begin with the basic knowledge of the Shan Hai Realm. Does anyone know what the Shan Hai Realm is?"

Only a few people in the classroom raised their hands.

After looking around, Ding Wei called on Zhang Guoyin to answer.

The old man rose from his cushion and gave a soft chuckle. "This world—where the sun and moon shine, where mountains and rivers lie, all that the eyes can see and the feet can reach—that is the Shan Hai Realm."

Ding Wei nodded.

"Correct. The place where we live is the Shan Hai Realm. It is the world of our human race, but we are not the only ones here. The Central Plains, where humanity dwells, is the richest region in the Shan Hai Realm. A hundred countries stand here, with Lu Country, Gan Kingdom, Ling Country, Yu Country, Xia Kingdom, and Jin Country being the six strongest. Each country adheres to its own orthodox way, and the sects within their borders pursue and pass down their respective ways. Beyond the Central Plains, demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters hold sway. Those lands are rarely visited by people and are extremely dangerous..."

He spoke at length for nearly half an hour.

Many people were left bewildered, but Li Mo felt that his horizons had broadened tremendously.

The great evil spirit of the Tan River and the various other evil spirits were classified as monsters. They couldn't be lumped together with demons, devils, and ghosts.

As members of the human race, cultivators naturally had to uphold humanity's order and interests, continually eradicating demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters that caused trouble within each country's borders. But there were also special exceptions that abided by the law, and different countries dealt with them in different ways.

"Gan Kingdom has existed for more than two thousand years. Though it was the last of the six great nations to be founded, it is now the most powerful country in the Central Plains. Emperor of the Qian Yuan Era is without question one of the strongest cultivators on the continent. Perhaps I should even remove the words 'one of.'"

At the mention of Emperor of the Qian Yuan Era, Ding Wei's usually impassive face took on an unmistakable look of longing.

He seemed almost fervently devoted.

"His Majesty founded Gan Kingdom's Way of the Longest of All Things: humanity is the essence of heaven and earth, the foremost of all things. Heaven and earth give birth to all things, and all things are for humanity's use."

Li Mo had seen a record of this on the stone stele outside.

"Over the past two thousand years, some sects have declined and perished, disappearing into the river of history. But most sects have flourished under the Way of the Longest of All Things, and their numbers have continued to grow. Today, there are thirteen great sects..."

"Uncle Ding."

Zhou Zheng interrupted him.

Everyone turned to Zhou Zheng. He rose from his cushion, looking confused.

"I heard from my elders in Anle City that Gan Kingdom only has twelve great sects?"

Ding Wei froze for a moment, then nodded gravely and gestured for Zhou Zheng to sit back down.

"You're not wrong to say there are twelve sects. Do you know why Gan Kingdom and Lu Country have fought so many wars over the past century?"

Zhou Zheng shook his head.

"More than a century ago, the Tu Xing Sect within Gan Kingdom suddenly abandoned the Way of the Longest of All Things and turned to the Way of Following Nature—or, to put it another way, the Way of Immortality. They defected to Lu Country and renamed themselves the Tu Xing Sect. That was what started the century of war between our two countries. Since our Lingmu Sect is closest to Lu Country, we suffered greatly in the many battles. Two of our Nascent Soul ancestors were killed through Liberation by Violence, including one Nascent Soul Late Stage ancestor of our sect, Quanzhi Zhenren. Thirty years ago, cultivators from Lu Country's Zai Zao Sect ambushed him in Zhongshan Country. Our sect began to decline after that..."

Li Mo listened as Uncle Ding slowly recounted the history of the Lingmu Sect.

The Lingmu Sect had been founded over a thousand years ago.

It had been established within Gan Kingdom by Lingmu Real Person, a Rogue Cultivator from Zhongshan Country between Lu Country and Gan Kingdom. After studying the Demon Race's innate divine abilities, he had combined what he learned with Gan Kingdom's Way of the Longest of All Things.

After Lingmu Real Person passed away eight hundred years ago, Dongcha Zhenren became the sect's second-generation leader. Dongcha Zhenren passed away four hundred years later, and Qingling Zhenren succeeded him as the third-generation leader. The lineage had continued to the present day.

"The continued inheritance of a sect requires not only adherence to a particular orthodox way, but also the deterrent protection of Nascent Soul cultivators. Without that, a sect can only become meat on the chopping block. A Nascent Soul cultivator can easily live for a thousand years, which is enough to ensure a sect's stable position for four or five hundred years, provided there is no large-scale war. If someone can advance to Spirit Transformation, their lifespan is said to increase to more than two thousand years in an instant—perhaps even longer..."

Cultivators in the Shan Hai Realm could be divided into the Qi Refining Stage, Foundation Establishment Realm, Golden Core Stage, Nascent Soul Realm, and Spirit Transformation.

That was the full range of cultivation realms for the human race in the Shan Hai Realm.

As for cultivators of even higher realms, since ancient times, they had existed only in the records of a few books. Late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivators were the limit of cultivation in the Shan Hai Realm. No one had ever been heard of advancing to Void Refining.

Even Spirit Transformation cultivators were few and far between. At any given time, only a dozen or so had ever been definitively recorded across the Central Plains, and almost all of them had been within the borders of the six great nations.