In mid-April, it was late spring. That night, the moon shone bright while the stars were sparse.
The young Wang Qi was meditating in the courtyard by moonlight.
By then, the moon hung high overhead, its bright light spilling into the courtyard and revealing its state. This was the back courtyard of a large residence, roughly a dozen square meters in size, yet it had long been neglected, its three paths overgrown and its pines and chrysanthemums gone. Some freshly turned earth lay on the ground, and several shallow furrows about an inch wide had clearly just been dug. But the owner of this courtyard had not dug them to plant flowers. By moonlight, one could see a thin layer of cinnabar in the furrows, which together formed an eerie pattern. Large chunks of jade had even been placed at the pattern's nodes.
This was a basic Gathering Spirit Array, an array commonly used by low-level cultivators on the God Continent. It was a classic design passed down for seventy thousand years, though it was far from any great formation—merely a simple beginner array capable of gathering a small amount of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. For Wang Qi, who had only just become able to sense that energy, it was exactly enough.
Thanks to the Gathering Spirit Array's effect, Wang Qi could see the mixed spiritual energy around him simply by closing his eyes.
To permanently seize a thread of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into one's own body and refine it into mana belonging solely to oneself—this was the first step of cultivation, and the first step in seizing heaven and earth's creation.
Strands of spiritual energy naturally flowed into Wang Qi's body. Before long, the concentration of spiritual energy within him reached its peak.
Suddenly, Wang Qi changed his hand seals, raised his head, opened his mouth wide, and took a long breath like a toad swallowing the heavens. It felt as though he had inhaled a pound of chilled hard liquor into his stomach—cool and invigorating, yet carrying another kind of rich force that spread throughout his body! Wang Qi focused his mind as one and attempted to control this spiritual energy. At the same time, he leaped to his feet and began practicing a set of martial arts as though he had rehearsed it thousands upon thousands of times.
This was no ordinary fist technique. If used for brawling and fighting, it would probably be inferior even to the rustic tricks of hooligans and layabouts. But the youth knew that this set of moves was less a fist technique than a guiding art, meant for Qi Refining.
The fist technique not only moved Wang Qi's entire body, but also stirred the spiritual energy he had drawn within. Driven by the movements, the spiritual energy reluctantly circulated through Wang Qi's meridians, its nature changing bit by bit. Gradually, the current of spiritual energy began to obey Wang Qi's command!
After completing the set, Wang Qi could command that spiritual energy as easily as his own arm. In his inner sight, it no longer carried its initial muddled colors, but had become a pure, translucent black.
This was mana!
From low to high, the realms of cultivation were Illumination, Opening Light, Fasting, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Spirit Division, Body Integration, and Mahayana.
Among them, Illumination, Opening Light, and Fasting were collectively known as the "Spirit Body" realms. They changed one's physical foundation and paved the road for cultivation. At this stage, a cultivator's body gradually grew stronger. So long as they did not suffer the calamity of blades and weapons, they could live to one hundred and twenty. However, since they possessed no mana, it could only be considered the trial version or demo version of cultivation.
The mark of the Qi Refining stage was precisely the cultivation of mana. Wang Qi sensed a black current within his body through inner sight. This signified that he had stepped onto the great road of cultivation, and longevity was now within reach.
Wang Qi had always been lively by nature. Upon sensing that thread of mana inside himself, he revealed a trace of excitement and immediately began playing with that power. But after playing with it for a while, his expression turned thoroughly disdainful.
At that moment, the jade ring on Wang Qi's hand gave two nearly imperceptible tremors. A cold sensation stretched out from the ring and stabbed toward his head. Only then did an aged voice ring out in Wang Qi's mind. "With mana protecting you, strength naturally arises. Your power can rival a wild ox, and your speed can rival a galloping horse. What else are you dissatisfied with?"
Wang Qi curled his lip. "After three years of bitter cultivation, this is all I get? It feels like a loss... The money I spent on medicinal herbs and cinnabar could have bought who knew how many plowing oxen and horses. Besides, if machinery were used to harness the force of flowing water, even ten oxen couldn't compare."
The old man flew into a rage. "What nonsense are you spouting, brat! Can those external forces be mentioned in the same breath as the Immortal Path? Do not forget that every scrap of the Immortal Path's power is your own!"
"Every trick for raising livestock, every mechanical design, is the accumulated wisdom of those who came before. Does that mean wisdom is also an external force?"
"Where did you get so many crooked arguments?"
Seeing the old man in the ring react this way, Wang Qi said nothing more. Instead, he lay down on the ground and casually said, "Boring."
Perhaps this was the greatest gap in understanding between technological civilization and cultivation civilization?
The youth thought helplessly.
Fourteen years had passed since he transmigrated from Earth to this world, and he had long accepted the fact of his transmigration. He no longer felt the despair he had in the first few years. Yet he still could not quite change the way he thought in his previous life.
In his previous life, Wang Qi had come from a place called Earth. Because of an accident, his soul had transmigrated into the body of an infant on the God Continent. Wang Qi's life in this world had not been particularly smooth. His father had been frail from birth and died early, while his mother died in childbirth. He had been raised entirely by his grandfather. Moved by his grandson's circumstances, his grandfather had given him the name "Qi." The Wang Family were landowners and lived in comfortable circumstances. Though the household had lost its able-bodied men, their days remained unhurried. Yet if one did not enter the Immortal Path, one would ultimately become nothing but a handful of yellow earth. Old Wang enjoyed several years of family bliss with his grandson before passing away peacefully, without illness or disaster.
However, a turning point came on the day Wang Qi's grandfather was buried. While building his grandfather's grave, he had actually dug a ring out of the earth—Wang Qi's cheat that every transmigrator ought to have.
That night, he had a dream. In the dream, he sat facing an old man in black robes.
"You say your name is Zhen Chanzi, that you were the sect master of an ancient sect, and that in a disaster that annihilated your sect, both your body and Nascent Soul were destroyed. Your remnant soul hid in this ring to cling to life, and now you wish to accept me as your disciple, hoping that one day I can help you reforge your body?"
When Wang Qi had asked that question, his face had been full of disbelief. The black-robed old man had been very pleased with Wang Qi's expression. He simply did not know that what Wang Qi cared about was fundamentally different from what he imagined.
Holy crap, isn't this the old grandpa in a ring, one of the standard transmigrator loadouts? Didn't this stop being popular years ago? Which lousy author came up with such a dog-blooded plot...?
Those words churned in Wang Qi's heart for a long time.
In any case, Wang Qi's path to seeking immortality began just like that.
From the very beginning of his cultivation, Wang Qi had somewhat suspected that he was the protagonist of a lousy work. The Spirit Body stage was the best at distinguishing human talent. Those with slightly poorer talent needed the aid of medicinal pills to advance, while those even worse off, if they lacked elders to empower them through initiation, would need decades of slow, grinding effort.
But what about Wang Qi? Since beginning cultivation, he had never swallowed a single pill, yet his cultivation could rival the True Disciples of the great ancient sects mentioned by Zhen Chanzi.
Has the mortal-cultivates-to-immortality genre gone out of fashion already? If my own talent is heaven-defying and I also have an old grandpa in a ring, then no matter how I think about it, an engaged fiancée should be showing up at my door to break off the marriage! But the Wang Family hadn't prospered for eighteen generations above mine, so there probably wouldn't be any young lady from a second-rate family with a bit of wealth betrothed to me. A marriage arranged while still in the womb? Heh. The mother I never met was herself a child bride bought with money. How could she possibly have a close girlfriend good enough to sell their descendants' futures together?
But no matter how Wang Qi inwardly slandered his clichéd and utterly unoriginal life, his path of cultivation began as smoothly as a fair wind.
The old man within the ring sighed. "You clearly possess peerless talent. Why are you unwilling to work hard?"
The old man grew faintly angry. "Once you cultivate the Immortal Path, you can live as long as heaven and earth, move mountains and fill seas with one hand, manifest your holiness before others and win the reverence of tens of thousands. If you are compassionate by nature and enjoy doing good, a single thought can make myriad households worship you like a Buddha. If you delight in killing, you can kill one man in ten steps and leave no trace for a thousand miles. In short, between heaven and earth, you may roam as you please..."
"Tch." The youth dismissed the old man's words with scorn. "I have seen things you cultivators would find impossible to believe..."
...Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; C-beams glittering in the dark near the Star Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... Wang Qi silently recited the lines from Blade Runner in his heart.
The old man was instead angered into laughter. "This old man has climbed Kunlun's summit, toured Tianma, sailed down the Shuntian River and back up the Great River. I have entered the azure heavens and dived into the Nine Netherworlds, even journeyed far beyond the outer seas. What sight beneath heaven have I not seen?"
What a country bumpkin thing to say... Wang Qi thought. Isn't that like an Earthling saying he climbed Mount Everest, toured Guilin, went down the Yangtze River and back up the Yellow River, then took a plane ride and dived into the Mariana Trench? Things anyone with a little money and stamina can go do for fun.
Old man, you want to discuss knowledge with me? You want to discuss experience with me? I have traveled perilously between the most distant planets. I have witnessed the birth of black suns. I have witnessed every dark energy that exists in the real world... Fine, that was Zeratul of the Dark Templar, but at least I've seen game cinematics, haven't I?
Wang Qi wildly tossed around references no one could understand in his heart. Before long, he found it boring and stared blankly at the moon.
Seeing Wang Qi like this, the old man in the ring sighed. "You clearly possess peerless talent. Why are you unwilling to strive?"
"The two words I hate most in this life are 'work hard' and 'keep it up.'" Wang Qi said flatly, "I only want to do what I enjoy. If cultivation did not grant longevity, I would not bother cultivating."
The old man snorted. "You are already in your teens. How can you still be like a child, thinking only of playing all day? Besides, once your cultivation is high enough, what can't you play with?"
Wang Qi answered needle for needle, awl for awl. "Do you know what I like to play with?"
The old man said, "Then tell me. What exactly do you like? Aside from joking around, I have never seen you have any hobbies."
The question stunned Wang Qi. He gazed at the full moon and fell into thought.
"Does that even need asking?" At last, Wang Qi looked toward the sky and smiled. "When you live, shouldn't you live for something spectacular?"
Not far away, a girl in red looked toward Wang Qi's location and said quietly, "An unexpected development. A pest has advanced to Qi Refining here, Senior Brother."
A man's voice came from the void. "Be careful. What you are doing now concerns a legendary great power. You must not let down your guard."
The girl's body trembled, and then she said, "We are on the same side, aren't we?"
"Hard to say." The man paused, then asked, "What is this pest you mentioned?"
"What else could it be? A remnant of the ancient methods."
The man pondered for a moment. "Based on what you discovered... return first. We'll use a gentler approach."
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