This Is a Joke!

Li Ziye and Xiang Qi taught Wang Qi some basic facts about the immortal path along the way. Before long, they arrived at Dabai Village.

Afterward, Li Ziye used true essence to transmit his voice throughout Dabai Village, saying only that the Immortal Alliance was hunting rebels, and that the two of them had been ordered to guard Dabai Village against an attack by demonic cultivators returning. Wang Qi jokingly said this sounded rather like boasting, but it put the villagers of Dabai Village much more at ease.

To reassure the villagers, the two of them took Wang Qi on a symbolic tour of Unforgiving Taoist's residence. Since Unforgiving Taoist had long been wanted by the Immortal Alliance, he had long ago developed the habit of carrying everything on him. Aside from a stack of manuscripts no one could understand, this raid on his home yielded nothing.

Under Li Ziye's guidance, Wang Qi began cultivating the modern method.

The divisions of the modern method differed greatly from those of the ancient method. First of all, the modern method divided cultivation into four major realms: Nurturing Life, Human World, Grandmaster, and Free and Unfettered Journey.

Cultivation in the first major realm produced neither divine abilities nor magical power. It could only extend one's lifespan, hence its name: Nurturing Life.

Nurturing Life was further divided into three realms: Nurturing the Heart, Learning, and Reaching Heaven. The Nurturing the Heart stage strengthened the soul and enhanced consciousness, laying the foundation for perceiving the breathing of heaven and earth. The Learning stage involved extensively studying and understanding the conclusions previous generations had drawn regarding the laws of the Heavenly Dao, preparing one to merge with the breathing of heaven and earth. The Reaching Heaven stage was when one formally communicated with that breathing.

Since the cultivation of these three stages could be carried out simultaneously, some people collectively called them "Reaching Heaven." The three realms of Nurturing Life corresponded exactly to the ancient method's Illumination, Rotating Light, and Grain Avoidance stages.

Human World was likewise divided into three realms: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Core Formation. This realm differed the least from the ancient method. Qi Refining drew spiritual energy from beyond heaven through heaven and earth to refine magical power; Foundation Establishment forged a Foundation Base from magical power; Core Formation condensed an inner core atop the Foundation Base.

Grandmaster was also divided into three realms: Primordial Spirit, Void Refinement, and Nirvana. At this level, the differences between the modern and ancient methods became especially apparent.

After Core Formation, the ancient method required one to nurture within the golden core the embryonic form of a new dharma body, called a Nascent Soul. When the core shattered and the infant formed, one entered the Nascent Soul Realm. After the Nascent Soul Realm, cultivators continuously merged their Primordial Spirit with their Nascent Soul, allowing them to divide their spirits and leave their bodies, with limitless wondrous applications. This was the Dividing the Spirit stage. The Body Integration Realm united the mature Nascent Soul with the physical body, forging a supreme dharma body.

After Core Formation, the modern method instead used the golden core as its center and the Foundation Base as its foundation to construct the soul into a "small heaven and earth" that operated according to the laws of the Heavenly Dao. This was the Primordial Spirit.

Once the small heaven and earth within the Primordial Spirit resembled the greater heaven and earth to a certain degree, one no longer needed to rely on the breathing of heaven and earth. One could directly refine magical power from the void beyond heaven, unceasingly and endlessly. This was Void Refinement.

Finally, the small heaven and earth drove the physical body to rise continuously, which was Nirvana.

Free and Unfettered Journey had only one realm beneath it: the Free and Unfettered Realm, corresponding to the ancient method's Great Vehicle. As for what one cultivated in that realm and what wondrous benefits it held, even Li Ziye and Xiang Qi did not know.

After Li Ziye finished, he gave Wang Qi a small book case, barely larger than the briefcase Wang Qi had used in his previous life. Yet Li Ziye said it held no fewer than a hundred basic textbooks. These materials were not only related to cultivation during the Learning stage, but would also be tested in the unified entrance trial.

Wang Qi suddenly felt as though he had just received a freshman year's worth of textbooks.

After handing the book case to Wang Qi, Li Ziye pondered for a moment before adding, "Cultivation during the Learning and Reaching Heaven stages best reveals a person's talent. Those of ordinary aptitude can complete them in four years. If someone breaks through Learning within a year, they can be considered a genius. Beyond four years, Foundation Establishment is almost hopeless—though nothing is absolute. I heard that there was a Primordial Spirit Grandmaster surnamed Su at Burning Sky Manor who took five years to break through Reaching Heaven. He was a classic example of late-blooming wisdom."

Wang Qi nodded and summed up, "This inspirational story tells us never to give up because of a minor setback..."

Li Ziye smiled. "It is best if you understand. Because the ancient method's spiritual body and the modern method's Reaching Heaven cultivation conflict greatly, I do not know how deeply the ancient path has affected you. Go familiarize yourself with these books first, and I will lecture you this afternoon. Pay particular attention to the Breaking Profound Chapter and The Logic of the Great Dao. The former is required study for modern method Reaching Heaven, while the latter is somewhat more difficult, but its great meaning lies in subtle words, and it contains much of the modern method's essence."

Wang Qi nodded. Just as he was about to leave, Li Ziye called after him. "Right, I will seal the magical power within your body. After the Qi Refining stage of the ancient method, the flow of magical power inside the body disrupts the flow of spiritual energy outside it, which is detrimental to sensing the breathing of heaven and earth. I think I must seal your magical power completely. This process is necessary when converting from the ancient method to the modern method, so do not take offense."

At noon, Li Ziye sat cross-legged atop an old tree in the Wang Family courtyard, letting the late-spring sunlight, carrying a hint of summer heat, shine over him.

Li Ziye loved basking in the sun. Whenever he was cultivating at the Myriad Dharma Sect and encountered a calculation problem he could not solve, or grew irritated by massive amounts of repetitive calculations, he would come out and enjoy the sunlight.

His fellow disciples mocked him for it, saying that one day he would surely marry a female disciple from Guanghua Hall, specifically so she could create sunlight for him. Even in bed, they said, she would have to glow to add to the mood.

Li Ziye was easygoing, and merely laughed such jokes off.

At this moment, what filled his mind was not some profound calculation problem like Xi's Twenty-Three Calculations, but recollections of how his lecturers had once imparted beginner's knowledge to him.

He rather admired Wang Qi. The boy did not possess the ordinary person's extreme thirst for power. Instead, he regarded cultivation itself as something purely interesting. For the modern method, that was undoubtedly excellent material.

"Senior Brother Li!"

At that moment, Xiang Qi's call interrupted his thoughts.

Li Ziye looked down and saw Xiang Qi running over while using magical power to carry a large pile of food.

Li Ziye shook his head. "Junior Sister Xiang, how much silver did you bring with you?"

Xiang Qi froze. "Huh?"

"You did not force people to give you their food and wine, did you?"

Only then did Xiang Qi realize what he meant. "The villagers outside insisted on stuffing all of this into my hands."

Li Ziye gave the food floating around Xiang Qi a doubtful look. The shredded potatoes in the vinegar potato dish had been cut very finely. Though not comparable to a restaurant chef's work, they were still far beyond ordinary home cooking. The green beans, eggplant, and other vegetable dishes had all been fried in oil. The stir-fried pork and steamed pork with rice flour used premium tenderloin and pork belly, not to mention the chicken soup and duck soup.

"Has the standard of living in the mortal world already risen to this level?"

Li Ziye was somewhat puzzled. Numbers such as Dabai Village's population, farmland, and surrounding vegetation flashed through his mind. Given Dabai Village's wealth, a meal like this ought to have been something they ate only during the New Year.

Xiang Qi smiled. "The people outside said an immortal had appeared in the village, so they had to celebrate properly and bask in some immortal aura—hey, Senior Brother Li, should we bask in that so-called 'immortal aura' too?"

These villagers were rather adorable.

Li Ziye smiled and did not refuse. He leaped down from the tree and picked up a strip of fried meat from the pile before Xiang Qi. "It is fried quite crisp—still, it has been a long time since I ate this kind of country cooking."

"Right? Right?" Xiang Qi happily set the food down on the stone table in the courtyard. Li Ziye found two sets of bowls and chopsticks in the kitchen. The two sat facing each other and enjoyed the dishes on the table.

"What is Wang Qi doing?"

Xiang Qi suddenly asked.

Li Ziye answered casually, "He has shut himself in his room to study. Come to think of it, I thought you disliked him quite a bit."

Xiang Qi snorted. "Who told him to be an Ancient Method Cultivator? Cultivating the ancient method ultimately harms both others and oneself. Still, though he is slick-tongued, he is rather interesting."

Li Ziye gave an acknowledging sound and changed the subject. "Once things here are settled, Junior Sister Xiang, your sect trial will count as successfully completed, correct?"

Xiang Qi nodded. "I served as a Safety Officer for a year and completed a fairly valuable classified mission. That counts as a success."

"What do you plan to do next?"

"My merit points are enough to exchange for materials to forge the first few swords of the Fourth Cycle of the Heavenly Order Sword Disc. I want to try completing the Fourth Cycle during the Foundation Establishment Realm."

Li Ziye clapped his hands in praise. "What ambition! Ordinary Burning Gold Valley cultivators forge the Heavenly Order Sword Disc by first choosing the easiest swords to make. Your path can practically rival that of Tianxu Jianzun Meng Jiefu himself!"

Xiang Qi shook her head. "How could I compare to Sword Venerable Meng's achievements? I cannot even imagine all one hundred and eighteen Heavenly Order Sword Discs emerging at once. What is more, Burning Gold Valley widely says that the Sword Venerable has already begun forging the theoretically nonexistent 'Eighth Cycle'!"

Li Ziye sighed. "Our seniors' divine abilities are indeed far beyond what people like us can fathom! But that only proves that Junior Sister Xiang's future is beyond measure."

With that, Li Ziye poured a cup of the villagers' homemade rice wine. "A cup of cloudy wine, to help Junior Sister's cultivation advance a thousand miles in a day."

"That still cannot compare to you, Senior Brother Li." Xiang Qi said solemnly, "Senior Brother Li is a genius disciple of the Myriad Dharma Sect. Before even entering Core Formation, you had already proven one of Xi's Twenty-Three Calculations. After entering Core Formation..." At this point, Xiang Qi paused, glanced at the sword case on Li Ziye's back with a trace of envy, and continued, "...after entering Core Formation, you passed Heavenly Sword Questioning Heart. Back then, Senior Brother Li broke through Reaching Heaven in half a year. Who in the world did not say that your future was beyond measure?"

Suddenly, an obscure ripple of magical power appeared in the courtyard.

Delight appeared on Li Ziye's face. "This is... breaking through Reaching Heaven..."

Xiang Qi's tone was uncertain. "Reaching Heaven?"

Li Ziye nodded. "Reaching..."

Suddenly, his smile froze.

There were only three cultivators here, and only one had not yet broken through Reaching Heaven.

Crack!

The stone stool beneath Xiang Qi gave a crisp explosive crack.

Crack!

Without realizing it, Li Ziye snapped the chopsticks in his hand.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Cracks continuously appeared in the stone blocks and floor around them.

This was the result of cultivators suffering such a violent shock to their minds that they could no longer control their magical power, causing it to leak out!

"Who was the fastest person in history to break through a realm again..."

Xiang Qi suddenly felt that she had forgotten how to speak.

"Lord of Yuanli, who broke through Reaching Heaven in half a month." Li Ziye spoke almost as if sleepwalking. "Taiyi Tianzun, Unforgiving Taoist, about the same... Wave Heavenly Monarch..."

One name after another of peerless geniuses who had left their marks upon the history of the modern method flashed through Li Ziye's mind. Yet no matter who they were, compared with Wang Qi, they still seemed unqualified!

The difficulty of breaking through Reaching Heaven lay in merging with the breathing of heaven and earth. This required a rough understanding of the essential laws behind the operation of heaven and earth—the Heavenly Dao—and the formation of a basic concept of the "Dao" within one's heart.

That required studying the "Dao" summarized by countless wise people.

This process required long-term accumulation. Breaking through Reaching Heaven within a year was already the standard for inner disciples of major sects. Among the great cultivators who had recently attained the Free and Unfettered Realm, even the most gifted had needed more than a month!

Wang Qi had first encountered the modern method this morning. From receiving Li Ziye's gifted books until now, at most, only enough time had passed to eat a meal.

Breaking through Reaching Heaven in the time it took to eat one meal?

This could no longer even be called a legend.

This, this... this was damn well a joke!